The Tennessee Titans had the No. 1-overall draft pick this year for many reasons. But, the main culprit was that they are just very good at football and that’s how you end up with three wins.
So, while many NFL teams don’t want any part of playing their main guys in meaningless preseason games, Titans head coach Brian Callahan says that he’ll play quarterback Cam Ward and other starters when they travel to Tampa Bay on Saturday to play the Buccaneers.
It makes perfect sense to get the young guys some work, especially Ward for obvious reasons. But, do I think they should be playing a guy like defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons? Absolutely not. There is no tangible benefit to playing a stud DT who has been in the NFL since 2019 and named second-team All Pro twice. I don’t know if he’s going to actually get some burn, but if he does then that’s being foolish.
Brian Callahan played the starters last year too
In his first year as Titans coach, Callahan played his starters in the 2024 preseason as well. But, that was a bad team too, so getting those guys work made sense.
He explained his philosophy on the preseason back in July of last year.
“Preseason is important,” Callahan said. “I think I’ve learned some lessons over the years. We kind of adopted that LA Rams mentality when we got to Cincinnati where we didn’t play our starters at all. We had some injuries with Burrow last year where we were going to play our starters more because we had been kind of been a slow starting team out of the gate and that was one of the things we felt might help us is playing in the preseason more.”
Good news/Bad news, Brian. You don’t have to worry about having Burrow anymore. If anyone ever had “play me in the preseason” written all over their foreheads, it’s Ward. (Okay, actually that might apply more to Shedeur Sanders, who is going to start for the Cleveland Browns on Friday night, and may never lose his grip on the job).
“I believe in those guys playing some in the preseason. It helps you get ready for the opener so that the opener is not the first time you get tackled or are at game speed,” said Callahan.
Should NFL teams play their starters in the preseason?
The NFL preseason used to be decent football for about a quarter. The starters would play a bit, then you’d see some backups that you’d want to check out. Now? It’s almost four full quarters of “who is this guy?”
In Atlanta, for instance, neither of their quarterbacks with name-brand recognition will play in the first preseason game. And that probably makes sense, as it does for many teams not named Titans.
If the Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo Bills and/or Kansas City Chiefs play their starters for any length of time in meaningless games, they should have their heads examined. But, when you are a young, struggling team, let them play.
What’s the worst that could happen? You lose a guy here and there and then stink? While no one wants to lose anyone to injuries ever, the Titans will probably stink anyway and would be far better served by getting guys like Ward up to speed.
