With the Tennessee Titans set to open up the preseason on Saturday against the San Francisco 49ers, the team has released its unofficial depth chart ahead of the matchup.
#Titans 'unofficial' depth chart for Week 1 in the Preseason pic.twitter.com/aed1PZL0V3
— AtoZ Sports Nashville (@AtoZSports) August 5, 2024
Under former head coach Mike Vrabel, the depth chart typically favored veterans over rookies in the early stages of training camp. After all, Tyjae Spears was listed as the team’s third running back at this point in training camp just a season ago.
Now if there were obvious holes in the roster and a rookie drafted a high slot, such as left guard Peter Skoronski, Vrabel would make exceptions. But, for the most part, Vrabel wanted his rookies to go out and earn their role in camp and through preseason performance.
This tradition does not appear to be passed down for Vrabel to head coach Brian Callahan. In Callahan’s first preseason depth chart, rookies JC Latham and T’Vondre Sweat are both listed as starters while fifth-round rookie Jarvis Brownlee Jr. is listed as the team’s backup cornerback behind L’Jarius Sneed.
There are a couple of rookies who have some ground to make up. Fourth-round rookie linebacker Cedric Gray opens the preseason as a third-string inside linebacker, while sixth-round pick Jha’Quan Jackson is nowhere to be found at punt returner, although he’s listed as the backup kick returner.
As always, these preseason depth charts can be pretty fluid. With so many newcomers in Tennessee, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Callahan give multiple players opportunities to start at certain positions, such as inside linebacker and in the return game.
While inspecting the depth chart can be an entertaining activity for Titans fans, the roster is far from being finalized. With plenty of movement left to come, monitoring position battles at inside linebacker, right guard, right tackle, and at both returner spots will certainly be top of mind for the coaching staff.