The Tennessee Titans opened training camp on Wednesday with the players’ acclimation period. This time allows players to participate in non-contact drills and walkthroughs to get their bodies used to playing football again. Head coach Robert Saleh spoke with the media before practice, and a handful of players were made available to the media after practice.
One of the players who spoke was defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons. As one of the most tenured players for the Titans, Simmons always provides insight. His response to the number of reps the players are getting was, as usual, on point.
“I’m just trusting the process on that,” Simmons says, laughing. “It’s (reps) not one of the things I’m focused on right now, especially in training camp; it’s not one of the things to where I’m like, ‘hey, coach, I know you said that in the meeting about the four plays and get off the field.’ The way we play, the way we practice, I might not even want over four plays in a row because it’s a standard and the expectation that they expect out of us on the D-line. I had three plays today, three plays back-to-back, and I’m like, alright, it’s just the first day, so to be focused on how many plays I’m going to do in a row, at this point, right now I don’t think that’s my focus. Eventually, we’ll get there, but it’s trusting the process, and with his style on defense, he may be right.”
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Under a new head coach and learning a new defensive scheme, Simmons is adjusting his mindset ahead of the season so that he can perform at the elite level we are used to seeing. Trusting the process is part of that, and it’s probably much easier to trust the process of Robert Saleh than it was under Brian Callahan.
Simmons was also asked how he felt about practice.
“It’s football. Like I said, I told the guys, we know the rules. We know it’s the acclimation period to where there’s so much we can do, can’t really have so much contact, DBs can’t really jump for the ball, we’re trying to take care of each other. It’s still just great to get out there with all the guys. JFM (John Franklin-Myers), you know, Jermaine (Johnson), all of our new guys to be able to get these reps, mental reps- it’s a lot of mental reps, even when it’s not full-speed- so it felt great to be out there.”
It was only the first day of practice under the new coaching regime, and today and tomorrow will be similar in how things run. On Saturday, though, the pads come out for the team’s first full-contact practice, which is also open to the public. That’s when we’ll really start to see what the new coaching staff has to work with in 2026.
This article originally appeared on Titans Wire: Tennessee Titans’ Jeffery Simmons: ‘I’m just trusting the process’
