Tennessee Titans rookie Nate Davis returns to practice, but is it too late for him?
By Will Lomas
Tennessee Titans get Nate Davis back, but can he reclaim his shot at being the starting right guard?
The Tennessee Titans 2019 NFL draft class is now back to where we had hoped they would be a few weeks ago.
A.J. Brown came back last week, while Amani Hooker and David Long have been there all preseason. Sure D’Andre Walker was put on IR, but UDFA DT Isaiah Mack has looked outstanding which may be more important than EDGE depth anyway.
With Jeffery Simmons always expected to miss the first half of the season at least, all that the Tennessee Titans were waiting on was Nate Davis to come back from his mystery injury.
Well, today they got that good news:
While he didn’t go through a full practice, this is what the process has been like for everyone else returning from injury this preseason. Come back and get some light work, then either the next practice or the one after you go back to a full workload.
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The question for Davis now is, did he come back too late?
Before he was injured he was the team’s presumptive starting right guard. At the very least he was going to get the majority of the backup reps over Jamil Douglas.
If he gets in a practice before the Pittsburgh Steelers game, two things become important to watch.
Firstly, where does he practice and behind who? While practices are closed, it will be really interesting if anything surfaces about whether they are still playing him at right guard or if the Titans are working him at center, left guard or a tackle spot.
I say this because even thought they may view Nate Davis as the future right guard, they have moved guys like Corey Levin and Jamil Douglas around to get them some snaps at different positions.
If he is only playing right guard, it is good news for people wanting him to push for the starting job before the season because it means that they want him to get better there instead of making him “ok” at several positions.
The other thing to watch is obviously, does he play in the Pittsburgh Steelers game.
Don’t take it for granted that the Titans and Steelers are the last teams to play this week. Playing Sunday night, Davis still has three full days until they decide who will and won’t play in that game.
If he stays on track and gets another practice or two in before the game, I wouldn’t be surprised to maybe see him slip in with the 2nd offensive line with Levin and Douglas playing the other interior spots.
Keep an eye on how this progresses going forward because there is absolutely nothing set in stone at the right guard position and I know that Mike Vrabel and Jon Robinson are going to want to give Davis every chance he can to take that spot over.