Tennessee Titans activate Bud Dupree: Reactions from his first practice

It’s been quite the week, hasn’t it? When the Tennessee Titans turned the calendar from July to August, much of our conversation involving Caleb Farley and Bud Dupree surrounded theories that we had no idea when either guy would practice let alone play in a game that actually counted against the win-loss total. Now, as we close the book on Friday’s training camp practice, Tennessee’s eighth and after we watched all of the pressers that followed, everyone is all smiles.

That is everyone is smiling except for Mike Vrabel. He doesn’t smile that much, but anyway, Farley returned to the practice field for August’s first Monday, and when Friday came, the Titans announced that they were activating Bud Dupree from their PUP (physically unable to perform list).

Here are reactions following Dupree’s first full day with the Tennessee Titans.

First of all, Dupree is a big dude. Sure, you see reports that state he’s six-foot-four and 269 pounds, but he has to be bigger than that. After signing a five-year, $82.5 million contract on March 19th, it took almost five months to get him on the field with his teammates, but he’s ready to go. As you might assume, there were no shortages of cell phone cameras that were pointed in his direction.

Following practice, he hung out with the media, and here’s some of what he had to say.

"Personally, like my body (and) how I feel, I already knew that I was close. I’ve been ready. My knee is holding up pretty good. The doctor did a great job. Rehab went great, so that aspect of it is behind me, but now it’s just staying on top of that. Also, just going out here with these guys, like I said, getting the communication down because it’s a whole different communication than what I’m used to."

That’s what you want to hear. It should be a pretty good weekend for Titans enthusiasts everywhere. Sure, there’s no Julio Jones as he isn’t practicing, but it appears his absence is a precaution more than anything.

In other news, Josh Reynolds and Harold Landry returned to the practice field on Friday as well. That’s something else to be excited about, so as you head into the weekend, put a smile on those faces if you’re a Tennessee Titans fan. There’s more good news than bad news coming out of Baptist Sports Park, and again, it needs to be said again. Those are some really good reasons to be really encouraged.