Brian Callahan announced that the Tennessee Titans won't play their starters on Saturday against the Seattle Seahawks in their Week 2 preseason game. Callahan's decision makes sense when you look at the lengthy joint practices his team endured with the Seahawks earlier this week.
None of the big names will play, but there is still plenty to watch. This may arguably be the most important game on the preseason schedule.
With no gameplan and players like Jeffery Simmons, Harold Landry, Chidobe Awuzie, L'Jarius Sneed, and DeAndre Hopkins all scheduled to sit out the entire preseason, Titans fans are getting mixed information from these preseason games.
Would Will Levis have attempted that scramble on the goal line against the San Francisco 49ers last weekend if Hopkins was on the field? Would the 49ers backups be able to march down the field on the first drive if they had to contend with Simmons, Sneed, and Landry out there?
Preseason reps are important, but they are a watered down version of the real thing.
However, this week is different. This week Titans fans get to see the young players get a chance to go out there and play dozens of snaps to show how much they have grown from the start of OTAs several months ago.
When the Titans are on defense, the most interesting player in the game is going to be No. 52, off-ball linebacker James Williams.
James Williams vs the 49ers:
— PFF TEN Titans (@PFF_Titans) August 15, 2024
88.7 run defense grade - best among all LBs in Week 1 of the preseason 🔥 pic.twitter.com/1yRmTtBDiW
The seventh-round pick started the offseason quietly, but he made his presence felt in the first week of the exhibition and he graded out as Pro Football Focus' best run-defender among linebackers (above).
Before committing to the University of Miami, Williams was a consensus five-star prospect as a safety and one of the best players in his recruiting class. While he didn't quite have the athleticism to play at safety in the NFL, the Titans are trying him as an off-ball linebacker where he translates to be an above-average athlete.
Linebackers Kenneth Murray, Jack Gibbens, Luke Gifford, and Cedric Gray (likely) will all miss Saturday's game, which means that there will only be a handful of linebackers playing. That means that this will almost certainly be the most that we see from Williams in a preseason game this year (and hopefully that extends to the regular season too).
Williams is a fast-flowing linebacker that makes defense fun to watch, and fans should kick back and enjoy watching him fly around and make plays. Who knows, you might be watching a guy who could be starting for the defense next season.