Press Kit: Players To Watch During Titans First Preseason Game Against The Ravens

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Treylon Burks. Photo: Courtesy of the Tennessee Titans

After a long summer, the NFL preseason is finally here and the Tennessee Titans play their first game tonight (Aug. 11) against the Baltimore Ravens.

This season, there are a lot of new faces and a few familiar ones that head coach Mike Vrabel will be showcasing in their first game of the year–many of which will be fighting for a roster spot and some fighting for a starters spot.

Fans shouldn’t expect to see much of Ryan Tannehill or any of Derrick Henry, who’s coming off an injury from last season.

But there are few players that fans should keep an eye on for tonight’s matchup.

The player at the top of this list is quarterback Malik Willis.

Malik Willis. Photo: Courtesy of the Tennessee Titans

Willis was drafted in the third round of this year’s draft out of Liberty University and has been much of the talk at training camp thus far. He’s showed promise with some great throws and garnering attention on social media, but now he will make his NFL debut and attempt to compete at the highest level. Willis threw for over 5,000 yards in his two years at Liberty, throwing 47 touchdowns and only 18 interceptions.

Though Willis will most likely start the regular season on the bench, he could make an appearance later in the season pending Tannehill’s performance. After all, the Titans didn’t draft a top quarterback prospect in the third round for nothing.

The next top player to watch, who’s arguably the most important player, is first round pick wide receiver Treylon Burks.

Burks was selected after the blockbuster trade between the Titans and Eagles which sent AJ Brown to Philadelphia. Many Titans fans were upset and some are still not happy with the result of Tennessee trading its best offensive weapon behind Derrick Henry.

Burks is set to be Brown’s replacement, but will still need to earn his keep with receivers Robert Woods and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine almost guaranteed a roster spot. Burks played in 31 games for Arkansas and picked up 2,399 receiving yards with 11 touchdowns during that time.

There were some concerns about Burks’ conditioning during rookie camp but it was later announced that he has asthma. So far during training camp, Burks has shown a lot of promise, making great plays on one-on-ones and scrimmages. His preseason performance could put him in play of becoming wide receiver No. 1.

Caleb Farley. Photo: Courtesy of the Tennessee Titans

Another player to watch out for is 2021 first round pick corner back Caleb Farley.

Farley’s rookie season was riddled with bad luck, suffering a torn ACL early in the season. He is set to play tonight and is on pace to being 100 percent healthy by the time the regular season begins. A healthy Farley would be huge for the Titans defense, which is already coming off a fantastic season. His presence, along with Kevin Byard in the defensive backfield, would be devastating to any opposing offense.

Fans should also keep an eye out for running back and Titans fourth round draft pick Hassan Haskins.

Haskins rushed for over 2,000 yards at the University of Michigan where he was named 2021 First-team All-Big Ten and Second-team All-American. In his senior year, he scored 20 touchdowns for the Wolverines and could be a devastating force for the Titans. Obviously he is not taking Henry’s spot as a starter, but Haskins has real promise as the Titans No. 2 running back.

He will most likely be getting a decent amount of snaps tonight as Haskins could be a solid backup if the Titans decide not to use Henry a whole lot in the first few game of the season.

The Titans take on the Ravens at 6:30 p.m. CT at M&T Bank Stadium. Fans can catch the game on local network WKRN.

Steven Boero
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