The Titans Starting Offensive Line Competition Seems Settled
Buck Reising evaluates the competition in the Titans offensive line unit and how one key player seems to have stepped up and finished off his position battle.
Video Transcript
The only position really up for grabs in Tennessee Titans training camp seems to have a winner at that particular battle.
We will talk about the Titans offensive line looking like it is already in place with two weeks left to go in training camp tonight on the Primetime video.
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The offensive line situation in Tennessee has been the biggest sticking point.
In the off season, it did not feel like it was sufficiently addressed, where their biggest signing on that unit was Austin Schlottmann, who came in here on a one-year, $9 million deal by way of the New York Giants, somebody with familiarity with now offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, and now offensive line coach Carmen Brascillo.
But Schlottmann did not feel like he was a sufficient enough solve for a unit that's had problems, frankly, from top to bottom.
So right now you have a situation where it looks like you have some kind of a resolution.
Does that mean that the unit will be good, and that the problems are solved?
Not necessarily, but it does give you a better idea of what this team is trending towards, and the potential ramifications of that moving forward.
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So the offensive line competition was the competition that we were talking about most heading into training camp.
You If you would've taken two position groups or two position rooms on this Titans roster that you were primarily concerned about after free agency, would've been the offensive line first and foremost, then it would've been the cornerback group, despite them spending a significant amount of money to sign Cordell Flott and Alontae Taylor, who we talked about whom we talked about last night.
So the Titans offensive line solutions were Schlottmann, as I mentioned, and then Kordell Volson, who's an experienced guard, but not a good player by any stretch of the imagination, somebody who has about 40 starts, 40 NFL starts in his career, but has always been operating in a reserve role, not somebody that you would have said either of these players would've been starting caliber.
So then they go to the draft after free agency, and in the fourth round they draft Fernando Carmona, who played guard at Arkansas with the 142nd pick, and then in the sixth round they drafted Pat Coogan, who's the center out of Indiana.
Now, Carmona seems to have won that right guard job, has had several practices and a preseason game rolling with the ones.
He has been consistently rolling with the ones these last few days out at the practice facility, and he seems very much like he's again going to get the start on Sunday night against the Seattle Seahawks.
So Ferma- Fernando Carmona was a red shirt senior at Arkansas, transferred, from San Jose State, from Las Vegas.
He's 6'5", listed 6'5", 325 as a college player, and he's a player that's got decent athleticism.
Wouldn't necessarily put him out at tackle.
Actually would not, by any stretch of the imagination, put him out at tackle at the NFL level, but he does have that background, having played tackle at the collegiate level.
Last year, he started in all 12 games, was, responsible, helped, or was in part responsible for six games of over 500 total yards of offense and, did, you know, put together a significant rushing offense, even if the Arkansas Razorbacks did not have the kind of season that they wanted to have.
Was not a successful season for Arkansas.
But it was a good showcase for somebody like Carmona against top flight competition, against Tennessee, against Texas A&M, against Notre Dame.
Not games that they won necessarily, but games where you could see the pro potential of Fernando Carmona, and that you could see the nastiness, 'cause that's really a, to some extent, at the core of putting him in a starting role.
Volson is not a good player.
You saw evidence of that.
If your first time watching the Titans was in preseason, you saw very glaringly that Kordell Volson is not a pro starting player.
You also saw that Jackson Slater, a sixth round or a fifth round pick from a season ago, is not the kind of player that you want playing or starting meaningful snaps.
If he can turn into decent depth, you would be satisfied with that, but not a top line starting caliber player at this point in time.
So Carmona comes in here having played five years of college ball and looking to make an impact right away, and he brings a nastiness, a level of finish that you are looking to have, you know, adopted across your offensive line.
So now that starting offensive line looks like so.
You've got Dan Moore at left tackle, Peter Skoronski on that $25 million a year contract, that $100 million contract that he just signed this off-season, extension, that he just signed this off-season at left guard.
Then the center, Schlottmann, right guard now Carmona, and JC Latham is tracking well to being, this team's long-term solution as the seventh overall pick at right tackle as well.
Doesn't mean that he won't have some, some flaws, doesn't mean that he'll be a perfect player, an All-Pro player, but that you at least have a starting caliber offensive line with young players that you have drafted organically, and players that you have retained organically from your organization to go out there and give Cam Ward a better chance than he had In 2025.
Now, a huge chunk of this is also Cam's ability to adapt and improve as a passer back there.
Because what we know about Cam Ward is that there's a lot of extra inefficient motion to his game, what you would consider at the pro level inefficient motion, a lot of hopping, kind of likes to hop around once or twice or three times before he lets a pass go.
That inefficient motion can lead to your timing being off, to your footwork being off.
It can also put you in a position to be sped up the way that we're talking about from Thursday night's game where his mechanics start to fray a little bit because he feels like he's playing faster than he needs to be, despite, I thought, a good showing from the offensive line.
So it doesn't mean that they're going to be the best unit in the world, but that they at least have time to gel, provided that they continue to have their health.
As a five-man starting unit, you're going to see different guys have to start on the offensive line throughout the course of the season.
But Carmona winning that job and winning it fairly early makes you feel better about just at least having known commodities on the offensive line in front of Cam.
And I thought he held up well.
We talked to Fernando Carmona in the post-game locker room after the San Francisco game, and this is what the rookie guard had to say.
I mean, like just with anything, I've just worked hard.
And that's just got me to this opportunity to this point, getting drafted by the Titans is just working hard.
I mean, obviously there's a lot to work and a lot to improve, but I just know if I continue to work hard, everything will work out in my favor.
How did it feel to be able to go full speed for the first time?
It's pretty cool, man.
Being in the NFL stadium and being back, you know, I started off my career at San Jose State.
Being in this stadium, it felt really special being in the Bay Area.
And, you know, it's just a very full circle moment.
Who told you you'd be getting the start and just kind of what were the emotions when you figured out you'd be coming out first?
Yeah, it was just kind of something we discussed this morning.
And then, yeah, excitement like anything.
I mean, as competitors, you always you want to be that guy who goes out there.
But, you know, at the end of the day, you know, you just got to go out there and do your thing.
What have they told you about how they think you're doing?
Do you even get feedback?
And what do you kind of want to be known for as you try to learn the spot?
Yeah, I just want to be known as a hard worker, somebody who plays with a lot of violence.
And really, those are the two main things.
You know, everything else will figure itself out from there.
But, you know, if I could just work hard and just continue to play with violence, you know, everything will sort itself out.
Did you like the way you guys ran the ball tonight?
Yeah, I did.
I did.
We got a lot of great running backs.
And, you know, we just got to give them those holes to hit.
And once they do that, you know, I know that they'll make plays.
So that's Fernando Carmona speaking with the media in the Niners visiting locker room after the game.
Violence.
Violence is at the key of all of this.
You need a high level of violence.
You need a bit of a violent intent when you're out there playing on the offensive line, especially with a team that's going to try and be significantly more physical in the run game than this team was a year ago.
So you hope that they can, no pun intended, hit the ground running more in 2026 with a better offensive line situation, with a more settled offensive line situation, and an offensive line that you feel like can legitimately lean on the run, that the quarterback can help lead or can lean on the running game to help him just be the better version of himself.
Balance is critically important for this Titans offense this year around Cam Ward, and it feels like Carmona is at least, for the immediate, a part of that solution.
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