Ryan Tannehill hints at receiving role for Darrynton Evans, other notes from Thursday media appearance

Ryan Tannehill spoke to the media on Thursday for the first time as part of 2020 training camp as the Titans get back into the swing of things this week.

Tannehill answered a lot of questions about the challenges created by COVID-19 and answered them all mostly how you’d expect a professional to answer in this type of media setting. Here’s the highlights of his press conference beyond talking about COVID impacts…

• Tannehill touched on his mindset entering this year’s training camp as the starter compared to where he was this time last year: “Excited to take the next step with a lot of familiar faces.”
• Elaborating on that, he said: “The continuity from year to year is huge. Bringing back a lot of familiar faces is a good thing, jumping back into the same offense with some minor adjustments, and really being able to lock in on smaller details and fine tuning things to a point that we weren’t able to last year.” Talked about having a comfort level with all the members of the offense and his relationship with Arthur Smith. Said he’s excited about Art’s second year as offensive coordinator, and he felt like they were able to grow a lot as an offense “over Zoom” this offseason.
• The communication between he and Logan Woodside, helping Logan and learning from Logan too. “It works both ways.” Discussed the preparation process from film study to working in practice up until gameday. Said that Logan “grew a lot” last season.

• Asked about how much onus is on the players to stay safe and healthy, Tannehill talked through being smart and thoughtful about “where you go and who you’re with.” He said, “It’s on the leaders to set the tone for the football team, but at the end of the day, each man has to make that decision, and there’s going to be sacrifice. If we want to be successful this season, if we want to make it through the whole year there’s going to be some sacrifice that has to take place.” He went on to say that he does feel safe inside the building following the precautions in place.
• On his expectations for A.J. Brown in Year 2: “I’m excited to get to call him a teammate.” Said Brown showed improvement throughout the season and he can’t wait to get back on the field with him.
• When comparing last season’s “good to great” mantra compared to the mindset for this season, Tannehill discussed the team’s need to start fast this season in order to reach their goals of first winning the division and then winning the Super Bowl.
• Finally, Tannehill talked about throwing with Darrynton Evans down in Florida several times over the offseason, calling him a “talented guy, very explosive, very fast,” and then saying Evans is “great at catching the football. When you see a running back catch the ball naturally, whether coming out of the backfield or split out wide, it definitely adds another element to the offense and can give defenses a hard time.”

Perhaps we’ll see Darrynton Evans take on a large role as a receiver, both out of the backfield and lined up wide, in the 2020 season. It would be a nice development for the Titans offense.

Here’s the full press conference courtesy of the Titans YouTube channel:

Logan Woodside also spoke to the media today. Here’s the video of that:

Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Author: Justin GraverPerhaps best known as @titansfilmroom on Twitter, Justin Graver has been writing and creating content about the NFL and the Tennessee Titans for nearly a decade as a longtime staff writer (and social media manager) for the SB Nation site Music City Miracles. Although JG no longer writes for Broadway Sports, his Music City Audible podcast with co-host Justin Melo continues.