On Day 16 of Tennessee Titans training camp, the team decided to give their 2021 second-round pick and offensive tackle Dillon Radunz reps inside at guard.
The North Dakota State product saw plenty of reps on the inside last year, but that has not been the case so far this offseason with Radunz competing for the right tackle spot with rookie Nicholas Petit-Frere.
The move certainly caught everyone’s attention, especially after Radunz had what many considered a lackluster performance in preseason Week 2 (more on that later).
However, Titans head coach Mike Vrabel said it was simply a matter of the team needing a body to play on the inside due to injuries.
“We’re really just trying to shuffle some guys around. We’ve had some guys out and just trying to figure out where guys are going to be best served for themselves and for us,” Vrabel said, per Terry McCormick of Titan Insider.
On Monday, the Titans saw two of their guards sidelined. Jamarco Jones, who didn’t play in preseason Week 2, did not participate, while Nate Davis was limited after not having practiced for several days in a row.
Of course, some people are going to jump to conclusions immediately that Radunz is out at right tackle and Petit-Frere is in, and while that’s certainly something to keep in the back of our minds, there’s enough here to take Vrabel’s word for now.
Now, let’s get back to the “sky is falling” reaction to Radunz’s performance on Saturday night, something I was guilty of being apart of: he wasn’t great, but also wasn’t as bad as the 17.8 PFF pass-block grade he received. Titan Sized’s Will Lomas has a great Twitter thread on that.
Now, this is not to say that Radunz is completely safe at right tackle, as NPF is absolutely giving him a run for his money, nor are we going to say we’re totally content with what we’ve seen from him, but Radunz isn’t as bad off after Saturday night as once thought.