It's week two of the pre-season and tomorrow the Titans face the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis at 8 P.M. EST/New York time. They face the Vikings after practicing with them all week this week.
Treylon Burks had a big injury scare a few days ago, and now yesterday it's been reported that Will Levis is dealing with a lower body injury and left practice early. His status for Saturday's game is up in the air and that makes the QB2 race a lot more interesting.
Malik has really flipped the script when it comes to the QB2 competition. Many thought Will Levis would more easily win the back-up job. Super casual fans thought Levis might actually start. But Malik has appeared new and improved thus far and has looked mildly better than Will Levis.
For Will, he is still a rookie so he still has a lot of time to grow. Malik was a project player last season sure, but he's always had talent and he does have substantially more experience than Will as a pro in general.
One could make the argument that, the fact that Malik is only fairly better than Will, perhaps Will will become the better QB in time, but time will tell.
Also, for all I know Will will play tomorrow and he can more properly compete with Malik and a lot of this speculation can go out of the window.
If Will doesn't play, Malik can really show what he's got in this second game once again. He had a decent outing in his first game, now he can try to build on that performance. Plus, the Titans don't have a third quarterback other than Tannehill. There's a chance Malik starts and plays a full game!!
Durability and availability is arguably the most important asset a player can have. Will has had some injuries in the past in college, would stink to see if that's a trait of his that lingers on as a pro.
The mysterious situation at inside linebacker continues as well. Monty Rice is dealing with an injury, again. Jack Gibbens has looked good, but Mike Vrabel has even mentioned Chance Campbell's name a time or two. I sure wish there was a clearer answer at that position but, that's just how it goes sometimes.
The Titans defense as a whole has been hyped up in training camp, but I really want to see them not get gashed by screen plays like they did last week. Backups or not, that was embarrassing.
The Vikings lost in the playoffs early last season, but they were a dominant team all season. Hopefully after a week of practice, and now this pre-season game, the Titans will have gathered a lot of information about the roster after facing a tough Minnesota squad.
I'd also like to keep an eye on that kicker competition as well.
A lot to look forward to tomorrow, I also hope that rookie running back Tyjae Spears continues to shine, he's fun to watch!!
