Titans trying everything to get Taylor Lewan on the field

Honestly, if you would have asked me the first four spots I would have imagined Lewan getting to see time at early, left guard would not have been one of them. Ideally, he is a left tackle that takes over for Roos in year two, so getting practice there makes sense. Right tackle is the next logical choice considering his disposition and his size. After that, I would have thought goalline tight end would be a sneaky place to use him, much like Michigan did in college. Finally, with his movement skills I still think he would make a deceptively good fullback if for no other reason than to give the short RBs (Sankey/McCluster) someone to sneak behind in certain situations.

However, a small surgery with Andy Levitre has pushed Lewan into heavy rotation at left guard. I think this is a fascinating move, because two things from the Titans perspective.

1. They are not scared to let Lewan play early.

This doesn't indicate that they are going to force him on the field early, but it also shows that they believe he is mentally capable of learning a lot of positions. So far in his first two days of training camp, he has played both tackle positions and left guard, and he has played them well according to Whisenhunt. The more that Lewan gets out there and feels the speed of the game, the more the Titans must feel comfortable about him taking the field in the season. If not, why wouldn't they use their backup guards and let Lewan focus purely on left tackle.

2. They feel Lewan can handle anything physically.

Sure Lewan playing some snaps at left guard now is all just walkthroughs and work to get into football shape, but that will all change tomorrow. In the first Titans padded practice, Lewan looks to see the team's best defensive player early and often. With Lewan seeing a heavy dose of Jurrell Casey, coaches will find out quickly just exactly what they have in Lewan.

Casey often dominates talented veterans because of his strength and quickness, but Lewan may have him matched in those departments. The key to watch on Monday is how will Lewan deal with Casey's leverage. If Lewan can stay low against Casey then he really will be far ahead of the curve for a rookie. If not, this will give Bob Bostad something to work on in practice.