Titans Approach To Conditioning Different From Others

When it comes to preseason conditioning during voluntary workouts, it seems the Tennessee Titans are different from other teams in the league.

NASHVILLE - When it comes to the work Tennessee Titans players are putting into conditioning during the voluntary workouts, it's tougher than many other teams around the league, at least according to two of the team's new free agents,  Azeez Al-Shaair, and Sean Murphy-Bunting.

Both players spoke with the Nashville media on Tuesday following their daily workout with the team at St. Thomas Sports Park. Both players mentioned that the things they are doing as members of the Titans are different and harder than what they experienced with their previous teams.   

"Like I just told you, anyone, who comes here, who's never been here, when you start working with this team, I mean, I should have gotten the hint that they've got signs on the wall; it was talking about expectations and in the expectations you see conditioning on one of them and you're like, oh, it looks good, but you don't, that's real, conditioning is literally, we're doing a lot, you know what I'm saying," said Al-Shaair. "You think like, man, this is crazy, this is crazy. It's like you've just got to buy in and see the vision because it's been successful for a reason."

"Then you've just got to trust it and go with it, and as I've gone with it the last six weeks, I've seen growth in myself, I've seen growth physically in myself, and I've felt the best physical shape I've felt in a long, long time, and you think like, we're doing so much, how, and it's like all that work is like they said, building a callus and not blisters."              

How is it different from other programs he's participated in?

"It's different from anything I've done. I can't even really compare it to college, but I feel like maybe in the sense of the workload, it kind of reminds you of how you are as a freshman coming into college and you're like, what the hell is going on here," Al-Shaair said. "They've got you doing 5 a.m. workouts, this was in college, obviously, but it's like things, you usually get to the pros and it's a lot more like, hey man, we're just gonna make sure we keep you healthy and the training staff and stuff like that, the biggest thing is like, the head coach hands the strength staff the keys to the car. Don't crash the car, right."

"Make sure the car makes it, and I understand that because you're dealing with guys like Sean (Murphy-Bunting)  just talked about playing with Tom Brady. He's old enough to be some people's dad, so you have to adjust and right now, we're doing the sleds and I'm seeing Ryan (Tannehill), who's 35, or whatever he is now, and he's played 12 years in this league, and he's doing the same thing I'm doing. (He)'s falling out in the floor, everything, and I'm seeing him come back in the locker room and, I'm like, I know you weren't doing what we were doing, and he's like, yeah, so it's like a different mentality you understand how it can translate. "

Al-Shaair has personal experience and shared his story of facing the Titans.               

"I remember playing here in 2021, and we came here when I was in San Francisco, and on Thursday night, half their roster was down, and I don't think they had any offensive linemen, and the very last offensive lineman was pulled from the practice squad," remembered Al-Shaair. "And we came in and they beat us, and you're just like how."

"This is how, and I'm seeing that being on the other side of it, you get to experience, like, all the work that was put into getting to those Sundays, Al-Shaair said.    

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