Titans, Buccaneers Plan Joint Preseason Practices

The teams are scheduled to meet in the second week of the 2021 NFL preseason.

The Tennessee Titans’ preparation for the next NFL season will include some extended time with last season’s best team.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians told the Pewter Report podcast that tentative plans are in place for the Titans and Buccaneers to spend a week together in August. The teams are scheduled to play a preseason game Aug. 21 at Tampa Bay. In advance of that, they also intend to conduct several days of joint workouts.

Neither team has formally announced the news.

“So much of that will depend on how practice goes,” Arians said, via PewterReport.com. “If we get in and have good OTAs and a good mini-camp. … As training camp’s going on we’ve got a week set up with the Titans.

“Hopefully everything goes (well) so we can do that, and we’ll just judge where everybody is at (and decide) how much they play in the preseason.”

Tennessee general manager Jon Robinson was Tampa Bay’s director of player personnel for two years (2014-15) under Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht. The Titans hired Robinson in 2016 to be their general manager.

The teams last worked together during training camp in 2018. Those sessions took place in Nashville.

Working with the Buccaneers means the Titans’ revamped secondary will be tested by quarterback Tom Brady and his offense that includes wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin along with tight end Rob Gronkowski.

Tennessee hosted Brady and the New England Patriots in joint workouts during the 2019 training camp in advance of their meeting in the second week of the preseason.

The teams met again that season in the wild card round of the playoffs. The Titans won 20-13 and began a run that ended with a loss in the AFC Championship game.

That loss to Tennessee turned out to be Brady’s final game with the Patriots. He signed with Tampa Bay last season and capped that campaign with eight straight victories, four in the regular season and four in the playoffs, capped by a 31-9 triumph over Kansas City in Super Bowl LV.