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Titans playbook can tax rookies

Wide receiver Dominique Edison thrived last season at Stephen F. Austin, earning All-Southland Conference honors.

Yet neither his 67 catches for 1,016 yards nor his 18 touchdowns prepared him for his first challenge as a Titans rookie: learning an NFL playbook.

Knowing a system is no longer good enough. In the NFL, a player must understand it. The transition is like taking a spelling test one day and the next, analyzing the similarities between Ernest Hemingway and Robert Frost in a research paper.

"It's going to take a lot of studying and focusing," Edison said Friday after his first rookie minicamp, his first opportunity to test his limited knowledge of formations and plays.

He shares this challenge with the rest of the team's 19 draft picks and undrafted free agents. So much so that there's little time to do anything other than learn formations and motions and route depths and protections and defenses and pressures by this afternoon. And this is just a taste of the playbook.

Later the rookies will start competing against the veterans, professionals who in some instances have spent nearly a decade in the system.

"Their minds are spinning right now because of all the information we've given them," said Titans Coach Jeff Fisher, who years ago went through the process himself coming out of Southern California as a defensive back.

The Titans combine lectures in meeting rooms with opportunities for repetition on the field. On Friday morning, Titans receivers coach Fred Graves said rookie receivers ran plays to the right. In the afternoon session, they ran the same plays to the left.

"There's a lot more formations," said tight end Jared Cook, a third-round pick from South Carolina. "In college we only had about five or six."

That might get you through the first quarter of an NFL game. This spring and summer's work is a test to see how much information the rookies can handle in a short period of time. During the season, the playbook changes weekly, based on opponents.

Some players are better visual learners, and others better comprehend a route or blitz by glancing at a sheet of paper. These are factors, Fisher said, that Titans coaches are aware of because of their pre-draft evaluations.

Fisher added that no rookies are having a terrible time learning the system. And not every rookie is concerned with the quick pace.

"It's really not that challenging because we've got a great coaching staff helping us 24-7," said first-round pick Kenny Britt, a receiver from Rutgers. "But we know we still have a lot more to put in, once the vets come."

Wonder if Britt will feel the same way during the season?

"You got to get them ready to go, especially when you're talking about a first-round guy," Graves said of Britt, who will compete for a starting position. "He's got to come in and understand what's going on so you can get him ready to play."

Another receiver, Edison, might have the most daunting transition. In college, his quarterback signaled to him a number, which represented a route. Edison didn't have to hear the rest of the play, including the responsibilities of the rest of his teammates. He finished his career with a conference-record 28 touchdowns.

"We never huddled in college," he added.

Those days are over. One would think an offense is an offense, a defense a defense. That the big adjustment is transitioning from a system utilizing one language to another set of numbers, words or letters.

For example, if linebacker Gerald McRath played in multiple formations at Southern Mississippi, what's different about playing in a 4-3 defense now?

"In a 4-3 defense in college, this person is blitzing, no matter what," said Titans safety Michael Griffin, who is entering his third season. "In the NFL, they make this adjustment, we got to make that adjustment. … It's more simple in college, and tricky in the NFL."

McRath played under a number of coaches in college so he's accustomed to change. He also is resigned to the fact that asking questions will help him understand more information.

"It's one thing for your coach to tell you this is what you do; you just memorize it and regurgitate it on the field," said McRath, who ended his career at Southern Mississippi with 386 tackles. "It's another thing to ask why."

By Gary Estwick