Mularkey expects improvement from Titans’ secondary
NASHVILLE — Tennessee coach Mike Mularkey has made it clear that the Titans expect much more from the secondary this season.
The unit was so revamped this offseason that the secondary could feature three new starters from the 2016 season opener with veteran safety Da’Norris Searcy the lone holdover.
“We’ve got a lot of new faces back there,” Mularkey said Tuesday on the first day of a planned three-day minicamp. “We can do more things with our coverages with our secondary now.”
The Titans ranked ahead of just two teams against the pass, giving up an average of 269.2 yards per game. They also pulled in only 12 interceptions — tied for 18th in the league. Tennessee didn’t wait until the season ended to release cornerback Perrish Cox, who started the first five games last season. Veteran cornerback Jason McCourty, due $7 million, was released in April.
Chargers say farewells to San Diego this week
SAN DIEGO — Antonio Gates first arrived at Chargers Park in 2003, and Philip Rivers joined him one year later on the peaceful practice fields and low-slung buildings tucked below a golden hillside on Murphy Canyon Road.
The tight end and his quarterback have spent their entire NFL lives inhabiting this training complex in northern San Diego. They’ve honed their skills with thousands of throws and catches on these fields, and they’ve built warm friendships with hundreds of their fellow Chargers in its locker room.
But Chargers Park and San Diego are down to their final week as this team’s home. After a three-day mandatory minicamp concludes Thursday, the players will disperse for summer vacation before the moving vans portentously parked outside the complex are filled for the 85-mile drive north to Costa Mesa, the Orange County city where the Los Angeles Chargers will hold training camp in July.
“It’s a bittersweet moment, because obviously the memories are still here,” Gates said Tuesday. “They will forever be here for myself, for the guys that have been around.”
QB competition hasn’t begun for Broncos
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The biggest offseason position battle in the NFL — the Denver Broncos quarterback sweepstakes featuring Paxton Lynch and Trevor Siemian — has been nothing but a tease.
Coach Vance Joseph said Tuesday that the evaluation won’t truly start until training camp next month.
So, all those spectacular deep throws from Lynch sprinkled in between the bad choices and awful chucks were all for naught. Same with all those safe, short passes from Siemian surrounded by all those throws batted down at the line.
The quarterback competition has been one of the most hotly debated topics in Denver this offseason. Linebacker Brandon Marshall put it best when he said Lynch, the 2016 first-rounder, had “the arm that you dream of,” and Siemian, the surprise successor to Peyton Manning last year, has “the mind that you dream of.”
Attorney: Irvin innocent of sex battery claims
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — An attorney says a completed police investigation in Florida shows former NFL star Michael Irvin is innocent of sexual battery claims made by a female acquaintance.
Irvin lawyer Kenneth Padowitz said at a news conference Tuesday that prosecutors should drop the case after reviewing the police investigation.