T'Vondre Sweat gets honest assessment of NFL preseason debut from Titans head coach Brian Callahan

Plenty of new faces made their Tennessee Titans debut in Saturday's preseason opener against the San Francisco 49ers . Of all of the newcomers Titans fans were excited to see, second-round pick T'Vondre Sweat was near the top of the list.

Sweat has been a hot topic since he arrived in Music City. The Texas product had a handful of questions on and off the field heading into his first NFL training camp. Sweat has done a fine job of putting some of those concerns to bed throughout training camp, but Saturday presented his first opportunity to showcase his talent in live action.

Sweat played on the team's first couple of defensive drives but was unable to find his way onto the stat sheet. Although he was dealing with double teams at times, it was a fairly underwhelming debut considering the expectations surrounding the 2023 Outland Trophy winner.

"It was good," head coach Brian Callahan noted of Sweat's debut. "I think he was nervous to start the game, but kind of settled down a little bit as it went along. He was active. (He) didn't make any splash plays or anything, but (we) kind of rotated him through, and I think it was good for him to feel that everybody in the NFL is big and strong and he's going to have to do a lot of things technically that need to get improved, and so that part was good for him. It was a good learning experience for him. You still felt him; he still took up double teams, he still disrupted the line of scrimmage, he could hold the point of attack, and that was all good things to see. Positive first start, plenty to clean up for him as well."

The Titans drafted Sweat to be a disrupter and wreak havoc on the interior of opposing offensive lines. Standing at 6-foot-4 and 366 pounds, he will command plenty of attention in the trenches alongside his new partner in crime, Jeffery Simmons.

Much of what makes Sweat such an impactful player doesn't always show up on the stat sheet. Offensive lines must choose whether or not to double team him, which in turn frees up Simmons and Harold Landry to make plays in the backfield.

While the talent is undeniable, like every rookie, Sweat is far from a finished product. With that being said, Sweat's ho-hum Titans debut shouldn't discourage Titans fans. As long as he continues to show up and make plays on a regular basis in training camp, his production will translate on game days sooner rather than later.