After practicing against NFL greats, veteran corner Alontae Taylor admits a rookie possesses a polished skill set that is already catching the league by surprise.
The Tennessee Titans brought in cornerback Alontae Taylor in free agency to shore up what was a disastrous secondary in 2025.
First, there was the injury to L'Jarius Sneed, which brought down the level of play for the whole group. Sneed never played a full season in the two years he was in Nashville, marking a disappointing chapter in his career.
Then, it seemed like anytime a player started to play well, they were soon traded. Which made sense, considering the Titans were an awful team and needed to get as much draft capital as possible.
It also meant that Roger McCreary and Jarvis Brownlee Jr. were off the team by the trade deadline. After those two were gone, it was Armageddon in the secondary.
Darell Baker, Marcus Harris, Micah Robinson, Kevin Winston, and Jalyn Armour-Davis all started at corner at one time or another. They didn't make much of a difference, as the Titans allowed the seventh-most passing yards per game (248.3).
Taylor will be paired with Cor'Dale Flott on the outside in the hopes of giving the Titans consistency in a key position.
Although Taylor did grow up in Tennessee and played college football here, he's just now starting to realize something about one of the rookies.
Taylor recently appeared on the podcast of his former teammate Tyrann Mathieu. On "In The Bayou With Tyrann Mathieu," Taylor talked about how much different Carnell Tate is from any of the receivers he's been teammates with so far in the NFL, which says something.
With the New Orleans Saints, Taylor played with Michael Thomas, Jarvis Landry, Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed during his time in the NFL.
Taylor has been surprised at how polished Tate's game is as a rookie.
"He's nice, bruh," Taylor said. "I was just a little surprised myself in OTAs, you know, in OTAs going up against him. I've been around Chris [Olave], Rashid [Shaheed], some guys and, you know, there's some plays where I'm just like, 'Man, what?' Mike [Michael Thomas], Jarvis [Landry]. You feel what I'm saying? I'm going against Tate a few times, I'm like, 'Man, what? You got that in your bag right now?' Okay. Okay. That's cool. He's going to be really good, man."
Titans fans have seen just how good Tate has looked so far with their own eyes, but this is a massive compliment from a veteran cornerback like Taylor, who has gone against great talent in practice before.
Tate has continued to be a highlight reel, from rookie minicamp to OTAs and minicamp. If I were a betting man, I wouldn't be surprised if Tate has some more jaw-dropping plays in store for us at training camp here soon.
Time and time again, Tate has looked like the No. 4 overall pick. He has yet to play a snap against NFL competition, but he'll get a chance to do that very soon, as he's in position to be the Titans' WR1 for 2026.
I don't think Taylor is going to be the only one who is amazed by Tate's game this year.
