MOUNT JULIET, Tenn. -- Kevin Byard is in the middle of a burnout set of push-ups, made more difficult by five-second spurts of simultaneously carrying a 90-pound weight on his back. He's hurting. The Tennessee Titans safety just ran more than 1,500 yards and did a gauntlet of weights, along with explosion and flexibility exercises. It's early April; training camp is nearly four months away. It would be easy to tap out a bit early and call it a day.
But Byard hears his teammate, cornerback Logan Ryan, chirping words of motivation and references to disrespect he knows well.