The Tennessee Titans and San Francisco 49ers came together for a joint practice on Tuesday at the SAP Performance Facility in Santa Clara, California. It didn’t stay friendly for long.
A scuffle broke out on the very first play of 11-on-11 drills, and according to the Associated Press, the physical play and tension between the two teams only grew from there. Titans rookie receiver Carnell Tate caught a pass near the sideline and was thrown to the ground by 49ers cornerback Renardo Green. Tate didn’t take it well. Players from both sidelines rushed in, shoving and shouting.
It wasn’t an isolated flashpoint. The San Francisco Standard reported that three fights broke out in the first six plays of scrimmage work alone, with the 49ers’ defense — Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw among them — squaring off repeatedly against Tennessee’s offense.
Four players were eventually sent off the field for throwing punches. According to the AP’s Josh Dubow, Titans offensive linemen Austin Deculus and Dan Moore Jr. were both ejected. 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, who spent most of the session watching his offense work on a separate field, said he was told two of his own defensive players were also kicked out.
Not everyone wanted it to stop. Warner tried to settle his own teammates down mid-practice. “We’re not trying to fight and do all this other stuff,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “We’re trying to play football and that’s what I had to try and tell the guys early on.” Warner said he gathered the group and told them practice wouldn’t get anywhere if the fighting continued — and it worked. Tempers cooled in the second half of the session, and both teams finished the work they’d come to do.
Tate Isn’t Backing Down
After practice, Tate made it clear he saw the physicality as a statement, not a setback. “We went out there and proved to them who we are,” he told reporters. “We’re the Titans. We came here to play fast and violent.”
The Titans’ official X account posted video of the remark on August 11: “We’re the Titans, we came here to play fast & violent” —
"We're the Titans, we came here to play fast & violent" pic.twitter.com/010sVyQbuQ
— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) August 11, 2026
Titans linebacker Cedric Gray struck a similarly unbothered tone, though with less edge. “It’s part of a joint practice. You got to love it. I think we all just wanted to come out here, be a little feisty,” Gray said. “It was just good to get out here and kind of have that and just create those dog moments and those team fighting moments.”
What It Means for Thursday
Tuesday’s joint session was the buildup to the real thing. Tennessee and San Francisco meet Thursday night at Levi’s Stadium to open the preseason for both clubs, with kickoff set for 6 p.m. PT, according to the 49ers Webzone. It’s the third all-time meeting between the two franchises and the first ever played in the Bay Area — the Titans have won both of the previous two matchups.
Joint practices are designed to get teams reps against different looks before the games matter. They also tend to boil over, especially between two physical fronts trying to establish something before the season starts. Tuesday’s session leaned hard into the latter. Whether that carries over into Thursday’s exhibition — or burns itself out the way it did by the second half of Tuesday’s practice — will say something about how seriously either roster is treating a preseason opener.
