How Titans' Amani Hooker is growing as leader for 2022

Welcome to Talkin' Titans. This is Tennessee Titans beat reporter Ben Arthur.

In a Titans secondary deep with young talent, safety Amani Hooker is a leader for 2022. He’s second in command behind All-Pro Kevin Byard.

He’s ascended from reserve, to fill-in starter to full-time starter through three seasons.

What’s next for him, he explained, is communicating with depth — making sure he not only understands the coverages Tennessee plays, but also why it’s doing what it’s doing when it’s doing it.

“That’s the detail of the play that other guys might not look at because they’re focused on ‘Where do I line up?’” Hooker said.

“I’m past, ‘Where do I line up? What’s the coverage? What routes can we (beat)?’ It’s getting into the deeper stuff to where I can play faster (and) I can help out guys play faster by communicating, ‘Watch out for this. Watch out for that.’”

When asked if he’s reached a point where he understands what every position in the defense is doing on a given play, Hooker said he’s comfortable getting his teammates lined up.

“I feel like I can tell guys if they mess up on something and before their (position) coach even gets to them, I feel like I can go and be like, ‘Hey, make sure you’re under this or outside that,’” Hooker said.

In 2022, Titans coaches want to see the improvement in Hooker’s play continue. More ball production. Sound tackling. Continuing to develop his rapport with Byard.

“Like to see those guys working hand-in-hand, knowing what each other is doing before they even communicate with each other,” safeties coach Scott Booker said. “Those are the types of things that happen when you start playing with a guy multiple seasons."

But he’s expected to be a coach on the field, too.

Booker said he offers tips to sixth-round rookie safety Theo Jackson and the young cornerbacks. 

He’s correcting himself, and teammates, before the coaches step in.

“Being able to communicate things and being able to think on the fly out there because we’re not out there as coaches,” Booker said.

“So whenever the offense gives us something we may not have seen, he’s able to take the defense, control the defense, communicate what we want to be in, and we’ll talk about it on the sideline.”

📧 Any questions or inquiries about the Titans' offseason? Send me a note. I'd be happy to answer. My email is BArthur@tennessean.com.

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How Titans' Amani Hooker is growing as leader for 2022