Random Shuffle Challenge? Random Shuffle Challenge!

Those of you that are my Facebook friends (so, everyone reading this) knows that around December a specific type of note pops up in my memories. That type of note is the shuffle challenge, where one opens their favorite music player, goes into their entire song library, hits shuffle and play, then records the first 25 songs to play without skipping over any. Anyway, I was listening to some tunes last night and hit shuffle on my library, which at current time consists of close to 7,500 tracks. I decided to write down the first 25 that played, so I could do a mid-year shuffle challenge. So here are those 25 songs.

No one really dominated this list, but Paul McCartney was featured the most with two Beatles tunes and a recent Rihanna/Kanye collab (David Wolff-Patrick/Redferns)

1. Skinny Love (Live) - Ingrid Michaelson
2. Let It Be - The Beatles
3. My Blue Angel - Aaron Tippin
4. Blue Ridge Mountains - Fleet Foxes
5. Talladega - Eric Church
6. I'll Never Smile Again - Frank Sinatra
7. Freeway Of Love - Aretha Franklin
8. When I Come Around - Green Day
9. Rebel Girl - Bikini Kill
10. The Letter - The Box Tops
11. I Need Your Love - Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding
12. Fourfiveseconds - Rihanna, Kanye West & Paul McCartney
13. Truly Madly Deeply - Savage Garden
14. I Choose You - Sara Bareilles
15. Can I Play With Madness - Iron Maiden
16. Funky Town - Lipps Inc.
17. I Me Mine - The Beatles
18. Only You - Ellie Goulding
19. Quarter To Three - Gary U.S. Bonds
20. It's Time You Learned About Good-Bye - Alan Jackson
21. Poor Little Fool - Ricky Nelson
22.What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
23. John Deere Green - Joe Diffie
24. Harlem Shake - Baauer
25. I'm Sorry - John Denver

All in all, I'm pleased with this list's variety. I've had shuffle challenges in the past in which half the songs came off one album. I'll post this year's official shuffle challenge on Facebook come December so stay tuned.

A Brief Look: Titans Secondary

Guess who's back! I've been following the Titans training camp more closely than I have in the past few years (not intensely close, just slightly more close) and I felt led to lend my thoughts about specific positions after a half-week of somewhat-interested observation. I might do more posts like this, but I very well may not. We'll just have to see. Anyway, here's a few thoughts about the five key members of the Tennessee defensive backfield.

Kevin Byard, Safety #31




Based on his performance last year, Byard is the obvious pick for the Titans' secondary captain. Drafted two years ago from Middle Tennessee State, K.B. has been one of the early gems from the Jon Robinson era. He's young, scrappy and hungry (to borrow from Lin-Manuel Miranda), and I fully expect Kevin to at least come close to matching his All-Pro stats of 2017.

Johnathan Cyprien, Safety #37

Wesley Hitt/Getty

Perhaps missing the first half of the season hampered one of two big free-agent DB pickups in 2017. Regardless, Johnathan Cyprien was something of a disappointment last year. He wasn't a complete failure by any stretch; Cyp was the team's fourth-leading tackler in the divisional round loss to New England. He definitely could have played better. If he stays healthy in 2018, his numbers should go up significantly. He won't make many highlight reels, but the Titans brought Cyprien on for his solid tackling ability. I'm not sure how this matters, but of the five guys I'm talking about tonight Cyprien seems to be the one whose name has popped up least in my following of the Titans' camp this summer.

Malcolm Butler, Cornerback #21

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

I am beyond excited about this guy. Considering he broke my heart three years ago, that's a little surprising. That said, the new free agent acquisition has had the most exciting camp of any Titan so far. He's made several highlight-reel plays just in the four camp days that have taken place to this point. In fact, watching and reading up on his training camp is mostly what inspired me to write this. Whether it's because of his much-publicized Super Bowl benching or not, Butler seems incredibly motivated to be the best player on the field this year. I'm ready to see how that motivation translates into actual success.

Adoree Jackson, Cornerback #25

Christopher Hanewinckel/USA Today

The Titans brought Malcolm Butler in to start at cornerback, which means one of last year's two primary starters at the position will be moving to nickel for five-back defensive formations. I'm not sold on either Logan Ryan or Adoree Jackson at that point, but of the two Jackson has by far the most potential. The problem is, all of Adoree's rookie season the talk was about his potential as well. I guess I'm mostly basing that on his non-defensive performance, because he actually led Tennessee with 17 pass deflections and three forced fumbles (a lead he shared with Brian Orakpo). His work as a returner was solid, but not as amazing as many expected. I heard "he's always a threat to break one" a time or two too many referring to a man who has zero career return touchdowns in the NFL. There's room for improvement all around for the second-year out of USC, but now that I've done some research it seems 2017 was a solid start for Jackson.

Logan Ryan, Cornerback #26

Wesley Hitt/Getty

To say Logan Ryan's first season in Tennessee was disappointing would be an understatement. He got zero picks for the first time in his career, and he posted his lowest totals in tackles and passes defensed since becoming New England's full-time starter in 2015. This leads me to think Logan has a better chance of playing in the nickel position than he does of being the Titans' full-time starter opposite his old buddy Butler. The fact that the two were backfield mates for the Patriots does intrigue me, though I admit this is the first time since the Titans signed Malcolm that I've even given the idea thought. We'll see if that ends up helping Ryan earn the other starting corner spot over Adoree as the next month plays out.

Ultimately, who starts opposite Butler and who plays in five-back situations should come down who performs better in camp and the preseason. Regardless who gets the starting nod, I'd expect the situational back to get plenty of playing time as well. On paper, the Titans have one of the better defensive backfields in pro football this year. If they can play up to their potential (there's that p-word again), it could be a very fun year watching that unit.

As I mentioned, there's no telling if I'll turn this into a series or not. If I do, which group of Titans should I cover next? If you're one of the three people who read this, let me know.