Tennessee Titans star defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons and offensive tackle Jamarco Jones had to make a trip to the sandpit Tuesday.

Simmons and Jones were involved in a minor skirmish during practice and incurred the standard punishment — getting removed from team activities and being sent to the sandpit behind the practice field for conditioning drills. Neither player returned to practice after the incident, which came on the third play of 56 team reps.

Titans coach Mike Vrabel elected not to talk about the incident afterward, saying he'd prefer to talk about the practice or the situations the team installed for the day. That said, he did speak at length Monday about why players are sent to the sandpit as punishment.

"That’s dumb (expletive) that hurts the team,” Vrabel said. “Might as well practice those things now and make an emphasis of go as hard as you want, but don’t throw a punch. Don’t be a second guy or retaliate. We might as well practice the way we’re hopefully gonna play.”

Vrabel and Simmons had a long conversation during a special teams session about 30 minutes after the incident. Jones is competing for the Titans' starting right tackle spot as Nicholas Petit-Frere serves a six-game suspension, but with Jones conditioning in the sand, all of the first-team reps went instead to veteran Chris Hubbard, who the Titans signed last week.

The incident happened on a play where quarterback Ryan Tannehill threw short to receiver Treylon Burks. The pass was tipped, but Burks redirected to catch the ball. The pass rush had a good rep on the play; in addition to pressure from Simmons, safety Amani Hooker also screamed into the backfield but his rush was picked up well by running back Tyjae Spears.

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Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on Twitter @nicksuss.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Titans practice: Jeffery Simmons, Jamarco Jones in skirmish