Fantasy Football Daily - 2022 Franchise Focus Series: Tennessee Titans

Episode Date: June 25, 2022

Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) invites NFL Nation reporter and ESPN radio personality Turron Davenport (@TDavenport_NFL) to discuss the upcoming season for the Tennessee Titans. The Franchise Focus Podcast series is brought to you by Underdog Fantasy (@UnderdogFantasy). New users can sign up to Underdog using promo code FANTASYPTS for up to $100 in bonus cash on their first deposit. Visit fantasypoints.com/underdog for more info. The podcast series is also sponsored by Evan's Sports Cards & Collectibles (@evanscards). Follow @EvansCards on Twitter for weekly updates and card releases, Like on Facebook, and head to evanssportsnj.com for more info, including the always-updated eBay store. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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from numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. Y'all know what we're doing here. It's the franchise focus podcast series here at FantasyPoint.com. My name's Joe Dolan, but you know that already. really excited for today's guest to talk Tennessee Titans. His name is Terran Davenport. He is erstwhile of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and covering the Philadelphia Eagles, but now he does a phenomenal job covering the Tennessee Titans for ESPN NFL Nation. You can follow him on Twitter at T Davenport underscore NFL. Again, his name is Teran Davenport, and he is so kind to take a few

minutes out of his day to talk to us here on the Fantasy Points podcast. Terran, thank you so much for joining us and how are you doing? You're ready to talk some Titans? Oh, yeah. I'm doing really well. Appreciate you having me on them. I'm definitely ready to talk some Titans. Let's do it. Okay. All right, Tron, so obviously the thing that a lot of people are going to wonder now with the Titans, we know the Titans are a run first team. But even when Derek Henry was was popping for 2,000 yards a couple of seasons ago, you had two, maybe not alpha dog receivers, but you had an alpha dog receiver in AJ Brown and a really good number two in Corey Davis. You know, AJ Brown's going off for 1,100 yards when Derek Henry is running for 2,000 yards.

And now I think the average person is going to look at this passing game and wondering, where is the production going to come from? You trade for Robert Woods the Titans do. They draft Traylon Burks. But based on your observations at OTAs and heading into training camp, where are the Titans with this passing game? How confident are they in the ability? of the new faces to replace the production of A.J. Brown.

Yeah, they're always going to be confident that they could do what they have to do on game day. But just in watching them in OTAs and minicamp, it really has been a lack of impressive plays from the wide receiver position. So I would say it's going to come from Robert Woods once he gets fully recovered from the ACL, which he tore that in November, his left knee. And just to be out there, for OTAs was a huge accomplishment itself. So we'll see how that comes along. I think the same could be set for Trailing Birx.

Just how is he going to be able to get acclimated to Nashville as far as the asthma condition? So it will probably come from those guys. Nick Westbrook McKinney is another guy that they like to target. So I think those are the three names receiver-wise that they'll go to in order to try to make up for the loss of AJ Robb. You know, I'm sure you've heard. this question a million times, but there were a lot of comparisons to A.J. Brown from

about Trailing Berks. And obviously, the Titans essentially used the pick. They got Ford Brown to draft Burks. I know the asthma situation, the allergy situation that was very visible in mini-camps and OTAs popped up with Burks. But did you see any of that usage with Burks similar to the way the Titans have used A.J. Brown in the past? As far as the Titans doing, showing signs of it already? Yes, as far as the Titan showing. I know you've probably studied the player. But, I mean, did you even get the opportunity to see that?

Or was Burke's not even out there long enough? No, I mean, they wouldn't have really, right now is just mostly basic install. Even if he was out there consistently, they wouldn't have gotten far into details as far like how they're going to use him to replace AJ Brown and the different things. It's still early. That's something that, you know, they're still working to install and get going. Did you notice Robert Woods favoring that left ACL at all? And I mean, not that that would be a surprise.

As you mentioned, he tore in November. But did you notice that there might have been a little bit of a hitch in his giddy-up? Yeah, I mean, naturally there's going to be a hitching his giddy-up. That's something that, again, just him being out there. after tearing it in November, it is an accomplishment in itself. There was somewhat of a hitch. You could tell, you know, when he goes to plant off that left leg and turn, like through some of the drills and things.

But I still think it's really positive as far as the direction that is going. I don't think it's going to come as any surprise to people where the ball is going to go for the Titans when they kick off in week number one. and presuming he's healthy, Derek Henry is going to get the football. And especially with all the questions we have about the receiving group. Now, of course, Derek Henry, a guy who's been pretty indestructible in his career thus far, heading into last season he had missed only two games, as you well know. But now he's coming off a season in which he missed nine games.

Yes, he did make it back to the postseason. And as we know now, I mean, this is a guy who has over 1,500 touches counting playoffs in his NFL career. how confident are the Titans in Derek Henry's ability to recover from the foot injury from last year and handle what is certain to be, presuming he's healthy, yet another absolutely massive workload as he tries to carry this offense. Yeah, they're fully confident. That's the plan is to run the football. That's the brand of a football that they play, and that's what the offensive coordinator said. And that's going to be the case regardless of whether Henry's there or not.

I think that's why they added Hassan Haskins as an option in the fourth run. round, but they'll continue to focus on Derek Henry. He is the catalyst for the offense. So they're 100% confident that they'll be able to execute it just as they did before. Not to say that he was able to handle the offense in a similar way as Henry or be kind of that just like dynamic force at the running back position that we just don't see a whole lot these days. But were you a little bit surprised that Deontay Foreman didn't resign with the team?

I was surprised that he didn't resign. sure that he would be back. Going to Carolina kind of confused me because it kind of put him in the same situation. But at the end of the day, he did what he felt was best for him. I think, you know, being back with the Titans would have been a better deal for him. Yeah, so we know the Titans understand the importance of that backup running back position. Just a couple of years ago, you know, they spent a third round pick on Darantin Evans, and things didn't work out for Evans with injuries and all that stuff. But you mentioned Hassan Haskins.

You bring him in with a fourth round pick. And, you know, when it comes to Haskins, I think he's a guy who's probably a little bit of a no-nonsense runner. You know what you're getting with Haskins. Is there a scenario you see where he essentially works himself into being the number two behind Henry and maybe even getting on the field right away as a rookie? Oh, he'll get some playing time as a rookie. I don't know about being the number two because they really like Dantrell-Hillard.

And he will probably be a third downback. but they'll use Haskins to get, just to get Henry some time, you know, to give him a blow, right? And to keep that workload from being, you know, in the high 260, 270s like it's been before. Now let's get to the quarterback position. And we had heard speculation, you know, before the draft. I don't know if it was informed speculation or, you know, just draft Nix trying to create something spicy. and talk that, hey, you know, don't rule out the Titans as one of those teams that can maybe surprise you in the back end of the first round, draft a quarterback. As we know, the quarterback position was, this class was just derided essentially by the entire NFL with only one player, that being Kenny Pickett going before the third round.

But the Titans end up getting a guy in Malik Willis, who many had projected, as a matter of fact, I would think most had expected him to go in the first round of the NFL draft, whether that be in the top half, the back end or wherever. they bring in Malik Willis, Ryan Tannahill's got a contract that the Titans can get out from under in a short period of time. What should we be looking at here with Ryan Tannahill vis-a-vis Malik Willis? Is this something where, given Tannahill success, I would be surprised, but is this something where if things go off the rails, we could actually see Willis play at some point as a rookie? Yeah, it's not likely. They're taking more of a developmental approach with him. They're starting from the ground up.

They're working on the operation now. And I would highly doubt Willis will see significant time this year. It's more of a down-the-line approach for him. How did Tannhill react to the pick of Willis? I don't ever expect a guy's happy at the quarterback position when they select somebody in the first three rounds. But the comments were, oh, I'm not here to mentor. We've heard that from 100 guys in the past.

Did you think that was adequately reported? Was it maybe a little bit overblown, maybe a little bit of both? Well, it was overblown and it was taken out of context. He was simply saying that his job is to make sure that the Titans are a winning football team, that they win games. So that's really what he was getting at. He understands the quarterback room, the dynamic. And to tell you the truth, he's actually already been.

working with Malik Willis in different things. And you see them communicating on the field. And he's being a mentor, whether he says it or not, it's happening. And he had Malik Willis in the offense, the rookies over at his house. And, you know, Malik Willis said that the relationship is fine and there's no issue. So I think he took it well. He understands the situation. I mean, he was once drafted to be the quarterback, and he went in, and he took the job, you know, his rookie year with the dolphins.

He gets how the process works. Hey, Fantasy Points listeners, Ben Cucanis here, letting you know that the franchise-focused series of podcasts is brought to you by Evans' sports cards, the best place for cards, collectibles, autographs, and more. All of our memorabilia giveaways are always from Evans' sports cards. He always has the latest boxes and releases from Panini, Upper Debt, tops and more. It's a family-owned small business, not a super store that you have to deal with. They're located in South Jersey, so great for an in-person visit, but just as good to visit their eBay store as well. Follow at Evans cards on Twitter for weekly updates and card releases,

like them on Facebook, and head to Evansportsnj.com for more info, including the always-updated eBay store. Some releases this week are the 2021 Panini Contenders and Optic Football, as well as the 2022 Panini Select Baseball. That's Evansportsnj.com online and at Evans' cards on Twitter. Tell them the guys from Fantasy Points sent you. So just going back a little bit because, as you know, the Titans aren't necessarily a team that's going to have production coming from all over the field. I think that's pretty obvious.

It was even obvious when they had the great offense a couple of years ago. I think there are some who are puzzled, many maybe who are puzzled. A.J. Brown, 24 years old. He doesn't, I mean, 25 in late June. I think by the time we published this, he'll be 25. But ultimately, the guy's really young. Philadelphia signs him to a hundred million dollar contract. A lot of folks are wondering, why did the Titans move this guy? Why were they eager to get out from under A.J. Brown and essentially replace him with a player who, if all things work, he becomes A.J. Brown. Was there concerns about the knee? Were there some other concerns? What was your whole read on that situation and how that relationship went sour? No, they wanted to sign it. I mean, they were willing to go, you know, up to 20 million. And there just was a disagreement that happened. And they weren't able to get on the same page as far as the necessary compensation. And a trade was demanded. And here

we are. So it wasn't any worry about his knees or anything like that. They felt he would still be the same player. And that's why they offer, you know, their offer was reportedly up to 20 million. All right, Toronto, I'm going to put you on the spot here for some of the fantasy players listening. And I'm so upset to do this to you because I know the Titans are just such a team where we kind of feel like we know where the ball's going to go when it goes somewhere. But if there were a player who might not be on the tip of the tongue of like the average football fan right now who could come out and maybe run for 600 yards or maybe catch 50 or 60 passes on the Titans maybe somebody we haven't talked about yet who do you think is that player who might

surprise a little bit this season yeah i think it's austin hooper the tight end he and ryan tannan hill are working to really establish a connection he's showing himself to be pretty crafty as a route runner and that's somebody that's really going to be able to benefit you know work in the middle of the field, which is an area that Tannahill likes to attack. And there's a 23% target share that's up for grabs with A.J. Brown being gone. So I would imagine he'll benefit from that. Yeah, and I think a lot of people forget that, you know, even when A.J. Brown and Corey Davis had that great season in 2020, obviously Derek Henry there as well. John Hsu Smith was actually a big part of that offense. So there's certainly a role there for somebody to come in and take some

targets. Yeah, absolutely. I think that's where Hooper comes into play. Terran, thank you so much for joining us here on the Fantasy Points Podcast in the franchise focus series. Y'all know we're going to have all 32 teams covered with a great beat writer. You can follow him on Twitter at T Davenport underscore NFL. He covers the Titans spectacularly for ESPN NFL.

His name's Teran Davenport. Teran, thank you so much for joining me. And we'll talk to you soon, my friend. No problem. You got it. Appreciate you having me on. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform.

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