Fantasy Football Daily - Tennessee Titans with Paul Kuharsky | 2023 Franchise Focus Podcast

Episode Date: July 3, 2023

Is the Titans' window closed? Longtime Tennessee scribe @PaulKuharskyNFL talks that and more with our Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan), breaking down the 2023 Tennessee Titans from a fantasy football perspective. Want to join a high-stakes dynasty league -- or any other high-stakes league? All new FFPC users get $25 off their first FFPC league of $35 or more, including dynasty orphans, using our affiliate link: ⁠https://myffpc.com/cms/public?affid=fantasypoints⁠ ⁠FANTASY POINTS PROJECTIONS ARE LIVE⁠ FOR ALL STANDARD AND PREMIUM SUBSCRIBERS! Interested in playing Best Ball in 2023? There's no better place than Underdog Fantasy. ⁠Use our code FANTASYPTS⁠ to sign up for a new account at Underdog, and not only will you get a 100% deposit match up to $100... but you'll get a Fantasy Points Standard subscription for only $5! ⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/underdog --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time for the Fantasy Points Podcast, brought to you by FantasyPoints.com. Top-level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle, from numbers to the film room, with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. I'm Joe Dolan, and welcome back to the Franchise Focus Podcast series on the Fantasy Points Podcast Network. We continue the franchise focus podcast series with our third division, that being the AFC South. already previewed the AFC East and the AFC North. I hope everybody enjoyed those podcasts as much as I did. I hope everybody learned as much as I did, and I hope everyone was entertained as much

as I did breaking down those two divisions. We have eight teams down following this round of podcast. We'll have 12, and honestly, we're just going to keep on going until we're 32 down. We're going to break them down alphabetically by division. So the AFC South will begin with the Houston Texans, then the Indianapolis Colts, than the Jacksonville Jaguars, and then finally the Tennessee Titans. So thank you for continuing to support the podcast series. I hope this is something that you'll make part of your pre-draft routine in 2023,

your pre-training camp routine. Maybe you're doing best ball drafts right now, and you're taking these nuggets to heart as I am. So thanks everybody for continuing to listen, and let's continue with our breakdown of the AFC South. Welcome to another edition of the franchise-focused podcast here at Fantasy Points.com. My name is Joe Dolan, and I'm thrilled to welcome in one of the all-time greats on the NFL beat. He's covered the Titans for a while. He does it on his own at Paul Kaharski.com.

He hosts the Paul Kaharski podcast. You might have guessed. His name is Paul Kajarski. You can follow him at Paul Kajarski NFL on Twitter, Paul. Thank you so much for joining me on the podcast. It's a thrill to get you on and a thrill to talk to a fellow Springsteen fan. Well, thanks for buttering me up with. that big introduction, you get anything you want out of me now. Yeah, there's the, that's my combination. I can't get out of the way, the right way. Nashville and Springsteen combined for me. So I'm a displaced Jersey guy. Oh, okay. So I'm from, I'm from southeastern Pennsylvania. So I'm in the south now, too, because I live in Greenville, South Carolina. So we just bonded over

the fact we were both at the Atlanta, Bruce Springsteen concert in February. So I've got a brother who lives in Greenville. I'm going to be there in about a week for a week. Well, oh, fantastic. Well, I'm glad that I've met a fellow of Yankee down south. And I'm excited we're going to get to talk some football here. We're going to talk. I didn't want to take too much of your time. So we're going to talk some Tennessee Titans. And I just want to talk about Tennessee's interest. First and foremost, if you're listening to this, the situation might have been resolved by now. But when Paul and I are recording this, The DeAndre Hopkins situation has not come to a head.

The Titans seem to have some clear interest in DeAndre Hopkins. Paul, how do they feel DeAndre Hopkins fits on this team? And just if maybe I'm being a cynical fantasy player who remembers the Julio Jones situation, why do they feel like this is a different deal than the Julio situation? Well, I think DeAndre Hopkins was playing better, certainly more frequently healthy, the six-game suspension didn't help him in his last year in Arizona, slightly younger than Julio Jones. But, I mean, that's the question on the downside.

And my big question, Julio Jones came in here. Now, he cost them in a trade in a big way, not just finances. So I'd be better off with it if it's just money. It's going to be just money. But, you know, aging receivers who don't. don't practice, and the word is that Hopkins is not a big fan of practice. I don't think that he's physically unable to practice, however, and that's a difference. Julio Jones just wasn't able to practice.

But that didn't pan out very well, so it makes you a little bit weary. But the fact of the matter is the Titans after Trayland Burks are really bad at wide receiver. They really botched the whole thing. with AJ Brown, and they need to be more dynamic at wide receiver. If DeAndre Hopkins were in Nashville, a lot of guys would fall to their more natural place. On the depth chart, Chris Moore, Nick Westbrook-Akekekekeke, Kyle Phillips, and, you know, barring injury, they'd be, you know, a lot better off. and, you know, they've got huge injury issues over the last two seasons. So there's no guarantee that that receiving court would stay in line.

He's not the guy who's going to blow past people and stretch the defense, which is what they really need. But, you know, who's not, who in their condition isn't going to take a guy that you can throw to who's just going to make sticky catches while he's well covered. Mike Vrable knows him from Houston, Tim Kelly, the new officer. offensive coordinator knows him from Houston. He had a big year in 2019 under him. Seems like a no-brainer if they could get him. So even if DeAndre Hawkins signs with the Titans, they need a breakout from Trelon Burks, in my opinion, to have a functioning NFL passing

offense here. He only had 33 catches last year, fought through some injuries, but did have some of those first round flashes. How optimistic are you that Traylon Burks can take the second year leap forward? Yeah. I mean, a lot of the things that slowed him down, as he was learning things last year, seemed to not be issues now. He has asthma. He had trouble adjusting to Nashville, as odd as that seems, because he played in the SEC, and you wouldn't think it'd be that big a deal.

But Nashville is a tough town in terms of the heat and the humidity. He stayed here throughout the offseason to work out in that. His personality's really changed a lot more confidence. speaking with a lot more confidence was on the field throughout OTAs and many camps without incident. You know, I think if he could stay healthy and if he can adjust well to the offense, which is really largely new despite Tim Kelly coming up, you know, as Todd Downing's successor from within, you know, they're certainly keying on him. Other big options in the passing game are going to include.

Gacanquo, the tight end, who was very good when the ball came to him last year. It didn't come to him enough. It didn't go to Burke's enough when he was healthy. Tajey Spears, the third round draft pick out of the backfield is going to have a lot of opportunities when he's on the field as a third down back or on the occasions when he's on the field instead of Derek Henry or with Derek Henry and first and second down. because we talked about the thin, the thin wide receiving core, but Trayland Burks is clearly number one here and would be probably co-number one if Hopkins were to wind up here.

You mentioned the new offensive coordinator, Tim Kelly. What are some of the changes that you would anticipate to this offense stylistically under Kelly? Well, they've changed the tempo for. and foremost, to a degree that, you know, they said they were going to get faster. Well, they haven't really brought in many faster people. Their offensive linemen are faster. But they're saying, well, they're going to get more speed out of the guys that they have because of the way they're crafting the offense and because they're going to play more

up-tempo, be equipped to play more up-tempo. They've gone to one-word play calls. They'll be in and out of the huddle faster when they want to be. I think they'll get more plays when they want them because they're going to be more up-tempo. The offensive line's been completely revamped, and most of the guys who've been added are better pass protectors than run blockers. It's been the other way around for a long time. So that'll be interesting. We know Derek Henry is very effective when healthy.

People are expecting them to drop off a cliff at some point. didn't come last year where behind a bad offensive line on a bad offensive football team still found its way to 1,500 yards. Did get caught from behind more. You could see the beginning maybe of a slowdown, but still a very effective running back. But they were far too predictable, particularly with him running on first downs. I think Kelly will get away from that, see a little bit more motion. at the snap.

They've got to get down in the red zone more, be less predictable on first down, and fourth quarter. I just did in my podcast something about, Warren Sharp, you know, did something. If games ended at the end of the third quarter last year, the Titans would have been the third seed in the AFC, and instead they missed the playoffs.

They had 10 fourth quarters where they were shut out. So the second half adjusting was virtually non-existent last year. They've got to do a far better job of that. You know, when a team like the Titans misses the playoffs and doesn't score as many points as you think they should, a lot of the fingers end up getting pointed at the quarterback. And curiously, the Titans have spent a day two pick on a quarterback in two consecutive years. How long do you think Ryan Tannahill's leash is here? How much should the fingers be getting pointed at Ryan Tannahill?

Well, it wasn't that Ryan Tanahill played. you know, super poorly last year was that he's hurt. He missed five games. And they had to turn to Malik Willis, who was not ready at all to the point that, look, he was a rookie and you knew he was a guy who was going to need some time to get ready. But even from a rookie out of Liberty who was going to need some time, you expected to see some flashes in the games he played. And what we saw was a guy who was so bad that they went out and got a practice squatter from Detroit and Josh Dobbs who immediately went in front of Malik Willis because he was that bad. And Dobbs showed more life and did a better job even though he didn't win either. So five games that Ryan Tannehill didn't

start, five games that the Titans, you know, had they won one, they would have gotten to the playoffs and they didn't win any of them. So, you know, Tanahill's in the last year of his contract. He's He's very expensive. They've managed to finagle the salary cap in a way that they didn't have to extend him to to smooth out the money. But still far, far better than Malik Willis or the early, early signs of Willis, who I wasn't real excited about as a draft prospect. So, you know, I think Tanna Hill's in position here to have a good season and put

pressure on them or be in position to be, you know, a quarterback for a team that is in transition and needs to get better the way he made the Titans better at the start of his Titans tenure while they make the jump very likely to Levis in a year. But Levis has to do a lot of good work behind the scenes and the Titans will be hoping that Tana Hills stays healthy. And, you know, maybe in a year, if he's, you know, maybe in a year, if he's, He surprises everybody. Tana Hill's big question is the playoffs.

He's been terrible in the playoffs. He's been a pretty good regular season quarterback in combination with Henry, as long as they can run a lot of play action and the defense plays well. He gets to the playoffs and there's a lot of doubt. And if he gets to the playoffs and they eke out one game, that's great. But is he going to run the gauntlet through, you know,

Burrow and Mahomes and Herbert and Tua and Lamar Jackson and I'm sure I'm forgetting a couple. You know, it's highly highly. So let's go to Will Levis. It's going to be a big question because if the Titans do struggle at some point, you know, there's going to be talk about going to Levis. Always hard to draw conclusions from shorts and T-shirts, but what did you see from him in early mini-camps?

Yeah, he was not particularly impressive. And the comparison was more between he and Malik Willis, than it was, you know, I'm not saying any shit. You know, first off, you're hopeful if you draft a quarterback that high, he comes into those practices and it's kind of like dropping a bomb, right? You go, whoa, look at this guy. And you feel like, you know, immediate pressure on the starters. Nothing like that whatsoever.

Then the second tier would be like, well, you see some flashes of the kind of things you're going to want to see from a quarterback on Sunday. And I didn't see many of those. and it was apt that we were comparing him to Malik Willis when you'd prefer to be saying, well, there's some signs of Tannahill there, you know, the guy that they want him to replace in a year, or the guy that he'd be replacing if Tannahill, unfortunately,

would get hurt again. Now, again, that's six practices in OTAs and minicamp that we saw, no pads, no contact, all of that. maybe the lights come on for him in a bigger way in those in those situations he's got a lot to learn and all that comes out of a much more pro-style offense that's much more similar to what the Titans do than anything than Willis did but you know Taneyhill's not going into camp thinking you know there's any uh anybody pushing him it would be much more likely an injury situation or if things gone awry situation. And frankly, I think it'd be a huge surprise if the Titans got themselves in a situation where a healthy Ryan Tannehill got replaced by Will Levis during this season.

I think they'd like him to sit, watch, and learn, maybe get some mop-up duty. And then at the end of the season, if things have gone as badly as people are predicting for the Titans, he'd get in there. But I don't think this team's going to be, I don't think it's going to be good, but I don't think it's a three or four win team like a lot of people are betting on. You know, I think Mike Brable is a very good coach. Things fell apart for that seven game losing streak last year. But I think Mike Brable can coach this team to a floor of seven wins.

They get a second place schedule. They're playing the NFC South. They're playing Houston and the Colts, as usual. I think there wins to be had for them, even if they're not particularly good. So you mentioned in brief Tai J Spears, the rookie running back out of Tulane. He was the third round pick, which, as we know in this day and age, is a pretty good investment into a running back. There were some medical concerns about him prior to the draft. The Titans don't seem to be very, very concerned about it.

What have you seen from Tai J. Spears? Are you anticipating that there could be a role for him independent of Derek Henry? The Titans not being concerned about a collegiate injury is not an indication that they shouldn't be concerned about a collegiate injury because they have a terrible history here. And they shouldn't be bringing in guys that had serious hang nail problems given their state of their roster the last two years. Like he's ACL deficient, it seems like. And a lot of experts suspect like he won't be a second contract guy. Well, the Titans don't sign anybody to second contracts anyway, but if you're drafting a guy,

I don't know why you'd choose to draft one who seems to project to having maybe a four-year career. He looks great. I mean, he looks like a great complimentary back to Henry. Again, this is with no pads and no contact. Catches the ball very smoothly. Derek Henry has gotten better as a pass catcher, but Derek Henry generally is facing the quarterback,

or running basic screens. He's not doing wide receiver-ish things. Spears was doing wide-receiver-ish things in what we saw. I think he's the third down back right out of the gate. That was Don Trell Hilliard's job last year. He wasn't around. Don't Trell-Hillard, by the way, led the Titans with four receiving touchdown catches last year. So there's room for that, and that's where Traylon Burke,

so we were talking about or DeAndre Hopkins would come in handy. but I think Spears is the third down back right out of the gate and we'll get some chances on first and second down maybe some of them with Henry also on the field but I think we'll see him used in all kinds of ways as much as he can handle and he'll be a huge piece in newfound creativity for them. You know, when I was watching Titans games last year,

I remember just sitting there saying to myself watching Chigacanquo and I was saying I am going to have this guy everywhere in fantasy. You know, he's a small titan. He looks small. He almost looks like a running back out there. But boy, this guy moves incredibly well. I think he basically equaled Traylon Burks' production on half the routes run.

Do you think this is a guy who could become a legitimate game breaker for the Titans? Yeah. I mean, I don't think he's going to be, you know, George Kittle or Travis Kelsey. but I think he's going to be very good. A lot of the metrics, you know, what he did per catch and stuff like that were through the roof. And we were asking every week, once it was clear, how dangerous he was,

about them getting him the ball more. And they kept saying, Todd Downing and Mike Vrabble boat, we're going to, we're going to, we're going to. And they never did. I mean, three, four targets a game and it just never. look, they don't really believe in force-feeding a guy, and I understand that based on the match-ups, but when you're sacrificing throws to Chig to throw to Jeff Swain, a blocking tight end, you've got to throw to Swain once in a while to keep people honest,

but they were just spreading out too much last year when they had guys that were, you know, it was clear that Chigacanquo and Traylon Burks were their top-level guys, everybody else was a C-level option. And they should have targeted and planned to get the ball to those guys more. And I think Titans fans are hopeful that they will do that this year. They drafted another big tight end out of Cincinnati, Wiley, who I think could have a two-way role. And they brought in Trevon Wesco, who hadn't practiced.

this offseason, but who's very much a blocking tight end to take on that role. So any excuse that they needed to keep Aconquo in to block more should be gone, provided these two guys can do that job in line. And a Conco can be, you know, the Delaney Walker, Frank Wycheck type of guy that, you know, can do some dirty work, but that mostly can get out there and do damage as a receiver. And Frank Yichick, the original H-back, you know, He was one of those guys who was always lining up in the backfield. I love when you throw a throwback name out there. Now, Paul, I've been asking all of my guests for an under-the-radar fantasy player

that might contribute to this team, especially if the Titans don't end up signing Dandre Hopkins. They're going to need somebody to catch passes here. Do you have somebody in mind who might be making a little bit of a leap this season? Yeah, absolutely. It'll be Kyle Phillips, who was, I think, a fifth rounder last year out of UCLA. He lit up training camp last year, short. area, quickness, stop and go. Targeted seven, maybe nine times in the opener against the Giants,

made a big play to position them for a game-winning field goal that they missed, but hurt his shoulder on that play and then had a couple games where he just wasn't the same. Then he finally was coming back from the shoulder and severely injured his hamstring and was lost for the season. He really struggled as a punt returner. He muffed two punts in, I think, the four games that he played, three or four games. He needs to be the punt returner for this team. He should be at the head of the line.

He needs to get his head right on that. But I think as a slot guy who's going to, you know, catch six-yard passes on third and five and things like that, a little bit like Adam Humphreys, but more sudden. And the Titans brought in to Adam Humphreys a few years back. You might remember him he had concussion problems, but would have been. a good answer for them. I think if he can stay healthy, even if Hopkins is here, I think he'll get a lot of chances, particularly out of the slot.

And he can be, he's different than anybody the Titans have against man coverage can be a problem. And I think, especially in PPR, I think he can be a sneaky, a sneaky, got to keep an eye on. So his name is Paul Kaharski. You can follow his work on Twitter at Paul Kaharski NFL. He writes at Paul Kajarski.com and he hosts the Paul Kajarski podcast. I love this, Paul, because you were like, I'm not coming up with the creative name.

I am going to throw my name on it. You're going to know where to find my work. I really appreciate that. And Titan fans certainly have known your name for a while. It's been a pleasure having you on the podcast. Thank you so much for joining me. I was advised to brand it strongly. So I just went for it.

I love it. I appreciate you having me. I wish your luck with all this stuff, and let's check in along the way. Yeah, thank you, Paul. And welcome to Greenville. Maybe you'll be here by the time people are listening to this. It's been great hearing from Paul Kaharski. It's been great talking to all of you listeners.

As we continue our 32-team franchise-focused podcast series here at FantasyPoints.com. Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points Podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform. and come join the roster at fantasy points.com.