Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - Ultimate Division Crossover Special, Part II

Episode Date: July 14, 2020

On today's episode, Part II of our ultimate division crossover special featuring the hosts from all AFC South squads. This time around, we dissect the Tennessee Titans.From Ryan Tannehill's ascension to the future of Derrick Henry, all angles of the Titans are put under the microscope by our Locked On hosts.Will the Titans be able to recreate their magic, or is this the Colts' division now after their huge offseason?All of this, plus so much more, in our latest batch of analysis! Stay tuned for Part III featuring a deep dive on your Indianapolis Colts! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We are back for part two of our Ultimate Division crossover, our training camp preview for the AFC South. We are here. I am the host of the Locked on Titans, Tyler Rowland, here with host from the Locked on Texans, John Hickman, host of the Locked on Colts, Evan Sidery, and host of the Locked on Jaguars, Tony Wiggins. We are going to be discussing the Tennessee Titans today.

And obviously, the Titans had a magical run at the end of the season to the AFC Championship game. They have brought back most of those pieces, including quarterback Ryan Tannehill on a huge $100-plus million deal. Looks like Derrick Henry will be back on the franchise tag but today he could sign his extension with the Titans before the franchise tag deadline tomorrow on July the 15th so that is something to watch of course the Titans defense is relatively the same as well a few key veterans have left like Jarrell Casey but they have slid in a few key pieces, like Vic Beasley as well.

So the Titans will look to mostly bring back the same core and repeat the success they had last year in hopes to take that next step. But that's kind of where the Titans sit right now going into training camp. Tyler, let me start this off here, putting you on the hot seat. So I said, we've done doing through the whole week here on the ultimate division crossover. And the first one I had for you at least is about the quarterback slash

because from the cold side of things, they played Marcus Mariota and week two. And then from there they played Ryan Tannehill and obviously the results flipped for them when Tannehill kind of shredded their defense up and Mariota in the first match, it can really do much at all. What was it like watching Mariota last year struggle so mightily and then seeing Ryan Tannehill kind of being their defense up, and Mariotta in the first matchup couldn't really do much at all. What was it like watching Mariotta last year struggle so mightily and then seeing Ryan Tannehill kind of being reborn, so to say, in Nashville? I would say all of it is bittersweet, quite frankly,

because the Titans were down for so long for a decade before Marcus showed up. And while he had his ups and downs and was never incredibly consistent outside of his second year in 2016 before his first major injury, you had an attachment to Marcus for that reason, gave him a playoff win, the comeback, some of the moments against, you know, the Jaguars, the stiff arms, things like that, and to watch him kind of crumble before our eyes in the moment where it was like this is his fifth year or his fourth year, you know, it's, it's, it's go time. It's the last one of his rookie contract. You know,

it's time for him to show it. We got a bunch of weapons around him. Everything is in place to compete. And he just, he just couldn't do it. And it was, it was sad, quite frankly, you were angry during the season or frustrated, I guess, is the proper emotion to explain because you want to win. You know, at the end of the day, everyone's watching the games and we want the team to win. And I was frustrated.

But after the switch to Tannehill happened and you saw Tannehill kind of take off my lasting emotion about Marcus is just kind of sadness, sad that, you know, the injuries took its toll, things weren't consistent enough for him, and then he just couldn't step up to the plate, so bittersweet in that sense, but once Tannehill really took over the reins of the team, and the team was able to play exactly how you imagine things could work out, it was pretty incredible. The Titans are not a franchise known for fun offense, they've always been run the ball, play defense. And I know everyone who just watched the Titans in the playoffs thinks that's what they did all year.

But, no, Ryan Tannehill was spinning it all season and making exciting plays, making incredible throws, using his athleticism to run the ball and score touchdowns on the ground along with Derrick Henry. So it was incredibly fun to watch and so unexpected that I think it's going to be a memorable season in Titans history forever, regardless of what happens next. So Tyler, let me ask you a question about your team. First and foremost, there's a serious love-hate relationship.

Well, let me call it a hate-hate relationship between the Titans and the Jacksonville Jaguars. That goes back over 20-some odd years. Jaguars, back in the season that was their best season in 1998, they went 15-3. They lost

three games to Tennessee. All three. All three. Most people believe if if they had got past the Titans they would have won the Super Bowl they would have beat the Rams that being said we love Derrick Henry Derrick Henry is actually from about 15 miles from where I'm sitting at right now

doing this podcast we hate to see a native of our own guy up there running around, and you guys are happy with him, and fans here sometimes aren't happy with Leonard Fournette. How has Derrick Henry been able to overcome a slow start with the first year and a half to really, really become the pulse of that offense

and personifying the entire attitude of the Tennessee Titans? Can I tell you the honest truth? People, you know, on my show, I focus a lot on scheme and what the Titans are doing with their outside zone and the X's and O's of things. But the answer to that question has nothing to do with football. Quite frankly, Deion Lewis was basically getting a majority of carries for a few games. We saw David Flewellen get a few carries over Derrick Henry halfway through the 2018 season

when Matt LaFleur was the Titans offensive coordinator. And Eddie George talked to Derrick Henry and told him, you're running like a finesse back you know you're not running like your size and this is your career on the line right now like you're getting carries taken away by Deion Lewis and we all saw Deion Lewis is not a starting running back in the NFL shouldn't be taking carries away from someone like Derrick Henry and after that conversation halfway through the 2018 season is when Derrick Henry became one of the best running backs in the NFL. He just changed. His mentality changed. He started running behind his pads more, running with the shoulders down more, using that stiff arm, just refusing to go down. A lot about

the running back position is mentality. It's will. I know that they're skilled players. They really are, but a lot more to the running back position than people give credit is your will to just not go down and uh derrick henry's mentality changed and that's really what saved his career but um wig i'm gonna give you a little hot take here something that i've been thinking about that i haven't said yet on my show or on twitter or anything but if the titans do not give an extension or a long-term contract to Derrick Henry here. And he becomes a unrestricted free agent next year. My prediction is he will return home and Derrick Henry will be a Jacksonville Jaguar. If he is not a Tennessee Titan, he will go back home because Leonard Fournette is having issues with the

current regime. He wants out of there reportedly. He's always, you know, making conversation. His rookie contract is going to expire at some point. And I think that the Jaguars would love to replace Leonard Fournette with the exact opposite kind of mentality guy, a silent killer, a workhorse in the locker room, a real leader of a football team, someone they can pair with a quarterback like Gardner Minshew or a Trevor Lawrence, if that takes place. And you can afford a big-time running back like Derrick Henry

if you have a rookie quarterback like a Trevor Lawrence or a Justin Fields. So I know the Titans fans may not want to hear that, but if the Titans don't give Derrick Henry his money, I think he goes to Jacksonville. Let me pick it back off of that, that too before we get to John's question. You said that he was criticized by Eddie George for not running with his pads down. He probably, in my opinion,

was dealing with the fact that the league has gone to all of these airbacks. And so he was trying to prove that he could do something that he's not. So guess what? When he comes here, you know, you know the biggest complaint about Leonard Fournette outside of the stuff that you hear coming out of the locker room. And really, he's just a funny guy. He had some issues, but he, Leonard's not a bad dude. So it does a lot of charity. The thing is, is the criticism of the fans here is that he tries to run over

people and he doesn't make a mess. So they would be hypocrites if they turn around and actually accept the fact that they're going to get a running back who's going to run over people and not make people miss when he does everything that he's supposed to do because that's what they criticize Fournette. Now here's why they criticize Fournette for that, because Fournette was the number four pick. Deshaun Watson and Patrick Holmes were on the board.

And Christian McCaffrey went three picks later. Alvin Kamara went in the third round. Dalvin Cook went in the second round. All of those guys are airbags in the same draft. And Kareem Hunt went in the third round. All of those guys are airbags, make-or-miss guys, and Leonard isn't. And the quarterbacks were on the board, and they didn't take them. So, really, they're kind of like the same guy,

if you ask me. Well, I, I personally, in my opinion, obviously, I think Derek Henry is a better player, but I know that Leonard Fournette, maybe gets a worse rap than, than he should in Jacksonville, but just, just a prediction, you know, there's something that I could see taking place if the Titans don't, you know, get that long-term contract done with Henry by, you know, this time tomorrow. Tyler, my question is – Gino, this is John from Lockdown, Texas.

My question is how can you guys get back to the 2018 defense? The offense seemed to transcend last year once Tanner here was, you know, inserted into the starting lineup. But how can you guys get back to being like, wow, this Titans defense is really good. We have to really game plan for them because I think you average a little bit, six or seven more points allowed this year on defense compared to the 18 from 2018. Well, I would say one big problem that the Titans ran into last year is, well, one, when you're scoring more points on offense

and you're hitting big plays that are going for a lot of yards and scoring touchdowns very quickly, the defense is going to be out on the field more and have more opportunities to get scored on and give up yards. But also, he gets a bad rap, and that's Malcolm Butler at cornerback. He broke his arm halfway through the season against Carolina. And after that, the Titans defense really took a hit. We started having cluster injuries at the cornerback position,

playing our fourth, fifth, sixth-string cornerback as starters or valuable role players in our base defense and our nickel package. We ran dime a lot last year with six defensive backs out on the field, and it's just hard to play the defense that the Titans wanted to play with all these complex zone blitzes, you know, rolling your zone coverages left and right, and do all these difficult things when you're bringing in guys from the practice squad and you have your fifth

and sixth-string cornerback out there for a majority of the game, it's tough to be the defense you want to be when stuff like that happens. But I think the Titans have gone a long way to try to add some depth and athleticism to the defense so that they can play that speed defense that they want to now.

And I also think that we're going to see a little bit of a shift. The Titans will always do those complex zones and things like that. But having a player like Logan Ryan as your nickel cornerback, he can't really play man-to-man coverage. That's not his game. That's not the type of scheme he needs to be in. So that kind of limited what the Titans could do

in terms of their man coverage usage, which I think they're going to do a lot more of this year. And drafting a player like Christian Fulton at cornerback, who played tons of press man at LSU against some of the best wide receivers in college football, I think that goes a long way towards transforming the defense into more of a man coverage defense. Because I think we've seen that the only real way to deal with these high profile offenses, like the Kansas city chiefs, which all of us in the AFC, that's what we're chasing now. And after that 10 year deal with my homes,

that's, that's what we're all going to have to chase. How can you beat Kansas city? I think the only way you can really take on a speed offense like that is to blitz the quarterback, make them get rid of the ball early. So they can't hit those deep shots and have guys who can cover those speed guys man-to-man so that's how the Titans are going to try to get back to being a more balanced team and having you know even if the offense regresses a little bit from a historic you know offense last year if the defense steps up a little bit more and gets even close to 2018 or the first half of 2019, then they can be a well-balanced football team

and win a lot of football games. Yeah, we can transition on now into segment two. Before we do so, I want to remind everyone, if you're not already, to subscribe to every show here on the Locked On Podcast Network, especially the ones here hosting your shows for the AFC South. They're Tyler Rowan with Locked On Titans, Anthony – Tony Wiggins with Locked On Jaguars,

and John Hickman and Cody Davis over at Locked on Texans, as well as myself, Evan Sattery of Locked on Colts. We give you guys great content every single week here on the podcast. And we want to make sure you're subscribed to wherever you're listening to us. Type in Locked on Titans, Texans, Jaguars, Colts, wherever you're listening on whatever stream platform. We're right there for you guys wherever you're at. So we'll be back to you guys in just a second here to kick off segment two

for Locked on Titans, talking about the Tennessee Titans even further. Alrighty, we are back for segment two, talking about the Tennessee Titans today with Tyler. And I wanted to ask you this, Tyler, because I think this player is poised for an even bigger breakout year in year two of his career, even though last year was already a massive year for him. A player I was kind of in the table for last year in the draft for the Colts to get. Unfortunately, he went a little bit before the Colts pick in the second round. That was A.J. Brown of the Tennessee Titans. 52 catches, 1,051 yards, eight touchdowns, over 20 yards of reception for a rookie is absolutely insane, Tyler.

What's your expectations for him in the year two? Because I feel like with Tannehill on board now, we could see A.J. Brown get around 1,500 yards and about 10 to 12 touchdowns next year. Yeah, I think that the reality of the situation is he got so many big plays last year. His efficiency was off the charge average and over 20 yards per catch. I just don't think that he'll be able to repeat that sort of efficiency, but I expect more catches. He wasn't playing more than 60 to 70 percent of snaps throughout the first half of the season. They really got him into the offense in a slow transition.

He kind of crescendoed throughout the year up to when he really broke out there on the back half of the season, the last eight games or so and really blew up and became the player that, that we're expecting to see more of. So I think he'll have more catches. You know, like you said, he only had 52. He'll have hopefully in the 80 range as it becomes more of a focal point of the offense, probably have a little less efficiency. But you've got to expect tons of yards,

and you've got to expect tons of touchdowns. His number one talent is his ability after the catch. He's a bull. He's a big man with incredible athleticism, incredible speed, and he has just an innate ability to know how to set people up to get open. And the Titans have great downfield blockers. They really do have a team full of guys who really hustle and try hard and do all the little things. So when you have a Corey Davis blocking downfield, a John U. Smith, you're going to be able to break some of these short catches off a play action that the Titans do for a lot of yards and big chunk plays. So I expect A.J. Brown to continue to blossom and to be in a top 10 wide receiver in the

NFL, although I expect a little less efficiency in terms of yards per catch. I expect more catches and similar production as he just fits perfectly into what the Titans are trying to do on offense and I think that's the number one takeaway of the offense is everybody just fits so well in their role yeah I would agree with that uh and uh Evan stole my thunder a little bit because I had a big big message here on my board here to talk about A.J. Brown because I think he's good so what I'll do is talk about the other guy who's a young guy who I think is really good. There was a lot of talk in the offseason about just like the nuke trade.

It's like, how come the Titans only got that for Jarrell Casey? And in fact, I was talking to a former NFL player online about it. And I said, have you seen Jeffrey Simmons? Because the thing is, is Jeffrey Simmons was actually drafted. His best position is where Jarrell Casey played and Jarrell Casey was an older player. So they moved on from Jarrell Casey, not to say that he wasn't good, but I think it's to maximize what Jeffrey Simmons can bring to the table. I think a year or two from now,

Jeffrey Simmons is going to be one of those guys that we talk about with Fletcher Cox, how we spoke of Fletcher Cox, how we spoke of Aaron Donald. Give me your assessment of him because he came back, you know, from a torn ACL and played early. And then last year when you saw him really get a full season, you saw how dominant he could be as a football player. Wig, if you were trying to put a smile on my face, man, mission accomplished.

Jeffrey Simmons is one of those players who, if he gets to his full potential, you're right. He can be a top five interior defensive lineman in the league with the Chris Jones, Aaron Donald, Fletcher Cox, those type of players. He really can be that. And I tweeted out a couple of pictures the other day, his picture from after he got drafted when he's in Nissan stadium with his Titans hat on from, you know, right after the draft, after he tore his ACL. And he's, you can see it in his face, in his neck, in his shoulders compared to the picture that he just put online a couple weeks ago. He doesn't even look like the same guy. It's,

it's really unbelievable no knee brace I think that at the time during the draft he was a top five talent you know he could have gone top four top three in terms of his talent before that ACL tear and then of course the the video surfacing of of his altercation with the woman when he was in high school um so all of that combined the Titans got him at 19 and I think if he's fully healthy, then yeah, I do see his potential getting there. And you have a better perspective on it than a lot of Titans fans do, quite frankly. That's the reason that they were able to get Jarrell Casey kind of out of there. It saved them $11 million.

And there's cap uncertainty with COVID-19. People want Derrick Henry re-signed so bad but you know they don't realize that they wouldn't have been able to even consider that if they didn't get rid of Jarrell Casey to there's Johnnie Smith who needs an extension and Jayon Brown who needs an extension so the money that they had to save Jarrell Casey going into his 10th season in the NFL and slowing down a little bit if we're honest throughout the year combined with Jeffrey Simmons, Ascension, and him playing the three technique best, that's his best role as an interior pass rusher.

So you combine all of those things together, it made all the sense in the world to get rid of Jarrell Casey. And while it was a seventh round pick, and that creates some consternation with Titans fans, if John Robinson could have got a higher draft pick, he would have taken it. It's not like he turned down better deals. Clearly nobody would have taken that salary except for only a seventh-round pick, or they would have just had to cut him, and people would have been even more upset

if they just outright cut Joe Casey as a cap casualty. So I think it was the right move. And at this point, how can you not trust what John Robinson is doing as a Titans fan with how he's turned this thing around? So that's kind of how I feel about the Jarrell Casey trade, but it's definitely still a divisive topic in the Titans fan base. And unless they make that one big move, I'm sure you guys know I'm talking about, I don't know if some people will ever be happy regardless of what happens. Yeah, here's my question. Not that flashy, not that fancy, but how do you feel about Logan Woodside and Cole McDonald's backups? I feel like the Titans should be calling Colin

Kaepernick. Fans don't want to hear that. You know, there's a portion of fans that don't want to hear that. You guys know. You see it. And I understand the downside of, you know, he hasn't played in quite some time. Of course, there will be more media involved than Tennessee is used to, all of that. And even if it's not Colin Kaepernick, somebody like a Trevor Simeon, a Blake Bortles, you know, they got to get somebody in there who can give them more certainty.

People want to say if Ryan Tannehill gets hurt for a long time, then the Titans are screwed anyway. Well, what if he only gets hurt for two and a half games? He goes out in the second quarter of a game and is out for two weeks. Are we going to tank the entire season with two dudes who we've never seen play? Cole McDonald, as a seventh-round rookie, they got to change his entire release mechanics just to get him to be able to play NFL football because he gets stripped so much because he hangs the ball down in this big loop that he does when he throws the ball. Logan Woodside, he's like the guy everybody said, no, I'd rather go with Logan Woodside, he's like the guy everybody's had. No, I'd rather go with Logan Woodside. Give him a chance.

We've never seen him be a consistent NFL player. He's a practice squad guy for most of his career. I'm not trusting a couple of weeks of the season to Logan Woodside. So, to me, call Colin Kaepernick. Work him out. Blake Bortles. Trevor Simeon. Give some of these guys a shot and see what they have. I know that everybody

wants to wait and see what Logan Woodside has, and I get it, but I just don't think the Titans, it's Super Bowl or bust for the Titans this year after last year. Whether we want to believe it or not, that's the case. You got to take that next step. And given a couple of weeks of the season to Logan Woodside or Cole McDonald, I think would be a mistake. So call a veteran backup who has starting experience, work them out, and let's not risk the season on these guys. Last one I have for you here, Tyler, on Tannehill, because when you look at his contract, of course, from the numbers standpoint,

four years, $118 million. But after the second year in 2021, the debt cap goes down to $10 million in 2022 so it's an easy opportunity if you want to but were you surprised by how big of money Tannehill got where over 118 million dollars only played around 10 weeks of the season he did very well in those instances leading the Titans all the way to the playoff they kind of relied a lot on Derek Henry not much on Ryan Tannehill's shoulders there is it kind of buyer beware we see how Tannehill does this year in Nashville with the full range with him? Because of course we haven't really seen him do it consistently throughout his career. I think any honest Titans fan will say there is some buyer beware feelings in

the, in, in the bottom of your stomach. You can't ignore it. Tannehill, like you said, he's had good moments. It's not like he was a bad quarterback, but he wasn't what we saw last year. That was Joe Montana levels for the last, you know, 10, 13 games of the season, including the playoffs. So you can't quite expect that again. But like I mentioned earlier in the show, just everyone seemed to fit so perfectly in their role.

And we haven't seen a Titans offense like that so long, you know, 10 years, 15 years. I think you just couldn't let him walk. And the thing is, you talk about the contract. And while that's the downside, oh, we're tied into so much money. COVID-19 obviously came out of nowhere and will affect the 2021 salary cap. But you got to hope it doesn't affect the 2022 and the 2023 salary caps. And if the salary cap goes back to normal in those

you know seasons then the Tannehill deal will look like a a pretty good bargain especially when we're seeing the contract that Patrick Mahomes signed you're going to see a contract for Deshaun Watson soon Lamar Jackson probably will get that sort of deal next year Dak Prescott could you know get a big free agent deal next year year if the Cowboys don't tag him again. So we could be looking a year from now in Ryan Tannehill's deal, which has already dropped from average per year from seven to 10 just since he signed it. He could be down at like 13, 12, 13 highest paid quarterback in the NFL by that time. So you look at that kind of value that you're getting for a

quarterback like Ryan Tannehill, who's probably right there from, you know, at his best, he can play top five and average, he might be 12, 13. So I think the Titans actually got really good value for Ryan Tannehill in that contract. And it just continues to increase in value as we see quarterbacks get more money. And with the salary cap going up as as we expect once we get through you know the pandemic reduced salary cap I think it'll it'll be a great bargain for the Titans to kind of keep the ship going forward in the same direction my last question for you is here with three or four years ago teams were were probably thinking, okay, eventually Tom Brady's going to get old. Peyton had left.

Okay, eventually, you know, Andrew Luck has to prove that he can get over the hump. Eventually Phillip Rivers is going to get old. Now, in the AFC, whoever plays in the AFC that hopes to go get a title, they have to deal with Patrick Mahomes. They have to deal with Deshaun Watson. They have to deal with Lamar Jackson. So be careful what you ask for.

My question is defensively in the defensive backfield, you guys, you know, you kind of play run game, power game, and people call it dinosaur football. They did it to Jacksonville in 2017. And Roethlisberger, throw him in. He's getting old too, right? And they got these young guys. Defensively, what is Adore Jackson? And can you guys – can you consistently guard people with your defensive backs?

Because I think that's the kind of league we're going to go to to stop those other quarterbacks. Yeah, I agree 100 percent. I think that's what the Titans are trying to do with some of the moves that they've made lately. And I think Adore Jackson is an underrated player. I think he's a really good cornerback. And his, quite frankly, Olympic-level speed allows him to be a primary cornerback to go up against Tyree Kale, T.Y. Hilton, some of these speed-wide receivers that we're seeing emerge around the NFL. So I do think that he's going to be in Tennessee long-term. They're going to give him a contract. They already picked up his fifth-year option.

And then Malcolm Butler's getting older, and the Titans will need to replace him. But I still think he has a little bit left to be that secondary cornerback for the Titans for at least another year. Christian Fulton was one of the best press corners in college football at LSU. He went up against premier wide receivers. I think he can take Malcolm Butler's place. I think the Titans next year, next year, cornerback will be a huge need for the Titans. I wouldn't be surprised to see them address that either in free agency with a mid-level player or go very high in the draft to get a cornerback to continue to do that. But the safeties and Kenny Vaccaro and Kevin Byard,

I think are fantastic. So if you have a Dory Jackson, you have Christian Fulton, you have Malcolm Butler, you look to add more to that position in the upcoming off seasons with the safety group I think the Titans are kind of building a secondary that you need to build to take down some of these high profile offenses but ultimately having a great pass rush will help with that and that kind of gets us back to you know talking about Jeffrey Simmons earlier and maybe if Harold Landry can emerge even further as an edge rusher but that is going to wrap up this AFC South ultimate division crossover podcast about the Tennessee Titans.

I am the host of the locked on Titans, Tyler Rowland here with the host of the locked on Jaguars, Tony Wiggins, host of the locked on Colts, Evan Sidery and host of the locked on Texans, John Hickman. We are going to be back tomorrow with the third edition of our Ultimate Division Crossover Series for the AFC South with the Indianapolis Colts

and host Evan Sidery. So we will see you guys tomorrow for that.