Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Cam Ward DAZZLES Tennessee Titans Massive Contingent at Pro Day, Lorenzo Carter & Joey Slye Sign

Starting point is 00:00:00 Tom Ward shines at his pro day and the Tennessee Titans show up 20 deep to watch their quarterback of the future. I'll break it all down on today's edition of Locked on Titans. You are locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked On Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans on today's edition of the Locked On Titans podcast.

Starting point is 00:00:38 We're going to break down Cam Ward, having a fantastic pro day and how the Tennessee Titans came out in masses to watch him work. Also, the Tennessee Titans made two additions on the defensive side of the ball, Lorenzo Carter, and they got a waiver claim in as well. Go over both those moves and a big change for the Titans on special teams. A new kicker is in and Nick F folk is out. I'll go over the big change before we get into all of that. Do want to thank you for making the locked on Titans podcast. Your first listen each and every day. Remember Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round,

Starting point is 00:01:16 always for free. Make sure that you get subscribed. Stay subscribed. It's your team every day. Speaking of every day, shout out to my every dayers out there tuning in Monday through Friday. Couldn't do it without you guys. If you aren't an shout out to my every dayers out there tuning in Monday through Friday. Couldn't do it without you guys.

Starting point is 00:01:27 If you aren't an every dayer, you need to be one. There's breaking news and big stories all the time this time of year and the draft is right around the corner. Make sure that you are as informed and as educated and as up to date of a Tennessee Titans fan as you could possibly be here with the number one Tennessee Titans podcast in the world. With that being said though, Cam Ward's pro day on Monday at the University of Miami. He was absolutely fantastic.

Starting point is 00:01:54 And I have to say the disclaimer before we even get into anything here, a pro day, a good pro day does not mean that you're going to be a good quarterback. I don't think that Cam Ward is going to be a good quarterback because he had a good pro day, a good pro day does not mean that you're going to be a good quarterback. I don't think that Cam Ward is going to be a good quarterback because he had a good pro day. I think he's going to be a good quarterback because of his tape, but having a good pro day and checking some boxes and doing some things that he'll have to do for the Titans that he didn't necessarily do a ton of in college. That was a good part of this process as well.

Starting point is 00:02:26 So cam ward work on some things that he'll have to do when he is the Tennessee Titans quarterback. So a good pro day experience overall, but I got to talk about the Titans part of this, the Titans sent the house literally. If you played NCAA at any point in time in your life, 50 points, send the house. That's what the Titans did for this pro day experience with Cam Ward.

Starting point is 00:02:49 The Titans contingent had dinner with Cam Ward on Sunday night. And then Monday at the pro day, you had Chad Brinker, Mike Borganzi, assistant general manager, Dave Ziegler. You had Reggie McKenzie, you had Brian Callahan, you had Dave Ziegler, you had Reggie McKenzie, you had Brian Callahan, you had Nick Holtz, you had quarterback coach Bo Hardigree. I mean literally everybody for the Tennessee Titans went to this pro day for Cam Ward. Not only did the Tennessee Titans send executives, scouts, and coaches to see Cam Ward? The Titans full media and social media team was present as well. Filming. Folks, I come to you to say this before we talk about

Starting point is 00:03:37 the ins and outs of the Pro Day. If you are someone who is going kicking and screaming into the Cam Ward era, I'm begging you now with a month left. Just let it go. Call the fight. It's over. Cam ward is going to be your quarterback of the future. The Titans entire media conglomerate was there. Why?

Starting point is 00:03:58 Because they're filming the pro day experience. And when they draft cam ward number one overall, they're going to have an awesome YouTube series about him becoming the pick. That's why the Titans entire media, not just the coaches, scouts, and executives went. I mean, Amy Adams, shrunk basically put a sign up saying we're taking cam war and if you still think that this is Mike Borgansi playing some sort of game to get a trade like, you know, honestly, I think you're just holding on to a dying wish at this point.

Starting point is 00:04:32 But with that being said, again, Cam Ward, excellent in his pro day. The Tennessee Titans were there to see it. Ward put a ton of work into his pro day. He was out there prepping four hours early. He's been working on the script that he wanted to show to NFL scouts since January. He didn't throw at the combine. He said his quarterback coach said he didn't throw at the combine because he wanted to put a spotlight on his teammates by throwing only at his pro day. So a guy who's going to endear himself to the locker room and cares about his teammates as much as himself. Some ins and outs that really stood out to me about cam wards pro day. Number one, after one of cam ward's best throws of rollout to his left, he threw the ball and then he looked at Tennessee Titans, general manager, Mike

Starting point is 00:05:19 Borganzi and Tennessee Titans, uh, what do we call it? Zara football, a president of football operations. If we want to be technical Chad Brinker, and he had something to say to him. He said something to them and they laughed and they chuckled and they can't walk back and kept it going, but whatever that was, I hope one day we find out. I hope one day we find out, I hope one day we find out. But Cam Ward in some way or another is letting them know, you don't want to pass on me, fellas. You don't want to pass on me.

Starting point is 00:05:54 And I don't think they will. But outside of that, we wanted to see Cam Ward do some things again that he's going to have to do at the NFL level that he didn't do a lot of in the college level. Cam Ward was not under center very often in college. And look, that's not a Cam Ward complaint. That's college football. A lot of the things that you'll hear about college quarterbacks, about whether they can get into a third or fourth progression, about whether they can read

Starting point is 00:06:19 defense is a certain way about rather, whether they can work under center. Can they do play action and turn their back to the defense and then turn back around and get it done? Things that you have to do at the NFL level that you weren't really asked to do at the college level. Can't Kim Ward do those? Well, he was able to work under center. We saw bootleg, we saw the deep and outside throws that he does need to work on. If you're going to be honest about Cam Ward and the evaluation of Cam Ward coming out of college, you have to say that deep throws outside the hashes are an area of weakness that he could improve upon. He threw some good passes in that realm. Incredible on posts and corners.

Starting point is 00:07:01 Some of the corner outs that he threw and then of course the double move where he's rolling to his left and Restrepo runs the double move down the left-hand sideline and Cam Ward throws a 60-yard dot across his body. Again a pro day throwing against air does not qualify you as the first overall pick. The tape qualifies you as the first overall pick. The tape qualifies you as the first overall pick. But having a good pro day just checks that box and everything we saw from Cam Ward, lefty roll out, out and up, corner out, deep and outside, bootleg, under center, RPOs. He was throwing the ball with such velocity.

Starting point is 00:07:44 Again, arm strength isn't just how far you can throw the football. Arms straight. This is the velocity at which you throw the football because getting the ball inside the tighter windows at the NFL level will require a certain level of velocity that is necessary. Remember Brian Callahan said there is a threshold on arm strength that you need at the NFL level, And that's just not distance. That's velocity. So keep that in mind.

Starting point is 00:08:12 I am curious, like I said, about the stance. Cam Ward is a prominent right foot guy. And when you're under center, it's hard to have one foot far out in front of the other like you would during shotgun. So will the Titans adjust that stance at all? Will they move that right foot back to center a little bit when he's under center? I'll be interested. That's just a nerdy thing that uh, you know, us diehards are going to be paying attention to going forward is cam ward stance and his feet and all that very interested but again

Starting point is 00:08:41 The pro day doesn't make you the first overall pick but I think it can check a good box. And I think it checked a good box for Cam Ward. He operated perfectly. He added in some things that you wanted to see growth wise and the Titans clearly sent the house to see Cam Ward proving again that I think called the fight. Cam Ward is the number one pick, but the Titans made some moves on the defensive side of the ball recently.

Starting point is 00:09:05 I'm going to go over that news with you guys right now. Do want to let you know though, that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. March Madness is here, baby. And FanDuel is giving you a chance to get in on the action like never before. Right now, new customers can get $200 and bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins that's 200 extra bucks to use on everything from buzzer

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Starting point is 00:10:12 Once again, make sure you go to Fandool.com. Titans fans. Let's continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We talked about Cam Ward's pro day. Excellent execution from Cam Ward. We saw some areas of growth, saw some things that we want to see. The Tennessee Titans were out in full force, including their team's media department, to capture the day, telling you about everything that you need to know, in my opinion. Going to be looking at that stance going forward for certain, but with that being said, the Titans have made some moves on the defensive side of the ball. They have added Edsrus rusher Lorenzo Carter.

Starting point is 00:11:08 And look, I'll say this first and foremost, we can talk about Lorenzo Carter as a player, but I think what is more important for Tennessee Titans fans to recognize about the Lorenzo Carter signing and the Dremont Jones signing is that the Tennessee Titans are fundamentally shifting what they are looking for at the edge rusher position. Now, maybe this is something that they were looking for last year, but because of the situation they were in with Harold Landry's contract and where they were with Arden Key, you know, they, they just decided to stay where they were at and see what they could do.

Starting point is 00:11:38 But I think that we're seeing a true fundamental shift or at minimum vision clarity for what the Tennessee Titans want from their edge rusher position. So they go out and get Lorenzo Carter. Lorenzo Carter is a seven-year veteran. He's played 96 games in his career. He's played at least 13 games in four straight seasons, continuing the theme of durability for the Titans. 278 tackles, only 21 and a half sacks in seven seasons. He had zero sacks last year for the Falcons. He had three sacks in 2023. He had four sacks in 2022. He's had 35 tackles for loss. Lorenzo Carter is a pretty good run defender. He is not a good pass rusher. That is just the reality. He's a rotational player. He's not a high level starter, but he could be an early down player for you who can use his massive frame, six foot five, 264 pounds to set the edge.

Starting point is 00:12:35 That is what I want to focus on here. So when you see the Titans go out and free agency and they get Draymond Jones, who's like 260, 270 pounds, six foot three. And then they follow that up with getting Lorenzo Carter at six foot five, 260 pounds. These are way bigger edge rushers than what the Tennessee Titans have had previously. Harold Landry is six foot two. He's an undersized edge rusher. Now Arden Key, Arden Key is skinny.

Starting point is 00:13:02 He's only about 240 pounds, but Arden Key is six foot five with great length. So I think what we're seeing from the Tennessee Titans here is they want big physical edge rushers. So when you use that information to go into the NFL draft, that's why on yesterday's show, when I did my seven round mock draft, if you missed my seven round mock draft from yesterday, go check that out. I tried back in the second round. I take cam ward, but in the fifth round, I took say beyond Jones out of LSU.

Starting point is 00:13:32 Why would I do that? He's six foot five, 260 pounds has versatility up and down the defensive line. He can set the edge as a physical run defender, but also have the versatility to kick inside and rush inside against the passer. That is exactly what Draymond Jones can do. And Lorenzo Carter doesn't kick inside and rush with versatility because he's just not a very good pass rusher in general. But again, it's another player that's a much bigger edge rusher.

Starting point is 00:13:59 So now you have six foot five, 240 pound Arden Key and six foot five, 260 pound Lorenzo Carter and six foot three, 260 pound Draymond Jones who can play on the edge for you. You add in Jaylen Harrell, who I believe is about six foot three. Um, and then you draft a guy who is a bigger edge rusher in like, you know, the day three, day two range, like a Savion Jones, who's a big body player. Jared Ivy from Ole Miss is a big body player. James Pierce Jr. From Tennessee, if he were to fall to 35 because of the all field stuff that people are talking about, he's six foot five.

Starting point is 00:14:36 He needs to add some weight that he could be a big physical edge. The Tennessee Titans are clearly shifting their defensive edge mentality. Oregon, maybe that is a step too far. Maybe the Titans have had this philosophy and Dynard Wilson has had this philosophy along the edge. But because of Harold Landry's contract situation, they didn't move off of Harold Landry last year and just let him stay even though he's undersized

Starting point is 00:15:00 for what they're looking for. But as they stripped down the roster from what it was when it was good previously to what it's going to be going forward, getting rid of guys like Harold Landry who are six foot two and don't meet your qualifications physically at certain positions, that's critical. I talked yesterday on yesterday's show, it's hilarious that, you know, we're getting to dive into

Starting point is 00:15:22 and sink our teeth into this right now because on yesterday's episode, I was talking about how the Tennessee Titans clearly want to be a bigger football team. They want bigger offensive linemen. They want bigger interior guards. You know, they aren't going to go with an Aaron Brewer center anymore. They're going to go with six foot five, Lloyd Cushionberry. They're going to go with a big bodied heavy guy like Kevin Zeitler.

Starting point is 00:15:48 They're going to move J.C. Latham to right tackle at six foot five, 340 pounds. They want a Dan Moore who's six foot five with great length. You know what I mean? So that's why. In the draft that I did yesterday as well, I went with Wyatt Millum, In the draft that I did yesterday as well, I went with Wyatt Millam, the former offensive tackle, 6'6", 313 pounds out of West Virginia, who's probably going to move along into the interior because he's got 32.5 inch arms. That's why I went with that because the Tennessee Titans as a team are looking to get bigger, stronger and faster. And at the end of the day, a guy like Lorenzo Carter, who make no mistake,

Starting point is 00:16:32 Lorenzo Carter is not at every down edge. Who's a great player. He's going to get a one year, three to $4 million contract from the Titans. He's going to be there edge three and early down. Like you could play Lorenzo Carter on first and second down against the run and then bring in Arden Key to be the pass rush. You can draft a pass rush centric rookie who maybe isn't big enough to be a run defender immediately.

Starting point is 00:16:59 And let Lorenzo Carter play and let Draymond Jones play on the edge so they could set the more physical edge. You could play out of more four-man fronts this way as well because you have two guys who the Titans had outside linebackers because they were more of a three-four base. They wanted a Harold Landry. They wanted a Bud Dupree and then now they're going to play with a more beefy four man front. You know, you can see the transition from the transactions.

Starting point is 00:17:29 They're the transition from the transactions. You can see it. So that's what it tells me seeing the Lorenzo Carter thing. It's bigger than Lorenzo Carter. It's hey, when we get into our draft preview series, which is coming up very soon, we are going to put a highlight a special little marker on edge rushers who are big bodied and physical. So just file that away.

Starting point is 00:17:51 Die hard Titans fans. If you really want to try to get a picture of who they might be looking for in the mid rounds at the edge rusher position, but the Titans also use that waiver claim. So I wanted to take a few minutes and explain to you that the Tennessee Titans, because they got the first pick in the NFL draft, they also get the number one waiver claim. And it's not like your fantasy football league where you use your waiver claim and then you go to the back of the list. No, the Tennessee Titans have the number one waiver claim for the whole season or whole

Starting point is 00:18:23 off season. So anybody who gets cut right now on rosters, anybody who gets cut during training camp, anybody who gets cut during cut down day, the Tennessee Titans get first crack at every single one of those players if they want to use their waiver claim on them. And the Tennessee Titans used that advantage this week. They added Curtis Jacobs, undrafted free agent from last year. He was signed by Kansas city and Mike Borganzi, who's now the type of general manager brings in a guy who he probably had a lot to do with bringing in as an undrafted free agent, he was with the Patriots most recently in the Patriots

Starting point is 00:19:04 waved him. The Tennessee Titans used the waiver claim on him. He's a former Penn State Nittany Lion, six foot one, good speed, good range. He's a good blitzer up the middle. He's got pass rush potential, has played a ton of special team snaps in college. He was on coverage units. He is a smaller guy at six foot one, doesn't shed blocks very well, doesn't have great coverage instincts, but as a depth linebacker for the Titans who can contribute on special teams and be another Otis Reese, James Williams, Cedric Gray, another young guy to develop, I think this makes it very unlikely that the Titans draft a linebacker.

Starting point is 00:19:46 I think this is the Titans drafted linebacker. Now, I think the Titans could add another undrafted free agent linebacker after the draft, but I do not think that the Tennessee Titans draft a linebacker based on this move for Curtis Jacobs. They had two drafted linebackers from last year. Otis Reese is going into his third year. Now you had Curtis Jacobs who's going into his second year after being an undrafted free agent last year. That's basically four young linebackers to go along with.

Starting point is 00:20:15 Obviously your top guy and Cody Barton. So I just don't think the Titans need to spend a draft pick at linebacker. If you want more depth and more young competition, get an undrafted free agent. It's not a great linebacker group anyway. But with that being said, the Tennessee Titans made a massive special teams change, a massive special teams change on Monday. And I'm going to tell you exactly what happened. They kicked Nick F folk to the curb.

Starting point is 00:21:07 Titans fans. Let's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We talked about Cam Ward's pro day. He did excellent. He checked that box. The Titans were there in full force, including the Tennessee Titans media group because they're filming. Come on folks catch up. But anyways, moving right along. We talked about the defensive additions, Lorenzo Carter and Curtis Jacobs.

Starting point is 00:21:31 Now we're going to talk about this special teams move because there were some people out there who weren't very happy about this, but I got to be honest with you. I don't mind. And I'll tell you what the Tennessee Titans have officially signed Kicker Joey Sly. And that means that they will not be bringing back Kicker Nick Fulk. Now, Nick Fulk was awesome as the Tennessee Titans Kicker. Make no mistake about it. Nick Folk was awesome But let me just say he's gonna be like 42 years old at some point in time At some point in time

Starting point is 00:22:18 Even if it's a small step back You gotta go find a kicker that you can have for a while You gotta go find a kicker that can be around that you can grow with it. You don't have to worry year to year. Hey, it like, is this guy going to come back? Is he going to retire? Joey slide is only 28 years old. He's going to turn 29 here in like three weeks. So now you have a kicker that's 29 years old that you can actually have around for the next five to six years. That's the plan. And look, make no mistake about it. Joey sly is not as good of a kicker as Nick folk was. He's not in

Starting point is 00:22:56 his career. He has a hit 81% of his field goals, 89% of his extra points. He's got an 80% touchback rate though. Last year for New England, 78% on his field goals, 96% on his extra points, 65% touchbacks. He's 88% accurate on field goals under 40 yards. He's 68% accurate on field goals over 40 yards. He's 68% accurate on field goals over 40 yards. But let, or did I say under 60 yards? That's under 40 and over 40. 88 and 68% respectively. Anyways, it's been a long day. Joey Sly is not as accurate as Nick Fulk. There's no question about it. But he's younger and also he has a much bigger leg.

Starting point is 00:23:50 Joey Sly has made multiple 60 yard field goals in the past few seasons. He made a 63 yarder last year for the Patriots. He made a 61 yarder the year before that. And if you remember, Joey Sly made the kick to win the Patriots, the game at the end of the season and give the Tennessee Titans, the number one overall pick, which they're now going to use on their franchise quarterback. And now after helping the Tennessee Titans secure their franchise quarterback, Joey sly is going to come to the Titans and reap the benefits of Kam Ward's

Starting point is 00:24:23 offense, putting him in position to score points. How fun, right? Just how fun is that? But anyway, the moral of the story here is the Tennessee Titans are trading the accuracy and instability of having Nick Fulk. And I just mean contract wise and status wise year to year, for the potential stability of a 29 year old kicker and the powerful leg that gives you the opportunity to hit 60 yard field goals. That's just a totally different avenue to be able to score points.

Starting point is 00:24:56 Now credit to Nick Folk. Last year he went 6 for 6 on his 50 yard field goals. Hit a 56 yarder. Like he was incredible. Make no mistake about it. But I understand why the Titans are doing this. And one other thing that I want to throw in here is at some point we got to just trust bones fossil. John fossil, the Titans, new special teams coach is considered a special teams guru in the way that bill Callahan is an offensive line guru. And at some point if bones fossil was saying, Hey, I want to trade an accurate kicker who's older for a younger kicker with a ton of power who isn't as accurate. Then we kind of just got to follow him on this one. I got a tail.

Starting point is 00:25:46 Uh, also I find it interesting and I really do apologize. Someone said this to me on Twitter. I forget who you are. I'm sorry, but great observation. It is interesting that what the Tennessee Titans have done on special teams is they have gone from a power punter who's young to an accuracy punter who's old. And they've gone from an accuracy kicker who's old to a power kicker who's younger. They flipped philosophies at kicker and at punter. Old to young, power to accurate. I find that very, very interesting. So, you know, it's a bold strategy cotton.

Starting point is 00:26:34 We'll see how it works out for him. Like that's all I got for that. But again, Camwards Pro Day, it doesn't qualify you as the number one pick, but it checks the box. The Tennessee Titans were out in full force. They're taking Cam Ward folks strap in, get ready, get on board. Now. Uh, they took him to dinner. He showcased a ton. They added two people on defense.

Starting point is 00:27:02 They make the change on special teams. I told you there's always a ton of stuff happening this time of year. You got to make sure that you get subscribed. Stay subscribed. This is the number one Tennessee tightness podcast for about five seasons running now for a reason. Draft preview is right around the corner tomorrow, unless there's more big news, which my promise to you guys as an audience is I will never prioritize my schedule for big news. When Titan's big news happens, we're talking about that above anything else that I've had planned.

Starting point is 00:27:41 But if big news, nothing crazy happens, I want to go over this roster and where they're at every position and talk about whether they need to draft free agency or both to add at any of the positions left on the roster. So all fence defense come in the next few days might do a mailbag on Friday. Might do a little financial Friday too though. Been meaning to do that with you guys. So we'll get into that. So a lot coming this week on locked on Friday. Might do a little Financial Friday too though. Been meaning to do that with you guys, so we'll get into that. So a lot coming this week on Locked on Titans. That is going to do it for me today though, folks.

Starting point is 00:28:12 As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans. Thanks for watching guys!

Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Cam Ward DAZZLES Tennessee Titans Massive Contingent at Pro Day, Lorenzo Carter & Joey Slye Sign

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