Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Can Tennessee Titans Guard Justin Jefferson, Will Treylon Burks Dominate & Offensive Line Challenges

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Tennessee Titans traveled to Minnesota for a week against the Vikings with joint practice and a preseason game. I'm going to tell you why the Vikings are a perfect matchup for the Titans to prep for the regular season on today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it. You are Locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome in to our first crossover of the year. Getting things started in the preseason.

Starting point is 00:00:51 Warming up, you know, getting ready for the season. But we got Tennessee Titans and Minnesota Vikings joint practices this week. So me, Tyler Rowland, host of Locked on Titans, and the excellent Luke Braun, host of Locked on Titans, and the excellent Luke Braun, host of Locked on Vikings, are going to be breaking things down for you guys from behind enemy territory here. We're going to talk about the vibes around each team, what the

Starting point is 00:01:14 biggest strengths of each team is, the weaknesses of each team is going to give you a good idea of what to look for from either side during these joint practices and then going into the preseason game this weekend. Before we get into all of it, I do want to thank all you guys for making Locked on Titans

Starting point is 00:01:28 and Locked on Vikings your first listen each and every day, Monday through Friday, content on your team every day. It's going to be all year long on all apps, always for free. Make sure you get subscribed. Stay subscribed. Your team every day, man. You're not going to beat that anywhere else. Shout out to our everydayers out there as well,

Starting point is 00:01:48 our Locked on Vikings and Locked on Titans everydayers. Let us know down in the comments if that's you. But with that being said, Luke, let's dive right in to the content here. I don't spend a lot of my time focused on the Minnesota Vikings. I'm sure you don't spend too much of your time focused on the Titans. So if you could just give us, I guess, a vibe check, I would call it on the Vikings. I'm sure you don't spend too much of your time focused on the Titan. So if you could just give us, I guess a vibe check, I would call it on the Vikings.

Starting point is 00:02:09 They're all season. What's the feel around the team right now? Maybe something that a big picture thing you're looking for in these joint practices this week. Yeah, for sure. And these crossovers are great because we will be doing them all year long for every game.

Starting point is 00:02:23 So this is kind of an extra little bonus warmup one, but for those who are new to the network, this is what we do. So yeah, team vibe around the Vikings is look, they went, they won 13 games last year. So their expectations for themselves are really,

Starting point is 00:02:38 really high, even though we all, everybody kind of understands and everybody in the Vikings organization, you can tell by the way they behave this off season, they understand that that's not something that was going to repeat itself if they just kind of ran it all back. So they fired their D coordinator. They changed a whole bunch of stuff up on defense. Um, they've cut aging players, Adam Thielen, Eric Kendricks, Dalvin cook, and they've, they've replaced them with guys that either already had on the roster or somebody like Jordan

Starting point is 00:03:02 Addison. So they're trying to get a little bit younger and, and more vital, but they're trying to do that without getting significantly worse, which is sort of the balance that Kweisi Adolfo-Mentz has been trying to, to strike. So the, the vibe is very like personality wise, locker room wise,

Starting point is 00:03:22 the vibe is a lot like Kevin O'Connell. It's very surfer dude. Like O'Connell is very, you know, hang loose broski. Like he just is a very relaxed guy. And I think that kind of rubs off on everybody. So they're loose and they're having fun. And I mean, Justin Jefferson plays into that as well. He's just kind of like showing up jazz to play football every day. And then he does stuff that's insane that you can't even imagine other wide receivers thinking of. Uh, but it's, yeah, yeah it's it's this loose vibe of this team that thinks it's really good and it thinks it's ready to go right back into the the contending ranks of the nfc

Starting point is 00:03:57 and that will be you know playing in january obviously they're not taking that for granted or anything like that long way to go before we get to there um but they're they're not taking that for granted or anything like that. Long way to go before we get to there. But they're a team that thinks that they're preparing to make a run out of this year. Yeah, I mean, after a season like last year, you would have to think that that would be the mindset. But that does make sense. And it's funny, some of the things that you mentioned, because the Titans are kind of a contrast to that in ways, but also very similar.

Starting point is 00:04:22 I would say with the Titans last year, the seven games losing streak. Is this like a serious season, I guess? Yeah. Yeah. I think for the Titans it is, and that kind of mirrors Mike Vrabel. There are no unserious seasons when you have Mike Vrabel. He's just not going to allow it. It's not what he's going to sign up for. But you mentioned trying to cut off some of the older veterans who maybe weren't necessarily worth the money that they were getting paid. The Titans were trying to do that as well. They veterans who maybe weren't necessarily worth the money that they were getting paid. The Titans were trying to do that as well. They got rid of Taylor LeJuan, Robert Woods, Bud Dupree,

Starting point is 00:04:50 and they're trying to replace them with options that are a little bit cheaper and younger. More specifically, they wanted to get younger and faster because I think the Titans realized, like the Vikings, the 13-3, they may not have been that good. So the changes are still necessary. Whereas on the opposite side, Mike Vrabel doesn't believe that the Titans were as bad as that seven game losing

Starting point is 00:05:11 streak. So they replaced the offensive coordinator, replaced the general manager because he thinks they're better than what they actually were. And that's why the changes were needed where Minnesota, they think maybe, maybe it wasn't as great as it looked all the time. So we need to make necessary changes. It's just funny how they're on opposite sides, but they're trying to do similar things there. I think the vibes for the Titans is they're going to win as many games as possible, and I think the division allows them to do that.

Starting point is 00:05:36 Now, whether that is a fruitful endeavor to go on when you're the Titans this year, that remains to be seen, but the vibes around the team are we're locked in. We're trying to win as many games as possible. And I think, like you said, that mirrors the personality of the Titans coach, Mike Vrabel, who's very serious most of the time. Jeffrey Simmons, Kevin Byard's a very professional, serious guy. They have their fun, but I doubt they're having as much fun as the Vikings are having on a day-to-day basis

Starting point is 00:06:03 with a guy like Justin Jefferson kind of being the the lead personality there so I would say for the Titans the vibes are just locked in they're trying to be professional as winning win as many games as possible but both teams despite what people thought made changes they they needed to make and I think uh I think that'll make it interesting to watch the matchup in practice. And so in the joint practices, the Vikings are going to treat that like their preseason, basically, like they're going to take that more seriously than the game itself. Um, in terms of how, how much like they'll get their starters a ton of runs. So you're going to see a lot of Justin Jefferson and these joint practices and Kirk will get all, a lot of his reps, Daniel Hunter, Harrison Smith, all these guys that will

Starting point is 00:06:42 not even sniff a preseason game. So my question is, will the Titans sort of match that or have they been using the preseason? I'm fascinated by the theory of this. Some teams want to use the preseason as sort of a dress rehearsal to get ready for the season. Some teams, you know, the Vikings have decided that joint practices work better for that purpose. And it kind of makes sense. Your starters will get like 80, 90 reps. They'll never get that many in a preseason game. And it's also going to be a different environment that is possibly a little bit safer. Guys aren't quite running and playing as hard in a practice environment, but you still get that same install and warm up and kind of getting your feet under you sort of effect.

Starting point is 00:07:22 So they are super in and they're, you guys are going to leave. Cardinals are going to come in and do it with us too. So they are really, really into the joint practice thing. Are the Titans going to treat it the same? Or are they a team that says, no, our preseason game is going to be when our starters really play.

Starting point is 00:07:38 No, Mike Vrabel. I feel like Mike Vrabel would eliminate preseason games if he could. I think that that's one of the reasons that the Titans wanted to work with the Vikings because they have a similar mindset on that. Like the Titans had joint practices with the Cardinals a couple years ago, and they canceled the last day of it. I do not think Cliff Kingsbury and Mike Vrabel agreed on how to do it.

Starting point is 00:07:57 I think that Mike Vrabel will be a perfect match for the Titans because the Titans don't want to play practically any of their start. I mean, they played zero defensive starters out there on Saturday, like not a single defensive starter they won out on the field in the preseason. So I think that Mike Vrabel will as well really focus on getting his starters reps, really getting that best versus best action so that when the preseason game comes around on Saturday, he can just focus on the end of the roster guys, figuring out who's going to make the team,

Starting point is 00:08:30 seeing what they want to see there from the backups. But I think we will get some intense starter-on-starter action in the joint practices, and I think the Titans see it a very similar way. But Luke, that is a great segue into our next segment when we talk about the biggest strengths on each roster, and then we're going to finish up with the biggest weaknesses on each roster, which will be a really good setup here for joint practices to come

Starting point is 00:08:56 and what listeners should be watching for in this joint practice and then in the game on Saturday. So we're going to discuss that in just a moment. Before we get into it though, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by Nutraful. Look, you don't have to choose between better hair growth and your health. Nutraful provides a whole body health approach for men that promotes healthier hair, no drugs,

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Starting point is 00:11:17 We'll finish off with the weaknesses at the end of the show. But, Luke, I'll kind of start here since you went first for us before. Going to dive into the Titans' biggest strengths. And right now, I think it's obvious that it's the Titans' defense overall, but specifically the Titans' defensive line. Jeffrey Simmons, Arden Key, Tierra Tart on the interior, or Danico Autry. Arden Key and Danico Autry are starting to blend in my mind because the Titans both stole them from divisional rivals.

Starting point is 00:11:43 They're on the defensive line, inside-outside versatility, all of that. It's like a replacement in waiting. But you got Harold Landry and Arden Key on the edges with Danico Autry, T. Air Tart, and Jeffrey Simmons on the interior. Aziz Alshire at linebacker has been a standout in training camp. So I think that front for the Tennessee Titans is their biggest strength on the team right now. And I think it'll be very interesting.

Starting point is 00:12:06 Like, if you're the Vikings, you're going to want to see how that run game works against that front. The Titans were the number two best run defense in per game, rushing yards allowed last year. Number one in total yards allowed as a rushing defense. So that's obviously something where the Vikings are probably going to want to see how they perform. I think on the flip side, the Titans wide receivers as well

Starting point is 00:12:26 are now something to actually consider as a strength. Traylon Burks has been a standout going into his second year. DeAndre Hopkins, obviously, everybody knows him. And I would include tight end Chika Konkwo in that. Let's just call it the pass catchers in general. And Luke, I got to tell you, it's a really crazy place for me to be here telling you that the Titans pass catchers can be a strength for the team based on what it looked like just, you know, a month, a month and a half ago.

Starting point is 00:12:52 We've come a long way from Tajay Sharp. Yeah, well, you know, you add in a guy like DeAndre Hopkins and he's been great in camp as well. It hasn't been a thing where he's sitting out a ton. He missed some practices, getting his family in town. And, you know, obviously Cardinals fans are going to run with that. He never practices. But DeAndre Hopkins has been excellent for the Titans in practice so far.

Starting point is 00:13:14 He's looked like the top 10 receiver that he still believes that he is. So I think going against Burks, Chigaconquo, add Derrick Henry in there. The skill position players for the Titans should be an interesting matchup for the Vikings. So I'd go with that defensive front seven. The defense in general, honestly, if we're telling the truth, I would just say all the way because they're healthy in the secondary, which makes a big difference.

Starting point is 00:13:38 So I would say the Titans' defense with that defensive line and then the Titans' skill position players are probably the strength of the roster right now, and it'll be interesting to see how the Vikings perform against those groups. I would probably match with one of the same groups in the receivers. And yeah, I guess you could call it pass catchers if you want to count like TJ Hawkinson. Um, and especially these tight ends, they blocked so well in their first preseason game. And that seems to have been a real big emphasis from Kevin O'Connell. So you're sort of your Oklahoma drill tight ends versus linebackers,

Starting point is 00:14:11 that kind of thing. But it's the receivers. I mean, it's Justin Jefferson, right? That healthy secondary is going to have its work cut out for it. With KJ Osborne, he's wide receiver too, and he's keeping pace with Jordan Addison who I, it's like a two, a two B thing right now.

Starting point is 00:14:28 Who's going to play in the slot more between those two. Do you think, you know, I bet that moves around a lot. Uh, probably at Justin Jefferson, like everybody. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:14:40 Um, and it, and it super depends on who your worst corner is too. Cause we'll probably try to get Justin Jefferson over there. But all three of those guys have had really good camps. Jordan Addison in particular is kind of the big story because he's a first round pick and he's really showing out. We're all really excited about him.

Starting point is 00:14:58 So those kind of wide receiver cornerback one-on-ones will really have the work cut out. And then I would say it sounds super weird. I would have never, ever, ever said this going into camp, but after seeing camp, the linebackers have been a revelation, uh, pace, right? I've been Cincinnati been awesome. Yeah. He is the stud of camp. We have an award, Mr. Mankato training camp used to be held in mancato minnesota so mr mancato is always for our kind of young deep roster guy that is our guy that shows out it's this like sports writers award i've been paced as a shoe in for it this year

Starting point is 00:15:36 um he's been really showing out brian awesome law who is dealing with an injury right now so i'm not sure if you guys are going to see him, also has had a really phenomenal camp. He's a second-year linebacker out of Oklahoma who they cut Eric Kendricks, and they did not replace him because they had Asamoah. They're that excited about him. Those guys, even somebody like Troy Dye, who's sort of our linebacker four,

Starting point is 00:16:02 has had a pretty good start to camp, at least for He, he looks like he's come along a little bit. So those linebackers have really showed something, but, but really I think the thing, the strength that has been giving the Vikings offense fits and they're frustrated. Like cousins is frustrated from camp because of how difficult it has been to go up against Brian Flores's defense and the blitzes that he has been drilling every single period. Every period is a blitz period. And it's made it difficult for the offense to get like actual reps in like that. That might actually be a mistake when we see push come to shove, but we'll see. Right. But the offense is frustrated by that. There's six, six seven eight guys on the line of

Starting point is 00:16:45 scrimmage every play um all kinds of sim pressures all kinds of stunts all kinds of crazy stuff and it it's the same stuff brian flores did in miami and what he did in new england before that um it's it's all of that same stuff but it's it's blitzing at a completely insane rate and unblocked dudes all the time a lot of that's's Ivan Pace. A lot of that has been Harrison Smith. A lot of that has been, you know, uh, Nichols coming on block or other safeties coming on blocked or, um, sometimes, you know, the nose tackle goes on blocked because you screwed up their protection. So calling protections and figuring out how to get a hat on a hat in the past game in particular is going to be a huge challenge probably one that comes up more in the

Starting point is 00:17:25 preseason game because it's just a more full uh you know down-to-down experience but even in like 11 on 11 team periods it's going to be something that like the titan center and whoever is in at quarterback is gonna have to really really be on their p's and q's and i think that will be like the like west phillips offensive coordinator and kevin o'connell have said like we think it's good because it's really stress testing our ability to handle blitzes and i think that would be good for the titans too it'd be able to be like okay this is what teams can do to you how do you handle it and if there are any underlying issues with um communication or protection calling or anything like that, schematic stuff, it will get exposed.

Starting point is 00:18:08 This will uncover those problems at the time when you want to be uncovering them. It's going to. And honestly, Luke, you can tell that you're an absolute professional because everything you say perfectly segues into the next thing that I want to talk about. You want to talk about exposing weaknesses, P's and Q's, probably talking about an offensive line that doesn't have a lot of experience together and some young quarterbacks that just might struggle. So we're going to talk about the biggest weaknesses on either roster here in just a moment. all right i look you just hit on it perfectly it's the number one thing that i wanted to talk

Starting point is 00:18:59 about when you talk about the vikings going up against the titans and i've been hearing i saw the quote actually yesterday, the day before we're recording this, where the Vikings, it was somebody on the offensive side of the ball, whether it be a coach or a player that's like, we're ready to practice against somebody else. And some of the stuff that you're talking about there is how stressful that it's been.

Starting point is 00:19:18 Well, the biggest weakness for the Titans roster is by far the offensive line. And look, it's not one of those things where there's no chance that the Titans offensive line improves. But the reality is there's four brand new starters. Aaron Brewer is the only remaining starter and he's the Titans center. And even he is moving from guard to center this year. Now center is his more natural position. It probably his best game of the year was against the Packers last year.

Starting point is 00:19:43 And he played center in that game. He's a very undersized guy. He needs to play at center, but the point is, even the guy who's returning on the offensive line is moving position, so everybody is new. Dillard at left tackle was a free agent signing who played with Philadelphia. Never been with the Titans before. Peter Skowronski played very well in the preseason game. Really moved some bodies around. I love me some Peter Skowronski, but he's a real guy, right? Yes, he was. He was.

Starting point is 00:20:09 I kept a lot of Titans fans were mad at me at the end of the year because I wanted the Titans to lose that game to Jacksonville because I wanted them to be in a position to get a blue chip player on the offensive line. And thank God that that all played out the way that did because if they didn't have Peter Skowronski right now. I remember in the locked on DM chat with all of us. Thank God that all played out the way they did. Because if they didn't have Pete Skowronski right now. I remember in the locked on DM chat with all of us.

Starting point is 00:20:33 We were all talking about like, where's Will Levis going to go? And who's falling? Tyler's in there like, we got Skowronski. Yes, I was so hyped. Yeah, losing my mind about it. But yeah, so you have Daniel Brunskill at right guard. He's a new free agent signing. And then Chris Hubbard, who the Titans just signed three weeks ago, is starting at right tackle.

Starting point is 00:20:52 The offensive line is definitely a weakness right now, but I think that the stress that the Vikings front and that Flores and the play calls that he's going to have, I think the stress that that puts on the Titans offensive line is the best possible thing that they could get, even if it's ugly, even if they get destroyed, it is the best possible thing for them right now. And I know that we're talking about 11, you know, the starting starters,

Starting point is 00:21:18 against starters, first team on first team, but the Titans have two young quarterbacks and Will Levis and Malik Willis who need those looks as well to understand how to identify pressure. Where are you going to slide your line? What are you going to do when they come out in this look? You know, they haven't experienced everything. I mean, Levis is a rookie. So I think it'll be very, very important stress test.

Starting point is 00:21:37 It's like a restaurant. You know, you watch those restaurant renovation shows. They always do that, that stress test at the beginning to see how it goes. And it always goes terrible, but it sets them up to do better in the grand opening. I think that's the way that the Titans should look at this. They may get their heads beat in with that defensive front from Minnesota, but I think it'll be good losses and good lessons for them going forward. So the biggest weakness for the Titans is by far and away that offensive line,

Starting point is 00:22:03 and I'm very excited to see how the Titans do against the kind of defense that you're describing. Yeah, it's a black light in a motel room. You're not going to like what you see, but at least it shows you what needs to be cleaned up. Oh, man. See, that is what you get from Luke Braun, ladies and gentlemen. This is the kind of talent we have.

Starting point is 00:22:25 It gets weird on Locked On Vikings sometimes. It gets dark. It gets dark. Yeah. Well, so, well, some of it's dark. Some of it glows. But to keep the analogy going, yes. With the Vikings, there's, I guess, two groups that I really want to see experience that same stress test.

Starting point is 00:22:43 The big one for the Vikings is the cornerbacks. That's been a problem. I have been harping so hard on the cornerbacks the entire offseason. They at one point had two of them under contract in the offseason. So it's a couple of draft picks. It's a whole bunch of people brought in. Byron Murphy is their main free agent signing. And then one of the guys that's a second year player who we're sort of hoping will step up is a Caleb Evans

Starting point is 00:23:09 who's starting at kind of CB2 and then we've got a rookie starting as that nickel corner type guy they also brought in Joe Juan Williams who played in New England for his rookie contract he's kind of fighting for a roster spot we also drafted andrew booth last year but we haven't seen he's with the twos so there's that and and so i want to see like i want to see byron murphy versus deandre hopkins for one let's see what's been going on in those arizona training camps but also guys like traylon burks do you think he he is he more of a slot or has he been an outside guy like in terms of who he would rep against i think he he is he more of a slot or has he been an outside guy like in terms of who he would rep against i think he would be more of a an outside guy primarily i think that the the cb2 of the vikings essentially yeah and i think that would be a caleb what you're describing physical corner

Starting point is 00:23:56 so that'll be a bigger physical guy yeah yeah so that'll be fun um to see exactly how a Caleb Evans holds up because he plays a softer style. And I don't mean soft in a bad way. He just plays with more cushion. And that's just how he plays corner more cushion and then, you know, break downhill. But I mean, you know, let's get him impressed on Trey Longbergs and see what happens when he tries to. What are you going to do? Lose the rep.

Starting point is 00:24:20 It's it's joint practices. So that I want to see that stuff and then kind of similarly with the defensive line that the uh titans have let's see the interior starters for the vikings o-line and see how they hold up it's the same group of guys from last year it's ezra cleveland garrett bradbury and uh ed ingram now bradbury versus jeffrey simmons i'm not really expecting him to win any reps there um And we know who Bradbury like. There's no questions that need to be answered with Bradbury. Like he's going to get walked back by Jeffrey Simmons in a one on one.

Starting point is 00:24:49 Yes, it's like that's just going to happen. Whatever. But some of those other guys, Ezra Cleveland, Ed and Ed Ingram have been these weird sources of of debate among the Vikings world because the Vikings brought in Dalton Reisner for a visit. And everybody's like, well, does this mean that they're going to push one of these guards? Ed Ingram started in the preseason game. Nobody else on the old line did. So it's like, well, his job actually kind of right. Right. Like is right. Yeah. Sometimes playing more is a bad sign, you know? Right. None of the other linemen did. So is, does he actually have that hold on the starting job that we thought? No, I think he does does and he did well enough in that preseason game in my opinion a lot of people disagree with

Starting point is 00:25:28 me but i i don't know i i think it's hard with o-line um but you know what what's gonna like can ed ingram hold up against some of those better titans interior guys and stake a claim on that job? Or are we going to start saying, hmm, you know, maybe somebody like Blake Brandel, who's currently a backup left guard, you know, are we going to maybe move him into one of these positions or something like that, or slide somebody over and put somebody else in? You know, Chris Reed is currently probably our backup right guard, but he's hurt. So when he's healthy, is he going to actually push for the job or are they going to bring in Reisner to push him or something? Those are, I think, things that people are going to watch with a really keen eye in Minnesota. Yeah. Yeah. That, that, that's a

Starting point is 00:26:13 great breakdown, Luke. I think that, uh, both sides of this, the Titan side, the Viking side are well aware of what to look for, uh, the strengths, the weaknesses of both teams, where both teams are at right now, what they've been through in the offseason. I think we gave a great preseason performance here, Luke, personally. I think we did a pretty good job. Yeah, it was good. Things to build on, things to work on. We'll watch the tape.

Starting point is 00:26:35 Yes, absolutely. We're going to run it back. And as Mike Vrabel says, we've got to play better. We've got to coach better. So we're going to work on doing that. But with that being said, I'm going to get us out of here on that. Make sure to stay locked in to Locked on Titans and Locked on Vikings. We're going to be breaking down these joint practices, making sure you're up to date on

Starting point is 00:26:53 everything that happens, what's going on with some of these battles that we've discussed. Make sure that you make Locked on Titans, Locked on Vikings your first listen each and every day. And of course, shout out to our everydayers out there. That's going to do it for me. That's going to do it for Luke. You guys stay safe out there and enjoy the joint practices.

Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Can Tennessee Titans Guard Justin Jefferson, Will Treylon Burks Dominate & Offensive Line Challenges

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