Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Casey Trashes Titans, 2018 Free Agent Class Review & Arthur Smith Audio

Episode Date: June 10, 2020

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast is brought to you by RockAuto.com. Amazing selection, reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. RockAuto.com. We are going to talk about two big pieces of Titans related news to kick off our show. Typically, we do our Friday News Dump, but we're getting little Titans news stories here and there throughout the week. I want to make sure I open up with those lead stories. So we are going to talk about the NFL draft and when it could potentially make a return to Nashville. And then, of course, we have to talk about the Jarrell Casey comments in regards to

his trade from Tennessee to Denver he finally spoke out about his thoughts and how he feels about that trade and his comments were were pretty in your face and and obviously the Titans fan base is still a bit divided on whether that trade was called for, whether the Titans got enough out of the trade. So I will talk about that, rehash some of my feelings about the trade, why I think John Robinson made the right decision, and also why I think Drell Casey was only traded for a seventh round pick. So we'll talk about that as well and go over his comments.

And then we will continue our free agent class review series with the 2018 free agent class, John Robinson's third as the general manager of the Titans. I'll be assigning a grade to each individual signing and then, of course, giving an overall grade for the entire class. And then to round out the show, I am going to play for you guys the first part of the highlights from offensive coordinator Arthur Smith's conference call from over the weekend. So it was a pretty

long one. I'm going to break it up for you guys. I will play the other part of that on Friday's show or if we have some more Titans news come available, kick in a Thursday show as well. But we will break up Arthur Smith's comments into part one and then part two. So we will do that today. We have to go over two big Titan stories, dive into the 2018 free agent class, and go over the highlights of Arthur Smith's conference call. Let's get it. Earlier in the offseason, in what can only be considered a surprising move, we saw the Tennessee Titans and general manager John Robinson trade five-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Jarrell Casey to the Denver Broncos for a seventh round pick. Jarrell Casey has been one of the best Titans in the history of the franchise since they moved to Nashville,

spending nine seasons with the team after being drafted in 2011. He made five straight Pro Bowls for the Titans and was basically their only household name throughout a pretty disastrous stretch in franchise history. Casey has played in 139 regular season games for the Titans, has 51 career sacks, and 325 tackles along with 8 forced fumbles. So the fact that he was only able to garner a 7th round draft pick is what made the trade so surprising and what has the Titans fan base divided on the trade. And while we've heard from many fans and many analysts about the trade, we had not heard from Jarrell Casey himself. But recently, Casey went on the double coverage podcast that is put on

by Jason and Devin McCourty, the twins who play in the secondary for the New England Patriots, and Casey had quite a bit to say about the trade. Quote, The part that is so crazy is that you give so much to them, especially when you come up on free agency and have opportunities to go somewhere else, especially the way it was going when we were there, 2-14, 3-13. Those were some rough times. When you're a loyal guy and you feel like things are going in the right direction and you're that centerpiece, you got no choice but to fight it through.

My mindset was to stick it out and things would get better. For us to get to that point, to get better and to be a main focus of that and then you just throw me away to the trash like I wasn't a main block of that. Coming off an injury the year before and playing the whole season for y'all. No complaints. I did everything they wanted me to do and you threw me like a piece of trash. End quote. From Jarrell Casey's perspective, he does have the right to feel that way. The Titans are just getting into being consistently competitive and being the type of franchise and type of organization that any player would hope to play for. And right as the Titans are starting to get into some of the best teams that they've had during Jarrell Casey's career, the Titans get rid of him. And when he says that he feels like they threw him away for a piece of trash,

well, it's fair to equate a seventh-round pick to a piece of trash, especially when you look at John Robinson's record in drafting seventh round picks. So it is fair for Casey to feel the way that he feels. But from the Titans perspective, it does make sense that they would look to get off of his contract as he starts to decline and start to get up in age. Jarrell Casey is 30 years old. He did not have his best seasons of his career the last two years. As he intimated and referenced in his comments, he was injured throughout 2018. That

injury lingered into 2019 and he did not have his most productive season. Although he did finish second on the team with five sacks, it's clear from watching the game tape that Jarrell Casey was not his old self. And while he did rebound in the playoffs and have a very productive playoff run, it's fair to say that Jarrell Casey is going into the back half of his career, and it is only logical to expect some sort of decline. And at the $11 million price tag tag it does make sense that John Robinson would look to move away from that especially with Jadavion Clowney still being on the free agent market now one thing that we have to consider is the seventh round value that's something that a lot of Titans fans are upset about but from what we know about John Robinson and all the successes that he has had as a general manager,

do you think, and we have to ask ourselves this question, do you think that John Robinson could have gotten more? It is my opinion that if he could have gotten more value for Jarrell Casey, then he would have. The reason that Casey went for a seventh round pick is because of the price tag. that Casey went for a seventh round pick is because of the price tag. Other NFL teams were not willing to pay somebody like Jarrell Casey 11 plus million dollars next season. So I do believe that John Robinson got the most value he possibly could and whether or not the Titans do sign Jadavion Clowney in free agency, giving someone like Jeffrey Simmons an opportunity to increase his role while getting off of the money that was owed to Casey still makes it a very smart move by John

Robinson. Now while we're on the topic of smart moves, it was a smart move by the NFL to have the 2019 draft in Nashville. If you do recall, the three-day event saw over 600,000 fans explore Nashville. There was $132.8 million in visitor spending in the city and 47.5 million fans watched on TV, which was an NFL draft record. So it makes sense that Nashville at some point in time in the future would look to have the draft return. And we found out on Tuesday that the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corporation is looking to have the NFL draft back in Nashville in 2024, 2025, or 2026. According to Butch Spiridon, the CEO of the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corporation and he had this to say quote they have not opened up the bidding process for those years yet but we have stayed in touch with the league and we will continue to do so I'd be more surprised

if they don't give us a future date than I would be if we got one. I am very confident we'll get a future year in that window because they still tell every city they talk to about the draft, call Nashville. I've heard that from other cities. I've heard that from the league. So I'm confident and in my mind, five years is a really good window as far as repeating something big. End quote. So you can look for the Titans to get the draft back in Nashville sometime in that three-year window of 2024 to 2026. As for the next few drafts coming up more immediately in 2021, the draft will be in Cleveland, Ohio. 2022, the draft will go to Las Vegas. Of course, Vegas was supposed to hold the 2020 draft, but due to the COVID-19

pandemic, that was obviously pushed back. So 2022 will be in Vegas and 2023 will be in Kansas City. So look forward to that. I think that's pretty big news and it would make sense for the NFL and for the city of Nashville to want to get that event back in the Music City. Next, we are going to jump into the third installment of our free agent class review series. Last Wednesday, we started with the 2016 class. On Monday, we went over the 2017 class. So today we are going to tackle 2018 before finishing off the series on Friday with 2019. Before we jump into that though, I do want to tell you guys a little bit more about rockauto.com. With the ever-increasing number of makes like Fiat, Kia, Dodge, Ford,

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All the parts your car will ever need. rockauto.com it is time to begin our 2018 free agent class review we We have already done John Robinson's first crack at free agency in 2016 and then we also covered 2017. So let's get into his third free agency period and there are some hits and there are some misses of different kinds and a lot of the big moves here are two re-signings that I will lump into the free agent class as well. So let's begin with the biggest free agent pickup, quite frankly, of John Robinson's career in terms of name value. And that was signing cornerback Malcolm Butler away from the New England Patriots. Of course, Malcolm Butler, the former Super Bowl hero, came over for the Titans.

former Super Bowl hero, came over for the Titans and admittedly in his first half of his first season in 2018 struggled mightily. It's fair to say he was the worst cornerback in the NFL for the first half of that 2018 season, but he really kicked it on in the back half of the 2018 year and then was absolutely phenomenal in the first nine weeks of the season for the Titans in 2019 before he was placed on IR with a broken arm. During his time with the Titans, Malcolm Butler has had 101 tackles, five interceptions, and only 25 games. And while I said he did struggle for the first half of the season that he was with the Titans and was injured the back half of the season for his second year with the Titans he has

given them with the back half of 2018 in the beginning of 2019 a year of absolute stellar play and while a year is not quite good enough out of the two years that he's been here Titans fans give Malcolm Butler a bad rap just due to that disastrous beginning of the two years that he's been here. Titans fans give Malcolm Butler a bad rap just due to that disastrous beginning of the season. He has been a pretty solid player for the ball club when he's out there, and for that reason, I'm going to give him a B- on the signing for John Robinson. I don't think that Malcolm Butler will be on this football team after 2020 just due to the amount of money he is set to make in 2021 maybe the Titans organization can work with him on a reduced cap number to keep him on the team

but I think when Malcolm Butler has actually been out on the field after that opening half of the season he's been pretty fantastic so a B minus for John Robinson for that signing next we have a signing that did not turn out in any way and that was Deion Lewis Deion Lewis did play in all 32 games that he could have played in for the Titans in the past two regular seasons but he only had 726 rushing yards and one touchdown 84 catches 564 yards and two touchdowns in the two seasons that he was with the Titans he never truly lived up to be the compliment that Derrick Henry needed in the backfield it seemed like he didn't necessarily have the same burst in the same fire that he came in with after getting that four-year 20 million dollar contract and as we know he was cut by the Titans this offseason

after two years that is a c-minus signing for John Robinson to pay a running back $5 million a year and have him only be that productive. It's just a failure, and the Titans could have used desperately a player to compliment Derrick Henry last year, and Deion Lewis simply did not get the job done. So a C- for that signing. Then we have Blaine Gabbert who came in and took Matt Cassel's place as the backup quarterback. Gabbert went 2-1 in 2018. 626 yards, four touchdowns, four picks.

I mean, he went 2-1 as a backup quarterback in the games he started. What else can you really ask for? Now, I will never forget watching Blaine Gabbert throw an interception directly to a Colts player in Week 17 in 2018. I'll never forget that. The Titans could have made the playoffs, possibly, if he didn't throw that absolutely mind-numbing interception. But, like I said, 2-1 as a backup quarterback. I mean, what really are you asking from Blaine Gabbert at that moment in time? So, I gave that signing a C+. quarterback I mean what what really are you asking from Blaine Gabbert at that moment in time so I

gave that signing a C plus obviously the Titans knew that Blaine Gabbert wasn't good enough went out and got Ryan Tannehill and the rest is history but that wasn't a bad free agent signing and he and Gabbert was better than than Matt Castle so a C plus there for that then we get into some rough ones Xavier Suofilo a C-, never played for the Titans, never played a game for the Titans in the regular season, was cut before he ever even had the opportunity to make an impact. I'm going to give that a C-, and I give it a C- for saying, hey, he never played, he got cut, that has to be a D.

Well, it was a very low risk signing for John Robinson. It didn't hurt the Titans to have to cut him. So no big deal there. A C- looking for some offensive line depth. And then Kevin Pamphil has played three games over two seasons with the Titans. 155 snaps. I am going to give that a D because he's still on the Titans roster. He was on the roster all year last year and never actually played.

And him having a knee injury in training camp and the Titans, did play consistently for them at right guard. But to give a guy who is the quality of player of Josh Klein that kind of contract and then immediately cut him the year after, not a great signing, not a great move for John Robinson, but since he was at least a starter for the Titans, I will give that move a C+. Then we get into two re-signings that are great re-signings, and that was Daquan Jones on the defensive line. Since Daquan Jones was re-signed in 2018, he played in all 32 games for the Titans in

both seasons, had 76 tackles, one sack, played in 56% of snaps in 2018, 61% of snaps in 2019, and his improved play along the defensive line is one of the big reasons why the Titans have decided to let Jarrell Casey go for a seventh round pick. So full circle there when it comes to our show. And I'm going to give that a B plus Daquan Jones is a solid role player he's not a sub package player he's not really a pass rusher but to get a solid role player like that back on your team and have them improve their play after re-signing that that's a big feather and a cap for John Robinson and that's going to be a B-plus for me. And then we have Kenny Vaccaro, who was signed in the 2018 preseason after Jonathan Ciprian tore his ACL, and it proved to be one of the best signings of John Robinson's tenure so far.

Kenny Vaccaro has played in 29 games in the regular season and two seasons, had two interceptions, three sacks, 142 tackles, and actually played in 96% of snaps in 2019 for the Titans. He has become a key player on this team and in this secondary and has made up what could be the best safety tandem in the entire NFL with Kevin Byard. So that is an A signing, a flat A signing for me. So we go back and look at the overall class. The Titans brought in Malcolm Butler.

They brought in De Malcolm Butler. They brought in Deion Lewis. They brought in Blaine Gabbert. Two cruddy offensive linemen in Xavier Suofilo and Kevin Panthil. And then the re-signing of Josh Klein, Daquan Jones, and Kenny Vaccaro signing. I'm going to give that overall a B class for John Robinson. He was able to hit on some key players in Daquan Jones, Kenny Vaccaro, and Malcolm Butler, but missed on some players like Josh Klein and Deion Lewis, but has a solid signing with Blaine Gabbert and two complete whiffs with Suofleo. Suofilo, always want to throw that extra L in there, and Kevin Panfield. So a B overall for John Robinson in the 2018 free agent class.

We are going to move forward to the last part of our show, and here are the first part of the highlights from offensive coordinator Arthur Smith's conference call. Before we do, I want to remind you guys about Built Bar. Built Bars are the best tasting protein bars ever. I've told you guys about some of my favorite flavors that I've really recommended you try. The salted caramel chocolate, the peanut butter brownie, the chocolate raspberry mousse is excellent as well. Truly, it's a protein bar that tastes like

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And first, Smith just talks about how he's currently handling the off-season. Yeah, we're dealing, every team's dealing with the same circumstances when it comes to the off-season program. So we're just trying to take advantage of the circumstances we're given. The Zoom, you know, the flexibility it's allowed is to be in, jump around in multiple rooms. It's certainly different going into year two,

whether we're in the facility or not, for me in this role. It's been great being able to jump in, talk to guys, being at different people's meetings. We've got a great staff. These guys have done an awesome job with these meetings. That part's been good. I feel like I've been able to reach more by moving around. How different is Arthur Smith's preparation going into year two? Yeah, it's, you know, any job you take for the first time, you know, you try to plan it out. You try to, you know, plan for what's coming. And certainly until you experience something, you know,

now there's the fear of the unknown is gone. But, you know, we still have got a long way to go. I've got to make sure we, you know, every season you start over, we've got to make more improvement. And certainly I'm aware of that but yeah it's just the unknown you know you're now going through it for a year you know what to expect. Smith gives his thoughts on the backup quarterback position the two prospects there and is there a veteran that will be entered into the competition? Yeah so to answer

the question really in the short term until we get out on the field, you know, Logan and Cole are going to have an opportunity to fight it out, and Logan did a great job last year in the role that he was in. Obviously, he went on IR, but behind the scenes, I mean, he's in all the meetings. He traveled with us. He was a big help to me during the week, you know, took on kind of a quasi quality control role behind the scenes, just dived into the film and the game plan. And Pat did a great job with him at the end of the week. And Logan would chart on game day and he was a big help on the sidelines. So I'm excited to see when we actually get on the field where Logan's, how much he's grown. And then obviously Cole, another guy, we're excited to see what he does

when he gets in there as well. John and Ray speak to the roster, but for us in the short term, just offensively, yeah, I mean, it should be a good competition. And I'm excited to see what Logan does when we start camp. What kind of things are the Titans' offense missing out on with the fact that they can't be on the field right now that's a good question because a lot of times uh this time of year there's certain concepts that you may have tweaked or routes you may have wanted to put in and then you're trying

to test and you and again you're in the thing about spring sometimes it can get over blown with your evaluations because it's it's so much different than actually getting the camp and the games but it's it's a build-up but yeah there's it's so much different than actually getting into camp and the games, but it's a buildup. But, yeah, it's experimentation. You just got to be smart in camp, the reps we get and what we try to tweak. But that would be what you're missing is some of the stuff where you're getting the reps and seeing it at least live on a field in a seven-on-seven setting. No, not necessarily.

It's, you know, I'm a big believer we got to evolve i mean we don't want to get stale there's things there's areas we we certainly need to improve in the in the passing game and and there's stuff that we feel confident as a staff and we've gone over in the spring that we want to get when we get on the field and training camp we'll put it in and we'll rep it but you just just won't get the amount of reps. What kind of evolution is Arthur Smith looking for on offense in 2020? Sure. You know, last year it was a lot of statistical anomalies, so to speak.

You know, the way some things went, you know, we had a lot of explosive plays, and we didn't have a lot of total number of plays. You know, and that is one thing that we hit some good chunk plays, especially in the second half of the year. And so a lot of the opportunities, you know, we were fortunate enough in some of those games we got big leads, and then the passing opportunities go down. But we certainly expect for our passing game to take another step,

and Corey and AJ are a big part of that, and we want to see their growth as well. And then, again, we got to get better in the drop back game and have more opportunities. Well, I certainly feel good about the guys that we have. I feel like we got a lot of guys that can't take it to the house. And, you know, we're trying to get more creative, make sure these different guys get touches and to use their strengths.

And we want to enhance those strengths that they have. And we certainly – we're going to continue to try to build off that. And we want to be the most explosive unit we can. That's something we'll definitely strive. That's not going to change. You know, it's just – hopefully we can do better on third down to stay on the field and have more possessions and more plays. But we certainly don't – we do not want to regress to the explosive part. Arthur Smith gives his thoughts on tight end Jonu Smith. Yeah it's he's come a long way I mean that's a that's a tough

position to play and especially a tight end because of the evolution of that position, whether, you know, they're flexed out way more now. And Jono does a great job. He plays in line. He kind of does it all. And his growth, I mean, he's gotten better year to year, and hopefully he takes another step. But, you know, he made some big plays for us, especially down the stretch and in big moments.

And I think we want to build off that, and his leadership will happen organically. But, you know, Jon was one of those guys. He does a great job leading by example, even in the previous seasons. And then Corey Davis. Well, Corey's a big part of our offense. And, you know, to go off the question earlier about, you know, the number of passing, you know, passing attempts.

I mean, that goes with it as well. So there's some huge explosive plays that Corey was the unsung hero to. And obviously the perceptions that matters, obviously in terms of how receivers are perceived and the production that goes with it. But he's a big part of this offense. I think he'll take another step. And I feel very confident in Corey and A.J. and Adam and that group.

And, you know, I've been in a lot of meetings with Corey and his growth, and I think he'll take another step for us. And for the final question in part one of our Arthur Smith interview, he talks about what kind of impact rookie running back Darrington Evans can have. Well, just when we get out there, you know, we've got to see what he can do. First off, I mean, obviously he's,

we're excited about the potential of what Darrington can bring. He's a very conscientious, very smart player and had a ton of production at App. And, you know, they didn't ask him to do a ton statistically, but we feel like he can. And that role, I can give you a better answer after we get through their practice for a few weeks, but we'll see what he can handle

and how we bring him along. So that will wrap up part one of the Arthur Smith conference call. That will also wrap up today's show. Make sure that you are subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast. Following us on Spotify, wherever you stream, and make sure that you get the rest the Locked on Titans podcast, following us on Spotify, wherever

you stream, and make sure that you get the rest of the content coming out the rest of this offseason. I am going to be putting out the second part of the Arthur Smith conversation along with a 2019 free agent class review on Friday's show, so make sure that you're locked in so that you get that. And follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans as well, and make sure you're sending in those Friday mailbag questions. I'm going to be recording another mailbag segment.

Got some good questions in the pipeline already that I'm very excited to answer, and a little bit of a tease for you. Which Ninja Turtles correlate with which Tennessee Titans. I'm going to be excited to jump into that mailbag question, and that's just an example of the type of questions that I really enjoy answering from you guys. Helps us get more connected as a podcast host and a listenership, and I enjoy those fun questions as well. But feel free to send me any question that you have.

Once again, that's at TicTacTitans on Twitter. And if you're listening to the show every day and you're following the podcast, there's no excuse to not be following me on Twitter where I post my TicTacTitans film breakdowns, give extra analysis, and have conversations with all of you guys on the regular. So make sure that you're tuned in there.

But like I said, that is going to do it for today's show. Make sure that you check out the Locked On Fantasy Football Podcast. Now that you're done with this Locked On Titans Podcast, never a bad time to start brushing up on your fantasy football knowledge and getting prepared for your fantasy football leagues that will be coming in the fall. But that is going to do it for me today. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.