Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Chimere Dike UNDERRATED IMPACT on Tennessee Titans & Most Important UNDER THE RADAR Veteran Players

Episode Date: June 30, 2026

The Tennessee Titans have a lot of players who get a lot of attention like Cam Ward, Carnell Tate and Jeffery Simmons, but there are some very important players who simply don't get as much fanfare as they deserve -- like Chimere Dike. Dike was an all-pro last year as a rookie as a returner and showed flashes as a receiver. With an improved offense and personal improvement, Dike could become one of the top gamebreakers in the NFL. Staying on offense, Tony Pollard, Daniel Bellinger and Austin Schlottman are other names that probably need more attention than they have been getting. On defense, Solomon Thomas, Tony Adams and Jacob Martin will be much more important to this team than people realize.   LOCKED ON TITANS EVERYDAY CLUB: https://lockedontitans.supercast.com/   Subscribe to the TicTacTitans Film Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/@TicTacTitans   TicTacTitans Merchandise: https://dixons-dream.square.site/shop...   Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitans   Follow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPod   Subscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@LockedOnTitans   Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. From the opening whistle to the final kick, Let There Be Goals on FanDuel. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started now. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tennessee Titans wide receiver Chim D.K. Might be the most underrated player on the team. And it's time that we respect his big DK energy. I'll explain why 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 Rolent.

Titans fans. Today's edition of the Locked-on Titans podcast is brought to you by Fandall. The biggest stage in world soccer is here. Let there be goals on Fandle, visit Fandle.com to get started on today's show. We're going to talk about some of the most underrated, underappreciated Tennessee Titans players who also could have the biggest impact on the upcoming season. We're going to talk about how Jacob Martin could make a monster impact on the defensive side of the ball. We'll talk about why Tony Pollard deserves more praise on offense,

but we got to start with big D.K. Energy. Chim D.K., who I think might be the most underrated player on the Tennessee Titans right now. Look, I get it. He's not one of the top three wide receivers. Carnell Tate, Calvin Ridley, Wondale Robinson. So naturally, that will push him down the pile in the attention and interest

and appreciation pile. It'll push him down. But then Elye O'Manor comes back looking like he took Super Soldier Serum over the all season, absolutely ripped Jack, and let's just call it what it is. When the three fourth round weapons were drafted last year, D.K. was the least amount of excitement.

People were way more excited for Elykeye O' Manor and Gunner Helm. So even since the day he was drafted, Chim Dike has been underrated and underappreciated despite the fact that he was drafted over both those players the first pick of day three in 2025 but then you go into the rookie season and how does Chim DK answer that lack of appreciation or that lack of excitement, we'll call it.

How does he answer that? Oh, being first team all pro, the Titans had a rookie who was a first team all pro last year. And no one talks about them. We don't get hype. We don't, you know, and I'm part of this. You're part of this too. There's a reference for you if you catch it.

But I am also guilty. I don't come here to, you know, throw stones for my glass house. Like, I don't appreciate Jim D.K. enough either. I am not excited enough about Jim Deket. But again, a first team all pro as a rookie, the best returner, the best kick returner in the NFL. Well, punt returner kick, the best returner, period.

And when we're talking about who could make an impact on, who made a bigger impact on the Titans last year outside of Cam Ward than Jim D.K. Like, the returns kept them in games. He put points on the board when they couldn't score, should have had more return touchdowns than he did, flipped the field for the Titans so many times in games where they were losing, couldn't get anything going, offense was stuck in the mud. Oh, Chim Dike broke one off.

Not only does it set the offense up for points, help the defense by capitalizing on a stop, but it also fires up the sideline and the fan base and the energy totally changes everything. When this team has nothing to get excited about, Chim Dike brought the excitement with all pro-level return play. Again, 62 kick returns last year, 1,500 yards. 23 punt returns, 398 yards, 2 punt return touchdowns.

A 90-yard return should have been 3 or 4 touchdowns, quite frankly. And then, if I told you, before the draft, before the draft happened in 2025, before the Titans pick Cam Moore before all that. If I told you that the Titans are going to take a wide receiver in the fourth round and they're going to have 50 catches and 400 yards and four touchdowns, how would you feel?

You'd be pretty excited, wouldn't you? Wow, we got a really good young wide receiver in the fourth round. That's great stats for a fourth round. And then I add in that he was an all-pro returner and is the best kick returner in the NFL as a rookie going into year two where he will reasonably get better.

So a better returner with a better special teams unit, better as a receiver. And is it a surprise to anybody that one of the big standout players of the off-season program, OTA's mandatory minicamp, one of the major standouts was Chim Dek.

Every single practice. He was a little. little slow getting back involved, but every single practice after Chim D.K. came back. Big plays in practice. Touchdowns in practice. Deep ball in practice. 60-yard bomb from Will Evans in practice. It was just an insult. So everyone's hype about Cornell Tate. Everybody's hype about Wondale Robinson, the draft hit, the big free agent signing. Everybody's hype about Elykeye O' Manor because he looks like Captain Canada.

Can't call him Captain America, right? He's not from here. I call him Captain Canada. But like, and there's going to be somebody who's more of a nerd than I even am to tell me, oh, there is a Captain America for Canada. They're called, you know, whatever.

Let me know. I'll learn, but I don't know off the top of my head. I love my comic book characters and stuff like that, but how far down the well are we going where I know the Canadian Captain America? But anyway, with that

being said, there's just not a lot of There's not a lot of fanfare for Chim DK. Never has been since the moment that he got drafted. It's kind of been that way all along. But when I look at players who are underrated in terms of the impact they're going to make on this team, if we get a better special team's performance from Chim DK, but we just get the same.

We just get first team all pro level returner. And then we get a slightly improved wide receiver. I mean, tell me another player on this team who gets less attention and face. fanfare who makes a bigger impact. Like, if you take those two bar graphs, excitement and attention and hype for the player from the fan base,

impact they make on Sundays, if we take those two bar graphs, I don't know if there's a bigger gap between those two for any player other than Chim DK. And that's without even factoring in something that I've been talking about for a few weeks. What did Chim DK? is better than Calvin Ridley by the end of the year.

What if D.K. is the speed guy to go with the big guy of Carnell Tate. I mean, Cornell Tate has speed down the field too. Like everybody needs to be fast nowadays. But what if DK? And DK. is not small either. He's like 6-1, 200 pounds. So if it's Cornell Tate, Jim Dek, Wondale Robinson, if that's the best three wide receivers on this team, come Halloween,

I'm not going to be shocked. And if we're being honest, that is the best thing that could possibly happen for the Titans is for Chim Deky to emerge as, oh, we can't keep him off the field. He's got to play. He's got to. Either Ridley's out there and DK's in the slot

or Wondale Robinson is out there and DK's playing the Z. But he's got to be out on the field. Imagine a big boy lineup of Elykeyeo Manor at X, Carnell Tate, Z, Chim D.K. in the slot. Now, Wondell Robinson got paid a lot of money.

He needs to be out on the field. But I'm just saying, in certain matchups, if they have small cornerbacks. So, I just have a lot of high hopes for Chim DK. I think he's going to be a massive impact this year. He was a massive impact last year. And he should be treated as such. He's got big DK energy, baby.

Now, I just want to quick. mention one other special teams player, Tommy Townsend. Now, I don't expect people to get hype for punters. All right, you know, not everybody's as quite the diehard junkie like I am when it comes to football. Y'all remember how I acted when they signed Tommy Townsend. I did call it, though. I did call it all along. I love Tommy Townsend, bro.

That's a real punter right there. But Tommy Townsend is going to have a huge impact on this team, special teams-wise. He can hang the ball higher. his hang time is better as carry is better. I just think he's one of the top five at minimum best punters in the entire NFL. You pair him with bones fossil. You pair him with Chimdeka. You pair him with an already good special teams unit. This probably could be the best special teams unit in the entire NFL. That's not a stretch to think that that will be the case.

So it's a good way to start trying to win football games. have one unit that's the best in the entire NFL, even if it's the unit you would pick last. At least it's up. But with that being said, there are some underappreciated, underrated players on offense and defense as well. And we got to talk about how, you know,

now that we're through the player acquisition period and we know that he's staying, Tony Pollard deserves a little bit more love. Do you want to let you know that today's episode is brought to you by fan, dual sportsbook, the biggest stage in world soccer is here. Every match feels like it has the potential for a memorable moment. One goal can completely change the energy of a game,

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Again, we're talking about some of the most underrated, underappreciated players on the Tennessee Titans. We started with Chimdike. I sprinkled in a little Tommy Townsend in there while we're talking about special teams. Time to get the punter in. But now I want to focus just purely on the offensive side of the ball because I think there are three veteran players right now that are going to be critically important to the Tennessee Titans.

success, and they aren't quite discussed like that. Number one for me is Tony Pollard. And look, I've been critical of Tony Pollard. I think that you can be critical of a player and also still appreciate a player. I don't think that Tony Pollard has the burst that he used to have. I don't think that Tony Pollard can run between the tackles with the level of physical success that I need. He's not good in short-yardage situations. Tony Pollard is not a perfect running back.

And I think that if the Titans would have gotten Jeremiah Love or if the Titans wouldn't cut Tony Pollard and picked up somebody else like a Tyler Algier or Kenneth Walker or something like that, I would have been happy with that. So I'm not going to try to act like, I'm flip-flopping on how I feel about Tony Pollard. I think that he is just a mid-level starting running back in the NFL. He's not special. He's lost some burst.

This will be his last year with the Titans. But with that being said, he is a mid-level running back in the NFL that is better than what it could be. I mean, Tony Poller is probably, you know, 9 to 14, somewhere in there, 9 to 15, maybe. But he's criminally underrated outside of the time. I saw like a running back ranking where he was like 22nd

or something like that. And I'm like, you know, I'm not super high on Tony Pollard either. I don't think he's great or anything like that. But give me a break, 22 in the league. come on then. Again, the stat that's been out there, if you haven't heard it yet, where have you been,

but there's only two running backs in the NFL with a thousand yards rushing in the last four seasons. It's Derek Henry and Tony Pollard. Pollard runs hard. He's a good professional.

He's a good teaming. He's a good pass protector. He can catch a good. the ball out of the backfield. He's versatile. Like, he's from Tennessee. He's not too expensive. There's just, other than

the only complaint with Tony Pollard, and this goes back to what I said about Tony Pollard before the draft, while I thought the Titans might cut him. Tony Pollard is an exception. Like, you could do better. You could have a more explosive player

than Tony Pollard. But that doesn't mean that Tony Pollard is bad. Tony Pollard is good. And the reality here is Brian Dable likes to run the ball. I continue to remind anyone who will listen. Look at Brian Dable's history. What's been more successful under Brian Dable?

The passing offense or the rushing offense. And it's always rushing. The Giants were a top five rushing team last year. Now, a lot of that had to do with Jackson DART being able to run and help him. with those totals. But again, the system is designed to have a varied multiple run game that can attack any style of defense, any front, whatever they want to do. We got something in the bag for you.

Like, the whole identity of the offense is to be balanced and varied and multiple and have the answer to any question that it can be posed. So to be able to do that, they're going to need Tony Pollard to probably. I mean, get close to 1,000 yards again. If Nick Singleton can be more involved than I think what the expectation is right now, that could keep Tony Pollard from getting 1,000 yards.

Let's say he gets 800, and, you know, 200, 300, 400, Nick Singleton, 200, 300, 400, the Taj Spears. That would be a very, very successful season on the ground for the Tennessee Titans, even though Tony Pollard didn't get his 1,000, he would still be very effective and very helpful. So I know that he's boring. I know that you could have a more explosive threat.

I know that a lot of us were hoping to move on. But the reality is Tony Pollard is a good player. He's underrated and he's going to be very impactful if the Tennessee Titans have a good season. Like there's no way around it. He's the best running back on the team right now. So shout out to Tony Pollard. I know, you know, I'm not,

going to take back what I said this off season, but I'm not going to pretend like you're a bad player because he's not. But with that being said, I think another player on the offensive side of the ball that we need to talk about is Daniel Bellinger. You know, Daniel Bellinger is a boring signing. Former

giant, you know, we have Gunner Helm. What's there really to be excited about? But the reality is Daniel Belinger and Gunner Helm together are going to revolutionize this offense. That's the truth. To have two tight ends that are interchangeably both capable of doing anything.

They're big enough to block. They can be in line with a hand in the dirt. They're athletic enough to move around the formation, to go in motion, to line up out wide. Having those guys be interchangeable, having them both 6 foot 6, you know, 24, 250, that's going to be critical for the multiplicity of the offense formation variation coming out in two tight ends, having them both split out to get the matchups that you want

against base defenses and how defenses are going to treat both of them and being able to, you know, you could have Daniel Bellinger do the dirty work per se with a lot more blocking and that leaves Gunner Helm open to focus more on receiving. But Daniel Bellinger is athletic enough and sure handed enough to be the receiving guy if you need him to be. And hopefully Gunner Helm takes a step forward physically, which Robert Salas has already said he has, as a blocker so they can do anything.

And if you listen, he talked to folks who were at OTA's a mandatory minicam. Daniel Bellinger was a busy boy. Catching a lot of passes from Cam Ward at different levels of the field,

moving around the formation, going in motion, lining up here, shifting to there. Daniel Bellinger is a guy who knows the offense, so well that Brian Dable is going to be able to use him very, very creative. And I just think that, you know, last year Bellinger had, what was it, 19 catches, 280 yards, I would expect 30 catches, 350 yards.

Like, I think both Guntherhelm and Daniel Bellinger are going to be incredibly important to this offense. But the thing with Bellinger is, his impact won't be able to be properly measured through the stats. Maybe he doesn't get more catches because Guntherhelm is so good, there are other targets. Maybe he has 20 catches for 250 yards again. He could do that and still make a massive impact on this team

because of his blocking, his awareness, his understanding. Those catches could be in critical moments. Maybe they're not in critical moments, but they just keep the ball moving forward. again, he doesn't have to be one of the top weapons and target getters on the Titans to be someone who makes an incredible impact because of his versatility and his skill set.

Daniel Ballinger, unsung hero who will respect more as the season plays out, I guarantee it. The final guy on offense I want to mention is Austin Shlopin. He's her starting center, folks. Let's stop fighting it. It's not going to be Coogan. Slater or Cormona is not going to take it.

Andre James was signed. He's not going to beat out Schlaughtman. That's your starting Senate. And I want to remind folks, do you remember how people felt about Corey Levin at the end of last year? They wanted him to start over Lloyd Cushing Bearer. Like, we're tired of this. Corey Levin

is better. He's cheaper. He's been with the organization longer. He knows the system. He's all the, you know. That's what Schlaughtman is to Brian Dable and Carmen Priscilla. Knows the system. Yeah, he may not be an

elite starting level center, but he's just good enough to get the job done, and he's cheap so you can use resources elsewhere. I don't know if I buy it. I don't know if I believe in it. But Austin Sloatman is going to be one of the most underrated, or I guess, under-discussed is the category he would go in. Austin Slopman is your starting center.

And we don't want it to be true. See, I'm losing my voice. just thinking about Austin Shloatman-starting at center. Excuse me. We don't want it to be the case, but it is. And I think because people don't want it to be the case

and it's a sore spot, people don't want to talk about it. But he's going to be incredibly important to this season. So let's hope that they got that calculation right. Now, with that being said, got to go to the defensive side of the ball where Jacob Martin isn't being talked about enough.

Fans, let's cap on. of today's edition of the Locked-on Titans podcast. Again, we're talking about under-discussed, underrated, impactful players on the Titans roster this year. I talked about Chim D-K. Tommy Townsend as well. On offense, we mentioned Tony Pollard,

Daniel Bellinger, and Austin Slopman. Now, got to move to the defensive side of the ball. Before I do, do want to thank you again for making Locked on Titans, your first listen each and every day. Remember Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. make sure that you get subscribed. Stay subscribed at your team every day. Speaking of every day, shout it to my everydayers out there.

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But Jacob Martin hasn't been discussed enough. And I think, again, it is very similar to the Austin Sloatman conversation of, I don't really trust Jacob Martin. I don't really like that Jacob Martin is the fourth best edge or probably the third best edge on the team right now because we can't count on Femio lafayetteja for anything at this point in talking. but I don't really like that.

We've been talking about, oh, go get Joey Bosa or Hassan Redick, or they need another edge, and the answer to that seems to be, no, we're good, we have Jacob Martin. And Martin's an interesting guy. He's already 30 years old. It'll be 31 in December.

Had his best year of his career, last year, five and a half sacks with Washington, also got the most opportunities and the most snaps on defense that he's ever had his career like pretty significantly. In 2021 in Houston, he got 700 snaps. He had 700 last year.

But every other year of his career, he's been 400 or under. Most years, he's around 200. So a significant increase for Jacob Martin in snaps last year, which maybe shows that with increased opportunities, he can give you increased production. And I think if Jacob Martin got five and a half, sacks this year, generally speaking, we would be very happy with that, right?

If the fourth best edge rusher on the team got five and a half sacks, that's pretty good. If Simmons has 11 and John Franklin Myers has eight, and Jermaine Johnson has eight, and Femi has eight, and, you know, Keldrick Falk has six, and, you know, now we're getting somewhere, right? Now we're getting somewhere. But if Jacob Martin is like the second best edge rusher the Titans have

because Keldrick Falk is a rookie who needs development and he's rushing from the inside when he gets his chances. And Femiola Dejo, because he was hurt the entire all season and hasn't developed properly, isn't developed enough to be that second edge rusher. So you're looking at Jermaine Johnson, who had three and a half sacks last year. And then Jacob Martin, who had five and a half sacks last year, and those are your top two edge rushers.

Now that's not good. that's not good for the team. It may be great for Jacob Martin to get those opportunities. I'm sure he'll be happy to get the opportunities. But that's not good for the Titans. But if Jacob Martin can be in a proper role, I think he's going to have a great impact on this team. He's going to be a very appreciated player eventually.

But right now, certainly has not been discussed enough. But he's been looking good in the practices in the sessions. So that's a good sign. The last guy, or not the last guy, But the next guy I want to mention on the defensive side of the ball is Solomon Thomas. Solomon Thomas is a veteran player, former first round pick.

He's not in his prime anymore. He's not who he was during his prime days in San Francisco. But man, he looks great. He knows the system. He was effective last year for Dallas in a reserve role. I think as one of those backup interior defensive linemen. I think having one of John Franklin Myers and Jeffrey Simmons out there every single snap would be a good idea.

And if you have Solomon Thomas or Jordan Elliott or Jackie Marshall to rotate in as that other guy, I think that would be a great idea. But like Solomon Thomas, his impact is not going to be measured on the field. I think Solomon Thomas is such a wise veteran player who can make a great impact, his statement about mental health in his last media appearance for the Titans, incredibly mature. I think just having him is a veteran.

presence in the defensive room where you have Kevin Winston, Marcus Harris, Cedric Gray, Anthony Hill, Jackie Marshall, Keldrick Ful, Femiola Dajio, all of these young players, having a guy like Solomon Thomas in the locker room as a vet to mentor them, I think that is as impactful as anything that he's going to do out on the football field, and I think he's going to be a solid veteran depth player. Now, I do look at Solomon Thomas as an older guy who maybe we're talking after the year like, come on, we've got to replace him.

But I hope that he's got another year a good football left in him because I know that he's going to be very helpful for this young culture that Robert Salah is trying to develop. The last guy on the defensive side of the ball is Tony Adams. I think there's a chance, and I've been saying this for, I think, this week now. Some of these thoughts come to me in the middle of the summer

and then I ride with him. I think Tony Adams might be the starting, over Amani Hooker. I think Tony Adams might be a better player than Ammoni Hooker right now. I love Amani Hooker, man, but he was so bad last year. And you can't just blame the scheme and the system and the injuries around him for terrible angles, bad tackle attempts, poor man coverage.

Like, Tony Adams might be better than Amonty Hooker right now. And I don't know if a lot of people are considering that as an opportunity. You know what I mean? I don't know if a lot of people are considering. considering that as a possible outcome for the Titans, that it's Kevin Winston and Tony Adams is the starting safety, and Ammoni Hooker is kind of that, oh, he'll play the big nickel,

or play Don linebacker, kind of that third safety utility player. I think there's a higher chance of that that maybe people are expecting, because people are underrating Tony Adams. And I don't think that Tony Adams is incredible by any means. I just looked like Amani Hooker took a major step back last year.

It wasn't that great the year before that either, at least in the run game. So, I'm looking at at Tony Adams like, man, people are, people, including me, again, I'm guilty here. We're talking about Tony Adams, like he's just the third safety utility guy. He might be one of the top two safeties on the team. He's not being discussed like that in the fan base. So, with that being said, though, let me know your underrated or underappreciated players on the team

who you think aren't getting enough love. That's my list. With that being said, that's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this. was locked on Titans.