Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Crossover Thursday Conversation: Titans @ Broncos, Titans Complete Practice Squad

Episode Date: September 10, 2020

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Starting point is 00:00:00 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, today's crossover Thursday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is brought to you by NFL Game Pass. This season, get football on your time with NFL Game Pass. See all the action from every game with full game replays.
Starting point is 00:00:33 You can also replay an entire game and catch all of the plays in just 45 minutes with condensed games. Go to NFL.com slash Game Pass to start your free trial today. NFL Game Pass, where football never stops. And football is right around the corner for the Tennessee Titans, and that is why I am excited to kick off Crossover Thursdays this season and have an awesome conversation with the host of Locked on Broncos, Cody Rourke. So me and Cody had a great talk, a lot of excellent insight for Titans fans
Starting point is 00:01:08 to learn about what the Broncos may be planning on doing against the Titans next Monday night. Before we get into that crossover Thursday conversation, we do need to talk about some major Titans news from Wednesday. They have finally filled out their practice squad. So two more members added to the Titans 16-man practice squad to round out that group. And one of those names is a very, very familiar face. So a lot to talk about on today's show. We have the Titans rounding out their practice squad.
Starting point is 00:01:44 And a crossover Thursday conversation with Cody from Locked On Broncos. Let's get it! Going into Tuesday, the Titans had 13 of the 16 spots on their practice squad field. They had outside linebacker Jamal Davis, tight end Tommy Hudson, offensive lineman Brandon Kemp, kicker Tucker McCann, running back Jeremy McNichols, cornerback Kareem Orr, offensive lineman David Questenberry, outside linebacker Wyatt Ray, quarterback Trevor Simeon, defensive lineman Kobe Smith, defensive lineman Tyre Tartt, cornerback Ty Smith,
Starting point is 00:02:32 and wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Akeen. And on Tuesday, they added the 14th member of that practice squad in safety, Chris Miller. The Titans were not done, however, on Wednesday completing their 16-man expanded practice squad by signing two players. The first, a brand new player to the Titans organization, linebacker Malik Jefferson. And Jefferson was a third-round pick in 2018 out of the University of Texas, he had a decorated college career, racking up 233 tackles, 12 sacks, and was the co-defensive player of the year in the Big 12 in his final year in Austin.
Starting point is 00:03:15 Jefferson brings size to the position. He's 6'2", 240 pounds, but also does have some decent athletic traits. Jefferson played in 21 NFL games in his career with the Bengals and the Browns. He has racked up 11 tackles, eight of them being special team stops. In his future, Malik Jefferson would look to carve out a role in the NFL as a special teams player as he continues to develop as an every down linebacker. Recently, Jefferson was with the Chargers on their practice squad in 2019, and he was cut the past weekend by the Chargers, which allowed him to clear waivers and then ultimately
Starting point is 00:03:56 join the Titans practice squad. But that was the 15th member that was added to a 16-man group. Lastly, but not least, the Titans added a familiar face, and that is wide receiver Cameron Batson. Batson has clearly been in the favor of the Titans organization since 2018 when he was able to join the active roster and competed in a few games for the Titans in that year. In 2019, Batson was injured early in the season, missed the entire 2019 year, but the Titans brought him back early in the 2020 offseason as an exclusive rights free agent.
Starting point is 00:04:33 So clearly the Titans liked Batson, and that went further when he made the initial 53-man roster, only being cut to open up a spot for Jadavion Clowney. But Batson continues to be in the favor of the Titans organization. After he cleared waivers, he was added to the Titans practice squad. Cam Batson does add some explosive speed at the wide receiver position. He does give you a little bit of ability in the return game as well. I would expect Batson to be moved up to the active roster at some point in time
Starting point is 00:05:05 during the regular season as the Titans deal with normal injuries and if for some reason Kalief Raymond who did suffer a concussion late in the year in 2019 does come up injured the Titans have a small speed wide receiver who can fill that role for them waiting on the practice squad. So Batson and Malik Jefferson added to the Titans practice squad along with Chris Miller on Tuesday. The Titans now have a full 16-man practice squad heading into the regular season. And remember, as we do head into the season, I am going to be breaking down everything coming out of Nashville and everything taking place
Starting point is 00:05:45 on the field for the Titans Monday through Friday on the Locked on Titans podcast. So make sure that you are subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast, whether it be on Apple podcast, following on Spotify or whatever platform you do stream. Also make sure that you follow me on Twitter, at TicTacTitans, so you can check any of my content schedule, things that I post, also additional analysis,
Starting point is 00:06:13 along with my TicTacTitan film breakdowns that I will be pumping out weekly throughout the season. And speaking of my TicTacTitan film breakdowns, someone else who does do some film work himself for a different team is my man Cody Roark from the Locked on Broncos podcast. And it is time to kick off our first crossover Thursday conversation of the year and dive into an excellent talk that I had with Cody about this upcoming Broncos and Titans game. Some really good insight from Cody as to what to expect from the Broncos offense.
Starting point is 00:06:49 Also, someone to look out for on the defensive side of the ball as well. So really excited to debut that conversation with you guys in our next segment. Before we do, I want to tell you about how you yourself can dive into the film throughout the NFL season. This season, get football on your time with NFL Game Pass. You can catch every snap from every game with full game replays and see all of the plays in just 45 minutes with condensed games. You can relive all the gutsy calls, crazy catches, wild comebacks,
Starting point is 00:07:21 and breakout stars from every game every week. It's all action, all the football you can handle, all in one place, all the time. And NFL Game Pass is the only place you can replay every game all season. You'll also learn from the league's best players with over 40 NFL Game Pass film session episodes. Go inside the game from a player's perspective as they break down the game's concepts and techniques. Learn from the best like Deshaun Watson, Stephon Gilmore, Devontae Adams, and many more. NFL Game Pass also provides access to the entire NFL Films archive. Go to NFL.com slash Game Pass to start your free trial today. NFL Game Pass, where football never sleeps.
Starting point is 00:08:16 We are here for our first Thursday crossover conversation of the 2020 regular season. Wasn't certain that we would make it to this point, but luckily we are here and I could not be more excited to break down this upcoming game with Cody Roark. I know he is as excited as I am. He does excellent work covering the Denver Broncos. So make sure that whether or not you're a Broncos fan, you follow Cody on social media, follow his work. Excellent football mind. Cody, how are you doing tonight? I'm doing great, Tyler. We get one step closer to football. I think anytime we can get back to
Starting point is 00:08:54 a little bit of normalcy, I think things are great. And obviously relaunching crossover, the crossover series to Thursdays rather than Wednesdays now, I think is going to be a lot more beneficial in terms of analyzing some of the real-time news that happens right before the games. So obviously very excited. And look, man, football is back tonight. This is one of the biggest things. And obviously it's not between Denver and Tennessee. That's going to be on Monday, but Kansas City and Houston, obviously division rivals for both of the teams that we respectively cover. Very excited, man. So I'm very excited. Let's break it down. Let's talk Titans-Broncos Monday Night Football. Yeah, absolutely. And to get things kick-started, I wanted to ask you a few questions about the Broncos. And I know that there is a lot of hype
Starting point is 00:09:34 surrounding that young offense, and we will get there. But I want to start on the defensive side of the ball. And right now, obviously, the hottest topic is the unfortunate news about Von Miller's ankle injury. I guess the obvious question to start that Titans fans would want to hear from someone on the ground with the Broncos is what's the Broncos plan right now? And I'm sure it's still developing, but what's their plan to deal with the Von Miller injury on the defensive line? Obviously for the Broncos, it's a big time loss for them. He's the captain. He's the cornerstone face of the franchise in Denver. So obviously losing him is a big blow and obviously very unexpected. It's a very, very 2020-like thing to happen there.
Starting point is 00:10:12 But what the Broncos are going to do is, look, they understand the importance of Von Miller, but they also understand that they've got to continue. They just can't stop doing what they're doing because the main guy of the franchise got hurt. So now you're going to see Malik Reid and Jeremiah Tauchu. Malik Reid is an undrafted rookie free agent on Nevada, second year player. Came in for the Broncos last year when Chubb tore his ACL and made an impact. And I believe he actually got his first run really
Starting point is 00:10:32 against Tennessee. So obviously you got to see a little bit of Malik Reed there in that game. And then Jeremiah Tauchu, a veteran presence as well. Those guys are going to trade off here for the Broncos alongside Bradley Chubb. So they're a little thin right now with outside backer, but I would expect Malik Reed to get the start on Monday night when Tennessee comes to town alongside Derrick Henry. Yeah, one place that the Broncos are not thin in terms of talent, though, is at the safety position. You got a guy like Justin Simmons, a guy like Kareem Jackson,
Starting point is 00:10:59 one of the better duos in the league. That's something both teams have in common. So moving away from the pass rush and into the safeties, and I don't necessarily want to get into pass coverage with the safeties, but last year against the Titans, the Broncos really had their safeties down in the box. They really brought them up in run support. I guess, what do you expect to see from the Broncos safeties in this game? And do you think that the back end has enough talent to maybe cover for the missing Vaughn
Starting point is 00:11:25 Miller up front yeah this is a great question and I go back to last year's game against Tennessee and Tennessee ran a lot out of 11 personnel and so with a big back like Derrick Henry the dynamic that I saw with him is that the Broncos would make sure that they held edge contained so they could pinch the exterior gaps whether it's the c-gap the outside alley they try to pinch it in also having guys go the double a gap there and then have the inside linebackers blitzing and then justin simmons cream jackson essentially played as extra box players now if there was a tight end to their side they'd play coverage and man coverage they'd play zone and they'd disguise there but they would get hands on and it was john who smith down there in tennessee
Starting point is 00:12:00 they're gonna have to account for him because he's a growing and rising player in that tennessee titans offense as well. A.J. Brown entering his second year. The Broncos right now more than likely will match A.J. Boye against A.J. Brown. And some familiarity within the division with one another. I think it's going to be a fun matchup to watch. Bryce Callahan is healthy. He'll cover opposite of No. 84.
Starting point is 00:12:19 And then I think overall for what the Broncos can do, it remains to be seen whether or not the secondary can uphold in coverage. They were the 10th-ranked passing defense in the NFL last year, number one red zone defense as well. I'm not as concerned about the secondary as I have been in the past, but it's going to be really interesting to see if Tennessee added any new wrinkles offensively than what they did last year because I think the way that they run with Derrick Henry,
Starting point is 00:12:41 they're going to bring those safeties up in the box, and I think that's really where Tennessee exposed a lot of teams, especially the Ravens in the playoffs last year. Yeah, absolutely. And the, I think the most interesting thing, obviously from this game on this side of the ball is seeing how the Broncos react to the Tannehill led Titans for the majority of the game. I think obviously a lot of Titans fans are optimistic for that fact, but one last question about this defense, just to kind of educate Titans fans on a Broncos defense that doesn't get a lot of national pub outside of, you know, the safeties that I talked about.
Starting point is 00:13:12 Everyone knows Bradley Chubb, Von Miller. Is there a player on the Broncos defense you think can break out this year and maybe surprise some people, someone maybe Titans fans should be paying attention to on defense for the Broncos? Well, you know, I don't want to be cliche and say Jarrell Casey week one against his former team. You know, he's got a lot of motivation. You know, we talked to him this week and he's given the Broncos a lot of insight as to maybe what Tennessee does. And so it's going to be interesting to see how they change things up. But I ideally, I think the one player to maybe keep an eye on for the
Starting point is 00:13:40 Broncos defensive, you're a Titans fan and you're trying to figure out, Hey, who could be an X factor player in this game inside linebacker, Alexander Johnson, he plays the wheelbacker position. And last year he was just sent after Derrick Henry and also after Tannehill and Mariota. He's a very aggressive player, very instinctual, fast, physical, and loves to get in the action. And so he's one of those guys I would say, if you're a fan of the Titans looking to see which players can make an impact, I'd have to go with Alexander Johnson. Awesome. Well, Titans fans be on the lookout for that. And you have made yourself a little bit of headway with the Titans fan base by pronouncing Mariota right. That's pretty important. Mariota is the pronunciations of the name go back and forth, but when you pronunciate
Starting point is 00:14:23 it right, the fans really appreciate that. And speaking of a quarterback, it's time to dive into that Broncos offense. And everyone has talked about Drew Locke, the potential that he had based on the end of the season last year. What are your personal expectations for Drew Locke? I think the expectations for the most part for Locke is that he's got to come in and light up the scoreboard, lead the Broncos to a high-scoring offense, 40 points per game. That's what Broncos fans want.
Starting point is 00:14:49 But the reality of the situation is I consider 2020 Drew Locke's actual rookie season. He's got to get a full 16-game season to really evaluate maybe where he's at and what he could be for this Broncos team. Now, if you reference going back to last season, you know, I think he did make a difference. He went five, he went four and one in a five game stretch for the Broncos against some tough teams and also get some teams that were kind of on the up and up a little bit down there, down the stretcher. He displays a lot of confidence. Now, one thing I think that's going to be different in this matchup between the Broncos and Tennessee is that the Broncos have an athletic mobile quarterback. Who's decisive gets the ball out of his hands quickly. When the Broncos and Titans played last year, Joe Flacco was like a statue back there and it was able to get
Starting point is 00:15:28 you know pressure tennessee was able to pressure him a little bit and the back end of that secondary for tennessee was able to capitalize on some of his errant throws because of pressure and i think it's gonna be a little bit different with drew lock now he has to just go out there and trust his reads go through his progressions but i think the broncos need to establish the run game early on to really kind of take that pressure off of him I don't know necessarily yet what Drew Locke will do in a situation where if he's forced to pass uh if the Broncos find themselves behind I don't know exactly what to expect from him if he has to come in and start throwing the ball a lot of times to be able to move the Broncos down the field maybe even get the score there but I think
Starting point is 00:16:01 the Broncos need to take that pressure off him early on the potential is there he's an energetic leader uh but he's got a lot of room to grow still and I think for him But I think the Broncos need to take that pressure off him early on. The potential is there. He's an energetic leader, but he's got a lot of room to grow still. And I think for him, and I think for Broncos fans alike, they got to treat this like a rookie season. Yeah, that's completely fair. And I think it's funny that you brought up the fact that Flacco was the starting quarterback for the Broncos. So when Titans fans bring up, you know, Marcus Mariota was our quarterback. Broncos fans can just counter with, well, we didn't have Drew Locke either. So that makes the game really interesting. The last question I really have for you here is on that offense again,
Starting point is 00:16:31 one thing that will really help Drew Locke step up, meet those expectations, maybe surpass those expectations, if his young weapons can help him accomplish that. You have two highly drafted wide receivers in Jerry Judy, KJ Hamler, who are excellent. I'm really high on Jerry Judy. I think route running is something that absolutely translates. So worried about him on Monday night. Obviously, second year player in Noah Fant at the tight end position, who might be the most athletic tight end outside of John Smith or debatably with John Smith in the league right now, especially after the catch. And then Cortland Sutton is a true number one on the outside. So where's your, I guess,
Starting point is 00:17:14 temperature check on these young weapons? Do you think that they can step up early to make this team competitive? I do think that will be the case. I think Cortland Sutton is going to be the number one target. I think you're going to see Kevin Byard lurking over the top of wherever Cortland Sutton is lined up. So it's really going to put some pressure on guys like Jerry Judy, other wide receiver, Tim Patrick, who's six foot four, KJ Hamler, highly questionable for Monday's matchup against the Titans. But I think it's going to create opportunities for Jerry Judy and also for Noah Fant in his second year to see a lot more opportunities because if the Titans come out defensively, if Mike Vrabel says, look, we got to focus on Cortland Sutton, we got to focus on Jerry Judy, they're going to challenge the Broncos to beat them with the Titans come out defensively, if Mike Vrabel says, look, we've got to focus on Cortland Sutton, we've got to focus on Jerry Judy, they're going to challenge the Broncos to beat them
Starting point is 00:17:47 with the running backs out of the backfield, another wide receiver, and even the tight ends. I think that's going to be a test the Broncos need to figure out. And going back to that Kansas City Chiefs-Titans game in the AFC Championship, going back and watching how the Chiefs really utilized Travis Kelsey, maybe the Broncos take a page out of that to be able to maybe get them up into some space a little bit because Tennessee had to focus on Tyree kill and Sammy Watkins. The Broncos had to find that formula to be able to kind of create mismatch nightmares. And I think they're going to try to establish earlier, like, where can they go? Who's the
Starting point is 00:18:14 weakness on that Titans defense that they can try to attack and exploit. I think that's going to be a big key. Yeah, it's definitely going to be something to watch. I'm really excited for this game. Uh, these teams have a bunch of interesting storylines surrounding them. And then, of course, the seminal game of the Titans season last year that changed everything was the Broncos matchup with the Jarrell Casey trade. There's just a lot of juicy storylines here to watch unfold. We are going to continue breaking down this game in our next segment when I go into the hot seat and Cody asked me some questions about the Tennessee Titans.
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Starting point is 00:20:33 all of the parts your car will ever need. Rock auto.com. All right, Tyler, I want to get into a few things here with you because this is a big Monday night football matchup. Obviously, in the Eastern time zone, it's going to be a late game. And even for the Mountain time zone, I've had a lot of Broncos fans say, hey, look, why do they keep scheduling these games late? And certainly, we're going to have a work cut out for us because we've got the postgame report right afterwards here on the lockdown podcast network so that's
Starting point is 00:21:08 gonna be a fun thing uh but obviously looking at this tennessee titans team coming off of an appearance in the afc championship where you know for the first half you felt really convinced that this was a team that really could contend and maybe compete with kansas city and then kansas city you know they do what they do they have a couple of big plays and then it's a snowball effect they capitalize on mistakes uh you know overall where do what they do. They have a couple of big plays and then it's a snowball effect. They capitalize on mistakes. You know, overall, where do you think this team's mindset is now with Ryan Tannehill? Big payday for him this offseason. Big payday for Derrick Henry.
Starting point is 00:21:33 What about the surrounding town around them? What are your initial expectations coming into the season for this Titans team? Well, I think my initial expectations for the team based on what they did in the offseason, the deals that you mentioned, they brought back the key pieces. Derrick Henry is obviously a key piece. I don't have to sell anybody on that. Ryan Tannehill, despite what people say about his performance in the playoffs, if anybody watches football and watch the Titans in the regular season at the end of the year last year, they know Ryan Tannehill was a weapon and deserves the credit that he got. The contract, we will see if he deserves that, but he deserves the credit that he got. The contract, we will see if he deserves that, but he deserves the credit for last year.
Starting point is 00:22:07 But my expectations are they keep the ball rolling. Especially in this offseason, everything was so limited. I think that 2020 is more of an extension of 2019 than any previous season we have seen before. And because of that, the Titans have young weapons who excel with the ball in their hands. They have the same offensive coordinator in Arthur Smith. Ryan Tannehill's back for the full season.
Starting point is 00:22:30 I think the Titans offense should continue to roll. And so in terms of the offense as well, part of me, like I said earlier when you and I were talking was, I wonder if the Titans are going to throw any kind of new wrinkles out there because the NFL, they have film, and really the formula last year was, you know what, Ryan Tannehill under center, handoff to Derrick Henry, handoff to Derrick Henry, play action because everyone's cheating up in the box to stop Derrick Henry, who was really hard to bring down. And that's where
Starting point is 00:22:54 you got guys like Kalief Raymond getting open, AJ Brown. But I really want to talk about this receiving core too. And AJ Brown really leads the pack as the premier guy here. What can the Broncos expect maybe from a guy like A.J. Brown in his second year? Obviously one of the most athletic, explosive young talents that we saw last year in the NFL at the receiver position. I think the sky's the limit for a guy like him, but how does he fit into the equation of the Tennessee Titans heavy run offense? Well, I think one thing that A.J. Brown has to do to continue to improve, and I think he will, is work on his releases off press. Coming from college football, one of the historic things that college wide receivers struggle to
Starting point is 00:23:32 translate to in the NFL is getting off press coverage, getting jammed at the line of scrimmage. A.J. Brown has been working directly with Malcolm Butler, who's a pretty good physical press man corner throughout the entire all season and one-on-ones going against each other to help improve that. So I think that you're right. The Titans formula has been seen teams know what's coming. They can't just continue to do that. Even if they can draw off that continuity, I think there's a couple of different things that'll happen. AJ Brown, getting better at those releases, getting a more sophisticated route tree and just getting more nuanced at the position will help him get open and not have to be schemed open by play action so much. So that'll help.
Starting point is 00:24:09 The addition of Adam Humphreys, who was injured for a lot of the time that Tannehill was the quarterback for the Titans last year. I think that'll help them do more outside of play action, hitting those short to intermediate option routes that you, you know, Tom Brady made famous in New England there. I think the Titans can work in a little bit of that. And then a third round rookie running back, Darrington Evans offers a diverse skillset. The Titans didn't have with a Dion Lewis that they don't have with a Derrick Henry, where he can catch the ball out of the backfield. Again, he can run a diverse route tree where Derrick Henry's only going to be running screens,
Starting point is 00:24:42 going out into the flat, very basic. He doesn't have the change of direction skills to run a full route tree for a running back, and Evans does. So Evans will give the Titans the possibility of doing some things. Think about, we talk about the Chiefs. Think about the running back wheel routes that the Chiefs have really had success with. The Titans could never even imagine running a play like that before a route like that before the running back.
Starting point is 00:25:04 So having Darrington Evans open up the versatility with the running back, having A.J. Brown advance as a wide receiver, and then having Adam Humphreys expand the Titans shotgun game and short to intermediate game, those things will help the Titans stay out of being too predictable with run-run play action. We saw Derrick Henry throw a touchdown pass in the playoffs last year. I'm just saying, there's a lot of things that you can't prepare for. And I just recall just watching him run. He's just a sizable guy. You really can't try to tackle him up high.
Starting point is 00:25:32 And I go back to my playing days. Anytime we played a big back, you know, our DB coach always told us, go for the legs, chop them down like a tree. And so for the Broncos, we saw a great group tackling effort from them last season. Part of me is a little worried a little bit about the fact there has been no preseason and the tackling, you can't really get a full tackling simulation in practice due to the rules in the collective bargaining agreement. We can either see really, you know, good offense, or we can see really bad defense. I think it can be a combination of the two. That's one of the biggest storylines I'm looking to
Starting point is 00:26:00 follow. But I think for the Titans here, the one thing I want to talk to you about, Tyler, is the addition of Davian Clowney. We know what type of talent he could bring to the table here. However, what are your thoughts? Obviously, not being in a camp, not being around a team facility all offseason long. This is the first week he's really in the action, really practicing. What kind of impact do you think he can make week one? Do you think he's going to be up to his standard? Do you think it maybe take a little bit of time to get him to where he needs to be? to make week one? Do you think he's going to be up to his standard? Do you think it maybe take a little bit of time to get him to where he needs to be? Well, I think that in terms of his overall impact, the Titans are only smart to limit his snaps. I mean, I want to see Clowney out there
Starting point is 00:26:35 and I think he has the capability of playing maybe 50 to 60% of snaps. That's what he played in Seattle last year in week one, right around, you know, 50 to 60%. So he was ready to go without the training camp and the offseason then. But the Titans are really big on a rotation. If you remember to the Eagles championship team from a few years ago, their defensive line, they went six to seven deep, eight deep sometimes. They could rotate and keeping your pass rushers fresh is something the Titans really focus on. Harold Landry, who is getting washed away and all the clowny talk and everything, was a real rising star for the Titans defense as an edge rusher last
Starting point is 00:27:09 year. Had nine sacks, really tailed off late in the year when he didn't have anybody opposite him. And he played around 85% of snaps last year, which is a lot for a pass rusher when you're trying to pin your ears back nonstop to get to the quarterback. So I think the Titans will have a focus on a defensive line rotation this year, which will limit Clowney snaps and allow him to maybe get up to speed. But I still think that his impact because his snaps will be limited, will be as high as possible. He can maximize his potential impact by limiting his snap count. If I'm Pat Shermer, the Broncos offensive coordinator,
Starting point is 00:27:45 one of the things I'm going to do just to test it. If I see JV and Clowney out there, I want to run at him on the first play. I want to see what, you know, what he's doing. I want to be able to test him a little bit. I think that's one of the ultimate signs of seeing where a guy is at. I think the Broncos are going to try to come out and test it. But the last question I have for you here, Tyler, you know, take a look. If you're a Broncos fan right now, that's listening to this podcast, you're waiting for Monday night right now that's listening to this podcast, you're waiting for Monday night to come around, who is one player that could be on offense, could be on defense,
Starting point is 00:28:12 that you think, outside of Derrick Henry and Ryan Tannehill, outside of those two guys, the evident obvious players there, who is one player that Broncos fans should maybe keep an eye on on Monday night? I think if the Broncos fans want that answer, and I'm going to say this, probably get away with saying this until about week three, and then it won't be someone that the fan base doesn't necessarily know about anymore. A guy who did not play against the Broncos last year, and a guy who is the reason why the Broncos have Darrell Casey now, that's Jeffrey Simmons, the interior defensive lineman from Mississippi State. 19th overall pick in 2019. Had an ACL tear two months before the draft in February last year.
Starting point is 00:28:52 Rehabbed, finally got on the field in week seven for the Titans. Had a sack. The Titans, in my opinion, were the best team in the NFL defending one yard last year. They had three different, well, four different. You know, you saw the goal line stops against New England and the wild card. You saw two fourth and one stops against the Ravens, the big goal line stand against the chargers where they made Melvin Gordon fumble on the goal line as the buzzer expired. Casey actually recovered that fumble, but Jeffrey Simmons was at the heart of all of those plays, getting interior push. Six foot five, 340 plus pounds. He's a totally different looking human being compared to when he got drafted
Starting point is 00:29:31 since he's had a healthy all season, not wearing a knee brace anymore. I expect Jeffrey Simmons, this is a bold prediction for the Broncos fan base or for anyone. I expect by the end of the season, halfway through the season, Jeffrey Simmons will be mentioned with the Chris Jones, the Grady Jarrett, the DeForest Buckners, the Fletcher Cox. Obviously, Aaron Donald is a tier above everybody, so I don't like mentioning his name. But those dominant interior forces in the NFL, I think Jeffrey Simmons off a healthy
Starting point is 00:30:00 all season with a healthy knee becomes that. And that's what Broncos fans should worry about on their interior offensive line, holding up against Jeffrey Simmons. Well, Broncos country, you did hear it from Tyler. They're a Titans perspective, obviously very close to the team and covering all the angles. There's going to be a fun matchup Monday night football, the second game of the double header to kick off the 2020 NFL season.
Starting point is 00:30:20 With that said, I'm Cody Rourke, host of Lockdown Broncos. Speaking for Tyler, we will see you next week for another crossover show and tune into the game on Monday for both the Titans recap and the Broncos recap. But just saying you could tune in on Friday too. I mean, we got quite a bit to talk about still. Just saying. But seriously,
Starting point is 00:30:36 want to thank Cody for joining up, doing the crossover Thursday. Always enjoy talking football with Cody. He's a very smart guy. Follow any of his work. Pro Football Network, the Lock talking football with Cody. He's a very smart guy. Follow any of his work, Pro Football Network, the Locked on Broncos podcast. Really enjoy his candor as well, but really excited for this football game.
Starting point is 00:30:57 Tomorrow we have some more season preview information to talk about. I'm going to hand out who I think is going to win team awards, talk about maybe some statistical outcomes and predictions that I have as well along with maybe a wide variety of NFL predictions to round out our week as well but excited to to you know round out this last week of podcasts without football in our lives guys we have made it to the finish line one more show before it is football week. So really excited to break down this 2020 Titans season with you all. Make sure that you are locked into the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream.
Starting point is 00:31:36 But that is going to do it for me today. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.

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