Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Crossover Wednesday - Nick Dzubnar Signing, Aaron Freeman Talks Vic Beasley

Episode Date: March 25, 2020

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, of course, right after I recorded on Monday night, the Titans made a roster move. And no, it was not the high-profile signing that everybody is waiting on. No, it was a much, much smaller deal, but does have the opportunity to make a very big impact on this team and does fill a role that clearly the Titans had open based on where they were at in free agency and that was that special teams linebacker role that we've seen Darren Bates occupy for quite some time so the Titans did go ahead and fill that role with a name that not many people will most likely recognize. So what we were going to do is talk about that player and talk about that signing,

where they will impact this team, what units they will be playing on, and what the background on this player is and his history in the NFL as well. But after that, the Titans have made one other big signing where they brought in a player from another team, and that was edge rusher Vic Beasley from the Atlanta Falcons. So if you guys do recall, on Crossover Wednesday back in week four, we had our guy Aaron Freeman from the Locked On Falcons podcast on the show to talk about the upcoming game. And the Falcons aren't a common opponent for the Titans, so it'll be fun to have Aaron back on our show today to give us a little bit of a breakdown on his experience with Vic Beasley

while covering the Falcons. So we are going to have him on and have a conversation about Vic Beasley, the good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between to kind of set the table for our conversation about Vic Beasley and our film study on Vic Beasley later this week. So that should be a really interesting conversation. Really excited to talk about Vic Beasley and what he can bring to the Titans and of course what he will need to improve to maximize his impact on this football team.

So we're going to talk about an awesome signing. We are going to get into a great conversation about a different signing. A lot to get into today. Let's get it. The Titans reached a one-year deal with special teamer and linebacker by position Nick DeZubnar on Monday night. And DeZubnar will come over after five seasons with the San Diego and Los Angeles Chargers where he was primarily tasked with being a special teams player. In fact, DeZubnar has only played 65 snaps on defense in his entire five-year career, and the majority of those defensive snaps, 16 in his rookie year in 2015 and 45 in 2016,

came in his first two seasons. In fact, the last three seasons from 2017 to 2019 with the Los Angeles Chargers, DeZubnar only played four defensive snaps total with none coming last season. And because of that fact, clearly his statistics are going to be limited. DeZubnar has only had 60 tackles in his NFL career, peaking in 2017 with 21. he racked up eight tackles for the Chargers special teams unit last year, but the value with DeZubnar is not going to be found in the statistics, but it will be found in the special teams snaps. If you look at special teams, DeZubnar has had 1,234 career snaps on special teams, including 80% of the Chargers special team snaps last season

with 332 downs that he played on special teams. So that means that DeZubnar will come in and fill the Darren Bates role. And it's obvious that John Robinson puts an emphasis on special teams. We saw that in his second season as general manager with the Tennessee Titans when he brought in Brendan Trawick and Darren Bates from the Oakland Raiders to make sure that the special teams unit was not just treated as something where good players would also have to double down and play special teams, but John Robinson wanted to create an actual special teams unit and make sure that that phase of the football is one of the best in the league for the Titans.

The Titans do want to play complementary football. It's something that they talk about all the time in press conferences from the head coach all the way up to the general manager. And to do that, you must be sound on special teams. And therefore, you need to get players from around the NFL who have shown that while they may not contribute on offense and defense, can be high-level contributors in special teams, and DeZoombar will be asked to do that. He will play on the punt team, on the punt return team. Most likely, the kick coverage team on kickoffs, kick return team, could also help as an

up-back on PAT. So DeZoombar will be asked to fill that Darren Bates role. He'll be asked to be a captain of the special teams group that will include Joshua Kalou, Dane Cruikshank, and Chris Milton, who was also just recently re-signed. So DeZoombar will have a big role on this team, despite not really factoring into the offense or the defense or having major statistics to fall back on. But that is going to wrap up our conversation about DeZubnar. Wanted to make sure that you guys are up to date on every signing that the Titans make

this offseason, no matter how high profile or how small. We are going to cover it here on the Locked on Titans podcast. So make sure that you are subscribed on whatever platform you do stream your podcast, whether that be Apple Music, whether that be Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, wherever you can listen to podcasts, you can find the Locked on Titans podcast there. I'm going to be taking you guys through the entire off season with daily content. So make sure that you are subscribed and ready for tomorrow's show as well. content so make sure that you are subscribed and ready for tomorrow's show as well but before we get that far we have to jump into an awesome conversation with Aaron Freeman from the Locked

On Falcons podcast about the Titans new edge rusher Vic Beasley we'll get into that next if you've been a listener of this podcast I'm sure you've heard all the great advertisers working with Locked On to reach sports fans but you may not know that Locked On is a great way for your local business to reach passionate fans just like you. Unlike any other podcast, Locked On gives your local company the unique ability to reach local podcast listeners. And not just any podcast listener, a Locked On podcast listener. a locked on podcast listener. If your company wants a way to connect with Titans fans and a predominantly male audience that is well-educated with disposable income, then let's put your company right here on this locked on podcast.

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or visit lockedonpodcast.com We look forward to hearing from you. So we are here with Aaron Freeman, the host of the Locked on Falcons podcast. He is gracious enough to join us here for a conversation about the Titans' new signing, Vic Beasley, edge rusher. And Aaron, I guess I wanted to ask you just to start. Obviously, things are a little peculiar around the country. How are you hanging in there during this, I guess, uncertain time? I'm doing all right. Occasionally get a little cabin fever being stuck at home

so many days in a row, but I'm doing the best to navigate it the best I can. And talking a little bit of football here with you certainly will take my mind off of some of the other things going on. Yeah, absolutely. And that's obviously our goal here. See if we can get away from things for a little bit and talk about something a little more fun and that's football. But as I understand it, things weren't always fun when it comes to Vic Beasley's time with the Atlanta Falcons. They obviously drafted him pretty high. I believe it's the eighth overall pick and expected him to make a big impact. And early on, it looked like that may be the case, but things didn't necessarily finish on the best terms I guess first things first kind of a blank slate what was just your overall experience with Vic Beasley in his time in Atlanta yeah I think you you explained it pretty well

Tyler there were a lot of high expectations when the Falcons drafted Vic Beasley eighth overall in that 2015 draft it had been so long since the Falcons drafted Vic Beasley eighth overall in that 2015 draft. It had been so long since the Falcons had really had a big-time pass rusher besides John Abraham, and they had lost him a couple years earlier, and it really showed on the football field. And so Beasley kind of came into Atlanta with the sort of expectations that he was going to be the next John Abraham for this team and be really sort of their top pass rusher

and one of the better sack artists in the league. And early in his career, it seemed like he was going to live up to those expectations. But I recall, you know, back in 2016, when he was putting up this monster production, looking at the film week in and week out and seeing, you know, it was a little bit of, it was a little misleading because a lot of his production came against lesser competition, a lot of backup offensive tackles like Ty Sambrello and Big B back with the Philadelphia Eagles, now with the Jets. And, you know, he was getting a lot of pressure in production off of cleanup sacks and stunts and twists. It wasn't that many

examples during that season where he was just simply lining up against an offensive tackle, particularly a quality offensive tackle, and beating that guy with his speed and with various moves. And so he was a player that I thought was likely due to some regression in 2017. And unfortunately, we saw that and that regression was probably a little bit more than even I was expecting, given relatively lower expectations of him moving off of that 2016 season, and unfortunately, he just really hasn't been able to bounce back and show that form. He was better this past season in 2019, where the Falcons made a concerted effort. Dan Quinn personally made it a concerted effort to try to get more out of him, sort of teaching him the counter moves and whatnot. But it didn't really necessarily pay off in a big way,

given the lofty expectations when they first drafted him. And now, you know, he's going to Tennessee and getting potentially a fresh slate with the Titans. Yeah. And sometimes obviously having a fresh slate can kind of wake a guy up if maybe there were some issues in terms of work ethic and things like that. Well, from your explanation there, basically, Beasley wasn't able to live up to expectations, and even his highest successes there in Atlanta seemed to be questioned by circumstance. So what was it, do you think, that prevented him from growing? And like you said, Dan Quinn was trying to work with him specifically on counter moves and things like that.

To me, I guess, from hearing that, if he's in year five and still the coaches have to make a concerted effort to work on him with those things, is it something that maybe he's lacking outside of games, maybe a work ethic issue or an understanding of pass rush moves? I guess, what was it in the pass rush that didn't allow him to fully develop to the player that, you know, we thought he might be able to be coming out of the draft? Yeah, I think work ethic questions were certainly things that a lot of people sort of outside question with him, whether he loves the game. I can't necessarily answer those questions. I honestly think really when you break it down,

I think the big issue that Big B's he suffered with and the reason why he didn't necessarily live up to expectations and maybe whether those expectations were a little too high were just physical limitations from him. He's an undersized player. There's a reason why you don't see that many smaller defensive ends have a lot of success in the NFL. You do have some examples like Robert Mathis, among others, but there just aren't that

many guys that are under 250 pounds that have, you know, sort of his size, his shorter arms, those types of things that really go on to have a lot of success. And so I think with Vic Beasley, I don't know if it's necessarily he didn't work hard enough. I just think maybe we shouldn't have had the expectations on him to be this difference maker as a pass rusher or basically to be the exception or the outlier like a Robert Mathis. And maybe he would have been the norm, which is a guy that's a semi-productive pass rusher.

He's not chopped liver or any sense in that regard, but maybe shouldn't have the high expectations that he was going to be one of the best players in the league entering the NFL. Yeah, that's fair. And if you look at him as more of a rotation piece, then I guess it's a little more palatable as to what he's going to give you. And hopefully that's something that the Titans are looking at him as, and not, you know, someone who can come in and be a bonafide stud on the other side,

but he did up his production, obviously had that big 2016 with 15 and a half sacks. And then two down years, like you spoke about five sacks each where he did regress a bit, but he was able to get back up to about eight sacks last season. And quite frankly, that would be second place on the Titans. So what was he able to do last year? Is it just that, um, enhanced coaching from, you know,

Dan Quinn that helped him there? Or what was he able to do last year that, that helped him maybe get back up and play a little bit better in his last year in Atlanta? I think it was a little bit better. I think probably coaching has something to do with that. I think some of the production was him getting a little bit more of that production that he saw in 2016, which are sort of those cleanup sacks and chasing down quarterbacks. I think the Falcons kind of figured out in 2019 how to best utilize him. And one of the things that they often like to utilize him in the second half of the season when the Falcons offense improved

was they would often utilize him dropping into coverages rather than asking him to be sort of that always pin your ears back and get after the quarterback type of pass rusher and try to utilize him sort of to cover those middle zones. And I think really if the Titans wind up utilizing him in that way and asking him to do other things besides just rushing the quarterback, I do think it will allow him to be a little bit more effective when he does get those opportunities to rush the quarterback, as opposed to just asking him to just, you know, continually try to pin his ears

back and get after the passer. Well, it's really interesting that you bring up his ability to drop back into coverage because I've been reviewing a little bit of Beasley's tape here over the past week, and it's something you don't see him do a lot, but you're right. I saw him do it a little bit more with Atlanta last season in the Titans disguise heavy zone blitz defense. A lot of Titans fans bemoaned the defensive coaching staff for dropping back Harold Landry who's a talented pass rusher into coverage but that's something that the Titans do like to do to keep offenses on their toes I guess I would just ask you to speak a little bit more to that and if the Falcons didn't ask him to do a lot of that in Tennessee what do you think the potential

Beasley has to drop back into coverage could be? Do you think that's something that he could get better at and maybe do a little bit more than we saw in his first five years in the league based on what you saw at the end of last year? Yeah, I think his coverage abilities are very underrated. I know here in Atlanta, because of those expectations that he was going to be the next great pass rusher, any time he dropped into coverage, I think people bemoaned it. So it seems like Falcon fans and Titan fans are not too dissimilar in that regard.

That's the same. But I think really with Beasley, I think one of the things and one of the reasons why there were so lofty expectations for him entering the NFL is because he is a very gifted athlete. And I think that shows off with his ability and coverage. You know, he's not necessarily a natural, particularly when it comes to zone coverage, because he didn't do a ton of it in college and he didn't do a ton of it

early in his NFL career. He's gotten better at that. He's pretty disciplined when it comes to playing his assignments, when it comes to zone coverage. He's not the greatest open field tackler. And so that's something that's going to have to improve for him. But I believe that's something that he can work on and get better at, particularly if the Titans coaching staff makes it a point of emphasis for him moving forward. But I think that athleticism allows him to be able to match up one-on-one

in man coverage pretty effectively against tight ends and running backs and whatnot. And when he's had the opportunity to do that, I think he's done a superb job. But again, it's just not something that the Falcons were particularly interested in asking him to do until really this past season when they were really, you know, this year they were, I think, better aware of what his skill set was. But in previous years, as I mentioned earlier, they were so focused on trying to make him into this world-class pass rusher that I think they didn't necessarily take advantage of his more well-rounded skill set it's really funny to hear you identify some of his traits like that he's not the best open field tackler but he will be

assignment sound in zone coverage I'm thinking about the game against Minnesota at the beginning of last year they hit Dalvin Cook Dalvin Cook on a flat route and had Beasley drop into coverage. And he was perfectly in a zone. And because of his positioning, he was able to get Dalvin Cook out of bounds. But Cook put a move on him right before he went out of bounds. And Beasley took a dive and wasn't able to make contact. And it's just funny to hear some of the traits that you discuss. I can think of them vividly in certain plays from the tape. So really good analysis there. I guess the last thing I wanted to ask you about, about Beasley on the field is how he holds up in run defense uh obviously with him being an undersized edge in the Falcon scheme maybe they got a little bit of help from the

linebackers there but as a as a run defender setting the edge there in the run and kind of trying to force guys back inside how was he able to hold up there being an undersized guy? Yeah, again, I think that's another area where he's a little underrated. And part of that is because the Falcons the last couple of years had a player in Devondre Campbell, who also walked in free agency this offseason, play a lot of that strong side linebacker role. And one of the problems with Devondre Campbell over these last couple of seasons was that he was not very consistent when it came to setting the edge. And when Beasley had those opportunities, it was big contrast because he was a lot more consistent setting the edge. So I may be a little

bit biased in there because I'm comparing him to a player that wasn't doing it as consistently. But I do think that is an area where when asked to do his assignments, again, I think he's a very assignment sound player when you ask him to do it and he understands sort of what his role is and i think he's uh much more effective being that more stand-up linebacker when it comes to setting the edge than necessarily asking him to um you know take on much bigger offensive tackles and there he has a tendency to get a little bit engulfed against the run but having him go up against tight ends and whatnot more so as that stand-up linebacker I think he's a little

bit more effective as a run defender and then again if you can just get him do a better job tackling then I think he can be a very effective run defender for your team moving forward. Matt that is a excellent analysis and a really good, I guess, picture to paint and a foundation for us as we dive in a little bit more into Vic Beasley throughout the week. I wanted to make sure I got really good information for someone who's actually been covering him and watching him play for the last few seasons. So I really do appreciate that.

Aaron, before we let you go, I don't think that we will have the opportunity to talk a lot in the coming seasons unless for some reason our teams do meet in the Super Bowl. So while I do have you here, quickly, obviously you have your own show. I don't want you to give away the goods for free, but the Falcons have had an up-and-down offseason letting Desmond Trufant go, but bringing in a replacement for Vic Beasley like Dante Fowler, signing a Georgia native in Todd Gurley, well, at least played football

at Georgia in college. How are you feeling quickly just about the Falcons' offseason so far? Well, it's a welcome change because the Falcons are willing to be a little bit more proactive in this opening days of free agency to make some splash moves, to get some bigger name guys, as you mentioned, like Fowler and Gurley, and making the trade for tight end Hayden Hurst. And the last couple of off seasons, they haven't really been that proactive. And it's been kind of dull the first couple of days where they make more low key

signings. So I'm excited to be able to talk about that on lockdown Falcons. And I definitely appreciate you having me on here, Tyler to talk about Vic Beasley. He's a player that I've spent a lot of time over the last five years talking about. And so, you know, I do appreciate that,

you know, that knowledge not only is it getting paid off on lockdown Falcons, but also here at least today on lockdown Titans. Yeah. And we definitely do appreciate it as well. And, of course, if anybody who listens to the Locked on Titans podcast is interested in the Falcons, has relatives, family, friends who are Falcons fans, make sure you point them over to Aaron's show. He does a great job.

Well, I will get you out of here on this, obviously, with everything going on in the world today. What would be the Aaron Freeman quarantine starter kit, you know, food, drink, source of entertainment. What are, what are some things that you would need to, if you were going to be, you know, quarantined and locked down, what are the top items that you got to have with you? Well, you know, I'm a big chicken wing guy. Well, you know, I'm a big chicken wing guy. Hey, me too. That's my favorite food. Good man. Good man. Yeah. So I don't know how it is in your neck of the woods, Tyler, but the poultry section of the grocery store has been, you know, bare these last couple of days because of the sort of run on things.

And so, you know, I'm kind of fiending a little bit. I've been able to get out of the house and go to a couple of places, but certainly being well-stocked on chicken wings for the quarantine would certainly be at the top of my list. Well, the follow-up question to that is pretty easy. What kind of sauce do you like? What kind of sauce are on your wings? Well, Atlanta's famous for their lemon pepper wings. I'm certainly

a fan of that, but I tend to side more with the sweet and spicy combination. So I'm a big honey sriracha guy, that sort of thing. So, you know, I tend to like the sweet and spicy flavors. Absolutely. Well, you're making me a little too hungry right now for my own good. So we will get out of here on that. Aaron, man, I really appreciate you taking some time out of your day to give Titans fans a little bit of a preview of Vic Beasley. And of course, hopefully we might be able to talk to each other in the near future if things go well for our teams. Absolutely, Tyler. Appreciate you having me on and certainly wishing the best for Vic Beasley moving forward. Didn't necessarily work out for him as favorably as we wanted to in Atlanta, but I'm hoping,

you know, a few hours north in Nashville, it will be able to work out for him this season and in the future. So once again, that was Aaron Freeman from the Locked on Falcons podcast. Really appreciate him coming on and giving us a general idea of what to expect from Vic Beasley going forward. And with that pass coverage nugget, gave us a pretty good idea of how Beasley could grow and fit more into this Titans defensive scheme.

I hope you guys enjoyed that conversation with Aaron. So that is going to do it for our show today. We did go over the Nick DeZubnar signing and how that could impact the special teams unit. Talked about Vic Beasley in depth with Aaron Freeman to get us ready for more breakdowns on Beasley going forward. Since you are done with this episode of Locked on Titans, check out the Locked on Draft Dudes podcast. of Locked on Titans. Check out the Locked on Draft Dudes podcast.

Obviously, the draft is the next big event on the NFL calendar. It is time to start getting ready and preparing for that. So follow them over there. Check out that podcast. It is a good one as well. But as always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was locked on Titans

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