Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - DeAndre Hopkins & Arden Key DOMINATE Tennessee Titans Practice and Chris Hubbard Signs

Episode Date: July 28, 2023

The Tennessee Titans had two players shine above the rest on Friday and it was DeAndre Hopkins and Arden Key. Tyler dives into the latest from practice including the struggle of Will Levis and Malik Willis. Also, the Titans signed Chris Hubbard on Friday morning and ironically enough, their offensive tackles had a terrible day.Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videosSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetterHelpThis episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. If you’re thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. Visit BetterHelp.com/Lockedon today to get 10% off your first month.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

DeAndre Hopkins and Arden Key dominated Tennessee Titans practice on Friday. I'm breaking it all down on a bonus edition of the Locked On Titans podcast. Let's get it. You are Locked On Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked On Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans.

It's time for a bonus edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. And we have so much to talk about on today's show. DeAndre Hopkins continues to dominate Titans practice. But it wasn't just Hopkins. Arden Key dominated as well. I'm going to dive into all that. Plus, the Titans signed Chris Hubbard at offensive tackle. So we'll discuss some of that.

Going to keep it a little shorter than normal for you guys today since it is a bonus episode. But still, a lot to talk about. Let's dive right in. Before we do, thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round on all apps, always for free. Make sure you get subscribed.

Stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast where it's your team every day. And heck, basically, literally every single day, I'm going to be on a run here for like 14 days straight of bringing you Tennessee Titans content. So in return, if you wouldn't mind, hit the subscribe button, hit that thumbs up button if you're watching as well. Definitely do appreciate you guys.

But moving right into today's news, DeAndre Hopkins. Dominant once again and dominant out the gate. So the Titans started their one-on-one competitions. They do some individual drills before they get into, if you guys have ever played football, then you know kind of the chronological order that you see from football practice. You start out with a stretch and the warmup.

You get into some of your individual drills. Then you might do some one-on-one individual drills like cornerbacks versus wide receivers, running backs, linebackers, defensive line, offensive line, all that. Then you'll slowly work into like some seven-on-seven period and then get into team periods later where it's 11-on-11. I mean, I'm not saying I know the exact strategy of Mike Vrabel's practices and what he wants to do, but there's just a general theme to football practice from one level all the way up. So starting off in one-on-ones, DeAndre Hopkins against Christian Fulton. If you haven't seen this highlight, go to my Twitter at Tic Tac Titans. I wrote an article about Hopkins domination for Sports Illustrated as well at alltitans.com. Hopkins goes up over top of Christian Fulton

and basically makes a one-handed catch deep down the field. And it plays like that. DeAndre Hopkins is always open because of his length, because of his body control, his hand-eye coordination, his timing. DeAndre Hopkins is always open. Fulton was on him. No doubt about it, good coverage from Christian Fulton, but a place where I've seen Christian Fulton struggle throughout his career is at the catch point. He can be right on a wide receiver's body and get beat in the air.

And Hopkins did that. It didn't stop there though. You get in a seven on seven Hopkins catches a deep seam route down the middle of the field, playing in the slot. Love to see that from the Titans. Then you go into team period. The first two plays of team period catches for DeAndre Hopkins. The next team period where the Titans ones were back out on the field, Tannehill's targeting Hopkins again. No doubt about it. DeAndre Hopkins has been Ryan Tannehill's favorite target

so far throughout the first few days of camp. And that's just great stuff. It's so exciting. He will be the man to break the curse. The curse breaker. DeAndre Hopkins dominating early. So wanted to tell you guys about that because, I mean, it's exciting stuff.

And that kind of leads into the quarterback play, which I'll touch on real quick. Ryan Tannehill was sharp on the day. Now, the Titans defense won the day overall, I would say. But Tannehill was sharp. And some of the backup quarterbacks, Will Levis threw an interception on the day. Malik Willis held the ball a little bit too long in certain plays. Probably would have been sacks, but then they turned in some scramble drill stuff.

I would say the Titans defensive line really dominated the day and other than Ryan Tannehill, made it really difficult on the quarterbacks and the offenses overall. But a big part, the biggest part of that domination on defense was Arden Key. They asked Arden Key after practice how many sacks he thinks that he got on Friday. Arden Key said probably about seven, and I don't think that that's wrong. I think that's a pretty close number.

Arden Key gave Andre Dillard the business. No doubt about it. No doubt about it. Made it tough on him all day long. Rashad Weaver had a sack too, but Arden Key had multiple sacks during team period. Got close a lot of the time as well. I mean, sack, no sack.

They're not going to tackle the quarterback right now in training camp. So I guess maybe the quarterback could have broke free, could have got loose. You know, that's something Malik Willis was talking about is you got to keep running the play even after there would have been a sack because maybe the quarterback would have broke free, could have got loose. You know, that's something Malik Willis was talking about is you got to keep running the play even after there would have been a sack because maybe the quarterback would get free. There's not pads on. And keep that in mind too

before we get too crazy. There's no pads on. And without pads and limited physicality, it's going to benefit the athletic pass rusher, not the offensive lineman who wants to use that physicality to his advantage. But with that grain of salt being poured on the segment, boy, did Arden Key really make it tough on Andre Dillard today.

I mean, it wasn't just Arden Key either. There was a video of the blocking drill where a linebacker comes to the edge and the offensive tackle was just supposed to meet him. And boy, Chance Campbell made Andre Dillard look silly. How he, boom, moved inside of him, juked right inside of him. Dillard look silly. How he, boom, moved inside of him, juked right inside of him. Dillard didn't even get hands on him, I don't think. It was a rough practice for Andre

Dillard, capitalized by Mike Vrabel was asked how Andre Dillard is doing through the first few days of camp. And Mike Vrabel talked about Arden Key and how great Arden Key is for about a minute. Says, oh, he's going up against Arden Key, Arden Key,

so versatile, Arden Key's throwing the cross chop, Arden Key's throwing the long arm, Arden Key's throwing the wiggle at him, blah, blah, blah, all these different pass rush moves. I know that Arden Key is going to give him every look that he's going to see. Mike Vrabel was like, I don't have anything nice to say about Andre Dillard. So instead, I'll just praise Arden Key who just busted his butt all practice long. And to me, it just highlights an issue with the Titans offensive tackles.

Like now that we're past the wide receiver problem because Hopkins has been added, all of that attention is going to go to offensive tackle because Andre Dillard was a major gamble. Some of you guys thought the Titans had this incredibly improved offensive line. Like the Titans offensive line is going to be so much better. I've had my doubts. I've been skeptical of that. I thought the Titans should have maybe spent a little bit more future money in the future when they have money. They should have spent a little bit more future money on maybe getting a better offensive tackle option that's a little more reliable than a guy in Andre Dillard

who he may be a former first round pick. You can make the excuse that there was a good offensive line in Philadelphia. Maybe Andre Dillard just isn't good enough to start in the NFL. Maybe he just wasn't good enough to be taken in the first round. And if that's the case, I mean, we may have a Dennis Daly situation on our hands once again. And now at right tackle, NPF is suspended. They had Jalen Duncan there. Jamarco Jones is supposed to be the starting right tackle. He didn't practice on Friday. And let me just say,

is it a coincidence that Jamarco Jones isn't practicing now and that Chris Hubbard was signed on Friday morning? Jamarco Jones, who after he got beat out by Aaron Brewer, all of a sudden disappeared last year, got in a fight with Taylor LeJuan before practice, started acting out. I got to tell you guys, based on interviews from Jamarco Jones, based on what I've seen from him in the past,

I just think he's a guy who maybe just doesn't handle adversity well, doesn't handle a challenge very well. Once he's challenged, once he isn't given what he thought he should have been given. He's a guy who kind of shuts down, gets a little pouty. That's what I get from Jamarco Jones. So maybe he got hurt on Thursday's practice that wasn't open to the media. That's probably the case. But I'm just saying, I got to at least point out here

that the day they signed some real competition for Jamarco Jones at right tackle, all of a sudden he's not practicing. Chris Hubbard practiced on day one, signed the contract in the morning, came into practice and did his best. We're going to talk about Hubbard. We're going to talk about his signing, why I'm a little bit concerned about him instead of George Fant, which is a decision the Titans made. We're going to dive into all that before we get into it.

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Titans fans, let's cap off today's bonus edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Just a couple more minutes here. I want to talk about the Chris Hubbard signing that happened on, I guess it was Thursday night into Friday morning. By the time that the Titans signed Chris Hubbard, I was already asleep. I got to tell you, I'm getting older, folks. Getting older, trying to save up on that energy for those late nights during the season.

But the Titans brought in Chris Hubbard, signed his contract on Friday morning. As I said, he jumped into practice. Mike Rabel said that he was just kind of asking guys around him what he's supposed to do on different plays. But hey, anything helps. Getting his feet wet a little bit, that's absolutely huge. So, like the signing of Chris Hubbard as a depth option. The problem is, when we talked about Chris Hubbard and George Fant a couple of weeks ago, whatever,

we were thinking about a depth offensive tackle. Who is a guy who could be that swing tackle right behind Andre Dillard and NPF, spot starts, come in, help out a little bit. You're talking about somebody who you're expecting to start for a third of the season, then George Fant to me was the only option. Now look, Hubbard has played 2,967 snaps at right tackle. Ton of experience.

But he hasn't been a consistent starter. Hubbard hasn't played over 260 snaps, which over 1,000 snaps would be a starting season for an offensive tackle. So Hubbard hasn't played over 260 snaps since 2019. It's been literally three seasons, 20, 21, and 22, since Hubbard was a starter.

Not only that, but in those, well, let me say this. So he started in 2019 for the Browns, started in 2018 for the Browns, and started in 2017 for the Steelers. In those three seasons, Hubbard gave up 15 sacks, I think 40-some pressures, and had eight, nine penalties. I mean, look, I like that the Titans are adding depth. I like that the Titans are trying to bring in some veterans to help the team.

I think a veteran offensive tackle was needed. But once Nicholas Petit Ferrer was suspended for six games, you had no choice. You had no choice but to go out and get George Fant. Yeah, let me confirm that. 15 sacks from 2017 to 2019 as a starter, 115 pressures, and 14 penalties. So we're talking about a guy who,

a little worse than, I would say a lot worse in my opinion, who was worse than Nicholas Petit Ferrer in 2019. It's 2023. Hubbard could be a depth offensive tackle, like I said, a backup offensive tackle. But you're asking him to come in and compete to be the starter. And the other guy is Jamarco Jones. I mean, the Titans have put themselves in a scary, scary situation. And let me just say this.

Everyone is saying, well, the Titans shouldn't have paid for George Fant. I'd rather have Hubbard on a minimum. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. In 2020, George Fant gave up one sack and 18 pressures in 15 games for the Jets. Starting at left tackle. A tougher position. games for the Jets. Starting at left tackle. A tougher position.

So, George Fant has played better football than Chris Hubbard has ever played in his career. And he did it more recently than Hubbard played his best football, which was worse than Fant. So, the Titans are getting a worse player who hasn't been his best self in three seasons and asking him to potentially be their starter for six weeks at right tackle. And it's coming out now that George Fant signed with the Houston Texans. So a Titans division rival gets the guy

for a deal up to $4 million. Up to, with incentives, up to $ million dollars. Which means it's less than that just in its base. So the Titans are going to pay 1.7 to 2 million for Chris Hubbard when they could have paid less than four million for George Fant. Don't tell me that Fant wanted too much money or it was too much to pay. And then we just talked about Arden Key destroying Andre Dillard. Well, like I just said, 2020 at left tackle, 15 games, one sack, 18 pressures for George Fant. You could have had Fant at left tackle

and NPF at right tackle by the middle of the season if Andre Dillard completely fails which is still a real possibility so I'm glad they brought in some veteran help but once NPF got suspended that needed to be George Fayette and to let a division rival steal him away for you for less than four million dollars when

the Titans have twelve million dollars in salary cap space after Hopkins and after Will Levis? It's just slightly disappointing. So, DeAndre Hopkins, Arden Key balling out, Chris Hubbard signed. That's the big news for the day.

I'll be back with you guys tomorrow to break down Saturday's practice. Little bonus episodes for you guys. Subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast where it's your team every day. Throw a thumbs up on that video right now if you're watching on YouTube. It helps out the channel a lot.

I really appreciate it. But with that being said, that is going to do it for my bonus practice recap. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland. And this was Locked on Titans. recap. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.