Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Derrick Henry Return Update, Titans Put Four on COVID & Radunz Film Report

Episode Date: December 28, 2021

The Tennessee Titans got good news on Monday in the form of a Derrick Henry injury update! Tyler goes over the latest report and talks about how Henry's return should be handled. Then, the bad news...the Titans placed four players on the COVID list on Monday including Julio Jones. Tyler goes over who was placed on the list and what it means for the game against the Miami Dolphins. Finally, Tyler goes over his film study video on Dillon Radunz's first career start!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!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, it is a Tuesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. And on today's show, we got an updated report about the potential return of Derrick Henry, and it is a good one. Then we got some more reports that weren't quite as good as some big names for the Tennessee Titans land on the COVID reserve list. And then finally, I'm going to give you

guys my film study on Dylan Radins from his performance against San Francisco on Thursday Night Football. All of that on a Tuesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it! 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. It is a Tuesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We are going to kick off today's show talking about the most recent report on Derrick Henry and his potential return to the Tennessee Titans. Really excited to go over that. Before we dive in, just want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast

your first listen every day. If this is your first ever listen to the Locked on Titans podcast, make sure you subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. You can find the Locked on Titans podcast everywhere and always free. Also, if you want to check out the show on video, make sure to hit up the Locked on Titans YouTube channel, smash that notification bell so you know when all of my content goes live throw a thumbs up on the video if you're

watching right now as well, also check me out on social media at Tic Tac Titans on Twitter, all my film breakdowns and film analysis can be found there including my film breakdown of Dylan Radin's performance that will go with our conversation today, check out the show Facebook page as well, at LockedOnTitansPod.

But with all that being said, it is time to dive into this Derek Henry report. And like I said, folks, it is a good one. So the report came out this morning. Well, I guess for me, it's Monday. For a lot of you guys, it's Tuesday. That difference really makes the YouTube people upset. So just calm down. It's okay.

Everyone's all right. I'm recording on Monday. It comes out on Tuesday for the podcast, people. So we're all on the same page here. But either way, moving forward, Tom Pelissero from NFL Network came out with a report on Monday morning that Derrick Henry could potentially return for a

week 18 matchup against the Houston Texans and the thought process there was that Derrick Henry wants to knock off some rust or maybe the coaches want him to knock off some rust, or maybe the coaches want him to knock off some rust. Here's the exact quote from Tom Pelissero. Quote, It sounds like maybe he even gets back for week 18

to have a chance to knock off some of the rust before they get into the playoffs. End quote. So that says all you need to know right there. Tom Pelissero does believe that Derrick Henry will return in week 18. To again knock off some rust. And I know a lot of you guys have been asking me about that. Do you think that the Titans would bring him back early to do just that?

Kind of get acclimated. Get ramped up. It seems like that is a likely possibility. Now I think it's a bit risky. I don't think that I would do that personally. what you don't want to do is you don't want to risk a re-injury or a new injury of any kind because Derrick Henry is not fully ramped up already. If I'm going to take that chance, I'm doing it in the playoffs, not in a week 18 game against the Houston Texans. Now, if the Titans were to lose

to the Dolphins on Sunday, then obviously that's going to change the calculus a little bit because there's a chance that they could lose out on the division and lose out on that home playoff game. So you don't want to do that. So I would understand it there, but as things sit right now, I'm expecting the Titans to beat the Dolphins. And if they do, I don't think that I would bring Derrick Henry back in Week 18 to knock off the rust. Now, one thing I will say is Derrick Henry right now is about less than 70 yards away from getting 1,000.

And, you know, selfishly, I can't lie, you guys all played Madden as well. You want your guys to hit certain benchmarks statistically, and Derrick Henry's at 937 rushing yards. It would be nice to see him come back in the last week of the season, put 100 on the Houston Texans as he is prone to do, heck, maybe even 200. Probably not.

He'll probably be on a snap count, limited reps, all that. But would still like to see Derrick Henry get the 63 yards necessary to go over 1,000 on the year just to kind of keep that over 1,000 train rolling throughout his prime. But either way, like I said, a little bit too risky for me, but I was the one saying it was a bit too risky to bring AJ back last week, and look what he did and won the game for the Titans. So maybe my medical advice and my timelines aren't the one to follow anyway,

but as you guys know and as I say all the time, I'm not a doctor. So I'm not going to try to act like I have any medical analysis to go. I just worry. I just get a little worried. I'm a risk averse person in general, as a lot of you guys probably know. But either way, that's great news because one thing that we know, the Titans may be able to win these games. The Titans may play their best when their back's against the wall, but the Titans aren't winning a Super Bowl without Derrick Henry. I said that when the injury first happened. I've maintained that throughout.

They're not, and we all know that. So you get A.J. Brown back. You get Derrick Henry back. The Titans get their momentum rolling. Now you do feel like this team has a chance to win the Super Bowl. And at the end of the day, isn't that what matters most? So positive, positive report from Tom Pelissero, from the NFL Network, about Derrick Henry

and his ability to potentially come back at the end of the year for the last game of the season against the Texans, again, to quote-unquote, knock some rust off before the playoffs. So very positive news on that front. We're going to get into some more roster news that maybe isn't as positive. And of course, once again, the disclaimer, I am not a doctor, and I don't pretend to be, but I'm going to give you guys the most updated information possible.

The protocols, how they work, when we should see guys back, but we're going to go over four Tennessee Titans that were placed on the COVID reserve list on Monday. We'll get into that next. Titans fans. Let's continue this Tuesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We just talked about the report on Derrick Henry and his potential return in week 18. Now, I want to dive into the players that were listed or placed on the COVID list on Monday.

And I got to warn you right now, there are some heavy hitters. Before we get into that, I want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Make sure to check out the Ultimate College Football Playoff Preview 2021, local experts, betting advice, and draft analysis. The most comprehensive college football playoff preview begins now. Live, right now. Check it out. So there you go.

That read, I got to tell you, is a little bit of a tongue twit. Comprehensive college football playoff preview. Woo! Boy, they're really putting it on me with the ad reads. But we made it through. We made it through. And hopefully these guys are going to be able to make it through to play on Sunday. But it will be up in the air. These four Tennessee Titans were placed on the

COVID list on Monday and strap in folks. Julio Jones Bud Dupree Buster Screen who you may be rolling your eyes right now but Buster Screen has been incredibly important for the Titans these last few weeks, month. Nick Westbrook-Akina, who, again, we could roll our eyes there, but he's incredibly important for the Titans offense.

He's an offensive line minute wide receiver. And then Caleb Farley, who's actually on injured reserve, was placed on the COVID reserve list. And some people were asking me questions about that. Well, it's this simple. Caleb Farley may be on injured reserve was placed on the COVID reserve list. And some people were asking me questions about that. Well, it's this simple. Caleb Farley may be on injured reserve, but he's still allowed to be in the building and rehab and do film work and, you know, be with the organization.

He's still on the team just because he's on injured reserve. So obviously being on it, you can't come into the building as much. You got to change your procedures. You got to wait it out, test out to get back in the building fully, all that. So his routine, I guess, will change with being placed on the COVID list, even if it doesn't hurt the Titans active roster because he is on IR and done for the season with the torn ACL. But those four players, Julio Jones, Bud Dupree, Buster Screen, Nick Westbrook-Akina. So obviously, just to go through that, I know that people are disappointed with Julio Jones this year,

and it's completely understandable. I'm not going to try to tell you that you shouldn't be disappointed. But what I will say is, having Julio Jones on one side of the field across from A.J. Brown is different than having Nick Westbrook Akina or Cody Hollister or Racey McMath. It's just the facts. That's just a reality. So although Julio hasn't been very productive, he still requires attention

and it's still Julio Jones. Like, in people's heads, that's still going to register and the attention is still going to be there. You don't want to let Julio Jones get off. And here's the thing, we saw that very first play of the Pittsburgh game, Julio roasted his man and should have had a touchdown if not for the terrible blocking from Aaron Brewer. So Julio still got it. And when he makes plays in the playoffs and he shows up big for the Titans in a big moment,

you're going to be like, oh, this is why they traded for him. Who cares about the regular season? Who cares? So worrisome from that perspective. And I got to tell you, if anybody who we're talking about right now is worried, is unvaccinated, it's Julio. And again, I have no concrete documentation of this,

but I feel like I've seen Julio wear a mask on the sideline. I feel like I've seen Julio wear a mask during interviews and during practice at points in time. So, maybe that was earlier in the season and he's been vaccinated since. But if not, then Julio's definitely going to miss this game if he's unvaccinated. So the players that really we got to worry about here, Julio Jones, Bud Dupree, Buster Screen, Nick Westbrook, Akina, number one to get into anything else. Hope these guys are healthy.

We saw a defensive lineman for the Washington football team has some serious complications because of COVID with his asthma. And it caused him to not be able to play. He was struggling with minuscule tasks. And he's having a hard time. So, number one, you know, I think nowadays we just assume, oh, he's got COVID, he'll be back in five to ten days, whatever. But some of these guys really do struggle with this illness.

You know, there's no way around it. So, hopefully everybody remains healthy, number one. But, number two, we gotta start to be concerned about the cluster issue here. Two wide receivers? Please God, put A.J. Brown in bubble wrap.

Saran wrap. One of those plexiglass boxes that Kirk Cousins has lived in all year. Anything to keep A.J. Brown healthy and out on the field because God knows without A.J. this offense devolves into something despicable. It's just the reality. Now those four guys will join people who are already on the COVID list. Taylor LeJuan, Nate Davis, and Kendall Lamb. So more cluster concerns for the offensive line. Now, there is some good news here.

Roger Saffold and Elijah Moulton have come off the COVID list. And let's use them coming off the COVID list as a jump point to the question that I know all you guys have in your head right now. Okay, so when can these guys come back? What's like the timeline here? All right, let's answer that. So the NFL changed their COVID protocols a couple weeks ago, 10 days ago, whatever it was.

And basically they made it so that if you're vaccinated and you're asymptomatic, not to, you know, talk down or whatever, but just in case, it means you don't have any symptoms. You're asymptomatic. That's a word in the lexicon now. But just in case, I got international listeners and everything

want to make sure that everyone's on the same page. So if you're vaccinated and you are not showing any symptoms, all you have to do is have two negative tests and you're good to go. You can come right back. No problem. Two negative tests within 24 hours and you're good to go. You can come right back. No problem. Two negative tests within 24 hours, you're good to go.

So we see a guy like Roger Saffold. He came off the COVID list in five days. It's been five days since he was put on the list and he came off. So if that timeline was followed, Julio and Bud Dupree and Buster Screen and Nick Westbrook-Akina would be able to come back. Taylor LeJuan, Nate Davis, Kendall Lamb, they would all be able to come back. But, not everybody follows that plan. Because Elijah Molden, it took seven days for him to get cleared. And as we saw in Kansas City using Tyreek Hill as

an example of the most positive possible outcome. But let's look at Travis Kelsey. Travis Kelsey was activated off the COVID list on Saturday, but still didn't play for the Chiefs on Sunday because he wasn't cleared from the protocols. You got to come back and show that your conditioning and your health is at a level that it's safe for you to play, even if you have negative tests. And it looks like that might have been the case with Elijah Molden.

He had negative tests but wasn't necessarily ready to be activated for a game. Or be activated on Sunday over the weekend, obviously with the game on Thursday. So just saying there are a ton of variables here. So good news with Saffold and Molden coming off. Good news that the new protocols make it easier for guys to get back in these positive tests on Monday. These guys could come back for Sunday's game and not miss the game if they have negative tests and they're vaccinated and asymptomatic, but it doesn't always work out like that. And the real concern, like I mentioned

earlier, is who's going to test positive Tuesday? Who's going to test positive Wednesday because of this? And it was only a matter of time before the Titans got hit hard, like every other team in the NFL seems to be getting hit hard right now too. So hopefully this is the worst day of it this week. Hopefully all these guys are healthy. Hopefully they're all able to get back by the game. But definitely something concerning that I'm going to be worried about

for the next few days for the Titans, and we'll see where it goes from here. But at the end of the day, Julio Jones, Bud Dupree, Buster Screen, Nick Westbrook-Akina join Taylor LeJuan, Nate Davis, and Kendall Lamb on the COVID list. Roger Saffold and Elijah Molden come off. There is a chance that the guys who tested positive on Monday could return to play on Sunday if they're able to clear protocol

and have negative tests before the game. So that is the latest news on that. We are going to cap off today's show by talking about the performance of rookie offensive tackle Dylan Radins. I did a long 8.5 minute film study film video that I put up on my Twitter

at Tic Tac Titans. It's complete with game clips, analysis, even some cool background music as well. I'm trying to get better with my production elements in the video. But obviously, since I can't share clips on the YouTube page for copyright reasons, I'm still going to dive into my analysis of how Dylan Radins plays. So you guys got a good idea of how things went. Before we get into that, do want to remind you guys about BetOnline.ag. BetOnline.ag has you covered this holiday

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Use your laptop or your mobile device. Use the promo code LOCKEDON when you sign up and you'll get a 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. That's promo code LOCKEDON for a 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit when you sign up at betonline.ag. BetOnline, where the game starts. Titans fans, let's cap off this Tuesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We talked about Derrick Henry's potential return to the game.

We talked about the COVID additions and subtractions for the Titans on Monday. Now I want to get into Dylan Radin's performance against San Francisco. So obviously I gave him some credit in the game recap episode, but now I've had a chance to go over the film. I've watched every single snap of Radin's twice. I know exactly how he performed, what he struggled with, and quite frankly, a lot of it lined up with his college scouting report. And some of those issues still remain. Now he's gotten a little bit better in certain areas, but pretty much right down the scouting report, that's where he needs to continue to get better. But he hasn't had a lot of reps out there on the field. So number one, let's just go ahead and give an overarching point.

I see some people being overly negative. I see some people being overly positive. So I see a lot of people saying, oh, he needs to start for LeJuan. He needs to start for... Guys, Dylan Radins is nowhere near as good as Taylor LeJuan. You guys are just way too hard and way too negative on Taylor LeJuan. I think it's personality

and some of the bad penalties that he had during the beginning of his career. That's my theory for why people are so hard on Taylor LeJuan. It's just personality related. But LeJuan is It's just personality related, but LeJuan is a good player still. Now he's not a top five offensive tackle. He's probably not even a top 10 left tackle, but he's better than average. He's in the top 15, top 16 tackles, and that can work for the Titans, but Radins is absolutely not ready to take over for Taylor LeJuan, even if it be next

year. Not the case. Now, on the flip side of that, you know, you got guys like Paul Kaharski, you know, basically trying to poo-poo everything that Radins did. Radins came in in the first start of his NFL career playing left tackle against Nick Bosa and had an okay game. He didn't kill the Titans offense, and that's really all that matters. okay game. He didn't kill the Titans offense. And that's really all that matters. So some good and some bad from Raidens, some struggles, but some really great moments. And I identify all of that in my video breakdown. That's all my Twitter again, at Tic Tac Titans. But just to quickly

go through the things that stood out to me. Number one, Raidens is a positional blocker. What does that mean? So, you think about blocking, you want to get in the guy's chest, hands inside, and drive. You want to drive a guy down the field. That's the goal, to move the man out of a spot. Well, that's not really what

Radins does. Radins is more of a positional blocker. He just wants to get his body in front of the guy to make his block. Now, that worked at times. There are some one-on-one blocks in the run game where Radins kicked out Bosa. Three plays that I highlighted,

he kicked out Bosa. Bosa's on his outside shoulder. He turns and just kicks out Bosa so Bosa can't get through him to make a play on the ball carrier. Right there, Radins is essentially setting a screen in basketball. In basketball, you can't put your hands in a guy's chest and push him out of the way when you screen him.

You just got to set up, big chest, let the guy run into him. You're just positioning yourself in between your man, the guy on your team with the ball, and the defender who's guarding him. I would say that is the equivalent of how Radins blocks. He doesn't drive anybody off the line of scrimmage. He doesn't move a guy out of the way. He just gets in the guy's way. And while that can get the job done, that is not ideal for an offensive lineman.

And those are some of the things that he struggled with in college because some of the deficiencies in his game make it hard to be a drive blocker, positional blocker, drive blocker. So keep that in mind. He's very athletic though. I'm saying positional blocker is a positive because if you're not going to drive guys out of the way, you got to at least get in their way. And he was able to do that. He's very athletic, though. That came through on his college tape. It's coming through right now. He did a pretty good job using his athleticism and his long arms. He's got long arms.

I don't, so I don't know why I'm showing you my arms. I'm like a T-Rex out here. Ty Rex, baby. But Dylan Radins has long arms. He's very athletic, and that allowed him to do well picking up stunts and blitzes. So imagine, like the Titans do, you'll have a defensive tackle on the inside. Let me flip this around for you guys. Defensive tackle on the inside, defensive end on the outside, and they'll twist on the line of scrimmage. And it's meant to confuse the offensive line.

San Francisco ran a ton of stunts towards Dylan Radins and Aaron Brewer because they're young guys with lacking experience. They're trying to confuse them and lead them into mistakes. And I got to tell you on a lot of times, Radins covered up for Brewer making a mistake. There are a few clips there where Radins has one hand on the inside guy, another hand on the outside guy, and he's holding them both to let Tannehill have time to throw on critical third downs. Another time where San Francisco did a twist with the end and the tackle.

And they brought the slot blitz. Radins was able to get the guy twisting to the outside. And stop the slot blitzer as well. So a really good job there from Radins. I thought again he showcased that athleticism. Those long arms. Getting in guys way. Picking up blitzes.

Picking up stunts. I was pretty impressed with his ability to do that. Also, from a mental perspective, didn't have any false starts, didn't look like he made any wrong, he looked like he did the right thing every time, even if he didn't do it perfectly. You know what I mean? It didn't look like he made any mental errors where he's blocking the wrong guy, false start, doing the cut block that he got called for. I personally think that's on Aaron Brewer.

At the line of scrimmage, Dylan Radins and Aaron Brewer are talking to each other about how they're going to handle the defensive tackle that they both have to block. And I, personally, from what I see on the tape, now I can't know this for certain, so if you disagree, that's fine. But from what I see on the tape,

it looks like Radins called a cut block. Hey, hey buddy, I'm going to cut the defensive tackle. So you just go up to the linebacker. Don't worry about the tackle. I'm cutting him. And Brewer didn't get the memo. Now maybe Radins didn't communicate that properly. And that's something that young guys would struggle with is the communication. They're making sure they're on the same page. But other than that, didn't really see any issues with Dylan Radins from a mental standpoint. And that's very important because in my mind, that's what was holding him back from being on the field is maybe he couldn't mentally get up to speed to do everything that the Titans needed to do.

Now, the last thing I want to say on the positive is he literally made Nick Bosa switch to the other side and go after Questenberry for a portion of that game because he was doing such a good job. Now, it's not perfect. Again, it's not perfect. I want to drive that home. This wasn't like one of the best performances from the O-line all year from an O-lineman or anything like that, but for the expectations in the circumstances, a really good job by Dylan Radins. Going to finish it out with some of the concerns. Still

shows incredible balance issues. Radins. Gonna finish it out with some of the concerns. Still shows incredible balance issues. Radins is on the ground all the time. He fell over all the time during the game. He gets top heavy, loses his center of balance, and falls on the ground. You can't be on the ground all the time as an offensive lineman. He was in

college and that has to get better. One of the ways that's gonna get better is for him to have more core strength. He needs more strength in his core. Not only is that going to help him have better balance, but he is susceptible to power rushers because he's not a super strong guy. He's an athletic guy who doesn't have a ton of weight on him, doesn't have a ton of strength. So he's going to get driven back by guys who are really strong in their rush. He's got to put on more weight in his core, more weight in his lower body, and turn that into muscle so he can hold up against those guys.

And also, he needs more strength in his hands. One of the problems, one of the reasons that he's not a drive blocker is he doesn't have very strong hands. He can get his hands on you, but you see these offensive linemen with these mitts, man. Boom! Once they get their hands on you, you are done. They are in complete control.

Radins isn't like that. Again, he's going to rely on his athleticism. He's got long arms to keep you off his body, all that. But his hands are really weak. He's got to get some more strength overall. He's just got to get stronger. The anchor against bull rushes, the punches, drive blocking, all that is going to require more strength and more time in

the weight room and probably an increase or a change in diet as well. But as a rookie, those are the things that the Titans are probably working on him with the most so that by his second season, his body will be ready to be the player that they need him to be. But again, not starting over LeJuan. I'm not even going to start him over Questenberry at this time. Let the kid just keep progressing, keep getting better, and get ready for a starting job next year. But overall, a pretty good performance for the guy and better performance than I expected.

I do want to take just a second to go over one thing. I got a question that I forgot to read. go over one thing. I got a question that I forgot to read. A question that I forgot to read from last night's mailbag. Let me see here. I'm getting to it. Behind the curtain.

I try to keep everything in my notes, but some of these, it is nearly impossible. Yeah, from Cody Weath. Cody said, The Titans are on the clock in the 2021 NFL Draft. They moved up to pick at 109 the Des Fitzpatrick pick and select. Who would have you liked there at the time and who now?

My answer is the same as it was then. And you guys can come for me in the comments, say hindsight. It's not hindsight. If you're paying attention to the show and my instant recap videos that I did during the draft, I called the Des Fitzpatrick pick stupid. I called the trade up stupid. And I said, if you're going to do that, go get Amon Ross St. Brown, a guy with an incredibly talented father who was Mr. Universe.

I believe a guy who doesn't have the most incredible physical traits, but can be relied on, a true professional, knows what he's doing, knows where to be, decent route runner. Amon Ross St. Brown would have been my pick,

and if not Amon Ross St. Brown, I would have gone with Brevin Jordan, who's been a pretty good young tight end for the Texans this year, and guess who needs a good young tight end? The Titans! Brevin Jordan or Amon Ross St. Brown easily would have been the pick for me.

It was what I wanted them to pick then. They didn't do it. It's what I wanted them to pick now. So there's your answer to that, Cody. Sorry for missing your question. But that's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.