Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Free Agent Fireworks - Titans Transactions, League-wide Moves & COVID-19 Memo

Episode Date: March 17, 2020

Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Locked On Titans podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans. We got some major answers on Monday to some of the all season's biggest questions with the franchise tag deadline and the opening of the NFL's legal tampering period for free agency. We saw a couple of key Titans retain to go along with the signing of Ryan Tannehill from Sunday, but we also saw a couple of key Titans depart for new homes and free agency. So we will discuss all of those deals, how they impact the Titans right now as they sit in the middle of a crazy free agency period, but also how they impact the Titans going

forward. But the Titans weren't the only team out there making moves today. There were a ton of moves league-wide. The NFL was topsy-turvy with trades, tags, and free agency deals. So we will discuss all of the biggest moves of the day. And there are a league memo sent out today about how the NFL will handle the all-season schedule going forward. So we will not linger, but I will make sure to keep you guys up to date on those developments as well. There is so much to talk about.

And just like I said on yesterday's show, there is so much for Titans fans to be excited about right now. We have a lot to break down. So let's get it. The NFL had two major events on its calendar on Monday, and the Titans needed to be prepared for both. The first was the franchise tag and the transition tag deadline, which took place at 1159 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. And as expected, the Titans used the franchise tag on superstar running back Derrick Henry.

This means for the 2020 season, Henry is essentially playing on a one-year $10 million contract. Now, the Titans organization does have the ability to get a long-term contract done with Derrick Henry and avoid using the franchise tag by a July 15th deadline and the reason they would look to do that is because when you franchise tag a player it can often cause a rift in the relationship between the team and the player. We see this with recent examples Le'Veon Bell and the Steelers where Le'Veon Bell sat out an entire regular season, and then also last season with Melvin Gordon and the Los Angeles Chargers, where Gordon sat out the first five games of the season before finally returning to the team.

Now, in neither of these situations did things seem to work out for the running back, but sometimes when you're doing business business you can disrespect the other person to the point where they decide to make that decision now I would imagine the Titans will do everything possible to keep that relationship healthy as it is very important to keep Derrick Henry paired with the quarterback the Titans just gave massive money to and Ryan Tannehill as both of those players fit perfectly together in the Titans scheme that relies heavily on zone run concepts and bootlegs within the play action passing game. Later in the day, the Titans also finally gave us an answer at the right tackle position.

With former starter Jack Conklin expected to move on in free agency, the Titans inked backup tackle Dennis Kelly to a three-year $21 million deal with $8 million guaranteed. This will allow Kelly to come into the 2020 regular season with the opportunity to be a full-time starter for this team. Kelly has had experience starting for the Titans in the past few years. He started the first four games of the 2019 regular season when Taylor LeJuan was out with a suspension. He was also a spot starter when Jack Conklin was dealing with injuries

during the 2017 and 2018 season. Dennis Kelly is well-renowned in the Titans' locker room. He also has incredible familiarity with not only the Titans scheme and offense, but also the city of Nashville and an economical deal like a $7 million a year average with only $8 million guaranteed makes perfect sense for the Titans. This also allows them to not be so desperate for an offensive tackle early in the NFL draft. This will give the Titans more flexibility to go with a more best player available approach rather than being pigeonholed by an immediate need with the offensive line. So this allows the Titans to have a good option as a starter going into the season and also

allows them more flexibility going into the draft. While the Titans were able to retain two key pieces with those moves, they also saw a couple of Titans depart in free agency as well. As expected, right tackle Jack Conklin found a new home, signing a three-year, $42 million deal with the Cleveland Browns with $30 million guaranteed. Also, backup quarterback and former starter Marcus Mariota is expected to sign a deal with the Oakland Raiders to come in as a backup but have the opportunity to compete for a starting position.

So those were the other moves from some former Titans that made a big impact on the NFL landscape. But where do the Titans sit as a team right now in the middle of a crazy free agency period? Most projections had the Titans between $39 million and $42 million before the franchise tag of Derrick Henry for $10 million and the signing of Dennis Kelly. It appears that Dennis Kelly's cap hit will actually be a little bit lower than his yearly average of $7 million and expected to be around $4

to $5 million for the 2020 regular season. We saw that with Tannehill's deal as well, and that'll allow the Titans maximum aggressiveness in free agency to continue to try to fill different holes. But the Titans weren't the only NFL team on Monday making moves. There was a flurry of activity around the NFL, as I mentioned, a ton of big signings. We saw tags happen this morning, just like Derrick Henry, and we also saw some peculiar trades take place, specifically one in the AFC South, and boy, are we going to have a laugh with that one.

So next, we are going to talk about all of the big signings all the big moves around the NFL in general and make sure you are up to date on those as well if you're like me I have been waiting for this day for so long and especially with everything going on right now, getting a solid dose of sports news all day long was just an incredible experience. Taking a look at all of these different signings, all of the rumors, all of the different trades, just all of the different transactions that took place in the NFL on Monday. It was just a fantastic day.

And like I said, if you're anything like me, you're a football junkie, you're an NFL junkie, this is like a small version of Christmas. So let's talk about some of the bigger deals that took place. I'm not going to bury you guys with all the numbers about teams that we don't really care about, but it is important to see where some of these big names go because the markets that they're setting in terms of their position, in terms of their contract, could affect the Titans going forward. I mean, there will be next year when the Titans have to sign

more of their own free agents and pay their own guys and look for some outside help as well. So paying attention to some of these numbers is very important. And the biggest number that we saw throughout the day was for cornerback Byron Jones going from the Cowboys and signing with the Miami Dolphins on a five-year, $82.5 million deal. So a monster deal for a cornerback there going from Dallas to Miami. Remember, the Titans will probably use the fifth-year option on Adoree Jackson, but that payday is coming up pretty soon, and Adoree has

been playing much better in the last few years. And then we saw Kyle Vannoy, inside linebacker from the New England Patriots, going to the Miami Dolphins on a four-year, $51 million deal. That is pretty rich for a guy like Kyle Vannoy. But as we talked about with Ryan Tannehill, remember that the cap, the salary cap, is going to spike here in the next two seasons. So a lot of these deals won't look as bad. But still, for someone like Kyle Vannoy,

getting the biggest contract for any linebacker on the day was quite a surprise to me. Speaking of a surprise, we saw the offensive lineman, primarily a tackle, but also had experience at guard. I'm not even going to attempt to pronounce his first name because you guys know who I'm talking about. Vitae from the Philadelphia Eagles, usually referred to, even on Twitter when people are breaking news about the guy, they're referring to him as Big V. He played with the Eagles, like I said, for quite some time.

Had an opportunity to be a starter here and there. But he is signing with the Detroit Lions on a five-year, $50 million deal. That is incredible. What a big payday for a guy who's mostly been a backup for his entire career. And then we saw cornerback from the Carolina Panthers, James Bradbury, signed with the New York Giants for three years, $45 million. Not a bad deal for Bradbury when you think about how the salary cap is going to jump.

And then Jack Conklin for the Tennessee Titans, as we talked about in our first segment, three years, $42 million, joining the Cleveland Browns. It would be worse if Conklin was going to a team who I thought was a serious threat to the Titans but with him going to the Browns I'm perfectly okay with that I hope he gets his money and stays healthy there then Austin Hooper with the richest contract in tight end history four years 42 million dollars also with the Cleveland Browns so here. Also with the Cleveland Browns. So here we are again, the Cleveland Browns winning the offseason. Congrats to them. Javon Hargrave, the defensive

tackle from the Pittsburgh Steelers, signed with the Philadelphia Eagles. Outside linebacker, just off the ball linebacker, Jamie Collins, signed with the Detroit Lions, who head coach Matt Patricia came from New England, so didn't Jamie Collins, so there's a natural tie there. George Fant, this was pretty surprising. The much maligned tackle for the Seattle Seahawks. He's never considered a great tackle, but he got three years, $30 million from the New York Jets. Seems like the Jets are just making more mistakes in free agency.

Again, we saw defensive tackle Michael Brockers sign with the Baltimore Ravens from the Los Angeles Rams. Three years, $30 million. Shaq Lawson, an edge rusher we talked about, signed from the Buffalo Bills to the Miami Dolphins for three years, $30 million. And then Eric Flowers, the former first-round tackle who now is playing guard and played guard

for the Redskins last year, signed with the Dolphins. The Dolphins. The Dolphins are spending a lot of money here. If you notice, another three-year $30 million deal. There were like six of those today, so a pretty common deal for Eric Flowers there to go down to Miami. Another off-the-ball linebacker, Nick Kwiatkowski, went from the Bears to the Las Vegas Raiders. Three years, $21 million. Another surprise here, and we're going to talk about this team a little more.

Eric Murray, an off-and-on starter at safety, signed a three-year, $20 million deal with the Texans. Very surprising there. We saw linebacker A.J. Kline go from the Saints to the Bills, and then a backup quarterback option that I talked about for the Titans, Case Keenum, went back to play with his coach from Minnesota, Saints to the Bills and then a backup quarterback option that I talked about for the Titans. Case Keenum went back to play with his coach from Minnesota, Kevin Stefanski, who is now the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, went from Washington to Cleveland on a three-year $18 million deal. So keep that in mind when looking at backup quarterback options for the Titans, about $6 million for

somebody like Case Keenum. The Green Bay Packers released tight end Jimmy Graham. He went to division rival the Chicago Bears. We saw guard Wes Schweitzer go from the Atlanta Falcons to the Washington Redskins. We saw Christian Kirksey, off-ball linebacker, go from the Browns to the Packers. Steven Weatherly, a defensive end from the Minnesota Vikings, who's been a backup behind their talented defensive line will get a good opportunity in Carolina to start Ricky Wagner right tackle for the Lions went to the Green Bay Packers Clayton Fagellum the safety from the Cincinnati Bengals went to the Miami

Dolphins the Dolphins spending again Justin Burris cornerback from the Browns went to the Panthers the Panthers are looking for bargain guys who were backups before, and they're looking to give an increased opportunity to. So I would not be shocked to see the Panthers down at the bottom of the league again as they keep doing their rebuild with new head coach Matt Rule. Now there are a lot of big names and big name free agents that I didn't mention right there that are still on the market. So just some of the big names that are still out there right now.

Obviously, Tom Brady, not coming to Tennessee. Jadavion Clowney, maybe coming to Tennessee. Amari Cooper, Chris Harris, Melvin Gordon, Dante Fowler, another edge target the Titans might be looking at. Corey Littleden, one of my favorite players ever, Logan Ryan. Wide receiver Robbie Anderson, linebacker Joe Schober safety Von Bell Phillip Rivers Teddy Bridgewater edge rusher Mario Addison and linebacker Blake Martinez so still a lot of guys out there on the market and that's just the tip of the iceberg of

the names that are still out there we heard that the Titans possibly have a deal on the table for Kamalei Correa what that tells me is that he wants to test the market and get a better deal, but the Titans, if he doesn't find one, have a spot for him. So that kind of covers the day in free agency. A lot happened. There's going to be a lot more taking place throughout the week as well, so I'll make sure to bring all of the news to you guys. Now that we have everything that took place with free agents

taken care of, let's take a look at the franchise and transition tags and who were able to place those before this morning's deadline. The Arizona Cardinals placed transition tag on running back Kenyon Drake. That'll have Drake at about eight and a half million dollars coming into the 2020 season. Also, we saw the Ravens place the franchise tag on edge rusher Matt Judon. The Bengals placed franchise tag on wide receiver A.J. Green. The Cowboys placed the exclusive franchise tag on quarterback Dec Prescott. The Broncos placed franchise tag on safety Justin Simmons. The Jaguars did place the franchise tag on edge rusher Yannick Ngakwe.

And the Chiefs did place the franchise tag on interior defensive lineman Chris Jones. Hunter Henry from the Los Angeles Chargers also received that franchise tag, along with Anthony Harris' safety from the Minnesota Vikings. The Patriots placed the franchise tag on offensive guard Joe Thune, and the Giantsants who just traded for Leonard Williams place the franchise tag on the interior defensive lineman the Steelers lockdown edge rusher Bud Dupree with the franchise tag as well as the other edge rusher Shaquille Barrett who was locked down with the franchise tag by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that comes on the heels of of course the Tennessee Titans with Derrick Henry and Brandon Scherf, the guard from the Washington Redskins. That wraps up all of the different tags that we saw during the madness

that took place the last day and a half or so. But now let's get to the real crazy part of the day. And that was some of the trades that we saw take place. And we have to start with just the dumpster fire that is Bill O'Brien as the general manager of the Houston Texans. And one of the most shocking deals we've seen in recent NFL history, the Texans traded DeAndre Hopkins. Yes, DeAndre Hopkins. DeAndre Hopkins. Yes, DeAndre Hopkins. The Texans traded DeAndre Hopkins and a fourth round pick to the Arizona Cardinals for David Johnson, a second round pick this year and a fourth round pick next year. What in the world are the Texans doing? They got essentially a second round pick in David Johnson for DeAndre

Hopkins. And here's the kicker, David Johnson. And one of the things that I brought up when talking about Derrick Henry and how running back contracts, long-term ones, big money ones can be pretty punitive to your franchise. David Johnson is a great example of that. He's making $12 million this year and just has completely fallen off. Really, he's only had two good years in his entire career, but the Texans are going to pay for his entire contract. Absolutely asinine. The Texans traded for two running backs last year in Duke Johnson and in Carlos Hyde. They gave money to Duke Johnson. I just don't understand why the Texans would do this. It does not make any sense from their

perspective. DeAndre Hopkins apparently wanted an extension. He wanted a big pay raise and the Texans weren't willing to give him that apparently and the Cardinals will. But what more could you ask for than a player of DeAndre Hopkins' stature and having him leave the AFC South? Kevin Byard even tweeted out a gif of a guy dancing because he was so happy to see that DeAndre Hopkins is out of the division. Just absolutely, absolutely insane that not only did the Texans trade for another running back, but they got rid of their best player. And you have Deshaun Watson who doesn't have a great offensive line. The

reason that he's able to be successful is because he has such good weapons in the passing game. And you just got rid of like 30% of Deshaun Watson's production, getting rid of either the best or the second best wide receiver in the NFL. So I'm absolutely perplexed by that. And let's just all take a moment and laugh at Bill O'Brien as a general manager. Oh man, I gotta pull myself back together here for a moment. Hopefully you guys can collect yourselves as well. But we saw another AFC South trade, and that was the Jaguars trading incredible defensive lineman Calais Campbell to the Baltimore Ravens for a fifth round pick it it really just

blows my mind how the Jaguars are just dismantling their championship team to help create cap space for guys who don't even want to be there. So with Boullier leaving and Calais Campbell leaving Jacksonville, they're trying to clear money to keep Yannick Ngakwe, and all he wants to do is get out of town. So absolutely hilarious to see the AFC South implode here. Now, Austin Hooper did go to the Browns as a free agent signing. I talked about that just a little bit ago. And to replace him, the Falcons went out and made a deal with the Baltimore Ravens to get a former first round pick Hayden Hurst. So the Ravens went out and traded Hayden Hurst to the Falcons. Draft picks were exchanged as well. Basically, the Ravens are getting a 2020 second round pick and the Falcons

are getting Hayden Hurst to replace Austin Hooper for a much cheaper price, and a guy who was considered the top tight end of his draft class, but just hasn't really panned out in Baltimore with the emergence of tight end Mark Andrews. And now, we have breaking news. Literally, while I'm recording the podcast, we have breaking news of another NFL trade. While I'm recording the podcast, we have breaking news of another NFL trade. Stephon Diggs, wide receiver from the Minnesota Vikings, who has been very publicly upset with the franchise,

very publicly asking to get out of Minnesota, finally gets his wish and is traded to the Buffalo Bills. So a monster deal. We're still waiting for all the details, what compensation will be sent back and forth. But that is live breaking news on the podcast right now as I'm recording. We see that trade go down. And that's one of the trades I was getting ready to talk about all of the trades that we're still hearing rumorsoles and Chicago as a possible trade option we're hearing Todd Gurley's name thrown around in trade scenarios but Todd Gurley another example of a big time running back contract that went awry so Titans fans if you're upset that the Titans gave the franchise tag to Derrick Henry and didn't get a long-term deal done just look at some of these examples that we have another big time running back contract Devontae Freeman he was just cut by the Falcons for the same reason it just never seems to work out when you pay a running back a long term deal but also Andy Dalton is available in a trade

for the right price obviously the Bengals are going to be looking to go with Joe Burrow as their quarterback going forward and then Trent Williams offensive tackle for the Washington Redskins he's been trying to get traded for ever it seems like and now the Redskins have allowed Williams to go out on his own and try to find a trade that works out but the Redskins really want a second round pick back and it doesn't seem like they're going to be able to get that for Trent Williams so kind of in a tough spot for both parties there Williams and the Redskins but that's another name that is on the trade market the Patriots are still looking for wide receiver according to reports a lot could still take place Marquise Goodwin the wide receiver from the 49ers also has kind of

shown up in trade talks here and then of course how could I forget a deal that actually took place? The Indianapolis Colts traded for DeForest Bunkner from the San Francisco 49ers. The Colts gave up the number 13 overall pick in the first round of this year's draft. And honestly, we could laugh at the Texans, but that's a pretty good deal for the Colts. DeForest Bunkner is one of the top interior disruptors in the NFL a former first round pick they gave him a big long-term extension and about 85 million dollars as well DeForest Bunkner is a dang good player they are giving up a first round pick but all you can ask for when you take a player in the first round is that they end up like DeForest Bunkner and that was a big need for the Colts as well it makes it obvious that they're not going to go with a quarterback in the first round

and they're most likely going to be honing in on signing veteran Phillip Rivers which as a Titans analyst a Titans fan doesn't really bother me much but DeForest Bunkner that was a good trade for the Colts so where the Texans and the Jaguars are you know just doing some of the craziest things you've ever seen the Colts continue to plug along and just do the right thing. So that kind of rounds out all of the big transactions in the NFL today. And like I said at the beginning, just what a wonderful day to have sports news to kind of distract us from everything that's going on right now. And it's a friendly reminder why sports are so important in culture

because it can help take our mind off some of the more pressing and some of the more stressful things that go on throughout our lives as human beings so really fun to talk about all that and go over all that and watch all the fireworks take place and there are only going to be more things going down as the week progresses I'm going to be here with you to break them all down as well so we're going to move into the final part of our discussion. Just quickly let you guys know about the league memo that was sent out today in regards to the NFL's response to the coronavirus. Stuff just keeps getting crazier. While I'm recording this podcast, we just found out the compensation that the Bills gave the Vikings for Stephon Diggs.

And we also got a bomb from Adam Schefter that Amari Cooper is signing back with the Dallas Cowboys on a five-year, $100 million deal. Just absolutely insane the type of money that's being thrown around remember the Cowboys put their exclusive rights franchise tag on Dak Prescott so like the Titans they found a way to bring back their top two targets so that is interesting news coming out of Dallas but we have to get back to thison Diggs trade before we start talking about the league memo that was sent out. I let you guys know in the previous segment that Stephon Diggs was going to Buffalo. But now we got the compensation and the details. So the Bills are trading a first round pick, a fifth round pick, and a sixth round pick with a 2021 fourth round pick so that's four draft picks

three this year and one next year for stefan diggs and a seventh round pick this year now you're telling me that stefan diggs will get you one a first rounder but next three other draft picks, and DeAndre Hopkins only gets you David Johnson and a second-round pick? We have to laugh more. Emergency, emergency, we have to laugh more. Are you ready? It's going to be hardier. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Oh, Bill O'Brien.

Oh, Bill O'Brien. You sexy SOB. Just fantastic. Continue being the general manager of the Houston Texans. It's just a great day. It's like Bill O'Brien is a plant from the Patriots or something to destroy what the Texans are building. It's just unbelievable how bad the guy is as a general manager. And it's so obvious when you see a deal like this. DeAndre Hopkins is far superior

of a wide receiver to Stephon Diggs, but somehow the Vikings were able to get triple the amount of value that the Texans got, and the Texans took David Johnson's salary. It's just absolutely preposterous what happened in Houston today. I feel bad for Houston fans, because I know how it is to be following a team and to see them make those type of head-scratching decisions. But boy, from the Titans' perspective, this has just been an incredible day. And quite frankly, the Titans have easily vaulted into being the favorite in the AFC South in the 2020 season. It's just absolutely insane how terrible Bill O'Brien is as a general manager and as a Titans analyst. I could not be

more grateful for the moves that he pulled off today. Just absolutely insane. But that will lead us into a quick conversation. Like I've mentioned in other shows, guys, I don't want to linger on this. I don't want to talk about it too much. I understand that sports and this podcast is an escape from everything that's going on. So I don't want to bog you guys down, but it does have a major impact on the NFL and on how the Titans will proceed. So basically all of the offseason programs have been suspended indefinitely at this moment in time. The rookie minicamp, OTAs, things of that nature have all been pushed back and are kind of indefinitely put on hold. All of the free agent meetings that teams and players

are expected to have, every time you sign a free agent, there's a medical exam that takes place. Well, now instead of having the player come to the team facility and do that medical exam, they're asking the previous team to send over the medical records. Also, you could have a player's free agent medical exam be done in their hometown by a different medical personnel team, things of that nature. So a lot of different things are taking place. The biggest thing here is that the NFL draft will not take place in Las Vegas this year. The NFL announced on Monday that the 2020 draft will proceed as scheduled on April 23rd to the 25th, and it's going to be televised, but it's just not going to be done in Vegas.

It's not going to be a public event. I would imagine it'll be the type of thing where ESPN, NFL Network, all the different sports coverage networks will just be announcing the picks, giving instant analysis, basically just like the draft as we typically would see it without the players coming out shaking hands and giving hugs for obvious reasons and without the backdrop of an incredible venue like we saw in Nashville or like we probably were going to see in Las Vegas. So the Titans will probably, the Titans and the NFL will probably just announce their picks and call them in as they usually do to the league office. The league office will then

let the television networks know and they'll do it that way. So it won't be too much of a difference for us as people who enjoy watching the draft, but it'll just be the fact that you won't see the players come up on the stage, you won't see the venue, you won't see the fans, and those things for obvious reasons. So right now, that's where the NFL sits. They sent that memo out to all teams letting them know about that information, so I just wanted to make sure you guys had that. But that is not going to stop the rest of the craziness that will come during the rest

of this week. There are a lot of big name free agents still out there, as we talked about. There are a lot of moves that the Titans still need to make. And at this moment in time, the Titans have about $25 to $28 million in cap room still. Now, you know, five and a half to six of that is for the rookies. They're going to need to bring back some key role players or just add some role players to this team the roster is nowhere near close to finish but there may be one more big move for the titans out there hopefully an edge rusher but we will see in the coming days and throughout the rest of the week

it's going to be really exciting and And once again, it's just absolutely fantastic to have some sports news and some sports action to take a look at. So I'm sure you guys are enjoying the festivities as well. But now that we're done with this edition of the Locked On Titans podcast, you guys should go check out the Locked On Fantasy Football podcast and they'll be talking about how these free agents will be impacted fantasy-wise by the new teams that they are going to. So that should be excellent content.

Please check that out as well. But as always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked On Titans. Thank you.