Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Inside the Tennessee Titans Deal With Henry, Henry Speaks on Negotiations, Clowney & Friday Mailbag

Episode Date: July 17, 2020

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Welcome to the Locked On Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, I am still smiling ear to ear about that Derrick Henry contract news coming in at the buzzer a day after we were told it wasn't gonna happen. And there we go, J-Rob steps up again when it matters most and gets the deal done. So we are gonna start off the show today talking more about that contract. We got more details on the contract and how it affects the Titans salary cap right now and going forward into the future. So we're going to talk about some of those new developments, but we're also going to

hear from Derrick Henry himself. He spoke with Nashville Media via TennesseeTitans.com on Thursday about how he feels about the contract, the process that he went through, what he wants to do going forward, and some other good information in there. So I'm going to bring you guys the highlights of his press conference to start our show mixed in with the contract talk, move into our second segment where we hear more from Derrick Henry and some of the other thoughts that he had about this last four months of not only football but life in general and then to round out our Friday show as we always do headed into the weekend we have our Friday mailbag you guys

sent me some good questions this week got a lot of them to get to really excited to have that back and forth with you guys as well. If you want to send me more mailbag questions for next week's episode, you can do that by following me on Twitter at TicTacTitans. Send your questions there. And also, I'm going to be bringing you guys content Monday through

Friday the rest of the season. So make sure that you are subscribed to the Locked On Titans podcast as we see if the Titans can make that final push are subscribed to the Locked On Titans podcast as we see if the Titans can make that final push and get to the Super Bowl in 2020. But that is a long way away from now. Right now, it's time to celebrate that Derrick Henry contract. Let's talk about these new details, hear from the King himself, and dive into the Friday mailbag. Let's get it. After what was a relatively dull and boring few months of contract negotiations between Derrick Henry and the Tennessee Titans with little to no news

whatsoever, we got a flurry of activity starting on Tuesday night. First, the reports from Adam Schefter that the Titans and Derrick Henry were not going to be able to reach a contract agreement before the deadline on Wednesday. And then, of course, the bombshell surprise at the buzzer announcing the extension agreement between the Titans and Derrick Henry on Wednesday before the 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time deadline. And then on Wednesday night, we got new contract details about when the Titans can get out of the contract, the cap hit that Derrick Henry will take in 2020, how it impacts the

Titans cap space going into the season. And then, of course, on Thursday, we got to hear from Derrick Henry himself, where he talked about the process, talked about what this means for the Titans going forward, talked about his mindset as well, and what played into his decision in taking this contract at this time before the deadline. So when you look at everything that's happened in the last 48 hours, the deadline so when you look at everything that's happened in the last 48 hours let's hear from derrick henry himself about each moment that we got new information from and of course that would start with the uncertainty around getting a deal done in those initial reports that we weren't

going to see a deal between the titans and derrick henry let's hear what what Henry had to say about those moments. We've been talking throughout the week, trying to figure out the best deal and what can we both agree upon, you know, just kept communicating. And it went on until yesterday and probably came into agreement, you know, I think a couple hours before the deadline was. But, yeah, it was back and forth a lot. And I was finally happy that we finally found a common ground, you know, for us both to agree on to make this deal happen. It's obvious from Henry's comments there that it did, in fact, go down to the buzzer. And that's something that Titans general manager seconded when he made an appearance on NFL Live on Thursday.

He talked about the fact that he was making calls with the NFL league office minutes before the deadline just to ensure everything was in order because they finally got to a common ground on Wednesday. So it really did go down to the final day. Sometimes you see these negotiations play out over months, but the most critical hours are what really makes the deal work. So we got that tremendous news that Derrick Henry was back with the Titans. What was Derrick Henry's feeling after looking back at the negotiations, after everything was over, and where does he want to go from here? You know, a lot that goes on, you know, as far as, you know,

getting the deal done, contract talks, and, you know, things like that. And, you know, like I always, you know, getting the deal done, contract talks and, you know, things like that. And, you know, like I always express my love for the organization and I feel like they did the same as well. And, you know, the contract stuff is not always easy, you know, it's a work in progress and, you know, and it took us a while to finally, you know, come to agreement on something and so we're both happy and that's all that matters. It's time to focus on us getting to work now. And when the Titans do go back to work, they'll have a little bit more cap space to fill out the roster

because we got cap details on Derrick Henry's contract on Wednesday night showing that his cap hit will fall from $10.27 million to $6 million, which will allow the Titans to have a little bit more salary cap space to look at adding to the roster. Derrick Henry comments on that potential as well. Really, I just thought the deal made sense for me. If it gives us more room to bring in somebody else to help somebody else to help this team than Armand Ford. Anytime you can improve your team on, you know, the position that we need,

it's always a big benefit. And hopefully, you know, if my deal, you know, possibly did that, hopefully we can bring somebody that can help this team and improve us a lot more. And who, Derrick Henry, might that somebody be? Well, of course, none other than Jadavian Clowney. That's a question that a lot of people are instantly going to ask when you see that the Titans have opened up a little bit more room. Maybe they can sweeten the pot for somebody like Clowney,

finally get him to come in take a look at the doctors if that's possible at this moment in time and obviously Derrick Henry after a comment like that was asked directly about Jadeveon Clowney joining the Tennessee Titans and what that might mean well I've I've heard things um playeded against Zedevion when he was in Houston. He's a great player. He's a furious player. He's been playing at a high level, you know, in this league for a while. And once he comes to Tennessee, we definitely will welcome him with open arms.

Hopefully, if they are talking, we can get something done and he can come join us. We definitely would love to have him and he can help us in a big way. After those statements, I also feel like it's worth reporting that also on that NFL live appearance general manager John Robinson said very tongue-in-cheek like that he may or may not have been in contact with Jadavian Clowney's representation in the past week so last time we heard from John Robinson in a zoom conference just a few weeks ago he said that he hadn't talked in Clowney in a little bit of time, that there was some back and forth. They could stay in contact, but they haven't really talked recently. Well, this, obviously, he is being a little bit sarcastic, playing around a little bit, can't come right out and say that they've had direct contact. But I

think it's pretty obvious from his comments that he's implying that they have so in my opinion at this moment in time with the way that Derrick Henry has talked about Clowney and those comments that we just heard the way John Robinson has been acting throughout the offseason I just get this feeling that there's something brewing that that we don't necessarily know about right now that that could be coming soon But that's just me speculating. I will say reckless speculation. But we are going to hear more from Derrick Henry and his thoughts on contract negotiations, how they went, his thoughts going forward, hearing from his teammates, how COVID-19 impacted

the negotiations, how he's been staying fresh. And he talks a lot about Ryan Tannehill as well. So we are going to hear from Derek Henry more in his interview with local Nashville media via TennesseeTitans.com in just a moment. And then, of course, after we do that, we are going to dive into the Friday mailbag. I'm going to answer your guys' questions as we head off into the weekend. While we are all excited to see Derrick Henry back with the Tennessee Titans on an actual long-term contract. There was a moment after those Adam Schefter reports on Tuesday where we were all convinced that Henry was going to be playing on the tag. Even Henry himself must have had those thoughts and been prepared for that.

Henry was asked about his mindset and if he was ready to play on a franchise tag for a one-year contract and what his mindset might have been had that had been the case. I was going to be me regardless. Anything took away my focus. Just go out there and be the best player I can be, be the best teammate I can be, and go out there and play at a high level. At this point, that's something that we have come to expect from Derrick Henry.

He doesn't really seem like a guy who's going to go out of his way to give off a false persona or be fake in any type of way. All his teammates seem to respect him very much for being himself at all times. He's not a big rah-rah guy who's going to pretend to do that. And Henry kind of talked a little bit about that when he was asked about his leadership approach and if it would change now based on his contract. I think, you know, I just want to keep being myself.

You know, I don't try to get, you know, too overwhelmed with, you know, the contract stuff. Just keep being myself, keep being, keep doing what I'm doing. Keep going out there,

working, improving, competing with my teammates. And, you know, keep, you know, trying to help this team get better,

organization get better. And, that's what I'm going to continue to do, is continue to be me. I just think I just go with the flow. I feel like I need to speak. I feel like I need to, you know, do more things than I'll do that in the moment.

I don't really, you know, just go off of, oh yeah, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. I just go with the flow. And if I need, I feel like I need to do those things as far as speaking up and being more vocal or anything, you know, I'll do that. Personally, I'm not worried about Derrick Henry's leadership, whether it be before he got his contract, playing on the franchise tag, or now after he got this big deal.

We've heard comments from head coach Mike Vrabel about Derrick Henry as a leader. We've heard from his teammates as well. So that's something that I'm not concerned about. One of the reasons that a lot of us love this football team is because of the type of guys that they have in the locker room. And Derrick Henry is a perfect example there. And one of the reasons that he did get this big deal is honestly because of the impact COVID has had on uncertainty around the NFL and just uncertainty around the world. And Henry talked a little bit about that as well, the impact that the pandemic has had on negotiations.

You know, it's just so it's a crazy time right now. And just a lot, a lot of uncertainty, you know, nobody knows what's going to happen, you know, to me two months from now, three months from now, a year from now. So, you know, um, not knowing, uh, you know, what's going to happen because it's anything can change in a matter of time. I think that, you know, as far as the deal, you know, for me and, you know, with the Titans, you know, my, my agent and I, you know, my team,

we thought that, you know, the deal makes sense, you know, as far as right now, you know, to go ahead and lock up and get it done. And for all the reasons that I mentioned before we heard from Henry, he's right. The uncertainty with the 2021 salary cap, plus just being a running back in the NFL, there's uncertainty there. You never know when you could have an injury or just a lack of production based on injuries up front or with your quarterback. So there's a lot of things that had to go into Derek Henry's decision, but what ultimately got the deal done for Henry, he tells us. Like I explained to Daron, I just felt like with this time right now,

I just feel like it made sense to go ahead and lock it up with all this stuff going on. You know, with all this stuff going on, we've all been watching, seeing it all over, you know, everywhere about, you know, the COVID and all the uncertainty. So I just feel like it made sense. We feel like it made sense. I'm just glad to be able to lock this up and, you know, get this, get it over with. And now that it's over with, it's obvious that a lot of Derrick Henry's Titans teammates were happy for him as well. We saw a lot of well wishes on social media, a lot of things in the regular media on TV and people congratulating Derrick Henry. So what did he hear from his teammates after he got his deal done. All the love throughout the whole process. I'm grateful for the support and I'll definitely

give it back to all the guys that supported me because that goes a long way throughout the league. Definitely appreciative of all of it and I'll definitely support those guys who supported me. And speaking of support and teammates,

how could we forget about Ryan Tannehill, who got his big contract earlier in the offseason? Henry talked about Tannehill's contract and his thoughts on having both of them locked up in the same backfield for quite some time. Yeah, I was very happy for Ryan. I had called him and had asked him, I had told him, had asked him to let me hold something.

But yeah, I thought that Ryan did a great job this year and he was rewarded for his play. You know, I thought he had an awesome season, you know, coming in when we were two and four. And all of us getting, as a team, getting to the AFC Championship and, you know, just ready to build off that momentum and get back to working together. But, you know, I was happy for Ryan and his family.

I think, you know, we just build on the momentum, you know, that we have. Not trying to, like I always say, not try to focus too much on last season, but just build on, you know, the good things that we did and know the things that we need to improve on as a team, as an offense, and then go out there and work on those things just so we can be better than we were last year. And I think one thing that's important to think about now that the Titans have secured Derrick Henry for multiple seasons

and they don't have to worry about losing him next offseason after the franchise tag is, who knows what Arthur Smith or Mike Vrabel might have wanted to do with the offense if they did not think that Derrick Henry would be coming back? Would they go a little more pass heavy than they would like to normally? Or they would if they had Derrick Henry secured. Would that affect the games? Would that affect the outcomes?

I would like to think that no coach would be swayed by those sort of thoughts. But at some point in time if you know that you're losing the bell cow back and you're not going to have a player like Derrick Henry going forward into 2021 you might want to prepare yourself and have the guys on offense that you're going to have the next season be a little more prepared for the offense that you'll be forced to run when you lose a talent like Derrick Henry. Well, all of that is avoided now. So that's something to consider past the just, yeah, we'll have continuity going into a season

where continuity will be more important than ever. It's that the Titans don't have to take any risks. They don't have to get out of their element because they're trying to prepare themselves for what the offense could look like after Derrick Henry. That's a concern that we don't have to worry about now. So I thought a lot of Henry's quotes were pretty interesting. I enjoyed his comment there about asking to hold some of Ryan's money.

We got a little bit of a flash of personality there from Derrick Henry for just a moment, but really enjoyed his comments and really happy, obviously, to have him secured on the Titans going forward for the obvious reason of just having some continuity with one of the best offenses that I have seen from the Titans in my lifetime. So we are going to round out today's show with our Friday mailbag. Really excited to dive into your guys' questions. Make sure that you follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans and you can send in those mailbag

questions for next week's mailbag anytime you would like. The weekend is calling, Titans fans, and that means it is time for another Friday Mailbag. I've been taking your guys' questions, going to give you my answers. Make sure that you send in your questions for next week's Mailbag at TicTacTitans on Twitter. Follow me, send your questions there, and I will make sure to get you some answers. We are going to start this week's Mailbag off with a question from Mike N. Klon. He says, who is in line from the in-house candidates to replace Arthur Smith

when the offense hopefully balls out this year? Art and Shane Bowen came from nowhere, so I'm curious where things might go. Are there any signs? Well, in my opinion, I wouldn't say there are a ton of signs, but I would say that if someone was promoted in-house and Arthur Smith were to take a job as a head coach somewhere, you would look at three main candidates. That would be Keith Carter on the offensive line.

Although I have given him a lot of grief in the past, the offensive line was playing ridiculously well at the end of the season once everyone was healthy and intact. So you look at someone like Keith Carter, Tony Dews, running back coach. I've just been incredibly impressed with him in the limited media appearances that he's had and the running back production that we've got from Derrick Henry and how he's grown as a player. And then of course, Pat O'Hara, the quarterback's coach. Of course, you're always going to look at a quarterback's coach just from everything that the job entails when you're teaching the quarterback.

Everyone says, you know, the quarterback has to know everyone's job. That means that the quarterback coach has to know everyone's job. Although I think Pat O'Hara may not be the right guy for the job. Of course, the quarterback's coach is always going to be an option. On defense, I feel like Shane Bowen obviously is that guy who's going to be getting that next bump in responsibility. Maybe not officially, but behind the scenes, we know that Shane is the guy for Mike Vrabel as his top lieutenant on defense. The next question we have is from Colin Light, and he said, why did it take so long to get the contract done?

Talking about Derrick Henry's contract. And, of course, the reason is deadlines just make people act. You can have these back-and-forth negotiations and argue for certain things when you know you have months and months and months to figure it out. But when that deadline is staring you back in the face, then you make concessions that maybe you wouldn't have made otherwise. And I have a feeling that Derrick Henry wanted more money, but based on some of the comments that we got from him earlier in the show talking about COVID-19 and the uncertainty in the

world right now. I think that once the Titans made sure to give him a little bit more than what he would get off two franchise tags, that sweetened the pot enough for him where he was like, okay, now I'm getting a little bit more money than I would get otherwise. I get security even though it's maybe not the type of money that I think I should get. He was willing to take it for the security. And I think that's why it took the contract so long to get done because Derrick Henry had to see that deadline in his face and then go ahead and take the best offer that was there available. And the 2021 running back class is chocked full with talent.

So obviously the market for Derrick Henry may not be as robust as it could have been otherwise. So that factored in as well. And we got some news recently with Dalvin Cook's holdout and different other players who we know are going to hit the market like a Leonard Fournette. So having some of those other players be available that we've learned about more recently, that probably factored into Derrick Henry's decision as well. The next question comes from Ksesh on Twitter said, pretty sure you've discussed it before, but if there's another extension before

the season starts, who do you think it will be? Jayon, Jonu, if you've already brought it up, maybe you can talk about how Henry's extension affects it. Okay, so Henry's extension definitely does affect the possibilities here because the Titans got four more million dollars in cap space. So we can talk about Jadavion Clowney all we want. But if the Titans were to extend somebody, they have more wiggle room to do so now that Henry is locked in. So I think it improves the chances of another extension as well. In my opinion, that extension would be for Jonu Smith.

The Titans don't have a player comparable at the position like the Titans do with Rashawn Evans. The argument could be made that you can't really pay two big-time inside linebacker contracts, so the Titans would choose between Jayon and Rashawn, and in my opinion, they would pick Rashawn in this instance, even though I think Jayon's such an underrated player. I don't mean to diminish him as a talent whatsoever, but I think the Titans would pay Rashawn before they paid Jayon, and I think that Jonu Smith would get the extension before Jayon would because of the scarcity at the position. The Titans cannot lose Jonu Smith as a tight end.

Anthony Ferkser cannot be the Titans' starting tight end. He's not good enough for that, and if the Titans have an injury to Jonu Smith, which he's had injuries in his career, that would really put them in a bad spot. So tight end is something they're going to have to address next offseason for certain, for certain. But I would give that money to Jonu Smith if the Titans don't go out and get Clowney. That's number one. I think the Titans should give a one-year contract to Jadavion Clowney there is still uncertainty about the 2021 salary cap so with that in mind it would be dangerous to give an extension to Johnnie or Jayon based on future production I'd rather spend that money on a one year deal on Clowney and then have another year to assess Jayon and Johnnie and see what the Titans want to do next offseason knowing Knowing more about the 2021 salary cap.

So good question there from Kay says. We got a Friday mailbag question from Tyler Chandler. He says who does the Titans fan base hate more? Adam Rank, Jeff Schwartz, or other? And I think this question is easily Jeff Schwartz. Adam Rank just makes predictions on every team. He wasn't singling out the Titans. Jeff Schwartz goes out of just makes predictions on every team. He wasn't singling out the Titans. Jeff Schwartz goes out of his way to make stupid comments about the Titans. He's not a bad analyst.

He's not a dumb guy. He played in the NFL for quite some time, but he's obviously trolling the Titans fan base and doing so to try to get more followers and get the fan base riled up to improve his interactions. No matter how successful you are in the NFL how much money you have competition and being competitive will always make people want more of whatever they're trying to get and Schwartz would love to increase his social footprint and a lot of his Tennessee trolling as part of that the next question we have is from David Stroop he said will Adoree be a slot corner? Have you done any tape on him in that role versus outside and or Fulton and Butler inside versus outside?

Wondering if Adoree is the right one to move inside. Okay, so I have done some tape study on Fulton. On the inside, it's something that he can do. I wouldn't say it's something that he excels at though. It's something that he can do. He can get better at, but he wasn't asked to play inside a ton at LSU. He's asked more to play on the boundary. So obviously that's something they felt he was better at than going inside. Adoree as a slot corner is a Tic Tac Titans film breakdown that I've kind of been saving as we get closer to the season. I'm forecasting that we don't have preseason games. I'm forecasting that we have a limited training camp. So I would do a Tic Tac Titans film breakdown based on the preseason game on somebody since we're not going to have those. I'm kind of saving a few in the can

so I can break those out. People will be craving some actual on field content as we get closer to the regular season. So that's something that I do want to talk about in a later edition of the Locked on Titans podcast and an additional film breakdown. But I think Adoree right now will be the number one person in that role. I think Malcolm Butler's skill set, his physicality at the line of scrimmage, his lack of speed and lateral movement, you don't want to put him in the slot. I think that would be too close to a Logan Ryan. You want Malcolm Butler outside on a physical boundary receiver jamming him up and not letting him get downfield on vertical threats. So I would say Adoree will spend majority of the time in the slot. In my opinion, I'll talk more about that when I get to that later on in the offseason. And then the next question we have here is from my guy Gary Kester. He says, do you regret trying to speak Derrick Henry to the Jaguars into existence yes or yes and why how about yes and yes also yes and why because um at that time the reports were indicating that Derrick Henry wasn't going to sign or Derrick Henry um wasn't going to get a long-term deal he was going to play on the franchise tag and then

with the uncertainty with COVID and the 2021 salary cap next year, I could just see if the Titans did tag Henry that he might want to walk next year and the Titans might have to let him go based on the salary cap. So that's why I was just making a little bit of a prediction. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to, you know, speak it into existence or anything like that. If you guys heard that comment I made earlier in the week on the Ultimate Division crossover. So yeah, yes, yes, and I'm sorry. The last question we have here is from Josh Merbitz. He said, favorite color and why?

And then we talked a little bit more and eventually he said, hashtag non-football questions. And yeah, I really enjoy the non-football questions. We talk so much football all the time. It's fun to kind of have that interaction with you guys about things other. Right now, we're currently engaged in Twitter on a conversation around the best sequels of all time that were better than the original movie. My answer was The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight's better than Batman Begins, even though I think Batman Begins is a phenomenal movie, one of my favorites, but that's just the

type of example of questions that I like to talk about with you guys, so having a good conversation with all of you guys about that has been fun, but my favorite color, I will say it's red, my high school was red and black growing up, so I always like red, my shoes, my clothes, and stuff like that. But it works well with the Titans as well. I love when the Titans have red accessories and things like that. So I'll go with red, but really I think colors are meant to be in combination with other colors. No color is meant to be alone. So I like combinations, orange and blue.

I do enjoy, although I don't want to give any positivity to the Denver Broncos with a week one matchup ahead. I always loved the baby blue and red that you see with the Titans, two-tone blue. I like orange a lot, too, so red hues, I guess, I really enjoy. I played on a baseball team with my friends, a tournament team that was pink growing up, so I love red hue colors, I guess, that red, pink, orange, you know, purples. I love those colors. So that's going to do it, though, for our mailbag this week, this week of Locked on Titans podcast.

I really had a fun week talking about Derrick Henry, then all the Ultimate Division crossover conversations that we had throughout the week. It's been a great week, and I'm excited to be back with you guys next week to talk more about training camp, which is right around the corner. Now that you are done with this edition of the Locked on Titans podcast, tell your smart device to check out the Locked on Fantasy Football podcast. They're talking best ball drafts, DFS, getting you guys ready for the season-long season ahead dynasty, everything

you can imagine being discussed on the locked on fantasy football podcast. So make sure that you check that out. That is going to do it for me though. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was locked on tight. Thank you.