Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Is Treylon Burks a Bust, Are the Titans Deeper at Receiver & NFL Roster Rules

Episode Date: May 27, 2022

The Tennessee Titans selected Treylon Burks with the 18th pick in the 2022 NFL Draft after trading away AJ Brown. Whether fair or not, Burks has big shoes to fill. Burks hasn't hit the ground running and for a section of the Titans fan base, that has brought in the 'B' word. Tyler explains why this is nonsensical and everyone needs to breathe. Next, there is a thought amongst the fan base that the Titans are deeper at WR this year. Tyler is not so sure. Finally, the NFL made some significant changes to the way rosters work. Tyler breaks down the new rules.Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitansSupport 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.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. 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 Friday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast on today's show. Seeing some whispers from a certain section of the fan base, is Traylon Burks a bust? I'm going to tell you why hearing this is just insanity. Also, some people in the fan base are saying that the Titans are deeper at wide receiver this year. I'm going to say not so fast.

And the NFL made a lot of changes to how rosters work during the season with training camp and practice squad. I'm going to talk about all of the new changes and explain to you guys exactly what took place. All of that on a casual Friday 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. Titans fans, it is a Friday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast. It's Thursday night, if you happen to be watching on YouTube.

I know you guys always let me know about that. But we got a lot to talk about today. And again, like I said, it is a little bit of a casual Friday here. I got that vacation feeling, guys. I'm not even going to lie to you. Tomorrow morning, I'm packing up my stuff, heading to Chicago to have a good weekend over the holiday. And I'm very excited to get out of town and stop with some work and get into all of that. But before I can, we got to talk about some of these topics that I've seen popping up amongst the fan base. Number one, Traylon Burks, a bust?

You guys are out of your mind already. I'm going to dive into that topic. Also, are the Titans deeper at wide receiver this year? A lot of you guys think they are. I'm not so sure. And I'm going to talk about some roster rules before we get into it. I do want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. If this is your first ever listen,

make sure that you subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. I am going to be putting out Monday through Friday, daily Tennessee Titans content for free on all platforms all year long. That includes the Locked on Titans YouTube channel. Subscribe over there. Smash the notification bell. Hit a thumbs

up if you're watching on YouTube right now. Follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans YouTube channel. Subscribe over there. Smash the notification bell. Hit a thumbs up if you're watching on YouTube right now. Follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans. Follow the show Facebook page at LockedOnTitansPod. But let's just talk about what happened here. So number one, the A.J. Brown trade happens. Okay, everybody's kind of devastated, at least surprised, at minimum. The Titans draft Traylon Burks. Now, whether or not it's right or wrong,

Traylon Burks has big shoes to fill. And for better or for worse, most people in the fan base are going to look at Burks and say, you have to replace AJ. I'm not here to tell you whether or not that's fair or not. Maybe it's not. Maybe it is. But that's the truth.

That is the reality. So you got that. He's taken 18th. First-round pick. Greatest day of his life. All this. Comes into Titans OTAs. Little drama.

Day one. Can't finish practice. Comes out. Goes back in. comes back out, hitting an inhaler on the side of the building. I mean, okay, it happens. Alec Pierce of the Indianapolis Colts had the same thing. I believe, if memory serves me,

AJ left some practices early, early in his career with some conditioning issues. So, hey, you know it is what it is. But then we get the OTA that's open to the media. And Burks again, seems a little bit limited. Coming in and

out, seems to be struggling with conditioning. Mike Vrabel's getting asked about pollen in the Nashville area. And some fans start to whisper. Start to say the B word. The B word.

And as you guys know, I don't do a lot of cussing on here. Maybe a little damn here and there, but I like to keep it friendly for the kids. And when I say B word, I mean bust. I have seen enough people in my YouTube comments. I've seen people on Twitter.

Now, it may be a vocal minority, but I've seen it. Bust. It hasn't even been a month. Now, I know, I know. There's a lot of PTSD in this fan base. Me included with Kevin Dodd, Isaiah Wilson. Maybe Dylan Radins at this point. Before that even, we could go back to Tyrone Calico and Chris Brown and Andre Wolfork. I mean, you know, there's a lot of scars here and I get it.

But guys, this is insanity. Burks isn't a bust because he's not in the best shape of his life coming off the draft circuit in his first time DGB. Yes, another one. Great job David. Just guys who had high expectations, Chance

Wormack, the Titans have a lot of scars. We as a fan base have a lot of scars, and I get that. But we can't let that ruin Traylon Burks' early time here. We don't need to be on that young kid calling him a bust. Let the guy go through OTAs.

They haven't even gotten to mandatory minicamp. That's in June. So all I'm saying is, you see people, if you're one of these people calling Traylon Burks a bust because he was huffing and puffing in his first two practices ever as a pro,

come on now. And I also, I also want to point to this. Not only is it insane to do that, but Rex, my guy Rex, let me just talk about Rex for a second. Rex, man, Rex will give me the business if I mess something up. Rex will check me at every step on a stat or information or a scouting report, and I appreciate that, Rex.

I really do. But Rex says this, the Titans release a video of Burks catching a long ball from Tannehill in the bubble today. Made a leaping catch. I just watched that before I hit record. I would have been on a couple minutes earlier with you guys, but go check out

the Titans Twitter account and that deep ball in the end zone to Traylon Burks. I think it was probably about 25 to 30 yards. I just off my, I watched it once, twice actually, if we're honest. But great catch in the back of the end zone. Burks is a monster. He's huge. The guy's going to be good. Okay. Everybody relax with the B word. I just think it's utterly ridiculous to do that. And again, we're seeing some things. Now, I got some things to talk about as well.

I looked at the offensive line during that video. And I noticed some observations. So we're going to get into some observations. Also, are the Titans deeper at wide receiver this year? A lot of you guys think they are. I'm not so sure. Before we get into that though, I do want to tell you guys about a great product that it's really, it's really boosted my morning. There's no way around it. Just to be honest, it has boosted my morning and my every day. And it is the AG1 from our friends over at Athletic Greens. They're a partner of ours that has produced a product that I use literally every day.

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You're going to be eating those words pretty quickly for how quickly you tried to make that assumption. So please, guys, have some patience here. Have some logic. That's all I'm asking for. But now, I want to talk about some other observations I had from that video we talked about there at the end of the first segment. I'll get into all of it again.

Also, are the Titans deeper at wide receiver this year? I don't think they are. Some of you guys do. So we'll dive into that and I'll give you guys my thoughts there before we go over some roster rules to end the day. Before we get into the rest of the show, got to thank you guys for making the Locked On Titans podcast your first listen every day. Make sure you subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. we get into the rest of the show, got to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast, your first listen every day.

Make sure you subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. I do want to tell you guys, my loyal listeners, thank you guys all so much. The podcast schedule may be a little different throughout the weekend and early in the next week. As I said, I'm going on a little vacation here, doing a little traveling,

be coming back for the, for the holiday on Monday. Videos may be released a little bit later, maybe Tuesday morning, maybe Tuesday evening to hit the first two podcasts of the week. I'm just letting you guys know ahead of a time so you know what the schedule is going to be like. You know, I try to bust my butt all the time, all week, all year long to put out some content. So you guys usually are pretty understanding when I have to move the schedule around a

little bit. But let's dive into that video of Traylon Burks catching the deep pass from Tannehill in the end zone that the Titans literally just released. Tannehill to Burks. Beautiful play. Go check it out. But I had a different observation, guys. The offensive line.

Now I always gotta give qualifiers. Cause it's early. It's early. But, in that video, Ben Jones was the center. Taylor LeJuan was the left tackle. Ryan Tannehill was the quarterback. Traylon Burks was the wide receiver.

Doesn't that kind of sound like the Titans starting lineup a little bit to you guys? It sounds like that was probably the ones out on the field, right? Like, I'm not insane for making the assumption here that that was the first team offense. I feel like that's fair with the caveat that, hey, they're trying stuff out. Maybe they're just rotating things around. But, you know who was at left guard? Two big observations.

So you got Taylor LeJuan at left tackle, Ben Jones at center, Ryan Tannehill at quarterback, Traylon Burks at wide receiver. You know who was at left guard? Number 55, and for those of you who don't know, now taking over the number 55 jersey, Aaron Brewer. Aaron Brewer was at left guard.

Which leaves us to speculate, who was at right tackle? Who was at right tackle? Well, there's one thing that I do know from that video. Dylan Radins was on the sideline. Again, it's early. What I saw in that video doesn't mean that that's the actual established starters

or they could just be rotating stuff around, getting different looks, but I couldn't, I can't lie, couldn't lie to you guys when I see videos like that because here's the reality, and we're just going to focus on this for this segment.

I'll get into the wide receiver conversation in a moment. When I see these videos from the Titans, I always look for the little, I want to find the little nuggets in there, the little Easter eggs, the stuff that they don't want us to know. Because Jim Wyatt even said in his article this week that the reporters are not allowed to talk about

who's starting where and what reps people are getting. Tennessee Titans do not allow it. You see teams like the Bengals, the Eagles, other teams, you got beat writers saying, oh, this is the starting offensive line. Oh, so-and-so came out with the first team. Boom, boom has been rotating. Oh, here's a video of the whole offense. We don't get any of that being Titans fans. The Titans are a lockdown media team, The Titans are a locked down media team. Period.

And I've got that confirmed from someone who's in the media locally. I have a source. You could say Salsas, baby. All jokes aside here. The Titans OTAs go throughout like the next 10 days or so. I believe June 9th is when it's over. The next one that's open to the media

isn't until next Wednesday. So we'll be talking about it next Thursday. There's a lot of practices happening that aren't open to the media. And we just passed one of them. The 26th. Today, when I'm recording. Thursday.

Was an OTA that wasn't open to the media. So this video is coming from that. The Titans were inside because of the weather. And when the media is not there, they're probably going to get in a lot more teamwork. So, here's the question. After all these observations, if LeJuan is at left tackle,

if Ben Jones is at center, if Tannehill is at quarterback, if Traylon Burks is at wide receiver, if Aaron Brewer is at left guard, and Dylan Radins is on the sideline, then who the heck is playing right tackle? Mike Vrabel said that they wanted to start Jamarco Jones, not start like starting lineup,

but start him out at what position he's going to play at left guard. So if we use that context clue and we say that Jamarco Jones wasn't playing right tackle because he's going to get reps at guard, then who was playing right tackle? was it Nicholas Petit Ferrer that would be a shock if Nicholas Petit Ferrer with his mass issues and I mean mass issues like his weight and his anchor and his strength to play right tackle was Jamarco Jones maybe over there and they want to Was Jamarco Jones maybe over there? And they want to do Jamarco at right tackle and Aaron Brewer at left? If that ends up being the lineup, if Dylan Radins is not in this starting lineup,

then yes, I will gladly allow everyone to maybe talk about the B word and at least be concerned, majorly concerned at that point. But we'll have to wait to see stuff like that until much much later in the summer but looks like Aaron Brewer was working with the first team offensive line at left guard and Dylan Radins was not so who's at right tackle those are questions that we are going to look forward to throughout the summer. But that is going to do it for this impromptu conversation. That video of Traylon Burks catching the pass from Ryan Tannehill unearthed a ton of great stuff to talk about on this episode.

So we're going to cap things off. I'm going to tell you guys a little bit about the rules. I'll go through those quickly. But are the Titans deeper at wide receiver this year than they had been last year at this time? I don't think so. I don't think so. So we'll get into that in just a moment.

Before we do, I do want to tell you guys, thank you for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. As for your second listen, check out the Locked on Sports Today podcast. It's going to give you all the biggest headlines in sports. You get the take of the day, all the biggest updates, all that for every sport, not just football. Check out the Locked On Today sports

podcast. It's part of the Locked On podcast network, but we're going to talk to the wide receiver group in just a moment. Titans fans, we are going to cap off this casual Friday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Talking about the wide receiver group and if the Titans are deeper at wide receiver this year than they were last year before we get into it. Want to tell you guys again, just another reminder.

I am going on, I guess you could call it vacation, doing a little traveling over the holiday weekend. I'm going to be gone about three and a half, four days. The podcast may be a little delayed at the beginning of the week. You may get a podcast on Tuesday morning and then another one on Tuesday night. I may be able to get one out on Monday night. I just don't want to make any promises to you because at the end of the day, I want all of you guys to relax, enjoy your weekend, your holiday weekend with your family, your friends, whatever you want to do. And quite frankly, been working really hard lately and I'm excited to do that as well. So taking a little trip to Chi-town on a Chi-rack, Chicago, Illinois. Going to enjoy that little golf tournament when I get home. Some

holiday family parties. Looking very much forward to kind of chill out and relax. But let's dive into this conversation here about the wide receiver group. So last year's wide receiver group, this conversation here about the wide receiver group. So last year's wide receiver group, AJ Brown, Julio Jones, Chester Rogers, Marcus Johnson,

Josh Reynolds was in there as well. Nick Westbrook, Akina. Then you had, you know, Des Fitzpatrick. You had Racy McMath, Cody Hollister, Mason Kinsey,

Chester, or Cam Batson at the beginning before he tore his ACL during the season. So that was the group there. And then a lot of people are saying, and I saw some Titans beat reporters actually saying that the Titans are deeper at wide receiver this year. Not so fast, my friends. I just don't agree with that.

I just simply don't agree. One, the Titans don't have the top-end talent that they had last year. None of these guys are anywhere close to as good as AJ is. Julio Jones, although unhealthy for most of the season and how that played out, who's to say Robert Wood coming off an ACL tear, coming on 30,

he's going to be healthy all year, for sure. He's less talented than Julio Jones, although maybe more reliable. I got to say, Pudi, Pickwads, or Lou Malnati's, that was the two choices that we had. We picked Malnati's. So I'll be checking out Malnati's on Friday afternoon as soon as I get to Chicago.

Thanks for the recommendation, though. I appreciate it. I feel good about the two choices that I had. But like, AJ and Julio, Josh Reynolds is better than Nick Westbrook-Akina. The only team in the NFL that Nick Westbrook-Akina would play over Josh Reynolds is the Titans. Josh Reynolds went, had a pretty good season for the Lions. Got a contract. What were the Titans doing when they needed all that wide receiver help last year? I don't know.

Some people will just defend the team no matter what happens. There's no way you can look at what happened with Josh Reynolds last year and say the Titans made the right call. Sorry. So, to me, Julio, AJ, and Josh Reynolds were, I mean, much better than Woods, a rookie, and Burks, and Nick Westbrook-Akina. It's not really even close, quite honestly. And then you want to go after that.

Who's better? Mason Kinsey or Chester Rogers or Kyle Phillips or Chester Rogers? Kyle Phillips is a rookie. I want him to be good. But, I mean, the odds aren't likely. Marcus Johnson hurt all the time,

but Marcus Johnson is better than Dez Fitzpatrick or Racey McMathen. I gotta say this, man. You guys gotta pump the brakes on Dez. You gotta pump the brakes on Dez. You got to pump the brakes on Dez. All right. You just have to. Come on, guys. Don't set yourself up for failure like this.

So, right now the Titans' starting three receivers projected are Woods, Burks, and Nick Westbrook-Akina. Last year, the three projected receivers were A.J., Julio, and Reynolds. And then you go down the list, Rodgers, Johnson. Nick Westbrook-Akina was like wide receiver six coming into last year, and he's wide receiver three now. With Kyle Phillips and Mason Kinsey, Dez, Racey McMath, Josh Malone. Like, we all want to be very optimistic about our team.

I get that, but we got to be realistic here, too. The Titans are not as talented at wide receiver, and they're not deeper either. So, I saw a comment earlier on my YouTube that said, I think the Titans still need help in free agency for wide receiver and offensive line. And quite honestly, if Aaron Brewer's starting at left guard,

I gotta agree with that. Yeah, it was pootie. I gotta agree. Go get Eric Flowers. If you don't think you need offensive line, go get Will Fuller or something. Just add veteran talent to this team that really needs it at those

two spots. Tavares, I respect your opinion. I think we're deeper at wide receiver health-wise. I think this group is going to stay healthy. Why? Why? You know? Robert Woods is coming off an ACL

tear. Nick Westbrook or Keenan could stay healthy I guess but he's like a 4th or 5th level talent wide receiver anyways if he's your number 3 the Titans are still in trouble Burks is already having issues and while I think he'd be okay he's still a rookie he might get hurt a little bit and then what are we counting on

if one of these guys gets hurt I'm high on Kyle Phillips too guys but come on. So, I think it's obvious the Titans are not as deep and nowhere near as talented on the high end as last year. And Football Outsiders did a tier ranking of wide receiver groups in the NFL. And the Titans were D, one of the bottom three with the Bears and the Packers.

And I kind of agree. And I kind of agree. The Falcons should be there too. But yeah. So anyway, Burks may well play more games than A.J. Brown. Is he going to be more impactful? Is Traylon Burks making those catches against San Francisco? Is Traylon Burks making those plays against Baltimore?

Is Traylon Burks making those catches against the Texans? Man, you know, I know that we're all super optimistic right now about what everybody can be, but just be realistic. Robert Woods, wide receiver one, a rookie, Traylon Burks, two. Nick Westbrook, Akina is your third best receiver. That's obviously one of the worst groups in the league. We just have to be honest about it. Right.

Joseph says, I think Dez will improve a lot this year and end up being a bright spot for us. I don't. I don't. And I have no reason to believe that he will. Like, it's just, it's optimism and I like the Titans.

I want the guys who are on the Titans to be good and I'm going to choose to believe that they will be good. Now, I do that with some things too, but doing that with Des Fitzpatrick or Mason Kinsey. Mason Kinsey couldn't beat out Chester Rogers last year. Mason Kinsey couldn't beat out Cody Hollister. You know, like, I made a video on Mason Kinsey last year. I made a video on Kyle Phillips. I want

these guys to be good, but the truth is, the Titans are obviously a bottom five wide receiver group in the NFL. And they're not deeper than last year. And they're not as talented either. So one injury will be more punitive to them than last year. So I still think the Titans go 10-7. I still think the Titans make the playoffs because I think they're going to go more tight end heavy.

Now that they have Austin Hooper, they have Chigaconquo, the tight end group is drastically improved. If you want to argue to me that the Titans offense can be just as good as last year or maybe even improved from last year, I will accept that. But you better go about it

by saying they have better tight ends and they need to go with more 12 personnel, more 13 personnel back to those routes. Don't argue that the Titans wide receiver group is better or deeper because I'm sorry, it's not. Now, for these roster rules, just quickly to let you guys know. So for the past two years since COVID,

the NFL had a rule where a player, if he goes on injured reserve, he only has to be on injured reserve for three years, or for three games, and then he can come back. Well, now it's four, okay? Also, you used to be able to go on IR and then come off IR during the COVID era. Now, you can only go on IR and come back twice in a season. One player twice in a season.

For a team, you can only have eight guys go on IR and then return. So that was changed from unlimited in recent years with COVID. Also, you used to not be able... They had 12 guys on the practice squad with COVID. Also, you used to not be able, they had 12 guys on the practice squad before COVID, and then it got bumped to 16, and you used to not be able to have any veteran players who have accrued seasons to a certain level on your practice squad.

Well, now you can have six veterans on your practice squad no matter how long their service has been. You can have three elevations from practice squad to the game day roster before you have to be activated to the 53-man roster.

And you can have 16 players on the practice squad. They're keeping that around. So those are some quick roster changes. Just wanted to make sure you guys knew about that because once we get into the season, we start talking about that stuff. King Henry here.

Now, I know that you're not talking about me, okay? You got to be talking about these crazy people out here bugging on Burks because I spent the first 10 minutes of the show saying, everybody calm down. Burks. Because I spent the first 10 minutes of the show saying everybody calm down. Burks will be fine. Mr. Carter, I get that Burks

was making you mad. But go watch the video the Titans just posted on Twitter with Traylon Burks catching a deep touchdown pass from Ryan Tannehill. Just go check that out and you'll get a little more excited. Yeah, okay, King Henry, I get you. I get you, not me.

Okay, thank you. Yeah, Golden Tate was on the team for a little bit last year, but I'm pretty sure he's washed. I wanted him on the team. I was arguing for Golden Tate all year and I was wrong. I was wrong. And for any of you guys who are new to the show, I talk about the things I get wrong all the time.

All the time. All the time. I was wrong. Yes. Man, this is a great point by C-Dub. Now, I'm not saying that Traylon Burks will be as good as Jamar Chase, but last year people were killing Jamar Chase, saying he couldn't catch. He can't catch an NFL ball.

Yeah, now he's a top 10 wide receiver already, and he pretty much led his team to the Super Bowl. What was the difference between the Bengals being bad, even with Burrow in his rookie year, and then the Bengals going to the Super Bowl? Jamar Chase showed up. So, yeah. And everybody was clowning Chase.

So, the point is, everybody calm down on Traylon Burks. He's going to be a stud. Just a little bit of a rough start. Two, Aaron Brewer was starting left guard in that video, and Dylan Radins was not in the starting offensive line in that video. So, questions?

I don't think the Titans are deeper at wide receiver. And we went over some roster rules as well. So, thank you guys all so much for the support. Thank you all so much for the feedback. Again, podcast schedule may be a little wonky here over the holiday weekend, but I think I deserve a little rest and relaxation in the midst of the constant podcast and day job grind. So thank you guys all so much for understanding.

You guys all have a safe weekend man. Just have a safe, take care of each other everything going on in the world I know that you don't come to my podcast to hear about that stuff so I try not to go too much into it but just everybody be safe out there

take care of yourselves this weekend you know, protect thy brother man. It's sad and scary out there take care of yourselves this weekend you know protect thy brother man it's sad and scary out there unfortunately but thank you guys all so much for tuning in and let me be a little part of maybe trying to take your mind off of

all the stuff that we all got going on and all the craziness in life but thank you guys that's gonna do it for me today folks as always I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.