Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Isaiah Wilson Done As A Titan? The Panda Saga, Salary Ramifications & BUST-ED CHALLENGE

Episode Date: February 24, 2021

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You are Locked On Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked On Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, it is a Wednesday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast. And on this hump day, I want to have a little bit of fun here. I'm going to do my version of a very popular internet challenge. And some of you guys have probably heard of the Buss It Challenge.

Well, today on the Locked On Titans podcast, we are doing the Busted Challenge. That's right. Today is going to be centered around all-time busts. And of course, I could not begin with anyone else other than the Titans' very own first-round bust, Isaiah Wilson. So on Tuesday night, we got to an interesting piece of social media activity from the Panda, the Lazy Panda, as I have grown to call him. So I'm going to go over what that tweet was, what that tweet looks like right now, what it means, kind of re-document the entire saga with Isaiah Wilson, let you guys know about some money the Titans were able to dock, and also talk about some money the Titans might be able to still get back. So we are going over everything Isaiah Wilson and where things have gone, where things stand.

So after that, though, we will continue the busted challenge here on the Locked on Titans podcast. We are going to go over the biggest bust in recent Titans memory. And I will use that list not as a way to put you guys into perpetual depression but as a way to compare Isaiah Wilson and see where his level of bust stacks up and then at the end of today's show we will zoom out even further and take a look at some of the biggest busts in the last 20 to 30 years in the NFL. And then again, talk about where Isaiah Wilson will fall within that list. So it is the busted challenge here today on a Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast.

Let's get it. We are going to dive into Isaiah Wilson's tweet from Tuesday night, dive into the Isaiah Wilson saga as well, and talk about what could come next. But before we do, I do want to give you guys a little bit of a programming note. I've been incredibly busy this week with podcast material, with everything in my life outside the podcast. So I say all of that to tell you there may not be a Locked on Titans podcast posted in the morning on Thursday. You will have five Locked on Titans shows this week, but I just wanted to let you guys

know if the schedule gets too hectic, it may come later on. And then if you guys don't have a chance to listen to Thursday's show after it's dropped later in the evening, you can double up on Friday. And then on Thursday morning, in lieu of the Locked on Titans podcast, you guys should check out a new podcast running this month from the Locked on Podcast Network. February is Black History Month, and the Locked On Podcast Network is honoring the challenges and success of black men and women in sports with a new series called Locked On Presents More Than The Game.

Right now, you can hear Candace Cooper of Locked On Tar Heels, Erica Alaia of Locked On Women's Basketball discuss the opportunities and challenges that come with being a black woman in sports. Subscribe to the Locked On Presents podcast feed on Radio.com's app or wherever you get podcasts. But let's dive into this Isaiah Wilson information. So on Tuesday night, the Lazy Panda tweeted this,

quote, I'm done with football as a Titan, dot, dot, dot. No further comments, end quote, or end tweet tweet however you want to say it either way that was almost immediately deleted but the internet doesn't miss anything guys everyone had screenshots I posted a screenshot and it did come from his official account so this isn't any kind of photoshop

or any kind of fake out Isaiah Wilson seems to be as done with the Titans as the Titans are done with him after those comments from John Robinson basically throwing him under the bus last week and for good reason that has a negative connotation but for good reason I would understand if I in Isaiah Wilson's world he says oh I'm I'm done with them anyway and it's starting to make you wonder whether he wanted to be here ever anyways but let's just quickly go through the timeline here. So Isaiah Wilson is drafted by the Titans April 23rd, 2020, 29th pick in the first round. It seemed like a great fit

stylistically for the Titans. They could have a young guy get ready behind Dennis Kelly. It made all the sense in the world for them to take him there, but things went downhill quickly. If you remember, Isaiah Wilson's mom had an incident with his girlfriend on camera in the draft immediately. So the first second that this guy was a Tennessee Titan, there was adversity and there was reason to raise your eyebrow. July 28th, the Titans put Isaiah Wilson on the reserve COVID-19 list for the first time. And at that point in time Isaiah Wilson had obviously been out partying now we can see what his behavior had told us then comes another issue on August 15th of last year Wilson nearly jumped off a balcony to avoid police at a Tennessee state party because that is going

to violate protocol for him with the Titans. Also violate the protocols on the campus. So just a stupid decision all the way around. And the fact that he tried to jump off the balcony. I mean, what are we talking about here? September 6th, he's placed on the reserve COVID-19 list for a second time. And isn't activated until five weeks later. So that's absolutely ridiculous. September 11th, this is where things really start to get concerning. Obviously, the guy has some bad

tendencies, some bad behavior. It's putting him in compromised positions. But at the end of the day, and at that time, we're in the middle of a pandemic. I can't really fault a guy for contracting the virus when we're in the middle of a global pandemic. But here, this was the first sign that, whoa, things might be really bad. Isaiah Wilson crashes into a concrete wall after doing donuts in the middle of an intersection, drunk in the middle of the morning in Nashville. I mean, there's nothing else to say. I've condemned that quite a bit. People make mistakes though, but man But, man, things are piling up. Things are piling up. Then, in the end of October, we start getting reports.

The reports start leaking out that he's a headache for the team. He's lazy. He doesn't try hard. The pick was a disaster. October 27th, he gets in another car accident. Totaled his car rear-ending somebody. So there's that. November 29th, he actually plays for the first time against the Colts, but he didn't do anything.

He played in a few kneel-downs, an extra point attempt where he got completely blown up. Whatever. December 5th, though, the Titans suspend him for violating team rules. I would imagine it was a multitude of things, coming late to meetings, being disruptive. December 9th, the Titans place him on the reserve non-football illness list, and that ends his season. January 1st, we see him partying on a boat on New Year's Eve.

On February 13th, he starts posting some really weird stuff on Instagram saying that, you know, he didn't take part in any sale of drugs or any street crime involvement. Just really, really weird stuff. And then, of course, on Tuesday, we got the tweet and that came after John Robinson's press conference where he basically condemned him. So that's where we're at. Now, the last thing that I want to say to you guys about this saga is about the money here. And the reality is, and this is information that we got on Wednesday, something Ian Rappaport from the NFL Network talked about,

when the Titans put Isaiah Wilson on that list, that allowed them to actually dock him pay. The Titans only paid him $430,000 of his projected $610,000 base salary. So the Titans didn't give him all his money. They did dock him for that time. But the issue here is the majority of a rookie contract comes from the signing bonus and the Titans would have a much more difficult time getting his signing bonus money back but it's all about whether or not you have the right and the legal grounds to do so I'm going to be upfront and honest with you guys I'm not a lawyer I don't know what legal grounds would be in the court of law this is outside of football even outside of CBA and salary cap. So I don't

necessarily know whether the Titans have legal footing to go after his signing bonus. I'm certainly in favor of that. But the last thing I want to say here is I see a lot of people online saying, you know, the guy's young. We all make mistakes. People are trying to crush him. We need to give him a break here. Not saying that they need to keep him on the Titans, but just him as a person, give him a break, work through, hey, maybe he's got mental health issues, whatever he's dealing with. One thing, he may very well have some mental health issues that he's dealing with. And he is a young kid. And even me myself, I made a ton of mistakes that I'm embarrassed about or regret from when I was younger. I wish I could do different.

But this is a pattern of behavior. And I also think it's very, very dangerous to when people mess up and make mistakes to automatically assume that they have some sort of mental health issue. In my mind, that's an irresponsible conclusion to come to. And it also is disrespectful and kind of downplays the seriousness of people who really do have mental health issues. So I just have a general issue with jumping to the conclusion that he has some sort of underlying problems when he's just making mistakes. Because guess what?

We all make mistakes when we're young, and it doesn't always mean that we have some sort of medical issue that needs diagnosed. Maybe Isaiah Wilson is just effing up, guys. And maybe we need to hold him accountable. And it's okay if you want him cut, if you want him gone, and you want the Titans to go after that money they paid him. It's okay. I'm telling you right now, it's all right to feel that way. But that's going to do it for the Isaiah Wilson saga of the busted challenge here on the Locked on Titans podcast on Wednesday. We are going to jump into some of the all-time Tennessee Titans busts

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and you'll get a 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. So once again, that's promo code LOCKEDON for a 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit at BetOnline.ag. BetOnline, your online sportsbook experts. Busted, busted, busted picks let's continue the busted challenge here on today's Locked on Titans podcast and I admit guys, I admit

this is a little bit of a sad segment and it was a little sad on today's Locked on Titans podcast. And I admit, guys, I admit, this is a little bit of a sad segment. And it was a little sad when I was doing the research for this one. But, you know, we got to give context to this Isaiah Wilson pick and kind of judge it next to some other big time busts that the Titans have had in recent memory.

So let's go ahead and go through the list. And guys, I don't have this in any order based on year, any order based on year, any order based on how big of a bust the guy is. I just want to go through some of these names, remind you guys what we've seen in the past. First and foremost, Jake Locker, pick eight, 2011. It hurts even more when you realize that the Titans took him over J.J. Watt.

It hurts even more. It's different. I mean, at least Marcus went on and is going to play a couple more years in the NFL. Locker said, I'm done. I'm out of here. I never want to play again. I'm done with football.

I mean, what more of a colossal bust could you have than taking a quarterback in the top 10 who wasn't very good, who didn't even love football enough or couldn't stay healthy enough to even play more than four years? I mean, that's pretty bad guys. That's pretty bad.

Next we have Doriel Green Beckham. He was picked with the 40th pick in the draft. Second round pick in 2015. Now I was hesitant to put DGB on the list. Not because he isn't a bust. But because the Titans did use him as an asset to get Dennis Kelly. Who's going to be the starting right tackle two years in a row? I mean, good job, J-Rob.

I mean, way to rebound from the previous regime's mistake there. But man, I was so high on DGB. We've all been fooled by wide receivers so many times. It kills me. But hey, we finally got A.J. Brown, baby. We finally got A.J. Brown. Next, another wide receiver. Notice a pattern coming Kenny Britt pick

number 30 2009 now Kenny Britt had a decent NFL career and he was in the NFL for some time but his time in Tennessee he just did not live up to the first round hype now you could maybe talk about quarterback issues during that time but Kenny Britt didn't live up to the hype, so that's a bust for the Titans. Next, Pac-Man Jones went pick number six in 2005, and with Pac-Man, it had nothing to do with actual talent on the field. He had a very long NFL career and actually had a Pro Bowl season a decade later after getting drafted, so it wasn't talent, but early, Pac-Man Jones has always had behavioral issues. He's even beating up people right now after his career is done and getting in trouble with the cops but imagine him in his early 20s in the maturity level he was if he's in his late 30s and he's getting in fights and causing trouble

and getting arrested well then imagine how how much of a loose cannon he was in his early 20s so all the the trouble off the field all the trouble in the locker room, that's a bust for the Titans, but it's not really the Titans' fault other than they didn't vet him properly in his personality, which seems like is what happened with Isaiah Wilson. Next, Kendall Wright, another wide receiver, pick number 20 in 2012.

Not much to say about Kendall Wright. He just didn't have it, couldn't stay healthy, didn't have the hands necessary, just wasn't an NFL wide receiver. So that's a big bust for the Titans to take in the first round. My Lord. Next you have Chance Wormack with the 10th pick in the first round, 2013. They thought Chance Wormack was going to be an all-time guard. And you take a guard in the top 10, if he's going to be a hall of fame guard, God, Chance Wormack could going to be an all-time guard, and you take a guard in the top 10 if he's going to be a Hall of Fame guard. God, Chance Wormack could not be further from a Hall of Fame guard. Now, he was able to extend his NFL career a little bit until 2018, but certainly never

lived up to a top 10 pick. Next, we're going a little further back. Andre Wolfark taken with the 28th pick in the first round in 2003. Things really get sad when you start to consider some of the players who were taken at cornerback after Andre Wolfark. You have names like Peanut Tillman in there is one of the names that comes to mind. I'm kind of blanking on the other three names that were in there, but they were all very, very solid cornerbacks. I think Nnamdi Asanwa or Prince of Mookamara, one of the two. Obviously not Prince of Mookamara. He came much later, but Nnamdi Asanwa I think was included in there. But there were four pro bowl cornerbacks that were taken after Woolfolk.

So that definitely hurts. Another wide receiver. Another one. Justin Hunter, the 34th pick in the 2013 draft. A Tennessee kid. Just didn't have it in him. And then Bishop Sankey in the second round. I think it was 2014.

I had love for Bishop Sankey. He went to a middle school close to my hometown. So I was like, hey, you know, he played close to me. I'm going to root for that guy. Military kid, moving around all the time, tough on him. Hopefully he can figure it out with the Titans. And whoo, that was a big miss. They thought he was going to be able to come in and maybe replace CJ2K a little bit. That absolutely did not happen. The last name that I want to mention here is Kevin Dodd. Pick number 33, 2016, John Robinson's biggest bust until the Isaiah Wilson pick.

Being a first round pick definitely increases how big of a bust that it really is, but they're a lot closer than you guys realize in terms of value one thing that knocks down Isaiah Wilson's bust factor and his bust percentage is the fact that he wasn't expected to contribute year one for the Titans he was always going to be behind Dennis Kelly I firmly believe based on all of the scuttlebutt that I've heard that Dennis Kelly was told he would be the starting right tackle when he signed his contract. So it was always the plan to have Isaiah Wilson sit behind Dennis Kelly and that kind of lowers the bust factor. To me, the biggest bust of them all out of all these names is clearly Jake Locker.

I would put Isaiah Wilson at number two and then I would put Kevin Dodd at number three. And that's where I would kind of stack them up right now. I know a lot of that is more recent than some of the older stuff, but that's the way that I would view it. So we are going to expand our scope a little bit and just have a little bit of fun and talk about some of the biggest draft busts in the last 30 years, not just with the Titans, but in the entire NFL.

So we will get into that next. Before we do, I want to tell you guys about the best tasting protein bar in the galaxy. And that comes from our friends over at Built Bar. They have 18 amazing flavors. They're adding new flavors all the time too. The bars are covered in 100% chocolate. They're soft and easy to chew and they don't just taste great. They're healthy for you as well. Low calorie, low sugar, high protein, high fiber. And even if you've used the promo code before, you can still go to BuiltBar.com right now, use promo code LOCKEDON,

and you'll get another 20% off your next order. So once again, use promo code LOCKEDON for 20% off at BuiltBar.com. Let's cap off the Busted Challenge Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast by zooming out a little bit and looking at some of the biggest busts in NFL history in general, not just for the Tennessee Titans. And we are going to start with, I mean, what could be the biggest bust in NFL history? And that's Jamarcus Russell. The 2007 first round pick quarterback out of LSU for the Oakland Raiders.

He had every physical gift that you could ever imagine. But with a lot of bust guys, if it's not injury that does it, a lot of the time, it's effort. It's caring. I mean, like we're seeing with Isaiah Wilson. He's not hurt. It's just he's not willing to put in the effort to be a professional

athlete and be an NFL football player. It's hard. I know we all wish we could be athletes and everybody acts like it's easier than it is, but it's incredibly difficult to do that job over and over and over again. I dare you guys to go watch a video of John Gruden's quarterbacks trying to call plays. I mean, just try to watch that YouTube video and remember the play call. Write it down and try to just say it out loud and remember it. It's going to be nearly impossible, man. And that's just the mental side of remembering the play call. So think about the physical work.

It's tough enough for me to get my 45 minute to an hour workout done every day. Let alone working out and being physically active. Imagine if you just had to work out from 8 to 5 all day at work. I mean, shoot. It's really difficult. So a lot of these guys on this list just weren't willing to put in the work. Now some of them, it was injuries. But a lot of the time, it's just effort.

And injuries, the reality is it's hard to pinpoint why injuries happen. And injuries happen even to people who do take care of themselves. But some of these players might have had injury issues because they're not taking care of themselves properly. It's all put into the pot. It's all in there as possibilities. But Jamarcus Russell, definitely one of those guys who just wouldn't put in the effort.

They would send him home with fake playbooks with nothing in them and then come back and ask him questions about the playbook, ask if he read it, blah, blah, blah, and he'd say he did. And they were doing it just to test him to make sure that they knew he was lying. So that, to me, is in the running for the biggest bust in NFL history.

Because one, it's the quarterback position, how important that is. And it's the first overall pick. So you add those two together. And you've got to add in the importance of the position, the importance and how high the pick was. And then how the player's career actually played out. You put all that together, Jamarcus Russell might be the biggest bust in NFL history. Somebody who's definitely in the running, though, is Ryan Leaf. Ryan Leaf was taken with the No. 2 pick in the 1998 draft, went to the Chargers.

They were in San Diego at the time. As we know, Ryan Leaf went after Peyton Manning. So that, in my mind, that actually decreases his busted rating. The higher your busted rating is, the higher of a bust you are. So to me, the busted rating for Ryan Leaf is taken down a little bit because, you know, Peyton Manning was the better guy. So it's not like somebody took Ryan Leaf over Peyton Manning. Now that would have made Ryan Leaf the biggest bust in NFL

history. 1989, the number two overall pick, Tony Mandarich, an offensive tackle from the Packers, the best offensive tackle prospect ever. Admittedly, I wasn't born until 91. Don't recall watching Mandarich play, but through my research for this show, he was a colossal failure, and at the number two pick with offensive tackle being important and the billing that this guy had coming into the draft, he's definitely going to be up there for people who have been watching the NFL for a long time. 1999, the number one overall pick, quarterback Tim Couch for the Cleveland Browns, but in my mind, his busted rating is way down because he went to the Browns man I'm not gonna hold that

against anybody I'm really not the Browns were a joke of a franchise for the last 20 some years I'm not gonna hold that against Tim Couch if you put him in a different scenario who knows what happens with his career next 1987 and I only know about this guy from all the documentaries and all the buzz but the number one pick in the supplemental draft was Brian Bosworth, the boss, linebacker. He went to Seattle. Obviously, that didn't work out. Had tons of injuries.

His career was over in, I believe, about two years. Bo Jackson and him are tied together forever, but both of them obviously didn't get to live up to their potential completely because of the injuries. Bo Jackson with the hip injury, but obviously Bo is a way more accomplished player and athlete in multiple sports than Bosworth could ever hope to be. He's more of a cartoon character at this moment in time.

Next is a really old one, 1981, the No. 6 overall pick, Rich Campbell, a quarterback for the Packers. Sure, I got no analysis for you guys on the number six pick in 1981, but is curious to see the Packers with a quarterback. I guess that's how things were so dormant from them from Bart Starr all the way up until Brett Favre showed up, but quarterback is on the list quite a bit. Now we're getting more modern.

2003, number two overall pick, Charles Rodgers, the wide receiver from the Lions, or went to the Lions. I remember when the Lions went so wide receiver crazy there. They got Mike Williams. They got Charles Rogers, and just none of them worked out. But again, we're talking about the Detroit Lions. They've been one of the worst franchises in the NFL since their inception.

So how much can you hold it against the guy? I don't really know, but Calvin Johnson was able to ball out. So now he had Matt Stafford for a lot of his career. Charles Rogers had Joey Harrington. I believe for most of his career. So not really an apples to apples comparison. Next another quarterback. Number three overall pick.

Akeely Smith from 1999. Went to the Cincinnati Bengals. Obviously another situation like Tim Couch. At that time, the Bengals were an absolute disaster. This is my childhood, man. I remember these Bengals. The Bengals were a complete and utter joke. So I'm not going to blame Akeely Smith necessarily for the environment that he went into.

Last two that I want to talk about, number seven overall pick Kevin White from the Bears now there are other picks like Justin Gilbert number nine overall pick Johnny Manziel number 22 overall pick uh LJ Collier uh late 20s pick for the Seahawks a couple years I mean there are plenty of recent busts to go over but why I put Kevin White on here is he literally never did anything and it was mostly injuries but he was he just literally never did anything in the NFL and when you don't even have some production to go back on it's going to raise your busted level up quite a bit the last one is a really big bust very surprising though if I'm honest but Trent Richardson running back out of Alabama drafted by the Browns in 2012 with the number

three overall pick somehow some way they traded him for a high draft pick I believe it was a first round pick to the Colts that flamed out pretty quickly I mean the guy just did not have NFL talent he looked okay in the XFL though but he just didn't have NFL talent. And if you draft a guy who literally just doesn't have NFL talent with the number three overall pick, that, that is a big time bust. But where Isaiah Wilson fits into all of that, um, taking a look, I mean, I would say he's right in there with, uh, the Charles Rogers, the Kevin White's of the world. I think that would make a lot of sense right in there. But I mean there have been so many busts in NFL history. It's hard to kind of quantify but that's gonna do it for our busted challenge here today on the

Locked on Titans podcast. Just a fun episode for you guys. Not hard-hitting Tennessee Titans analysis like we normally do, but hey, it's the middle of the week, and I figured we'd have some fun and try to make ourselves feel a little bit better about this Isaiah Wilson disaster that's taken place over the last year. But that's going to do it for me, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland,

and this was Locked on Titans.