Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Let Tannehill Walk?? Edge Rusher Rumors & Rowland's Rant

Episode Date: March 4, 2020

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Welcome to the Locked On Titans Podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, I am back with a vengeance, feeling a lot better now. Appreciate all of your guys' patience as I work through even more dental issues that I had during the season. So they never end, but I will always be back with you guys because the Titans content never ends. And if we are back, and if we are back discussing Titans football, that means that we have to continue to discuss

the contract situation of Derrick Henry and Ryan Tannehill. So we are going to lead off today's show with the most recent rumor regarding how the Titans plan to handle the negotiations between their two biggest offensive stars. Then we are going to have another discussion about some percolating rumors about edge rushers. It's no secret that the Titans are desperate for a bookend for Harold Landry. They need more people who can disrupt the offense on the defensive line. And the two top targets right now appear to be Jadavia and Clowney and Yannick and Gawkway. So we are going to discuss the rumors centered around both of those edge rushers and what

they mean for the Tennessee Titans. And then finally, I am going to cap off the show on a little bit of a Rollins rant. I got a lot of energy stored up for you guys after missing most of Tuesday, and I am ready to unleash on a conversation around Jack Conklin that took place on Twitter. Going to speak my piece about that and fill you guys in on the conversation. So really excited to get into all of that. Rumors, rumors, rumors, and a rant cannot wait. Let's get it.

ESPN's fantasy guru Matthew Barry released an article this week with the 20 things that he learned at the 2020 Combine. One of those things was an interesting blurb about the Tennessee Titans offseason. Quote, a Titans insider told me he expects the team to franchise Derrick Henry if they can't come to a long-term deal and let Ryan Tannehill test the market. End quote. So that lines up with how John Robinson spoke about the two and their contract negotiations in his Combine interview. If you recall, Robinson seemed very vague, very lukewarm on the idea of signing Ryan Tannehill, but when asked about Derrick Henry, him and head coach Mike Rabel both gave effusive praise to Derrick Henry, spoke to his production, and spoke to his leadership. So we were left with the feeling that the Titans were prioritizing Derrick Henry over Ryan Tannehill, and this report just confirms that.

Whether or not you choose to believe the report, that is up to you, but at this moment in time, if this report is to be true, it does make sense that the Titans would take this sort of approach with Tannehill, considering that he had the best year of his career, at least the most efficient year of his career, statistically. And it is logical to be skeptical as to whether or not he would be able to repeat that performance. Some of those efficiency numbers, the yards per completion, yards per throw, the passer rating, were astronomical.

And it would be very difficult to repeat that sort of success. So the Titans here are taking a Patriot approach. This is a very common thing that the New England Patriots will do. They will let some of their best players go out, test the free agency market, see what other teams are willing to offer you, come back to us and tell us what offers you got. Then the Titans can decide if they're willing to match some of those offers, if they're willing to pay up what Ryan Tannehill is getting on the open market,

or if they will respectfully let him know to go ahead and move on from the team. That is a very logical way, like I said, to handle this kind of situation because Ryan Tannehill at this moment in time has not given you a track record of proven success over and over and over again and while he did not have the best supporting cast with the Miami Dolphins for the majority of his career he still did not put up the type of efficient numbers that we saw this year so it does make sense that the Titans would be as I said skeptical to give him that sort of deal. And if Tannehill goes out and gets sort of contract offers that are lower than what the Titans are willing to

give him, that only will benefit the Titans as they'll be able to get him on a cheaper deal. Now, this also could lead us to believe that Tannehill and his asking price at this moment in time is way too high for the Titans' taste. Per SpotTrack.com's market value feature, they have Ryan Tannehill valued at about $30 million per year. That seems to be too high, and it makes you wonder if that is what Tannehill would be asking for from the Titans, and if they believe that that price is too high. So going this route does give the Titans an advantage

of being able to not overpay Tannehill. You won't have to overpay him if you allow him to get a fair view of what he should get on the open market. That'll make sure that the Titans aren't paying way more than anybody else. But you do run the risk of, one, being outbid for his services, and two, alienating the player to where he may even take less to play somewhere else because he's upset about how he was treated. Now, the counterside of that is Tannehill did just switch agents and has the same agent as Derrick Henry, so if the

Titans are being so complimentary to Derrick Henry, well, then the agent could look at that and say, you aren't treating Ryan Tannehill the same way. So it could have negative or positive effects for the Titans. One thing remains to be true throughout no matter what they choose to do. If the Titans do go this route and they choose to let Tannehill hit the open market, then they better have a backup plan. Right now, this team is as competitive as it has been in over a decade, and to go into the season without a competent starting quarterback or a rookie starting quarterback would be a huge mistake and a huge letdown to this fan base. So, if the Titans are

going to go this route, and this report is true, the Titans will let Ryan Tannehill hit the open market, then they better have a dang good backup plan for quarterback. And as we mentioned before, the Patriot way, the rumors with Tom Brady to the Titans have been heating up as well. If the Titans in fact let Ryan Tannehill walk or let him test the market and for some reason he decides to go elsewhere. The Titans better have Tom Brady in their back pocket. One other thing to consider when looking at this approach to Ryan Tannehill's contract, there are a lot of starting level quarterbacks available through free agency or through the draft. You look at Phillip Rivers, Jameis Winston, Teddy Bridgewater, Tom Brady, Ryan Tannehill.

And then you look in the draft, you have players like Joe Burrow, Tua Tungavailoa, Justin Herbert, Jordan Love, even possibly Jacob Eason, who may walk into their rookie season with an opportunity to start. So, the amount of starting opportunities available in the NFL compared to the amount of starting level quarterbacks that are there, the supply is greater than the demand. Will that hurt Tannehill's ability to get a better contract on the open market? Maybe that plays in the Titans' favor as well. There is a lot to watch on this front, and we will make sure to pay attention to all

of the reports and all of the rumors going forward. So make sure that you are locked in to the Locked on Titans podcast. Please subscribe on whatever platform you stream your podcast. Follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans for more as I break everything down there as well. We are going to jump into our next conversation, talk about some potential edge rushers and the rumors surrounding them as well. More rumors and reports to keep us on the edge of our seats. And I say that tongue in cheek because what I want to do is talk about two, the top two edge rushers on the free agent market,

talk about a recent report linking one of them to the Tennessee Titans, and then just answer a question that I get quite a bit on Twitter about the other edge prospect that the Titans could be looking at in free agency. So first things first, let's talk about the top one and that is Jadavian Clowney. I've been on record on Twitter saying that I really love Clowney. He's my number one target for the Titans. The connection between Clowney and Mike Vrabel was there from early in his career. Being a number one overall pick, he definitely has the talent and despite his injury concerns, he is a productive player when he's out on the field. Clowney has played six seasons in the NFL. He's played a total of 75 games out of a possible 96.

He's had 32 sacks, 8 forced fumbles, 236 combined tackles, and 71 tackles for loss. And I say this based on a report coming from Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano of ESPN.com, basically saying while the Colts, the Giants, and the incumbent Seahawks are all interested in Clowney, the Titans have also begun to pursue him. And back channels have found out that the Titans are interested and not afraid of Clowney's asking price, which at this moment in time appears to be right around $20 million a year, maybe just a little more, but that should be right around the going rate. So that leads us to speculate, would the Titans pay Jadavion Clowney $20 million?

And first off, where are the Titans going to get this money? So as we've talked, the Titans have around $50 million to $55 million in cap space right now. They can restructure some deals. They can cut a few high-priced players to carve out quite a bit more and end up with around $65 to $70 million. But if you look at paying Derrick Henry around $12 to $15 million, you look at paying quarterback x whoever that happens to be between 25 to 30 million dollars well now you have about 42 to 45 million dollars wrapped up in those players you add 20 million to that for jadavian clowny and you're at the 65 that we projected just earlier in the conversation so it would be very difficult to do for the Titans unless they

were able to backload the contract which is essentially where they put the lower number figures early and then the back end of the contract is more expensive to help make up for you know the difference of what the Titans would look to pay him here let's say the Titans paid Clowney 15 million million this year to help out with the complicated cap structure and then paid him $25 million in year three. Sometimes teams will do that. Later on in the contract, you always have the option of converting salary cap money to signing bonus to help clear up more cap. There are tons of ways to kind of fudge the NFL salary cap and fudge contracts which makes it very possible that the Titans would go ahead and do that let's say

they franchise tag Derrick Henry at 12 million dollars they sign quarterback X at 28 million dollars they give Clowney 20 million dollar contract well now we're up to about 60 million dollars the Titans would have five to $10 million to play with elsewhere. It would be very difficult, but we have talked all offseason about how important the pass rush is. So if you can get somebody who can go opposite of Harold Landry and create one of the best pass rush duos in the NFL, you kind of have to at least consider doing that, and especially with the connection there between Jadavion Clowney and head coach Mike Vrabel on the defensive side of the ball, it does make it very likely.

And if he's considering somebody like the Colts, well, now you get the added benefit of not only getting a pass rusher and a player like Jadavion Clowney, but keeping them away from a division rival. Now, the injury concerns are there and that's what everyone yells at me anytime I talk about Clowney on Twitter the injury concerns are there like I said 75 games out of a total 96 in his career the production has been hit or miss because a lot of the times when he is playing he's still injured and I understand all that but the talent is there and if the Titans can find the right structure for a contract, it would make sense for them to pursue Clowney. Now, the other side of that, the other top edge

rusher on the market is Yannick Ngakwe, and if you're worried about injuries and lack of production from somebody like Clowney, well, then you're going to love Yannick Ngakwe. Unheralded guy, not drafted in the first round, has played in 63 of the 64 possible games in his four seasons in Jacksonville. He's had 37.5 sacks, 14 forced fumbles, 122 combined tackles, and 42 tackles for loss. And a lot of the time early on in his career, he was being used as a situational pass rusher he is one of the most efficient rushers in the NFL at strip sacks if Ngakwe gets to your quarterback he is getting the ball out he's excellent that now I've mentioned some concerns about his personality he was in a fight with Dante Fowler Jr., who was his teammate at the time when Fowler Jr. was with the Jacksonville Jaguars, and that altercation led to Fowler Jr. being traded to the Rams.

who gave Taylor LeJuan a cheap shot to his ribs during a game this season. And obviously, anytime you're taking dirty shots or cheap shots at players, it's going to be frowned upon. But now you're taking a cheap shot at one of the most vocal leaders in a locker room where you may come to play. So that is a concern for me. But often, this is business. He's a talented player. So LeJuan would probably get over it and welcome Ngakwe

with open arms because this team knows they need pass rush. I'm sure the offensive players know that as well, and everyone wants to win and go to the Super Bowl, so a lot of times winning will help you get over any of those lingering issues. The issue that we can't get over, and this is what I mention to anybody who brings up Ngakwe. Today the Jacksonville Jaguars well today is Tuesday recording on Tuesday night the Jaguars traded cornerback A.J. Bouye to the Denver Broncos for a fourth round pick because they're trying to clear out room to keep Ngakwe despite the fact that he has been very very very vocal about not wanting to return to Jacksonville, and I don't blame him, but this makes things complicated for the Titans' pursuit of Ngakwe if they choose to

do so, because what's most likely going to happen here, and what has become more common in the NFL in the recent years, is that the Jaguars will look to tag, franchise tag, Yannick Ngakwe and then trade him. We saw that last year with Frank Clark, Dee Ford, Jadavion Clowney. It's happened quite a bit here recently in the NFL. And based on the reports from the heavy hitters in NFL media, it appears that that trend is going to continue. And hey, I'm all for more trades in the NFL. But where that makes things complicated for the Titans is now not only do you

have to pay a guy like Ngakwe who's going to expect an extension, if you trade for the guy and you give up assets, you have to extend him and keep him around long term. You don't want to be in a situation like the Seahawks are in right now where they gave up assets to get Clowney over to their squad and now they're probably going to let him walk in free agency. And lose those assets for only one year of Clowney. That wouldn't make sense for the Titans. And I wouldn't look for them to do that. If they trade for Yannick Ngakwe. They're going to have an extension.

Worked out and ready to go. But now you're giving up draft compensation. When the Titans don't have a 6th round pick. The Titans don't have a 4th round pick. Now they have two 7ths. But that's not making up the value that they're losing there based on that. So now the Titans are giving up picks for Ngakwe, likely a first round pick and some

more compensation. And then they have to pay him as well with the complicated cap situation that they're currently in. So I hate to be the bearer of bad news or be a negative Nancy or anything like that, but anyone interested in Yannick Ngakwe, I'm sorry, but I just do not see it being a real possibility for the Titans. They're not going to be able to give up the draft compensation and meet the salary demands that Ngakwe will likely command in the free agent market and in the trade market.

So those two edge rushers are the top two edge rushers on the market, but there are complications and there are issues with the Titans getting them both. So while in my opinion, they need to do whatever they can to get a veteran edge rusher who can make an impact immediately, someone like Clowney or Ngokwe, it is going to be difficult for John Robinson to pull it off. But what moves are made to clear out more salary cap space, what moves are made to get additional draft compensation or additional draft assets, that remains to be seen. We are about two weeks out from the opening of free agency, so a lot of movement is expected to come here in the near future. That's going to wrap up our edge conversation and the rumors and reports surrounding the

top two edges on the market. I'm going to go and leave you guys with a Rollins rant. We're going to talk about Jack Conklin and the decisions that the Titans have made in the past regarding his contract status. Rollins rant. So what I want to do here is just take a moment and rant a little bit to you guys about Jack Conklin. So we got a tweet from an independent NFL reporter who I follow. I think he does perfectly fine work. Nothing's really caught my ire previous to this,

but Dov Kleinman, at NFL underscore Dov Kleinman on Twitter, said in regards to Jack Conklin, I spoke with you guys on Monday about Adam Schefter's tweet saying that Jack Conklin would have many suitors. He literally said it twice in the tweet, many suitors. So, Kleinman had this to say in response to Adam Schefter's report. Quote, Given all the interest in him,

a reminder that Jack Conklin wouldn't be a free agent if the Titans didn't make the wrong decision. The Titans decided to decline the fifth-year option on his contract this past offseason, a few years after taking him eighth overall in the 2016 draft. End tweet. Okay, okay, okay, Mr. Kleiman. Let's talk about this.

So, first things first, Jack Conklin had a fantastic rookie season. Now, if you go back to the tape of that rookie season, not saying that Conklin wasn't great as a rookie, but he got a lot of help in Mike Malarkey's scheme from blocking tight end like Anthony Fasano. He got a lot of chips from his running backs to help him out. So he had a great year his rookie season, deserved the All-Pro honors that he got, but schematically speaking, he did have a little bit more help than your traditional left tackle, right tackle would have.

Then in 2017, he was disappointing. He struggled throughout the season, including tearing his ACL in the playoffs. Then in 2018, he was downright bad. He was still dealing with that ACL injury, understandably coming back from that, had another knee issue, had a a concussion missed a few games so the Titans had to make a decision before last season coming off a disappointing year from Conklin an ACL injury and then an injury riddled 2018 season the Titans were absolutely 100% right to decline Conklin's fifth year option.

And going into week seven, the Titans were two and four. The offensive line was terrible. Derrick Henry hadn't gone on that run. Ryan Tannehill hadn't taken over at quarterback. And Conklin hadn't played great. He hadn't played bad. He hadn't played bad. Let me say that first off.

He hadn't played bad. But he wasn't playing great either. So literally halfway through this season, it looked like the right decision too. So you can go back in hindsight and say after the outcome of the last 10 games in the playoff run that it was a bad decision. But when you go back and actually look, if you could transport yourself in a time machine back to when the Titans had to make that decision, there is no logical way that you would come to the conclusion that the Titans should pick up that fifth year option.

And if you look at the fifth year option, Ronnie Stanley, who has taken sixth overall, two picks ahead of Jack Conklin to the Baltimore Ravens, he did have his fifth year option picked up for about $12.5 million. So Conklin being the same position and two draft positions behind would most likely be right in that $12 million range as well. If the Titans decide to, if they can get a long-term deal done with Derrick Henry and they decide to franchise tag Jack Conklin, well, then he's going to be playing at right around $12.5-$13 million anyways. So it wouldn't even be a big difference they took a calculated risk John Robinson took a calculated risk on a first round pick that it had basically two good years and two really bad

years and decided that it wouldn't be worth locking him in at over 10 million dollars a year and that was the right decision I don't care how people judge things and arrears. Go back and use hindsight. I think all of that is BS. The Titans made the right call and to go back now after this crazy season and say that they should have picked up that option at that time, that's just ludicrous is what it is. The Titans made the right decision by not picking up Jack Conklin's fifth year option. And while things didn't turn out perfectly for them, they still have the opportunity to tag him at the same exact price that would be for his fifth-year option.

So I just wanted to speak on that. There's been a lot of conversation around that online about, you know, Dov's tweet and, well, you know, I'm not going to come out and say that he does bad work or needs to fact check or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I get from an outside perspective how if you look at that, you would be like, whoa, why would the Titans have done that? But if you were actually on the ground paying attention to this Tennessee Titans football team, it was a no brainer to decline that fifth year option for Jack Conklin.

Now the Titans could, if they find a way to get a long-term deal done with Derrick Henry, like we talked about in the last segment, they could always tag Conklin and trade him. That would be an option as well. But the whole point is, although things didn't work out perfectly for the Titans because Conklin overperformed, the Titans did, in fact, make the right decision by not picking up Jack Conklin's fifth-year option, and I will go to the grave believing that, knowing that, and you should too, regardless of what the outside noise is from these independent NFL reporters.

But that is going to wrap up today's show. Just a quick rant for you about something that's really been bothering me. It bothered me all day Tuesday, but I wasn't in a position to really give you guys any content with the way my mouth felt Monday night, Tuesday during the day. I am starting to wear thin now. The mouth is hurting, so I wanted to push through and make sure I got us back on schedule on this Wednesday morning. So we did discuss the Matthew Berry reports about how the Titans plan to treat Ryan Tannehill. We did discuss how the Titans could target the two top edge rushers

and the complications that come with going after those two. And then a quick rant for you guys on Jack Conklin's fifth year option. So I hope you enjoyed today's show. Glad to be back with you guys. Glad to be back on track and hoping that these ongoing and forever lasting dental issues are behind me finally so we can head into free agency in the draft season with no more

concerns. I really appreciate you guys hanging with me and having patience. Also, another quick word. Please do everything you can to support the Tornado relief efforts. Yesterday's episode, that's all I talked about. Spent about seven or eight minutes just giving you guys a way to do that. That's not something that's going to go away after the first day

for the people in Nashville and Middle Tennessee. So let's do what we can to help out. But I will be back with you guys tomorrow for another podcast. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.