Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: A free agency primer

Episode Date: March 12, 2018

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Welcome in to another edition of Locked on Titans. I'm Jimmy Morris, joined as always by Terry Lambert. Terry, what's going on? Not a whole lot. What's up, man? Not too much. So we are on the eve of free agency, or at least the legal tampering period. We're recording this on Sunday night. So on Monday, the legal tampering period opens and then free agency officially kicks off on Wednesday. So we're going to kind of get everything set tonight. The Titans have actually made quite a few moves since the last time we talked. So we'll start off talking about those, and then we'll talk about a few reports that we've seen out there

with the Titans tying different guys. Before we do that, again, we'll tell you we write for MuseumMiracles.com covering the Titans for SB Nation. So check us out there. Most up-to-date stuff you'll see there. So if you're looking for Titans news during this free agency period, keep that up all day. Keep refreshing it.

We'll have everything that comes out there. Follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorsmcm. Terry is at tlambertfb. You can follow the podcast at LockedOnTitans. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher. You can search on Spotify. Wherever you get your podcasts, you can find us there.

All right, so like I said, tonight we're going to talk a little bit about the guys the Titans cut over the last few days, and then we'll talk about reports that we've seen. Some players the Titans have been tied to and kind of talking about what we think that means. So obviously the first shoe that dropped last week was the fact of the titans cut to marco murray we have been talking about that coming for weeks i mean we've known basically since about the midpoint of last season that that would happen this off season he just didn't have the same juice that he had two years ago and so you know being scheduled to make like eight million dollars a year whatever it was for. There's no way they could afford to pay him that,

even with cap space. I mean, that's just not a smart move. So they let it be known that they were going to release him. Again, I guess none of these moves become really official until the new league year starts. But that kind of sparked a debate about Derrick Henry's value, which was funny to me because we've been talking for talking for like i said for at least this whole offseason about you know the fact that you're going into this year with demarco murray and you're going to sign a complimentary back whether

it's um you're going to get a guy in free agency or you're going to draft a guy they're going to bring in a guy that's going to somewhat share the load with derrick kenry now i think he's going to get probably the first crack at, you know, being the first and second down guy. But, you know, there's been some talk of a Deion Lewis. If they bring him in, I think it gets kind of interesting as far as what is Derrick Henry's role on this team. Yeah, we'll find out soon enough.

Deion Lewis seems to be the running back the Titans are the most consistently tied with. I think Jason Lockham for it had him tied with him with the Titans this weekend. So that's an obvious name to watch. You know, Jarek McKinnon, another guy that we've talked a lot about. Guys that can make some plays in space. Guys that can catch some passes. Guys that can frankly do things that Derrick Henry doesn't do well. So, and the Titans need that.

The Titans need that short area quickness guy, that guy with a little bit more burst, a guy with some quicks. So I think that's a priority. I do think Henry is the guy going forward. I think you're looking at more of a role player. I could be wrong there. I mean, we saw what Deion Lewis could do with the full load in New England. We've also seen players that leave New England kind of struggle.

So, one, I'm really interested to see what Deion Lewis gets. He's going to be 28 years old heading into the season. So, what do you think is a decent contract for him? I can't really get off of $4 or $5 million. That's kind of all I want to throw at him. We were talking about that before we jumped on. I think that's

a good number for him. An interesting thing, and I think if they sign Deion Lewis, I think that gives you an indication more so of how they feel about Henry. Even more so, I think if they sign Deion Lewis, I think that gives you an indication more so how they feel about Henry. Because even more so, I think, than Jerick McKinnon. Because if you bring in Jerick McKinnon, you're bringing him in for third down, passing back, that kind of stuff. I mean, I think we've seen that's his strength.

Now, there's a lot of people, I know there's a big section of Twitter that thinks Jarek McKinnon's like the greatest running back ever, and he just needs a chance. But I don't think the Titans are really going to sign him to come in and compete with Derrick Henry if they do that. If they sign Deion Lewis, I think he and Derrick Henry are in a competition for running back one. Because we saw when Deion Lewis got that opportunity in New England last year that he excelled.

So I really think we know how good he is in the passing game and all that kind of stuff too so you know he would be able to play that role but I don't know in my opinion if they jump out and sign him I think then you're looking at a competition for that for that first guy when camp opens so it'll be interesting to me I don't know does that make sense to me I mean do you think that's a little bit more telling than if they sign a guy like McKinnon? I would totally agree. I mean, Deion Lewis is going to command some money, maybe even more than what we said.

So I don't think if you sign him, you can't just hand the job to Derek Henry. I think it would be more split. I think there would be clear roles, though. So it would be interesting. It would be kind of a let's see how the offense looks with both guys, and I think it would be obvious in the end. But, you know, I kind of shy away from that. And I've said this before.

It's just with this running back class. You know, I don't want to get to day two and all these running backs be left on the board, you know, Sonny Michel and all these guys. I want to have a shot at him and not that signing Deion Lewis eliminates that possibility. But I just think you're going to be able to find one there. So I'm not going to panic if they don't sign a big name at running back this week.

Yeah, I mean, I think it almost does limit that possibility. I mean, not that they couldn't add a running back at some point in the draft, you know, to have a little bit of competition and that kind of stuff. But if you put all that money in Deion Lewis, I just can't see them turning around and spending a second-round pick on a guy. Maybe I'm wrong, but, you know, I don't know. It'll be interesting to watch how all that plays out. Anyway, again, we knew that was coming. They cut Denora Searcy on, I think it was on Friday.

They announced that they were cutting Searcy, Matt Cassel, Eric Weems weems kind of one at a time here the search thing was a little bit surprising to me i mean you get it you know if if jonathan cyprian is healthy at least last year they obviously liked cyprian better um now you know your response to me when i when i text you about them cutting cersei was they cut the wrong one so um you know and we we've had obviously our issues with cyprian here uh but you know they gave him a bunch of money last year john robinson obviously likes him matt castle we knew they were going to cut him um you couldn't pay him what he was scheduled to make or really anything based off of what you saw from him last season so that makes sense eric weems um you know a guy that

they they brought in to be the returner ended up drafting a Dory Jackson so they didn't need him. So not really surprising there. Again, I think the biggest surprise when it came to Eric Williams last year was the fact that he got any run on offense and they were, you know, giving him, you know. Shovel passes. Yeah, shovel passes, inter-rounds and that kind of stuff. So no temptation to do anything like that, you know, this season with him gone.

So any thoughts there on those three guys? All expected, maybe not Cersei. I had safety on my needs list before this offseason. It's just kind of a spot where, and I've said it before, you can upgrade Cyprian. Denor Cersei was just kind of a guy. You could probably get younger there and kind of groom someone for the future and do it cheaper than having Searcy around.

So maybe you look for a mid-round guy, maybe a late-round guy to come in and provide depth and run on the special teams now. Yeah, and we talked a little bit about back at quarterback before we came on here. There's an interesting group of guys in this free agency class. You know, you've got the three guys in Minnesota last year, Case Keenum, Teddy Bridgewater, Sam Bradford. They're all free agents. You've got A.J. McCarron that are free agents. I think all four of those guys want to go somewhere and start.

Will they get that opportunity? I don't know. But as much as – as many teams that need quarterbacks in the league, I would I would be surprised if any of those four guys settled with coming to the Titans where you obviously know you're going to do the backup. So I think you're more in a group of a Josh McCown, a Geno Smith, you know, those are the guys that are free agents that, you know, I mean, again, guys that have had some success. And I guess, you know, Smith hasn't really. But, you know, he was a again, guys that have had some success in the league, I guess Geno Smith hasn't really, but, you know, he was a pretty high draft pick. But, I mean, a guy that you feel at least is better than Matt Castle, better served to come in, in spot duty if the Titans need him. I mean, I think Josh McCown would be a great guy to have as the backup here.

Now, does he want to try to go somewhere? I don't have any idea. How much money is he going to command? Do they want to spend all that? I mean, all those kind of questions will come up, and we'll see how all that plays out over the next week or so. But I think the Titans will sign a quarterback, or I think they'll get something done, whether it be a trade or whatever,

for a quarterback before the draft starts. I don't think they necessarily want to draft a guy that's coming to be the backup. I think they're going to try to reach out and get a veteran. Yeah, I would agree with that. And I don't think it's going to be someone from that tier one of backup range. It's not going to be Teddy for a reason that you just laid out. But someone like Chase Daniel or someone of that stature, E.J. Manuel, and there's a bunch of names out there that have been around.

And maybe you sign one of those and maybe draft one. Maybe draft one on day three to kind of start grooming and coming in to compete. But as we've seen, the backup quarterback is going to play here. So maybe that's something that you can sell McCown on. I kind of personally think that McCown's going to go somewhere where he's going to bridge the gap again, where one of these teams is drafting a quarterback high,

or the Rosens and those guys. Someone's going to bring him in to kind of bridge the gap and lead the way in training camp. That's just my gut feel. So the Titans would have to do some convincing on his part. But, I mean, I think that's about the best you can do if you want a really solid backup that you can rely upon. I mean, McCown could go out and win some games.

Yeah, absolutely. We've seen that from him, and he was playing well last year before he got hurt. So that was something to keep an eye on now along those lines there was a report that they were the titans were trying to work out a deal to trade for brett hundley and all the the trade madness that the browns did last week uh you know in a deal they they acquired deshaun kaiser so that makes brett hundley expendable, you know, as the backup behind Aaron Rodgers. I don't know.

I mean, Brett Hundley, he had, like, what, one or two good games last year. I mean, he played for a pretty good chunk of the season as Aaron Rodgers broke his collarbone. I just don't know. I mean, I'm not sure. Is he an upgrade from Matt Castle? I mean, I guess maybe he is. He's younger.

Well, he can throw the ball. He can throw the ball, you know, down the field somewhat. That's a plus. But I don't know. I mean, I guess if you're, you know, we kind of talked about the names that are out there. And, again, there are a lot of needy quarterback teams. Now, those teams are going to draft quarterbacks in the draft. This is a pretty strong, at least top of the of the you know top of the board quarterback class so uh you're gonna

see a lot of those guys get drafted and come in either play or like you said josh mccown or somebody goes in and bridges the gap there um so i feel like they can get a guy that is similar caliber to brett humley without giving up giving up a pick even if it's a late pick you know if they're a six round pick I don't know I just I don't see the necessity in in in making a trade for Brett Hundley yeah it's interesting the wording of that tweet uh from the other day suggested that things were agreed upon and then called off. So you wonder if the Titans have something else in the works. Maybe they've got a bead on one of these free agent quarterbacks

and maybe Hundley's still at the backup plan. But, I mean, where would you rank Hundley in this group of free agent quarterbacks? I mean, I think he's got easily probably the most upside of any of these guys. The rest of these guys on the market have been around. I'm just not sure what the backup quarterback carousel that you see the same faces

go to different teams every year. Hundley's a guy that you could bring in. He's kind of been around the block. He's studied under Aaron Rodgers. I wouldn't hate it. I'd probably give up a six. Yeah, and, I mean, that does make sense. And then you get a guy who, like you said, has been in the league, has learned in a good offense and that kind of stuff.

So, I mean, it's not the worst thing in the world. I don't know. It's going to be interesting. The quarterback market is going to be really interesting to watch because, I mean, obviously Kirk Cousins is going to be the first domino, whether he goes to Minnesota, Denver, wherever it is that he ends up. And then you're going to hit into this second group of guys that are probably going to sign with teams that have high draft picks.

And, you know, then they're going to draft a quarterback and you're going to have a competition or whatever it may be. And then, you know, when the dust settles at that point, and maybe that's the reason the Titans pulled back is they said, hey, we're going to see how this plays out, where these different guys go. Do we have a shot at bringing in – and again, I'll tell you Bridgewater to me. He's going to try to go somewhere and start. I just can't see him settling for here. He's going to try to go somewhere and start. I just can't see him settling for here.

But, you know, that kind of second tier of backup quarterbacks, so to speak, that are going to be available, see how that market settles. And then if you can't get anything done there, then you go back to the Packers and say, all right, we'll give you a six for Brett Hundley or whatever it may be. But I think it makes more sense to kind of wait that out because, you know, and there was a report from that guy, whoever that Al from Jersey guy or whatever, you can go check out MusicCityMiracles.com. I wrote something about that, that the Raiders were interested in Hundley as well, and they were trying to get a deal done. So a lot of moving parts there.

And again, we're going to learn a lot about all of this stuff in the next couple of days. And I've seen multiple tweets from people saying this is going to be the most active trade season that we've seen in a really long time. We've already seen that and people saying that there's even more stuff coming in the next couple of days. So, again, I think we'll see the dust settle over that stuff and we'll have a pretty good idea of where these guys are going to go by the time we record. Maybe even tomorrow night, but especially about Tuesday night. I think we'll have a pretty good feel for what's going to happen. tomorrow night, but especially about Tuesday night, I think we'll have a pretty good feel for what's going to happen.

All right, so that's kind of where we sit right now with some of the news that the Titans have been connected to, the guys that they cut to free up some cap space and that kind of stuff. Coming up, we'll talk a little bit about cornerbacks, cornerbacks that have hit the market in kind of the Titans' interest in those guys. All right, so obviously, you know, we talked about Richard Sherman at the end of the week last week, and, you know, he hadn't officially gotten cut the last time we recorded. I think that happened on Friday.

By Saturday, he was, you know, in San Francisco and signed with the 49ers. Went there, didn't go anywhere else, signed a contract. That was obviously, you know, kind of what he had his sights set on the whole time. There was a report from Josina Anderson anderson of espn that the titans were interested you know that could mean anything from john robinson called his agent and said hey what are y'all thinking about you know money where is it going to be and when you have the number he said okay you know thanks or it could have been hey we want you to come here. We want to sit down and talk about a deal. We don't really know the extent of that. But I think the fact that they made a call there tells us that they're at least interested in adding a cornerback.

Now, you've got a pretty good group right now with Logan Ryan, with Adoree Jackson, Sean Sims. Ty Smith played well at the end of the year i mean i think that's a serviceable group but it's also a group that you could see them try to upgrade from yeah and i'm just i'm still it's going to take a lot to upgrade with what's currently on the market i mean i mean trem Johnson, sure, that's an upgrade. But some of these names you see, you see Breland out there. What else we got? Just a bunch of average names. And, you know, you look at Lester John Sims, you look at Ty Smith, they're both young, they both played fairly well.

I just don't understand. I feel like Titans fans are so conditioned to needing a cornerback that they're reaching just to add somebody, just to be active. So I'm sticking with my guns here. I don't see it as a huge need. You want to go sign Tremaine, that's fine. I can get on board with that. That's a clear upgrade.

But other than that, I don't really see too many obvious options out there. Well, and you made a good point, again, before we came on, about how much money is Tremaine Johnson going to get? Because he is pretty easily the best cornerback available right now, right? And so when you see the numbers that those guys get when they hit the market, I mean, you're going to have to pay him a lot to come play. And I just don't know, you know, I mean, the Titans have got cap space, obviously, and you can never have enough offensive backs, and I think we all agree with that.

But look at the deal that A.J. Bouye got last year. You know, when you're talking about five years 67.5 million 26 million guaranteed is jermaine johnson as good as bouye no but is he the best cornerback available in this class when teams are always looking for cornerbacks yes and so would you be shocked to see him get a similar number he's going to get a very similar number you know maybe even higher because he's the only guy out there. And we've talked a lot about this free agent class. There's just not a lot of depth to it.

So you're talking about Bashar Breeland being your second corner. From there, you're talking about EJ Gaines. They just don't move the needle for me, and I'm not going to go spin just to spin. And we've seen John Robinson. He's not going to do that. I mean, Aaron Colvin also in that group. But, I mean, how good is he?

You know what I mean? Like, he might be, but, I mean, I don't know. He put on a really good defense last year. I'm always weary of signing corners that come from a defense that has that much of a pass route. You know? So, I mean, yeah, it's going to be interesting but i think anyway the point of all this trumaine johnson is is is far and away the best of that group and so somebody's going to pay him a bunch of money and i don't i

just don't know if that if that's if that's a route of titan's need to go with what they currently have so uh you know again i wouldn't be surprised if they add a corner but i think it's going to be in you know wave wave two or three a free agency and not not that first wave uh the other thing dominic rogers camardi the giants released him uh today or yesterday but you know he's a guy that's from this area he's played his college ball at tennessee state university uh you know and there were there were some links to him when he was a free agent before, before he signed with the Giants to the Titans. So I think we saw a report on Twitter, not sure how credible it is. But he's a guy, again, I mean, he's been a good player,

but he grades out really similarly if you want to take stock in those PFF grades. He grades out really similarly to a guy you want to take stock in those pff grades he grades out really similarly to a guy like leshawn sims and leshawn sims is significantly younger so i don't know i mean how much of an upgrade is that with the money you're going to spend to get it yeah and are you going to play him over leshawn sims so uh i think the giants were toying with moving him to safety uh so maybe the titans have something similar in mind here if they do sign him. But, again, he's one of the – I don't think he's a premier free agent. He was just released.

I think he's probably one of those wave two or even wave three guys. I just – I think the secondary is in a good spot. I really do. You know, outside of Johnson Ziprin, who we can obviously upgrade. I think the secondary is in a good spot. I really do. Outside of Johnson Ziprin, who we can obviously upgrade. But I don't see money being spent there. I'd much rather fix up the offensive line. I'd much rather add an impact defender on the defensive line.

There's no edge rusher out there. But I'd spend in the trenches for sure instead of a receiver or corner. And I know nobody's going to want to hear that, but I'm a firm believer that football games are won in the trenches. Yeah, like you said, that's some of the stuff that gets people excited on Twitter. I know. People on Twitter love names, which is funny, and we'll spend the next couple of weeks, you know, talking to people off the ledge when the Titans don't sign everybody that's available.

But they're going to need to add an interior offensive lineman. They're going to need to add maybe a defensive end. It's all those things that people don't get excited about but are the way you build successful football teams. That kind of leads us to our last topic

of tonight. You've got maybe three guys i think that are interesting to keep an eye on as far as free agents that are you know they were on the titans 2017 josh klein uh avery williamson and now i'm drawing a blank on who my third guy was but daquan jones okay so you got those three guys that the Titans had last year, serviceable players, you know, have done some good things but have some question marks with. What do you think, just, you know, sitting here on the eve of the tampering period,

what are the odds that any of those three are on the Titans in 2018? that any of those three are on the Titans in 2018? I'd lead with Kline and Jones, and I'd guess that they have a pretty good shot of returning. I think Avery's done. I think he's going to command too much money on the market. I think Jayon Brown is there, and the Titans really, really like him, and they want to give him an extended role. So it doesn't make sense to pay a guy, you know,

what is he going to command, $6 or $7 million on open market per year. So I think they're going to hand the keys to Jalen. So I'm comfortable saying Avery is gone. And, look, you shouldn't be upset because Avery is a two-down player. He's awful in coverage. And there's just not a lot of room for that in the NFL right now. The Titans got routinely torched by tight ends

and backs out of the backfield. So you're going to plug Jayon Brown in there who's more athletic, can run. I think that might be an upgrade. So the Titans are going to obviously have to add another linebacker for depth, but I'm pretty comfortable at this point saying Avery's going to be gone.

Yeah, and we've kind of talked about that leading up to this. He's a guy that I think is going to think he's worth more than he is, and so they're going to let him go out there and test it. Like you said, I just don't know. I know a lot of people here love him, and he's done some good things, but I just go back to the fact that they wanted him to play the Wesley Woodyard role last year, and Wesley Woodyard beat him out. And Wesley Woodyard signed for a couple more years, so I don't know.

I just don't see how you go give him a bunch of money. Klein, they know what they have in him. Maybe he's better in this new system um so we'll see how that goes daquan jones again you know just it stinks for him right i mean he he was really coming on and he got hurt but he's got value here maybe more value here than he has anywhere else so uh you know that that'll be something that's interesting to watch and again he's probably a guy that that wants to see what he can get out there. But I just think teams are going to be a little bit apprehensive with him coming off that injury.

So, yeah, I'm with you. I think Williamson's gone. And then I think the other two have a pretty decent chance of coming back here. And so, obviously, we'll see a lot of action there in the next couple of days because that's, you know, we're starting to get to the point where other teams can come talk to those guys now where they at least legally haven't been able to before and so a lot of times you see stuff get done in that period so you know we're entering into you know for some people the most exciting part of the nfl season um it's fun now to cheer for a team where you're actually looking forward to the season because the team's going to be good but all of this stuff is still fun.

So, you know, like I said, we'll have our finger on the pulse of all this as we go along. And we'll be updating it on the podcast here. I would say we'll probably try to do four this week just with all the stuff that will be coming out. As long as our schedules allow, that'll kind of be what we're shooting for. Tomorrow night we're going to have Jonathan Hutton on. If you're not familiar with him, you can follow him on Twitter at Hutton1045. He does the sidelines for Titans Radio and is on the Midday 180 on 104.5 in Nashville, which is the Titans flagship station.

So he has a lot of good insight on the team. So we'll talk to him tomorrow night about a lot of Titans-specific free agency stuff. And, you know, with the legal tampering period opening tomorrow, we might have some specific names and stuff to ask him about. So that'll be exciting. Terry, anything else tonight that we need to hit? DeMarco Murray scheduled a visit with the Lions per Adam Schefter. So that's your first little tidbit of the legal tampering period.

There you go. And that's interesting. I mean, you know look demarco murray was unbelievable for this team in 2016 you know the john robinson made a great deal to get him he came in here and they don't win nine games two years ago without him he was great and then this last year injury slowed him and i think he's think he's just kind of hit that wall, right? I mean, we see all running backs hit it. He got so much work early in his career with the Cowboys.

So you kind of knew that fall off was going to come eventually. Hey, man, I hope he goes out there and is able to find a job. I think he can probably be still somewhat productive in a role for a team. Just obviously not the number the Titans had him at for next year. So, you know, wish none of it the best for him because he was a great guy to have here and really helped this team out when he was here before the hamstring injury slowed him down in 2017. So, yeah, that'll be something to keep an eye on. All right, so like I said, check us out at museummiracles.com.

We'll have a bunch of stuff up and going tomorrow as that stuff starts to hit. Subscribe to the podcast so you get the episodes as soon as they're available, and we'll try to get at least, you know, we'll definitely get three, maybe even four this week with all the news that's coming out. So check us out there. Tomorrow night Hutton will be on, so that will be fun. Like I said, a lot of good insight for the team. So between now and then, again, musicofmiracles.com is going to be your best place

to get the information as it happens. For Terry, this is Jimmy saying thanks for listening, and we will talk to you again tomorrow.