Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: A pick from Mel Kiper that makes sense, Antonio Brown talk

Episode Date: February 19, 2019

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Welcome to another edition of, back on today. I've got a few things to talk about. It's actually been just kind of a dead period right now, which is a little bit rare for the NFL. But we'll talk through some mock drafts and then kind of an Antonio Brown update. Before we do that, remind you we're right for MuseumMiracles.com. We're coming to you from the time of the Friendship Nation, so you can check us out there. You can also follow us on Twitter.

I'm at jmorrismcm. Terry is at tlimbertrt. We have a voicemail line that you can call in and leave a comment or a question. We don't have any of those so far this week. So hopefully on Thursday we can do a voicemail show, but we need to get some voicemails in order to do that. 615-787-8762. Call in there, leave a message, and we'll talk about it on Thursday.

All right, so it's mock draft season. And, you know, that's something that we've, you hear Titans fans talk a lot about, is about the, you know, nobody pays attention to the Titans nationally. And a lot of times it's about respect. I mean, if you remember back in this season, after the Titans beat the Eagles,

they went, a few of the guys, Taylor LeJuan included, went off on this rant about getting national attention, national respect, and all that kind of stuff. I don't really necessarily care about that or buy into that. You win games eventually over a long period of time, you have sustained success, then you'll get attention,'ll get respect that type of stuff titans haven't done that it's been a long time since they've been consistently good i mean just take into account the fact that you know not in seven three years in a row first time since they moved here that they've had three winning seasons in a row so i mean that kind of tells you what

you need to know what annoys me though is this time of year when we're looking around at mock drafts around the internet from outlets like ESPN, like CBS. People that are obviously really big on the NFL should be kind of plugged into what's going on. And then you see a mock draft, and you see a pick that doesn't make any sense. But not only that, then you see a commentary on that pick that doesn't make any sense. And that's the thing that's frustrating to me. And, again, it doesn't – mock drafts don't mean anything. I get that.

They don't matter. But to me it's just stupid that you've got some guy that's getting paid by a national media outlet and he can't take a few minutes and look at a team, look at what they need, make a pick based on that instead of just – I don't know what they do. You know, we're talking about the guy specifically right now on CBS that picked a corner for the Titans. Basically, his reason was because they can save $10 million against the cap by cutting Logan Ryan. I mean, that's true, but the Titans are not cutting Logan Ryan. That's a stupid comment, and I just don't understand why you can't do enough research to figure out how dumb that is.

I just don't understand why you can't do enough research to figure out how dumb that is. If you look at this roster and you come away and your number one take is the Titans top need is a cornerback, I don't know what to tell you. We've seen some picks with some inside linebackers, which is literally the strongest part of this roster. I have no idea what these guys are looking at. Especially when you get the entire fan base coming at you on Twitter or something, telling you

hey, this is why you're wrong. The Titans have a ton of investments in the cornerback spot. They've paid whatever they pay Logan Ryan. They've paid Malcolm Butler a ton of money. First round pick on Adore Jackson. They're not drafting a corner.

You can't put another first-round pick into that position. So when you see the entire fan base come at you and you still defend your position, I hate to see that. It just tells me you're not very self-aware. But, yeah, you just like to see them make some sort of effort. I mean, I did mock drafts for MCM a couple years ago. Did one every couple of weeks. They're not easy to do, and there's a lot of information that you have to research and sit there and study.

But, you know, I kept my notes, and I'd have team needs for each and every team. And I did my homework, and it just seems like guys that write for legitimate, huge sites like CBS just aren't doing their homework this draft season. And we see it every year with the Titans, and it's very frustrating. Yeah, I mean, that makes sense. It seems like at the beginning of the, you know, quote, draft season

or any, even as the season is wrapping up, you could start, if you knew that you were, you know, running for National Island, you were going to have to do a weekly mock draft or whatever it might be, you could start, you could sit down with a list of all 32 teams and just list their needs. And then, obviously, as things change, whether they re-sign somebody or they sign somebody or, you know, whatever, they cut somebody, whatever it may be, that, you know, you can adjust based on that.

But it seems like you could have a pretty good master list of needs and really just go based off of that. I don't think, again, you're going to be wrong and you're going to be ridiculous in where you pick a guy versus where he actually goes in the draft. There's going to be a guy that doesn't go in the first round of mocks and goes in the first round of drafts. All that stuff is understandable because that's just how it works. But it seems like some of this stuff is just so far off that it's just ridiculous. And again, something as simple as what does a team need seems like it should be a little

bit easier to figure out. All right, so that was that one. Mel Kuyper did his second, I think, mock draft yesterday. He had the Titans taking Christian Wilkins, the defensive tackle from Clemson. Again, that's actually a sensible pick there, a place they could need. Charlie Casserly did a mock today,

has the Titans taking Dexter Lawrence from Clemson, also defensive tackle from Clemson. I think between those two guys, just give me the guy that gets after the quarterback better. I think we've got think we've spent enough time trying to find a guy that can kind of plug the middle. And so, I mean, I think Christian Wilkins is probably the better pass rusher. So I would much rather them go with him over Lawrence just because, again,

they need a guy up front that can at least cause some disruption in the passing game to go along with Jarrell Casey. So I'm fine with them using that first pick. I mean, depending on what happens in free agency and all that kind of stuff. I'm fine with them using that pick on a defensive lineman, but it needs to be a guy that can give them something from a pass rush perspective. 100% agree. If you're not going to address the edge situation in the first round, give me a guy that can get some interior pressure.

That seems to be the way that the NFL is kind of going anyway. They're kind of looking for those guys, you know, the Aaron Donald types that can really knife through the interior and get in the quarterback's face, cause that immediate pressure. So I'm with you there. I'm for anything, pretty much anything on the front line there, whether it be an edge, whether it be a defensive tackle. Titans have to get more pressure.

Titans have to get more pressure without scheming up the pressure from DPs. So I thought Dean had to really scheme it up, call some blitzes up the middle to even think about getting pressure last year. We'll see how Harold Landry develops. He's going to have to take a big step this year. But Titans have to add another edge piece. I think they have to add another piece up front. Like you said, what's on the roster right now,

Austin Johnson, Daquan Jones, they're just kind of there. I don't know what they give you at this point. I don't know how good against the run they are. They certainly can't get after the passer. So the Titans have to get younger there. They've got to get more athletic or else they're going to waste Jarrell Casey's entire career. Yeah. And that's, you know, they're getting into the back end of that window. So they definitely need to give him some help up there. All right. And then one more draft note, Marquise Brown, the Speedy Writers here from Oklahoma,

announced, I think, yesterday on Monday that he is going to have to have surgery, or he already underwent surgery on his foot for a Liz Franck injury, which I think is the same thing that Jake Locker had one of the years that he was here.

You wrote it up for U to see miracles that, you know, the concern there is obviously, you know, he's a guy that his best trait is his speed. And so if you've, if he's going to be even, you know, a half a tick slower because of this, that would cause you some concern there. And we know that's a long injury. Because I remember when it happened to Locker, you know,

it was like he broke his foot. And you think a broken foot like six to eight weeks. And then, you know, the list was like four to six months or something like that. So, you know, a little bit of a concern there. It'll be interesting to see what it does to him. I would imagine this knocks him down to at least the back half of the first round, maybe even day two. Because I just don't think teams are going to be able to have any assurance

of how he's going to come back from this by the time it's time for the draft. Yeah, I think when you compare or you put this on top of his lack of size, he's 5'10", 170 pounds. He's drawn the Deshaun Jackson comps. It's just a little scary because you just don't see receivers that light, that short really have a ton of

success in the league, maybe outside of Deshaun Jackson. It sucks for him. He was going to be one of the fastest guys at the combine. He was in that 4-3 range, could perhaps put down a 4-2. The combine loses some of that excitement from the receiver group.

But, yeah, I think it's knocked him down to at least the back half. You know, medical checks are going to be huge for him. He's still going to be at the combine, but instead of performing on the field, he's going to be going through medical checks. Teams are going to be checking out that foot to see what's going on there. It kind of reminds you of the Corey Davis situation with the Titans. Corey didn't participate in anything in the pro day or the combine or anything like that, but he went through those medical checks

late in draft season. I think he visited the team really, really close to the draft. So those late medical checks will be huge. We'll see if he can do anything physically. But, yeah, I mean, you saw Corey Davis miss training camp. I think that's really kind of hamstrung his career to this point. You just saw him find his footing in the league last year. You just saw him find his footing in the league last year.

It's definitely a sucky situation for Brown, who is in danger of missing training camp, rookie camp, all of that. So he'll be behind the eight ball to start his NFL career. So like you said, I think that could push him all the way down to day two. Yeah, and you said, I mean, somebody in the comments on the post you wrote yesterday was trying to compare this to Davis. And, I mean, somebody in the comments on the post you wrote yesterday was trying to compare this to Davis. And, I mean, I think a few things. Number one, Davis has more attributes you can rely on than just the elite speed.

Two, ankle cleanup surgery that Corey Davis had is less concerning, I think, from a long-term perspective than this Les Franck injury is. But, like you said, when you have a guy that misses that much time, it's not uncommon to get into whether it be OTAs, which I think Brown's going to miss those too, but you get in training camp when you've been off for so long with any kind of leg or foot

injury, then you have soft tissue injuries that come along with that. I think that would be a bit of a concern. So, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised to see him slide into day two. And then somebody might get a really good pick in day two, a guy that was supposed to go, at least in the first round. Some people had him going in the top half of the first round. If you've got a guy that's going to be able to fully recover from this,

then you're obviously getting good value in the second or third round there. So that will be something to keep an eye on. All right, coming up, we'll talk a little bit about the Antonio Brown situation, kind of some interesting developments that have happened there. All right, so two more things to talk about. One, Antonio Brown. Apparently he met with the entire Steelers organization yesterday. It sounded like the meeting started out with him and the owner,

and then the GM came in, and then Rosenhaus, who is Antonio Brown's agent, came in. And basically it sounds like they went through this process, and then all parties agreed that it was the best thing for them, for Antonio Brown to be traded. This has been one of the most interesting sagas to follow because normally if you're a team and you've got a star that you want to trade, even if you want to trade them because of the issues they're causing Locker, or whatever it may be, you try to keep all that stuff in-house

so that it doesn't just tank their trade value. With all the stuff that's out there about Antonio Brown, all the different issues they've't, you know, just tank their trade value with all the stuff that's out there about Antonio Brown, all the different issues that they've had, this meeting, all the stuff that he's doing on social media and that kind of stuff. It seems to me like, you know, where people were talking about the Steelers could get a one, maybe two ones for him. It seems to me like they're going to have trouble getting anything earlier than a second or third round pick for him at this point, just because it is blatantly obvious that this is a marriage that's over so the Steelers are going

to do whatever it takes to not have him on their roster next year and that just kills their negotiating power when it comes to talking to other teams and trying to trade him yeah it's a little bit of a backward situation there that with basically saying, hey, I met with my owner and we basically decided to move on. But he's still under contract. So you know he's going to be traded. So teams probably aren't going to give up a first-round pick anymore. He's aging too. I think he's, what, 32, going to be 32.

Still owed a lot of money. I think he's, what, 32, going to be 32. Still owed a lot of money. So, like you said, it's gone from maybe a first and a second, first and a third to maybe a second-round pick, maybe a third-round pick, maybe a fourth. I mean, are teams really going to bend over backwards to add that to their team? I don't know.

I think it's going to take a strong locker room because he's going to come in and immediately be the voice that stands out in that locker room. He's going to immediately become the face of any franchise. Just his presence, his drama, his baggage that he brings, his social media presence. Anything he tweets

nowadays is just getting blown up. It's a messy, messy split up. He's taking shots at Ben Roethlisberger now. I just didn't see this coming. Six months ago in the season, it just seemed like he was a stealer for life. Then this offseason, it's all just falling apart. I'm not sure who's going to take the jump on that. Again, I think it's going to be some desperate team.

I don't think any really good franchise is going to take that on. Yeah, and I mean, you said earlier, like, you've got to have a strong locker room. The only way that they're going to get anything that approaches what's probably value for him is if you have a couple teams bidding against each other. But the problem here is that the potential of teams that will want him or even could acquire him is small because, one, he's a locker room. Two, he's got a $22 million cap number in 2019, and that doesn't go away with the trade. He's got a $22 million cap number in 2019, and that doesn't go away with the trade. So you've got to have that cap room.

You've got to have the type of locker room that can handle that, quarterback that can kind of put him in his place, that kind of stuff. I mean, I know a lot of people have been speculating that the Patriots would get in on this because that's something that they tend to do is take on these guys that have had issues, whether it be in the locker room like Randy Moss when they took him on or Josh Gordon this year with all the issues that he had had last year. But, I mean, they've only got $15 million in cap space as it stands right now. There's some adjustments they could make and do some different things and free up some money. So, I mean, I guess that's not, you know, entirely impossible to happen.

I'd be kind of surprised if it did. I know San Francisco was a team early on that was mentioned that would be wanting him. But I don't know. I mean, Jimmy Garoppolo, does he have enough skins on the wall, so to speak, to be able to be the, you know, the strength in that locker room? They can keep him in check. I mean, other guys too.

It just seems like that, I don't know, that doesn't seem like a great fit to me from a culture perspective. No, same here. And I'm just thinking, you know, the odds of him coming here are slim to none, I believe. But how would he fit in in this locker room? You know, I don't think Marcus Mariota would be the guy to kind of keep him in check. I think maybe the guys on the offensive line might be the guys to keep him in check.

But I've gone from being, well, maybe a 1 Antonio Brown to just being totally out. I just don't think that's a guy that you add to this locker room, which was in such a bad place just three years ago. I think he's in a really good place. I think they've got their own types of guys that they want on this team. And I think Antonio Brown is the furthest type of guy that would fit in with this team. I just don't think it would work here. You know, not that anybody's saying that,

but I just want to kind of come out and say that I'm totally against it. Yeah, it makes zero sense here, really, from a lot of different perspectives like you just kind of laid out. The other thing of news, it was announced yesterday that Cowboys wouldn't pick up Terrence Williams' option, so he will become an unrestricted free agent when free agency opens here in a little bit. He's a guy that it's kind of interesting uh i don't think he's going to be a wave one or two guy of free agency uh you know he's had he had it's been a couple years since he had a good year was hurt last year um also had a public intoxication incident i think last summer that uh he was suspended for but he served his suspension while he was hurt. So he doesn't have that hanging over his head or anything.

But he's a guy that's got some speed to get down the field, a guy that you shouldn't have to invest a bunch of money in. I mean, he seems to me like a one- or two-year type deal, maybe a bet-on-yourself, one-year type contract. Not sure that he would want to come here or whatever, but I think if the Titans miss out on some of these top-tier guys, or even if they sign one of those guys, if you could get Terrence Williams in here on a contract that is basically a win-win for the Titans,

whereas if he does well, it's not costing you that much. If he doesn't do well, you cut him and move on. I don't think it's the worst option. I mean, he wouldn't be a guy that I would go into as planning, we're going to come out of free agency with this guy. But like I said, if you're in Wave 3, he's better than Michael Campanaro last year, right? Yeah, I hope we're not talking about Terrence Williams next month. If John Robinson is relying anything on Terrence Williams, then he's screwed up as a general manager.

I just think it's time to go open up your wallet. It's time to go pay some of these guys. Like you said, overpay maybe a guy from Tier 1, a guy from Tier 2. Terrence Williams, to me, is a Tier 3, Tier 4 type guy. Yes, he's got speed. I don't think he's got anything else. Honestly, he's been in Dallas forever. He hasn't done much.

I just don't think a lot of him as a player. Is he better than Taewon Taylor or Tajay Sharp? I mean, that's a legitimate question that I don't know the answer to. So if I'm signing a receiver, he better be better than those two. He better be able to make a contribution. I'm just tired of throwing trash around Marcus Mario to get him some guys that have succeeded in the past that don't have question marks around them. It's going to take some money to get there, but it's beyond time to get there.

Yeah. Like I said, my plan is Tyrell Williams and Golden Tate. That's not both of those guys probably, but I think he's one of those guys. And then John Brown, Adam Humphrey, Cole Busie type guy after that. But anyway, it's just a name that popped up yesterday. Like I said, he'll get a job. John Brown Adam Humphrey, Cole Busie type guy after that. It's just a name that popped up yesterday. Like I said, he'll get a job. I don't think it's a contract that's going to cost you a lot.

Just something worth mentioning. That'll do it for today's show. We'll be back tomorrow. Like I said, if you've got any comments, you can reach out to us on Twitter. I'm at jmorthmcm. Terry's at tlambertrtt. you can find us there. You can also leave us a voicemail,

615-787-8762. It was a long voicemail, and we will play it on the show Thursday, assuming we get two or three. So thanks for listening to Locked on Titans. For Terry, this is Jimmy, and we will talk to you again tomorrow.