Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Antonio Brown rumors; Titans trading back?

Episode Date: March 4, 2019

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Welcome in to another edition of Locked On Titans. I'm Jimmy Morris, joined as always by Terry Lambert. Terry, how are you tonight? Doing pretty well. What's going on, Jimmy? Well, we got Antonio Brown rumors, I guess we could call it at this point. So, kind of liven things up on a late Friday night. So, we're going to get into all of that. Before we do that, I want to remind you that we're up for meeting at TheMiracles.com. We're kind of the Titans for SB Nation, so you can check us out there.

You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at JORCMCM. Terry's at TLambertTN. You can get the podcast or if you get your podcast, just search out Locked on Titans. You can also play us on your smart speaker. Just say play podcast Locked on Titans. Like I said, we're going to talk Antonio Brown, and then we're going to cover the voicemails from last week.

I got, I think, three of those to hit real quick. So I appreciate everybody that called in on that. If you want to leave us a voicemail, if you've got thoughts on Antonio Burrell or the combine or whatever it may be, 615-787-8762. Leave us a minute-long message, and we will get to it in a show later this week. All right, so big news over the weekend. Friday night, Adam Schefter tweets out that the Titans are one of three teams that are, I guess, the most heavily involved

or heavily inquiring about Antonio Brown. The Redskins and the Raiders being the other two teams. I have to say it was a little bit of a surprise to me. We talked about this a little bit, I guess, on Wednesday when we recorded our show. You know, Mike Brevoz asked a question. He kind of went into the thing with the team and said there are some things that can't be excused. So I think we both thought that that was pretty much the end of Antonio Brown to the Titans speculation. But it came back around. So I'll let you start off here with kind of your initial

thoughts on all of it. First off, I'm just not sure I buy it. Just off of the comments from the Titans at the combine, you know, like you said, there's certain things you can't excuse. It just really sounded like they were taking a stance there and eliminating Antonio Brown. And then, you know, we all check our phones on Friday night at, what, 1030. And you've got the Schefter tweet saying the Titans are one of three teams interested. So, again, it's all about, for me, what the Steelers want to give up.

If you're talking about a one, a two, I'm probably not interested. If you're talking about a three, then that's where I start to get interested. But, again, it's all about locker room fit. It's all about ego. We know where Marcus Mariota is at in his career. He has not put up big numbers. You can make the argument that he hasn't been in a position to put up big numbers. He hasn't had the talent around him to put up the numbers.

He hasn't had the staff. You can make all of those arguments. But the bottom line is Antonio Brown is probably going to take a hit stats-wise. Is he going to be okay putting up 900 yards and maybe six touchdowns instead of 1,400 yards and 14 touchdowns or something like that? I don't know. I think they're all legitimate questions. How does he react in this locker room?

Does he tear it apart? Does he become a circus? He really wasn't this guy until the second half of this year. So if the Titans can get Antonio Brown of old, go for it. But you're going to have to do some homework on that personality of his. That's the thing. I mean, there are so many questions here. And, I don't know, I've gone back and forth on this a lot.

I mean, obviously Antonio Brown is head and shoulders above anything the Titans have on this roster. So, you know, before we kind of get into all this, I mean, we need to acknowledge that. Obviously we believe that to be true. Now, with that being said, Antonio Brown is going to be 31 when this season kicks off. He's got three years left on the big contract that he just signed. Now, the numbers are not as prohibitive as they look if you just go and like over the cap or whatever.

If you go look at his numbers there, a lot of that stuff would not come with him if he were traded. The guaranteed money, I think, expires against the Steelers cap or whatever. So you're only looking at about a $15 million cap number. This year, $11 million in 2020 and $12 million in 2021. However, he has been on record as saying that he wants a new contract. He wants more money. So there is that part of it. Like you said, defend the locker room.

How much is he going to get the ball? How much is his offense going to throw? How capable is Marcus Mariota of getting him the ball? Can they handle him? There's a million questions that go along with it. So, like you said, I'm out for a one or a two. I was listening to the OTP

Fish Titans podcast earlier tonight from, I don't know when they recorded it, maybe Friday. Mike Keith, Amy Wells had Pete Prisco on. Pete Prisco said he thinks Steelers end up getting a three for him. You know, I'm okay with that, with a few caveats thrown in. Like I said, I don't think you give him more money. He's on the decline of his career. Now, again, still really good, arguably the best receiver in the league,

definitely top five. You know, you can have that debate however you want to do that. But when you look at his numbers for 2018, you know, his yards per catch average dropped from 15.2 in 2017 to 12.5. Now, 12.5 is more in line with what his career numbers have been all along. 15.2 is actually kind of the outlier. He's been 12.5, 13 yards. I mean, his career average is 13.4.

But I just think that he's not as good as he was. I think he's definitely on the backside of his career. Again, I understand that even with that being said, he's 1,000 times better than anybody on the roster not named Corey Davis, and he's still a lot better than Corey Davis. So there's so much at play here. It's really interesting. You've also got free agency wide receivers coming up, a guy like Tyrell Williams.

I took some heat on Twitter for saying that I would rather overpay for Tyrell Williams than trade for Antonio Brown. He on Twitter for saying that I would rather overpay for Tyrell Williams than trade for Antonio Brown. That was kind of my initial reaction Friday night when I saw the news. I've gone back on that a little bit, but I'm still not sure that that's not the case. Antonio Brown is 26, and he's not as good of a player as Antonio Brown. I mean, that's absolutely the case. But I don't know.

I mean, just getting a younger guy that doesn't have the personality things that Antonio Brown has, I think it's an interesting situation to talk about. I know. Like, when I say that, people just go crazy. I mean, how can you not want Antonio Brown, he's the best receiver in the league, yada, yada, yada. I don't think he's the best receiver in the league anymore. Again, really good.

I don't know. There's just a lot of questions here. Now, again, if the price is right and Braybill thinks he can handle it, Braybill's obviously been in the locker room with a Randy Moss. You know, he was on the Patriots and the Patriots traded for Randy Moss. Very similar situation to what we're seeing here with Antonio Brown. So, I mean, I think they've got some stuff in place that can combat that. But there are a lot of questions that go along with this.

And some people are just like, you're crazy if you don't want Antonio Brown. I think you need to dig a little bit deeper than just saying that. Yeah, I mean, he's going into year 10, right? Year 10, he wants more money. He's just trashed his team time and time again. A very public, messy divorce from the Steelers. Yeah, I don't understand the people that say that you're crazy if you don't want him. I just think you're kind of downplaying the baggage that comes along with him.

And look, maybe it all goes away with a change of scenery. But, man, I just can't see him being happy in an offense where he's not going to put up huge numbers. And, you know, if he starts running his mouth to reporters and then you've got Taylor LeJuan, you know, sitting a couple rows down, I think that's going to get ugly. I think LeJuan would put him in his place, and I'm not sure how Antonio Brown would handle that. I just, I'm not sold on that.

Again, it would have to come at the right price. There would be no guarantees. And it would be a move where John Robinson's going all in, right? All in on Marcus Mariota in kind of his final chant to prove it, to really prove that he can be an NFL quarterback. There would be no excuses. You know, I can say that. There would be no excuses for Marcus Mariota not to succeed.

It would be a sink or swim moment for him for sure. And, you know, what's crazy about it, I still don't think he solves all the issues in that receiver room. I still think you need a more reliable slot receiver. He solves all the issues in that receiver room. I still think you need a more reliable slot receiver. I think he can do better at 3, 4, and 5, even with Antonio Brown on the roster. So I don't think he's a savior.

I think he comes with a lot of baggage. But it's just interesting that the Titans are even reportedly interested, so much so that I'm not sure I buy it. Yeah, it's going to be really interesting to see how it plays out, to see how long they drag this out into free agency and all that kind of stuff. I mean, I would think that everybody probably wants to get it done as early as they can before the free agency period opens. So, I don't know. It's just interesting.

And then I've heard a couple things. Titans need an alpha in the locker room. Okay, sure. I mean, I think there is something to that. But you need the right guy. It doesn't necessarily just need to be any alpha. It needs to be an alpha that people are going to follow in the right direction. So I think there's that. And then I've heard people say, well, you know, obviously you heard all this stuff about him and Ben Roethlisberger and whatever.

Listen, I think Ben Roethlisberger, at least at points in his career, was kind of a trash human being. I mean, I'm not by any means taking it up for him. But there are two sides to every story. So now people want to blame Ben Roethlisberger, blame Antonio Braille for how it all broke down, all that kind of stuff. I mean, we don't know. Nobody that hasn't been in that building with those people know what actually went down, whose fault it is, whatever. So, I mean, I just think everybody needs to take a step back and really evaluate this.

And so, again, I think that if you can get it done for three, if you can keep the current contract, if you think he can be happy here, sure, it's great. You know, those cap numbers, even if he falls from the first best receiver in the league to the tenth best receiver in the league, those cap numbers are fine for that. But there's just so much more to it that goes into that. So that's just kind of my thoughts. Again, if you want to give us feedback on that, do it on Twitter, call the voicemail line, whatever.

Because I think there's a lot to digest here and a lot to dig into. But those are just kind of my thoughts that I've had over the last two or three days since the news came out. Enough on that. We're going to get into voicemails. Combine we're recording this on Sunday night, so Combine ends Monday, so we record on Tuesday. We'll kind of recap

points of interest from the Italian's perspective. I've got some thoughts on my boy Hawkinson, so we'll get into some of that on Tuesday. A lot of love for me'll get into some of that on Tuesday. A lot of love for me on Twitter going on about that right now. But anyway, that's kind of what we'll do on Tuesday. Now we're going to get into the voicemails that we got this past week.

Hi, my name is Keith. I live in Connecticut, originally from Memphis. I had a quick question. If General Raddickson opens the checkbook, can I actually get some pretty good free agents for the wide receiver need or interior offensive lineman or defensive lineman or head rusher, is it a possibility to trade out of the 19th pick and bundle some more picks and have it to maybe some more second and third round picks

to get some more quantity to go with everybody else. Thank you for your time. Hey Keith, thanks for the call. You kind of had the same question as Travis, so we'll kind of lump this one in together. I think John Robinson is going to spin. I think he's going to spin on receivers. One way or the other, we've seen him involved potentially with the Antonio Brown deal. A lot of receivers

that we've been through, Golden Tate, Tyrell Williams, guys like that. I think he's going to open it up. I think he's going to get that fixed for Marcus Mariota and really figure out who he's got there. I think we're more likely to see a trade back this year

than we ever have. You know, he was asked about trading up at the combine, and he kind of poo-pooed that idea. He just said that he'd be shocked if something happened there to find themselves moving up for a guy. So, of course, it depends on how the board falls. These edge guys, Montez Sweat, guys like that, Farrell from Clemson, if they're all off the board there,

maybe they've already addressed defensive line and free agency. I could certainly see them moving back and getting one of these receivers later on. There might not be a receiver slated to go right there in those picks. We talk about the Patriot way. We've yet to see John Robinson really move down outside

of that trade of the number one pick since then. It's been kind of surprising. I thought we'd see more draft movement, but we haven't to this point. I don't know. I think that could change. You know, we talked about the needs on this team. I think there's a lot on the board, of course.

You know, we'll see what they do in free agency. But I don't know. I think it's likely. What do you think? Yeah, I think if he's going to move this year, he's going to move down. Like you said, he kind of said as much last week. I'm not sure that he will do that, but that's the more likely move. If you ask him up or down, the more likely move is down.

When you only ended up with, I mean, they had four picks last year, but you only ended up with three of those guys on your roster when the season starts. They hit on a couple of undrafted guys, so that was good. But we just really need some more picks this year. Yeah, it's about picks that was good. But we just really need some more picks this year. Yeah, it's about picks that they have. I mean, they've got the only pick they don't have this year right now is that sixth-round pick they traded for Correa back before last season started. So they've got 19 in the first round, 51 in the second round, 83 in the third

round, 115th fourth, 147th fifth, and a 211th pick in the third round, 1-15-4, 1-47-5, and a 211th pick in the seventh round. So, yeah, I mean, you need some guys. And so that's more likely, I think, like you said, that's the thing that we've seen the Patriots do more often than not. And Robinson has gone the other way so far. You know, I'm honest, the trade for the Jared Goff pick, everything else he does has pretty much been moving up, at least early in drafts. So that'll be interesting to watch.

I think there's, you know, we keep hearing about how deep this draft is in certain positions. So I think, you know, and he mentioned this guy as much last week. You got two or three, four guys that you like there. Somebody wants to come up against something else. How far do you move down? What do you pick up? I mean, I think those will all be options that he weighs. And for agency, yeah, I mean, I'm with you.

They're going to pay for a receiver and edge guy probably. At least they're going to try to do that. We're still, you know, a couple weeks away from that, seeing what guys actually hit the market. Obviously, we've got this whole Antonio Brown thing. See how that goes down. That'll obviously affect the way a lot of things go. But, yeah, I mean, I think they'll be active early.

He's been active early, you know, most years, at least in the first couple of days. I don't expect anything differently this year because, you know, back to the conversation about Antonio Brown, you know, 2019 is kind of an all-in year. You've got Marcus Mariota. It's his last year on this current deal. You know, I mean, I think they're going to make some moves and see what they've got because you've got to decide, is this the guy that we want to roll with long-term or do we need to start looking for the next guy?

So I think you'll see them make some moves there. They've got cap room and all that stuff. No problems there. So I think you'll see some movement there. All right, coming up next, we have Paris from New York who has a question about last offseason's hot topic. What's going on, guys? It's Paris again from New York.

Just wanted to call in about defensive line. Just wanted to see Donamick and Sue. I can't even say his first name right. I apologize. From the Rams. His contract is up this year. He played his last season. He only signed a one-year contract with the Rams.

So I just wanted to see what you guys thought on picking him up for this year. I mean, I'm pretty sure he'll come fairly cheap. So, you know, he's coming down in years and everything. So why not? Why not go after him? We know what you guys think. Thanks for everything, guys. Yeah, as soon as he's won, I'll be interested to see if the Titans kick the tires on. You know, they were in it last year.

I'm sure they did all their homework on him. They were ready to roll. They were actually in the final couple of teams there. So I think it was down to the Rams and Titans. Interesting that it comes back around this year. Sean McVay says they're going to let

Sue test the free agent market this year, see what he can get. Look, I don't think he's going to come cheap. If you know this guy, you've kind of seen him operate through multiple free agent periods. He just seems like a guy that wants to win, but I think he wants to get paid above everything else. So is the likelihood of Titans, are they going to do it?

I don't know. I think things are a little bit tighter with kind of how they spent last year. I don't think they have quite the flexibility anymore. So I think just an educated guess, I think they'll be out on it. Yeah, I don't remember exactly what their cap space was this time last year. But think about it. Marcus Mariano's cap number is basically $21 million for 2019. It was a whole lot less than that in 2018.

Ted LeJuan has a $16 million cap number. It was less than that last year as well. They didn't have Malcolm Butler. I mean, they've done some things since this time last year. They still have a bunch of space. I mean, it's not that they couldn't do it if they didn't want to. I mean, they couldn't do it if they wanted to. But I don't know.

I think he took a one-year $14 million deal with the Rams last year. Like you said, it was down to the Titans and the Rams, you know, by all accounts, who wanted to go to the place that gave him the best chance to win. But, again, I'm sure if, you know, the Titans had offered him a $20 million contract for one year, he'd have gone to the Titans. That would have swung the thing there. I don't know.

We'll see how it goes. They need another guy on that defensive line that can create pressure. We've talked a lot about that being one of the top three or four draft needs that they have. You've seen them lock drafts. People give them the Titans. One of those guys from Clemson or whoever it may be, a guy that can get pushed from the interior. So, you know, the need's still there, so it still makes sense from that perspective.

But, again, you know, you're talking about a guy that's another year older, guy's been in the league for a long time, has made a bunch of money, had four and a half sacks with the Rams last year, not jumping off the page at you. So, I mean, I think they'd be interested, you know, similar to at least initially what they were last year. But I would say that the amount of money they'd be willing to spend for it would be less. And so that would just kind of come down to, you know,

what he wants and what the other offers are that are out there. But like you said, I mean, you know, every player says they want to win. But at the end of the day, most of the time, you know, every player says they want to win, but at the end of the day, most of the time, you know, if somebody's offering a lot more money, they're going to take that even over a better opportunity to win. So anyway, we'll see how it plays out. But I mean, I do think it'd be something they'd be interested

in. But again, you just got to see if the price is right and all that kind of stuff. Alright, so that'll do it for today's show. Again, appreciate everybody calling in. Need more for next week. A lot of stuff. Antonio Brown, Combine, a lot to talk about. 615-787-8762 is the number

that you call. Leave us about a minute long message there and we'll get to it on the show later this week. We'll have a lot more on the Combine. Like I said, later on this week, we'll have more stuff. MuseumMiracles.com. Check that out. We'll be right out at the Comb the combine the next couple days before we record again. Staying in tune with information there.

Follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorrismcm. Terry is at tlamberttn. So for Terry, this is Jimmy. Thanks so much for listening to Locked on Titans, and we'll talk to you again later this week.