Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Breaking down the TEs and OL

Episode Date: February 19, 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, how are you doing today? Doing pretty well. What about yourself? Doing alright. This kind of slow NFL news cycle right now is killing me. I guess it speaks a little bit to how spoiled we are as far as the NFL being a year-round sport. Because this is, you know, these couple of weeks right here between the Super Bowl and the Combine are typically the slowest news things. And just when we're looking at, you know, obviously we write for museummiracles.com, covering Titans for SB Nation, so we're trying to come up with posts to put on there, you know, every day and stuff.

It's just hard to find anything right now that's super exciting. And that will all change in the next couple of weeks with the Combine and then free agency the draft all that stuff it'll get you know going crazy again but we were just we're kind of spoiled as it is uh in the nfl cycle when we get down weeks we don't really know what to do so uh we'll continue kind of our look breaking down the titans roster and kind of looking at what they currently have and you know what that means they need whether it be in free agency the draft so today we're going to talk a little bit about the tight ends on the roster

and the offensive alignment. Before we do that, again, subscribe to the podcast, please. Locked on Titans. You can find it on iTunes, Stitcher. We're on Spotify as well. So wherever you get podcasts, check us out. And then follow us on Twitter. I'm MattJMorris at MCM.

Terry is at TLambertFB. We have an account for the podcast at LockedOnTitans at some point this week or next. We'll do another kind of Q&A thing on there. So follow that account and we will take questions from there. We'll talk about them on the show. So all that stuff

to kind of check out before we get going. We'll start with the tight ends. I mean, this is a pretty simple discussion. You've got your top two guys, Delaney Walker and Johnnie Smith, who obviously will both be here again next year. I think Delaney is probably reaching the downside of his career. I'm not going to say that he's done yet by any means. But I think we did see a little bit of a drop-off in in 2017 uh just saw him drop some passes he wouldn't normally drop and then there were some games where

he was it just seemed like he was kind of non-existent they didn't scheme to get him the ball uh you know when it seemed like they would but you know i guess the caveat that we've had on everything that we've discussed this offseason with this offense and that was the terry rabisky offense things are going to be drastically different in 2018 hopefully drastically better um so it's hard to really judge anybody based on what they did in 18 and we're all thinking that they'll be in better positions to succeed next year um but you know john smith was a guy they spent a a fairly early draft pick on last year. A guy that's viewed as having a very similar skill set to Delaney Walker. So under the old scheme, looked like he was kind of the heir apparent to that position. Now he's kind of the modern day tight end.

Came in with the reputation of being able to block and being a good receiver. I think he struggled blocking at times last year. But again, it seems like sometimes the tight ends were asked to do a lot, asked to do things that were pretty difficult for them to do. So that's really the guys in the discussion. I mean, you've got some other guys on the roster, Phillip Supernall, Luke Stalker, but those are not guys that are going to be significantly involved,

at least in the passing game. So is that kind of a fair assessment, Terry, of where you think the tight end position is with this team right now? Yeah, you just don't know how much you've got left in Delaney Walker. You'd like to say you've got next year for sure. But like you said, you kind of started to see the fall off in production, but then you've also got the obvious issue with the offense there. So, you know, we kind of gave the receivers a pass for not putting up numbers, saying, you know, this offense just wasn't going to let them put up big numbers.

I guess you have to give that same benefit of the doubt to Delaney Walker. But he is getting older. He's going into his 13th year. So I think you've got the replacement plan already on the roster in Jonu Smith. And Jonu is a guy that really did some nice things earlier in the year. And for whatever reason, I don't know why, they seem to kind of use him less. So I don't know if he hit a rookie wall. I don't know if he didn't perform in the run game like they wanted him to.

But earlier in the year, he was split out wide, you know, running go routes. He's a really athletic guy, an interesting piece moving forward. I think he's in a really good role as the number two tight end on this team right now. You certainly hope that he can grow into that number one. We talked last week seeing the mock drafts with the Titans taking a tight end. I just don't see it. If you take a

tight end in the first, second, or even third round, where's he fitting into this roster? I don't see a fit. No, I don't either. Especially not in 2018. And, you know, we talked about really, I guess, two years ago when John Robinson took over that, you know, we would see some picks in that draft that maybe were not, you know,

like plug-in needs that you saw right then, but guys that can contribute a year or two down the road when you thought this roster would be better and, you know, you could afford to pick some guys that would kind of be coming into their prime at that point. Now you're at the point where this team needs to win. I mean, you're nearing the end of Marks Mariotta's rookie contract. You've got two John Robinson drafts and free agencies under your belt. You have a third one now with this year.

So they don't have – they're not really looking for guys that are projects they're looking for guys that can come in and help them in in 2018 i just don't see i don't see how a titan is going to do that especially i mean if you had like some transcendent talent uh but these are that's not what we're seeing the titans taking that's not what we're seeing mocked to them so yeah that doesn't make any sense to me one more note on delaney walker he's a free agent after this year. He's got a very reasonable cap number. I think it's like $5.4 million for 2018.

Not a guy that's by any means in danger of being a cap casualty or anything like that. But he is going to be a free agent, like we said, being in the league as long as he has. It's crazy that he's been in the league that long. It doesn't seem like that. Obviously, he didn't come in with the Titans before. seem like that obviously you know he didn't come come in with the titans with the 49ers before but yeah a guy that you're not going to probably put a whole lot of investment in you know going forward so this this is probably going to be i would imagine his last year with the titans and so you know i think that is good that they already have johnny on the roster and kind of

the succession plan in place then maybe next year you know you could look at the possibility that they could address tight end earlier in the draft if there's a guy that could be a playmaker that type of thing but i just i don't see how it makes any sense this year when you've already got those two guys and again you know john who he he he showed flashes last year now he fell off like he said rookie whatever it was but i mean we see the abilities there better coaching staff all that stuff putting him in better situations so i mean i feel good about what he can bring to the table as the number two in 2018 and then i think he can step into the role as the number one after that so i just i don't see a big i mean i don't know i just i don't i don't see a big need there and i and i definitely don't see a big need there, and I definitely don't see a need that's big enough

that they would use their first-round pick on it. So that's kind of there. They're in a good spot. And again, as we go through this roster and kind of break down these different positions, they're in a good spot in most places. So that's a good place to be, and it's a lot different than it was just two years ago. So obviously that's a good thing. Anything else on tight ends before we move on?

You just kind of wonder, just kind of thinking out loud, Phillip Supernaw, Luke Stalker, they're not pieces that you absolutely have to have. So you wonder about this new staff. Will they be attached to them? You knew Mike Malarkey loved his tight ends, specifically the blocking tight ends. So I just wonder if those two guys are firmly on this roster.

I would guess they're closer to the bubble than we probably think. Yeah, and I mean, either one of them are expensive, very expensive. Stocker's $1 million in 2018. Supernaw's $1.5 million. But, yeah, I mean, guys that are definitely expendable. So you hope that they're in a place in training camp. Maybe you keep one of them, but I can't see both of them being on this roster again.

So you hope you're in a place in training camp where the roster is so good that that 53rd spot needs to go to somebody else other than a fourth tight end. So I think we're getting there. I think we've gotten a whole lot closer. I mean, you remember two or three years ago trying to make, you know, 53-man roster projections, and you get to 46, and you're like, well, who the crap else am I going to put on this roster? Like, nobody else is good.

You know, and now we're getting closer to the point to where those last few guys on, I mean, you know, when you look at the first two or three that you don't think are going to make it, they're good players that could actually catch on somewhere. So I think hopefully we get to the point to where you don't need all of those guys. All right, so that'll do it for tight ends. Coming up, we will talk about the offensive line. So the conversation around the offensive line is actually a pretty interesting one.

I mean, you have your two tackles, LeJuan, Conklin, obviously, bookends. You know, hopefully that's your duo for the next decade or so. They're going to do a contract with LeJuan at some point. He's playing on his option year currently for 2018. I would imagine they get a long-term deal with him done before the season starts, but they don't have to. I mean, they've got him for this year, and so they could wait until after the season if they wanted to.

But I would imagine with the cap room that they have currently, it'd be better to go ahead and get that done and get him locked up. You know, Conklin will be in year three coming off of an injury and stuff, but, I mean, he should be fine, ready to go once training camp opens. So, I mean, you feel good about those spots. The interior of the offensive line is a little bit different. You've got Quinn Spain. You've got Ben Jones.

You've got Josh Klein. Spain and Klein are both free agents. Now, Spain's a restricted free agent, so I think there's very little doubt that he's back. Klein is an unrestricted free agent, and he's a guy that people have been clamoring for them to replace really last offseason and now this offseason.

But, I mean, he actually played probably better than the other two guys in the interior last year, and you're moving to a scheme that seems to fit his skill set better if you're going to his own blocking scheme. So, I mean, it's an interesting thing because when you hear people talk about draft needs, and, I mean, we've done the same thing. An interior offensive line is in the top three or four that people will mention, but if you re-sign Spain and Klein,

then where's the need? I mean, you could bring in a guy for competition, sure, but are you spending an early pick to do that? No, it comes down to whether or not they want Josh Kahn around, and this new staff will have to do that? No, it comes down to whether or not they want Josh Kline around, and this new staff will have to make that call. The interesting thing to me is Corey Levin, the guy that they drafted late.

It was either a sixth or a seventh-round pick. I don't have it in front of me. But a guy that performed well at the combine, a guy that can move around, and a guy that stuck on this roster. All the late-round picks didn't stick last year, but he did. I don't think he was active for any games, but he's there. You talk to some draft guys, and they think that he's got a chance to be a starter in this league, so I wonder if they would like to give him a chance.

If you bring back klein you kind of have uh cory levin behind him maybe that becomes a competition down the road uh so that part's interesting uh you know you've got brian schwenke there who was basically the backup for all three of the interior positions uh again new staff we'll see if they bring him back. But I think they've got to add depth, at least competition. That was one thing that they didn't really have. They had youth at the position, but they didn't really have anybody to come in and push Ben Jones, come in and push Josh Kline to get everything out of them.

Yeah, absolutely. And like you said with Schwinke, Schwinke's a free agent, so it'll just be kind of how this new staff feels about him he's a guy that i think will be on a team in 2018 i don't know if he'll be with the titans or not but has shown that he's a guy that can play uh you know when you're in a pinch and you need him so he's a valuable piece but again it'll just be whether or not this this staff likes what he brings to the table. Yeah, and if Levine's the guy, then maybe you draft another guy that can push at center and guard as well. And then you've got kind of a five-man competition for those three spots or whatever it may be.

Competition's always a good thing, and it's always good to have a lot of talented guys on the roster. Dennis Kelly is another guy that in fact is into this equation now hopefully we will see you know a lot less to none of him reporting as an eligible receiver um which we saw entirely too much uh in 2017 so hopefully that's a thing of the past with the old staff uh you know and he's a guy of the past with the old staff. He's a guy that has played well in spots. Obviously, they're not counting on him to be the starter at either tackle position, but there have been times where he's played well.

Whatever game it was last year that he had to come in and play for LeJuan, or no, it was at Conklin. It was Conklin that he came in and played for. Every Conklin got hurt. He did not fare as well. But again, I mean, you're not asking him to be your starter. I think he's still a good piece there. But it wouldn't hurt him to have a little bit more depth there as well,

to have another guy that they feel like can play your position, that can come in and challenge at that spot. So, I mean, I think we're really talking about more depth issue here you know again we'll see what happens with josh klein because that's going to be i think the biggest question like i said i don't think there's any any doubt that quentin spain is back and probably starting for this team in 2018 but it's more of the more of the depth issues that you have behind them and we saw you know guys get hurt and miss games. I mean, Schwenke had starts. Dennis Kelly, I don't know that he had a start, but he had extended playing time in a couple of different games.

So you need the next guy. You need at least one guy that can play the interior positions, one guy that can play the tackle positions to be able to come in and give them. The Titans were lucky as far as health was concerned last year because they didn't have any long stretches that guys missed. But that's an outlier when it comes to NFL seasons. So you need those guys. And again, it's just good to have competition in those spots. Even if you have a guy that comes in and pushes hard at camp, doesn't win the starting position,

he's there if somebody goes down and he's able to help out. So I really do think that's more what they're looking like, but we'll know more about it as far as a draft need is concerned when we see free agency and what happens with Josh Klein. Because I think even if Klein goes somewhere else, if he's not back, we don't know how they feel about Levin or whatever, but that obviously bumps the need up a little bit. Because even if they feel good about Levin,

you've still got to have somebody else there to provide the depth, and you still want somebody else to be able to push and camp. Yeah, and they're not going to roll with Levin. I highly doubt that if Kline walked. So they would probably sign someone at that point. I haven't looked at the guards. I think Mike did a really long post last week If you want to dig that up

On musicstudymiracles.com But yeah on Dennis Kelly I think that's a spot where the Titans Can probably upgrade there It's kind of amazing That they won the Doriel Green Beckham trade With just getting a Backup tackle

But here we are In spots where he had to play last year real green Beckham trade with just getting a backup tackle. But, you know, here we are. Yeah, in spots where he had to play last year, I think he played for both Conklin and LeJuan. He was just bad. You know, it's just a spot where you worry what happens if LeJuan goes down for an extended amount of time, what happens if Conklin goes down. It's not going to be pretty. So I would love to see them shore up the tackle spot.

You know, you can keep Dennis Kelly around, but I would just think that they can do better there. And, again, you're not going to see Dennis Kelly playing tight end. You're not going to see him in that Anthony Fasano role anymore, we hope. So hopefully this new staff will run more spread looks, a more three-receiver look, and be not so tight and dependent. Yeah, that's the hope anyway. So, like I said, they're hard-pressed to do it more

because it was entirely too often. There's no way they can do more. Yeah. But anyway, so that's obviously the direction they're moving in. But, again, like I said, I mean, it's not a bad place to be because you're looking for guys that can come in and compete, and you feel like you've got a structure there. But I think you're absolutely right.

They can't – you don't roll with just Corey Levin. If Klein does end up elsewhere, they'd probably sign somebody. And, yeah, Mike did do a really long post breaking down the guards that are going to be available in free agency, or at least perspective going to be available, depending on if they re-sign with their team they're with now. So check that out because it does give a lot of good info on the guys that could possibly be out there.

But like I said, any of these conversations we have regarding draft needs, they're obviously going to change as we get through free agency because we'll get a little bit of a better indication there. But overall, again, I think the offensive line is a spot where Titans are in a pretty good spot. They could use some depth. They could use some competition. But when you look at the offense as a whole,

it seems like the talent is there. Now it's just a matter of bringing the coaching staff that can make the most about talent. That's what we hope that we have. One quick thing from last week, we talked about how this was the first time in a while that wide receiver wasn't at the top of the needs for the Titans heading into the offseason. We feel good about Corey Davis. We feel good about Rashard Matthews. Hopefully Taewon Taylor can develop into something more than he was last year,

coaching staff, all that kind of stuff. But then the next day we saw a post from Jim Wyatt where he thought that adding a playmaker in the offseason would be a point that they would probably prioritize. So interesting thing because Wyatt's got his finger pretty good on the pulse of what they want to do in that building. season would be a would be a you know a point that they would probably prioritize so interesting thing because you know why it's got his finger pretty good on the pulse of what they want to do in that building so you know hey maybe something to watch there in free agency when they target one of these receivers they think can come in you know give give another veteran presence kind of like what they hope to get from eric decker last year just didn't work out but you know that was

a pretty interesting piece that we had kind of dismissed last week yeah and just keep in mind a playmaker could be a second running back you know so it was very vague there but yeah i mean i think receivers still on the table i'd still be surprised and you know something to keep in mind i think richard is a free agent after this year uh and that's something we didn't mention the last uh when we broke down the receivers. So something to think about there, what happens if Rashard leaves after this season. Obviously Corey Davis was drafted to be that number one guy, but still from a depth concern, yeah, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to add another one.

I'm still not going to go out and say they're going to go after Sammy Watkins or anything. I think it's going to be more of a complimentary piece, if anything. Yeah, I do think that's a good point. Jarvis Langer's the guy that everybody's kind of clamoring for. I don't see that happening. And again, I don't know what he necessarily brings here. But we're so conditioned to needing a receiver, and every guy that's available would be an upgrade.

And thankfully, that's not the case anymore. Anyway, so that'll do it for today. We're going to look at the defense. We've got about a week and a half before the combine starts. Like we've said all along, obviously, we'll get a lot of stuff out of the combine. Guys that work out better than people expected. Guys that don't do as well as people expected.

Then Vrabel and John Robinson will both talk to the media at the combine. We'll learn some more stuff there. Between now and then, we'll continue looking at the current state of the roster. We'll look at the current state of the roster. We'll look at the defensive side of the ball, you know, the Indy's Eskimosos, and maybe have a draft guy on or two in the next few episodes. Just talk about, you know, running backs.

Again, we think that's something before free agency that we think the Titans will be looking at, edge rushers, that kind of stuff. So we'll start to break all that stuff down. Terry, anything else before we get out today? That's all I got. All right, sounds good. So we will be back with another episode later this week, so between now and then check out our site, musicmiracles.com.

We'll have a ton of stuff about the Titans, about all these positional breakdowns and all that stuff, so you can check that out there. Like I said, follow us on Twitter, at jmorksmcm, at tlambertfb, the podcast at LockedOnTitans, and kind of keep your eyes open there because we will do another Q&A episode hopefully later this week.

So we'll ask for questions there. And then subscribe, LockedOnTitans, iTunes, Stitcher, wherever you get podcasts. For Terry, this is Jimmy saying thanks for listening to LockedOnTitans, and we will talk to you again later this week.