Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Breaking down the Titans 2019 Draft with Justin Melo

Episode Date: May 1, 2019

Justin Melo joins Jimmy to break down the Tennessee Titans 2019 draft class. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices ...

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome in to another edition of Locked on Titans. I'm Jimmy Morris. Terry is out again tonight, but I am joined by friend of the show, Justin Mello. Justin, how are you tonight? Doing well, Jimmy. How are you doing today? Doing good. Doing good.
Starting point is 00:00:18 So we're going to talk all about the Titans draft. Before we do that, remind you, we write for musicmiracles.com. We cover the Titans for SB Nation, so you can find us there. You can also follow us on Twitter. I am at jmorrismcm. Terry is at tlamberttn.
Starting point is 00:00:35 You can follow Justin on Twitter at justinm__nfl. Recently changed his avatar. It's really thrown me off. Not seeing the same thing he had up there forever. Been messing with me. Yeah, I lost a bet to Brad Kelly. So, unfortunately, the avatar has to be that hideous, hideous logo
Starting point is 00:00:54 of the Boston Bruins for the next week. There you go. There you go. Yeah, I've had some similar bets around Alabama football. It's a good thing I usually win those. So, anyway. So, anyway, so anyway, you follow Justin on Twitter at Justin M underscore NFL,
Starting point is 00:01:07 and you can get the pocket or you get your podcast. Just search out locked on Titans tonight. We're going to talk all about the Titans draft. We'll get mellows thoughts on. We're just kind of going to kind of go pick by pick. So obviously first round pick Jeffrey Simmons. We have talked, you know,
Starting point is 00:01:25 ad nauseum about him in this market on this show on the site, everything. But, you know, let's talk about, we know all the off the field stuff. We know the assault charge, we know the ACL, but let's talk about Jeffrey Simmons, the football player. Yeah, I think Simmons is an incredible player. football player. Yeah, I think Simmons is an incredible player. I think they're very lucky to get a player of his caliber at 19th overall. You know, when I started kind of scouting this class, he was one of the first players I really focused on and did an extensive amount of field sort of tape work on, and he blew me away. You know, the movement skills are unbelievable for
Starting point is 00:02:03 his size. He's an incredibly powerful prospect. The pass rush arsenal is very away. You know, the movement skills are unbelievable for his size. He's an incredibly powerful prospect. The pass rush arsenal is very deep. You know, the bull rush is a pleasure. I think the swim move is probably his best, certainly was my favorite of his to watch. You know, before the ACL injury, I had him, you know, cemented in my top 10 rankings overall in this draft.
Starting point is 00:02:23 You know, obviously the Titans were comfortable with the ACL, you know, as they should be. You know, it's an injury, in my top 10 rankings overall in this draft. You know, obviously the Titans were comfortable with the ACL, you know, as they should be. You know, it's an injury, in my opinion, that players, you know, usually recover well from, especially at his age. So I'm very, very excited about this pick and the kind of player that they're getting once he gets on the field.
Starting point is 00:02:39 I think he's going to be a difference maker. You know, they haven't, we've talked on this show before how they haven't really put anyone next to Jarrell Casey, you know, of Jeffrey's caliber. So I think Jeffrey, you know, very excited to watch the two of them, you know, play together on this defensive line.
Starting point is 00:02:56 You know, again, just really, real big fan of the player. The change of direction is unbelievable for his size. The movement skills, the athletic ability. He's very good with his hands as well i should mention very advanced you know it's not just all athletic
Starting point is 00:03:09 ability i think he's a very technically refined player uh the hand usage is phenomenal it's you know while he's engaged he's constantly working with those hands to get uh to get free of his block so very very good player very excited about that pick. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, it's just going to be fun to see somebody on that line besides Jarrell Casey that teams have to worry about. So that's kind of the thing that I'm really the most excited about is, you know, the Titans having a different option there. Somebody that can actually, you know, do something besides Casey. I think that'll definitely help him. And really, it's remarkable how much Jarrell Casey has done without having that presence with him up front.
Starting point is 00:03:52 It's going to be fun to watch once Simmons is healthy and out there, everything that he's able to do. All right, so second round pick, A.J. Brown, wide receiver, Ole Miss, a guy that a lot of people thought, you know, was possibly going to be the first receiver, Ole Miss, a guy that a lot of people thought had a, you know, was possibly going to be the first receiver off the board. Um, but you know, was, was regarded pretty widely as a first round pick and ends up falling all the way to, to the Titans at 51. Why do you think he fell that far? And then what are the Titans getting in A.J. Brown? It's hard to think. Um,
Starting point is 00:04:24 I think sometimes there's a bit of a disconnect between you know what what fans think or what draft twitter thinks of receivers and what the league thinks of receivers uh it's you know and it's easy to see why it's a very exciting position to scout so I think a lot of the times you know we see guys get excited about a receiver they're watching and maybe put them higher than the league does, right? It's easy to get carried away with the big splash plays, the highlight reel stuff, and rate a guy higher than the league may. I personally, you know, I had a grade on him. He was in my top 30 on my big board. I believe he was 29th. And the reason I had him that high was I thought he's an incredibly pro-ready player.
Starting point is 00:05:06 Obviously, much was made of his teammate DK Metcalf and him possibly being the first receiver off the board. It's interesting that we saw AJ go before DK. AJ was obviously a lot more productive at Ole Miss. It was really fantastic for them there throughout his entire career. What I like about him most is his hands. I think he's had the best hands of any receiver in this class. I think he's extremely pro-ready. He's not the most explosive guy vertically, but one thing I do like about his game is he understands how to set up defensive backs. He understands how to vary the speed of his routes in order to set them up, and he does have an extra gear. He's how to vary the speed of his routes in order to set them up. And he does
Starting point is 00:05:46 have an extra gear. He's able to burst past them once he does that. And he can beat press. You know, man to man is not something I thought he struggled with when faced with. Incredibly elusive as well. Very savvy after the catch, very explosive or elusive in the open field. Really like him. I'm curious to see what the Titans have set up for him because he played a lot. He played out of the slot mainly at Ole Miss. Obviously, Adam Humphreys is going to
Starting point is 00:06:14 play there for the Titans on a full-time basis. So I'm very excited to see what they have planned for him. I think he's capable of playing outside. Clearly, the Titans do as well. So very, very good player. I think he's going to playing outside and I'm clearly the Titans do as well so very very good player I think he's going to help this team immensely with his route running skills uh you know I think he fits Mariota's skill set well you know he's a guy you can get the ball too quickly
Starting point is 00:06:35 Ole Miss on a lot ran a lot of screens to him so he's someone who you know again similar to Humphreys in the sense where I think he's going to get open in a hurry. And you can kind of throw those quick hitters that can get Mariota in a rhythm. Something that he's very comfortable with. So I think this is an excellent pick all around in terms of getting a receiver in the second round. And filling that need. The value that A.J. Brown had that he was still available there in the second round. And how his style meshes with that of Mariota. And how much he can help this passing game and help Mariota.
Starting point is 00:07:06 So very excited to see how that tandem works going forward. Yeah, a guy that just seems like has a lot of potential and kind of makes you excited about this receiver group for the first time in a while. We talked about all the struggles they went through last year, but now when you've got a room where Taewon Taylor's taylor's number four and ty jay sharps number five that's okay you know when those guys are three and four or sometimes two and three that's when you you've got you've got some trouble but uh the way it's set up now i think the titans will be in pretty
Starting point is 00:07:39 good shape all right coming up we'll continue our talk with titan start around pick before we do that tell you about zipperipRecruiter. We know that hiring can be a challenge, but there's one place you can go where hiring is simple, fast, and smart. A place where growing businesses connect with qualified candidates. That place is ZipRecruiter.com slash locked on. ZipRecruiter sends your jobs over 100 of the web's leading job boards, but they don't stop there. With their powerful matching technology, ZipRecruiter scans thousands of resumes to find people with the right experience and invite them to apply for your job. As applications come in,
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Starting point is 00:08:53 He's going to play guard for the Titans, I'm assuming, out of Charlotte. Played some tackle, I think, the last couple of years in college. But Terry and I talked a lot about the need for an interior offensive lineman. And I really felt like they needed to come out of the first two days with a guy that could start for them at right guard. Does Nate Davis have a chance to do that right away for this team? Yeah, I think he does, Jimmy. I think he's someone you're going to throw into the mix there and have him compete with a Corey Levin, have him compete with a Kevin Pamphile, have him compete with an Aaron Stinney.
Starting point is 00:09:32 I think that's certainly the plan, and I think he's capable of winning the job. He's a guy who I interviewed leading up to the draft, and he told me that despite playing right tackle for Charlotte last year, that he was exclusively going to be a guard at the next level. Now, obviously, I'm sure if he had to play tackle in emergency, you know, that's a good problem to have, sort of having that position of versatility that he has. But I do think he's someone who can come in and start from day one. Obviously, we'll have to see how, you know, he handles himself throughout camp.
Starting point is 00:09:59 Obviously, playing at Charlotte, you know, he didn't go against some of the biggest competition that college ball has to offer. So we'll have to see how he sort of handles that step to the next level and how quickly he can sort of, you know, make that transition to the pros. When I scouted him on tape, one thing that stood out to me was how great he is in the run game. He's a very powerful guy who can, you know, move guys off their spot. So with the Titans, you know, expected to lean quite heavily on Derrick Henry this season, that's very interesting that they got a guy who's extremely powerful and did great work in the run game. You know, the punch, one thing, again,
Starting point is 00:10:37 another thing on tape that really stood out to me was how powerful his punch is. When he lands it, and he did land it quite consistently, in my opinion, he was able to really, really shock rushers when he lands it and he did land it quite consistently in my opinion he was able to really really shock rushers when he places his hands well um and despite you know i've talked a lot about the power but i do want to mention that i thought he moved quite well uh in space as well he's a better athlete than i think he gets credit for and i'm very excited to see him one of the biggest questions i have about him, and I know he touched on this,
Starting point is 00:11:05 but I thought he was a bit of a better fit for maybe a gap power type scheme that Charlotte kind of ran there. They did run some zone as well, and I thought there were some flashes where he did look really good, but I thought he was more comfortable in a power type scheme at the next level. So it'll be interesting to see how he handles sort of that jump. Obviously, the Titans are going to be in the same zone this year again with Arthur Smith at the helm. But to answer your question in short, I do think he's capable of starting from day one.
Starting point is 00:11:36 I think they have to make this an open competition. And may the best man win. You know, it's a good problem to have if they've got four guys that they're comfortable with, which they claim they do so uh whoever performs at the highest level should be the one that starts on opening day yeah i'm glad you pointed that out about the zone because i think that's been my biggest question whenever you hear anybody talk about him they talk about how powerful he is how good he is at moving the pile moving guys off the ball but you know there's more to obviously obviously, run blocking
Starting point is 00:12:05 if you're going to be in a zone scheme. So hopefully that's something he can pick up rather quickly. And we saw a guy like Quentin Spain who didn't necessarily fit that scheme. And he did okay last year. I mean, obviously, the Titans hope they can upgrade from him. But he's a guy that was more of a power-blocking guy. And so hopefully they can work with Davis a little bit. But, yeah, you're right.
Starting point is 00:12:27 And when you look at just kind of a quick aside, when you look at the Titans roster overall, you don't have a lot of, you know, training camp or starting position battles. You can pretty much go across the board and say who's going to be at each spot. I mean, you've got a few things here and there. We'll get to a little bit. We'll get to it a little bit when we get to Edge. But right guard is really the spot right now that really it's wide open. You don't know who it's going to be. And so, like you said, hopefully it's a good competition, and hopefully Nate Davis – I mean, obviously the hope is your third-round pick.
Starting point is 00:12:59 You hope he can come in and win that. But that will be something to keep an eye on when camp opens. All right, fourth round they went they traded up to get amani hooker the safety from iowa what do you know about him yeah i thought that was a very interesting selection uh in a good way i didn't think they would take a defensive back that high but they were obviously incredibly high on him uh you know by by trading up to get him um And I can see why when you put the tape on. I'm hesitant to define Hooker as a safety or a cornerback. To me, he's just a defensive
Starting point is 00:13:33 back. And I say that as a compliment because he's incredibly versatile. You know, I thought Iowa lined him up all over the place. He played some strong safety. He played a little linebacker. He even played some corner. I think his strongest suit is when they utilized him as a matchup guy. You know, they put him in the slot a lot. They asked them to take away the biggest weapon on the other team. I did a thread on Twitter on him the other day where they lined him up on Hakeem Butler in the red zone. I mean, Hakeem Butler's six foot five, you know, hookers under six feet. And it was a great rep, by the way. You know, he was able to disrupt Hakeem and got very physical off the snap. So they obviously had a ton of confidence in him.
Starting point is 00:14:10 And for good reason. He was very productive last season. 65 tackles, 4 picks, 7 pass breakups. Again, I think my favorite thing about him is how he's a matchup guy. I think when you speak to a lot of defensive minds in the league today, it's become a matchup league. It's very strategic in terms of I need a player that I can trust to take away the biggest weapon on the other side.
Starting point is 00:14:35 And I think Hooker's a guy who gives them that potential. He's extremely versatile. He's going to come in, and obviously the defensive backroom is quite stacked in terms of having the three corners are locked in with Logan, Ryan, you know, he's going to come in and obviously the defensive backroom is quite stacked, right? In terms of having, you know, the three corners are locked in with Logan Ryan, you know, Adory and Malcolm Butler, and even LaShawn Sims, you know, as the fourth corner is someone they've been quite high on throughout his time. At safety, you know, they re-signed Kenny Vaccaro, who was a fan favorite,
Starting point is 00:14:59 and he was phenomenal last year. It was great to keep him. Kevin Byard's obviously, you know, one of the biggest pieces on this roster. And then they drafted Dane Cookshank quite early last year. So he's joining a very talented, very deep room in the defensive back room. So I'm curious to see how he gets on the field as a rookie. But, you know, one thing somebody once told me is a good general manager doesn't just draft at positions of weakness. You know, he understands how to draft for a need that may be, you know, that may be there two,
Starting point is 00:15:30 three years from now. You know, Malcolm Butler's getting up there in age. He may not be around the entire, you know, five year length of his contract that he signed. You know, Logan Ryan is entering the final year of his contract. I'm sure they'd love to keep him, but they've got a lot of big decisions to make when it's going to come to how they want to distribute their money. You know, with obviously Bayard and Mariota and Henry and Conklin. So a lot of guys coming up there,
Starting point is 00:15:52 you know, even Vaccaro who, you know, I know he just signed a brand new deal, but this is, you know, this is someone hooker who I think down the line is going to pay off, is really going to pay dividends for him,
Starting point is 00:16:02 for them by making this election. We may not see the return immediately on this pick, but he's a very good, very talented player. And I think down the line, he has a very good chance to become a very important player for them. All right, coming up, we will finish up our draft conversation here with the last two picks the Titans made, and then talk a little bit about some of the undrafted free agents that they are reportedly going to sign.
Starting point is 00:16:29 All right. So the fifth round pick DeAndre Walker, the edge guy outside linebacker from the University of Georgia. Here's a guy that kind of went all over the board as far as mock drafts were concerned. Most mock drafts had him going a lot earlier than this. A guy that, I mean, I think the Titans got really good value with, with a fifth-round pick. A guy, I mean, he's obviously, you know, anytime you've got to take a guy in the fifth round, you're going to have some developmental stuff,
Starting point is 00:16:58 that kind of stuff that you're going to have to do with him. But he seems to have some traits, some attributes that project him to where he has a chance to be successful as an edge rusher in the NFL. Yeah, I think, you know, I personally, you're right, in terms of the mock drafts, he was sort of all over the place. I personally had a mid third round grade on him. So I thought it was great for the Titans to go out and grab him in the fifth. When I put the tape on with him, and I think one thing the Titans probably liked, is he plays with great leverage, and he's very good against the run. He was very, very good in the run game, does his job, understands his gap assignment, sets the edge. So I think that's one thing they probably liked.
Starting point is 00:17:38 When a kid is as good of a run defender as he is coming out, you feel good about making a pick, especially that late, that you're going to be able to get them onto the field early if need be, because you know, if a guy coming out of college isn't, isn't equipped to play against the run, then he's going to be in big trouble and it's a big adjustment period. So that's the first thing with him is I think he can get on the field as a
Starting point is 00:18:01 run defender. And then mentioning the traits as a pass rusher, you're absolutely right. I think the traits are there. They're more foundational, I would say, at this point. You know, he kind of hasn't put it all together, but there's a lot of length there. There's some burst off the ball. I've seen, you know, I was impressed with his get-offs. And he's got to put that together. He's going to get to work with some very good people. You know, having a guy like Cameron Wake in the room will be incredibly valuable to him. Having, you know, I'm sure Vrabel will slap on the pads quite a few times and work one-on-one with him. That'll be
Starting point is 00:18:33 very valuable. So I'm excited about him. He's got a great motor as well, by the way, I thought on tape, he never quit, never gave up. I liked seeing that. And he put together some good games. If you watch, I mean, I know you're a Bama guy. If you watched him against Alabama last year, he was quite good in that game. I think I accounted him for at least two sacks in that game. He had a pressure that led to an interception as well early on in the first quarter. I think that was actually in the red zone as well, or two or three real pick due to his pressure. So very, very good, interesting traits here. And I'm excited to see how he works out.
Starting point is 00:19:04 Yeah, so funny, sir. We were talking about this before we came on, but Kaharski had tweeted out that Walker was going to be the pick in the third round, and so I had started writing that for Museum of Miracles, and I had a picture in there of him sacking Tua in that game, and then I forgot
Starting point is 00:19:20 with Nate Davis, you know, that whole thing, and Kaharski talked about that on their show. If you want to go listen to that, you can. But anyway, I wrote Nate Davis up, but I forgot to change the picture, so I put up a picture of Tua getting sacked for no reason. So that was nice. But anyway, all right, so the last pick that the Titans made was the sixth-round pick, David Long, a linebacker from West Virginia.
Starting point is 00:19:45 You talked earlier. This is another of those picks to me. I mean, obviously, again, sixth-round pick, David Long, a linebacker from West Virginia. You talked earlier – this is another of those picks to me. I mean, obviously, again, sixth-round developmental guy, but not a guy that's going to probably be on the field at least on defense this year. Could absolutely play special teams if he makes the roster. But, you know, when you – the Titans are pretty set inside linebacker right now, right? They've got Wesley Woodyard. They've got Rashawn Evans. They've got Rashawn Evans. They've got Jayon Brown.
Starting point is 00:20:09 They're kind of in a position of strength there right now. But, you know, Woodyard, I mean, eventually his play has to fall off. So you're looking at maybe replacing him next year. And then, you know, you need that third guy in there. So a guy that, you know, could maybe develop into a guy that they can help them there. Really similar body type to Jayon Brown. What do you see in David Long? Yeah, quickly before I get to him, it's funny you mentioned that about Woodyard.
Starting point is 00:20:35 I mean, it feels like we've been saying that for years. We've been waiting for his play to drop off for a long time. It just hasn't happened. That's why he's one of my favorite pros in the league. But, yeah, he's also entering the last year of his contract this year i believe so you know that that's something exactly right this long pick could be you know uh you know a long-term thing so to speak uh he's so long this is another guy that i interviewed uh leading up to the senior bowl great kid by the way you know very infectious personality loves football you know we talked for
Starting point is 00:21:02 a very long time about that um when i put the tape on, I think one thing that he could contribute immediately, as you mentioned, is on special teams. I get, you know, he was very active all over the field. You know, he's obviously a big, big player for West Virginia, but he was all over the field for them. Excellent motor, excellent effort. Those are the things that normally translate well to the next level. When you're asking the guy to play special teams, right? You want to see a guy in college who gave a lot of effort, who had a high motor, who made a lot of plays for his team. So he's a good athlete on tape as well. I know some of the measurables or the testing wasn't fully, you know, totally desirable, but I thought on tape he was all over the field. Very good athlete, you know, and he was versatile. They moved him around
Starting point is 00:21:43 a little bit there at West Virginia. Played inside, played outside. He's a good blitzer, something DMPs I'm sure will appreciate. We know P's likes to bring pressure from everywhere, so that's another option there. And he was very productive. We've seen that theme from John Robinson throughout, it seems, the history of all his draft classes,
Starting point is 00:21:59 is he likes to take players who are productive. And Long was incredibly productive at West Virginia. So it was an interesting pick to me in the sense where, I mean, it is the sixth round. I thought linebacker, you know, you rounded off those three guys with probably their strongest position, um, you know, in terms of depth and how many, you know, talented players they had there, but you know, Will Compton is still a free agent. So that's the guy that potentially may not be back. Um, you know, Darren B' roster spot may not be super safe. It's hard to say.
Starting point is 00:22:26 So this is a guy who can come in and maybe be that number four or five, depending on how many they keep. And again, Will Compton was a big special teams guy for them last year. This is a guy long who can potentially fill that spot if they don't bring Will back. Yeah, absolutely. I should have mentioned that from the top. Darren Bates has a potential marijuana charge going against him,
Starting point is 00:22:46 so we'll have to see how all that plays out. The Titans did claim Riley Bullough, I don't know if that's how you say his name, off waivers today from Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So another guy, another inside linebacker guy that will be in the mix there. So that will be something interesting to watch. Like I said, there's not a lot of starting training camp battles, but you'll have roster bubble battles. And like you said, when you get down to guys like Bullough and Long,
Starting point is 00:23:11 and I mean, just all these guys that you'll be watching to see, can they contribute something on special teams, how they can practice that kind of stuff. That'll be the difference between them making the roster or not making the roster. And then last thing, undrafted free agents, the Titans are funny about how they we undrafted free agents, the Titans are funny about their, the, the how they report undrafted free agents heard Mike Keith talking about this
Starting point is 00:23:31 on their podcast the other day. And basically he said, they won't confirm any of this and maybe until the rookie mini camp, which I think is May 10th, but they definitely won't confirm any of it until guys get here and take and pass a physical. So we've seen a lot of names. I mean, these names are coming from, you know, credible sources. You know, so, I mean, we can feel pretty good about the list that we put together.
Starting point is 00:23:58 But of the guys that you've seen reported to the Titans, who are a couple that stand out that, you know, could potentially be in the mix for a roster spot? Yeah, I mean, the first one that jumped out at me was hamp cheevers uh cornerback from boston college um you know i spoke to his agent by the way the night of the draft once it once it was finished and he confirmed for me that he was going to tennessee ham so uh pretty pretty safe to assume that ham will be there um again on t i definitely had a draftable grade on this kid i thought he'd probably end up in around five i think the reason he didn't get drafted was probably due to the weight uh you know he measured in under 170 at the combine that's quite light for a corner obviously so
Starting point is 00:24:37 um you know i'm of the assumption nfl teams probably had a problem with that and that's potentially why he was available after the draft but the tape is pretty good on this kid first of all uh first thing that jumps out at me is ball production again you know i've kind of mentioned it time and time again throughout uh my appearances on this show but for any defensive back you know it's very you know at the league nowadays it's important to take the ball away right offenses are scoring points at a record level now in this league and you need defensive backs that can create turnovers and get your team the ball back. Here's a guy who had seven interceptions last season,
Starting point is 00:25:09 so he was very productive in that category, quickly locates and is able to track the football. I think he has a chance to make this roster. I really do. I think outside of the top four corners, the battle for corner number five and potentially even six is wide open, and he'll certainly have a good chance. He's a very interesting player.
Starting point is 00:25:27 Another guy who stuck out to me was Anthony Ratliff-Williams, receiver they took, sorry, that they undrafted out of North Carolina. He's another guy that I had a draftable grade on. I was actually quite surprised that he was available after the draft. When I put the tape on him, I thought he was a very route runner i thought he was you know pretty polished in some areas i you know he wasn't invited to the combine i thought he was the biggest snub um of all the guys that weren't at the combine i expected him to get drafted you know in the fourth round so again another guy i was surprised good size you know clear six feet tall over 200 pounds um it has a good release gets off the line of scrimmage in a
Starting point is 00:26:04 hurry which is great i think he's still kind you know, raw in a couple areas and there are some things that he needs to work on. Um, but he's, he's a speedy guy as well. He's able to separate. I thought North Carolina asked him to run, uh, you know, very close to a full route tree there. So I thought he did a good job there. You know, I think it's one of the biggest things, uh, coming in for a receiver is sort of uh how different uh the demands could be of the coaching staff but North Carolina asked a lot of him and he did it and he was a tough player as well lots of you know bouncing off tackles on tape lots of yards after catch I got a mean stiff arm by the way I'm sure him and you know he can show Derrick Henry that and and they can compare uh stiff arms
Starting point is 00:26:43 but a good player. He would certainly be when that original list came out, even though it hasn't been confirmed. So you know, the two guys who kind of stuck out to me was Hamptchievers and Anthony Radliff-Williams, because I certainly had early day three grades on both of them. All right. So as we finish up, give me just kind of your overall assessment of this draft class. You know, John Robinson has a team that's nine, seven, three years in a row. You know, seems like they're I mean, they're they're theme.
Starting point is 00:27:15 Their first day back was, you know, going from good to great. And so they obviously had some pieces they needed to fill some places they needed to fill to get to that level. How do you think that John Robinson did with this draft class? I think it's a great class. I really do. I think they hit a home run on just about every pick. Certainly, you know, the first five of them for sure. I think the one thing, if you're, you know, you're, you want to nitpick and you're going to critique, obviously they're not going to get production out of their first round pick to
Starting point is 00:27:44 start the year. You know, that's one thing that some people will say, oh, for a nine and seven football team, you know, they needed a first round pick who can come in and produce right away. But I mean, it's very difficult to pass up the talent of Jeffrey Simmons. You know, you don't draft players just for their rookie season, right? You're trying to build a roster here and you're trying to build a long term winner. So that would maybe be it's certainly not my critique, but that may be one thing that people will point to. But again, you know, Simmons is a phenomenal player. So you have you have to give them an A plus on that pick based on talent alone. You know, the next two picks, A.J. Brown and Nate Davis are two guys I'm expecting to contribute right away.
Starting point is 00:28:22 I think A.J. certainly we'll probably see him starting on day one, bearing injury, of course, but I can't imagine he's not a starting receiver to open the season. And I think Nate Davis has an excellent chance to win the right guard spot. So I think those two will certainly come in and contribute from day one. And then the other guys, Amani Hooker, DeAndre Walker, and David Long are joining some good position rooms, you know, where they have some other players there that they like, but they're certainly talented enough to push for some playing time. You know, I can certainly see a scenario where, you know, a hooker gets himself on the field at some point this season, you know, God forbid there's an injury there. I think you're
Starting point is 00:28:57 comfortable with the depth you have in him and DeAndre, you know, the, the edge room right now, it's sort of, you know, I don't think they have two guys that are going to be playing every single snap, you know, kind of thing. So, you know, with Landry, you know, he's battled injuries the last couple of years. He's obviously going to be their number one rusher, but I don't think they're going to push him and ask him to play, you know, 85 percent of the snaps this year, to give you an example. And with Cameron Wake as well, you know, here's the guy who's obviously done, you know, he's an older guy, but he's done his best work as a spot starter. So I think DeAndre certainly has a chance to come in there and battle for some reps as well. I think it's a great class.
Starting point is 00:29:31 I have a hard time giving them less than an A. Sounds great. All right, well, Justin, we appreciate you joining us as always. Like I said, you can follow him on Twitter at JustinM underscore NFL. Great stuff. And we'll be sure to have you back on throughout the year as we kind of look towards the 2020 draft class. Seems crazy that that's the next upcoming draft, but that's where we are.
Starting point is 00:29:55 So anyway, man, thanks so much for coming on with us tonight. Yeah, pleasure as always, Jimmy. All right, so that'll do it for tonight's show. Terry will be back in the next couple days, so we'll get a show with him getting his thoughts on the last round of the draft. We did a show after night one and night two, so you can go back and listen to those. If you haven't already, again, just subscribe to the podcast, Locked on Titans. You'll get that stuff as soon as it is available.
Starting point is 00:30:21 Thanks so much for listening to Locked on Titans, and we will talk to you again later.

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