Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Catching up on day five of camp

Episode Date: July 31, 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 tonight? Doing pretty good. What's up, man? Not too much. We're through five days of training camp, so kind of a few things that have happened that have played out on the field so far. So we'll kind of take you through those tonight. The Titans are off on Tuesday, so they're getting a little bit of a break.

Breaking it up here at the beginning of training camp. So before we get into all that, we remind you we write for municetyofmiracles.com where we cover the Titans for SB Nation. So you can check out our work there. Plenty of good stuff going up there every single day. So check that out. Follow us on Twitter. I'm at

jmorrismcm. Terry is at tlambertfb. Podcast account at LockedOnTitans. So you can find us at all those places. You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorrismcm. Terry is at tlambertfb. Podcast account, adlockedontitan. So you can find us at all those places. You can subscribe to the podcast so you get the newest episodes whenever they become available. iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, wherever you get podcasts, check us out there. And then before we get started tonight, we're going to tell you about our newest sponsor, and that's Vivid Seats. The Hall of Fame game between the Bears and the Ravens takes place on Thursday,

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All right, so the maybe most interesting storyline of uh titan training camp to this point has been the richard matthews injury uh turns out today richard matthews is on pup has been on pup since the beginning of training camp even though it was not reported at the beginning of training camp that he was on PUP. When I went to practice on Saturday and they handed out a roster and it has active players and the PUP players, Rashard Matthews was listed with the active players, not with the PUP players, but then apparently the roster they handed out today at camp had him with the PUP.

So not that any of this really matters at this point, you know, because being on preseason PUP, they can, you know, a player can come off whenever he's ready. So it's not like the regular season where you have to be on there six weeks and all that kind of stuff. But at the same time, it's just weird. I mean, we've been told, we haven't been told what the injury is, but we have been told that whatever it is, it's minor,

and he should be back, you know, at any time. But now we're working through many camps, and the first basically week of training camp, and he's still not on the field. So I can't really figure out what to make of all this. I hate playing games with injuries. Just tell us what's going on. It's day five of training camp.

What are you gaining by not telling the public, the media, the fans what's going on with Rashard Matthews? I get it. There's a competitive advantage. You don't want to tell teams what's going on. But again, we're a month away from games that matter. This goes back to the summer. We heard about a Rashard Matthews injury, and we were told it wasn't very serious, and now it's here and it's still mattering.

So it's clearly a little more serious than they were letting on. You know, they keep saying it's not going to be a big deal. I don't think it's anything to panic over. It's just a little frustrating, you know. And once again, we're stuck here talking about a richard matthews injury uh and the team really didn't do anything to address the veteran presence in that receiver room so you're looking at cory davis tajay sharp taewon taylor leading that receiver room which is scary to me yeah i mean it's just you know like i said it's strange and to not have addressed the position any more than they did and

john robertson has a plan with with pretty much everything else we've seen from him you see his plan to attack something and you know it may or not may or may not work out but here it's just like they kind of just are continuing to let it roll and just hoping that you know something pops up but i mean at this point i don't know what it's going to be and like i said i don't know we'll see i mean hopefully richard will be back in this couple weeks and this won't be anything that we we have to really worry about but like you said um it's just we're still talking about it at this point and it seems like it would it's kind of unnecessary um all right but the receivers that are there you know there's a lot of guys that are getting a lot of extra reps uh with

richard not being on the field and you know taywan taylor's a guy that you keep's a lot of guys that are getting a lot of extra reps with Rashard not being on the field. And, you know, Taewon Taylor's a guy that you keep hearing a lot of buzz about. You know, he's been lining up outside. We talked a little bit about that last week. But, you know, he's a guy that they're really going to count on either way. Even if both Rashard Matthews and Corey davis were healthy you still need that third guy you know they need taewon to be that guy um but you know he's apparently been you know getting behind the defense making some plays down the field and you know look he's the only guy that

really has that take the top off the defense type speed so good to see him you know stepping up and making some of those plays yeah it's interesting that he's worked exclusively on the outside. I haven't been out there, but word is he's taken 100% of the snaps from the outside and hasn't been working out of the slot. So they're working Corey Davis in the slot and some other guys there. So that fact alone is interesting because the small guy is kind of pigeonholed as the slot receiver uh that's not the case here so a totally new role for for taewon and you know i think it's his best role uh i think he's a guy that that's smaller uh not very strong probably not going to handle

contact too well but he can get down the field so that's a guy that you can account for a guy that you're going to have to rotate a safety over the top four, a guy that you're going to have to pay attention to. And honestly, kind of a decoy to me. I'm not sure that he can win consistently down the field, you know, through contact and stuff like that. But what he can do is open things up for Delaney Walker, Corey Davis, and Rashard Matthews

eventually so um that's been one of the one of the main stories for me uh not what I thought I'd be talking about in week two of Titans camp but yeah Taewon Taylor playing exclusively on the outside that is definitely a curveball yeah and it's just it's you know not knowing what to really expect i mean we think we can go back and look at you know sean mcveigh's offense last year with the rams or you know some shanahan offenses before that places that matt lafleur has been but there's no guarantee that it's going to be exactly like that you know we think we can based on what the guys did here we could take these titans players and put them in these roles but we really don't know and we're not going to know until week one so um that that's that's kind of fun but like you said it's just a different different thing

that we're talking about than what we thought we'd be talking about but you know then you've got guys like deontay burnett and darius shennings and jordan vz i mean guys that are you know getting a little bit of buzz in camp, but all that's fine. They'll probably find one of those guys will probably make the team. You got Michael Caminero who can give you something out of the slot. He's pretty good in the return game as

well. But I don't know. I just feel like the more we talk about those guys, it's just we're going to get excited. One of those guys is going to have a huge preseason game, and everybody's going to get all excited about him, and they're going to be the next whoever.

And I just think that, you know, at the end of the day with this team, you're not going to have a receiver outside of your top three. And, you know, Corey Davis, Richard Matthews, Taewon Taylor. I don't think you're going to have a guy out of those three that's going to make a huge, significant contribution. Maybe Tajay Sharp, but I really don't think. I think once you get past those three receivers, you've got Delaney, you've got Johnnie Smith, you've got the running backs.

I think both Derrick Henry and Deion Lewis are going to be really involved at the backfield. I just don't think there's really room for anybody else. So whoever the back end five and six receivers are on this team, you know, people are going to get excited about them, but I don't think they're going to make any kind of contribution throughout the year unless one of the top three gets hurt, and then I'm not sure that they have the ability to.

Yeah, it seems to happen every year. Like you were saying before we started recording, Trey McBride, Michael Preston, Byron Ely, the list goes on and on. Those camp darlings that you get excited about, they probably aren't going to make the team. A guy like Michael Campanaro is going to make the team over whoever you fall in love with simply because of special teams and his slot work and his punt return ability.

I saw Campanaro was working with the first team punt return unit, so keep that in mind. But, yeah, Titans need somebody to emerge from that fourth or fifth or even sixth spot, and I'm still convinced. The free agent market is nothing right now. I know Des Bryant is out there. I think we're in agreement that that's not going to happen. There's just not a lot else out there.

But when these roster cutdowns hit, a lot is going to be out there. So I think that's where you'll see John Robinson make his move if nobody's emerged there. Yeah, you're absolutely going to see some maneuvering uh from robinson in those you know a couple days after all that happens just because like you said that they need some they need a veteran presence and surely there's going to be somebody that gets cut that you know has been late for a little bit and can come in and help so that'll definitely be a thing to keep an eye on and we've been talking about that really since they you know

didn't didn't really sign a receiver in free agency and then you obviously didn't take one uh in the draft so we've kind of known that this is a spot they were going to be looking at so nothing nothing really different as far as all that's concerned all right coming up we'll talk a little bit about some of the things that have been going on the defensive side of the ball so probably the biggest story of this camp so far has been the play of malcolm butler and you know obviously titans thought very highly of him gave him a big deal uh coming as a free agent and we know the the thing in the super bowl and we still don't know why he didn't play but he didn't play and you know you kind of wonder what that does to a guy's psyche but i mean i

think the biggest thing that for for me on malcolm butler is i mean he's coming in and competing he's in there he's fired up he's getting after it every day and you know you don't you don't always know how a guy's going to react after he gets a big contract and all that kind of stuff but he seems to have brought a fire to the defensive side of the ball, to the secondary in particular. And it looks like it's contagious, which is obviously a good thing. He's brought competition. That group, that cornerback group, is pretty good now. So, I mean, I think Malcolm Butler didn't have an interception today in practice,

but today was probably the first day of the five they've had so far that he didn't have a pick. So, I'm just really excited to see what that group can do. And it's just awesome to see a guy step in and, you know, kind of embrace that role like he has. Yeah, Butler looks like a legitimate superstar. You know, you see all these training camp videos. And even, you know, at recruiting camps,

you'll see seven-on-seven videos of receivers just lighting up corners because they have the advantage there. They can take their time. It's slower developing. That's not the case here. Butler is running the receiver's routes for them. You've seen him tear up Corey Davis a couple times, which is not really what you want to see. But at the same time, it's nice to know that you've got a potential shutdown corner

finally on one side of your defense. Yeah, and that's something that, honestly, the Titans haven't had in how long. I mean, you know, even at the height of Courtland Finnegan, I don't know that he was a shutdown corner. He's a really good player. Yeah. But I don't know that you would have considered him a shut down corner. So it's been

maybe all the way back to Samari Roll since they've had a guy like that. And it's just, I don't know, it's fun. It's fun to see. Like I said, I was up there on Saturday. Harold Landry has been working with the one since Brian Arakpo has got a shoulder injury. It doesn't seem to be

very serious, Mike Braybvel said, either today or yesterday, that he thinks it'll keep Arakpo out for about a week. So Landry's been working with the ones since that happened, and I saw him make a shoulder-dip move around Dennis Kelly. It just blew right by him, and it would have sacked Marcus Mariota if he was able to do that. So good to see that. Good to see him stepping into that role and working with the ones. That's another position where you're still kind of interested in how the depth there is going to play out.

You've got behind the top three of Arakpo, Landry, and Morgan, Derek Morgan, you don't really know what they have behind that. There's been some Sharif Finch talk, some Jamel President talk, I mean guys that are in that have done some good things. But I think we'll learn a little bit more about those guys when the preseason starts here in about a week and a half. Yeah, it's hard not to be over-the-top excited about Harold Landry because I think he brings something to the

titans that arakpo doesn't bring that derrick morgan doesn't bring he brings some juice uh it's not to say that that morgan and arakpo are finished but they're more technicians at this point in their career landry has a fastball and he can turn the corner, he can bend, he can dip. He's got a lot in his repertoire there. He can throw a lot of things at you. So I'm interested to see how quickly they kind of incorporate him into the defense and how many snaps he plays. I want to see if Brian Arakpo's snaps go down. I want to see if everybody can be a little fresher.

That's why we were all over pass rushing at the draft. Getting more multiple there, getting more bodies that can get after the quarterback, that's a proven thing. That's how the Denver Broncos won a Super Bowl with Vaughn Miller and all those pass rushers.

Step in the right direction there for sure this offseason. Another guy that's got a little buzz in camp, Julius Wormsley, the defensive lineman out of Tulane. And, again, we've talked about how there's probably a defensive line roster spot to be had, and so then you're just kind of watching the rotation with those guys. But he's a guy that's got a little bit of buzz, and, you know, again, we'll have to watch these guys in the preseason starts

because we'll – you know, you learn about them in camp. But watching them in the first couple preseason games, these backup guys, you get a good idea of what they can do when the bullets are almost live, so to speak. But, I mean, he's a guy right now that's kind of making a name for himself and could be a hard guy for them to cut. Yeah, defensive line is an opportunity spot. You know, really only five guys there, and the fifth being David King.

I don't know how much they like him, traded for him last year. But there's an opportunity there, and there's some names there that we don't know much about, quite frankly. So that's going to be a spot of interest in all of these preseason games for sure. Yeah, and then the final thing that I have, well, a couple more things. Rashawn Evans has missed the last two days of practice. I had to leave me practice early on Sunday. Titans saying that it's heat-related, but it's just weird for a guy to practice on Saturday

with some kind of cramping or dehydration or whatever it is and then not practice the next two days. But we talked to – going back to the Richard thing, they're going to be kind of weird about injuries. So I guess we'll just have to take it at what it is for right now. And then the last thing tonight, Marcus Mariota's thrown interceptions in the early part of training camp, and a lot's been made of that.

And Terry made the point before we came on that his rookie year, he didn't throw any interceptions at camp. And Pete Prisco said, oh, he's not going to be any good. He's not throwing any interceptions at training camp. He's not taking chances, yada, yada, yada. Now he's throwing too many interceptions at training camp. And I think we talked a little bit about this last week, but just keep in mind, Too many interceptions in training camp. And I think we talked a little bit about this last week, but just keep in mind,

you've got a guy who is in his, what, fourth year, right, at this point, in the league. He's playing under his third different offensive scheme, okay, a brand-new scheme, a scheme that we've heard from multiple people, including Dan Orlovsky, who was in camp with LaFleur and McVay for the Rams last offseason. A scheme that's very detailed, very hard to learn, takes a while. So we try to caution you about this before it all got started, that the offense was going to be behind the defense. It's going to take them a while to get it going, but once it clicks, you'll see it kind of take off pretty quickly. So that's the point that we're in. And we talked again about, you know, at the top too with the receivers.

You know, you've got Rashard Matthews, your only veteran receiver not out there. So now you're working with a bunch of guys that Mariota has really not worked with much. I mean, honestly, probably Taewon Taylor is the guy that he's worked with the most at this point because he's the only guy that was healthy all year last year. You know, you've got Corey Davis. You've got TyJay Sharp who missed last year. So, I mean, I guess they worked together two years ago, Mario and Sharp did.

But then you've got a bunch of new guys. So, I would just say, I mean, no, it's not fantastic that he's throwing interceptions. You never want that. But for people to be panicked at this point about it, it's kind of silly in my opinion because we we talked about all this we knew it was going to take a while for this it's a it's a new office and all that kind of stuff and just with a guy a bunch of guys he's unfamiliar with now if we're still having this conversation you know around the

third preseason game then to me it it raises more of a red flag but i don't know i'm just not worried about it at all right now no No, I'm not either. I 100% agree with everything you said. Totally new offense once again for Mariota. This will be his third offense he's already learned. Like you said, there's no continuity there with the receivers. Receivers seem to be really up and down. You saw that one highlight of Malcolm Butler getting all of Corey Davis there,

and Davis seemed to kind of telegraph his route there. So a lot of moving parts here, but like you were saying, Dan Orlovsky told us on this podcast, he said it's going to take a minute. He said it's going to take a few practices. It's going to be ugly. Don't panic. Stick with him. He's going to take a minute. He said it's going to take a few practices. It's going to be ugly. Don't panic. Stick with him. He's going to figure it out.

He said the same thing happened to Jared Goff, and then all of a sudden it started clicking. It's all going to come with time. You want that continuity. You want Rashard Matthews back. That's why this is kind of a big deal to get your number two receiver back. So I'm not panicking. I don't think any of you should.

But like Jimmy said, if it links, of course, we can have a conversation about it. But I think it's going to take most of the preseason to figure out. And the other thing that I would say is keep in mind the defensive backs he's throwing against this year versus his rookie year when he wasn't throwing picks. You know, Parrish Cox and Blee Ray Wilson and guys like that, they were running out there at that point.

So, I mean, it's just that it's a better group and all that kind of stuff. So, you know, it's something to monitor, sure, but I just think that they're at a point now where they're still installing the offense. Everything's still, you know, getting familiar. And once it does, I think you're going to see the markets that we saw two years ago instead of the one that we saw last year. I think there's a lot of different reasons for

that. A lot of that stuff we talked about. Anything else, Terry, we need to hit tonight before we get out? That's all I got. I guess that'll do it for tonight. We thank you for listening. Again, subscribe to the podcast at Locked on Titans, wherever you get your podcasts. You can check us out there.

You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorrismcm. Terry's at tlambertfb. And remember, you've got to meet us at miracles.com. We'll have a ton of stuff going up there every day. So for Terry, this is Jimmy saying thanks for listening, and we will talk to you again later this week.