Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Colts hire Reich; Titans drafting a TE?

Episode Date: February 12, 2018

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Welcome in to another edition of Locked on Titans. I'm your host, Jimmy Morris, joined as always by Terry Lambert. Terry, how are you tonight? Doing pretty good. What's going on, man? Not too much. First Sunday without football in a while, according to Sunday night. So that's never fun, but we'll try to do our best to help you get through this time between now and when the football season starts off again and luckily we have you know with the nfl now it's almost like there is no off season there's something they do

a good job of like every month or so uh you're finding a way to draw us in you've got the combine you've got the schedule release you've got the draft free agency i mean there's all this stuff in training camps opening and otas and all that stuff that stuff. It's spread out throughout the year, so it's pretty good of keeping us engaged year-round. So we'll be around for all that. Before we start, we write for museummiracles.com so you can check us out there, covering

the Titans for SB Nation. Follow us on Twitter. Follow the podcast account at LockedOnTitans. Like I said, we'll be doing some cool stuff from there. When we do Q&A stuff, we'll do it from that account, so follow that. You can also follow us individually. I'm at jmorrismcm. Terry is at tlambertfb.

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All right, so tonight we've got three topics we're going to talk about. We're going to start off with talking about the Colts and their new coach. We're going to talk a little bit about the Jimmy Garoppolo contract and what that could possibly mean for Marcus Mariota. And then we're going to get into a little bit of mock draft and just kind of general draft conversation surrounding the titans so the colts announced today that they are hiring frank reich to be their new head coach obviously we know the what happened you know last week with josh mcdaniels was coming and then he backed out and all that stuff um we had kind of said at the time that we hoped that frank reich wouldn't be their guy now part of that was because we had developed a hope around here that d filippo who was the quarterback's coach in philadelphia

would come to the titans meet the offensive coordinator and so our fear was that reich would get hired as the head coach in indianapolis and that d fililippo would go with him. Well, between now and the last time we recorded, DeFilippo took the OC job in Minnesota. So obviously he won't be joining Frank Reich in Indianapolis. But for me, any guys on that Eagle staff, really in general, but especially on the offense, this was all the work they were doing you saw what they were able to do with that offense transitioning and transitioning it from carson wentz to nick foals and just how well both of those guys played um we didn't really want anybody from that that offensive staff ending up in indianapolis that's what's happened now and honestly there's a lot we don't know about frank reich um it was the oc i don't think he

called plays uh they know peterson called the plays in philadelphia lot we don't know about Frank Reich. It was the OC. I don't think he called plays. I think Doug Peterson called the plays in Philadelphia. So we don't know as much about that. But we do know that he was on a staff that was good at developing quarterbacks, used analytics in a very smart way, very aggressive. All the kind of things that we were looking for for the Titans coach. Now the Colts have a similar guy. So, you know, I don't know. What do you think?

Is this better or worse for, we'll look at it from the Titans coach. Now the Colts have a similar guy. So, you know, I don't know. What do you think? Is this better or worse for, we'll look at it from the Titans perspective, McDaniels versus Frank Reich? It's tough to say. I think you nailed it when you said we don't know a lot about this guy. I think he was the best option on the board for the Colts at this point. You know, you saw Dan Campbell's name being tossed into the mix. I definitely think they got the best candidate on their board.

Again, it's hard to separate out why were the Eagles successful? Was it Doug Peterson's play calling? Was it him running the offense? Was it DeFilippo working with Wentz and Foles? What was his role in this? Kind of a similar thing to LeFleur on our side.

Just a lot of unknown here. So I think they did as best as they could. I think McDaniels is probably the guy I would prefer here. But all things considered, I think the Colts had a home run here. Obviously the best they could have gotten at this point with how things went down. So we'll see about Andrew Luck, though. That's the linchpin in all this. Is he going to come back healthy?

If he doesn't, then all this is for naught because the Colts have nothing behind them except for Jacoby Brissett, who's proven to be a bottom-end starter at best. So I think it might not matter if Andrew Luck doesn't come back, and that's still a huge question mark. Yeah, like you said, that's the biggest thing, and I do agree that at this point in the process, the Colts weren't going to do any better than Frank Reich, and so good for them, but it's not necessarily what we wanted.

But, yeah, I mean, all eyes are going to be on Andrew Luck. And, you know, it's mixed reports on what's actually going on with his shoulder. You know, I think the report was from Chris Mortensen that there was concern that he was going to need another surgery. Ballard said to the Colts GM last week that he's not going to need another surgery, that he hadn't thrown yet, but he's still progressing like they had hoped and all that stuff. So, I mean, that's the key thing to watch now because if he's not back, I mean, I guess they've got a draft quarterback.

I don't know that they want to really invest in Jacoby Brissett, make him the franchise guy. We'll kind of keep an eye on how all that breaks down. But, yeah, I mean, it's Andrew Luck now that we're all going to be keeping an eye on. And we'll watch his staff, who he hires and all that kind of stuff. That's always interesting to know. But, again, you know, we can talk about offensive coordinators, defensive coordinators. They make the biggest impact. But position coaches, I mean, we just never really know really how much of an impact those guys have.

So, anyway, you know, good for the Colts. And, like you said, said I mean I think they did the best that they were going to do at at this juncture and quite honestly I mean I think they ended up like you said hitting a home run because I think a lot of teams probably you know Frank Gregg wasn't really mentioned in a lot of in a lot of conversations which was kind of weird to me but I mean he seems like a guy that was an up-and-coming name and was well positioned for a guy that you know would be a name that comes up just when you talk about looking at office coordinators who had success and all that kind of stuff so um anyway so

we'll obviously monitor all of that uh coming up we'll talk a little bit about garoppolo's contract and what that might mean for marcus mariotta okay so jimmy garoppolo signs a contract that makes him the highest paid player in the nfl towards the end of the week last week um you know and you're talking about a guy who has made seven nfl stars now granted he won all seven of them uh so that that's obviously a good thing but as far as you know body of work there's just not a whole lot we know about this guy, about what he's going to bring to the table when teams have a lot of film on him and just when all the pressure is on him to be the man. So that's obviously – and you have those questions surrounding anybody really when they get paid and how they're going to react to that. But I think especially in this scenario um there's a lot of unknown now it makes sense they gave him a five-year deal

137.5 million dollars is obviously you know the the headline there um but we know that in the nfl it's really only the guaranteed money that that matters but i mean he got 86.4 million guaranteed so the 49ers i was convinced they've got their guy. But, I mean, as far as for the Titans, the conversation now turns to Marcus Mariota's contract. Now, obviously, the Titans don't have to do anything with Mariota. They've still got really two more years before they have to do anything with him. They have, I think sometime in May, sometime this spring, they have to decide if they're going to pick up his fifth-year option or not. They will absolutely do that.

That will be guaranteed, and that's the same deal that the Jaguars made with Blake Bortles, the decision they made this time last year because Bortles was in the draft ahead of Mariota. So whenever you make that decision, that fifth year becomes fully guaranteed you can still negotiate a contract at that point but like the number for Bortles in 2018 is 19 million I would assume Mario's would be a little bit higher I don't know what the exact number will be but I mean it goes up a little bit every year so you know that that's that's kind of what the decision of times I'll be looking at this year but they're going to do that I don't think there's any doubt about that. And then at some point, they'll probably try to negotiate a deal with him.

The problem with that being, number one, you've got Garoppolo who gets all this money. Kirk Cousins is a free agent. He's going to be on the open market, a point that Terry had made before we got started. So obviously he's going to get more because you're going to have teams bidding, you know, for him. So, you know, what do you think? Will the Titans be wise to wait another year, kind of see how things go with Marcus? Like I said, I mean, I think they're obviously going to pick up his option. But do you think they'd be wise to wait before they try to negotiate a long

term deal with him? Or should they go ahead and try to get it done now, thinking maybe they could, I don't know, save a little money if he, you know, if you think he's going to have just a career year next year, maybe if you go ahead and lock him up now, you can save a little money, but I don't even know if that's how it works in the NFL. If you asked me that question five months ago, I said sign him, go ahead and get it done.

But there's just that little bit of doubt now, and let me be clear, I think he's totally the answer. He's going to lead this franchise to great places. But you're coming off a terrible season. And we all think it was Mike Malarkey's fault and Terry Robiskie's fault. But he kind of needs to go prove that on the field before I go invest whatever, $30 million a year it's going to be in him. So I don't know. It's an interesting situation.

The Garoppolo deal is crazy. Signing him after seven games. I know he showed all this potential, and he did his damage through the air. It's not like Robert Griffin or Colin Kaepernick where they kind of blazed onto the scene using the read option and stuff like that. No, this guy won through the air. So that's still a risk, though. You've only seen him play seven or less than that if you're the 49ers. I think he played five games or six games, something like that.

But, yeah, all this impacts Mariota. The price tags are just going up. It doesn't matter as long as you're kind of in that middle tier. You're going to become the highest paid player in the league. It's kind of crazy. It's really going to handicap

the salary cap for John Robinson when this deal gets done. You're going to have just Marcus Mariota sucking $20 million away from your cap instead of whatever he's making now, $4 million, $5 million. So the NFL probably needs to look into doing something about that. It's kind of getting out of control.

Yeah, and then the other conversation obviously here is James Winston. Same draft as Marcus Mariota was the first pick. Mariota was the second. And so the Buccaneers, I'm sure, are having very similar conversations about Winston at this point. I would say that the jury is – I think that there's still a lot of questions surrounding both guys. Now, the big difference is you know what you have in Marcus as far as character is concerned and all that kind of stuff. You don't have any of those kind of concerns with Marcus. So I guess that's a good thing for the Titans

and not something that they have to worry about. But I wonder how much those two teams are going to be watching each other to see what happens there because right now, again, I think that there's just as many questions with each guy as far as their on-the-field play. Both guys have shown flashes of being really good, and both guys have struggled for some pretty long stretches. So I think that those are two guys that we know they're always going to be compared to one another because they were the first and second pick in the draft. But as far as contract situation is concerned,

especially with the second deal for both guys, it'll be interesting to see who goes first there because that also could go a pretty long ways in determining what the other guy gets. Yeah, and I think you said it. It comes down to character. I'd much rather put my franchise in the hands of Marcus Marietta than Jameis Winston.

Just knowing Jameis' history and the immaturity there, you don't have to worry about Marcus Mariota eating Ws off his hands and putting them in speeches or anything like that. The numbers have been good for Winston, probably better than Marcus' this past year. But it's just always that drawback with Jameis, right? With the turnovers, you just wonder if he'll ever get over that hump. So with Marcus, at least you've seen that really high level of play in 2016.

You saw him go on a tear and just rip apart secondary. So you want to see Marcus play in this this offense you think he can get back to that but it's one of those things you have to see it to believe it first yeah and so obviously again that's something else that we'll keep an eye on and and i just as far as what i think is going to happen like i said i don't think there's any doubt they pick up his option uh when that time comes but i'd be surprised if they do a long-term deal with him before the season starts i just think that there's some things they're going to want to see you got a new staff and all that kind of stuff and there's no pressure to get it done um i mean you know i'm sure marcus and his agent would like for it to be done but as far as from the titan standpoint

there's no there's no rush to get it done um they they've got him for two more years regardless then you can franchise them and all that stuff when that comes along. That's really not a place you necessarily want to get to. But I just think that they'll kind of let this year play out, see what happens, and then you go from there. And if that ends up costing you a little bit more money long-term, whatever. You know, at that point, then you have your answer. You know he's a superstar, and so you're willing to pay out a little bit more money

because you know you've got your guy. So that's kind of how I see this playing out is they pick up his option, and then they let him play out this year and just kind of see where it goes from there. Okay, and then finally for tonight, a little bit of draft talk. You know, we saw McShay's first or second mock last week. I can't remember, but he had the Titans taking a tight end in the first round, which I just thought was utterly ridiculous. Seems like a complete mail-in job on mcshay's part um but then we've seen a couple other a couple other mock drafts that have the titans taking a running or a tight

end high i think you're talking about one that you saw earlier today um where the titans took a tight end in the second round and i mean we talked about this a little bit before we got on but i just it doesn't make any sense to me i don't see any scenario where the titans are investing that high of a pick in a position where they're in pretty good shape i mean delaney walker still a good player sure he is on the the down the downside of his career um i would argue that he wasn't as good last year as he was the couple prior years. I think he still put up pretty good numbers, but, I mean, we can just remember passes he dropped that hadn't really happened,

at least since he got here. I know he had some problems with some drops in San Francisco, maybe in his first year here. But he had become really rock solid and consistent. And he had a couple issues this year. But still, I mean, you'll take him over, you know, what, 80% of the tight ends in the nfl maybe more than that um they drafted johnny smith when the fourth round last year and that's not a really ridiculously high pick but i mean that's a guy that you expect

to be able to come in and play i thought john who showed some some really good play last year and then there are obviously some areas he struggled i don't think he blocked probably as well as they hope that he did as they hope that he would but i don't know i mean am i crazy here that i don't see the titans taking a tight end in the first two days of the draft no you're not crazy and i think what's happening here is you're seeing mock drafters and yeah i'm probably guilty guilty of this too you look at a position you see you've got an old player. You know the Titans have historically loved tight ends, at least over the past couple of seasons.

So that seems like a logical pick, but it's just not going to happen. You know, they've already got plenty on the roster. They drafted Jonu Smith. Delaney is not going anywhere, at least for a couple of years, unless he totally falls off the face of the planet next season. So I just don't see it at all. I know tight ends has kind of become the new sexy weapon of the NFL. I just can't see it.

You know, you've got other needs. You've got pass rushing needs. You've got needs on the offensive line, running back. You know, you can always add another corner. You can always add another safety. You don't know what's going to happen with Avery Williamson in free agency. I just see so many other needs. And then I'm looking at

this mock draft on NFL.com. It's a three-rounder, and it's got the Titans taking Mike Gusecki, the tight end from Penn State, at 57 overall, and passing on a guard, Isaiah Wynn out of Georgia, Deshaun Hand, the defensive lineman out of Alabama, passing on Tavares McFadden, the corner out of Florida State.

So I just don't understand the thought process there. You know, I think we've all kind of assumed that this is going to be a defensive draft after last season. So taking tight end, which is not a position of importance to me, would, yeah, that would make me mad. I mean, let's think about it this way. What positions would you be shocked to see them take in the first round? I mean, I think we'd say quarterback, obviously.

Tight end, I think, would be maybe second on the list. I mean, what other position would you be more shocked? I mean, obviously outside of quarterback or tackle. We'll put tackle in front of tight end. But outside of quarterback and tackle, I think tight end would probably be the third most surprising first-round pick for me. Yeah, I'm with that. I just don't see the

need there and i just i don't see where one would come in and play you know are you gonna draft a guy to play over johnny smith a guy that you spent a day to pick on i just i mean jono didn't like the world on fire but he showed enough to me to to warrant the number two tight end roll going forward so i just it doesn't make much sense to take him off the field and to pass on a clear area of need. Especially when they have needs. I mean, we're talking about, you know, they're going to need an interior offensive lineman. They're going to need a pass rusher.

They're going to need maybe an inside linebacker, depending on what happens with Avery Williamson in free agency. I still think they need a corner. I know I think that's a little bit more of a need than you do. But, I mean, even still, I mean, all those things, I think, easily rank ahead of tight ends. So it's just – I don't know. And I don't know if it's just still – like you said,

it's a little bit of lazy mock drafting, which, again, I think we can all – if we're going to put out a mock draft, you can't be an expert on every team. At least, you know, know i mean some people can and you know you would think mcshay of all people would be i mean he has the time that this is it's his job to to put in that so i mean you know you're a little bit surprised when when those guys do it but when you get to get some random person on the internet doing a mock i mean you don't expect them to know the ins and outs of every team especially not you know like we do with the titans but i don't know. I just can't see that happening.

And, again, we'll know a lot more about all this stuff once we get through free agency. And so any of these conversations that we have between now and then are really almost pointless because they'll feel a need or two that they'll take off the board in free agency, and then we'll still have some other question marks. Yeah, and just keep in mind that, you know, McShay and Kuyper, they're looking for draft slots. You know, they're looking to match up a player with draft slots right now. They're not necessarily looking to fit teams.

So getting mad over, you know, them slotting Dallas Goedert with the Titans right now, probably not something that we should do. They're more so trying to set a level of expectation for where these prospects are going to go. Yeah, and, you know, I mean, they have, like I said, they should be putting more time in. But at the end of the day, they know as much about what these franchises are going to do as we do. I mean, you know, they spend the time and evaluate these guys, and like i said they put more more legwork into that stuff than i'm

going to but it never fails that somebody goes top five at least top 10 in the draft that nobody's all coming you know you see it you see it year in year out so that's what makes the draft so fun in my opinion uh just all the craziness that happens up top the traits and all that kind of stuff so that's what makes it so much fun to talk about and you know that's that's why we spend you know months talking about something that we have no idea how it's actually going to play out so anyway we'll be on that and like i said we got the combine coming up in in a little bit over a week and so we'll get some at least some more stuff to talk about there uh we'll hear from john robinson and mike vrabel there which will probably be the next time that they'll you

know really talk to the media so um we'll keep an eye on that anything else we need to hit tonight i think we got it all all right so that'll do it for tonight uh we are working on getting dan orlovsky on so keep an eye out for that He'll be on sometime in the next couple of days. He's really, really good. You're really going to want to hear him when he's here. That'll be good when we get him on.

Like I said, that should be in the next couple of days. Between now and then, you should check out musicseedmiracles.com. We'll have a lot more stuff about this. Like I said, subscribe to the podcast Locked on Titans, wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on Twitter, at jmorrismcm, at TLambertFB, and the podcast, at Locked on Titans.

For Terry, this is Jimmy saying thanks for listening, and we will talk to you later this week.