Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Final notes before the NFL Draft

Episode Date: April 25, 2018

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Locked On Titans do, which is a good thing. And we'll get into that a little bit more as we go through the podcast tonight. Before we do that, I want to remind you that we write for MusicCityMiracles.com, covering the Titans for SB Nation, so you can check us out there. Follow us on Twitter, I'm at jmorsemcm, Terry's at tlambertfb, podcast account at LockedOnTitans. You can subscribe to the podcast,

iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, wherever you get podcasts, so check us out there. Like I said, it's draft week. And I've been writing at musicmiracles.com since 2006. And just offhand, before we started, we were kind of talking about how many times the Titans have picked outside of the top 15 in that time period. And it's been four or five. So this is uncharted territory for us because even last year,

obviously the Titans had 18 based on what they did in the regular season, but they had the Rams pick in the first round, so they had fives when they took Corey Davis. So even last year when they were successful, they still had an early pick. So it's a different world that we're living in right now. It's a good thing, obviously, if you're picking later in the draft. Obviously that means your team was more successful so um hopefully this is something that we have to get used to

going forward uh success on the field so that'd be nice but it makes talking about the draft and predicting who they're going to pick and evaluating guys they're going to be there and all that kind of stuff a little bit more complicated so it's been a different process this time going through it. But like I said, it's a good problem to have. Have you ever been less confident? I mean, I'm clueless. I don't – it seemed like we had a good idea about Josh Sweat. But now, you know, you hear John Robinson's comments the other day with the press conference, and it sounds like he's wanting to move back.

And you've got the thing coming out with Josh Sweat with the medical concerns. And, you know, take that with a grain of salt. It is draft week, so general rule of thumb is to not believe anything until Thursday. But consider that and consider falling down the board a little bit due to medicals. And I don't know where the Titans a little bit due to medicals. I don't know where the Titans are going to go with pick 25. I just don't know. It feels strange.

Just looking around the Internet today, you've got mock drafters giving them centers and pass rushers. Harold Landry is still popping up on the board. So Sam Hubbard is still in play. It just seems totally, totally wide open and really never been through a draft season like this. Yeah, and last year, I mean, we had a lot of talk about, like, Marshawn Lattimore, for instance, you know, in the mix at five. And we thought that was a possibility.

But what we did know last year was that they were going to come out of the first round with a receiver and a corner. I mean, that was pretty possibility but what we did know last year was that they were going to come out of the first round with a receiver in a corner i mean that that was a pretty pretty much a given now i mean again obviously if at 18 there had been some crazy value that would have fallen there it was really high on their board they probably could have gone a different direction than adore jackson was who they ended up picking at 18 but we we knew they had two huge needs last year they don't have i mean outside of edge rusher they don't have a glaring need this year. So that obviously complicates the conversation a little bit. And like you said, I mean, it's just you see these guys all over the boards.

And there was the reports last week that Harold Landry was rising up boards. And we've been talking about really since before the combine. rising up boards. And we've been talking about really since before the combine. We said that if Harold Landry went to the combine and tested well, there was no way he was going to be there at 25. And like I said last week, everybody's like, oh, he's rising up boards. Well, no, he's not.

The draft evaluators are just catching up to where NFL teams have been on him all along. Because, I mean, I firmly believe, and you can tell me if you feel differently here but i firmly believe that the players don't rise rapidly rise up boards this time of year um i mean i think the combine can move the needle a little bit pro day sure all that kind of stuff but especially by you know the beginning of april teams pretty much have their board set now you know if they find out something medical from the combine or a drug test or you know whatever there's obviously those types of things that they can affect where a guy is but it's not like there are nfl draft evaluators that are sitting in a room in april and all of a sudden they're like oh my gosh this guy looks really good on film he can actually play so whenever you hear that kind of stuff, to me it's just people that are trying to evaluate guys,

whether it be on Twitter or whatever it is, it's those guys catching up to where NFL teams already are. Yeah, I think the senior bowl can give you a boost, and I think the combine can really open some eyes if you go out there and put together one of those classic workout warrior type performances. I think that can shoot you up a board. But for the most part, the hay's in the barn. I mean, these scouting departments start in May. You know, this draft will end.

They'll take a week off, if that, and they'll start doing work on the next class. And they'll have a board set, and they'll start doing work on the next class and they'll have a board set and and they'll uh rearrange through the fall as as new tape arrives but uh everything's ready to go in january so yeah i think it's just the media having this idea of where a player is slated uh and then they're being told hey you're wrong. We've got a player that's going to go here instead of where you've got him. So, you know, like Ian Rappaport last week, you said it. Harold Landry is rising up draft boards. No, he's not.

He was never rising up draft boards. He's always been there. So the only question he had to answer was medical. It seemed like he did that at the combine. So, yeah, it's always funny this time of year. And so, yeah, it's always funny this time of year. But I do think there's some legitimacy to some combine risers and some senior bowl risers. But outside of that, he's in the barn.

Yeah, absolutely. And so, I mean, you mentioned the stuff on sweat, the medical stuff that has come out over the last couple of days, the issue with his knee. But, again, that's not new. So, I mean, I guess, you know, if it was worse with the combine last couple of days uh the issue with his knee but again that's not new so i i mean i guess you know if it was worse at the combine than what teams expected it to be but that's not information i don't think that's the last couple of days has become available to them uh layton van der

esch is the other guy that there's been some rumblings of um you know him having some type of medical issue uh i think mayock or this week speculated on his conference call that it's a cervical issue. But like, you know, we don't we don't know these things for sure. you know i guess reportedly the visit that vanderheide was supposed to have here because they thought he'd be off the board 25 i mean they brought in some guys that are not gonna be on the board at 25 so maybe there's something to that but like you said it's just so hard right now to to discern what is true and what isn't and we see it every year i mean there's a guy that slides down the you know the the draft boards because there's some type of medical thing that the general public doesn't know about that teams know about so i mean that guy could be van der esch this year sure but i just i don't know i'm just not sure

i don't know there's nothing like concrete enough at this point for me to to be confident that that that's what's going to happen and again like, like you said, there's just stuff. There's stuff putting out. Teams are putting out stuff because they want a guy to fall to them. Agents are putting out stuff because they want their guy to go higher or they're putting out something about another player at the same position so that their guy will go over that guy. I mean, there's just all kinds of different stuff that's floating around right now. And like you said, it's just so hard to tell.

So all this stuff is just kind of noise, really, until Thursday, and then we kind of see what happens. But you mentioned before we jumped on here that the Vegas over-under for Trey, what did you say, like seven and a half? Seven and a half, yeah. In the first round. So, I mean, there's going to be some crazy stuff that happens. And so that's

all that always makes it more exciting and you know makes it fun to watch and a lot of it will depend on you know where those quarterbacks go early in draft yeah and i think that's where we can start talking about the titans trading down uh you get to that sixth uh quarterback off the board uh you start talking about mason rudolph there's a player that could quarterback off the board. You start talking about Mason Rudolph. There's a player that could play into the Titans draft plan. The Titans are going to take him, obviously. But someone could want to come up and get him, get that fifth-year option, secure that quarterback without paying the premium of a top-five pick.

There's an option for the Titans to trade down. It's so hard to pinpoint positional players. It seems like we try to do that every year. You just don't know what teams are going to like. But with quarterbacks, you kind of have an idea. You saw it with, I believe, Teddy Bridgewater a couple years ago. So stuff like that happens. It's a routine thing.

years ago. Stuff like that happens. It's a routine thing. That could be where the Titans get their extra picks from if they go that route. Look, you listen to John Robinson and he's all about the picks. We know that.

He wants his draft capital. He wants to be able to maneuver around and get the guys he wants. If this deal with Sweat is legit and he's going to go in the second round, you don't have to spend pick 25 on him, and the Titans feel comfortable enough leaving him on the board, I think that's an avenue he's going to explore. So real quick on Josh Sweat, he blew out his left knee a couple years ago,

and apparently Florida State held him out of practices and didn't let him practice every day. So that's where the concern is coming from. But, again, consider the time and consider it's draft week. Why have we not heard this before? So it just sounds like someone on the team, maybe even like the Titans, that are just kind of trying to push him down the board. Yeah, like you said, Mason Rudolph, Lamar Jackson even.

I mean, I think the buzz on him now is that he's going to go in the top 20 but if those guys start to come down the board i mean i think mason rudolph will be there but you know if one of those two guys is still there at 25 then that gives like you said if it's the giants if it takes saquon barkley at two then you know they may want a guy and like you said that fifth year option is so valuable especially when it comes to quarterbacks um you just get that extra year to evaluate a guy so yeah i think that's absolutely in play and and like i mean i said last week and you know when you hear john robinson talk he sounds different when he's talking about picking up extra picks i think he

likes to have that he talks about you about the draft currency all the time. So I think in an ideal world, unless there's probably two or three players that he has kind of circled, that if one of these guys is there, we're going to take him. We think he's going to go top 20, but if he slides to us, we'll be happy to take him. Outside of that, if all those guys are gone, then I think he'd be perfectly happy to trade down, pick up a two and a three or whatever it would be, depending on how far he's going to move down to get the extra picks, and then you can kind of build your team that way.

I think it's worth the conversation as far as how far would they be willing to trade down. We were kind of talking about that before we came on i i wouldn't think he'd be willing to go much much lower than the top 10 of the second round like you said i mean the giants for instance are just a team that makes a lot of sense they have the second pick of the second round um obviously after having picked number two so they they they need a quarterback now that i don't know if they realize that or not but even if they think eli still got something left they need their guy for the future they need to start you know getting him embedded in the system so that makes a lot of sense and you

know again that that wouldn't be too far to move but i don't think he wants to go much further down so anyway keep an eye on all that coming, we will give kind of our final predictions as far as what we think is going to happen on Thursday night. All right, so I will start off here. I'm going with Josh Sweat. I think that, you know, obviously the Titans have had him in. They've shown some interest in him. I think that when you look at what he was able to do in college,

they obviously used him a bunch of different ways in that Florida State defense and maybe not optimally all the time. Definitely differently than what the Titans would use him for if they got him here. I just think the ceiling on him is so high. He's an athletic freak. We've talked a lot about that and that's what you need at that position you want obviously some numbers and that kind of stuff too but you want an athlete and he's definitely that so i just think he's a guy that makes a lot of sense they need edge rusher more than anything else a lot more than anything else at this point and he's a guy that has has the ability to come in and make an immediate impact

and make a dramatic immediate impact. The other guy that you're starting to see a little bit of buzz, I'm starting to see that Sam Hubbard is who we're talking about here. And he's obviously, he was mentioned early in the process especially. Now it kind of has gone along. He's gone down the big boards's you know gone down these the big boards that you see so you're not seeing a lot of buzz for him at 25 but i mean if you're choosing between those two guys give me the guy that has the higher ceiling give me the guy that's

that's a ton more athletic um that that's that's what i would want that's what i hope that they would be willing to do and i'll say this if sam hubbard is still available in the second round even if they took josh sweat in the first round i'd be okay with that we've talked a lot about how you've got a rack poe and morgan in the final years of their deal and obviously guys that have been in the league for a long time so probably in the twilight of their careers you're going to have to replace both of them over the next couple of years i wouldn't be upset if they went with two edge guys in the first two rounds because i think that is a need I think They get help them in 2018. I think it would definitely be beneficial in 2019, but at 25 give me Josh sweat. I

Agree if they stay at 25, I'll predict a trade I'll predict a trade back And then I'll predict I don't know where I don't know what pick they're gonna end up with but I think Sam Hubbard is a guy that they're going to zero in on. Sweat might still be in play. It depends on the medicals and all that, like we've already touched on.

There's too many ties there. Position of need. A guy that you can come in and groom. You don't necessarily need him every snap of this season. I would not like it, just to go on the record

there. I'm pro-Josh Sweat there. It just doesn't seem like John Robinson values athleticism that much. He values more production. We've only seen one true edge pick outside of a couple eight-rounders, and that was, of course, Kevin Dodd.

And he wasn't the most athletic guy, but he got home to the quarterback a bunch his senior year at Clemson. So, yeah, I think they do move. I don't know with who. Indianapolis is a team with a lot of picks. If they see a guy sitting at 25 that they want to come up and get, that could happen. You've already touched on the Giants. Cleveland could move back up if they see a guy.

It's really hard to project, but I do think John Robinson's going to try. But it's funny. I felt a lot better about just saying Josh Sweat last week than I do right now. It seems a lot better about just saying Josh Sweat last week than I do right now. It seems a lot more open. So I guess John Robinson did his job with his press conference on Monday. Yeah, absolutely. And, again, I'm with you. I mean, I think the best-case scenario is they are able to trade down.

But it's just so hard. It's so hard to predict that and so hard to know who will be there and all that kind of stuff. What we're both still saying is they're not going to take a tight end at 25. No, no. And it's still – there's still some buzz out there about that among the different draft quote analysts. So we'll see. But if you see us disappear off of social media and the podcast and musicmiracles.com, If we shut all that down, Titans take a tight end at 25,

and we're just really, really wrong. But I just can't see it, man. And it's been a theme that we've seen as we've gone, I mean, really from the beginning of this whole process on. Because, I mean, Kuyper, was it Kuyper or McShay won? Both of them. I mean, yeah. I mean, they've given, I mean, from start to finish,

they've given them a tight end and different guys even at 25. But that's not going to happen. That's my other, you know, quote, bold prediction of this whole thing is that, I don't even know if they'll take a tight end in this draft, but it's definitely not going to be at 25. So, yeah, anyways, I mean, you know, like I said, it's a different world that we're living in, obviously one that we hope to stay in for a while

because it means your team's having success. But to talk about picks 25 down, it means you went to a playoff game, it means you won a playoff game, and so that's obviously a good thing. But it just makes the conversation leading up to it so much harder to really pin down. And again, the other thing too is John Robinson has done a really good job with this roster of not having any glaring holes outside of edge rusher. We've talked about this a lot too, but you don't fix edge rusher in free agency. They brought in Brian Reichwald as a free agent, but he had a lot of brian brian right was a free agent but he had a lot of injury concern so that was kind of the reason he hit the market that's worked out very

well for them obviously but you know outside of a guy that has some type of question marks you don't find those guys there so you have to find them in the draft and they've just they've had a bunch of needs the last few years and so that that they've gone different a different direction that's kind of why they're left with that but it's a good place for the titans to be and like i said it does make the the draft season a little bit more boring just because you don't really know what to talk about and you don't know how it's going to play out but i'll take that over you know having a perennial top 10 pick and just to kind of build off what you were saying there about fixing the edge spot, you don't really fix the edge spot in the second round or later either.

I mean, you've got Arakpo and Morgan, both first-round picks. You see those elite athletes come off the board quick. That's why we're so high on Josh Sweat, because you've got that elite athlete potentially falling to you at 25 or later. You've just got the concerns there with production, playing out of place, and medically. So I'm very much still on that train of fixing this edge spot. But, you know, John Robinson has a much better pulse on this draft than we do.

So if he's got a feel that Sweat's going to last there, I don't think we mentioned this, Mike Mayock had Sweat 91st on his top 100. So that's crazy for considering the amount of hype that we've heard from the Sweat camp over the last month, really. So maybe we're too high on him. Maybe he's going to go lower. But if I'm John Robinson, that's still my guy. I've got to get some athletes on the edge there to potentially take over

for Morgan or Arakpo next season. Sure, yeah. I mean, I think we're kind of on the same page there. So, all right, here's our plan for the rest of the week. This is Tuesday night night so this podcast i'm sure it'll hit wednesday morning uh don't plan on recording one wednesday night unless anything you know major happens uh but then we'll we'll give you an episode thursday night friday night saturday night you know recapping obviously first round friday night second third on first round

from thursday night second third friday night and then the rest of the draft on Saturday. So we'll kind of walk you through all that. Undrafted free agents, all that stuff will happen Saturday afternoon after the draft. So we'll cover all that over the next couple of days. So stay tuned for that. Subscribe to the podcast, Locked on Titans again. Search it wherever you get your podcasts.

Get the new episodes as soon as they're available. And then, like I said, check out the site, museummiracles.com. We'll have a ton of content between now and then like I said check out site museummiracles.com we'll have a ton of content between now and then and then obviously as the draft plays along anything else Terry we need to hit before we sign off I don't think so alright so that'll do it this is our last episode before we will know who the Titans have

picked in the first round so hopefully we'll yeah maybe maybe not and maybe they won't pick in the first round who knows I mean there's like I said a lot of question, a lot of stuff up in the air here. But this is a fun time of the year, and obviously all this process leads up into three days that are just really fun to watch, especially if you're a diehard NFL fan like we all are. So, like I said, stay plugged in, museummiracles.com, at jmorrismcm, at tlambretfb. We bring you the most up-to-date stuff there.

And like I said, look for new episodes pretty much all weekend. So for Terry, this is Jimmy saying thanks for listening to Locked on Titans, and we will talk to you on Thursday night.