Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: First day of OTAs

Episode Date: May 25, 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 alright. What's going on, man? Not too much. The Titans got their first day of OTAs underway. First time they were on the field as a full team. They had a rookie minicamp a week or so ago, but the whole team was out there today. So we'll talk a little bit about that. Just got some comments and stuff that came out from that and then get into some of the guys that weren't there today. Before we do that, we'll remind you that Terry and I write for musiccitymiracles.com. We cover the Titans for SB Nation, so check us out there. Follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorrismcm.

Terry is at tlambertfb. Podcast account at LockedOnTitans. You can find us any of those places. If you have any comments or questions or whatever, stuff you'd like to hear us discuss, feedback, whatever it is, hit us up at any of those places. You can subscribe to the podcast, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts.

All right, like I said, they were on the field today. As is the case most of the time, time was the case with the old regime and seems like it will be the case with this coaching staff as well a portion of the practice is open to the media so the media can only report on the part that they see

so we'll get limited information coming out of these things and quite honestly there's not a whole lot I don't think that you can take away from a practice this time of year anyway. A practice that's not in pads. And especially this early on with a new staff, they're going to be working through some things.

So, you know, you get into numbers and all that kind of stuff. I don't think we're going to need to worry about any of that stuff. I think we are past the point where we're, you know, counting a quarterback' completions in training camp or in practice. So that's a good thing. With Vince Young and Jake Locker and that whole group, we were getting updates daily after practice about Vince Young was 7 for 10

and blah, blah, blah, blah. And I said back at the time, I'm going to be happy to move past that point because you know the the guys that are covering the teams like the patriots and the packers and the steelers they're not tweeting those quarterback lines at the end of the end of practice every day so they can finally move past that so that's a good thing um you know today you heard some of the things that you would expect to hear um derrick henry i think per terry mccormick said that this offense is going to be completely different than what the titans ran last year no big surprise there um you know so we were obviously hoping to hear um but you know we won't get an idea of what

that means until you know preseason we get to see it maybe training camp whatever it may be um but i mean obviously you know it's a confirmation of what we all had hoped for. I don't know, Terry, you tell me. I mean, the biggest news thing that I took away from today was the fact that Marcus Mariota was out there practicing without his knee brace on. Yeah, and you touched on it at the beginning of last season. And maybe it was a real thing. But Mariota's confidence in that leg after the injury uh maybe that was the thing that we kind of shrugged off and you know you saw the dip in

stats and his overall performance maybe that was a that was a deal you know you saw him kind of shy away from contact like you said uh way back in august so So to see him out there without the knee brace, it tells me he's getting a little more confident. He didn't commit to playing without it or anything, but certainly a step in the right direction. I think just getting him out of Mike Malarkey, Terry Robiskie's offense, is going to do wonders for him. I think that was his main problem there.

But maybe some lingering mental effects from that broken leg. Yeah, absolutely. I still, and they swore up and down all year long that he didn't have any reservations or whatever with that. But he looked different mechanically even early in the year last year. And then by midseason, it was more than anything like that it was the whole thing I mean he was he was gun shy and I think confidence wise he was just kind of all over the place at the middle of the year but just his mechanics not stepping into throws like he had

in the past and stuff and I mean again we talked about how you know that's a that'd be a natural reaction to a guy who had an injury like that and you know just whatever i mean and he came back sooner than you know he was expected to come back because if you remember at the beginning you know right after the injury happened i mean the reports were that he probably wouldn't play in the preseason and then you know this time last year he was already back participating in otas and then obviously he was a full go once camp started, preseason games, all that kind of stuff. So good to have him coming through a healthy offseason, you know, because that's not really something that he's had in the prior couple of years here. So that's obviously a good place for him to be, and, you know,

good with his new coaching staff and all that stuff coming together. and good with his new coaching staff and all that stuff coming together. One thing that we didn't know before today was that Rashard Matthews is dealing with some type of injury. We don't know what it is. They wouldn't confirm after it. But my good friend Jason Wolf said he has an NFL source that confirmed, whatever that means, that it's a minor injury that richard matthews is dealing with um and i guess they listed him as limited or he was limited today but very well said they'll try

to work him in to up to a full practice at some point throughout this this ota process but you know you made the point before we came on here that you know if this is something that's that's a thing right if it's something that's going to hold him out for any length of time, it's all the bit more eyebrow-raising, for lack of a better term, that the Titans didn't bring in more help at receiver. We talked about they obviously added Campanaro, they added Nick Williams, but those are not guys that are really going to come in and be huge impact guys. So it is interesting that he's not ready to be a full go at this point. Now, again, it's the end of May, plenty of time before even training camp, preseason,

any of that stuff starts. But I don't know. You would think that they might be looking down that road just again for all the reasons that we've laid out throughout this whole offseason. I don't know, but that was just an interesting development that I didn't see coming. Yeah, and it tells me that they're pretty confident in Corey Davis. They're pretty confident in Tajay Sharp and maybe even Taewon Taylor

just for not going out and signing even a mid-tier guy, like we've talked about just about every week on the show, it seems. And I don't even – I can't rule it out. You know, you're just an injury away from this receiving core being pretty bad, being pretty inexperienced. You know, we've yet to see – we've yet to see it from Corey Davis consistently. We've yet to see it really from Tajay Sharp. We've seen a little bit, and we've yet to see hardly anything out of Taewon Taylor.

So I don't know how they can be so confident, especially with the banged-up Rashard Matthews. But it does sound like this is minor, but it just serves as another example. You're just one injury away from having a real problem on your hands. Yeah, and the other receivers, there were reports from various different people that those guys looked catching the ball today. And again, receivers, you hope they look good when they're not really being covered and there's not the hitting and that kind of stuff going on.

I will say that all reports were that Tajay Sharp looked healthy. So, I mean, I think that with him, that's going to be the biggest thing leading in a camp is making sure he's a hundred percent ready to go. And then we'll see how he comes along. Um,

you know, once camp starts in that kind of stuff, again, I think Tajay Sharp is a, is a fine receiver. Um, I think if you've got him as your number four i think that's a good thing but when he's your number three i think that's a little bit of a

problem and like you said when he's when he's three or what you know whatever him and taylor behind the the top two there um and you've got zero experience there i don't know it's just it's a little bit concerning but again we'll wait and see how that plays out. And, you know, we've both said Terry and I, that we fully expect the Titans to add, you know, at least a guy once, once cuts start happening, but there's still a handful of guys out there. You gave, give us that list real quick. I mean, you gave it to me before the podcast start,

but I think there are some guys they could bring in and might be able to help them. Yeah, you've got Des Bryant, obviously. I don't think they're going to go down that road. You've got guys like Brandon Marshall, Jeremy Macklin. I don't think Eric Decker's coming back or anything like that. But, Brandon Marshall and Jeremy

Macklin might be worth a sniff. You don't know what those guys have left. But, realistically, I think it's more likely to see them wait until the cuts start coming down at camp. Yeah. So, again, I think that's what ends up happening. And like you said, you could bring in a Macklin or a Brandon Marshall just to see what they have left, like a tryout-type deal.

But there's really no reason to do that necessarily until you get closer to camp, I guess, other than having them on the field to do a little bit of work in the playbook and that kind of stuff. Any other reports that were out there, Jim Wyatt had a good breakdown of the things, the observations that he took away from today. I think he had something about adory jackson and how athletic he looked um we knew that but i mean that's a good thing and hopefully he continues to build as a corner um and then a couple of different people commented on the effort that delaney walker put in about how he's kind of over the field diving

for balls and that kind of stuff and again not anything that you wouldn't expect from him. But, you know, with a new coaching staff, they're going to be looking around for the guys that they can point to as the leaders of the team. And, you know, Delaney Walker has been a guy, really the whole time that he's been here, who's been pretty outspoken about guys in the locker room not caring about winning and all that kind of stuff.

I mean, he said that a lot about those groups at the end of the Chris Johnson, Kenny Bread, those types of era, talking about getting rid of those types of guys in the locker room. So he's always been a max effort guy, but it's good to see your veteran getting out there and buying into this stuff because as unimportant as it really is in the grand scheme of things um i think you do want to set the tone now for what your team's going to be and some of those intangible things that you know may not be able to show up in a stat sheet or you can't

necessarily quantify but you want to see the guys that are the veterans that are out there that are you know pushing the younger guys to younger guys to get with the program, to get in line, and to buy into what's going on. And I think those things do pay off once the regular season comes around. Yeah, tone setter, you stole my line there. It's just you're not going to accomplish too much here. It's just installing the playbook. But going out and seeing a guy like Delaney walker who's been in the league forever uh is giving max effort diving for footballs uh

that that's a good example to set for a guy like johnny smith and and really everybody on the team you know to see a guy giving max effort in a in a may ota uh so that's really good to see. Delaney had a – I'd say he started to slow down last year. I think we touched on that at the end of the year. It was just he seemed to lose a step or two. So good to see him. Good to see those reports from Jim Wyatt that he's out there still being a playmaker. And maybe he read all the mock drafts of the Titans taking a tight end. Maybe that pissed him off a little bit.

There you go. That's his motivation. So, hey, whatever works, right? Yeah. All right, so coming up we'll talk a little bit about guys that weren't there and, you know, just kind of some stories there. Okay, so according to – this is from terry mccormick um the guys that were there but not practicing were richard matthews and jack conklin obviously conklin tore his acl playoff game against

the patriots we knew he wouldn't be ready um i guess there's still a little bit of hope that he could be ready maybe maybe by the end of preseason. But it sounds like week one is probably the adventurous goal for him or whatever it is. That would be great. I don't think we're going to see anything from him in camp. But hopefully they can get him out at least in the first quarter of the season or so, and then you'll have Dennis Kelly filling in for him until he's ready to

get back but the guys that weren't there today brian arachpo kevin dodd kendrick lewis nick williams philip supernal all right so we'll we'll kind of preface this with these guys may have perfectly legitimate reasons for not being here and we don't know what their reasons are uh i think vrabel said that everybody that wasn't there checked in so you know there's nobody that that they're holding any grudges against or it's you know some huge story that they're not here um but i i think it was karen wolf the other day that you know kind of tweeted a reminder that this is a voluntary period he was talking about the nfl in general not just the titans and so guys not being here doesn't mean they don't care.

It doesn't make them bad teammates. And I said at the time, and I disagree with that a little bit. Now, again, if a guy has a valid reason, I mean, we all remember last offseason the whole Derrick Henry thing. He was taking classes. And the weird thing to us was the fact that malarkey didn't know that it was weird that that wasn't communicated that hey derrick henry's not going to be here because he's on campus at alabama you know blah blah that was the weird part of that it wasn't the fact that

he wasn't here and obviously ended up being a non-story um but i i think if if guys just aren't here because they because it's voluntary and they don't necessarily want to be here. I think that is a red flag. I think that is a problem. Now, again, valid reasons, whatever. But I think that, you know, with the limited amount of work they're able to get in the offseason now with the new collective bargaining agreement and all that stuff, I think it is important for guys to be at these OTAs if at all possible. And I think it should.

I mean, if I were in a locker room and I'm looking around and, hey, you know, whoever's not here, and I know they're not here because, you know, they couldn't, they were on a trip or, you know, whatever it is, while they weren't able to make this, I think that kind of is a thing. And then you look at guys like a Kevin, I mean, everybody on this list, really, with the exception of brian arachpo kevin dodd kendrick lewis nick williams philip supernol none of those guys are locks to make the roster again you know they may have a perfectly valid reason for not being here and

something that's more important than you know this ota but i'm just a little bit surprised with the names on that list especially kevin dodd just kind of stands out because, you know, just all the talk about him and, you know, the talk about him possibly getting cut last offseason and, you know, variable taking him in as a special project or whatever, just a little bit surprising to see him not here. Yeah, if I'm Kevin Dodd, am I letting anything stop me from being at this OTA? You know, like you were saying, he might have a perfectly good excuse,

but outside of a family emergency, I'm finding a way to be there. It's a new coaching staff. You've got new people to impress. You've really underperformed your first two seasons. You need to show us something, and for him not be here on on day one is it's just surprising uh so i i'm interested to see if more comes out of that story because i i mean at this point no surprise here i think he's on the outside looking in he's gonna have to really do something really show something uh he's going to have to offer something.

Because to this point, he hasn't offered anything. You know, he's playing until the end of preseason games late in the fourth quarter. So that was the one that stood out to me. Supernaw, too, that one stood out. That one was kind of interesting because I don't think his roster spot is safe. And then Kendrick Lewis, he didn't play last season, so you'd figure he'd want to get in, get some work in. But, again, like you said, they might have some perfectly good reasons.

But with a new coaching staff in place, new scheme to learn, new playbook to learn, I'm not sure I'd want to be skipping the first day of these OTAs. Yeah, and so, again, we'll just kind of see how that plays out. And, you know, I don't think that them not being here is necessarily saying they're not going to make the team. But I just think when you look at numbers, and we did a 53-man roster projection last week, you just look at numbers and those are guys that are kind of bubble guys.

You know, Phillip Supernaw with, you know, the fact that they're probably not going to keep all those tight ends again. You just look at numbers, and those are guys that are kind of bubble guys. You know, Phillip Supernaw with the fact that they're probably not going to keep all those tight ends again. Kevin Dodd with just the lack of performance. You've got Kendrick Lewis, who, I mean, I think numbers-wise, it would make sense that he has a good shot to make this roster. Like I said, he didn't play last year, so I don't know. It would be interesting to watch that. Nick Williams is a guy they just signed, and that could be just know just a logistics thing or whatever so um anyway we'll keep an

eye on that and they've got a couple more of these and then they have a mandatory mini camp in june where everybody will have to be here um so you know they've got that coming up before they break for a month or so and then come back for training camp so anyway that's kind of the deal from today and uh like i said that we didn't really expect that there would be any huge news stories you know the story came across tonight that uh hunter henry of the chargers tore his acl in their ota today and that's that's the really the thing that you don't want to hear um out of this is that anybody suffers an injury that's going to that's going to put their season in jeopardy um so hopefully they can you know avoid anything like that um and you know just just get to work and continue the installation of the playbook that kind of stuff um and then

get working toward training camp when they can really kind of start to put it all together so anything else terry that we need to talk about from today? I think that covers it. All right, so that'll do it. We will do a Kenny Britt episode in the next couple of days, so be checking for that. Again, museummiracles.com. You can see our stuff about the OTAs and all that stuff. We'll have stuff going up there over the next couple of days. One of our writers, Mike, did a good post on Deion Lewis today,

so go check that out if you haven't already. Just kind of the type of back that he is and his fit in this offense. So really excited about that. Anyway, between now and then, like I said, you can follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorrismcm. Terry's at TLambertFB. Add Locked on Titans for the podcast. Subscribe.

Rate, review, all those things, and help us out. Give us feedback. Again, if there's players that you want to hear about that haven't been brought up before, let us know, and we'll try to work those in. So that's all for tonight. Like I said, check back in the next couple days for a Kenny Britt episode. For Terry, this is Jimmy saying thanks for listening to Locked on Titans,

and we'll talk to you again later this week.