Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Injury updates, Trade deadline talk

Episode Date: October 31, 2017

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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? What's up, man? Doing good. Busy night in the NFL. Yeah, it has been, and it's weird. I mean, we're talking about this before we went on here. The NFL trade deadline usually comes and goes without much going on,

but there's been a lot that's happened in the last three or four hours, and we'll get into all that in a little bit. But before we do that one, we'll talk about Pro Football Focus again. Please go on and rate and review the podcast on iTunes, Locked on Titans. If you do that and leave your Twitter handle in the review, you'll be eligible to win a year-long subscription to PFF. A lot of cool stuff there. We talked about that.

Y'all are familiar with that probably. But grades and all that stuff, it's cool to queue up with. So check that out. Like I said, that helps us out anyway. We appreciate it if you do that. So leave your Twitter handle and your review, and you'll be in there to win that. So the Titans are back on the practice field today.

Get the extra day coming off the bye week. The big news, obviously, was Corey Davis was back out there. Technically, they said he was limited in practice today. Now, that doesn't really matter. They don't have to make that distinguish or that, you know, whatever at this point because it's not a practice that has to go on the injury report. But, you know, I think some people were a little upset that it said that he was limited, but Mike Malarkey said he did pretty much everything.

He did a lot. But I imagine they didn't want to throw him out there as a full go after he's missed so much time with that hamstring. But the good news is that he was out there, and it sounds like he's definitely on track to play this weekend against the Ravens. Yeah, a huge addition as we've kind of pounded into everybody's heads. We've talked a lot about Corey Davis and how much this offense misses him. We think. I mean, we've only seen one game.

But those one game returns were pretty good. So, not a surprise that he was limited. But again, like you said, just good to see him out there. It sounds like he's going to play. I think we'll probably see him get more and more as the week goes on. Kind of like the Marcus Mariota

deal. They're just kind of easing him back into things and treating that hammy carefully, which is the right thing to do. As we've seen this year, these hammies just tend to linger and linger and linger. But hopefully all is well, and Davis will be a full go on Sunday. and Davis will be a full go on Sunday. Yeah, and I would expect him to be probably whatever. They would call him limited for most of the week, and I think he'll probably be questionable heading into the game just because they don't have a probable designation anymore.

But there's no reason right now to expect that he won't play. So just kind of remember all that when you're seeing what's coming out as far as what they call him each day. But as long as there's no setback, and as long as I think we don't hear the word setback, I think he's on track to play. It's nothing to worry about. Jonathan Ciprian was also back.

Malarkey said at practice that Davis was a little bit ahead of Ciprian at this point, but he expects both of them to a little bit ahead of Ciprian at this point, but he expects both of them to be able to play with Ciprian there, just kind of waiting to see how it responds tomorrow after being on the practice field for today. And, you know, we talked a little bit about Ciprian also before we jumped on here. Not sure exactly how much of an upgrade that is, but he's a guy that they obviously put a lot of value in this offseason. They gave him a significant contract,

and so it sounds like he'll be available to be out there on Sunday. Yeah, it's kind of weird. You know, you talk to Jaguars people, and they hated Ciprian. He was somebody that the Jaguars Twitter had targeted as one of the key problems on the team, and John Robinson goes out and he makes him a day one signing. So it was kind of odd with all the players left on the board that Ciprian was the first to come off the Titans.

So, again, we'll see what he does and how they kind of work him in. Like I said last week, the Titans just don't really have roles for their safeties. They just kind of ask them to do a little bit of everything. So that means we'll probably see him in some single high situations, which is where he struggled in Jacksonville. So you'll see him play in the run plenty, I'm sure. But it'll be interesting to see how they kind of use him and work him in with Denorah Searcy.

Yeah. to see how they kind of use him and work him in with Denorah Searcy. Yeah, like you said, he's obviously a piece they thought they needed, so we'll see how that goes. Haven't seen much of him. I haven't seen him since that Oakland game. Anyway, back to full strength there, I guess, as far as safeties are concerned. DeMarco Murray also limited today in practice with the hand training that's been bothering him since the beginning of training camp basically uh you know i don't know at what point they it seems like it would be a good idea for them to give him a couple weeks they're

obviously not going to do that again today i think we probably should take these distinguishments with a grain of salt because it doesn't really matter. But he was limited but was able to be out there, so that's good news. Malarkey said that Mariano's basically 100%. So it sounds like he'll be a full go, be able to scramble and all that stuff. We haven't seen a couple weeks from him, so that's good. Delaney Walker did not practice today. They talked about before they went on the bye that he had a bone

bruise and it would be a pain tolerance issue for him uh my guess is that he'll be able to go but that'll be something to keep an eye on as the week goes along and then the biggest news i think is quentin spain did not practice malarkey said the game was you know tomorrow he would not be able to play it doesn't sound like he's gonna play on sunday so we'll probably see Brian Schwenke start at guard on Sunday. Yeah, it's kind of interesting. We've talked about the run game struggles, so it'll be interesting to see if the run game kind of works with Schwenke in there, if it works better or worse.

I think highly of Spain, especially in the run game. He generates a lot of power. So it'll be interesting to kind of see that offensive line kind of re-gel out of the bye week. And, you know, with DeMarco, are we ever going to see him fully healthy, or is he just kind of going to be dinged up for the rest of the season? It kind of seems like he is. And I don't think the Titans can really afford to sit him down. They just don't have a back that can fill the role that he fills. And, you know, to a certain point, that's on John Robinson.

We talked a little bit before the show about some running backs that the Titans could use, some pass catchers, some third-down backs. They use Murray in that role, but they've only got one of them, and he's really dinged up. So that's a problem. I don't think we've seen Murray at full strength all year, and I'm not sure we're going to. Yeah, at this point I think we have to assume that we're not. Like I said, this thing has been lingering since August,

and it's obviously not getting any better. I don't know what the week off did. Hopefully it helped a little bit. But, yeah, I mean, I would assume at this point that unless they're willing to, you know, hold him out for a couple weeks, he's not ever going to be 100%. So, yeah, I mean, that's an issue. And like you said, I mean, if Murray's down, then obviously, you know, you feel okay about Derrick Henry carrying the running downs load.

But when you get in a third down situation, and even if DeMarco's down and Derrick Henry's the only active back, if he gets hurt, and you're looking at David Florell, which was a fine preseason story, but I don't think any of us feel good about him carrying the load for this team. So yeah, that's an issue, and like you said, John Robinson probably should have done something to address that but has not done that yet so that'll be something to keep an eye on and hopefully his marcos hamstring can heal up a little

bit and he'll be closer at least to full strength but i mean like i said even that game you know against the browns he's only broken the open field he's not 100 i mean he's running fine and he can still do a lot of things that need him to do. But he didn't have that second gear that you usually see from him. So it'll be interesting to watch to see how all that goes. So that's really everything with the Titans. The biggest news from the Ravens, who the Titans play on Sunday, Jeff Flacco, John Harbaugh, said today that he's experiencing, quote, zero symptoms as far as the concussion goes.

So it sounds like he's on track to play Sunday. Yeah, that's big. I mean, we've seen Ryan Mallett. We know what he is. And Joe Flacco is nothing special. He's kind of been up and down. But still, he's a big upgrade over Ryan Mallett. And Malarkey said they're still going to prepare for both guys.

So, you know, there's an outside chance that Mallett could still play. But, you know, read the tea tea leaves Flacco's going to play I'd be shocked if anything else but like we kind of said last night even with Flacco this Ravens team is very beatable they're very average and we kind of feel I still feel like

this Titans team is above average and has a chance to be really good. So if you're serious about making a push for the playoffs, this is a game you've got to have. And maybe even not even talking about the division, there's a chance this team could get a wild card game, and you're talking about a team that you're going to have to compete with. So this is a big one for the Titans.

Yeah, absolutely. And the line was off at some books, and then I think some of them had the Titans as a four-point favorite. So, I mean, I think that's kind of where we are. And like you're saying, I mean, playing an average team, you get them at home. So I think it was absolutely a game the Titans need to win. It's not a must-win, I don't guess, but it's a game the Titans need to win it's not a must win I don't guess but it's a game they really need to win

so hopefully they can go out and take care of business like you said I mean they're better the Ravens are with Joe Flacco out there but I think the Titans still should be better than the Ravens are and so that's really it for Titans news and Ravens news as far as all that

goes there's been some big trade activity leading up to the deadline over the last few hours. The Texans moved Dwayne Brown, and kind of an interesting move for them. They got Jeremy Lane, the cornerback from Seattle, who was actually benched by the Seahawks. The Texans absolutely need help at corner, so it makes sense from that standpoint. But they also

got a conditional i think fifth round pick in the 2018 draft and then a second round pick in 2019 draft so a pretty good haul for the texans uh you know trading a player that was obviously disgruntled hadn't you know hadn't come to camp until this last week uh the only game he's played in is the game the tex had in Seattle this past Sunday. So a pretty good return for a guy that, I mean, obviously Dwayne Brown's a really good player, but a guy that was not going to play the Texans past this year. And having that leverage, they were still able to get a pretty good return for him. Yeah, I like the deal really for both sides,

maybe not for Houston right off the bat. But they dealt a guy that was probably done with them after the stuff that went down this weekend. So just to get anything out of that was a good deal for the Texans and kind of restocked their draft picks that they emptied out for Deshaun Watson, which is, it's obviously paying off, but a great deal for Seattle too. We talked about their offensive line back when the Titans played them.

They were really bad. So good news for Russell Wilson and that, that entire offense up there. Yeah, that's a huge upgrade for them. And you know, that's a team that, you know, we all expect to make a deep run in the playoffs. So Russell Wilson has to be thrilled with that deal. And the other move of note so far is that the 49ers traded for Jimmy Garoppolo. And when they did that, they released Brian Hoyer, excuse me,

who, you know, if you go look at Brian Hoyer's stats, it's really amazing that he hasn't been able to stick somewhere. I mean, he's a good quarterback when he has a chance. I mean, he's not a guy that you feel great about, not a franchise guy by any means. But he's a guy that's now available. I think he probably ends up in New England as the backup. But he's a guy that if I'm John Robinson, I'm already on the phone

with his agent because I think he's absolutely an upgrade over Matt Castle. It's something the Titans should be thinking about because Brian Hoyer, this season, has put up pretty good numbers. If you look at last season when he was with Chicago, he had four or five starts and threw for over

300 yards and all those starts. A guy that can come in and can be serviceable in a game if you need him in a pinch. And I think he absolutely, let's say the Titans had him as the backup instead of Matt Castle. I think they win that game in Miami. So, like I said, I think he probably ends up in New England as the backup of Tom Brady. But if I am John Robinson, I'm talking to his agent and trying to somehow sweeten the deal to get him to come here instead of going to New England. I'm totally with that.

It was an interesting move. I think it said a lot about this upcoming quarterback class, being that the 49ers were probably going to pick in the top three. So they opted to just go ahead and make a deal for Garoppolo. And the interesting thing is the Patriots make this move, and now they've got one quarterback on the roster. So they've got to sign somebody. Everybody's saying it's Hoyer.

But if you're, again, like you were saying, if you're John Robinson, why not go offer him more? You've got the money to do it. You've got a clear need at backup. I mean, the team basically said today that Marcus at 50% was better than Castle at 100%. I mean, if you read through what Mark was saying, that's what he was saying. So I don't want to hear that Castle knows the offense. I mean, Hoyer can pick up the offense just fine.

And it's not like Castle knowing the offense was his big asset down in Miami either. So you've got a chance to get better. I personally would take it. At least make the call. Maybe the deal with New England is being done as we speak. It probably is, but I'd at least go for it. done as we speak it probably is but i'd at least go for it yeah like you said i mean there is a certain um whatever quality that's good about somebody knowing the offense however if the guy can't play it doesn't matter how well he understands the offense and that's what we saw

yeah i mean that's what we saw when matt caswell got in there and you know in theory brian holder doesn't have to play against the Ravens right how long would it take him to pick up an offense he's he's a he's a veteran NFL guy he's been a bunch of different places he had to pick up a bunch of different offenses it's interesting why he can't stick and again that's something we were talking about uh before we went on here but you know he was the backup in New England for a few years early in his career he's been with Arizona Cleveland Houston Chicago Sanisco over the last few years so he's bounced around maybe he's that type of guy he's a career backup um but again i would feel a lot better if you know mario had to miss a

week with brian hoyer under center about to do matt castle uh so i don't know i don't know what what that'll what'll play out there like i said i think he probably ends up in new england but if i'm john robinson i'm at least making that call and trying to see if i can get something done before he ends up there so i don't know it's something interesting that we can keep track of but you know and we talked a little bit about this and this is kind of not titans related but the 49ers are obviously investing in Jimmy Garoppolo at this point, right? I mean, there's been speculation about whether they would take a quarterback early or, you know, if Shanahan wanted Kirk Cousins, which, I mean, I'd be surprised if the Redskins let

him hit the market. But at the same time, they haven't committed to him long term yet to this point. So, but at this point, they're obviously, you obviously, this is the guy they feel like they can build around for the future. That'll be interesting to watch. He's had limited time actually playing Garoppolo, that is. But I don't know.

It's just, how good do you feel if you're the Redskins about bringing this guy in when he's kind of unproven you're basically saying at this point right this is our guy going forward i mean that's kind of how you have to read this deal um i don't know it's it feels like a pretty big leap of faith based off of what we've seen nothing hasn't been good but it's just been limited yeah and maybe

it's maybe john lynch feels like it's the safer route and you don't have to waste – well, not waste, but use a top three pick. On a quarterback class that's just really underperformed to this point, Josh Rosen, Sam Darnold, even Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, they've all got holes in their game. So none of those feel like a lock, slam dunk. So, you know, I kind of like the move for them in their situation. You know, C.J. Beathard is not the future. He's probably a career backup type.

So I kind of like that. You know, when GMs take quarterbacks, it puts them on the clock. You know, so by doing this, maybe it buys John Lynch some more time. You're not wasting that top three pick on a bust. Even if Garoppolo turns out to be bad, you're wasting the 33rd or 34th pick in the draft. From a risk standpoint, I like it a lot better than shooting for one of these unproven quarterbacks coming out.

Yeah, and the 49ers have some pieces. I mean, Carlos Hyde is pretty good. Pierre Garcon is obviously a guy that's had a good NFL career. Marquis Goodwin has shown the flashes of being a big play guy. They've got some stuff there that you can build around. So, yeah, now you can use that top five pick to drive something other than a quarterback to build that nucleus up. So, yeah, I mean, I think it's a smart move on their part.

And I think that we've seen how good of an offensive coach Kyle Shanahan is. Look at the drop-off that the Falcons have had from last year to this year. So, I mean, I think you've got to feel good about the head coach they have there and that kind of stuff. So, again, this is all not Titans related. But it's just interesting as we watch teams around the league and what they're doing. But as far as the Titans go, like I said, we won't see anything now.

They'll be off on Tuesday. They'll be back on the practice field Wednesday. It'll be interesting to see guys like Corey Davis, Ciprian, DeMarco Murray, what they say about them on Wednesday as far as how they're able to practice. And really, I mean, those guys are all going to play. I mean, I think we feel pretty good about that. The biggest

question mark, I think, at this point is Delaney Walker. You know, and to see, and Malarkey said it's a pain management thing at this point, which leads me to believe that he'll be out there. But that's the biggest question mark we have going forward. They need him out there. I mean, I think we feel good about Johnny Smith.

I mean, he's looked good in the limited chances that he's gotten. But you still want to be at full strength, and you still want to have Delaney out there because that gives them the full complement of weapons for the first time, really since the beginning of training camp. If you go back and look at the ups and the downs in the guys that have missed time, I guess in Oakland they had everybody. But that's really been the only time since camp started because, you know,

you had Davis miss a time in camp. You had Eric Decker miss a time in camp. You had DeMarco Murray miss a time in camp. So the only time that all those guys have been on the field really together at the same time was that Oakland game. So, I mean, I don't know. It would just be fun to see this offense that we spent so much time talking about this offseason on the field at full strength for really the first time.

Yeah, Delaney's the one that I'm worried about. And I know he's kind of got this tough guy thing to him. And you kind of get a feeling that he's going to play if it's a pain tolerance thing and if that's all it is. But still, it looked bad last week against the Browns, the injury did. So him not practicing today is not good. But, you know, I don't think it's obviously a huge deal. Delaney's one of the best players on the team.

But still, you draft a guy in Jonu Smith who's more than capable of stepping in, I feel. Maybe he doesn't have some of the nuances, some of the route running ability. Maybe he's not fully into the playbook and not used to being that first tight end option as well versed into the blocking game. But still, it would be interesting to see Jonu kind of take that role for a week if Delaney had to miss, and I hope he doesn't. But still, Jonu's an athletic piece, and I'm really interested to see how he would perform in kind of a featured role. Yeah, absolutely.

So, again, hopefully we won't have to worry about that at this point because we need Delaney. And I think that, you know, the offense is obviously better with him out there. But, okay, so that's really it for tonight. I think that we'll, like I said, we'll learn more on Wednesday when we see them on the field and then when they actually have to give a credit report and distinguish guys as to what they did and all that stuff so um we'll keep an eye on that tomorrow i think we'll talk a

little bit about this titans raven series history uh terry and i were talking a little bit about that before we came on tonight and there's a lot that that goes into this and there have been a lot of players that play for both teams um and a lot of. And really it's been gut-wrenching losses for the Titans more so. So we'll talk a little bit about that tomorrow night, and I'm sure a lot of people that are listening to that remember some of that stuff. But that will pretty much do it for tonight. Terry, anything before we get out?

I think that pretty much covers it. All right, that sounds good. So like I said, write and review the podcast, please, on iTunes. Leave your Twitter handle in the review for a chance to win a year-long subscription to PFF. Locked on Titans, we're here four days a week. Check us out. Tell your friends about it. It would be awesome.

Spread the word. And we're trying to do our best to bring you quality content, like I said, four days a week. So I'm on Twitter at jmorsemcm. Terry is at tlembertfb, right from musiccitymiracles.com, so check that out. We'll have a lot more about this game and everything leading up to that. So for Terry, I'm Jimmy saying thanks for listening to Locked on Titans, and we will talk to you again tomorrow.