Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Madden ratings leaked; Jameis suspended

Episode Date: June 22, 2018

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Welcome in to another edition of Locked On Titans. I'm Jimmy Morris, joined as always by Terry Lambert. A very happy birthday to you, Terry. How are you today? Thank you. Thank you. Doing well. Good to hear. So, yeah, Terry turns the big 2-6 today, so be sure and reach out to him. Getting old. Social media, let him know. Have a good birthday. Yeah, so today we've got a couple things to talk about. Possible suspension for Jameis Winston, and talk about the Madden ratings that have leaked,

and just kind of some of our thoughts on how they rank the Titans. Before we do that, as always, we remind you, Terry and I write for MutantCityMiracles.com, where we cover the Titans for SB Nation, so you can check out our work there. You can also follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorrismcm. Terry is at tlimbertfb. Podcast account at LockedOnTitans. Subscribe to the podcast, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify,

wherever it is that you listen to podcasts. And if you can rate us, give us a review, especially on iTunes, we'd appreciate that. It helps us out. All right, so the news came down. It's been within the last couple of days, and we just hadn't had a chance to talk about it yet. But the report that Jameis Winston's camp is bracing for a suspension of some kind,

and this is according to Jeff Cameron, who is an ESPN radio host out of Tallahassee. And if you're not familiar with what it's from, there was an incident in March 2016 with an Uber driver in Arizona. Winston allegedly groped this Uber driver. And I don't know. The investigation is still ongoing. It seems like that as much as anything, the suspension could be a result of Winston and his people failing to notify the league that there was an allegation, there was an investigation going on with this, and apparently whenever you're being investigated for anything like this, you're required to report it under the most recent personal conduct policy with the NFL. So the suspension, according to Cameron, could be a maximum of three games,

obviously a minimum of one. There would be an appeal and all that kind of stuff if that does come down. But, you know, Winston was a guy that had issues in college. You know, those are obviously well chronicled. We we need to get it back into all that stuff again but you know this is a point of interest especially for the titans because you know it was winston and mariotta were the two quarterbacks they were in that draft went one two um you know and the bucks obviously had their choice and they chose winston over mariotta it's it was always an interesting thing to me. And I don't know, Jameis just didn't ever seem like a guy that I would want to put the hopes of my franchise in

just because of the lack of maturity, if nothing else, that he showed while in college at Florida State. Yeah, you go back to Florida State and you look at the things he did. You had the crab leg incident. You had some other bumps in the road uh it was pretty clear that he was just a knucklehead uh and unfortunately he hasn't grown out of that so um the bucks chose to to go that route with the number one overall pick uh i remember just being so much higher on Mariota than Jameis. And, you know, Jameis has been fine as a player in the league,

but you're always going to have these knucklehead moments, it seems. You hope a guy like that can grow up. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like it's happened. So, Marcus Mariota has had his struggles, but I think we've made it pretty clear. We feel like it's been a lack of coaching, a lack of surroundings for Mariota. So I think this year is really going to make that Jameis-Marcus discussion, I think it's going to end it. I think Marcus is in a really good spot to take a step forward,

and now you've got these allegations and a possible suspension lingering along with Jameis. And it's an interesting thing, too, because, you know, obviously now they're both entering their fourth year. You know, both teams pick up the fifth-year option for those guys. They'll both get a contract extension at some point, probably before they play under that fifth-year option. I mean, I guess depending on how the Buccaneers feel about Winston,

but we expect Marcus Mariota to get a new deal sometime, you know, within the next year. So it'll be interesting to see, you know, how those contracts stack up. I mean, I think whichever one signs second is going to get more money, probably. Again, a lot of it could depend on how this year plays out but like you're saying you know you just you have confidence in what marcus mario is going to be able to do uh with with the new new coaching regime having a better scheme a better system for him to play in um you know and i always wonder if the titans would have had the first pick what

they would have done i think you know a kenisenhunt team probably would have leaned Jameis Winston. Now, I don't know if all the other stuff, how that would have factored in. And the interesting thing is the Buccaneers, back to week 17 of that prior season, they basically tanked the game to get the first pick. They were up big at halftime, or up at least at halftime of their game sat some guys down in the second half just just to you know get that first pick and and they picked Winston so you know just all that kind of stuff that plays out it's interesting to see where it goes from there but you know again these two guys that are kind of always going to be tied together because

they didn't go one and two in that draft so um you know i don't know i just i i'm like you said we're very confident in mario to very confident in in what this year is going to bring for him assuming you stay healthy and all that kind of stuff and that's that's an issue with anybody i would say the numbers at this point winston it's probably been a little bit more he's filled up the stat sheet a little bit better to this point than mario that has but still sitting here today there's no way I would switch it around from what happened in that draft. Yeah, if you're the Bucs, are you really going to give Jameis Winston

$25 million a year or whatever it's going to end up being? He's not going to be cheap if you want to keep him around. But at the same time, you can't exactly let him walk because that's just not how things work in the NFL. It seems like you could commit murder, and teams would still pay you to be the franchise quarterback. So it's a really interesting situation. I'd much rather be John Robinson

and have to pay Marcus Mariota $25 million, $30 million a year rather than paying James Winston that money for sure. Yeah, absolutely. I think you feel a whole lot more secure being on this side of it than that side. All right, so we'll keep an eye on that story. And if a suspension does come down, obviously we'll talk about it when that happens. Coming up, like I said, we'll get into the Madden rankings for the Titans and kind of our feelings on some of that stuff.

Okay, so I think over the last couple of days we have had, it looks like on the 18th was kind of the first leaking of the Madden ratings. You know, obviously a big deal to people not within the football community. But, you know, something that's talked about a lot. You know, a point of interest, the Titans are, you know, in that group as the eighth team overall, an overall rating of 81. And so interesting that they have the same team rating as the Cowboys and the Raiders. And they're one point behind the Vikings and the Jaguars.

So, you know, obviously the people that created the game think pretty highly of the Titans as a team. I mean, they're ranked ahead of the Rams, the Seahawks, the Chiefs, the Packers. These teams that are perennial playoff contenders, good teams, they're ahead of those guys. I guess the Rams are not a perennial contender, but they were really good last year. Terry, what do you think about the Titans' overall team rating? I think the team rating is about right. I'm a little confused as to how the Raiders are tied with the Titans. I don't know about that one, but I think the Titans are sitting pretty right there,

tied for seventh or eighth. So, you know, they got to the final eight last year, so that makes sense. Where it gets a little interesting is where you get into these player ratings. My biggest gripe, along with just about every other Titans fan, has got to be Taylor LeJuan, 80 overall. Again, it's Madden ratings. It doesn't really matter. But still, it just kind of irks you.

It just shows that maybe even the programmers of Madden, maybe they haven't even been paying too much attention to the Titans. So to have Taylor LeJuan under guys like Adore Jackson and Rashard Matthews, even Delaney Walker, Taylor LeJuan, like we said a couple days ago, is probably a top ten offensive lineman in this league. For him to be that low is a little confusing. Yeah, and you wonder how much i would be really interested to get kind of a behind the scenes idea of the guys that are

they're into compiling these these rankings how much ratings whatever you say how much time they spend you know watching all this stuff because like i said it doesn't really matter um but it's just interesting that you know like you said the guy like LeJuan who is clearly one of the best offensive tackles in the league to have him you know rated as low as he is and look the the highest rated titan titan the highest rated player on the titans is Deion Lewis at 88 look I like Deion Lewis I think he's a great addition for this team um but for him to be rated eight points higher than Taylor LeJuan is ridiculous. Malcolm Butler is an 87.

Again, Malcolm Butler is a great player. But Kevin Byard is an 85. And so you've got a guy that's an all-pro safety, you know, led the league in interceptions, all that kind of stuff, and is rated behind Malcolm Butler, who has taken a little bit of a step backwards over the last year or so. who has taken a little bit of a step backwards over the last year or so. Again, to me, that just kind of speaks to the whole Patriot bias a little bit.

Guys get the nod there because they're on a winning team. They've had success there, no doubt. But just to see, like you said, Rashard Matthews is a solid player, a good receiver, a good number two in the league. But for him to be ranked ahead of taylor lejuan it's just it's really just silly and adory jackson again like look adory had a really good rookie season uh solid on by all accounts but you know what did he do that to have him ahead of taylor lejuan i don't position all that stuff i don't know how much all that plays into to those types of things but yeah i think that's the biggest the biggest thing is to see that you've got all those guys ranked ahead of Taylor LeJuan.

Darrell Casey also in 88 to tie with Deion Lewis. I think that's probably about right, but it just seems like they're a little bit off on a couple of other places, high and low, in my opinion. Yeah, and we only have eight players only eight players of league so left off this list was you know marx mariotta derrick henry who we assume it will be lower than all of these guys which means it would be in the 70s which you know you could make a case for me uh and considering the years that they both had uh that's that's correct but i mean you look at a guy like wesley woodyard dude played out of his mind last year uh so he's definitely a top eight player on this roster for

me uh i don't know i'm interested to see the uh the rest of the the rosters i'm interested to see if uh madden can get any better i've been frustrated with it the last couple years. It just seems like they recycled the same game. But I think some of those midseason updates where they update these rosters, you're going to see Mario Declan, you're going to see Derrick Henry, you're going to see Corey Davis, guys like that. So we keep talking about the Titans and how they could be this year's Rams-type team as an offense that just explodes and is really the talk of the league.

So hope that happens. Hope it's reflected on Madden. Yeah, like you said, we only have the top eight here. Another point of interest, Brett Kern is not obviously ranked in the – at least not above 80. Brett Kern, you know, pretty much the best punter in the league, right? Or at least he has to be in the conversation. I don't know what he would have to do to get that ranking.

I don't know how they rank punters in the game. But it would make sense for him to be up there. And I'm looking back at a post that Mike wrote for us on museummiracles.com earlier this week talking about some of this stuff. And he noted in that that Jake Matthews, Dwayne Brown, Donald Penn, and Nate Solder are all ranked above Taylor LeJuan on the game. Would you take any of those guys? Like, you know, one-for-one swap.

Are you taking any of those guys over LeJuan? Not a chance. I'm not even thinking about it. Right. It's not even close. They're good players, no doubt. But, I mean, I don't know. Maybe maybe this is the fact of being on the titans not not having the the notoriety that some other teams do that's what hurts a guy like a one in this in this scenario and again

not that any of this matters when it comes to winning football games and all that kind of stuff but um you know it's just it's kind of And then back to Bayard's writing just for a minute. I mean, you know, Bayard is – look, we've spent all this time talking about they're going to have to pay Taylor LeLong, they're going to have to pay Marcus Mariota. If Kevin Bayard puts up another year like he did last year, I mean, maybe not leave the league at interceptions again, but just, you know, something similar performance-wise to what he did last year, we're going to have to start having conversations about where Kevin Byard is going to be paid amongst the elite safeties in the league.

And so for him to be ranked at 95, which is a solid rating, no doubt about that. But he's a guy that, with another year like he had last year, could potentially be in that list of the best safeties in the league and then probably should have a 90-plus rating on the game. Absolutely, and this is why, rolling back to free agency, this is why we preach don't spend big. Don't win in April. It worked for the Jags, but the Jags had nobody to pay

because they can't draft. Now that's starting to change, but for years there, five, six, seven, eight years, they had nobody to pay because they can't draft. Now that's starting to change, but for years there, five, six, seven, eight years, they had nobody to pay because everyone kept busting. Now the Titans are hitting on these guys. So you've got LeJuan coming down the pike. You've got Mariotti. You've got Favre.

Once those three sign, those cap numbers are going to take a hit. You're not going to have the leeway. You're not going to roll into offseason with $60 million to spend. So it's interesting. You go back to Seattle. Their window is pretty much closed now because they had to pay all of their players, and now all of their players have now walked.

So interesting. Titans are entering that window. They've probably got two, three, four, five years before their cap number really becomes an issue. Yeah, and it's going to put much more of a focus on drafting well, obviously. I mean, because when you look at it, like you said, they haven't had anybody to pay. So, they've been bad. They don't necessarily go out and spend, you know, the money that like the Jaguars or somebody does in free agency. And look, that finally worked out for them last year.

But, you know, most teams aren't doing that because they're paying their guys. And, you know, that's how you obviously successfully build a team. But like you said, when you get into the spot where you've got three or four players that are among the highest paid at their position in the league, that's when you start to have, you start to have to think about your cap number a little bit. You've got three or four players that are among the highest paid at their position in the league. That's when you start to have to think about your cap number a little bit. And it's not a situation the Titans have been in really since they had to do the big purge when guys like Samari Roll and Derek Mason and Fred Miller and all those guys had to be cut because the Titans had backloaded all those contracts to try to keep that window open a couple more years.

Like you said, the Titans have got a window here. That's, to me, why it's all the more important for them to have made the coach changes they did because if you had another year under Mike Malarkey, you had kind of that similar, you know, stuff, then that's another year down the road and another year that you had a quarterback under his rookie contract and all that kind of stuff. So that's why it's exciting to see them go ahead and make that change because these windows don't last forever.

And, you know, it's another reason, too, why we hope so much to see Marcus Mariota get a full season healthy because every season that he's not and he misses a couple games, again, it just pushes that down the road a little bit, and that window starts to close a little bit more. And so you hope they can have a year where it all kind of hits at the same time. Yeah, and it's also exciting to see them take a little bit of a shot and go get Malcolm Butler and go fix your secondary issue for good,

go get Dion with us. So in control, they didn't go nuts by any means, but they picked their spot and they took their shot. So I think the defense is going to be a lot better off for it. Yeah, absolutely. It's like you said, you've got this window right here where you can pay a couple guys. You've still got guys cheap.

And so you make those deals and get things done. So we'll see how it plays out. But anyway, so I'm sure a lot of you all will be playing Madden coming up here soon. We thought we'd touch on that really quickly. All right, so that will do it for the shows this week. Next week we will do our Jeff Fisher episode. We were talking a little bit about that before we came on today,

do a little bit of research because, I mean, it requires a good bit of time to dig into him a little bit because his run here was really good, especially in the beginning. I think that's been lost a little bit with the way his coaching career has ended. But, you know, when the Titans first came here, you know, he was doing a really nice job as the head coach. So we'll get a little bit into that and some stories that we'll get from some people as we go throughout that.

So be on the lookout for that next week. Like I said, in the meantime, you can check out NewCityMiracles.com. We'll have stuff going up there every day to try to just keep us moving. And as we get a little bit closer to training camp opening at the end of July. So, again, we'll say thanks for listening. Follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmoresmcm. Terry is at tlambertfb.

So you can interact with us there in the podcast account at LockedOnTitans. So for Terry, this is Jimmy. Thanks for listening to LockedOnTitans, and we will talk to you again next week.