Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Reacting to the new uniforms

Episode Date: April 5, 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 good. What's going on? Well, we got the big uniform reveal. So we'll talk a little bit about the event. We'll talk a little bit about the uniforms, kind of our initial impressions of them. And then we've got a couple of free agent visits to get to and then some talk about Taylor LeJuan's contract, the talks or lack thereof. So before we do all that, I want to remind you that we cover the Titans for SBNation, MuseumMiracles.com. Check us out there. On Twitter, I'm at jmorrismcm. Terry is at TLambertFB.

You can follow the podcast account at LockedOnTitans. You can also subscribe to the podcast, Stitcher, iTunes, Spotify, wherever you get podcasts. So check us out, all those places. All right, so big event tonight, downtown Nashville. The Titans unveiled their new uniforms. You know, it lost a little bit of its luster or whatever with the jersey that was leaked over the weekend.

It turned out that that was the actual jersey that was leaked over the weekend. Turned out that that was the actual jersey that was leaked. So it kind of sucks that they got as far as they did and didn't make it all the way to the event without that getting out there. But still, it was a really cool event. They're estimating 15,000 to 20,000 people were in downtown Nashville to see a jersey reveal, which is really cool. And in my opinion, shows you that this city is still behind this team. And all they need to do is win some football games,

and it'll be close to the level that it was when the Titans first came here in the late 90s, early 2000s. So that was exciting to see. That was encouraging. It was cool to see the guys that were at the initial uniform unveiling back in the late 90s, Craig Hendrick, Eddie George, Frank Wycheck, Blaine Bishop. Cool to see those guys come out with their old jerseys on.

And after everybody came out with their new jerseys on, they took off the old jersey and they had a new one on under. So all that kind of stuff was cool. And just John Robinson, Mike Vrabel, Mike Keith. I mean, it was a good event that they put on, so that was neat. The actual uniforms themselves, Terry, I'll let you give kind of your first impression of them. I liked them more than I thought I would. In the picture linked, I wasn't a big fan.

I still don't like the font. There's something about the font, and, yeah, I think it's just the numbers are too thin uh so maybe maybe the font's okay i just think the numbers are too thin it just something looks a little off to me um everything else is great uh i really like the navy uh with the silver look uh i was a little concerned about the sword uh the two-tone gray on the shoulder, but it doesn't really stand out. It's just more of a cool accent. The helmet is awesome.

The helmet is my favorite part. You've got that silver face mask that really makes it pop. It just felt like Titans needed to go another direction, go away from the white helmet. It kind of looked cheap. This looks more, I don't even know the right word for it but it looks awesome that's my favorite part of it uh i was a little let down by the light blue uh light blue jersey and i just i don't know i'm not a big fan of the color rush you know the all one color there needs to be some contrast there so so they maybe that's my issue uh but overall uh i'm i'm pretty happy with it i just thought the the numbers could have been a little bit thicker

uh maybe popped off the jersey a little more yeah i mean that's me too i just when you see like the 77 on taylor lawan it just looks kind funny. The numbers don't look like they're big enough. I'm fine with the eight. Some of the other just random numbers don't look as bad, but when you've got them on a guy like Taylor LeJuan, a big guy like that, it just makes the font that's obviously skinnier there. It makes it look even smaller, I guess, when you've got it on a guy like that. If you notice the numbers, they have the Paying Homage to the State of Tennessee.

Each number has the Northeast tip on it. That kind of stuff, I think, is neat just from the standpoint of it makes it unique to this team you know to the in in this city and they needed an update i mean they've had the same number or the same uniform since they came here and you know um i heard a lot of talk this week about that and about you know consistency in uniforms because you know jaguars are changing theirs again uh and they just changed them five years ago and then like the nfl minimum time you have to wait is five years before you can change. So you don't want to be that team that's changing them all the time. If you're a team like the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers, those iconic teams that have won as much as those guys have,

they keep their uniforms the same. Nobody complains because that's what you associate with those franchises, with winning and all that kind of stuff. The Titans don't have that kind of history yet, and so it was cool to see this. And again, if you've been here through the whole thing from when they came to now, obviously the team hasn't been very good on the field for the last decade for the majority of the time. the team hasn't been very good on the field for the last decade for the majority of the time. And so they needed something, just something new, something

fresh to get people excited about the team again. Coming off of a couple of successful seasons. But again, we were talking a little bit about this before we came on. With Mike Malarkey, he just didn't have that same buzz. I don't feel like this event would have had the same buzz

if you saw Mike Malarkey as the coach versus what it is with Mike Vrabel and the new look and all that kind of stuff. So really fun, and now you just hope that they will go out there in the fall and put a quality product on the field, can win games, get back to the playoffs, because that's where, you know, obviously the real hype will build, and that's where you'll really, obviously the real hype will build, and that's where you'll really see this city really come back around this team again. Because, you know, I mean, it's been a running joke for the last few years about when they play away teams, you know, those fans kind of take over the stadium.

And, look, you understand it. Nashville's a cool city. Everybody wants to come here. Titans haven't been very good. So, you know, you get that. But when they first came here in the late 90s good so you know you get that but when when they first came here in the late 90s it was hard to get a ticket i mean those days that you know the single game tickets went on sale they sold out in less than an hour um and now obviously you know they're

there's tickets available up into you know the day of the game so um hopefully now that we have this hype and this you know another offseason with some exciting acquisitions, hopefully you get a good draft, all that excitement builds, but you're going to really get the city around the team as a win games. I think that was the story of the night, and I didn't expect it to be the story of the night. It was just the crowd, the atmosphere around this unveiling. You looked at the picture, and I would have guessed there was 50,000 people there. There just looks like so many people for a uniform unveiling.

It's just kind of crazy. We've seen what Nashville can do with the Predators in the playoffs, and we haven't seen the Titans at that level. in the playoffs and we haven't seen the Titans at that level. Uh, and it's really, it's kind of funny because the, you know, they were at that level last year.

Uh, I just kind of think the fans were, were a little bit smarter than that. I mean, they just knew, uh, this upside of this team was capped with Mike Malarkey. So,

uh, really hats off to Amy and John to, for making this move, for realizing, hey, this probably isn't going to go any further than what we've done already. So, yeah, that was the story of the night. The fan turnout on Broadway was awesome. And, you know, we didn't see, going back to the jerseys,

we didn't see some of the rumors that we had heard about. You know, we heard there's going to be red in the jersey. The only thing red on the jersey is the Nike logo. You know, we had heard there was going to be stars on the helmet. There's no stars. There's a sword going down the middle, and that's going to serve as the stripe. We had white jerseys. You know, the big rumor was there was going to be some sort of gray jersey

instead of the white uh no there's white jerseys uh and the thing about the white jersey is they've they've got the gray on top of the shoulder pads uh so i'm not not crazy about that i don't think it really pops i would like to seen some navy on top of the of the shoulder pads but you know it's a little nitpicky stuff that we're all going to have a differing opinion on. But, again, overall, I'm pretty happy with the look. I think the numbers are going to grow on people. I know it's already grown on me. You know, we saw it on Saturday, so it's already grown on me.

But, yeah, I really like the look. They needed a facelift, and they certainly got one. Yeah, now, to be fair, we have seen the Titans at that level. You were just like four years old, so you don't remember it. Just because I'm young, man. 99-2000. The hype was there. That's what's been so hard to see, is to see how much it's dwindled.

It's been so hard to see how much they've just dwindled over this – I mean, it's been a decade plus since they were consistently good. But now we're coming off of 2-9-7 years, so again, hopefully that hype is – and that's the thing. All this stuff is fun to talk about, and we'll spend the next little bit breaking down these uniforms and talking about all this stuff. And people will go back and forth about whether they like them or whether they don't. But that's part of it. It creates a buzz. All that's good. But, like I said, ultimately winning games is what's going to bring the city back to this team. And I think we're going to get there.

But hopefully that's what we'll continue to see as we move along. All right. So that will really do it for uniform talk tonight uh if you haven't seen them it's kind of hard to describe the uh uniform on a podcast but musicmiracles.com we got a couple posts up with pictures and all that kind of stuff so you can see all that stuff and again really cool event uh you know kudos to the titans for for for doing that because for a long time the titans just kind of they were so good when they got here that their marketing was easy they didn't have to do a whole lot the team was really good

they had stars they did everybody loved in the community so they didn't have to do much to get people excited about this team and i think for a few years it was kind of like they were so expecting that hype to still be there without putting in the effort. And, you know, you kind of saw it fall off. Now, I think they understand now, though, that they've got to get back out in the community and do these type of things to get people excited. Put on a great event. You know, again, my biggest knock on the whole thing is I don't know how you can't get somebody better than the Florida Georgia line being here. But, hey, whatever.

You know, that's whatever it is. So, anyway. All right. So, coming up, we're going to talk about a couple of visits the Titans have lined up and a little bit of talk about a Taylor LeJuan contract extension. Okay, so Field Yates today tweeted out that the Titans had completed a visit with Benny Logan, who was with the Kansas City Chiefs for the last couple of years, a guy that would come in and play nose tackle.

I said in my post on MuselyMiracles.com about him that I got from Joel Thorman, who runs ArrowheadPride.com, the Chiefs SB Nation site. Basically, he's a run-stuffer, and that's it. But I think that with what the Titans have currently, their roster, they have a hole at interior defensive line, and if they were going to bring in a guy, obviously Indomitian Sioux is not coming here, so a guy like Benny Logan who's going to play on first and second down

or run downs, that's the type of guy they need at this point. Yeah, and it's interesting that you haven't heard of Hankins' name at all. You know, that was a guy that we immediately connected to the Titans just because of, you know, their obvious need for defensive line help. Also, the Ohio State ties. So, all quiet there. But, yeah, Benny Logan uh probably your next best option there uh on this what third or fourth round of free agency now so uh and that's the thing that the

titans can not add anyone uh on the defensive line and be fine i think it's just depth that they need at this point uh don't really know what you've got in Austin Johnson. I think he's an okay player. But again it's a spot where you can get better. And it's one of the few spots. Where I could see the Titans upgrading. And kind of surprising us on draft day. You know we've talked about. Pass rusher so much.

We've talked about inside linebacker so much. Defensive line is kind of. Just laying around in my head. I could totally see that happening happening if the board doesn't fall uh the way that john robinson needs to take a pass rusher there yeah absolutely so yeah i mean you know anything that any any guy that comes in business at this point is not gonna you know be a a name that's really gonna move the needle very much

because we're in that we we're just in that, in that time in free agency. So the other, the other note from today was that Michael Campanaro, who was with the Ravens is also, I guess, sets it, the Titans tomorrow. And, you know, not, not going to give you much as a wide receiver, you know, has been a kick returner, but, you know, the Titans seem pretty set as far as that's concerned so you know i don't know if we're just if they're in a in a spot where they're just you know any guy that's out there that they think could come in and help in any specific thing special teams whatever it may be you bring that guy in you give

him a look uh you know i would think a guy like jordan matthews you would you would rather have him than campanaro. I mean, just from a talent ability standpoint. But maybe, like I said, there's a special teams role or something that they feel like Campanaro could feel. I don't even know how to say his name. Yeah, I remember him. I think he went to Wake Forest.

I remember him coming out. He did some things out of the slot. So maybe he's not a total zero like Eric Williams was at receiver. Although, you know, the Titans manufactured touches for everybody. Get him his touches, man. Yeah, I think you're going to see them add a couple veterans. I just don't think you can go into the season so young at receiver. And then you've got, of course, the Mcshay and kuiper mock and i think it

was mcshay had them taking courtland sutton in the second that would just mean four inexperienced receivers uh paired with richard matthews and that just i don't know that it seems odd to me uh i'm not sure any other team has done it that way they've they've spent so much at the receiver position they still kind of have a need because nobody's really proven yet so kind of a weird situation but yeah you know i mentioned jordan matthews about a month ago he just makes so much sense and look he's not a guy that's going to come in and and you know light the league on fire but he's a cheaper guy i think uh that's going to come in and he's done all this. But he's a cheaper guy, I think, that's going to come in. And he's done all this before.

He's been around the block once or twice. So if Taewon Taylor isn't ready to make that next step into full-time slot, Jordan Massey is the guy that can kind of bridge that gap. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, Kevin, you're right. He did go to Wake Forest, was a seventh-round pick. The Ravens back in 2014. So he's got it stuck to see seventh-round picks hang around that often. good about um you know what they have there now as far as talent is concerned but like outside Richard Matthews I mean you're I guess your next most experienced guy is probably Taze Sharp and he's the guy that's entering his third year yeah but missed uh missed this entire second year

but you know played a lot in his rookie season um probably played more in his rookie season than Taylor and uh and Corey Davis did. Corey Davis, obviously, because of the injury. So, yeah, they need a veteran guy there. So, I mean, I would expect to see them sign that. And, again, yeah, like you said, if it is Jordan Matthews, you don't expect him to come in here and catch even 75 passes or whatever. But I think he would be an upgrade over what Eric Decker was last year.

So, if you need a guy similar to fill a similar role um i i think matthews would be it would be a good fit there uh you mentioned the mcshay and kuiper thing i mean hey kudos to todd mcshay for not picking a tight end for the titans in this draft so that was really good to see him actually you know like look at the titans roster and you realize where they are i know both of those guys yeah and just real quick on that both of those guys have had the titans taken harold landry in the first round and you know we talked with led yard last night about harold landry we we've talked about this i mean this whole time and i just i still have a hard time believing that har Harold Landry is going to last 25. Maybe I'm wrong.

But, I mean, I just – this seems to me to be one of those times where the people that cover the draft, like the McShays and the Kibers and those kind of stuff, are not going to be lined up with how NFL talent evaluators feel. And I just – I don't see any way it happens. Now, look, I'll be thrilled if it does, if the Titans can sit there at 25 and get that guy. But I just, I really just don't see it happening.

I've got a theory on this. Landry's a guy that's dealt with injuries. He saw the production fall off. So, you know, NFL teams, obviously Kuyper and McShay are plugged into the league. They're being fed this information they spit it out uh in these mock drafts so I just think that the NFL teams are telling Kuyper and McShay hey this guy's hurt we're not too confident in him and then you know it's of course lying season you know we're what three weeks out so this is the peak of lying season so it the whole

thing is just so similar to vick beasley who ended up being a top 10 pick and just days before uh they went on espn and did their live mock draft with you every year and he went like pick 37 and dude goes in the top 10 so i i just think there's some some misinformation out there uh intentionally put out there by the nfl uh in these talent evaluators to kind of spin the narrative and try to push him on down the board uh i don't know if it's gonna work uh i just i know he lacks some size but everything else about him him, he's got these elite traits to him. The pass rushers do not fall to pick 25. If he does, that's going to honestly raise a red flag to me, maybe medically.

So I don't know. I'm not sure he gets out of the top 15 still. Yeah, I'm with you there. So, obviously, we'll wait and see. But, you know, and these – obviously, mock drafts are not worth the time we spend on them. But they are fun to look at. Like you said, those guys do get information now. And I haven't put this disclaimer out this year, I don't think.

But, you know, once you get within a disclaimer out this year i don't think but you know that once you get within a month of the draft you cannot believe anything you hear you take everything you hear with a grain of salt because like you said teams are just just trying to get stuff out there to float it out there whether they want to got a fall or you know whatever it may be so um you know when those guys are hearing things that they're probably not always getting getting told the truth just to kind of see how it can benefit the team that's giving them that information. All right, so lastly tonight, there was a couple of reporters, I think, talking to Taylor LeJuan after the event tonight,

and he said that there had been no talks about a contract extension to this point. That doesn't really surprise me all that much. I mean, on one hand, it does does a little bit but on the other hand you know the titans have have had other priorities they needed to take care of before they get to the one he's right now he has a contract for 2018 he's got his fifth year option um you know worst case scenario they could franchise him if they want or if they wanted to after that whatever but. But, you know, so it's not like something that they have to get done in short order. It's something they're going to get done. He's going to get a contract.

He's going to be the highest paid left tackle in the NFL. But did it mean anything to you tonight to hear that there have been no talks? Nothing at all. And I thought, you know, the quote from Jason Wolfe was, from Will Vaughn, was whatever happens, happens. And, you know, I'm sure he wants to get paid. Who doesn't want to get paid? I thought the quote from Jason Wolfe from LeJuan was, whatever happens, happens. I'm sure he wants to get paid. Who doesn't want to get paid?

Maybe he's trying to use that language to jumpstart things, but it's going to get done. I'm not worried at all. LeJuan is the heart and soul of this team. He's the cornerstone of this franchise. It's going to happen. Matter of time. I'm not worried at all. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, when you have a franchise

left tackle, you don't let him walk. So, obviously, and a guy that, you know, there were some I guess, I don't know what the right red flags, character red flag type things when he came out, but it has been nothing but great here. Obviously great work, all that family, you hear all that stuff about him.

So, yeah, they're going to lock him up. That's not going to be an issue. So, anyway, all right, so that will do it for us tonight. We will be back next week. We'll have another draft guy or two on to talk about defensive players. I think that's really what we're going to focus on. You know, I mean, I just that's really what we're going to focus on. I don't see hardly, it's hard for me to find

a scenario where the Titans don't take a defensive player in the first round, probably maybe in the first two or three rounds. We'll kind of zone in on some of that stuff, whether it be edge rushers like we talked about last night with John Ledgard. If you missed that, go back and listen to it. A lot of good information

from him. Interior defensive lineman, I back and listen to it. A lot of good information from him. Interior defensive lineman, I wouldn't expect that in the first round, but you could see it in the second or third, you know, inside linebacker, all those things that we've kind of talked about. So we'll have some guys on next week to talk about that. In the meantime, check out bscmiracles.com. We'll have plenty of updates with all this stuff, and we'll get more news about draft visits and all that kind of stuff

coming in over the next few weeks. So we'll have all that stuff listed there between podcasts, so check it out. Again, you can follow us on Twitter, MattJMorrisMCM, Terry's at TLambertFB, podcast at LockedOnTitans. So for Terry, this is Jimmy saying thanks for listening to LockedOnTitans, and we will talk to you again later.