Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Reviewing Jon Robinson's 2016 offseason

Episode Date: February 11, 2019

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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 today? Doing pretty good. What's up, man? Not a whole lot. Today we're going to start probably about a three-day look at John Robinson's time here as the general manager. We get a couple questions on Twitter about that, about, you know, kind of looking into him. And I think as the year went along last year, you know, coming into last year, I think everybody was, you know, like really, really high on John Robinson. Thought he'd done a great job. But I think that kind of wore off a little bit as the season went along.

And so we're going to try to go through his three off seasons that he's had since he's been here and talk through those and not necessarily give a grade, but just kind of give an overall impression of that and kind of what that means for the franchise. Before we do that, remind you to be right with me at zmiracles.com where we cover the Titans for SB Nation. So you can check us out there. You can follow us on Twitter.

I'm at jmorrismcm. Terry's at tlambertfb. You can get the podcast review. If you get your podcast, just search out Locked on Titans. You can also play us on your smart speaker, whether it be in your car, in your house, whatever it is. Just say play podcast Locked on Titans, and you'll get us there. We do a voicemail show about once a week. We've been able to do that pretty much every week so far this offseason.

People calling and leaving voicemails. We've got a couple already. A couple more would be good for a show on Thursday. So 615-787-8762. That's the number you call just leave a minute long message comment, question, whatever it is and we'll play it and talk about it on the show

on Thursday alright, so kind of setting the stage here we're talking through John Robinson I mean the first thing that I think we have to acknowledge is that regardless of the stuff we talk about over the next three days, he's better than Rustin Webster, right? I mean i think we have to acknowledge is that regardless of you know the stuff we talk about over the next three days he's better than rustin webster right i mean i think we can all agree on that it's not saying a whole lot um right exactly it's a low bar uh you were mentioning

you know this aaf that kicked off over the weekend um you know there's like three teams that their highest drafted player uh on that team was drafted by rustin Webster of the Titans. So that kind of tells you everything you need to know about Rustin Webster's time here. He did do a few good things. I mean, he drafted LeJuan, drafted Mariota. There's a couple things. But, like, for the most part, he was pretty much a disaster as the GM here. So there was nowhere to go but up when John Robinson took over. Because, I mean, you know, the Titans, when they drafted,

so they had the second pick the one year and then the first pick the next year. And they really had the worst roster in the league both of those years. So, you know, it had just been decimated. There was nothing here when John Robinson got here. So he's obviously been better than that, done a better job than that, both in free agency and in the draft. But I do think at this point it's fair to question some of the decisions he's made. And so that's kind of what we're going to just talk through.

So we'll start with free agency from 2016. 2016 was when John Robinson was hired. Mike Malarkey was also his first year as the head coach here. I think his best move that offseason was trading for DeMarco Murray, which is funny because that might have been the thing that was the most criticized because, you know, they gave DeMarco Murray a bunch of money. If you were talking about one, you know, DeMarco Murray was obviously bad in Philadelphia. Two, you know, the value of the running back position, all that kind of stuff. But, you know, they knew that they needed to be a run-heavy offense.

They knew that's what Mike Malarkey and Terry Robiskey wanted to do. They were not happy. The Eagles weren't happy with DeMarco Murray. And they basically traded fifth-round picks for him. That was really all they gave up, plus the money. So that deal was really, really good. And the Titans were 9-7 that first year under Malarkey and I don't think they get very close to that record if they don't have DeMarco

Murray I think we need to point out that this was also an arranged marriage with Robinson and Malarkey not exactly John Robinson's pick of the head coach there it was kind of known that Malarkey was going to get the job so right then and and there, that's kind of, you know, we've seen that happen around the league. It typically does not work out. So that was kind of a red flag for us. You know, thinking back to when Malarkey was hired, it wasn't received very well.

But, of course, John Robbins is going to take the job to become an NFL GM. But moving on, you know, getting DeMarco Murray really fit what Malarkey wanted to do. And like you said, they didn't give up hardly anything to get him. And it was a position, it's interesting because you kind of think running back is the most easily fixable position in the league. The Titans went through a lot of names and just could not find an answer. You think about Sean Green and Bishop Sankey and Antonio Andrews and the list goes on and on.

So to shore that up, to get a capable, proven NFL veteran walking through the door to be in the backfield with Marcus Mariota for virtually nothing, you paid him some money. That's fine. I think it was worth it. We've talked about before on the show how much DeMarco Murray meant to the organization. I think he just brought that attitude and really started to fix what had become a fractured locker room.

Yeah, and I think one point, too, to make about demarco murray is fans i think started to get mad at him at the end of his time here because it was clear in 2017 that demarco murray was done but you know mike malarkey and terry biskey were not willing we're not ready to give up on him yet at that point and so i think fans were getting mad at demarco murray when it wasn't really his fault they should have scaled back his workload in that second year, and they didn't do that. But, yeah, like you said, changing the culture in the locker room, helping him go 9-7, being just an all-around really good back.

I didn't have any idea when he came here that he was as good of a receiver as he ended up being. So that was a really good move, and like a franchise stabilizer, so to speak. So that one was probably, I mean, that's one of the best moves he's made, John Robinson, since he's been here. When you move to look at the rest of the free agent class that year, the main names, Matt Castle, Ben Jones, Rashard Matthews, Al Woods, Byron Bell, Rashad Johnson,

Antoine slash Valentino Blake. You know, obviously a mixed bag there. I think we start with the good, Ben Jones and Rashard Matthews. You know, I think Ben Jones' play has dropped off a little bit at this point. But if you go back to that 2016 team, Ben Jones is really good. And again, the Titans had issues at interior offensive line for a long time, have them again, but for a year there, the offensive line was really good, and Ben Jones was a big part of that.

Came in and solidified that center spot, did a really nice job there. Rashard Matthews, again, the end of his time here was a disaster, quitting on the team, all that kind of stuff. But those first two years, I mean, he was their most dependable weapon, you know, outside of Delaney Walker in the passing game, definitely their most dependable receiver. Didn't even have to pay Rashard Matthews all that much money. And that was just a good job there of kind of identifying a guy on the secondary market

and being able to say, hey, this guy can really come in and help us, and we don't have to pay him necessarily this top-tier money. So those two acquisitions right there were really instrumental in what they were able to do in that first season. Really solidified two positions that really needed to be solidified. Needed some veteran leadership. You think about the Titans offensive line in 2015. I think that was the year that Joe Looney was starting at center.

Just wasn't very good. They had so many names go through that offensive line. So many injuries, too. We've got to note that. But getting Ben Jones in here, a guy that had four or five years of experience in Houston, it was big for that run game. You talked about DeMarco Murray. Ben Jones was a big part of that, getting the offensive line in order.

And the same goes with Rashard Matthews. We all have a negative connotation with Matthews, but it's really easy to forget that he was a 1,000-yard receiver here. Easily, Marcus Mariota's most reliable target early on. A guy that was nothing flashy, nothing special, just went out and

did his job up until this year. It was kind of a big loss for Mariota not to have that presence on the field as we saw later this season. But at the time, you know, I think the Titans got two really good years out of Rashard Matthews. Yeah, absolutely.

Like I said, I mean, he was a guy that came in here, and he was a part of that culture change too. Weird that it went the way that it did. But, you know, he was a guy that really came in and helped with that as well. All right, coming up, we will finish off the conversation around the free agents from 2016. All right, so like I mentioned, you've got Matt Castle in that group as well. I think he was a fine signing at the time. Again, it didn't end up very well in his time here.

And I think that they really, back in 17, were planning on Alex Haney beating him out. That didn't work out. But I think Matt Castle was fine as a backup at that point in his career. Then you look at guys like Al Woods and Byron Bell, who didn't really do that much here, but have gone on to have, you know, at least pretty solid contributions to other teams since they left here. So, again, those were more like role guys. You know, I mean, the eternal search for a nose tackle, I guess you throw Al Woods in that list there.

But neither one of those guys, they didn't give a ton of money to either one of those guys. Guys that came in and were fine in their role. Rashad Johnson was good in his one year here. It was just kind of a one year deal, kind of a stop gap there. Antoine

Blake was not good. Not only not good, but made a bunch of stupid mistakes on the field. So that didn't necessarily work out. But, again, I mean, I don't think they planned on him being like a franchise corner or anything like that. But, I mean, I guess any time you get down the list of free agents, you're going to have some hits and some misses type deals there.

But, I mean, overall, looking at this first free agency class, I mean, it was really, really good. You would give him a high grade for the group that he brought in when you consider the contributions that they made, both in the locker room and on the field. Yeah, once you get past DeMarco and Ben Jones, Rashard Matthews, a bunch of Band-Aids, and you're going to get a mixed bag every single year with those. I mean, you just don't know how much these guys have left in the tank.

You know, different situations for each player. Al Woods was okay here, but he really blossomed in Dallas. And, again, that's not John Robinson's fault. Al Woods didn't do it here. And, you know, the nose tackle is kind of a dying position, so to speak, in the league. So you're right. It's one of those eternal searches for the nose tackle that didn't exactly pan out. So he also had guys like Sean Spence, Nate Palmer, special teamers,

guys that contributed to this team. Yeah, Antoine Blake, you know, when the Titans signed him, I think people that really paid attention around the league knew who Antoine Blake was. You know, I remember the Steelers fans laughing when the Titans signed him. They turned out to be very right. Antoine Blake was one of the worst corners in the league there for a couple years. So hits and misses there, but you're not really going to hold his feet to the fire with that. Yeah, absolutely. And, again, I think he's one going to hold his feet to the fire over that. Yeah, absolutely.

And, again, I think he's one of those guys. He was really, really fast. And so those guys tend to keep getting chances just because you think maybe you have a coach that can get to them and can kind of harness that. So not a big deal there. And then the last thing that we should mention, the trade they pulled off, really, it was in Augustust i think it was right before the season started where um you know he sent dory o'green beckham and got dennis

kelly um you know and i mean i think at the point that happened a lot of people were shocked that you would trade a second round pick for a backup offensive tackle but you know dory o'green beckham obviously was a part of that old culture that just didn't fit in what they were trying to build here. And so, you know, I don't think I would be surprised even at the time if John Robinson knew he was getting a guy that would contribute as much as Dennis Kelly has over the past couple of years. That's turned out to be a really good trade for the Titans

just because Kelly has been good in the time that he's had to play, and he's had to play in quite a few different spots. So he's been a really valuable piece on this team, and obviously Daryl Greenbeck, you know, flamed out of the league. So, I mean, that was a really good trade, too, that I think some people kind of forget about. This is kind of because of the timing when it happened, and I don't think most Titans fans probably don't even know how Dennis Kelly

ended up on this roster. Yeah, it's really interesting to go back and think about because when it happened, I was like, that's all? That's all you're going to get? But it's turned out to be a really productive player. And with Doriel Green Beckham, you know, fans get attached to these receivers, right? They get attached to these tall, fast receivers.

Fans get attached to these receivers, right? They get attached to these tall, fast receivers. But Beckham just didn't have the drive, the want to, to get better and to be a real force in this league. It was pretty obvious. It didn't take John Robinson long to figure that out. Credit to him. I mean, credit to him and his staff for evaluating Kelly and seeing that as a guy that could come in and

provide some depth. And who knows, man, he might have a chance to start heading into 2019. Yeah, so that's just, like I said, an underrated piece of that offseason. All right, coming up, we will look at John Robinson's first draft here. All right, so John Robinson's first pick here. Alright, so John Robinson's first pick for the Titans was Jack Conklin. Obviously, he made the trade with the Rams. The Titans had the first pick. We're happy with

Marcus Mariota. Traded back with the Rams. Got a bunch of picks. Ended up trading back up to number eight to get Jack Conklin. I know Conklin was really good in his first year. Obviously, the Titans helped him a lot, all that kind of stuff.

Was pretty good his second year and then got hurt last year. Was kind of a mess. I don't think at this point... I don't know. I guess it's still kind of hard to grade that pick at this point. I feel like we should be a little bit closer than we are with him. But we've just seen big ups and big downs last year you know i i want to believe that he wasn't fully

healthy and that was what what was the biggest part of his issue but it's going to be really interesting to see what he looks like once we get a 2019 camp yeah if you're uh if you've been following us for for a long time and have been on mcm for a long time probably remember the post that i did on jack conklin which you know it wasn't very good at the time his college tape as his last year at michigan state was not very good i wasn't happy with this pick but the the tackle spot had to be addressed. The right tackle spot did. Jeremiah Patassi was not the answer. I'm not sure if I've ever seen a draft pick as high as that one flame out as quickly as he did.

But it had to be addressed. Jack Conklin was who John Robinson clearly identified, a guy. You go back and there was a lot of talk about Laramie Tunsil. There was a lot of talk about Jalen Ramsey. You can kind of debate the Jalen Ramsey pick there. You would have had to stay right there at one to get Ramsey. You know, Jack Conklin is interesting because I think we all want him to be, to return to that rookie form, but it's a little scary now with the knee being hurt.

Will he return to that form? So I'm not sure. I think there's a lot of questions surrounding Conklin and really just kind of clouds a pretty shaky first draft for John Robinson. Yeah, absolutely. I think 2019 is going to be really big as far as that's concerned, and they've got a decision coming up in the next few weeks if they're going to pick up that fifth-year option or not on Conklin.

All right, so in the second round in that draft, the Titans picked up two second-round picks from the Rams in that trade. You had Kevin Dodd at 33, which was the Titans' pick, and then you had Austin Johnson and Derrick Henry. They were drafted after that. I guess Texas Titans already had two second-round picks. The 45 where they picked Henry was the one they picked up from the Rams in that deal. Kevin Dodd, I mean, obviously the worst pick that John Robinson has made to this point.

Again, a pick that you didn't like when it initially came down, and it just kind of played out that he wasn't an edge guy. And obviously, I don't know, the desire or whatever was an issue with him as well. You look at Austin Johnson, I mean, you've got to call that pick a bust at this point, don't you? I think so. I mean, second round, 43rd pick overall, and just hasn't really developed into much of anything. I mean, he's a rotational guy, sure, but they, you know, it just hadn't, I don't know. He hadn't paid off that pick at this point.

Then you got Derrick Henry, who, you know, at the midpoint of last season, I would have said that pick was a bust as well. And really, I mean, my biggest criticism of John Robinson halfway through this past season was this second round in 2016 because you have three picks there. You had four picks in that draft inside of the top 45, three in the second round. That's a chance to really, really turn around your franchise. And until Derrick Henry came on in the last six weeks of the season,

the Titans have basically gotten nothing out of that so far. I think at this point we can at least say that we see the potential with Derrick Henry that that pick's going to end up returning pretty good value. So that's good. But I don't know. I still really, when you look at those four picks in 2016 with Conklin and the three second-round guys, I feel like they should have been able to get more done there.

Absolutely. You start with Kevin Dodd, a guy that I was all over, Chris Jones, a defensive lineman that landed with the Chiefs. That's who I was wanting Titans to take, get that impact defender to go along with Jarrell Casey. Of course, Jones has gone on to be a really productive player for the Chiefs. Kevin Dodd, man, he didn't have the athletic profile of a pass rusher. He had that real good stretch of play to end Clemson's 2015 season.

Had, I believe, three sacks in the national championship game against Alabama and just really used that to shoot up draft boards. Uh, had, I believe three sacks in the national championship game against Alabama, uh, and just really use that to shoot up draft boards. But, uh, man, the production was there for one year, but that's all he had came in and was 275 pounds ballooned up to two 80. Just, uh, never gives Titans anything. Uh, he was hurt when he got there and never really seemed to ever get healthy. So, um, yeah, just,, just a huge bust at 33 overall.

You'd hope John Robinson learned his lesson there, not drafting guys, not drafting pass rushers without that great athletic profile. He certainly busted that trend last year with Harold Landry. But Austin Johnson, nothing more than a role player, nothing more than a backup, just depth at this point. And then Derrick Henry was depth at that point too. I remember Paul Kaharski writing a post and saying the Titans drafted nothing but depth in that second round, and I had to agree.

So we were underwhelmed with this the second round the day it happened uh and unfortunately it really hasn't changed to this point outside of derrick henry yeah now move on to that third round pick and that's what they got kevin byard um and so i think you know kind of he's a guy a lot like uh you know courtland finnegan back in the day i mean i think it was a six round pick by third round pick so a big difference there but you know when A lot like Cortland Finnegan back in the day. I mean, Finnegan was the sixth-round pick, Byers the third-round pick. There's a big difference there. But you missed on some other guys. When you get guys in the middle to late in drafts that end up being really, really good players,

you can kind of cover up some of those misses. And so, I mean, Byers is a guy that obviously was an all-pro, has just continued to get better as he's played here. And he's a guy that's going to get paid in the next couple of years. So I don't think that's a great pick. Obviously a home run there. Yeah, you just go back and you remember he wasn't invited to the combine. It's just weird how these guys fall through the cracks.

But a guy that's homegrown in Nashville at MTSU, a guy that we heard a ton about through the process. I mean, you just kind of knew, it's just kind of a foregone conclusion. Titans were going to take Kevin Byer. He just didn't know where. I thought the third round was earlier than what I thought. Obviously it's worked out,

but he's going to get paid here probably, maybe this off season yeah and i think that's probably one of those deals where you know the titans picked at 64 they didn't pick again till 140 they didn't have a fourth round pick um so i i think you know robinson realized if he didn't take him there he wasn't viable to be at 140 um so you know maybe reached a little bit as far as that was concerned but obviously that's worked out. The rest of that draft, you got Tajay Sharp and LaShawn Sims in the fifth, Sebastian Tritola in the sixth, Aaron Wallace and Kalen Reed in the seventh. Listen, you know, coming out of the fifth round with Tajay Sharp

and LaShawn Sims, that's pretty solid right there. Talk about drafting for depth, but if you're doing that in the fifth round, that's okay. LaShawn Sims has been good when he's gotten the chance to play. Tajay Sharp is fine. We've talked a lot about him. I think Titans fans overvalue him in general, but I think that as your fourth receiver, that's fine.

Tritola was a bust. He got in a fight with somebody. Yeah, at some club. Did that whole deal. So he's no longer with the Titans, obviously. Then you got Aaron Wallace and Kalen Reed. So, I mean, overall, I think, like I said, you got to be happy with those two guys in the fifth round.

Anything after that, you're just kind of shooting darts. Kalen Reed is, you know, he's played a little bit. So, I mean, not the worst pick ever. So, I don't know. I think overall this ended up being a pretty solid draft when you factor in what Conklin was able to do early. And again, hopefully he's able to come back to something close to that form. You talk about Bayard, Derrick Henry.

You've got a couple of depth guys there in the fifth round. So I think it was a good draft, but I think it could have been a great draft, and that's really the biggest problem that I have with how the whole thing shook out. Yeah, added competitive depth on day three and got a role player in Tajay Sharp out of the deal, a role player in LaShawn Sims out of the deal.

Aaron Wallace had his moments in camp and preseason. Never really happened for him. Same with Kaelin Reed, but not too much to complain for there on day three. But like you're saying, it could have been a great draft. We'll see on Conklin. We'll see if Derrick Henry can do it again. I'm waving my flag on Austin Johnson. Obviously, Kevin Dodd waved the flag on Austin Johnson Obviously Kevin Dodd

Waved the flag on himself But Kevin Byard clearly The steel of this draft An all pro type player Even if the national media doesn't agree So you can't complain about that But that second round I think about it a lot

John Robinson just kind of Just missed the mark there. Could have come away with at least two starters there. Really only came around with Derrick Henry. And it took Derrick Henry two years to beat out DeMarco Murray there. So, underwhelming second round. Kind of made up for it with Kevin Byard. We'll see on Conklin.

Yeah, so absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, again, as we work through this, 2016 is probably the, I say, easiest to evaluate, but you get the most time on those guys. So, I mean, you can talk about with some certainty what those guys are or aren't. Again, with the exception of Conklin, Derek Henry came on late.

But, yeah, you have more certainty with those guys than you will the next groups we'll talk about. But anyway, so we'll move into 2017 tomorrow, talk about that. And like I said, we'll do 18 on Wednesday. If you want to, if you've got any feedback on this show, if you want to ask a question or if you have comments on the guys that we talked about, again, 615-787-8762. You can call in there. You can leave us a message, and we'll be glad to talk about it later in the week. Again, pushing if you have a smart speaker in your car, in your house, whatever it is,

play podcasts, Locked On Titans. That's another way you can get us. So follow us on Twitter at jmorrismcm, at TLambertFB. For Terry, this is Jimmy saying thanks for listening to Locked On Titans, and we'll talk to you again tomorrow.