Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked On Titans- Sept.5- Who made the roster, why and what other moves might be coming.

Episode Date: September 5, 2016

It's here, our first episode of Locked On Titans with Terry McCormick and Greg Arias of TitanInsider and Former Tennessee Titans Pro-Bowl left tackle Brad Hopkins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Learn more about our healthy benefits at fepblue.org slash getmore. You are locked on Titans. Your daily podcast on the Tennessee Titans. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. And welcome to your new daily source for all Titans news. With your host, Terry McCormick from Titan Insider. I'm Greg Arias and former Tennessee Titans Pro Bowl left tackle Brad Hopkins. We are locked on Titans guys. This is our first show of this podcast series and it's great to be together with everybody.

Prepare to be riveted folks for the next 20-25 minutes. You don't want to go anywhere because I'm going to give you all the Titans information. Isn't that right, Terry? Absolutely. The latest up-to-date information plus analysis and our predictions on where we think the Titans are headed and what we think is going to happen. And that brings us to kick off the show. Let's talk about current news. And obviously the big news this Monday morning is the return of Mark Mariani to the Titans. He was signed as off of waivers this morning from Chicago and to make room, the corresponding

move was the release of Trey McBride. Right. Most Titans fans obviously know Mark Mariani from his previous tenure here. He was a pro bowler as a rookie in 2010. A kid drafted out of Montana in part because then Titans coach Jeff Fisher's son had played football with Mariani at the University of Montana. So Jeff had seen him up close firsthand and knew what kind of player this kid was. And now as a veteran, he was released by the Bears, and the Titans bring him back for a second tour of duty.

Brad, what do you think Mary Annie, how do you think Mary Annie's feeling getting a second chance to be with the organization that drafted him? So appreciative, Terry. I want to liken him to a rescue. You know how happy rescues are when you go to the pound and you find him and you're like, come on, hold on to me. That's what Mark is like right now

because he's had a lot of success here in Tennessee. Obviously a record setter, not only in the receiving corps, but obviously a guy in special teams that meant a lot when he was here. As a matter of fact, broke Derek Mason's return record when he was here. I think the guy that only had like, since Billy White, Shoes Johnson, that had a punt return and a kick return in the same season for touchdown. So obviously we know what he can actually bring. But I think that more importantly, Greg,

is his ability to add depth to the receiving core. Obviously, you're talking about a receiving core that has Rashard Matthews, Tajay Sharp seems to be good, Kendall Wright, Harry Douglas, veteran Andre Johnson, and Trey McBride. Here's another guy, another added dimension of a hard work guy, one that fits the bill to what Mike Malarkey is trying to get accomplished. Absolutely. I think certainly that he brings a lot to the table. He had some good numbers last year as a return man and i think perhaps some of that is just having a confidence in a veteran guy to put back there that can return punts and kicks obviously trey mcbride going out he was a guy that had spent some time uh practicing returning punts and kicks but having a veteran guy

that you can trust i think is huge absolutely yeah those lines, as far as the return game goes, it's interesting to me, you know, because the Titans had said all through camp, all through the offseason, that they were comfortable with Dexter McCluster. They liked what he could do. But yet, throughout the preseason, we kept seeing other guys be auditioned for the job. So maybe that should have been a clue that Dexter McCluster's spot wasn't as secure as we thought. So they jettisoned him and his higher salary, and then they go back and they bring in Mark Mariani, probably on a veteran

minimum type deal, and he's going to be your pun and kickoff return guy. Absolutely. I think there may be some small questions of durability. Remember, 13 and 14 were lost to him because of injury, but here's a guy that if you use him sparingly, he's not an X, you know what I mean? Nor will he be a Y starting out or anything like that, but in special teams, he should figure to be good. I just wonder if there's maybe some questions about how long they'll actually have him and his health. Right. That's a question, obviously.

You know, remember he had the gruesome leg injury that he suffered in preseason. I think it was in 2013, and he tried to make his way back from that injury in 2014 and then suffered a shoulder injury. So, you know, Mark Mariani had some troubles while he was here, you know, with the injury bug, but the last couple of years with the Bears, he was healthy. Now he's back, and it's going to be interesting to see, you know, if he's still the same Mark Mariani that he was from 2010 through 2012. Extremely popular guy.

Now, that leads us to the other side of the equation. Trey McBride. He's a guy that earned a spot at least after the initial cuts down to 53 with this roster. He's now on the street. Is he a guy that returns because there is a spot available on the practice squad? And does he even

clear waivers for the Titans to have a chance to re-sign him there? Let me pose that back to you guys that spent an entire summer seemingly out here watching these guys. Did you see Trey McBride's progress being one that they're definitely going to be looking to solidify, kind of bring in some depth to that receiving core? Will we see him back in the fold? I think you'll see him back on the practice squad. I think there's a real shot at that, and I think for this reason,

Trey McBride last year, when he came to this team, you could tell that he was a little bit lost in the offense. He was a guy that didn't make a whole lot of plays, wound up getting cut and put on the practice squad. This year he came back, had a pretty solid preseason, had a very good training camp, was in the right position. You know, the, I guess the mantra that they've been harping on with these receivers is dependability. You know, being in the right spot at the right time, catching the football when it's thrown to you. It's the reason that Doriel Green Beckham and Justin Hunter are no longer here,

even though they were probably far more gifted athletes than some of the guys they kept. Trey McBride was a guy that showed that he could do some of that, but he got squeezed out in a numbers game because they wanted to go with a veteran in the return game with Mariani. So I think what you're looking at with Trey McBride is, if he clears waivers, which I think he probably will, goes back on the practice squad, continues to be seasoned, and then maybe next year or sometime later this year gets another crack at it.

Is this the right receiving core, though, for what Mike Malarkey is talking about, which is getting back to running the football, Greg? Are these guys that aren't going to let egos get in the way? The fact that Marcus Mariani is not in the seven-step drop trying to hit them deep, but more so looking to involve those guys between the tackles to stay in manageable third-down

situations. Is this the right receiving core from a mentality standpoint to have this team be successful? I certainly think so. We saw that in the preseason. These guys were willing to go out and block Harry Douglas, who is an older veteran guy. Andre Johnson, I don't think, has an issue with doing that. The young guys have seemed to fall in and want to do the same thing. So I think they'll be okay from that standpoint of these guys accepting their role because

John Robinson's preached team first. And I think he's got guys that have that mentality team first. Terry, did you see Greg point at me when he said old guys? I'm older than both of you guys. How do you think that makes me feel? Okay, moving along. One of the things that you're going to hear from us on a regular basis is a segment called

offense and defense, where we look specifically at the offense for the week leading up to games and then the defense we're going to start with offense and the big news on offense guys was the addition of jay samaro a former second round draft pick on waivers the titans pick him up he now becomes the fourth tight end with this team your thoughts on that move i know he did ter, miss a game during the preseason because of injury. Maybe I think it was the groin injury. But I don't think it's something that he can't recover from. And when you look at how they're going to be using the run game specifically, they need extensions from the offensive line.

I thought that Phillip Supernaw did a tremendous job. Obviously, Delaney Walker, in my opinion, is more like a slot receiver than anything else. But I think this guy, Mr. Amaro, adds some depth as far as run blockers and a steady ace that can actually find the creases in the zone, sit down where he needs to, and be a nice safety valve for Marcus Mariota, Terry. Yeah, I think that's a good point there, Brad, because one of the things about Amaro is that he has a reputation of actually being more of a pass-receiving tight end, despite his size.

He's 6'5 and 265, so you think, well, let's just put that hoss on the end of the line and let him be a sixth offensive lineman but really some of his forte has been being a receiver he caught 38 passes as a rookie so it'll be interesting to see how the titans integrate him into their offense and try to get him used to what they want to do and what they want to do, and what they want to do, first and foremost, is run block and run the football, and then use play action, and as you know, from your time here, play action and hitting the tight end with a pass down the seam was bread and butter for this offense, and I think they're trying to get back to some form of that. Terry, I don't know what I was thinking about.

I remember this kid back in Texas Tech days catching over 1,300 yards in a season. So it's not like he's going to be used exclusively for blocking like you said, Terry. This guy will definitely have those sheer hands in success. I think he brings both. He can catch the football as another option. And basically they've tried to find a guy similar in some ways to Craig Stevens. Obviously Stevens retires. This guy can come in. He's big enough to be a solid blocker, has good hands, can be a receiver. Let's switch gears now. We're talking offense.

Let's talk about your favorite subject, offensive line. Let's talk about the way they've revamped this group from the offseason, from the last two years, the offensive line has been a disaster. But it looks like, judging from the preseason, I know you can't always go by that, it looks like this offensive line is certainly a horse of another color, as they say now. I think it starts really with the bookends, guys.

I am so excited about the tackles that they have here. This tandem of LeJuan and Conklin, to me, is proven to be successful in the preseason. Try not to get ahead of myself. But when you can see these guys setting the tone with the mentality that taylor loana has we know how grumpy he can be and the discipline and actual just the hard work effort guy that jack conklin is they're going to make sure that marcus mariota is protected completely for 60 minutes and can also

provide those holes necessary for demarco murray and derrick henry to be effective in the run game so i really really like what they've done up front. I think interior-wise, they could use some gelling. You know what I mean? Chance Wormack is a huge fan of his. You know, always have been ever since he came from Alabama. But I need him to take that next step. You know what I mean?

But I think that what they're trying to do now is have these guys moving forward, shoulder pads down, rather than being on the retreat, you know, working from their heels, and therefore it helps their mentality. And I think we've seen it so far in preseason, Terry. How big is the addition of Ben Jones? Because there had been, you know, and I've been one of them, that's kind of said this offensive line has not been the same since Kevin Mawai left in the middle of that offensive line,

a guy making the calls, a veteran knowing exactly what to do, who knows every trick in the book. They haven't had that guy. They've bounced through four or five different starting centers the last six or seven years. How important of an addition is Ben Jones in the middle to kind of be the traffic cop of that offensive line? When you've got Luan, when you've got Wormack, Swinkey, obviously Conklin, a lot of youth there.

They need someone that understands the lay of the land. Obviously this Texans veteran coming in can not only help disseminate the game plan from the standpoint of those guys up front, but he's also one that's been in the fire and has seen situations like that and can mentor the youngsters around him. I know he's a center, and not to say that he's the least capable blocker, but the guy that actually is tasked with pointing out the Mike linebacker, giving direction where they're sliding to, and sounding confident when he does his job, that's what they need when they're surrounded

by a bunch of youngsters on this offensive line, guys. You mentioned the youngster, and I want to take you to Jack Conklin, because you obviously played left tackle. He's a right tackle, but still a lot of similarities, obviously, in the position. What is the one thing that people need to look for with this rookie? He's a stout run blocker, no doubt. Probably going to have some times where he struggles in pass protection against some of the faster guys.

Kind of take us through what he needs to do and where you feel like he is from what you've seen of him so far. Greg, phenomenal run blocker. Obviously, this is a guy that will help set the tone on that right side, but he's also got nimble feet to be able to take care of pass rushers. He's not going to be expected to block the blind side pass rusher, but he is, in essence, going to be a nice complement to what Taylor LeJuan is doing on the left side.

I don't think that they'll have a favorable side. You know what I'm saying? I don't think that they'll say, well, let's run the ball to the left because we know that Taylor LeJuan is really getting it done over there. I think that they'll have options either way. And if, truth be told, they can hit it right down in the middle and exploit, say, three, four defenses, you know, get the guy past that line of scrimmage into the linebacker level. These guys chase the ball after it's been past them, which is a great thing. If there's ever a fumble, if there's ever, you know, some sort of

late down the field action, these guys are surrounding the ball carrier because that's what they've been trained to do at this point. Give Russ Grimm some credit, okay? His old scruffy style of coaching offensive linemen is definitely coming to fruition with these youngsters, and they're buying into what he's actually selling right now. When you can flash two or three Super Bowl rings, people will listen. You know?

Bling, bling, bling, bling. Let's talk a little bit now. Let's go over to let's talk a little bit about the offense in terms of the skill positions. Going back to old school, back to when you played, when Steve McNair first was the starting quarterback, I think he started toward the end of his second season, is that correct? Yes, you're right. Okay.

There was no doubt that it was Eddie George's team at that point, and Steve was kind of the caretaker of the offense. And it wasn't until two to three years later, maybe we even saw it come of age in the Super Bowl, where it became more of Steve McNair's team. So with Marcus Mariota now entering his second year, and they've fortified the offense by adding DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry, how much now does this become Marcus Mariota's team, and how much now does he lean on the two running backs

rather than trying to put it all on his own shoulders? You know, the thing about it is, even though DeMarco Murray has come in, obviously a proven veteran, even though Derrick Henry, a Heisman Trophy winner from last year, has come into this offense, none of those guys overshadow Marcus Mariota. None of them. And it was just now, while you were actually laying out the similarities between he and Steve McNair, that I started to realize they didn't start using Steve's feet until they had to.

You know what I'm saying? And they've been able to use his accuracy. Obviously, his knowledge of the game was probably something that surprised some people coming from Alcorn State. But when you look at Marcus Mariota, same situation. They don't want him taking shots. You know what I mean? They don't want him working outside of the pocket. But what they do want is a guy that is a field general, if you will. In other words, they trust him. They know confidently he's the leader. And when you hear him make comments in the preseason about, like, hey, look,

if I've got to hand the ball off to these guys 50 times during a game for us to get wins, that is something that they can definitely take advantage of. Because he's saying it doesn't have to go through me for us to be successful. We can disseminate the game plan however we need to just to be effective. So I like the fact that they've got some horses to run the football to alleviate some of the pressure of Marcus Mariota having to be that guy. But Marcus Mariota also having the mindset that, hey, look, it doesn't have to go through me for us to win.

I'm going to do whatever I need to do to put this team in position to be successful on Sundays, and that definitely shows. Let's flip the coin, move to the other side of the football. And the biggest question mark for me, now we didn't see this in Miami, but certainly the starters didn't play. A lot of them didn't even go in in the first series, but the defense. They gave up first possession touchdowns in three of the four preseason games. Is that something of concern going into this Sunday against Minnesota or not? Terry, I'm going to say that because of the vanilla game plans,

defensively they try and be so exotic, you know what I mean, and not put out tape during the preseason of what you're going to be doing during the regular season. So I think you just saw ability on the field, Greg. You know what I mean? Just guys that are trying to get to the passer. They know the three-four scheme, blah, blah, blah. But they didn't do the exotics, the zone dogs, the blitzes, all those things

that you know you're going to see from a Dick LeBeau defense. So I wouldn't be too concerned about not seeing everything up front. Well, I agree with that. And here's the thing that I've always heard about a Dick LeBeau defense. If you look back at his time with the Steelers and other stops that he's made, they've always said that the safety position really takes more precedent over the secondary than the corner position. He's always had guys like Troy Polamalu and guys before that that were really good players in that secondary.

But the cornerbacks, other than Rod Woodson early in his career, the cornerbacks that he's had have really been mainly average type of guys. And if there's a concern on this roster, to me, it's that cornerback. So if the Dick LeBeau system that he shows and can bring on the regular season days on Sunday, if he can do that consistently and you can mask some of the deficiencies that are there at the cornerback spot, at the nickel spot, and rely on that front seven and those safeties to make plays, maybe you can overcome some of the question marks that are prevalent within this defense right now.

Absolutely. They have to be working in tandem. In other words, those edge rushers have to know that those guys in the back end are going to be locked down, therefore the quarterback is going to be holding on to the football, allowing them steps closer to him to be able to get him on the ground. But it does have to be a belief, too, though, that those guys up front, those four or seven guys that are tasked with getting after the pass rusher

and clogging up passing lanes, or the passer and clogging up passing lanes, are going to get there efficiently to not have these guys just waiting in the wind back there. You know, Rashad and Jason and Parrish, all these guys are like, hey, look, we need some guys to make it just pretty hectic back there so that way that ball just gets thrown early and we have a chance to get some turnovers. And that will be one of the big issues. Will this defense be able to get involved getting the ball back for the offense? I think they've got the playmakers, but do they have the discipline?

There's two things to me with this defense, and you guys touched on a lot of things that I have thought, but one of them is Kevin Byard, the safety that they really like what he is doing so far. He, I think, is going to have an increasingly larger role as the season goes along. But the other thing is staying healthy, and in particular, Brian Arakpo and Derek Morgan. I think those two guys have got to stay healthy and be on the field to provide the pass rush that this team certainly seems capable of. Absolutely. You've got to have those guys like Derek Morgan, like Brian Arakpo,

that strike fear in the hearts of offensive line. You know what I mean? Like, which side are we going to slide to? Who's the most prevalent pass rusher? Well, if you've got two guys or a scheme that actually confuses them, then there is no advantage from the offense. Right. You know, one of the things that's going to be an interesting thing to look at on Sunday in the season opener, the Minnesota Vikings obviously lost Teddy Bridgewater last week to a devastating knee injury. You know, gone for the season. You know, there's not even really a guarantee that he's going to be the same player once he comes back because it was so bad.

But they go out. They're not content to just the status quo and playing a backup quarterback. They go out and they acquire Sam Bradford from the Philadelphia Eagles. Now, Sam Bradford hasn't lived up to the hype. He was the first overall pick. You know, he's not been the world beater that a lot of people thought he was going to be. But it's certainly an upgrade over Sean Hill or whoever else they were going to put out there. Yes.

Now, the question is, how much can the Vikings give Sam Bradford in eight, nine days in camp and expect from him, even though he's a veteran? days in camp and expect from him, even though he's a veteran, how much can they expect from him and how much can the Titans exploit that if they can shut down Adrian Peterson? And I know that nobody really shuts down Adrian Peterson, but if you can hold Adrian Peterson to under four yards a carry somehow, you can put the onus on Sam Bradford and his inexperience with this Vikings offense. Yeah, good luck with that too, Terry.

An AP to four yards per carry. But I will say this. Teddy Bridgewater, fellas, has confused us. He's allowed us to believe that in that Minnesota Vikings offense that it's him. And it is, per se, because he adds a lot of diversity to that offense other than just downhill running. So I think that what they've done is they've gotten away from what this team was basically founded on,

which is exactly what you said, Terry, the rushing attack of Adrian Peterson. So they're not going to give it to Sam Bradford. They're not going to give it to Sean Hill or Brad Sorensen or anybody like that. They're going to get back to their initial identity, which is what? Hitching them out for that run game and then play some exceptional defense because they've got some tremendous guys on defense that can actually give them more of an opportunity to do what they did last year and have 11 wins and win the NFC North. Guys, we're running out of time on this first episode of Locked on Titans.

Your final thoughts? Well, to expound on Brad's last point there, the Vikings now want to be a smash-mouth team. They obviously already were with Adrian Peterson. The Titans want to be a smash-mouth team. They obviously already were with Adrian Peterson. The Titans want to be a smash-mouth team. We may be looking at a game that's about two hours and 15 minutes and the network trying to figure out a way to get those commercials in toward the end. You know what? Someone might be calling up from the booth.

Hey, do either one of you guys want to pass the ball? Anybody want to pass it? No. It might not be a sexy way, Terry, Greg, to win ball games, but I like the way that Mike Malarkey has set an identity for this team. He doesn't care about having some drop-back dude that's going to throw 30, 40 times during a ballgame. He just wants to win ballgames.

And if that's keeping the other offense off the field and on the sideline by playing a nice conservative third and short, convert third downs, keep the chains moving type of mentality, then it works for me, fellas. Absolutely. And if the Titans are able to go out and continue what they did in the preseason short, convert third downs, keep the chains moving type of mentality, then it works for me, fellas. Absolutely. And if the Titans are able to go out and continue what they did in the preseason with Henry and Murray averaging five to six yards a carry, they're going to do exactly that. And Adrian Peterson can't hurt you when he's sitting across the sideline on

that bench. Not even a little bit. Guys, I've enjoyed it. This is fun. Let's look forward and continue to do this. We'll be back tomorrow. What do you think? Sounds good to me. Sounds good to me. Let's look forward and continue to do this. We'll be back tomorrow. What do you think? Sounds good to me.

Sounds good to me. All right. That'll do it for us. You've been listening to Locked on Titans on the Locked on Podcast Network. Have a great day. We'll see you tomorrow.