Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Tag day, Antonio for a 1st? NFL Combine takes

Episode Date: March 5, 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 good. What's going on, man? Actually, quite a few things. We've got some Titans news to lead off with, and then we've got just kind of some general franchise tag news, that kind of stuff, going down. Recording this on Tuesday afternoon, which I think today's the last day that teams can tag a player, correct? I don't know. I don't know the exact date. It is. Yeah, 3 p.m. Central Time today, which is about an hour past when we're recording. So anything, pretty much up to date on those.

We'll talk about that. Before we do that, remind you to read from me at cityofmiracles.com where we cover the Titans for SB Nation. You can check us out there. You can also follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorrismcm. Terry is at tlamberttn. Get the podcast.

Wherever you get your podcasts, search out Locked on Titans. You can also play us on the smart speaker in your car or your house. Just say play podcast Locked on Titans. All right, so the bit of Titans news that we have, Adam Schefter tweeted, I guess it was yesterday, the Titans are expected to release Jonathan Ciprian sometime this week. Really no big surprise there. We talked about it being a possibility for really a long time.

And then when John Robinson said at the Combine that Kenny Vaccaro was a primary target for the Titans in free agency, you knew both guys weren't going to be on the roster. I know there are some fans out there that really wanted both players and talked about why the Titans should do that. That was never a realistic possibility. I don't know if they'll re-sign Kenny Picardo or not. We'll have to wait and see in the next couple weeks as we head into free agency. But Ciprian will probably be

gone. And again, no surprise. I mean, a guy that's not exactly young wasn't probably as productive as they hoped he would be. A contract that never really made sense to either one of us. But it's a place where you can save some money against a cap, a guy coming off of an ACL. So not really a surprise to see this one.

No, not at all. We said all along it was going to be one or the other. This kind of tells me that they're ready to go get Kenny Vaccaro. We talked about how much he meant to this team and how he kind of turned into a defensive leader there. So you wonder if Ciprian will get some looks from the Titans, you know, maybe at a discounted price. But, again, you hit that open market.

It'll be interesting to see what he gets. You know, he hasn't played in a year. You know, his last season was, what, 2017 with Dick Ledeau. So, you know, we'll see. I think Kenny Vaccaro is a better player. I think we both feel that way. I think most of the fan base feels that way. It was never going to be both,

but I think Kenny Vaccaro now jumps to potentially priority number one as far as re-signs go. Yeah, I mean, I don't think there's a whole lot. I mean, Quentin Spain would be on the list of guys that they should definitely be you know considering but there's not necessarily a lot that they you know guys that are potentially going to leave they really want back the safety market is really interesting i mean there's a bunch of good players out there uh you know you got the news today that landon collins is probably not going to get the

franchise tag from the Giants. So just another kind of big name in that market. So there's guys available there. So it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. It's kind of what happened last year. You know, the Titans were lucky enough that Vaccaro was still available when Ciprian went down in training camp. And just it was kind

of a slower market, I guess, than guys expected it to be. You had some quality guys out there that got signed early. So we'll kind of monitor that and see how it all plays out. I think if the Titans are going to resign Vaccaro, they'll probably work their best to do it before the market opens. So, I mean, I'm sure they're having conversations ongoing there, and it'll just be interesting to see if they can get somewhere where they have a price that, you know, Kenny McCarver likes

and it's good with the Titans and all that kind of stuff. So that'll be, you know, interesting to watch. Like I said, franchise tag deadline today. So after you're listening to this, it probably will have passed. What we know as of right now, we have the 49ers franchise, Robbie Gould,

Seahawks, Frank Clark, Texans, Jadavion Clowney, Chiefs, Dee Ford, Falcons, Grady Jarrett, Cowboys, DeMarcus Lawrence. So, I mean, the biggest thing there is you've got Clowney, Dee Ford, DeMarcus Lawrence, all guys that were edge guys that were potential free agents that are not going to hit the market. And listen, we've been talking about this the whole time. This is why I think this is a position that they're going to need to address in the draft. These guys just don't hit the market. And listen, we've been talking about this the whole time. This is why I think this is a position that they're going to need to address

in the draft. These guys just don't hit the market. And even if these guys like DeMarcus Norris is the second time, he's gotten tagged. It'll be interesting to see what happens there because I think he had said earlier that he wouldn't play on the tag for the second year. So, like I said, it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. But guys like Jadamian Clowney and Dee Ford,

guys that can disrupt the passer that are that age, they just don't hit the market. Exactly. And now you're kind of seeing the top end of the market take shape. Like you said, we knew these guys were going to come off the board probably. So now you're looking at the top of the board looking like Trey Flowers from New England. You've got the Le'Veon Bell situation.

It'll be fascinating to see if someone pays him. Maybe the Colts. I mean, that's a big story for the AFC South. A lot of rumors there. You've got Preston Smith as kind of that 3-4 rush linebacker. You've got Zedarius Smith from Baltimore, a potential fit with Dean Pease. So you're kind of seeing the market reset, and you're going to hear a lot about those names that I just mentioned.

Regarding the Titans, Nick Foles is also one of the top free agents out there. It's pretty much signed, sealed, and delivered that he's going to be the Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback, according to every report out there. So not much intrigue there. But a ton of different options there for the Titans, both at the rush linebacker spot and on the defensive line. Yeah, so it'll be interesting to see how all of that plays out. Again, I'm excited that we're getting so close to actually seeing this happen because we spend so much time talking about this stuff.

Like I said, we see these guys get tagged, and so these people that we thought were potential names that could at least be out there, they get snatched off the market. You know, I guess you got the bigger names that are supposedly not going to be tagged at this point. Landon Collins, we talked about earlier. C.J. Mosley, Anthony Barr for the Vikings, and Trey Flowers, you mentioned.

I've seen a lot of people think of the Titans as Tom Mosley. I think C.J. Mosley's a good player. Titans are probably better set at inside linebacker than any other position on the roster. I don't think that's a place that they're going to be interested in.

This is the thing, and we'll have these conversations as we go through and as we're recording these episodes during that first wave of free agency, just because a guy is good and you've heard of him doesn't mean the Titans should go out and break the bank to get him. And then when C.J. Mosley ends up signing with somebody else, it's not because the Titans are cheap. John Robinson doesn't care. Amy Adams-Struggs doesn't care. You know, all these things that we hear. You know, they've got to identify the two or three best players

that they think they need and go after those guys. And, again, mostly it's just not a place where they have a need right now. But, you know, this is just kind of the silly season that we get into here with these types of names. And we always end up getting into some interesting Twitter conversations around what the Titans do or don't do at the beginning of free agency. Would you rather add a linebacker or a tight end? You know, those are two of the Titans' least needs, in our opinion.

I know some people disagree, but it's just funny to see the amount of misinformation going around, especially about the Titans. We've talked about it before. It just seems like people don't pay attention. But, you know, the CJ Mosley stuff is coming from some Titans fans on Twitter. I think that's a product of, you know, SEC, Alabama, you know, wanting all those guys to be on your team regardless of what position they play.

So, yeah, like you said, it's a funny time. You see some really dumb comments made on Twitter. You see people freaking out that the Titans haven't spent $4 billion in the first hour of free agency. We'll preach it again. We'll preach it all through. Keep your head. This free agency is about tears.

So we think the Titans are going to spend a little bit on edge and receiver. And I think there comes a point in time where you're right to panic a little bit. But we're going to be preaching throughout. Just keep your head. It's going to be

okay. They have a plan. Coming up, we'll talk a little bit about a potential name that might be might be cut in the next week or so that could be of interest to the titans and also i'm seeing lines on uh the titans and antonio brown so i'll get your comments on those as well all right so there was a report yesterday afternoon that the Chiefs were going to cut Justin Houston. That has since been walked back a little bit because I guess they're still trying to trade him.

He's a guy that's older. I mean, a guy that I think will be 30 when the season starts. But a guy that had nine sacks last year. And I think he just played in 12 games, but non-sacks. I think he's a guy that should be of interest to the Titans because you're probably not going to have to give him a ton of money over a long term. I don't know if it's similar to the Brian Arakpo thing. I think he's probably going to have a little bit better market than Arakpo did

when the Titans signed him, but I do think that he's a guy they should be interested in i think he's a guy that could even be you know a one or two year deal guy you can still draft a guy early and then you've got him you know in the mix with landry and if you had houston um so i mean i i think it's something that that could be interesting again depends on the you know the price and and all that kind of stuff but But definitely something I would think the Titans would kick the tires on if he does hit the open market. Like I said, the Chiefs are still trying to trade him. Don't have any idea if the Titans are involved in those conversations.

But just a name that I wasn't necessarily expecting to see that came across yesterday and was pretty interesting. Yeah, a guy that's 30 years old. Pass rushers don't typically go too far past that, but you're talking about a stopgap type player, a guy that you can throw in the mix with Landry and Finch and

Correa. Give you some veteran leadership there. If you don't see the guy that you want to commit, you know, four, five, six years to in free agency, you don't want to spin the pick. You don't want to spend the pick. You don't want to lock yourself in to spend that first-round pick. You go out and add this guy, and look, even if you draft a guy in the first round

that's a pass rusher, Justin Houston's going to get his snap. So I think it's a really interesting name, a name that I'd be for. Nine sacks over the last two seasons, that's still a pretty productive player for his age. Yeah, absolutely. So that'll be something that's interesting to watch. And again, I don't know what the deal is there. The other interesting thing with the Chiefs,

they franchised Dee Ford, but there are reports, again, that they're kind of shopping him as well because they don't think he's as good of a fit in a 4-3 as he would be in a 3-4. So I guess they think a team that plays a 3-4 would be willing to step up and give up something big for him. That, to me, is always a funny thing. I mean, if you've got a guy that's as talented as him,

I don't know how you don't try to create situations to put him in his best spot i'm not saying you should do that for every single player but when you've got a guy with that kind of talent i would think you would be more willing to cater your defense to what he's able to do versus hey we're going to play this system and this guy doesn't fit we're going to move on from it yeah i'm a little skeptical on that one. Two sacks in 2017, four in 2015. He had a decent year in 2016, but he explodes in 2018 with 13 sacks. I don't know. I'm just a little skeptical there.

Like you said, it seems like they would figure out a role for him if he's a good enough player there. So they might be trying to kind of get what they can get, you know, coming off of the big year there. So I'm skeptical that they're going to move him, and then I have questions on why they would want to move, you know, such a good player. Yeah, and interesting thing, I mean,

apparently Interrep reports this morning that it might only take a second round pick to get him. He's expensive, you know, $15 million cap number for 2019 if he plays at the franchise tag but if you were working a deal but yeah like you said it's always a little bit scary when you're talking about guys that have just really had the one big year um if they're gonna be able to replicate that and that kind of stuff but just anyway something to keep an eye on and you know was it two years ago that we had all the trades that happened like right when free agency or right before free agency opened. So with all this stuff floating around out there,

it could be kind of a similar situation to what we saw that year. So obviously we'll be keeping an eye on all that. Like I said just a minute ago, Odd Shark has put out odds on the landing spot for Antonio Brown. The Raiders are the favorites at plus 350. Titans are second at plus 550. Then you've got the Cardinals at plus 350. Titans are second at plus 550. Then you've got the Cardinals at plus 750. The Packers at plus 1,000.

I don't know. Again, if you go back to Robert Ford, he said this morning, it seems like the Raiders are the frontrunners to land him. I'm out on first-round pick. I think if you're talking about a day-two pick, then that's a conversation that I would be willing to willing to entertain again depending on money and all that kind of stuff but uh we we gave our thoughts if you didn't hear something i said so go back and listen to that we kind of broke all that down there but the thing is interesting to me is what if the raiders

end up giving up the pick that they acquired from the cowboys for amari cooper for antonio brown that's kind of interesting to me i mean obviously an obviously, Antonio Brown, I mean, you look at his numbers and all that stuff, I mean, you know, miles better than what Amari Cooper has been able to do. But Amari Cooper's really young. You kind of saw the potential that he had, you know, in the time that he had with the Cowboys this year. So I just think that's an interesting thing to kind of track that, you know, from here going forward.

Like I said, obviously, Amari Cooper better, Mario Cooper, Antonio Brown, better body of work, all that kind of stuff. But, I mean, would you trade Mario Cooper for Antonio Brown straight up right now? That sounds like kind of a ridiculous question, but I'm not sure that it is. We're talking about the age of the player and that kind of stuff. Yeah, no, absolutely. John Gruden is so interesting.

You kind of hope mike mayock kind of levels things out there uh you know it's funny he traded two really really good players and he ended up getting first round picks for him and they're both like i think they're 24 and 27 so they both won a ton of games and now they're they're both late round picks but uh yeah i could see him doing it though i mean are you gonna put that past him uh so that would be an interesting fit and as far as titans go i'm just i'm so out on a first round pick i mean we're talking about figuring out what marcus mariota is right so we're going all in this year what happens if mariota isn't the answer you know what happens if you've got

a stop gap at quarterback next year you've got a stopgap at quarterback next year? You've got some random free agent that the Titans give a bunch of money to just kind of put a band-aid on the position. What happens if there's a rookie quarterback? There's a chance that the Titans could go backwards. What's Antonio Brown going to do for you

there? Odds are, it's not going to be good. I have too many concerns with how's not going to be good so i just i have too many concerns um with this with how he's going to interact with this locker room you know you listen to him on espn he's talking about how he he's only going to play on his terms and he doesn't need football and i just don't know why you would invest a first round pick in that i i think if you need a receiver there's there's plenty of receivers on day two that are going to be plenty capable. It's too big of a risk for me.

You want to get the most out of Marcus Mariota. Like you said, there's plenty on free agency that can really help this team. We're not asking for a ton here. We're talking Tyrell Williams, Golden Tate, something like that. I would much rather go down that road to where you don't have to give up such a high pick. Well, and that's the – I mean, you made the point. I think it was in a text message to me, you know, is he going to be happy with 900 yards and five or six touchdowns?

There's no way. Right. And that might be his role in a Marcus Mariota healthy offense. So you can imagine what it would be if you've got a Blaine Gabbert out there or whatever. Like you said, you get into that second year, who knows what's going to happen. So, yeah, I'm with you. And, I mean, I don't know.

I mean, things can change, obviously. But I just feel like John Robinson knows he needs to have some picks this year and pick some players, you know, after what they did last year. So I don't think it ends up being here, but I do think it's something that's going to get done before free agency starts. And like I said, the Raiders, they're crazy. Who knows what they're thinking? They've got all the ammunition.

If they want to go get him, they can get it done. They definitely have the draft capital to make that happen. All right, coming up, we'll talk a little bit about combine winners and losers and kind of break down how things stand as far as the Titans are concerned. So, I mean, I think, you know, there are a few players that really moved the needle. We can kind of go back and forth talking about some of these guys. But, I mean, I think DK Metcalf had to be one of the biggest winners at the combine when you look at just the stuff that he did.

I know some of his agility, quickness stuff wasn't where you wanted it to be. I think he slipped into three cones. I mean, all that stuff. It'll be interesting to see what he does the pro day. But a guy with that size, I mean, you've seen the pictures of him, I'm sure, on Twitter. It looks like it's Photoshopped. He doesn't look real.

But a big dude that can go up and get the ball, can run as fast as he can. He's a guy that really his draft stock soared. And as you were seeing every now and then, a mock draft where he was falling to the Titans at 19. I don't think you'll see another mock draft between now and the draft where he makes it past even 15. now in the draft where he makes it past even 15. So he was a guy that definitely stood out as creating the buzz this last week in Indianapolis. Absolutely. I mean, Matt Miller, Bleacher Report, he mocked him seventh to the Jaguars.

So I think that's where you're going to see him, somewhere in that 5 to 15 range, somewhere in there. The agility thing is kind of a concern to me. I mean, he crushed everything else But I watched that It's been floating around Twitter people were saying it's just a technique issue He just he didn't look very good doing that to me and you know you watch his tape. He's kind of a straight line guy 63 43 speed so there's definitely something to that. I would just be a little concerned with that. Another big winner, Montez Sweat, pass rusher out of Mississippi State.

6'5", 260, he runs a 4'4". That's big time. That's a guy that was somewhere around the Titans pick, being mocked somewhere in there. I think you're going to see him rise. Athletic pass rushers, they just tend to rise. It's not a deal with Landry, who's a little light. This guy is 260 pounds.

So I think he's going to really rise throughout this process. I think he's already started that rise. I think you're going to see him come off the board before pick 16 at least. Yeah, and he's a guy, again, that you'd seen mocked to the Titans in different spots. And just with that, I don't think there's any shot and he's a guy again that you'd seen mocked to the titans at different spots and just with that i don't think there's any any shot that he's still on the board at 19 um so an interesting guy there uh and then you sent me a mock earlier i think that's from matt miller that uh noah phant a guy who was i mean obviously you know he tested well four five forty uh i think he's the fastest tight end since Jared Cook, you know,

the name that's familiar to all of us. But another guy that will start moving up draft boards, I think it's really crazy to me that, you know, Iowa had Fant and T.J. Hawkinson, who, you know, by all accounts, the greatest football player God ever created. And, you know, they just couldn't score points. I don't understand that. Titans are not taking a tight end in the first round, so I don't think there's anything we've got to worry about.

But he was another guy that really stood out that everybody was talking about. Yeah, like you said, the 4'5", 40, comes in 6'4", 250 pounds, running 4'5". That's ridiculous. In the 96th percentile in speed, the 97th percentile in the vertical jump,

runs a 6.813 cone. So just absolutely crushed it. So Iowa is going to have two first-round tight ends. I mean, that's the big takeaway. That's kind of wild to think about. I mean, the Titans would have to fill a ton of needs for me to even consider this pick. You know, as great of an athlete as Noah Phan is, as many things as you could do with him, I just think the other needs surrounding this roster right now just greatly outweigh it.

So I think they've got a huge need at receiver. You know, we've talked about pass rush. We've talked about defensive line. Potentially offensive line. There's just so many boxes to check before I can even consider drafting a tight end. Absolutely. When you get into guys that did not do well for themselves at the combine, that

conversation starts with Ja'Kai Polite who is just a weird man. Talking to the media about how the teams were all just bashing him in interviews. Except for the Rams. They say he liked them because they didn't bash him. So a guy that just didn't test as well as people expected him to either. And again, you know, the 40 and all that stuff for an edge guy is not the be-all, end-all.

The 40 and all that stuff for an edge guy is not the be-all, end-all. But when you've got these guys like Amantes went out there that are these freaks of nature with their size and speed combination, when a guy doesn't have the elite speed like that, it just kind of raises some eyebrows. Now, again, that doesn't mean that he can't necessarily be a successful NFL player, but he's a guy, polite as it is, that probably fell out of the first round with what went on in indianapolis yeah it seems like you see a couple of examples you know every year at least one this is the one where you go from potential top 20 pick to you know maybe a day to pick you know you hear the reports that teams were just turned off about his preparation, about his, he admitted to the media that he never watches himself.

He never watches tape of himself play. And that's just dumbfounding. I mean, why would you, number one, why wouldn't you do that? Number two, why would you admit it? You know, the terrible 40-yard dash, just everything, you know. He comes out later and says that he's had an injury, you know. Just everything. He comes out later and says that he's had an injury. Just everything. NFL teams can see right through that.

I mean, it seems like every year we see some, oh, he faked a hamstring injury because he didn't run the fast time. It seems like what we have here. So Polite has gone from the most mocked guy to the Titans to potentially falling out of the first, potentially falling out of the second. So it'll be interesting to see where he ends up, but I think we can eliminate his name from possibilities at pick 19. Yeah, absolutely. And could be an interesting guy on day two if he's still there.

You know, how do they feel about all that? I mean, that could be something to monitor. And I don't know i mean like i know elijah holyfield ran slow there were a few other guys that there weren't anybody else that stood out to you that really just kind of killed their stock this week uh no not really i think we should probably mention uh garrett bradbury on the positive, the center from NC State. I mean, he was billed as just this athletic guy, perfect fit for the zone scheme. Titans Twitter loved him a month ago before the TJ Hawkinson craze took over. So I'm interested to see if they still love him, but really outstanding.

He just ran well. Agility was outstanding. If you need a center that can move and get to the second level and really up the athleticism of your offensive line, Bradbury's your guy. So he looked great in all the drills that weren't timed to. He just looked like he belonged out there. So I still think that's an option in that late first. He might be an option for the Titans at 19 still.

Yeah, I think, and again, I mean, I've said I don't love taking an interior off the bottom of the first round. But at the same time, if they can fit these other needs, if you can get a pass rusher and a receiver and free agency, and then you've kind of freed yourself up a little bit to do something like that. I still think a tight end is a terrible idea, like you said. You need like five or six guys signed before you can go there. But if you fill those other things, I don't hate the idea of Bradbury there

because then you think you've got, again, and it's always dangerous to go down this road. I just think a chance for him back here at Dallas A. Then you've got your guy that's going to be your starter for the next 10 years. But by all accounts, he seems like a guy that that has the ability to come in fit in do all that kind of stuff um so that would definitely be a name to watch if the titans are able to fill a couple of their needs in free agency and again we're not that far away from uh from knowing these things so that'll be a good it'll be good to not have to

have as many of these if conversations once we know that the other thing too is we'll get we'll have draft guys on i mean if you if you were around last year you know we had a bunch of guys uh we got guys connected with the network and then just guys we know from twitter and stuff uh we'll have them on but it seems like it's probably gonna wait more until once we're kind of past that free agency so that we know a little bit more about what the Titans' needs probably are. But we'll have some of that other stuff coming up as well. All right, that'll do it for today. Again, you can check out musicmiracles.com.

A lot of news coming out in the next week and a half as we get ready for the start of free agency. There'll probably be a couple other names the Titans will move on from. We'll have all that monitored and stuff as we do. The thing I didn't mention at the beginning of the show, if you want to leave us a voicemail, feedback on any of this stuff, Antonio Brown, whatever it is that you want to talk about, you can do that. We'll try to do a show later on this week

if we have enough voicemails to do that. 615-787-8762. Just leave us about a minute long voicemail and we'll work you into a show later in the week. So thanks for listening to Locked On Titans. For Terry, this is Jimmy, and we will talk to you next week.