Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Talkin' Receivers

Episode Date: March 7, 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 pretty good. What's going on? Not a whole lot, so tonight we're going to talk a little bit about the wide receiver performances at the NFL Combine, and then get a little bit into some free agency stuff. Today, the recording was on Tuesday night, was the deadline for teams to, upon the franchise, tag the players. So we'll talk a little bit about that and guys now that I guess have a better chance of hitting the market

than they did when they could have potentially been tagged. But obviously teams can still work with their own guys leading up to the start of the new league year. So even some of the guys that we discussed tonight will still end up getting re-signed by their teams when they actually hit the open market. But we'll look a little bit into that.

Before we do that, we covered the Titans for SB Nation, museummiracles.com. Check us out there. Subscribe to the podcast at LockedOnTitans. You can follow us on Twitter at LockedOnTitans, and then LockedOnTitans on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, wherever you want to get access to the podcast, you can get it. You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmwarsmcm. Terry's at tlambertfb.

Alright, so last night we broke down the running backs and edge rushers at the Combine. So if you missed that, you can go back and listen to it. Tonight we're going to talk a little bit about the wide receivers because, I mean, the Titans, I think, can still stand to upgrade at the wide receiver position. I don't anticipate it being something they do in the first couple of rounds. But always looking for playmakers. They still need probably a speed guy. Maybe Taewon Taewon can be that guy.

Maybe there's somebody else in this draft that they think can come in and fill that role. So, Terry, kind of break down the performances that you saw from the wide receivers at the combine. Yeah, I think you've got to start with DJ Chark out of LSU, measuring in at 6'3 and ran 4'3", 4". A guy that didn't really have the big-time production at LSU because LSU's quarterback situation has just been absolute garbage

since Zach Mettenberger was there. So talking about a guy that's going to be probably a better pro than he was in college. He's been kind of hovering in that day two range. I think he's solidified himself as a second-round pick. You never know. Maybe he can sneak into the back end of the first round. Teams are going to love a 6'3 body with 4'3 speed that can really open up the field.

So really, really impressed with him. Another guy in that range, Cortland Sutton out of SMU. Just solid all the way around. Can't really poke any holes in his performance at the combine. Ran 4'5", 4". That's what we thought we'd see out of him. and his performance at the combine. Ran.454. That's what we thought we'd see out of him, almost 6'4", 218 pounds. He's kind of the big guy that can go up and get the football, win you some jump balls.

He's got plenty to offer after the catch. Agility stuff looked great, top 5% in the three-cone drill. So really excited about him. It's kind of hard to pin down where he'll go, though. It's more so this entire class. There's a possibility that you won't see a receiver take it until late in the first round. It's really just kind of flavors at this point. Pick a flavor. There's not that dominant guy out there.

We thought Calvin Ridley was going to be that guy, and he just hasn't been. You look at the production at Alabama, it was obviously hurt by Jalen Hurts and his inconsistencies. That's not an offense that's going to throw the ball around a lot, as he is. But then he goes out to the combine, and he has a really poor performance. Ran near the bottom of the pile in the 20-yard shuttle. Did not jump well at all. Didn't look explosive.

And honestly, it's kind of hard, and you can speak to this, being an Alabama fan, it's really hard to evaluate him as a receiver. I thought Alabama schemed him open a lot using their run game. Defenses would key in on that run game, and Calvin would end up wide open down the field. Didn't see him win in too many contested situations. You saw him win occasionally there. But I'll bounce it back to you. What do you think about Ridley?

Would you take him in the back end of the first round? Yeah, man, he's an interesting guy, like you said, and I think that he needed to test well at the combine because, like you said, the tape is tough on him because really his freshman year was probably his most

productive season, and then after that with Jalen Hurts, it was hard to evaluate him. I don't think that I would take him in the back half of the first, just because, I don't know, there just seemed to be too many question marks surrounding him. And again, he's a guy that, you know, you see some good things on tape, obviously, but not consistently, again, hard to blame him for that. It's interesting, him and the lsu guy i mean you know it's tough to evaluate them just because of their quarterback play but when you know really

goes out there doesn't test well i would say it gives teams more pause i think he has a chance to be a good receiver um like i said you saw some flights of him being able to do some things but when you look at like amari cooper if you go back and watch him when he was at Alabama, he didn't play with the greatest quarterbacks, but there were still games where they'd throw it up to him, two guys covering him, he comes down with the football. He's had his struggles in the NFL, but you didn't see that type of performance from Ridley, even playing in a similar offense.

So I don't think that he's a first-round guy at this point. Like I said, now, if he had gone to the combine and tested really well, I think he probably pretty easily would have been. But, you know, I'm not sold on him as a huge playmaker at the next level. Like I said, I think he can be a solid guy, but I'm just – I don't – I wouldn't spend a first-round pick on him. And I don't see the Titans spending a first-round pick on a receiver. I mean, we kind of talked about that a little bit before we jumped on.

They're going to be looking for a guy that can come in and give them some speed and that kind of stuff. I guess if, you know, just depending on how the board falls, if, you know, the other positions that they have needs at end up being really thin, that they could go that route if there was a guy they thought could come in and be a difference maker from day one. But the Titans are probably going to be looking at more of these guys really probably day three, wouldn't you think? I don't know. It's hard

for me to see them spending a day one or day two pick on a receiver. Yeah, I'm with you. To wrap up Ridley, the other thing on him is he's 24 years old. So you're talking about year two, year three guys that he's already older than as an NFL rookie. So I'm really interested to see where he goes and where the NFL values him.

But, yeah, I think you're right. to see where he goes and where the NFL values him. But, yeah, I think you're right. And maybe there's a chance if Robinson trades out of 25 and adds two or three picks on day two, maybe there's a chance that they add one on day two. I just don't see it, though. I mean, I think you drafted Taewon Taylor to be that guy. He's a total unknown.

I think you've got to give him a shot. I think you've got to give Tajay Sharp, another guy that you drafted, a shot to come back from injury. And, you know, this receiver class, there's some guys that are on day three that can come in and challenge for that fourth receiver role. You know, the list goes on and on. So, yeah, I'm with you there i still don't think it's a huge need you know we're gonna hear all about how the titans need a receiver next week

as free agency opens i'm i'm pretty firmly in the camp of i would rather go you know bargain bin shopping and get a guy like jordan matth somebody, a proven vet that's going to come in. He's not going to blow the game open for you, but he's not going to hurt you either. They just need that proven veteran presence to kind of help the young guys along. Yeah, you talk about the age on Ridley. I think Allen Robinson is like 18 months older than Calvin Ridley. Yeah, that's crazy.

Yeah, and he's been in the league. So, I mean, yeah, it's just a weird deal there. But, yeah, so I'm with you. I mean, there's a lot of buzz. You know, we got Jonathan Kinsley writing for us now, and he's done a post on Watkins and a post on Allen Robinson, and he's been kind of beating the drum of the Titans' needle-wide receiver. And he's not necessarily a Titans fan.

He's a Marcus Mariota fan, and he's studied the team a lot. But I'm with you. I don't think that you're going to see them. I just can't imagine them going after an Allen Robinson or a Sammy Watkins. To me, Watkins, the ties with LaFleur, if he's in there for the last couple weeks or the last couple months, whatever, trying to make a case for them to go after Watkins, I could maybe see that a little bit more than Allen Robinson. But I just don't see them breaking the bank to pay a wide receiver at this point.

When you've got Corey Davis, you've got taewon taylor and again not god i'm not saying that because of those guys you don't you you don't sign one of these guys like they're not the reason you don't sign one of these guys um i took some heat on twitter for the jarvis landry post saying you know i didn't want landry coming in and taking reps away from taewon taylor and and tajay sharp and again i'm not trying to say that I think that those guys are on the level of Jarvis Landry. But when you take in the other considerations with Landry, the draft pick or picks that you're going to have to give up,

the money that you're going to have to give him, these guys, the money that you're going to have to give them, there's more considerations that go in there. And then we talk about the capital that was invested in Taewon Taylor last year. It would seem silly just to kind of bury him at this point just not knowing basically much about what he's going to be able to do because that offense they put in last year so again not that i think that taewon taylor is better than alan robinson or sammy watkins

but i just think when you look at the roster when you look at all of those things you look at the big picture i'm just not sure that it makes sense for them to invest that much money or especially when you're talking about, in the case of Jarvis Landry, picks and money in a guy when you have some guys on the roster that are serviceable options and

that have the ability for some upside that we maybe just possibly haven't seen yet. Have I missed something on Rashard Matthews? It just seems like the entire fan base has soured on Matthews, and maybe it's because of the offense that he was in and the mistakes that were made. But, I mean, Corey Davis made the same mistakes.

You saw every receiver on that roster make a mistake. So I don't know what it is with Titans fans and Rashard Matthews, but I'm still high on him as a number two receiver. make a mistake uh so i don't know what it is with titans fans and richard matthews but yeah i'm still i'm still high on him as a number two receiver you know you hope cory davis can make that jump and i think you saw enough flash against new england to trust him to do that but it's kind of interesting uh just talking to a few people on twitter uh just kind of the attitude towards richard matthews i still think he's a middle of the attitude towards Rashard Matthews. I still think he's a middle-of-the-road wide receiver, too.

I think the Titans could do better there, but at the same time, I think they've got other holes to fill, and I don't necessarily want to tie up that much money in receivers. I don't know. Maybe I'm the weird one here. No, I think there's a couple things at play with Matthews. One is his production was down last year, had an injury, had the offense that everybody struggled through. I think the protest stuff and his social media stuff, I think that has turned some people against him.

And again, I'm not here to comment on that, but I think that there is a part of the fan base that turned against him and again i'm not you know here to comment on that but i think that there is a part of the fan base that that turned against him after that and so everything that went wrong was a little bit more magnified um he got off of twitter and instagram uh which is probably a smart move for him at least as far as this you know no this fan base is concerned but i mean i do think that plays into just the the feelings about him uh from the fan base it doesn't have anything to do at all with his with his play on the field one way or the other but i think there is some of that stuff that goes into play there so yeah we'll see and again i'm willing to give all these guys another chance just when they're in a competent offense

uh you know with the with something that's going to play to their strengths instead of playing to the scheme that was just ridiculously outdated. So I don't know. And I just think that they're probably not having as many conversations in that building about a huge need at wide receiver as the fan base is. Again, I think because they understand the limitations that were put on those guys last year because of the offense. And again, I think, and we've talked about this, this fan base is so accustomed to needing a wide receiver. It's been a need ever since they got here.

And so I think they're probably as good as they've ever been there right now. But I think some people are still just conditioned to, hey, it's free agency, it's draft, we need a receiver. It's kind of hard to break that, but I just don't see it being as big of a need as it has been in years past. So anyway, so all that to say, you know, they'll probably take a receiver in this draft because I do think they still need to go with some speed, but I just don't think it's going to be something they're going to spend an early pick on.

All right, so free agency opens next week, and the franchise tag deadline was on Tuesday. So we'll talk a little bit about who got tagged and who didn't and what that possibly means for free agency. So I guess there were, I think it's five guys that ended up getting the franchise tag. Jarvis Landry, we've already talked about. Ziggy Ansa in Detroit. Demarcus Lawrence in Dallas. Lamarcus Joyner of the safety with the Rams.

And then Le'Veon Bell, who obviously we kind of knew that was going to come. They were never going to let him hit the market with all his stuff going around him. It makes sense for the Steelers to kind of keep playing out the franchise tag with him. And then Kyle Fuller in Chicago got the transition tag. So, you know, we've talked about all along the Titans need an edge rusher. Edge rushers don't hit the market. You know, two of the five guys that were given the franchise tags against and Demarcus Lawrence guys that are edge rushers.

So no surprise there because, like we've just said, teams don't let those guys hit the market. Yeah. And the two that I'm looking at, uh, on for the Titans are on the interior. Cause like you said, the edge rushers aren't going to hit the market, but I do think you can get upgrades on the interior,

uh, two former jets, Sheldon Richardson and Muhammad Wilkerson, uh, guys. I don't really know what went wrong, uh, two former Jets Sheldon Richardson and Muhammad Wilkerson guys I don't really know what went wrong with the Jets but they traded Richardson to Seahawks

so he's hitting the market that's two names that I think would probably be upgrades for the Titans and I don't know if you feel this way the run defense was good, I don't think it was great I still think teams kind of attacked through the air even last year

even though the secondary was better I think they picked on Adore Jackson early in the year and at times Logan Ryan so I think the Titans can get better there and those are two names that I'm watching also a bunch of guards a bunch of guards.

A bunch of guards, plug and play, that would be upgrades to me over Josh Klein. You're talking about Josh Sitton, Justin Pugh, and I don't know if those guys are going to get paid, but I do think the Titans will be in on a lineman or two and go ahead and get that need filled so you can just kind of take the best player available in the draft. Yeah, and one thing that we talked about before about getting everybody prepared for that first big day of free agency, that first big wave,

John Robinson typically hasn't been active in that. I don't see this year being any different. They've got less needs this year than they did in years past. He has signed some key free agents. Obviously, Logan Ryan being the biggest one last year. It's not that he won't sign free agents, but

he's going to let that first wave probably settle, see where the market sits after that, and go after those guys. Like you said, interior offensive linemen are guys that you can get for a reasonable price on the market. They can come in and play from day one. So, yeah, I mean, I think that's something we could be looking at. You know, Andrew Norwell is apparently already tied to the Giants.

He's a guy that's, you know, in the top 100 free agents list that you look at. He's going to be in the top five, top ten on that list. I don't see them getting involved with a guy like that. But then when you talk about that second wave of Pughugh, a Sitton, those types of guys, even Josh Klein, guys that could be interesting for the Titans that they could get. So I think that's kind of where they'll be looking. Like you said, they can upgrade on the defensive line. You've got, obviously, Jarrell Casey, who's one of the best defensive linemen in the league.

But other than that, they could Jarrell Casey, who's one of the best defensive linemen in the league. But other than that, they could stand up great at the other two positions. Daquan Jones is a guy that's interesting. Obviously, he was here last year, had a season cut short due to an injury, was finally kind of coming into his own. So, I mean, it was tough timing for him with that injury. But, you know, he's a guy that they know, and so they'll have some familiarity with. A guy that is not going to be in that first wave of free agency, but a guy that they could probably get for a reasonable price and come in and play.

So I think that's kind of what you'll be looking at in free agency. You'll be looking at interior offensive linemen, one or two of those guys, maybe a defensive lineman. Do they need to upgrade the third quarter? Probably. Do they do that in free agency in the draft? We'll kind of have to wait and see. Could they sign a Jordan Matthews? He's the guy you brought up earlier. Again, not the top tier of wide receivers,

but a guy that's in that second or third group. I just really think that's where you're going to see the bulk of what John Robinson does in free agency. The running backs, you've got Deion Lewis from the Patriots who showed last year that he's capable of shouldering the entire load. He wouldn't need to do that here. Is that a guy that John Robinson, with his familiarity with the guys in New England, is that somebody that he'd get involved in?

Are you looking at Jared McKinnon? Is that a route they want to go in free agency or are they going to wait for the draft for that? I think all of those are realistic possibilities, but the top tier guys, I don't think we're going to see the Titans involved in that. I think we're going to see panic from the fan base like we do every year. They're cheap. They don't know what they're doing, but John Robinson

has done a good job of building this roster up with his philosophy. I think if he saw a guy that he thought could come in and be that one piece that they were missing to put them over the top, I think he'd go overpay for that guy, which the Patriots do that from time to time. But I just don't see that guy in this free agent class, and so I don't think you're going to see them out there

amongst the big spenders in the first couple days. Yeah, I totally agree. That big piece is probably a pass rusher, but you're just not getting them. They're not hitting the market. The best pass rusher on the board that I see here is Julius Peppers. So that kind of tells you what the market is and just how those guys get tied up. And teams just don't let them hit the market.

So that's kind of what I was saying on yesterday's pod. By any means necessary, the Titans have to come out of this offseason with a plan in place, a succession plan, for when Derek Morgan and Brian Arakpo are no more. There's a chance that they might come back, but I really want that guy in the building this offseason learning the defense growing as a player

getting ready to take over for one of them it's anybody's guess who it's going to be if they do take that guy in the first round because it's so fluid at 25 we always have an idea of who the Titans are going to take I'm not sure we're going to have an idea of who the Titans are going to take. I'm not sure we're going to have an idea.

So if I'm John Robinson, I'm seriously considering going up into the teens. If a guy like Harold Landry lasts that long, getting in front of a team like the Lions who need a pass rusher, I think that's what I would be doing. I would sacrifice one of those picks, and I don't like doing that. But I think it's that big of a missing link for the Titans that I would go make it happen. Yeah, and like you said, that is the one position that if they can find a definitive upgrade, they can be significantly better than what they were last year.

And they're at the point now where you're getting into the – I mean, the window's not closing, but you're getting to the point where you're going to have to pay Taylor LeJuan. You're going to have to pay Marcus Mariota. Once you do those two things, you're not going to have this just abundance of cap room like they've had for the last few years. So if there's that one guy that you can get on a rookie contract when you have to pay those guys and you can still have him, it makes sense to go do it. So, yeah, I'm with you on that. I think that that's where you see maybe the big expense there versus in free agency and the big expense obviously being picks giving up. I think that makes a lot more sense than any of these guys in free agency because, again, you just don't have that guy.

I think that makes a lot more sense than any of these guys in free agency. Because, again, you just don't have that guy. I mean, you know, if they sign Allen Robinson or Sammy Watkins, the offense is better. I don't think there's any doubt about that. But I think just with the scheme that they're going to have, the offense is going to be so much better. So I'm not sure how much better that makes the offense versus if they didn't have a guy like that. So you just kind of have to take all that into consideration. So obviously we'll kind of be monitoring that as we go.

Like we said, I mean, you know, we're looking at today being a week away from the start of the legal tampering period. That was March 12th and then free agency on the 14th. So all this stuff is coming up. It's, you know, one of the more exciting times of the year. It's good to now be a fan of a team where you have high hopes that

the offseason is not going to be the most exciting part of the year. We went through a lot of Titans offseasons where the offseason was so much more fun to follow than the actual season itself. The Titans are at a place now where the season should be fun as well, but it doesn't take away from just kind of the circus that is the offseason. And there's just so much exciting stuff that happens. I remember last year a bunch of trades went down right before the free agency opened.

And so the NFL, it's a year-round thing, and it's fun to follow. And we're about to get the opening of what is the craziest couple of months as far as people really paying attention to what's going on. Yeah, this time, really from the start of March through the end of April, through the end of the draft, it's my favorite time of year. I just love it. I know a lot of fans love it. A lot of fans will panic when the Titans don't do anything on day one.

So that's going to be fun to walk everyone through. so that's going to be fun to walk everyone through I told Jimmy we need to do a live show when the free agency opens I think that'll be fun to get everybody's live reaction and kind of watch Titans Twitter burn

because you know it does every year nothing changes they're just not going to be the big spenders like the Jaguars have been so but it's going to be okay I think John Robinson has proven that he's got a plan. It was reported that they've got $47 million in cap room or something like that. But, again, like you were saying, a lot of that's going to go towards Mariota. A lot of it's going to go towards Taylor Juan.

Even further down the road, a lot of it's going to go to Conklin and Kevin Byard. So you've got to think big picture here. I know it's fun to go all Madden on them and sign every free agent you can, but that's just not going to work. You saw a team like the Dolphins do that a couple years ago with Sue, and now they're in some cap issues, and they're looking to get rid of Sue and Jarvis Landry now. So I like what Robinson is doing.

I hope he continues to do that and build through the draft because that's how you build long-term success. Yeah, and it's the more sustainable, obviously, way of doing it. And you can't go exclusively draft. I mean, look at what's happened with the Packers. You know, they basically don't sign any free agents. And, you know, if you draft really, really well, you can kind of, you can sustain that. But if you don't, you get yourself in trouble that way, too.

So, I mean, it's a balance of things. But again, I just, I don't know. The big ticket guy, I'm just not sure that, you know, you obviously don't want to go just give a guy a bunch of money just for the sake of winning a press conference. Titans don't need that at this point. So, you know, we'll keep an eye on it. So, like I said, we'll have that next week for you. We'll do maybe some Q&A tomorrow. So, again, follow at LockedOnTitans.

I'll put the link out there, and we can get some questions there that we can talk about tomorrow night. And then, like I said, at some point we'll talk a little bit about the defensive side of the roster after we brought down the offensive side a couple weeks ago. So kind of, you know, the guys that they have, who's coming back, who could be gone, all that kind of stuff. So anything else, Terry, tonight that we need to hit? I think we covered it all. All right, so like I said, in the meantime,

you can see miracles.com. You can check us out there. We'll be covering news as it breaks there, and we'll be talking about it here. So check us out there. Follow us at jmorphsmcm, at TLambertFB, and the podcast at LockedOnTitans. So for Terry, this is Jimmy saying thanks for listening to LockedOnTitans, and we will talk to you again tomorrow.