Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Talking camp with Rhett Bryan

Episode Date: August 17, 2018

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Welcome in to another edition of Locked on Titans. I'm Jimmy Morris. I'm Jimmy Morris. Joined as always by Terry Lambert. Terry, how are you tonight? Doing pretty well. What's going on, man? Not too much. Tonight we also have a very special guest, Rhett Bryan of Titans Radio. He's agreed to join us and he's been out at practice every day so far for camp, so he'll have an interesting perspective. So we're going to get to him here in just a sec. Before we do that, reminds you, Terry and I write for MusicCityMiracles.com, where we cover the Titans for SB Nation. So you can check us out there.

You can follow us on Twitter. I am at jmorrismcm. Terry's at tlambertfb. And you can subscribe to the podcast, Locked on Titans, wherever you get your podcasts. Just search us out there, and you can get the newest episodes sent to your phone or your computer or whatever as soon as they are available. All right, so with all that being said, we will get to Rhett Bryan. Rhett, how are you tonight? I'm good, gentlemen.

How are you? We are doing really well. And again, we really appreciate you taking the time to join us. I figured it would be a good time to get your perspective, especially coming off of these last two days with the practice with the Buccaneers. So Terry and I are going to kind of go back and forth ask red some questions i had the chance to talk to red a few minutes before practice started on uh wednesday and he was telling me that he has spent most of training camp watching practices with coach dave mcginnis um and so i just kind of wanted to start off

asking you about that what's that been like and what kind of perspective have you gotten from watching practice with him well i think i'd answer it jimmy by saying coach mcginnis has forgotten more about football than i think i could possibly ever retain or learn it has been an incredible um experience learning from him he's such a good teacher you can tell he was a coach for all those years in the nfl at all levels um you know the one thing i haven't done with him is is as he says grind tape and watch film and i do want to do that and plan on doing that this season at some point but to watch it with him through that coach's eyes and everything he's looking for and looking at and observing is a whole new perspective. Just in some of the things he's taught me watching practice, learning the quarterback

platform they're throwing from and the base that they're throwing from and the timing that they need. He taught me how to just pretty much gauge when the quarterback's supposed to release the ball and just all the different wide receiver splits and certainly things on defense because he's a defensive mind. But it's been an invaluable education. And I just, I want to learn more as much as I possibly can. And he's such a great person anyway, but he's taught me a lot in two and a half weeks for sure. Kind of a big story through camp.

It's been weird. It's been the injury situation. You know, the staff isn't really talking about injuries. It's a little frustrating for us. You know, you want to have something to talk about. You want to have some sort of update. What's your takeaway there? How does that kind of rub you?

Does it rub you the wrong way? Are you okay with it? Is it just the Patriot way? Tell us a little bit about that. Well, I think it's some of both. It's certainly the Patriot way. You can certainly tell that John Robinson and Mike Braybill cut their teeth in that organization and learned from Bill Belichick and how they run that in Foxborough.

Look, would we like to know exactly what's going on with injuries? And coming from Mike Malarkey the last two seasons who was very open about those things uh yeah in a perfect world yes um has what I'd like for it to have been an open locker room uh through OTAs and mini camp and training camp yes but it wasn't and I can't do anything about it I don't uh you know I'm not saying I like it, but, you know, he's calling the shots. You know, as far as anything advantageous there, I don't know. I honestly think that Coach Braybill, I think his mindset is he will gradually open things up. Now, I don't know what he'll do about injuries.

Obviously, there's the league mandates. He has to put out an injury report weekly once the regular season begins. I would think that the injury report would look a lot like what the New England Patriots would do on a weekly basis, which means half the roster will be on there with various vague, descriptive injuries. But, yeah, you know, it's just one of those things. It's something to get used to. Change. Nobody likes change. And so here we are in the middle of a change. But, yeah, you know, it's just one of those things. It's something to get used to. Change. Nobody likes change, and so here we are in the middle of a change. But, yeah, you're right.

Ty Smith on injured reserve. Jonathan Ciprian on injured reserve. Live backer named Palmer. Jamel President waived injured. Johnny Maxey, same thing. And also, Phillip Supernaw waived injured. So, yeah, they've had their share for sure. Phillip Supernaw weighed injured. So, yeah, they've had their share for sure.

Okay, so I know the first day we were kind of on the same side of there watching the defense. I didn't get to go out there today. Can you give kind of your general takeaways from – I'm assuming you watched offense today. I did. Can you give kind of your general takeaways from what you saw from this offense today against the Buccaneers defense? Absolutely.

You know, in several different drills, the offense, you know, I don't know that they necessarily took a step forward. They had some nice completions, but they also had some mental errors. You know, there was some penalties and some unforced errors, as Coach McGinnis would call it. I'd be interested to see what they do in this preseason game against Tampa after seeing them both days. But the offense had its moments, certainly in red zone and those kinds of things.

They worked on a lot of two-minute drills towards the end. zone and those kinds of things they worked on a lot of two-minute drills towards the end uh honestly when everybody joined together on that first practice field to go ones against ones and twos against twos i think the defense is the thing that stood out today it actually had a better day overall than it did uh did wednesday when you were out there uh Malcolm Butler on a couple of red zone type things, held his own against Mike Evans, no problem. Adoree Jackson had a couple of picks and subsequent backflips acrobatically afterwards. And Kenneth Durden, one of the newest defensive backs,

the former Oakland Raider, had a couple of pass breakups in the defensive side of things. And then when they all came over togetherider had a couple of pass breakups in the defensive side of things, and then when they all came over together had a near pick of, I think it was Jameis Winston, and another pass breakup or two there. But defense looked better today. Offense, it's still a work in progress.

Specifically, I kind of want to know about the run game. We've talked about the pass game quite a bit and all the receivers and Marcus Mariota. But how has the run game looked? Is the offensive line blowing holes open for Derrick Henry and Deion Lewis? I just feel like the run game has just kind of been glossed over

so far in training camp. Yeah, and, you know, from everything I can gather, this zone blocking scheme fits what they're doing well, and I think that's one of the reasons why they brought Josh Klein back for a nice fat contract to play right guard. You know, the offensive line, I think, has looked better in those situations. And, you know, what Coach McGinnis would call a crunch play where they bring a tight end back in the inside in motion on either side,

snugged up against one of the tackles. And then they'll run a zone outside run option there. Or sometimes they'll run it the other direction, but usually it's the zone outside type of runs and whether it's derrick henry or whether it's deon lewis uh there have been holes there for sure now certainly defensively speaking that the bucks you know they they had some nice run stops in the last couple of days but deon leion Lewis has been elusive in moments, and so has Derrick Henry. I think the run game part of it is going to be fine,

and certainly the targets that they're going to be involved in out of the backfield is compelling too, kind of slipping back into the passing game part of it. But I like what I see from the run game so far. All right, coming up, we're going to have more with Rhett Bryan from Titans Radio. So, again, we're joined by Rhett Bryan of Titans Radio. You can follow him on Twitter, at RhettBTennessee. Check out all the stuff that he's doing there.

All right, so much of the talk in this camp so far has been about Corey Davis, and we all know how important Corey Davis is to this offense. I mean, I don't think there's any question that Marcus Mariota is the most important player to this team. But I think you can make the argument that as far as the offense goes, that Corey Davis is the second most important player for this offense as far as how successful they're going to be this year. What have you seen from him overall in camp?

Do you think that he is making those strides that he needs to make to be the number one receiver the Titans need him to be this year. What have you seen from him overall in camp? Do you think that he is making those strides that he needs to make to be the number one receiver the Titans need him to be? I would agree with you, Jimmy, that the two people that needed to have a better 2018 offensively than they had in 2017 is the two people you just mentioned in Marcus Mariota and in Corey Davis. Corey Davis, early in camp, flashes here and there. Malcolm Butler battles with him. And then, of course, he had some time where he missed last week prior to the

preseason game in Green Bay. This week he has stacked nice practices together. It started Monday in the bubble with that indoor closed practice. I thought it was the best camp practice overall in all three phases, and he had a lot to do with that. And then you were there Wednesday when he went six for six in team stuff. He had a nice day again today. And so the fact that he's stacking good practices together,

I want to see that carry over into a good preseason performance against the Bucs. I want to see that carry over into a good preseason performance against the Bucs. And keep in mind that will be his 2018 preseason debut if he missed the game in Green Bay. So, yeah, I think he finished camp very strong and is moving towards what you're talking about, about being the number one receiver that they need him to be. Defense added Malcolm Butler. Of course, to Rashawn Evans in the first round. But Harold Landry is a guy that Jimmy and I were on from the get-go of the draft process.

I know Brian Arakpo has been out, so he's been getting a lot more first-team reps. How has he looked holding up against the run? It was kind of a knock on him coming out. And how has he looked you know how has he looked holding up against the run that was kind of a knock on him coming out uh and how has he looked getting after the passer well and i think that's the area where he's working and you can see little signs that he's getting better against the run and certainly he's got good help and good advice from some of the veterans in his meeting room. Against the pass, listen, I think we saw what he did last Thursday night in Green Bay, and I want to see more of that against either Ryan Fitzpatrick or Jameis Winston this weekend.

Listen, Coach Mack calls it that motorcycle bend, that rush. He's on wheels, speed to power, but bending, you know, way leaning down and swooping around in almost like a body-type swim move to get back there in the pocket to disrupt things. And that stuff, his quickness to get back there and do that, it's impressive. But, yeah, you're right he's gotten some invaluable experience uh reps with the ones with with brian aracpo being out with what appears to be this shoulder i think um but yeah i've been impressed with him i just want to see more of it you know one thing i think that everybody is wondering about is how the carry distribution is going to be divided up between Derrick Henry and Deion Lewis.

And we had, on a show earlier this week, we kind of talked about trying to predict who was going to finish with more yards from scrimmage on the year. And, I mean, have you gotten any indication of how you think they're going to use these guys? I mean, I think everybody just kind of assumes that Derrick Henry is going to be your first and second down guy. Deion Lewis is going to be your third down back.

But if you watch the way that they use Lewis in New England, he did a lot more than that. He's actually really good between the tackles. I wouldn't be surprised to see him get, you know, plenty of chances inside the 10 because he was very effective with those chances last year. So do you have any indication of how they're going to divide that up and kind of what have you seen as far as Deion Lewis' ability to do everything? Well, they certainly have played that kind of thing close to the vest. I don't think we have any clear idea of exactly what the distribution will be.

I think that it's going to be dependent upon the opponent week to week. But to answer your question with Deion Lewis, it's easy to see why they brought him here. Anybody that saw New England Patriots games last year saw how dangerous he could be. And I'll go a step further with what you said a moment ago it wouldn't surprise me and this is all grant taking you know into account that he's healthy and plays a full season it wouldn't surprise me if deon lewis was the leading rusher had the most

attempts and had the most touchdowns out of that meeting room there with a running back core because he has the ability. He's so small. Once he gets past the line of scrimmage and gets into that second level, he can hit a gear and be gone before people even get a beat on him. The size, again, that's what bothers me and kind of concerns me about is hoping that he stays healthy. But the guy is going to be a game changer in this offense. I mean, there's a few players in this offense that you're going to need to have back there in your back pocket to make sure this thing works.

You mentioned Corey Davis. Deion Lewis is another part of this, for sure. And there's one quick follow-up on that. You know, last year we saw when Derrick Henry got the chance to be the every-down guy when DeMarco Murray was hurt that, you know, he did struggle in pass protection. You know, the Chiefs game, there was a play where Marcus Mariota almost got killed. It looked like Derrick Henry missed the block.

Have you seen him working on that, and do you think he's gotten better in that type of role in the pass protection stuff this camp? do actually um you know derrick henry i think has had a really nice camp and you can tell he's working on more fundamental type things uh in protecting number eight uh and just overall blocking uh you saw him the other day, and I want your opinion on this. I think he actually may have leaned a little bit in terms of his overall weight. He looks a little slimmer. He's still a monster, but he looks to me that he may have dropped about 10 pounds

or so to get himself a little more bend and elasticity in this offense. Because we all know what Todd Gurley was able to do in this thing last year when LeFleur was there. Now, I'm not saying he's Todd Gurley. Todd Gurley's a whole other animal. But I see Derrick Henry. He certainly is taking on the challenge of, you know, he wants to get the ball. He wants it all the time.

But it's going to be a running back by committee deal. And as long as he is doing those other fundamental things to keep Marcus upright and protected, certainly he will see his reps go up. But, you know, the concern there is that you don't want to get the Derrick Henry against, you know, Jacksonville in week 17. You want more of what you saw in Kansas City outside of the missing the block. You want more of that kind of performance. And I think he's still trying to find his way on those things.

Will he find them? Yes. But I still say Deion Lewis may be the guy to beat in all of this because he can do so many things. And those targets out of the backfieldfield we know they're going to use we know matt lafleur is going to use them more than those guys have been used in that position group in the past two or three years i mean uh was it two years ago i think they had 84 targets with the backs under malarkey and then i think that went down to 60 some odd targets last year. The last three years that LeFleur has been working in this kind of offense,

his backs have seen triple-digit-type touches in terms of targets aerially. So that certainly comes into play in all of this, and that's something where Derrick Henry can actually make a case. He wasn't asked to do that at Alabama, and he can catch the ball out of the backfield. Corey Davis has gotten all the hype, that receiver, but I think the next factor is Taewon Taylor, who by most accounts has had a pretty good camp.

Just kind of give us an overview of where he's at going from year one to year two. How much more ahead, I guess, is he this year than last year? Well, he kind of had a little bit of a setback because of the change in philosophy, offense, and certainly coaches. You could see early on in OTAs and in the minicamp, he was still trying to get acclimated to this offense. By the time we got to the end of minicamp and the window leading up to training camp,

you could see the light kind of come on for him. Taewon Taylor may have had the best camp of anybody offensively because of consistent play through those 15 practices in a preseason game. He's going to be relied on heavily in this deal you know coach Dave McGinnis told me about looking at all of the Rams film from every game in 2017 and he said you know Cooper Cup the rookie wide receiver for him last year he had really nice numbers in that offense because he you he certainly runs the right route tree, and he goes and catches the ball for you.

But he said, Taewon Taylor is so much faster and more athletic than a Cooper Cup. And he said, he's really going to be the Sammy Watkins in this deal. He can be one of the most valuable parts of this offense and will be relied upon heavy for this. But Taewon, I agree, is a huge deal going into this and when it finally clicks certainly will people will see this that number 13 will be moving all over the place because lafleur wants them to learn x y and z positions and so he's been moving around inside and out all right coming up we will finish up the interview with rep brian of titans radio okay so a couple last things for me one we've heard a lot about i guess the back end of the roster receivers whether it's deontay burnett jordan veezy uh you know nick williams has come

on in the last week it seems like starting with preseason game, and he had a couple of good days of practice. You've got Darius Jennings in that mix. Talk about those guys. Do you have any feel on are they going to keep five or six, and who do you think the guys after Davis, Matthews, Taylor, Tajay Sharp, how do you think it kind of shakes out for those guys? I could see a scenario where they keep six. And listen, I thought, you know, they brought in Michael Campanaro

for returns and those kinds of things. He has been absent. So I'm assuming that he has an injury of some sort. And that's where Nick Williams has made up the difference there. I wouldn't be surprised if Nick Williams makes this roster. has an injury of some sort and that's where nick williams has made up the difference there i wouldn't be surprised if nick williams makes this roster and i also wouldn't be surprised if uh you know maybe darius jennings does as well because he's had a great camp jordan vc is kind of a disappointment he's got the big body and big frame and he's just kind of disappeared in all of this while Deontay Burnett has made some serious plays on a more consistent basis.

You know, the fact that Tajay doesn't play special teams does not make him, you know, immune to being cut. I mean, I can see a scenario where that might, you know, they may go a different direction there. I can see a scenario where they may go a different direction there. I don't think that's going to happen, but we don't really know what Mike Vrabel, this is his first time out of the deal being a head coach. I think we know an idea about what John Robinson will do in terms of trying to flesh out a roster. But that receiving group is probably one of the most intriguing parts of this thing as we get to the cuts on september the first um but i think those names i mentioned are ones that you

can keep an eye on okay and then last thing uh you did the you produced the mcnair special that ran on the fourth right yes okay that was really really good uh and i told people earlier this week if they haven't seen it i mean they haven heard it, to go back and listen to it. I think it's on the website, right, 104.5 The Zone? Yes. Yeah, 104.5TheZone.com. Go check that out. It was really good.

Was there anything you learned in doing that that you didn't know about Steve McNair, about the impact he had kind of going through that project? You know, in talking to wide receiver Kevin Dyson, we had a conversation about McNair as we were putting this stuff together. And the day I recorded with him, I asked him about the last play of the Super Bowl. And he said that he and Steve McNair never talked about that ever again. Now, I guess, one, it wasn't a successful play. There was no need to discuss it.

But he said, never talked about it. Never once mentioned it. Just kind of went on about things. I thought that was interesting. I'm trying to think if there's anything else that I really got out of that. It was more of a historical documentary type angle that I was doing and I just wanted to get some of his teammates and certainly Coach Fisher to recall some things about him.

He will always be one of the faces of the franchise. People always talk about Titans Mount Rushmore. He's probably the first face I'd put up there. Still miss him. Wish he was around today. You know, I thought about, you know, I saw Eddie George at practice today and sure wished a guy like Steve McNair was there.

The night they unveiled the uniforms back in April, I thought, well, gosh, a lot of these guys are up there. I wish Steve McNair was up there, but he's not. And it's really kind of sad. But it was a nice way to remember him and his career and what an incredible athlete that he was and all that he did for pro sports in Nashville, Tennessee and being that early face of the franchise.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I was in high school when the Titans came here, and so he was kind of my last sports hero. And so it was cool just to hear everybody talk about him and remember all that. All right, I got one more thing. I lied. I thought of one more thing.

Okay. Outside linebacker has been another spot where, you know, there's some room for some maneuvering there with those guys. You know, Jamel President made a play in the Packers game, but then obviously he got hurt and they moved on from him. But when you look at guys like Sharif Finch, another guy who really showed out in that Packers game, you've got Aaron Wallace, you've got Josh Carraway.

How do you see that kind of mix coming? I mean, we know we're going to have a rack poe. He's going to come back at some point. He's obviously going to be a part of this derrick morgan harold landry but what do you see them doing with those last couple of outside linebacker spots i think the first couple of names you mentioned are on this roster they like aaron wallace they like what he can do i've seen nice plays from him both in practice and in the preseason game against the Packers. I think had he not had a back injury and had to have surgery and was on IR last year, I think he would have been relied on more heavily in this defense then. I think he sticks. And I've said

from day one, I like Cherie Finch's chances. And that was based on the whole Kevin Dodd situation. Of course, that that got you know taken care of before camp ever really kind of started I like Sharif Finch I like the way he plays he is a big imposing guy he's a little raw you see guys like Mike Vrabel uh and Derek Morgan and Arakpo working with him individually on technique, I think Sharif Finch makes this team. I do. I think maybe Josh Carraway is the odd man out in this deal because he was taken as a late-round flyer

as a chance to kind of develop into a pass rusher. I don't know that he's shown enough to them to maybe see what he can do there. Maybe he's a practice squad eligible type guy. But I like Shareef Finch, and I certainly like Aaron Wallace there to finish out that outside linebacking group. Yep, sounds good. I mean, it sounds to me like they've actually got some guys there. You know, we talked for a couple of years now about them being thin

at that position, and we knew that they were going to have to target that early in this last draft. And obviously we're thrilled that they were able to get Harold Landry. But it sounds like now they've got a couple of guys there that could come in and contribute, play some significant snaps. And maybe they're not as thin at that position as we thought they were initially. Oh, I think it can become throughout the season a greater, more richer group of guys in terms of depth and talent. But, you know, the thing on the horizon is this.

Both of those outside linebackers and Morgan Arakpo are both, you know, in their 30s now, and they're both in the last year of their contract. So that was why the kevin dodd thing was so important to try to see if it could work out and it didn't so they really need a sharif finch and an aaron wallace and a harold landry to come on and come on rather quickly because i could see a scenario uh down the road in the not so distant future where harold landry has probably taken snaps from one of those guys if he does well enough and flashes well enough early on. But knowing that those guys are at the end of their contracts,

and I'm not saying that John Robinson wouldn't consider resigning either one of them, but that's a lot of money on those books that's going to come off in 2019. And they need someone to step forward with youth and talent. Absolutely. Hey, Rhett, man, we really appreciate you taking the time to join us tonight. Again, you can follow Rhett on Twitter at Rhett B Tennessee. And, you know, if you haven't heard the Linnae Kikua country music game of the week that he,

that he does the songs for with Kaharski on midday one, a that's really good stuff. You need to check that out. So give him a follow on Twitter. And, again, man, we really appreciate you taking the time tonight. Man, I'm glad to do it. I appreciate the invite. I enjoy the work that you guys do. You guys provide some good insight as well.

I enjoy reading your columns. And you guys, I really appreciate the invite. I've had a good time tonight. It's good stuff. Yeah, man, we really appreciate you joining us. All right, again, so follow Rhett on Twitter at RhettBTennessee, and you'll see him popping up on different stuff. So this will do it for tonight for us.

Now we'll be back over the weekend with a recap of the game against the Buccaneers. I think it's going to be really interesting to watch how that plays out. And, Terry, I'll get your opinion on this too. You know, now we've seen them work against the Buccaneers. I think it's going to be really interesting to watch how that plays out. And, Terry, I'll get your opinion on this too. You know, now we've seen them work against the Buccaneers for two days. So you've got some familiarity there. They were able to stay away from the fights and that kind of stuff. I think there were a couple of chippy moments today, but they stayed away from all that stuff.

I'm interested to see how that will carry over into the game on Saturday. Yeah, I just want to see, you know, clean offense. You saw, what, one drive, just really a couple plays out of the first-team offense. So we still don't really know what to expect out of that group. You know, you want to go all in on that touchdown drive and get excited, but now we're starting to get into the games where it's going to matter. You know, you want to see them string a couple drives together back-to-back.

So this is the fun part of preseason, finally. Yeah, absolutely. All right, so that'll do it for tonight. Again, we thank Rhett Bryan for joining us. Give him a follow at RhettBTennessee. You can follow me and Terry on Twitter. I'm at jmorrismcm. Terry's at TLambertFB.

Again, search out Locked on Titans. You can subscribe to the podcast, get those episodes, since they're available. So for Rhett and for Terry, this is Jimmy saying thanks for listening to Locked on Titans, and we will talk to you again next week.