Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: The search for coordinators continues

Episode Date: January 25, 2018

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Welcome in to another edition of Locked on Titans. I am Jimmy Morris, joined as always by Terry Lambert. Terry, how are you tonight? Doing good. Busy day. Busy day. A lot of news with interviews for the Titans coaching staff. Not a whole lot of things that we know, at least concretely yet, but we've got some names out there, so we're going to kind of talk through those here for the next little bit. Before we do that, tell you that we cover the Titans, musicmiracles.com for SB Nation. So check that out. Also, please subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Locked on Titans. You can search us out there, Stitcher, wherever you get podcasts. We're also on Spotify.

So you can check it all out there. Okay, so last time we talked, we knew that Ryan Day, the Ohio State co-offensive coordinator, whatever his title was there, had decided to stay at Ohio State. He apparently leveraged the Titans offer into a better deal there with the Buckeyes. He's going to get called plays this year, apparently, which he did not do last year.

We talked about that a little bit last time last night there was some i guess rumblings that the titans were zeroing in on a defensive coordinator and that guy was allegedly james betcher who has been the cardinals defensive coordinator for the last two or three years. Had done a great job there. You know, good personnel, obviously, but had a defense that was the top five all three of the years he was a coordinator there. Late last night, it was reported by a couple different people that it was basically none of the Titans or the Giants, that he was leaning Titans, and then it turned out he chose the Giants.

And I guess it's kind of vague as far as whether the Titans ever actually made him an offer or not. We know that he talked with the Titans, but we don't know what the extent of it was past there. But ultimately, last night, he chose the Giants, so he'll be their defensive coordinator. So the Titans are still searching for a defensive coordinator. So that prompted me to write this morning that the Mike Vrabel era is not off to a great start just because the first two guys that he was linked to for coordinators ended up going somewhere else or staying where they already were. So just real quick to kind of defend that a little bit, and it kind of took Twitter.

Twitter kind of was on fire this morning responding to that. I am by no means saying that the mike vrabel hire is a disaster i'm by no means saying that his era is going to be a disaster but i don't think it's a great look when the first two possible coordinators that you are linked to end up either staying where they already were or going somewhere else okay we talked a lot about when the hire was made that Vrabel probably had to come in with a name especially for an offensive coordinator to sell John Robinson on that you know the guy that's going to be able to come in get the most out of Marcus Mariota maximize his talent the thing that John Robinson said over and over the press conference we assume that guy was Ryan Day but considering that Adam Schefter reported

that Titans made him an offer, okay? So it's a little bit different than the news on Betcher because we don't know, nobody ever reported that he was made an offer. We just know that he was interviewed, okay? But Schefter said that Day had an offer from the Titans and he turned it down, okay? Now, again, I don't think it's a disaster.

And like I said in my post, if people actually read it instead of just responding to the Twitter headline, if they turn around and hire DeFilippo, then who cares about Ryan Day? I mean DeFilippo is the guy that I would rather have anyway. But I still think that, again, it's just not a great look that the first couple of guys that you're linked to, that you're reportedly trying to get, end up not coming here. Obviously, it's still a long way to go. I said in the post, no practices have been had yet, no games have been played yet. So obviously, we're not going to just throw out the white towel or whatever or wave the white flag at this point. or the way of the white flag at this point. But there's a little bit, at least, that your eyebrows are raised with a little bit of concern that neither one of those guys ended up here. Am I way off base here? No, I think it's okay to be concerned.

I thought you kind of took a middle stand, and maybe your headline threw some people off, but that's okay. If they didn't read the story that's on them. So it's like I said, it's okay to be concerned. You should not be ready to jump off the cliff yet. He's a first-time head coach. He's young. He played in the league seven or eight years ago.

This is all new to him. The Titans fired Mike Malarkey after a playoff run, so maybe there's some apprehension there to join that staff. I don't know. But Boettcher seemed like a shoe-in last night. If you had asked me 24 hours ago, I would have said there was probably a 95% chance just because it seemed like the Giants had locked in on Del Rio. So from a scheme standpoint, it fit.

You know, Boettcher didn't get fired or anything. He lost his coach. His coach stepped down, so, and Berserians. And the Cardinals' defenses have been great, second, fifth, and sixth over the last three years. So he had done some really good work there. He's an aggressive guy that gets some speed on the field. So I was pretty excited to see that.

So it was a gut punch to see him go to the Giants for sure. And we don't have any other names for defensive coordinator right now. But it's just a little concerning that he missed on two guys that no doubt were discussed in the meetings with John Robinson. But I'm sure there's backup plans. Obviously, there has to be backup plans. You're not going to go bank on those two guys. There's just no way. So I'm sure there's names already being sold out there.

I'm sure there's already been conversations made down there in Mobile. So I bet we'll get some new names tomorrow or Friday. Yeah, sure. And again, the other thing too, like you said, Ray was the first time I had coached. And what we saw with Mike Malarkey was he hired all of his buddies. He hired guys that nobody else was interested in. He hired Terry Hrabisky,

who hadn't been an offensive coordinator since before Terry was born. So there's a lot of – there's something to be said for going after bigger names and you know even if he does miss at least he's out there trying to assemble the best staff that he can and i think it was the midday 180 i was listening to today they were talking about how you know even you hope that this this initial staff that he hires is not the best staff that he gets because he's going to bring guys in, and he's not going to like the way they coach, or there's going to be a better guy that becomes available, and he's going to be willing to let guys that are not as good go,

even though they've been on his staff, to hire a better coach. So I think there's something to all of that. And so, again, it's not time to just throw your hands up and be like, well, crap, they should have just kept Malarkey. That is by no means what I was saying. But if we would have had both coordinators in place by now, it would have given you a little bit more confidence in what these guys are doing. But again, and I said in the post, if he hires DeFilippo, then I'll forgive anything. I don't care who he hires on defense if he gets DeFilippo.

So all these things to watch, and we'll see how it all plays out. But I like the approach, and they're obviously sitting down and talking to a lot of people. And you would rather them do that, again, than already have a list of names that you know are going to come because you're friends with them. A list of names that nobody else wants. And I never will forget when I read Mike Malarkey's comments about his initial staff that basically he was excited to have a bunch of guys on his staff that had no aspirations to be a head coach. And just how mind-boggling it was to me that he would say that

because basically he hired a bunch of guys that weren't any good but were willing to come work for him because they they weren't getting those jobs anywhere else and so you just you you kind of had the feeling that was going to be a disaster Vrabel's not doing that and so he's going out there he's talking to guys he's shooting for the moon I mean if you go look at Betcher's resume I mean, the guy has been really, really good. Like, we would have been, I mean, over the moon for that guy, just with the defenses that he's had. It didn't work out. And who's to say that, you know, initially they even thought about him. Like, he was even on Brable's radar.

But when the Cardinals hire Wilks, you know, he's going to bring in his guy, so then Betcher's available, so they go talk to him. So, I mean, I don't fault them for doing that. I think it's a great move. I think it shows flexibility on his part. And so, again, we'll kind of monitor it and see how it all plays out. But, like I said, it doesn't show maybe the most confidence in the world that kind of the first two guys he was linked to ended up not coming.

But at the same time, there's still a lot of stuff to play out. And again, even if they hire two coordinators that we've never heard of, you can't – there's no way to make a judgment call on those guys until we see what they do on the field. And obviously we're not going to see that until August, September of next year. So we'll keep an eye on all of that, obviously. Now we do have some names, I guess, at this point that they've been linked to. The only name that we've been able to see so far when we're recording this,

it's like 10 o'clock on Wednesday night, Kerry Coombs from Ohio State is apparently going to be part of the staff. He was the, I guess, assistant defensive coordinator, the defensive backs coach, the assistant special teams coach. I mean, he had like 13 titles at Ohio State. But from everything that I read today, it sounded like his, I guess, primary duty was the defensive backs. So you can assume, I guess, that he'll be in a similar role here,

whether it be cornerbacks or secondary or whatever. We know that yesterday Vrabel was going to talk with Deshae Townsend, who was on the staff before, was the safeties coach. So, again, we won't know how all this is going to shake out until we get some kind of confirmation of what the role is going to be. Now, you know, a lot of buzz about Coombs when you've got guys that played for him like Eli Apple, Marshawn Lattimore, Garyon Conley, guys that were really good in college, I'm sure were highly recruited

coming out of high school, first-round picks in the NFL. So, you know, everybody points to that and says, hey, this guy's a great coach because he had these guys. Kind of like we said about Brian Callahan, who we'll talk about a little bit later, when he was paid to main quarterback's coach, I mean, how hard could that be? So, again, I'm not

ready to crown this guy the greatest defensive backs coach in the history of the league, but, I mean, from everything you read, he's a well-respected guy, and he's the first guy that we have confirmed is going to be a part of the staff. Yeah, he's put together kind of a pipeline to the NFL. And like you were saying, it's not like he's coaching up three stars here

and turn them into first-round picks. They're highly regarded guys. I guess you can't fault him for that. But I saw a lot this morning acting like he's been a miracle worker up there. He's been a great recruiter up there for Urban Meyer, coming and doing something different.

Titans have talent at defensive back. Dory Jackson took some strides this year. Logan Ryan is there, and you saw the emergence of Ty Smith down the stretch with Sean Sims coming back next year from injury. So it's interesting. There's some talent there, and that was not the case last season.

So you look at his work, and you can get on board with it. It's pretty easy to do. The only knock I have is he worked for Butch Jones at Cincinnati. So I'm out on him already. It's going to be a disaster. No. But, no, I'm excited for him. I'm just a little – I'm not over the moon like everyone else seems to be.

Yeah. As soon as he says brick by brick, then we can really jump off the bridge. But, yeah. Now, I mean, again, I always say to God that it's well-respected in the profession. So, you know, we'll see how that goes. I guess the biggest thing today was the fact that the Titans are interviewing Brian Callahan, who we talked a little bit about on our last podcast. Now, information on him is kind of scarce.

We know he was in Denver. We know he was most recently with uh the lions as their quarterbacks coach and uh dan orlovsky who uh if you're not following on twitter you should be uh he's kind of you know obviously was a backup quarterback in the nfl for a long time uh has now gotten into breaking down film and that kind of stuff and actually does a really good job with it and if they do hire callahan we are going to try to get him on to get his thoughts because he played for callahan in detroit um but a guy that that you know like i said we can't find a lot of information on but you know just you read stuff about him he's well respected around the league um so again the titans talked with him today

uh and again the giants apparently are talking with him as well so we'll see how that plays out and again you know and vrabel said basically at the opening press conference that they weren't going to rush to fill out a staff, that he was going to do his due diligence, he was going to talk to guys. But that's the, you know, I guess the second name we've had connected as an offensive coordinator. Again, no report or anything that he's been offered the job. Just the Titans had an interview with him today.

So we'll keep an eye on that. I don't know if you have anything in addition on Callahan. It's just so hard to sit down and separate his effect on this offense because you've got Jim Bob Cooter, who's well-respected. He's been talked about for head coaching jobs. It's just hard to figure out what he's done. Like we said on the podcast a couple days ago, He's been talked about for head coaching jobs. It's just hard to figure out what he's done. Like we said on the podcast a couple days ago,

what does Peyton Manning's quarterback's coach do? Not a whole lot. So, I mean, you see the improvements in some numbers with Matthew Stafford. His interception numbers went down. His yards went up. But he also got Marvin Jones. They also made the switch to Jim Bob Cooter. So it's really hard to sit down and figure it out from an outsider. And that's not to say that he would be bad as an offensive coordinator.

It's just saying we just don't know. And, you know, that's the thing. So his yards per attempt went way up. They skyrocketed almost a complete yard since he got there. So, I mean, all the numbers look good for Stafford. He's just – I just don't think Stafford's a guy that's just going to go win big in the NFL. But it's just hard to separate all that out.

Yeah, so, again, we'll keep an eye on all that. And then, like I said, we'll try to get Orlovsky on if they do sign him. And, I mean, he's going to have as good of insight as anybody about what he's like in the room and all that stuff. So keep an eye on that. Coming up, we'll talk a little bit more about names that the Titans have been linked to, at least as far as interviews have gone this week. Okay, so we said initially that the Senior Bowl was an important time for a new coach to get down there and talk to guys because everybody's down there. So that's what's going on right now in Mobile, Alabama. We had some more reports today on guys the Titans have talked to. It looks like they interviewed Rob Moore, who was formerly

the Raiders wide receivers coach. That's according to Tom Pelissero of NFL.com. He tweeted that earlier that they had talked to him. And I guess he wasn't retained when Gruden came in with his staff. So again, you know, pointed to

hey, Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree both had good seasons. But again, how hard is it to coach those guys? But it's not something that you just dismiss him for. Another name that the Titans have been linked to is Tyrone McKenzie, who was the Rams assistant special teams coach. Same thing, Pelissero, I don't know how to say his name, on the report there. So I don't know exactly what position he was interviewing for, but the Titans had talked to him.

And then just a couple of Texans guys, which shouldn't come as a surprise. Obviously, Vrabel being the Texans defensive coordinator last year, you would figure that he would want a couple of the guys that coached with him there. But Shane Bowen, who was a Texans defensive assistant last year, they've interviewed him as well. So, Terry, any thoughts on any of these guys? Not really, but, you know, when you start talking about who's going to be the linebacker coach, the D-line coach,

some of those quality guys, you're going to see him pluck those guys from Ohio State and Houston. Those are the guys that you fill out with the guys that you know, the up-and-comers. So, you know, even a guy like Wes Welker, who coached the receivers in Houston, maybe his name could pop up in play for the Titans receivers coach job. So I think we'll see a heavy Houston influence and possibly a heavy Ohio State influence too. Yeah, and like you said, that makes sense. He's going to bring in some guys that he's familiar with.

So you can't fault him for that. As far as I know, that's pretty much all we have at this point on the coaching names. Are there any names I left out? No, we had the Josh Allen meeting at the Senior Bowl. the senior bowl yeah yeah we're gonna talk about that real quick um so yeah uh john ledyard who is uh does locked on draft check that out obviously that that show will be heating up um from the senior bowl and then as we move into this draft process but he tweeted out earlier today that the titans were having a sit-down interview with josh allen so um you know obviously josh allen who mel kuiper i think had going number one overall in his first mock draft to the browns quarterback out of wyoming that you

know that it seems like big media is in love with draft Twitter hates. Terry, I think you comped him to Jake Locker before we came on here. If the Titans are sitting down and talking to him, to me that says that they don't view him as a top ten pick because, you know, spoiler alert, the Titans are not drafting in the top ten first of all. But if they were, they wouldn't be taking a quarterback. So, I mean, obviously just a little bit of due diligence there but i think it also says that he's a guy that could slide on draft day more than you know the mel kypers of the world think

that he will i think you said due diligence um some people will tell you every team talks to every player down there i don't know if that's the case. I've never been. Maybe I'll get to go one day. But it is interesting to see the Titans talking with a quarterback. I think we both agree that they're going to have to find a backup. Matt Castle can't come back. He cannot be the number two because his team cannot function

with Matt Castle under center. Not that it's going to be Allen because I still believe he will go somewhere in the first round, probably in the top 15. He's a guy that's got all the tools except for accuracy, and that's pretty important. But you're going to see all these draft guys try and talk themselves into it because he's got the huge arm. You know, he can run around a little bit and he can make all the throws.

It's just weird. There's a big disconnect, like I said, between the internet scouts and the big draft media. You've already seen Mel Kiper and Matt Miller already pumping him up as the number one guy. So we'll see where that goes. I think you said it best with due diligence. If this guy was to fall, you know, into day two, into day three,

maybe the Titans would think about it. But I don't think there's too much to read into here other than maybe the Titans are looking for a backup. Yeah, and like you said, they absolutely have to have a different backup next year. And we talked a lot about that as training camp even went along last year. They wanted Alex Tanney to be the backup. I still firmly believe that, but he was so bad in the preseason this year

that they just couldn't keep him on, and so then they were kind of stuck with Matt Castle. Like you said, it just takes one team to fall in love with a guy, to draft him. How many times have we seen that happen? And you were talking before we came on, I mean, about the year that, you know, Jake Locker and Christian Ponder went, what, top 10, top 12, something like that, both guys. So, I mean, I saw a lot of stuff today, people speculating that we're going to have four quarterbacks in the top six in this draft. So people always fall in love with quarterbacks.

People always think that, you know, you can't teach the big arm. You can try to coach him into being accurate, but, you know, he's got the arm talent, you know. So, I mean, I don't think there's any way Josh Allen falls outside of the top 15. I don't think he's going number one overall. I mean, who knows? You never know what the Browns are going to do. But interesting the other time Titans are talking to him.

And, again, like you said, it's probably more of a thing where they talk to pretty much every player down there. But, you know, it was just one of those things that pops out again just because his name right now is so high with a guy like Mel Kiper. So, you know, you wouldn't expect the Titans to be in the mix for that, obviously. So anyway, we'll keep an eye on that. Senior Bowl will take place on Saturday. It's one of those funny things where nobody cares about the game. It's all about the practices and all that kind of stuff. But we'll have some coverage on that, obviously, leading up in the draft.

It's interesting. We haven't really gotten into draft season yet on the site which is weird i'm so behind yeah for so many years we've we've gotten into draft season like mid-october um so i you know it's a good place to be but you know even with the playoff run when it ended okay then it's time for drafting one hour and we're in coaching search we got a coach but we're coaching staff and all that stuff so we haven't really jumped in full-on draft mode yet. But we'll get there in the next couple weeks once the Titans get coordinators in place and all that stuff.

But, yeah, it's going to be interesting to watch. And, like I said, as we go here, we'll start to break down the roster and what they had last year. Again, that was something we thought we'd be doing probably the week after season ended but when this coaching starts it's kind of been pushed back a little bit which is fine we got plenty of time um but in that then we'll start talking about draft needs and all that kind of stuff i mean i think you put backup quarterback in the list of you know i mean what it's fifth sixth maybe on the list of what the titans are going to need in this upcoming draft obviously not something they're going to address early, but it is something that they need,

especially with how much Marcus has gotten hurt in his first three seasons. It's something they're going to have to really take into consideration, whether it be in free agency or in the draft. Yeah, I mean, all you've got to do is go watch that Miami game, and that's all the proof you need. So, yeah, it'll be up there. It'll be up there in the top five or six, seven needs on this roster. And I

haven't even looked to see what's out there realistically on the quarterback free agent market. That's probably a more realistic route with Marcus being young. You'll probably want a veteran presence in that room if Matt Castle's not back.

So we'll get into all that later. We only did three pods this week. We did leave room for one just in case we get a big-time hire, offense or defense. So if the Titans make a hire like that, look for us to put out a reaction pod, possibly this weekend. Yeah, like you said, just keep an eye out for that because we will jump on whenever we get a coordinator hired.

We'll do a podcast whether it's defensive or offensive, and then we'll kind of play it by ear. So we'll probably make the shift more to three podcasts per week just with the lack of information, lack of stuff to talk about really that we're going to have. But we'll get into breaking down the current roster and as we move into free agency and draft season. And as I'm sure you know, a lot of times NFL offseason seems like it's more fun than the regular season just because you've got all these people moving around and the possibilities and all that stuff so we'll be here to break down all that stuff but anyway so yeah just kind of keep an eye out for the next time uh we'll be back at least monday but if not sooner it we will we'll hit one if the titans hire somebody

of significance between now and then terry anything else we need to hit before we get out i think we got it all right so like I said from the top, museummiracles.com. We'll have a lot of stuff on there every day, following these names as they become available. So check that out. Subscribe to the podcast, Locked on Titans, wherever you get

podcasts. And again, you can listen to us on Spotify as well. You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorritsmcm. Terry is at tlembertfb. For Terry, this is Jimmy saying thanks for listening to Locked on Titans, and we will talk to you again next week.