Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Locked on Titans: Trading for Gronk? Igniting the fire episode one review

Episode Date: June 21, 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 well. What's going on, man? Not a whole lot. Got a couple things to talk about tonight. I report today from Albert Breer of the NFL Network that the Titans were at least in some type of discussions with the Patriots about Rob Gronkowski. that and then last night the titans debuted their uh facebook series on exactly what they call it but igniting a fire which is kind of a behind the scenes look at you know just the titans and practices and that kind of stuff and last night was all about mike brable so we'll touch on that a little bit as well before we do that remind you terry and i write for me to see miracles.com go to the titans for sb nations you can check us out there um you can follow us on twitter i'm at jay moore'ssmcm. Terry's at

tlambertfb. And the podcast account is at LockedOnTitans. So you can catch us all those places. Alright, so Rob Gronkowski. You know, there was that rumor however many weeks ago that it was. There was the thing that came out the morning that said Rob Gronkowski is going to get traded today.

And then somebody said the Titans had an offer on the table or whatever that same day. I can't remember who the guy was, but it wasn't a guy that we were familiar with. So we didn't really run with it because we just weren't sure if it was a credible source or not. But then today, Albert Breer has a report that the Patriots talked to some teams, some teams that they're familiar with, some teams they were comfortable with, I think was the way that he phrased it. You had the Titans and the Lions. And, Terry, you can tell me the other teams because you

wrote it up for the site. But I mean, teams that had some Patriots connections. You know, you got John Robinson here, you got Matt Patricia in Detroit, a couple other things there. So what do you kind of make of the idea that there was some discussion there in acquiring Rob Gronkowski? Well, first things first, I don't think it got very far. The way it was worded, it just kind of sounded like it was preliminary talks,

like John Robinson saying, hey, is this really true? Is he available? So I don't know. And no compensation or anything like that was discussed. So I think the other team was the 49ers so um interesting that they only talked to teams with patriots ties uh but yeah i think it all stems from the contract situation with gronk uh he's made it known that he wants a new deal he signed through 2019 that he's due to make nine million dollars this this year

uh probably deserves to be paid a little more than that uh and all reports say that he's probably going to get paid at some point this offseason but nothing is imminent so um i don't it sounds like there's there's some friction there um but honestly, I never thought for a second that it would get to the point of moving Gronk. Yeah, that's the thing. Like you said, there obviously is some friction there and just all over that organization, so to speak. You've got the stuff with Brady and the stuff with Belichick and all that stuff dating back to last year, the article that came out with all that stuff. So there's obviously some stuff going on there. But like you said, I mean, I always found it hard to believe that the Patriots would actually move him.

You know, he's a staple of that franchise. He's an incredible player when he's healthy, obviously. You know, and we were talking before we jumped on here. I mean, my biggest reservation in the thought of acquiring Gronk would just be the health stuff. You know, he's had the back issue. He's had the elbow issue. Both of those things he missed significant time for.

And back injuries just scare me because they seem to be degenerative. And so it seems like it's one of those things where, like, you can be okay for a while, but then once it goes south, it never comes back. Pun intended there, I guess. That kind of thing scares you because, again, if you're going to acquire Rob Gronkowski, you're not going to get him for nothing. If we know anything, dealing with the Patriots, when you trade with the Patriots, you generally lose. And it's not like he's not happy or whatever.

But it's not like somebody's going to call him up and say, hey, I'll give you a third-round pick and we'll get Gronkowski. They're not going to do that. I mean, they'd be stupid to do that because ultimately, at the end of the day, even if Gronk's not happy with his contract situation or whatever, you see it all the time when players hold out because they want more money. Once the rubber meets the road, so to to speak when it's time for them to start getting their paychecks and by not being there playing you know whether it be training camp

preseason or especially in week one we're talking about that week one check you know players tend to show up for those type of things because they don't want to miss those checks so it's not like rob garnkowski was going to say the patriots i'm just not going to come and i'm not going to play and i'm going to hold out for the whole season that's not going those checks. So it's not like Rob Gronkowski was going to say to the Patriots, I'm just not going to come and I'm not going to play and I'm going to hold out for the whole season. That's not going to happen. They know that's not going to happen. If it were that serious, sure, maybe you could lowball them

and the Patriots would say, hey, we'd rather get something for him than nothing at all. But I don't know. That was just about acquiring him. I think it would take at least a one, maybe more than one one, or maybe a one and a two or a one and a three, whatever it would be as far as draft picks. I don't know, with a guy that is, I mean, he's not old,

but he's been in the league for a long time. He's had those injury things. It would just scare me to give up a ton as far as draft picks go to acquire him. I would be worried about what John Robinson was willing to even talk about. I just can't imagine giving up a first-round pick at this point. He's 29 years old. The injuries are piling up. He appeared in 14 games, which seemed higher to me than what I thought.

He missed eight games in 2016. He missed nine games in 2013. Like you said with the back thing, it's more of a longevity issue than the right now. How many more years does he have at his peak? You know, he is an athletic specimen. years does he have at his peak you know he is an athletic specimen uh there's just not anything else like him in the league uh running down the field at 6'6 200 and whatever pounds he is uh that can run with corners and things like that so uh i'm interested to see i would be interested to see what john robinson would be to give up. Yeah, maybe he is willing to part with a first-round pick.

Being that the Titans are picking later, he's probably going to continue to do that because they're a pretty good football team. So maybe he would be willing to move a pick beyond the 25th pick or something like that. So I would probably shy away from that just for the longevity issues and whether or not he'd be on the football field. But if you start talking about giving up a two and a three or maybe two future twos, I would entertain that for sure. Yeah, and that's the thing.

Like you said, we'll never know. And, again, we don't even know if it got to that point where they were talking about any type of compensation. And if it did, we'll never know what it was but yeah i would be really interested to know because again you know we talked on the last episode about the issue the titans have with the receivers not being able to create separation um all that kind of stuff now gronk's obviously a titan not a receiver but you would use him in a similar fashion that would give you a weapon that would that would solve that problem, obviously.

But again, you just have to ask at what cost, and clearly it would be an upgrade. I mean, it's not like, I mean, Delaney Walker's a great tight end, but he's not a healthy Rob Gronkowski. So, you know, again, it's something that if it was, you know, if you're a general manager and you hear that Gronk's not happy and there's, you know, some, some type of turmoil or friction there, then yeah, you're going to call and see, hey, maybe they are really fed up,

it's really bad, and I can get in for cheaper than market value. So you wouldn't obviously fault any GM for having that conversation. But at the same time, we know how the Patriots work. They're not stupid. So I just can't see it. I saw some comments today. We were talking about the Titans should trade a third-round pick in Ty Smith. Well, I mean, of course.

We would all sign up for that deal on the Titans' side of it. But, again, you're dealing with Bill Belichick, not some idiot. deal on the titan side of it but you know again you're dealing with bill belichick not you know some idiot so um it would it would have taken at least a first round pick and probably you know significantly more than that and again i just don't know that with where the titans are i'm not sure that's something that i would be comfortable doing um just because you just you don't you don't know what that's gonna hold for the future so anyway obviously that you know that didn't come to fruition grunkhouse is going to be apparently and and you know we'll kind of see where it goes from there you know and hey we might be having these same these same conversations at least you

know around draft time next year because if the you know if that friction's still there um you know tom brady is is hinting that you you know, he could be done after 2018. So if you see some of that stuff, you know, start to develop, you know, the Patriots could be at a spot where they're looking at, you know, maybe rebuilding or whatever. You know, then maybe they're willing to move him and maybe even a little bit cheaper after this season. So, I mean, I think maybe that's probably a possibility.

Yeah, one thing to keep in mind, Delaney Walker entering his final year of his deal. What is he going to be? 34? 35? Career starting to come to a close. Obviously, he's still going strong, but on the back nine for sure, the Titans

are going to have to come up with some sort of backup plan. John M. Smith already on the roster, who we're both really high on. But obviously if you could get Gronk cheaper next year, like Jimmy just said, that's something that John Robinson would definitely be interested in looking into. It's funny that Delaney's older than Rob Gronkowski. He didn't drop down longer, but I guess it's just because Delaney was kind of buried in San Francisco. I don't think he got as much attention before he came here.

You forget those 49ers years. He played there for a long time. Yeah, he was born in 84. Anyway, so that was just an interesting thing that came out on Wednesday morning or Tuesday night, whenever it was. And again, like I said, we had seen some rumblings that the Titans were somehow involved in conversations, however that went down. But we just weren't sure how accurate that was or whatever.

So now we know at least there were some conversations. We don't know how far they went. All right, coming up, we'll talk a little bit about the first episode of Igniting the Fire, which debuted last night on the Titans' Facebook page. Okay, so last night, the Titans, like we said, kicked off their in-house series Igniting the Fire.

I think they said it's going to be 10 episodes of some behind-the-scenes stuff that you don't normally get to see, which I think is really cool. And I think, too, it speaks a little bit to, you know, there's been this friction between Mike Vrabel and the Nashville media and some people saying he's just like Ken Wisenhunt with the way that he's handled some things.

I think the fact that he's willing to agree to do this series, and obviously, you know, he's willing to agree to do this series, and obviously it's going to show him and the team and the preparation and all that in a positive light because it's done by the team. And if you follow coverage from any team, any team website, any writer or video content producer or whatever that's employed by the team. They're not going to say anything negative about the team. We all know that that's part of it. So there is that part of it. But you still are getting some access that you don't normally get. And I think the coolest thing from this episode was seeing Vrabel working with the players on the practice field. And I think, you know, in that we saw a lot of the things that, you know,

we heard about Vrabel, the charisma, the leader of men, all that kind of stuff. Anyway, but, I mean, I think to me just the fact he's willing to agree to this and, you know, be a part of this type of series says that he is different than Ken was and is different than with the players and with the people in-house than he is with the outside. And I think the players are going to respect him for that i think the players are going to rally around him now again does that lead to wins on the football field probably not um you know none of this stuff probably ultimately matters when you know the season kicks off but it was cool to see that and i think it think it did kind of paint him in a different light

than some of the stuff that we've seen in the press conferences and stuff as we've gone through the offseason program. For me, I came away after watching it with a higher opinion of Mike Vrabel. And like you said, it's a team-produced thing, so they're going to paint him in a very positive light and the title of it is ignite the fire you know it's kind of a a pep rally type deal to get fans on board but it was really cool to see him on the field uh i think since he's been hired all we've seen is him in press settings and it's just you know we've talked we've talked about this, he's just weird.

He's just odd and inexperienced right now, and I think that will get better with time. But he's coming off a little strong so far. But to see him out on the field and getting after Kevin Dodd and teaching Jayon Brown, you know, what to do with his hands and just basic drills out there cussing with the guys. It gave me confidence in him. He looks very comfortable out there on the football field.

So I just have, like you said, the leader of men really shine through on this episode. really shine through on this episode. I kind of feel like he's not a big X and O type guy, but he is that leader, and he's got a couple strong coordinators around him. So it's an interesting formula. I think it's a little bit of a different formula than other things you see around the league. So interested to see how it plays out.

But he's got a really good roster, playoff winning roster at his fingertips. So he can't walk into a better situation than he did. He's got a good roster and he's got, you know, a defensive coordinator, obviously that's very experienced, has had a lot of success in the league. You know, X's and O's, he can handle that type of stuff. You've got an offensive coordinator, Matt LaFleur, that, you know, is inexperienced. I mean, he's only been an offensive coordinator for one season, didn't call the plays with the Rams. But, you know, the people that he's worked under, that he's learned under, you feel confident in his ability to design a game plan and all that kind of stuff. So, you know, that was the biggest knock, I think, that we heard on Brayville

from Texas people especially was, you know, the defense wasn't good under him when he was the coordinator there. And there were injuries and all that kind of stuff too, and not to, you know, get into all that again, but, you know, as a head coach, you know, if he takes the CEO-type role, if everybody else is drawing up the game plans, he's giving his input, obviously. He's going to be the one that can ultimately, on game day, say, I want this play called here, whether it be on offense or defense.

He's the head coach, and he talked a little bit about that in his introductory press conference. But you don't have to worry about the X's and O's stuff as much as a head coach as you do as a coordinator necessarily. So obviously depending on the setup and how all that's handled. So yeah, I'm excited about it. Like you said, there's so much talent on this roster. A lot of good things that have been built here.

And to have a guy that has a different mindset, a different approach to the game than, you know, the last regime did. I don't know. To me, the ceiling is so much higher than what it was with Mike Malarkey, and I think that's what we were, you know, when we were talking about wanting a change, it was wanting something like this where you have just a different approach and, you know, just kind of see how it works out. And I don't know. I'm excited, and I think, again, you know, that's the point, like we've been saying.

That's the point of this whole thing is to get everybody fired up. I made the point when I wrote it up with Music City Miracles on Monday, I think it was. The Titans PR people, when the Titans first came here, for those of you that weren't around in 1999 when they first became the Titans and and all that stuff i mean they were really good they went super bowl first year right so the pr staff had the easiest job in the world they didn't they didn't have to do anything to sell the team the team was good the guys that were on the team were good in the community everybody you know respected them all that kind of stuff it was impossible to get a ticket back then well i think that some of that stuff you know as the team started to not win uh they didn't change their approach very much and so people kind of fell out of love with

the titans and so it's good to see them taking a little bit of a different approach and doing some of this stuff to get people fired up um and you know you've seen it with the uniform reveal um you see it with this all this stuff that's kind of trying to get the fan base back engaged and excited about the team even when there's not games going on so that you know if they do come out and play well on the field because ultimately that's what matters right is if they win games you know on sundays or not but you've got this you've got this excitement building and then if they come out and win games if they come out they're good the city's really going to get behind them and that that's going to be exciting to see.

So it's fun to see them taking this approach and trying to get us excited about the NFL in June and July. I'm excited to see where they take this show specifically. There's so many unknowns with this staff. They're just new. We don't really know them yet. We don't know a whole lot about Matt LeFleur. He's never called plays, so I think that'll be an interesting look

if and when they get to him. And then I think Mark's Mariota. We don't have a lot of access to Mariota. He's kind of not a flashy guy in press conferences. So I want to see him in a practice setting. I want to see how he interacts with his coaches and teammates. So I think that's going to be really interesting to see. And I think it's a great way for the Titans to develop relationships with their fans

to kind of let them in and see who these players and coaches are. So I applaud them for doing this. I think it's going to take some of the luster off of the real hard knocks, which is kind of where this idea was taken from. But I'd love to see more teams do this. I'd love to see the Colts and Jaguars and Texans do this too just to kind of get to know your enemy. I think it's a really good idea and a really cool way to connect your fans

to your players. Yeah, like you said, and even, you know, beyond obviously Marcus Mariota and those guys, but there's going to be somebody that comes out of this, right, with a personality that we didn't know that they had. You know, because you see that with hard knocks every year. There's somebody that people are talking about that's a guy that maybe ultimately doesn't make the team or that does make the team, but is not a guy that you're watching on the highlights every Sunday night.

So, you know, just like you said, just to develop, I don't know if relationship is the right word or whatever, but to develop a thing for those guys and, I don't know, just being a fan and wanting those guys to succeed and wanting those guys and in a i don't know just being a fan and one of those guys to succeed one of those guys to do well it's always a little bit easier when you know something about them and you buy into that story a little bit um and so that's going to be cool and like i said i think it'll just get people a little bit more invested and that's what that's what they need i mean you know we talked a lot last year about how even as they were winning the city was still really wasn't

behind them we talked about the reasons for that. But this kind of stuff will help that change a little bit. I'm excited, like you said, to see where it goes. It should be fun. I guess they're going to do it over the next 10 weeks. So that'll lead us into training camp. So that'll be cool to see.

Anything else we need to hit on tonight? Yeah, you stole my last point there. You were talking about a team that went to the playoffs and didn't have much support around the city. Just kind of odd. So, yeah, I applaud the PR staff for trying to do something different. Yeah, yeah. Just good on them to see that and to realize, hey,

we need to step it up even a little bit more. So, yeah, that's going to be cool. All right. We will try to get one more episode out this week, so be looking out for that. Again, subscribe to the podcast, iTunes, Stitcher, wherever you get your podcasts, so you'll get them whenever they become available. We'll post something about this on MuseumMiracles.com as well. But follow us there.

We have stuff going on there all the time, so you can check out everything that's going on there um you know just just a few weeks and the training camp starts so we'll try to help you get through this time um and then once you know once the end of july rolls around then we'll be we'll be ready to go and we'll be going fast and furious so stick with us and uh we'll have a lot of fun stuff coming up so for terry this is jimmy saying thanks for listening to locked on titans and we will talk to you again later