Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Mock Draft Monday - The Draft Network's Mock, Mock Draft Round-Up & Weekend News Items

Episode Date: February 24, 2020

Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans. It is a mock draft Monday. That's right. In partnership with the Draft Network, we are going to break down their last mock draft and get you ready for today's release. So I hope you guys are excited for that. And of course, as we do on Mondays, after we talk about the great mock draft Monday

from the Draft Network, we are going to jump into a little bit of a mock draft roundup. Go around the NFL Cognoscenti. Go around the draft sphere before the kickoff of the combine and let you guys know what the experts around the nation are looking for the Titans to select in the first few rounds. So we are going to do that. And then we are going to round out the show with kind of a Monday mail drop here. There's a lot of little itty-bitty items that have come out news-wise

over the past four or five days since we last spoke, so I want to make sure to get you guys caught up on all of that and give you my quick reactions to a few short stories that happened over the weekend. So a lot to get into. It is Combine Week, so there will be a ton of content throughout the entire week, Monday through Friday. Make sure you guys are subscribed on whatever platform you do listen to your podcasts and follow me at TicTacTitans on Twitter. Ready to jump into everything with you guys. Let's get it.

It is Mock Draft Monday presented by the Draft Network and the Locked On Podcast Network. This mock draft comes from Benjamin Solak, the host of the Locked On NFL podcast. And Solak has the Titans go with an interesting philosophy with his two-round mock draft. He has the Titans with both of their original selections, number 29 and number 61, trading down to pick up additional fifth-round selections. So we will talk more about that philosophy after we talk about the actual trades and moves executed within the mock draft. So with that first round pick, the 29th pick, Solak has the Titans trading down with the Cincinnati Bengals going from number 29 to number 33 and in return picking up an additional fifth rounder from the Bengals. With that 33 overall pick, the Titans actually select Ross Blacklock, defensive tackle from TCU.

Blacklock is 6'4", 305 pounds. Now, he did have an Achilles injury that made him miss 2018, but his tape jumps out at you. He's incredibly explosive, incredibly versatile as well, going up and down the defensive line. He's great with his hands and using power to push guys back. Now, where Blacklock will need some work is just his technical refinement, his footwork, increasing and improving on his handwork, diagnosing run defense especially. He's going to be explosive and be a penetrator while he was

asked to play a lot of two gap schemes in college where he's more of a body to take up blockers so that the linebackers can flow and make a play he'll be asked to be a one gap player in the NFL where he focuses on penetrating and that's exactly what he would be asked to do in Tennessee as well but that type of versatility that he displayed, being a five technique, a three technique, nose tackle, he can play up and down the defensive line, and that definitely helps with the Titans trying to be multiple up front. That is exactly what Vrabel has said himself he wants to do. He wants to have front multiplicity, coverage consistency, and that's something that Blacklock would be able to assist

in, and we have to factor in that veteran Jarrell Casey is only getting older by the day. He had one of his least productive seasons so far for the Titans just due to being banged up a little bit, being put in different positions, having to be an edge rusher at the end of the year, so the Titans really need to help across the entire defensive line, but starting to create a plan for a succession for Jarrell Casey would be smart as well, and Blacklock has all the talent in the world. Dropping down to the first pick in the second round at pick 33 would be an incredible value for the Titans, even though Blacklock needs a little bit of refinement on his technique and diagnosing the run game as well, as I mentioned before. Now that would all fall on Titans defensive line coach Terrell Williams. At that point, it would be Williams' responsibility to actually coach

Blacklock and take his talent that he has, all that explosiveness and size, and teach him how to diagnose run games, teach him how to go against different fronts from offensive linemen and different blocking schemes from offensive lines in the NFL, how to increase and improve that handwork and that footwork so that he can be a consistent down-to-down impact for the Titans and eventually take over for Jarrell Casey, as we mentioned. So that is a possible plan, even though I think that there are better options available for the Titans at that selection than taking a defensive tackle the type of value that Blacklock gives you based on his talent with the first pick in the second round it does make sense

that maybe the Titans would jump for that with that second pick for the Titans the 61st overall pick Solak has the Titans trading from 61 with the Washington Redskins back to pick 66, so only dropping back five spots and picking up an additional fifth rounder pick 130 from the Redskins. The Titans actually gave up their sixth round pick in this deal, 188, but right now what the Titans would be doing based on what Solak thinks could happen does make a lot of sense. The Titans will come into this draft without a fourth-round pick due to Ryan Tannehill and without a sixth-round pick due to Reggie Gilbert. Now, they will have two sevenths because of the Cleveland Browns trade for Tyjuan Taylor,

but that only leaves the Titans with five picks. With six picks in the draft and with all the holes on the roster, even with the roster being good, it makes sense that John Robinson would look to trade back and increase the amount of swings he has at the bat. Speaking of swings at the bat, if you guys would like to try to take a swing at putting together a mock draft, check out the Draft Network. They have a mock draft system where you can go on, create your own pick by pick, and kind of see how you would go about selecting a prospect

for the Titans based on how you think the draft will go about. So I would implore you guys to do that while you're doing that. Make sure you check out today's Mock Draft Monday coming from Joe Marino of our Locked on Bills podcast. If you guys recall, we did have a crossover Wednesday with Joe. He is a wealth of knowledge, especially about the draft. So I love their draft profiles, love their mock draft machine, love the mock draft Mondays.

Just check out the draft network for anything draft-related, and I promise that you guys won't be let down. So we are going to go into a little bit of a mock draft roundup next, go around the football sphere here. See what some other draft pundits have to say about where the Titans could go in the draft and whether or not we agree with their selection. So we will do that now. Fellas, let's talk about the bedroom.

Remember the days when you were always ready to go? Now you can increase your performance and get that extra confidence in bed. Listen up. BlueChew.com. That's blue like the color blue. BlueChew brings you the first chewable with the same FDA approved active ingredients as Viagra and Cialis so you know that they work. You can take them anytime, day or night, even on a full stomach and since they're chewable, they work up to twice as fast as a pill so you can be ready whenever the opportunity

arises. Now this isn't just for guys who can't perform. It's for any guy who wants extra function to enhance their performance in the bedroom. You let off with a home run. Make sure you can go deep in your second at-bat. Blue Chew is prescribed online and shipped straight to your door in a discreet package so no in-person doctor's visits no waiting at the pharmacy and best of all no more awkwardness they're made in the usa and since blue chew prepares and ships direct they're cheaper than a pharmacy right now we've got a special deal for our listeners visit bluechew.com and get your first shipment free when you use our promo code locked on Just pay $5 shipping. Again, that's B-L-U-E-CHEW.com, promo code LOCKEDON to try it for free. Blue Chew is a better, cheaper, faster choice, and we thank them

for sponsoring the podcast. round them up round them up round them up let's do a little mock draft round up here go around the football sphere the draft cognoscenti the draft community if you will take a look at some pundits and what i like to do and if you guys have noticed, I like to go to different outlets. So ESPN, NFL.com, Bleacher Report, CBS, wherever they have draft pundits, draft experts, as some would say. No one, in my opinion, is an expert, but there are definitely those who cover it much more accurately and much more reliably than others. But either way, I like to get different outlooks from different outlets so that you guys have a balanced view of what you know like I said the pundits are saying

the Titans may do projecting what the Titans may do with their first couple of picks so we are going to start at NFL.com with Chad Reuter. Reuter put out a three round mock draft with three selections for the Titans so we will take a look at all three of those mock draft with three selections for the Titans, so we will take a look at all three of those. With the 29th pick, the first-round pick for the Titans, Reuter has them taking Josh Jones, offensive tackle out of Houston. We've seen offensive tackles routinely mocked to the Titans there at the back end of the first round as they're expected to be a secondary run on offensive

tackles after that top tier of Wills and Becton and and Wirfs and Thomas we're expected to see a secondary run there with the likes of Jones and Niang some other developmental prospects that you would see mentioned there so I could see the Titans going offensive tackle late in the first round if they have a good opportunity to catch somebody during that secondary run that should start to take place right around where the Titans pick. As Benjamin Solak did in our first mock draft from the Draft Network we covered in our first segment, I wouldn't be shocked to see the Titans trade down here if that secondary offensive tackle run hasn't started yet, as they would probably figure

to pick up another one of those from a high drafting team in the second round coming up to the back end of the first so I think that that would definitely be an option for the Titans especially if Jack Conklin is unable to be re-signed which as the days go it looks like that is less likely with the second pick for the Titans Reuter had them going with edge rusher out of Notre Dame, Julian Okara. With outstanding length, outstanding explosion and versatility, Okara could be a big help for the Titans. I still think they need to attack edge rusher with a veteran in free agency as well, but getting a developmental prospect in the second round who can help you as a situational pass rusher would be huge.

So Alcarret needs help in run defense. He needs to get strength on his frame so he can learn to hold up there on the edge. But he could still help, as I said, situationally as a pass rusher to start off in his rookie year. And that's where the Titans really need help, not in the run defenses so much as putting pressure on the quarterback and passing situation so I really like that pick and that's something that seems to come up quite a bit when you're perusing through the different mock drafts for the Titans and the third pick for the Titans here I love this selection Antonio Gibson running

back out of Memphis at six foot one pounds. Gibson is a bigger back. He's not one of the smaller backs, but he is fantastic as a pass catcher. He lined up in the slot, was asked to catch the ball out of the backfield quite a bit for Memphis. Now, he wasn't asked to hold up in pass protection like whatsoever in college,

was not left in the backfield to block, so we'll have to prove that he has the ability to do that. But with his big frame being six foot one having some size to him and some power you would think Gibson would be able to do that and one thing that I really like about Gibson is he is a home run threat this guy is a burner once he gets into the second level he could be gone at any moment in time but he still has that size and power to get through the first line of defense in the NFL. So I've always wanted someone who is not pigeonholed into a pass catching running back role for the Titans. I want

someone with versatility who can run the ball between the tackles, maybe not as well as Derrick Henry, of course, but can still do that while offering the versatility in the pass game that Gibson clearly does. He can run a full route tree for a running back, something that Derrick Henry doesn't necessarily do. So he gives you some of what Derrick Henry does and then gives you that pass catching ability that people were hoping to get from Deion Lewis that never really showed up. So I really love Gibson in the third round. Great value there. Really like the addition to the team. So overall, I like what Ruder has done here for the Titans offensive tackle edge running back would love to see a cornerback mixed in there somewhere but you only have so many selections you can't get every single need that you have in the first

three rounds so let's move on to I would say a nemesis for the Titans his takes are pretty much terrible when it comes to the team even last week he sort of mentioned that Jack Conklin couldn't play a lick when comparing him to the Greg Robinson situation and the fact that the Browns may be interested in Conklin so very vaguely written tweet there I'm sure he leaves that open so that it could be interpreted as a shot at the Titans it is known if you're not following that on Twitter, don't follow Pete Prisco because he doesn't deserve for us to give him an endorsement like that just based on the hatred

that it seems like he has for the Titans. But worth noting here, I do like the selection that he picked for the Titans in his mock draft, and that is cornerback Trevon Diggs out of Alabama 6 foot 2 207 pounds now all of these measurements are being verified as we speak that's a big part of the Combine's first couple of days is the medical evaluations the meetings with team personnel and the measurements so all this stuff will be verified and we'll have more accurate measurements to go off of in the future but Trevon Diggs the of Stephon Diggs from the Minnesota Vikings, I love having

pedigree there, having family members who played in the NFL because those guys are just mentally ready for the rigors and the day in, day out trials and tribulations that come with being a professional athlete. He has great ball skills. Look at his brother being a top tier wide receiver. That usually would lead into the same kind of instincts and ball skills. Diggs has great size as well, and any defensive back coming out of Alabama is usually incredibly coached. So I would love to get our hands on Trevon Diggs there at the back end

of the first round. I don't think cornerback, whether taken in the first or second round, can be skewed as a bad pick whatsoever. Then, moving into USA Today's Luke Easterling. Not a pick that I necessarily like. He gave us two here. Julian Okara came in the second round. Like I said, that keeps popping up for the Titans in edge rusher there in the second round, especially Okara out of Notre Dame. But in the first round, Easterling gave the Titans interior offensive

lineman Solomon Kinley. While I like Kinley, who came out of Georgia, played next to Andrew Thomas, who is considered a top half of the first round pick at offensive tackle, Kinley is a good pick, but I just don't like the value at 29. A lot of people have Kinley not even in the top five interior offensive linemen for this draft. I don't understand taking him so high. What these pundits will do a lot of times is they have one prospect who they really, really like and they know that they aren't necessarily valued as a first rounder, but they'll throw him into the first round just to kind of get it out there that they liked

that guy early on. That may be what's happening here with Easterling. I do like his work coming out of the USA Today and DraftWire, but Solomon Kinley is a reach at 29, and the Titans don't have a huge need at interior offensive line. Yes, Southfield's getting older. Ben Jones is getting older. Nate Davis wasn't incredible as a rookie and was only a third round pick it's not like he couldn't be replaced if there was better talent but here there were just better options I thought on the board for the Titans somebody like Jeff Gladney cornerback out of TCU who I am

a huge fan of early on but like I said some of the other options cornerback CJ Henderson out of Florida love Love him there. Trevon Diggs is available at, was picked 32 by the Chiefs in this mock draft. You keep going down the list. Justin Jefferson, wide receiver out of LSU, was taken by the Colts with the 32nd pick. And there was a trade, it looks like, here in this mock draft. For that, I love Justin Jefferson while we're on the subject. Yotur Gross-Mottos, who I have said I'm not incredibly high on as a pick for the Titans

just due to his lack of twitchiness on the outside, but I think that would be a better value and a better pick for the Titans at that moment in time than an interior offensive lineman like Kinley. Tyra Beades, excuse my pronunciation there, the center from Wisconsin, I would prefer over Kinley at this moment in time Austin Jackson offensive tackle from LSU would be available I mean there's just a lot of different options for the Titans even a running back like J.K. Dobbins Marlon Davidson defensive lineman from Auburn there's just a lot of different guys who would be available right here who I think would be a better pick for the Titans than Kinley. So I certainly hope that they don't go interior offensive line

with the front unless a lot of these needs are addressed in free agency. Moving to Mel Kuyper from ESPN, the draft coverage godfather. He has, in fact, the Titans taking edge rusher Yotur Grosmatos from Penn State. I've said a lot about Grosmatos. He's been mocked to the Titans quite a bit. While I'd rather have a more twitchy, athletic edge rusher on the outside than someone who's big, strong, and versatile like Matos who can play up and down the line and can get inside on sub packages, I still at that moment in time would say that he's a pretty good value at 29. So I'd rather them go cornerback or offensive tackle depending on how the board falls there. But

if you know the secondary run on tackles has already really happened, if there aren't any top tier cornerbacks left who we feel comfortable with there, then of course going edge rusher in the first round isn't something I'm going to bat my eyes at. So Gross Matos would be a great pick at 29 if he is indeed available, if the board shakes out and some other more valuable players are not available. And then the last mock draft that I wanted to talk about. I wanted to circle back to this because this has been the worst mock drafter. I don't want to come out and kill anybody.

They're doing a job. They're doing the best they can, slot the draft that the way that they see fit. But from Bleacher Report, Christopher Knox, I talked about his mock draft a couple weeks ago. He has linebacker Kenneth Murray from Oklahoma going to the Titans in the first round, and he released a mock draft on Sunday. And I thought, hey, what a perfect opportunity to go back to the well here see if Knox has done a little bit more research on the Titans roster and their needs and gives a more logical pick but unfortunately that was not the case it seems laziness has reigned supreme there and Knox once again has given the Titans Kenneth Murray and if you have any recollection or any idea of

the Titans roster whatsoever and watched any of their games, then you would know that inside linebacker, off the ball, stand-up linebacker is probably the only thing that this team does not need. That's probably the one area where if the Titans didn't draft a single player, it would make sense. The Titans can bring back Wesley Woodyard and special teamer Darren Bates David Long proved to be a very good situational player for the Titans Jayon Brown and Rashawn Evans are one of the best linebacker combos in the NFL and both showed out throughout the season so

the pick just makes no sense and I I went with a lot of like five mock drafts to start that do make sense and are some great picks, but it's always fun to finish off here with one that doesn't make much sense at all. And you wonder what these people putting this mock draft together are really looking at or what they're really studying to get ready for the Titans pick. Maybe they're not looking at anything at all. A lot of the times when you do a mock draft, you start to have a guy who slips down the board who you think is

worthy of a top 20 pick a lot of people have murray going in the top 20 19 to the raiders seems to be pretty popular as well so when you have a guy like that who starts to slip down the board you're like hey i can't have this guy not in the first round he's clearly a first rounder and sometimes i guess you just get thrown in to a spot that doesn't make a lot of sense just to get that guy off the board. And that could be what's happening here. So while I love going with some of these pundits mocks and taking a look at them to see what they're seeing, it's always good to get a different opinion than your own when you're trying to get a sense of what these teams could be doing.

Every now and then there's a couple of mocks in here where it just makes you laugh. So I wanted us to have a good time finish off this segment with a WTF moment here. The Titans will not be selecting Kenneth Murray from Oklahoma in the draft. But with that, we are going to go into our Monday news drop here. I got a couple of different tidbits of information that have come out in the past four to five days or so that I wanted to make sure we cover before we head out for the day. So hope you guys enjoyed that mock draft roundup. Let's get into a little bit of news. Let's get some news items out of the way that we missed either at the tail end of last week

or over the weekend. Wanted to make sure you guys were up to date on all your Titans relevant news. So first things first, wide receiver Cameron Batson, who missed all of the year with an injury, was re-signed. He was an exclusive rights free agent, similar to what Anthony Ferkser is. So that basically means that his only option was to re-sign with the Titans on a one-year deal. So Batson will be back with the Titans. And he was kind of slotted to take that Kalief Raymond role that we saw Raymond in throughout the season.

Once they got rid of Tywon Taylor, it was expected that Batson would be an opportunity or have an opportunity to come in and be that speedster on the offense, go downfield, run those downfield routes to help stretch things out and lift up the top of the defense so the Titans can do more underneath. Unfortunately, Batson, like I said, was injured all season, wasn't able to make an impact, but it's clear that the Titans organization is high on him and they want to give him another chance to get right and fill a role for this team that we saw Kalief Raymond fill last year. So that'll be an interesting battle going forward.

Another exclusive rights free agent for the Titans is edge rusher Reggie Gilbert. And speaking of Gilbert, it was announced that the Packers would actually be receiving a sixth round pick from the Titans for the trade for Gilbert at the beginning of the season when it was originally reported it was reported as a conditional seventh rounder unfortunately it looks like based on the amount of snaps that Gilbert played in his production that'll convert to a sixth round pick. So the Titans will be without their fourth and sixth round pick heading into the draft due to the Tannehill and Gilbert trades. They will have an additional seventh rounder though, as I mentioned at the beginning of the show, due to trading Taylor to the Cleveland Browns. So that is another interesting piece of information.

Reggie Gilbert, as with Batson, as with Ferkser, being an exclusive rights free agent, he'll probably be re-signed very shortly as well. And then the last piece of information that I wanted to leave you guys with was former Tennessee Titans head coach and quite frankly, a Tennessee legend based on the success that the Titans had, Jeff Fisher was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. Feel like it's a very deserving honor. Coached the Titans from 1999 until 2010. Led the team to a Super Bowl.

Led the team to numerous winning seasons. Steve McNair to an MVP. And a lot of the legends that we associate with this team came from those Jeff Fisher squads. So really want to make sure that I point out Jeff Fisher, while he had a tumultuous end to his career as a coach there in Los Angeles in the last few seasons without a lot of bona fide success, Fisher is an absolute legend and deserves his Hall of Fame status in the state of Tennessee.

So I wanted to make sure that you guys were aware of that as well. But that is going to wrap up Monday's show. Our mock draft Monday. Make sure you guys are going and checking out the latest mock draft. On the draft network. And you know partnership with the Locked On Podcast Network. We really want to promote them. And it's great work over there. With the mock drafts and the player profiles and the insights.

So make sure to check that out. I will be back with you guys again tomorrow. To break down everything that's going on around the Tennessee Titans. So make sure that you're subscribed to the show and you're following me on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans. Thank you.