Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - NFL All-Decade Team: Titans Major Snub, NFL Power Rankings Round-Up & NFL Virtual Draft

Episode Date: April 7, 2020

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, the NFL released their all-decade team for the 2010s. Are there any Titans on the list? Did any Titans get snubbed? And which Titans could potentially be on the 2020 all-decade team 10 years from now? We are going to talk about all of that in our first segment to start off the show. And then we will jump into an update on some NFL power rankings.

We have three different power rankings from three different outlets that have taken into account the moves within the first and second waves of free agency pre-draft. So of course we will update the power rankings again after we see what takes place in the draft, but right now is a great time after these first couple of weeks of free agency to take account of where the Titans sit amongst the rest of the teams in the NFL. And then we will cap off the show talking about the most recent update to the draft process. We'll cap off the show talking about the most recent update to the draft process.

We got another memo from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell explaining to teams more about the draft process. And it looks like it will be 100% virtual on all different fronts. So I will explain that and talk about that memo and what that could mean for the Titans during the draft going forward. So we got a lot to dive into today. Let's get it. First, let's look at the 2010's All-Decade team as a whole. At the quarterback position, we have Tom Brady, who was a unanimous selection, and Aaron Rodgers. At the running back position, we have Adrian Peterson, who was a unanimous selection, and then Frank Gore, Marshawn Lynch, and LaShawn McCoy. At the wide receiver position, we have Antonio Brown, Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, and

Julio Jones. And at the flex spot, inspired by fantasy football, we have Darren Sproles. At the tight end position, Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kelsey. At the tight end position, Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kelsey. At offensive tackle, Jason Peters, Tyron Smith, Joe Staley, and as a unanimous selection, Joe Thomas. At guard, we have Jari Evans, Logan Mankins, Zach Martin, and a unanimous selection, Marshall Yonda. And at center, we have Alex Mack and Marquise Pouncey. On the defensive side of the ball, at defensive end, we have Calais Campbell, Cameron Jordan, Julius Peppers, and as a unanimous selection, J.J. Watt. At defensive tackle,

we have Geno Atkins, Fletcher Cox, Ndamukong Su, and Aaron Donald as a unanimous selection. At linebacker, we have Chandler Jones, Luke Kuechly, Khalil Mack, and Vaughn Miller, who was a unanimous selection, Bobby Wagner, and Patrick Willis. At cornerback, we have Patrick Peterson, Darrell Revis, Richard Sherman. At safety, Eric Berry, Earl Thomas, and Eric Weddle. And then as defensive back, we have Chris Harris Jr. and Tyron Matthew. At punter, we have Johnny Hecker and Shane Leckler. At kicker, we have Steven Gostkowski and Justin Tucker, who was a unanimous selection. Punt returner, Tyreek Hill and Darren Sproles. At kick returner, Devin Hester and Corderell Patterson.

And coaching the team is Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll. Unfortunately, we did not see any Tennessee Titans make this list, and a lot of that can be attributed to the Titans not having a lot of wins at the beginning of the 2010s, and not having a lot of success out on the football field, at least until 2016, when general manager John Robinson showed up and turned this team into a consistent competitor for the playoffs. But just because there weren't a lot of wins in the beginning of the decade does not mean that there are zero Titans who deserve recognition and who should have been in the

running for this list. And there are two in particular. First, punter Brett Kern, who has obviously been one of the best punters in the NFL since he arrived in 2008 and definitely the last 10 seasons of this decade. Now, when you look at the punters who made it over Brett Kern, it is harder to argue. Johnny Hecker and Shane Leckler are fantastic punters, some of the best punters we have ever seen, but Kern definitely deserves to be considered a snub or an honorable mention on this list. The next name that we are going to talk about should not only be considered a snub or an honorable mention, but in my opinion, should have made the list anyways, and that is recently traded Titans great Jarrell Casey. And that is recently traded Titans great Jarrell Casey.

Casey was drafted in 2011 out of USC and is in the same draft class as other players who made the list like J.J. Watt and Von Miller. During his career and during the decade, Casey played in 139 games, had 325 tackles, 51 sacks, 8 forced fumbles, and made 5 straight Pro Bowls. And remember, Casey was playing for a Titans team for the majority of the decade that was not putting the adequate help around him and was not doing enough out on the field to get him recognized nationally. Now let's look at the other defensive tackles on the list. Statistically, or just going off of their performance on the field, it's hard to argue

against three. Aaron Donald, Geno Atkins, and Ndamukong Su. But you look at someone like Fletcher Cox, who in comparison to Casey, Casey had 325 tackles during this decade. Cox had 260. Casey had 51 sacks. Cox had 48. Casey had 8 forced fumbles. Cox has 11. Jarrell Casey played in 139 games while Cox only played in 125. Cox made 5 Pro Bowls and Casey made 5 Pro Bowls. Cox has made one All-Pro that Jarrell Casey hasn't, but consider that the national brand of the Eagles and the Titans is drastically different. It is fair to say that Jarrell Casey should be at least a top honorable mention, and there is an argument that he should be on this list over Fletcher Cox. But at this point, there is no use in crying over spilt milk. We understand why there were no Titans on the list,

regardless of how I personally feel about Jarrell Casey's candidacy for that list. And honestly, the NFL put out an honorable mention section showing the top 10 guys who almost made the list, and Jarrell Casey wasn't on that either. I'll give you guys that list right now. It was Drew Brees, A.J. Green, Terrell Suggs, Andy Reid, Cam Wake, AJ Green, Terrell Suggs, Andy Reid, Cam Wake, DeMarcus Ware, T.Y. Hilton, Dez Bryant, Andrew Whitworth, and Jason Witten. So Jarrell Casey wasn't even in the top 10 honorable mentions.

And I just think that that's ridiculous. And regardless of how the Titans organization was at the beginning of the decade, I think Jarrell Casey kind of transcended the situation that the Titans were in. But like I said, no reason crying over spilt milk at this time. Let's move our view forward. What are some Titans on the current team that we could see making the 2020 All-Decade Team? Make sure you reach out to me on Twitter at tic tac titans and let me know your selections for me there were three players who seemed like easy picks and some guys i think are

fantastic players but they're just going to get caught in between having half of their career in the 2010s half of their career in the 2020s so i'm looking at guys that are primarily going to play most of their career and most of their prime in the 2020s. So it's obviously going to be some people drafted recently. And who would be on this list at number one other than A.J. Brown? Took the league by storm as a rookie. You don't normally see rookie wide receivers come in and dominate and be a focal point for their offense like we saw from A.J. Brown, it is only likely that he will continue to get better, continue to progress,

and continue to become a true superstar for this team. So A.J. Brown is number one on my list of Titans who could potentially be on the 2020 all-decade team team number two for me is Jeffrey Simmons Simmons has the ability like Casey to absolutely wreck games from the interior against the run against the pass and he is just beginning to scratch the surface of his potential and this will be possibly the second offseason in a row where he doesn't have a full training camp he doesn't have regular OTA where he doesn't have a full training camp. He doesn't have regular OTAs. He doesn't have a regular preseason because of, you know, the pandemic going on. So that could be two seasons in a row where Jeffrey Simmons doesn't get a normal offseason to progress. So he could even, he could have another leap in year three if he gets the opportunity just to have a

normal NFL offseason. So Jeffrey Simmons is number two on my list. And then number three is Harold Landry. Edge rushers obviously get a big spotlight on them. Landry had nine sacks last season. Let's say with more help on the defensive line, more comfortability in him just getting better and improving as a player, he gets to 14-15 in his third season I mean he would be on track to be one of the more devastating edge rushers of the next

decade there are other names that people will obviously say Rashawn Evans has the opportunity as an inside linebacker I thought about Kevin Byard Adoreory Jackson, but they played, at least for Bayard, played so many seasons in the 2010 era decade that I don't know if he'll get the credit or have the longevity needed to be considered an all-decade member for the 2020s. You could look at, I know a lot of people are saying Derrick Henry right now, but with the way the running back position works, it's hard to expect him to make a big enough impact in the 2020s to be able to make this list 10 years from now. But that is going to wrap up our conversation about the NFL's all decade team. Here later in the week, I do want to go over the Titans all decade team. So for the

2000, the first decade of the 2000s, the 2010s, we can talk a little bit more about the 2020s, but I will do that for you guys later in the week. So make sure that you are subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast, not just for the Titans all-decade teams coming up later this week, but for all the content I will be bringing you throughout the all- season, Monday through Friday, I will be bringing the heat daily and covering the Titans with all of the energy that our everyday listeners have come to expect. So make sure that you're subscribed on whatever platform you do stream your podcast. We are going to get into a conversation about the most recent NFL power rankings.

We got three different sets of power rankings from three different outlets, two of them that make sense and one that will upset you guys greatly. So I will bring that to you next. Let's go over some nfl power rankings now that we are through the initial waves of free agency and teams have basically settled and made all the moves that they are going to make before the draft and we are going to start our first power rankings is my favorite power rankings because it comes from Dan Hanzus from NFL.com he's also one of the heroes who host the around the NFL podcast check that out if you guys would like it is pretty entertaining but Hanzus writes for NFL.com and in his power rankings he has the Titans all the way up at number six.

And this is what he has to say. Quote, With a new deal for Ryan Tannehill and the franchise tag for Derrick Henry, the Titans will enter the 2020 campaign with the two players who guided them to the brink of an AFC title, including a playoff conquest in Foxborough in January. Quick aside, congrats to free agent Logan Ryan, who can always say he intercepted Tom Brady's final pass as a Patriot and took it to the end zone.

Not all the news was good in the first wave of free agency, though. Right tackle Jack Conklin, a former top-ten pick who routinely blew open running lanes for Henry, is now in Cleveland on a rich free agent deal, coming off a monster 2019 workload and absent a key run blocker it's fair to wonder if a dip in production is coming for Henry end quote but he has the Titans all the way up at number six the Packers at five the Saints at four the Ravens at three the 49ers at two and the Chief at one. The big five that we typically have seen in front of the Titans,

but the Tennessee Titans being ranked all the way up at number six without bringing back Logan Ryan with losing Jack Conklin. I mean, it's a good sign for the organization, and the Titans are starting to get national respect. And to bring back Dan Hanzoos going from calling the Titans the Titans to just calling them the Titans, you can see that the national respect for the Titans and their roster, the strength of their roster, is starting to rise.

So I like having the Titans up in the top 10 there. Some other interesting rankings are the AFC South. We have the Indianapolis Colts actually during free agency from March up until April the 3rd. Hanzoos bumped the Colts from 20th up to 13th. Don't necessarily agree with that, with the Colts being that good of a ball club. I'm not that high on the Phillip Rivers move, as you guys know. But, hey, that's where the Colts are. Has the Texans dropping from 9th all the way down to 15th.

the Colts are has the Texans dropping from ninth all the way down to 15th 15th still seems a little too high for the Texans and then the Jaguars at 32 so that is not a surprise right there now let's take a look at the most recent power rankings from ESPN and this comes from their team of NFL Nation bloggers obviously they have one for each, so we will take a look at that. And in this Power Rankings, ESPN has the Titans at seven, so just one spot below Dan Hanzus' Power Rankings for NFL.com. The blurb here on ESPN's Power Rankings comes from Teron Davenport, who covers the Titans, and he says and quote three words must keep building the Titans started free agency on a good note by making sure quarterback

Ryan Tannehill and running back Derrick Henry were back for another season they made another move in the right direction when they signed Vic Beasley Jr. however the loss of Jarrell Casey and possibly Logan Ryan leaves questions about the defense. The Titans need to find ways to help improve the defense and overall team speed. Most of the premier free agents have been plucked from the market. That places an emphasis on a productive draft to add impact players to help build off last season's momentum. End quote. I couldn't agree more with Teron Davenport there. Questions on the defense and overall team speed. That is where the Titans do need to get better.

But the Titans were sitting at number eight in the February post Super Bowl power rankings for ESPN. So they are up one spot from them. And the reason for that is because the Houston Texans were sitting ahead of the Titans and they dropped down to 16 so that bumped the Titans up one and obviously we can continue to laugh at the Texans as Bill O'Brien kind of destroys the franchise it seems at this moment in time also let's keep the AFC South members. They are notable.

They have the Colts at 14. And then the Jaguars, hey, they're not in the basement this time. The Jaguars are at 30, not 32. So good for them. Good for you guys. Let's go to our last power rankings of the episode. And this one comes from walFootball.com. Specifically Walter Chepinski.

So he has the Titans in a position that I quite frankly think is just asinine. And I'm sure you guys will think so also. And like I said. It'll probably upset you. And I can't lie. It frustrates me and gets under my skin as well. But, Chepinski has the Titans at 19. The 19th best team.

And simply just says that the Titans are overrated. That's what it comes down to. A couple teams in here, he just says that they are an overrated ball club. And I think even if you do think that the Titans are overrated at six and at seven, 19 just seems absolutely ridiculous. And you start to look at some of the teams that are ahead of the Titans here. The Los Angeles Chargers, the Falcons, the Cardinals, the Browns, the Raiders, the Giants at 12, the Broncos, the Steelers. It's hard to argue against the Seahawks. I understand the Eagles, the Ravens. He has the Bills at six. I guess I can understand that, but the Colts at five. I mean, it's just insane and things really take a plunge into lunacy here with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at number two.

So, just how ridiculous can you get? AFC South might as well give you guys those notable rankings. Like I said, the Colts at five somehow, someway. Doesn't make a lot of sense, but that's where they are. The Texans at 22, and the Jaguars back where they belong at number 32 so at least has that ranking right but that is going to do it for our update on the NFL power rankings we will update that again most likely after the draft want to make sure that I update that for you guys throughout the different stages of the offseason.

But we are going to get into a conversation about the memo that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sent to NFL teams today with updates on the draft process and how that affects the Titans next. let's go over the most recent update from the NFL in regards to how NFL teams and front offices around the league are expected to handle the NFL draft and the last memo we got from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was basically saying that the NFL draft will go on as scheduled from April 23rd to the 25th. We got more information about how prospects will be you know doing things virtually from their homes with their families and what their etiquette and behavior should be like based on the situation with COVID-19. And I wanted to read a couple of excerpts from the memo that was just recently released on Monday explaining to teams how the NFL expects them to conduct business with the NFL draft.

And the big note there, the biggest takeaway, is that the NFL expects everyone involved from any NFL team to be conducting their business at their home. Meaning that they are not going to allow scouts, coaches, the general manager, the head coach, anybody like that, any front office execs. No one is going to be allowed in club facilities or on the premises of the NFL's team's actual locations. Everyone has to do the draft from home in a completely entirely virtual format. And Goodell talks about that in this quote. Quote, because of these circumstances, clubs have been advised to prepare to conduct the 2020 draft entirely outside of their facilities and in a fully virtual format with club personnel in separate locations and able to communicate with one another and draft headquarters by phone or internet. We have reviewed this matter in the

past few days with both the competition committee and the CEC and this will confirm that clubs will conduct their draft operations remotely with club personnel separately located in their homes. I wanted to read one and quote I wanted to read one more quote from this memo for you guys that I think is interesting to say the least and quote accordingly all clubs should dedicate their personnel and technology resources towards preparing for a fully virtual draft with personnel in separate locations. Our staff in events, football operations, information technology, and management council will be in contact with each club and remains fully available to answer questions or assist in your preparations. Our understanding is that many

clubs are already well advanced in preparing for a virtual draft and we are confident that all clubs can take the necessary steps to make the 2020 draft a successful event. End quote. So the number one thing that I want to point to is how John Robinson had talked about in his conference call last week that he was preparing for this. They have their databases, their scouting reports, their profiles, their communication all already set up to be digital. They have their big boards on Excel sheets. They've talked to the assistant coaches already about how they feel about different players. But one thing that there's a reason that we hear about war rooms there's a reason that you

have your scouts some assistant coaches some front office people your general manager all in one room and we know this as regular human beings communication is just easier when you're in person the more you know different avenues you got to send your communication through the more difficult it is to get timely responses and the easier it is for information to get lost in the shuffle so teams are definitely going to have to adjust but from the Titans perspective it seems like based on those conference calls that the Titans are one of the teams that is advanced in their preparation for a virtual draft. And John Robinson said, you know, all 32 teams have to deal with this.

So didn't Mike Vrabel. So it's not like something that is going to hinder the Titans specifically. This is something that all NFL teams have to deal with. So it's going to be, like I said, uncharted waters for every NFL front office. So it shouldn't hinder or hurt the Titans any more than any other club but I think it is going to be interesting from the viewers perspective to see how this virtual draft is handled and see if the Titans maybe take any kind of different approach to selecting players than they have in previous drafts when they've had a more regular routine. That is going to do it for today's show. We went over the NFL's all-decade team from the 2010s

and how Jarrell Casey has a great argument for being on that team. And then we went over the most recent updated first few waves of free agency NFL power rankings from three different outlets. And then of course, just went over the highlights from Roger Goodell's memo to NFL teams about a virtual NFL draft. But now that you are done listening to this episode of the Locked on Titans podcast, tell your smart device to play the Locked on Fantasy Football podcast. It is a great time to start learning about these draft prospects,

not from just a draft-specific view, but also how can these prospects help you in fantasy football as the year approaches. It's never too early to get started on your fantasy football preparation, so check out that show now. But as always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.