Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - No Titans News is Great Titans News, QB & WR Duo Top Ten Rankings!!

Episode Date: June 30, 2021

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You are Locked On Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked On Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, this Wednesday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is presented by the Locked On Fantasy Football Podcast. Winning your league starts with the right data. Vinny Iyer of The Sporting News provides you with the edge you need

to win your fantasy football leagues. Locked On Fantasy Football is a daily podcast all year round so your fantasy football team never fails. Make sure that you follow the Locked On Fantasy Football Podcast on whatever platform you do stream. Titans fans, there has been zero Tennessee Titans news for us to discuss. There's been nothing whatsoever even registering for the Titans since the end of that shortened two-day mandatory minicamp earlier in the month.

But we are going to start out today's Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast by explaining why no Tennessee Titans news is actually great Tennessee Titans news. And we're going to use a few news stories from the NFL as examples of the kind of news that you're going to get during this period of the offseason. So going to dive into that to kick things off. Then everyone has been asking me for my wide receiver rankings now that the Titans have Julio Jones in the fold. And also I've been getting a lot of questions about my top 10 quarterback rankings

and earlier this week the Locked On NFL channel as a whole released their top 10 quarterback rankings so with that in mind I'm going to give you guys my personal list that I submitted as part of the Locked On NFL Quarterback Ranking Project. So excited to dive into why no news is good news for the Tennessee Titans and two of my league-wide rankings on a Wednesday edition of the Locked On Titans Podcast. Let's get it! Titans fans, I know that a lot of you guys listening to the podcast right now are parents. And congratulations for having children, raising another human being, bringing life into the universe, all of those things. But if there's one thing that the parents that are listening to the show know, it's that silence can be very, very dangerous when you have a child.

But for the Tennessee Titans, silence is actually golden, especially this time in the NFL calendar. So as I mentioned, not a lot of Tennessee Titans news going on right now, but it's a good thing because the reality here is we are in what is the dead period of the NFL schedule. Quite frankly, the NFL has found a way to be basically an 11-month, 12-month sport. to be basically an 11-month, 12-month sport. But from the middle of June to the end of July, that truly is the dead period. So any news that you're going to get during this time in this sabbatical for the NFL,

it's going to be bad news one way or another. I'm going to give you guys two examples from last week that really stood out to me. Now, one of them, it's not necessarily the player's fault or anything like that. One of the situations is most certainly one of the player's fault, but it's just a good example of how it doesn't even necessarily have to be something that the player did wrong, but any news is going to end up being bad news. And we're going to look at two stories. Number one, the bad one for the player here. Chiefs all pro pass rusher Frank Clark was arrested earlier this month and charged with felony possession of a concealed firearm. He had an Uzi in a duffel bag.

An Uzi. For any of you guys who don't know what an Uzi is, I mean, I'm not a gun expert. I'm not going to pretend to be, but it's basically a handheld machine gun. I mean, what the heck, Frank Clark? Now, he's saying that it was his bodyguards and he accidentally left it in his duffel bag and in his car and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah whoo that is uh pretty dangerous stuff right there and obviously as I mentioned he was charged with a felony I'm sure that with the money that Frank Clark has and the lawyers that he can he can get he'll figure out a way to get that down and be able to play football this year but you know that's a news story for the Chiefs and it's bad news another story here where it

wasn't the player's fault in any way but it's just bad news from a football perspective for the Chiefs and it's bad news. Another story here where it wasn't the player's fault in any way but it's just bad news from a football perspective for the team. Minnesota Vikings rookie Jalen Twyman got shot four times. Now he's expected to make a full recovery and all of my thoughts out to Jalen Twyman and his family, that's awful. That's a very scary incident. And, you know, obviously I don't know the situation, but I'm not going to blame Jalen Twyman for being shot. I mean, I'm just not going to do that regardless of the circumstances. Yeah, he could have been out late.

He could have been, I don't care where he was or what time it is. He got shot. I'm not blaming him. But the reality is it's a new story for the Minnesota Vikings, and it's not a very good one. You don't want to see one of your rookies being shot four times, and to kind of drop all of the personal things that we got to talk about with that. Just from a football perspective, your rookie is now injured. Serious injury that he's going to have to monitor and recover from.

You don't want to hear that for any of the rookies, especially from the Tennessee Titans' perspective and the issues that their rookie class had last year. You don't want to hear that from this year's rookie class or any of those rookies. Really, they're rookies with the amount of time that they didn't get to play. So just giving you guys an example of the stories that are coming out. Any NFL news that we are going to get

right around this time is essentially bad news. So no news for the Tennessee Titans. While that may leave you a little, you know, dehydrated, thirsty for some Tennessee Titans something, anything, I'm here to remind you guys that no Tennessee Titans news whatsoever until about a month from now is actually the best thing that could happen for the Tennessee Titans season. Now, before we get into the rankings that I have to go through with you guys, going to look at the top 10 wide receiver duos in the NFL and my personal top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL. Before we do a couple of things,

I want to give you guys another reminder that although the Locked on Titans podcast is three days a week right now for this summer sabbatical, I'm going to be right back on five days a week in the middle of July. I believe July 17th is the date. You want to make sure that you never miss an episode of the Locked on Titans podcast during these three episode a week weeks during the summer or once we get back to five days a week either. So make sure that you follow the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream.

Also, check me out on social media on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans and on Facebook at Locked on Titans pod. But before we get into my list of the top 10 wide receiver duos in the NFL, got to remind you guys that BetOnline is the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. There's no football right now, of course, but baseball is in full swing. NHL and MLB are in the playoffs. And there's a ton of great combat sport action

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Bet online, your online sportsbook experts. Ever since the Julio Jones trade, I've had quite a few people ask me, where does the Tennessee Titans wide receiver duo rank amongst the rest of the NFL? And it was a very difficult process going through some of these duos. And quite frankly, I'm still on the fence about some of the decisions that I made. I put out three different top tens because I simply just could not decide on where I should slot each individual duo. That's funny to say individual duo, but you guys know exactly what I mean. But ultimately, what matters most is where AJ Brown and Julio Jones are

slotted in my top 10 and I had no questions about where they should rank. So let's dive into my top 10 wide receiver duos going into the 2021 NFL season. We will start with number 10. And this was tough for me. And I know a lot of you guys are going to poke holes through my list. And a lot of this, I didn't spend all the time in the world looking at every stat, breaking down all the analytics. I have a general idea in my head of which players I like better and which players I don't.

And I'm not saying that this list is above reproach. So feel free to let me know on Twitter how you feel about this list. Things that you don't like, things that you do like, things you would change. Again, that's at TicTacTitans on Twitter. But at number 10, I had the Cleveland Browns with Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry. And look, I know what you're going to say. Jarvis Landry is one of the more overrated wide receivers in the NFL, in my opinion. He is just a heavy, high-volume targets guy.

Not a lot of efficiency. He's basically the anti-AJ Brown. But, very productive at all times. If you want to poke fun or poke holes in his efficiency, then that's fine. But I'm a guy who grew up loving Kobe Bryant. I don't give a damn about efficiency if you're being out there on the field and being productive. So, Jarvis Landry is still a very good player in the NFL. And the reality is, although Odell Beckham has his fair share of detractors based on his personality.

Also, some of his detractors aren't even about personality. They're about the injuries that he sustained. The Browns offense has looked a little bit more successful and efficient without Odell Beckham, so I get all of those. But again, I'm getting back to two guys who I think are just super talented. They're going to be productive players if they're on the field. So for me, at number 10, I'm going to take Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry. Now, I will let you guys behind the curtain.

I was thinking about Brandon Ayuk and Debo Samuel from San Francisco. I thought about Jerry Judy and Cortland Sutton in Denver, but Cortland Sutton is coming off a major injury, and I just trust Odell Beckham a little bit more. I thought about Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins from Cincinnati, if that floats your boat whatsoever. I'm a little bit higher on their wide receiver core than some people are apparently, but I like that duo.

There were a lot of duos that were in my mind that I thought I could go with, but at number 10, I did ultimately settle on Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry. Number nine, I have Stephon Diggs and Cole Beasley. Now, at first, I had Emmanuel Sanders on here with Stephon Diggs, but that's not necessarily fair. Cole Beasley was a much more productive wide receiver. He's a younger guy. He should be able to help them more this year.

But still, Cole Beasley had a phenomenal season last year, but I think that's probably the best he'll ever play in his career from a stats perspective. I don't think that Cole Beasley gets better. I think that he peaked out with that Bills offense last year. Stephon Diggs is just so, so good. It's very difficult to keep him off this list when he has at least a competent battery mate, and he certainly does in Cole Beasley. So number nine, I have the Buffalo Bills duo, Stephon Diggs and Cole Beasley.

At number eight, so this may be a surprise to some of you, but I'm very high on this duo and I think both of these players are criminally underrated in NFL circles, one more than the other, but I'm going with the Carolina Panthers duo at number eight of Robbie Anderson and DJ Moore. I think Robbie Anderson's time in New York, obviously anyone dealing with Adam Gase, that's going to diminish their reputation a little bit. And then DJ Moore has been playing with subpar quarterback play

for quite some time now. He had Cam Newton, who wasn't throwing the ball too well. Taylor Heineke for a while. Had Teddy Bridgewater last year. So for my money, I think both those guys are a little bit underrated and that's why I have them in the number eight slot. Number seven, we're going to make a trip out to the west coast of the country and I have the Los Angeles Rams duo of Cooper Cup and Robert Woods. Very high on their versatility as players. Again, very productive.

And now that they have Matthew Stafford in the fold, I think those numbers are going to go up even more from what they were in just the Sean McVay-led offense with Jared Goff. Very high on that duo. They're very productive, very reliable as well. And we're not going to go too far to get to number six because number six we have the other duo. They're very productive, very reliable as well. And we're not going to go too far to get to number six because number six, we have the other duo in Los Angeles, and that is Keenan Allen and Mike Williams. Mike Williams versus Corey Davis is an interesting discussion based on the

draft class from 2017. But ultimately, I think that Mike Williams is a little bit better of a player. Now, Keenan Allen is one of the best in the league, probably a top 10 wide receiver, so it makes it a slam dunk to get these guys in here at number six. Now, the top five, very interesting top five here. I have at number five, the Dallas Cowboys duo of Amari Cooper and C.D. Lamb. Now they were productive last year while having Andy Dalton for a large chunk of the seasons. Now you got Dak Prescott back in there. I think that'll make Cooper and Lamb look better than they looked last year and show who they really are from a talent perspective. I really like C.D. Lamb and what he has the ability to do.

Amari Cooper is one of the best route runners in the entire NFL, and if he's healthy, I think they're good to go. That's my number five. Now, I think that there's a big leap for the next four. If we did this in tiers instead of a top ten, we're to the next tier, the next four. If we did this in tiers instead of a top 10, we're to the next tier, the top tier. I have DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett at number four, the duo out of Seattle. I love what DK brings to the table. Lockett is another very underrated player in the league, so I like that combination. Number three, Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen hard to argue against that at this moment of time

Justin Jefferson with one of the best rookie seasons we have ever seen for a wide receiver for a rookie in general quite frankly so gotta have Justin Jefferson as one of the most talented wide receivers Thielen again another incredibly reliable guy who you know is going to be there week to week to put up the numbers that you need. The top two, number two, I have Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and that was a tough call.

Any of the top two, or I could have flipped the top two pretty easily. Very high on Chris Godwin and Mike Evans and what they do down in Tampa Bay. But of course, that leaves the number one spot and who else? A.J. Brown and Julio Jones. You can make the argument that both of those guys are top 10 NFL wide receivers and the

only other team that can even try to make that argument is Tampa Bay with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. And quite frankly, I don't think that they're there. So I have A.J. Brown and Julio Jones as the number one best wide receiver duo in the entire NFL. And quite frankly, I don't think that there's any homerism in that analysis whatsoever. But we are going to move into my top 10 quarterback list next. Before we do, got to remind you guys about the best tasting protein bar ever from BuiltBar.com. Right now on BuiltBar.com, they have nine delicious flavors. They're always rotating in some occasionally limited time flavors as well. Some of my favorites like the peanut butter brownie and the salted caramel are available for you.

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And when you do, use promo code LOCKED15 and you'll get 15% off your first order. Once again, use promo code LOCKED15 for 15% off at BuiltBar.com Titans fans, we are going to cap off this Wednesday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast, diving into my top 10 quarterback list headed into 2021. We talked about at the beginning of the show why no news for the Titans over the next few weeks is actually the best news we could ever get.

And we went over my top 10 wide receiver duos in the NFL. But before we dive into my top 10 quarterbacks, just do want to remind you guys about the Locked On Today podcast hosted by the great Peter Bukowski. It's basically all the biggest sports stories from every major sport in under 20 minutes every single morning. A great companion to the Locked On Titans podcast, if I do say so myself. But let's get into the top 10 quarterback list. And like we did with wide receiver, we will start

at number 10. And for me, this was tough. Number 10 was really tough. I thought about Justin Herbert. I thought about Matt Ryan. I thought about Baker Mayfield. I thought about Kirk Cousins. But I ultimately went with, and I know some of you guys are going to disagree with this vehemently, but I went with Dak Prescott. I think a healthy Dak Prescott coming into the season is one of the top 10

quarterbacks in the NFL. Now, I don't think that it's a slam dunk. I think he's anywhere from 8 to 13 on any given Sunday, normally. But I think that Dak Prescott is a top 10 quarterback on a normal average day for him. So I'm going to throw him there.

This next one at number 9 was a little bit tough for me as well. I'm not as high on this guy as a lot of people are around the league. But quite frankly, I just couldn't justify leaving him out of the top 10 regardless of the obvious limitations that he has to his game. And that's Lamar Jackson, quarterback from the Baltimore Ravens, a former MVP, playoff wins. I mean, I'm not super high on the guy either, and I hope that is, well, I don't hope,

but I wonder if his accuracy will ever improve to the point where he can be a consistent passer from the pocket that doesn't have to rely on his legs we saw with the Tennessee Titans they tried to keep him in the pocket him him up there and that caused the Baltimore Ravens offense trouble in two out of the last three meetings that those teams have had and that that game plan has kind of been taken by a lot of teams around the NFL. And the Bills were able to really slow down the Ravens in the playoffs. So I'm going to put Lamar Jackson at number nine.

Too many accolades, too much success to let his deficiencies as a player overweigh them. Number eight. This is a little bit controversial as well. This is a guy who's dealt with a lot of health problems, is going to a new situation. But in my opinion, I just like the talent there. And that's Matt Stafford.

I think Matt Stafford is certainly a top 10 talented quarterback in the NFL. He's been in Detroit his entire career. Hasn't had a great supporting cast. So we're going to see what he's got now that he made it to Los Angeles with Sean McVay. They got a decent offensive line. They got a wizard of a head coach. They got good receiving options outside.

So we're going to see what Matthew Stafford has, but I'm going to have him at number eight right now. Number seven, Ryan Tannehill. He's played like a top five quarterback in the NFL the last two regular seasons. But part of this discussion is the eye test as well. And what we've seen from Ryan Tannehill in the playoffs, what we know about his deficiencies as a player. Of course, he's a very productive guy in the Titans scheme, but it's hard to separate how good Derrick Henry is from Ryan Tannehill.

It's hard to separate how the offensive system is just perfectly placed for him from the player that he was in Miami. I am saying, like I said, he's been a top five quarterback statistically the last two years. But we know what we know, and based on the guys that are in front of him, I think Ryan Tannehill is the seventh best quarterback in the NFL heading into the season. He's not better than any of the six I'm about to name. And at number six, I have Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.

Quite frankly, he's more of a playmaker than Ryan Tannehill, making plays outside of the pocket, making plays off schedule, all of that. He's more effective of a runner as well, a bigger bodied guy. He kind of gives you a little bit of that Cam Newton while also having one of the strongest arms in the entire NFL. I know a lot of people don't necessarily like Josh Allen and don't respect his game as much as I do, but I think Josh Allen is absolutely fantastic. He was my favorite quarterback coming out of that draft class over Baker, over Darnold, over Lamar, over Rosen, and maybe there's a little bit of confirmation bias there, but I'm just very high on Josh Allen and what he's brought to the Bills and how he's improved

as a player, and I'm going with Josh Allen at number six. Now, like I did with the wide receiver groupings, the top five is a clear tier ahead of everyone else I just mentioned these are the elites if you talk about elite quarterbacks in the NFL these are the only five guys that I am willing to mention everyone else

is a tier below at number five Deshaun Watson Houston Texans I know a lot of people are saying if Watson is soun Watson, Houston Texans. I know a lot of people are saying, if Watson's so good, how come the Texans were so bad? Guys, especially for you Titans fans, did you watch the games? The Titans had to win in overtime. The Titans had to win at the buzzer the second week.

I mean, Deshaun Watson gave the Titans fits. week I mean Deshaun Watson gave the Titans fits the Titans played one of the worst teams in the NFL and two very very down to the wire competitive games and do you know why because I know why it's because of freaking Deshaun Watson now I know he's got his legal issues off the field I don't know anything about that I'm not going to make any comments about that anymore or anything like that. But all I know is Deshaun Watson plays. He's a top five quarterback in the NFL. Number four, Russell Wilson. Now, another guy has some deficiencies, but consistent winning, making plays out of the pocket, making plays off schedule, strong arm. The guy just always seems to rise to the occasion when the Seahawks need him and the Seahawks have had a piss poor offensive line for a long,

long time and he's still been carrying the Seahawks to success every single season. season. My top three should be no surprise to any of you. Number three, Tom Brady. I don't care how old he is. I don't care what the regular season looks like. If I had to pick a quarterback to go into

2021 for one season, Tom Brady is number three for me, and he's better than all these other guys. He still is. He still is. I know it's annoying. I know it for me, and he's better than all these other guys. He still is. He still is. I know it's annoying. I know it's frustrating, but it's the reality. The guy's the best quarterback to ever live, and he's still one of the top three best quarterbacks in the NFL, period.

I just won't hear any argument against it. Anything against Tom Brady being one of the top three quarterbacks in the league is just hating, quite frankly, in my opinion. But that leaves the top two spots, and it's probably no surprise to any of you guys, it is the two, not the two most recent, but two of the MVPs of the last three seasons. Aaron Rodgers at number two,

and then Patrick Mahomes at number one, and I don't feel like those two are controversial in any way. And quite frankly, I don't see how you could have anybody but those two as the top two quarterbacks in the NFL. I just don't see it. I don't at all. So recapping the top ten. Ten, Dak Prescott. Nine, Lamar Jackson.

Eight, Matthew Stafford. Seven, Ryan Tannehill, six, Josh Allen, five, Russell Wilson, four, sorry, five, Deshaun Watson, four, Russell Wilson, three, Tom Brady, two, Aaron Rodgers, and number one, Patrick Mahomes. That is going to do it for my top 10 quarterback rankings heading into 2021. Talked about why no news is good news for the Titans for the next few weeks. Talked about my top 10 wide receiver duos in the NFL. Talked about my top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL as well.

I'm going to be back with you guys on Friday to cap off this week of the Locked on Titans podcast. Until then, as always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.