Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - SEND IN THE CLOWN: Titans Sign Jadeveon Clowney, Roster Reactions: Titans Cut to 53

Episode Date: September 7, 2020

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You are locked on Titans. Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, the clown has come to town. Finally, after six long months on Clowny Watch 2020, the Titans have signed the talented pass rusher. We will begin our show reacting to that major announcement and what could be the biggest free agent signing

in Tennessee Titans history. So we will talk about the magnificent news that broke over the holiday weekend. Jadavion Clowney is a Tennessee Titan, but that wasn't the only major news coming out of the weekend for the Titans. Roster cut down day was on Saturday. We know what the Titans 53-man roster will look like. We know about a good portion of the practice squad as well. So I'll just break down everything coming out of cut down day in my Tennessee Titans

roster reaction. So we will have a two-segment conversation about everything that has taken place transaction-wise with the Titans. But this is just the beginning, folks. The season is a week away, and I'm going to be bringing you guys Monday through Friday content throughout the entire season, and heck, throughout the entire year. So make sure that you are subscribed to the Locked On Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream, and make sure that you are subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream and make sure you're following me on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans for year long analysis including my weekly Tic Tac Titan film breakdowns which with Jadavion Clowney

on board are about to get very, very interesting. So send in the clown and roster reactions on the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it! Aptly named Clowny Watch 2020, the half a year long process and sweepstakes for Jadavian Clowney services ended over the weekend with him signing with the Tennessee Titans on a one-year 12 million dollar contract that could go up to 15 million dollars with playing incentives and the Titans had no shortage of competition for Clowney services. There were multiple teams rumored to be interested during the six-month process, including the former team for Jadavian Clowney, the Seattle Seahawks,

of course the winner of the sweepstakes, the Tennessee Titans. We also heard reports of the Las Vegas Raiders, the Baltimore Ravens, the Cleveland Browns reportedly had multiple different offers into Jadavion Clowney. And then finally over the weekend, what seemed like the strongest competitor throughout the process to the Tennessee Titans, the New Orleans Saints, who invited Jadavion Clowney to dinner with their head coach on Friday. And rumor has it was trying to craft a multi-team sign and trade deal that had never been seen in the NFL before. But that deal did not take place.

Those circumstances did not play out. And luckily, Jadavion Clowney did end up back with his former defensive coordinator and Mike Rabel on the Tennessee Titans. And Clowney is a 27-year-old player in his prime, 6'5", 250 pounds, out of Rock Hill, South Carolina. Played for South Carolina in college, where he ended up being the number one overall pick in 2014 to the Houston Texans. During that time, from 2014 to 2017, Clowney played under Mike Rabel, which culminated

with Mike Rabel being the Texans' defensive coordinator in Clowney's most statistically productive season in 2017. Clowney has made three Pro Bowls in his career in the 75 games that he has played. He has had 236 tackles, 80 quarterback hits, 71 tackles for loss, and 32 sacks during that time. Of course, as mentioned, his most productive seasons came with Mike Vrabel as his direct position coach or his defensive coordinator. And of course, Clowney's most productive season in the NFL was in 2017, where he registered nine and a half sacks, 21 tackles for loss, and 21 quarterback hits.. Now there are some concerns that come with a Jadavian Clowney. There are concerns about his injury history. If you look at Clowney, he's played in

75 games in his career out of a possible 96. So he has missed 21 games due to injury, which is quite a bit. But when you consider that 12 of those missed games came in his rookie season, that's only nine missed games throughout the last five seasons, which of course is still more injury missed games than you would like to see. But the injury concerns with Clowney are a tad bit exaggerated. One other concern that comes with Clowney is his lack of production, which is usually tied in with that injury history. But when you look at the production that Jadavion Clowney had under Mike Vrabel, his most productive

seasons came with Mike Vrabel as his coach, and they also happen to be his healthiest seasons on record as well. So hopefully Mike Vrabel has the secret ingredient to getting Jadavion Clowney to his max and peak production and peak health. But when you dig deeper than the injury history or the traditional box score stats and you start looking at some of the analytics, you see the impact that Clowney can have. Pro Football Focus had Clowney graded as the 19th best overall edge rusher in the NFL last year with an 87.3 grade. He was the 11th highest graded run

defender at the edge rusher position with an 80.8 grade. And then against the past, he was the 11th highest graded run defender at the edge rusher position with an 80.8 grade. And then against the past, he was the 20th ranked edge rusher in the league with a 79.1 pass rushing grade. And then you look at some run defense based analytics from football outsiders and you see Clowney's impact against the run. He was the sixth best edge rusher in the NFL last year, allowing only 0.9 yards per run targeted at him. And likewise, he had an 88% stop rate against runs at him, which was seventh best for edge rushers in the NFL last year. The final piece of the puzzle, of course, is the film. And on film, Clowney is

absolutely dominant. He's excellent in twists and stunts that the Titans run so much on defense. He's basically a perfect fit for the Titans scheme. Exactly what that defense needed. If they had one guy to take all of the attention at all times, then those stunts and those twists that the Titans run are going to be even more effective because you're going to see multiple offensive linemen see, hey, that's Jadavion Clowney crossing my face. I got to do something about that. And that's going to open up lanes for Harold Landry, for Jeffrey Simmons, for Daquan Jones, for hey, even a Vic Beasley.

Might see a package where Beasley, Clowney, and Landry are all rushing the passer at the same time. Absolutely tantalizing from the Titans perspective. So to put a bow on everything, you take a look at the statistical production that's possible under Mike Vrabel. You look at the analytics that show even without that statistical production last year, he was still a dominant force in the run game and against the pass as a disruptive player. Then you add in the film showing us that he's still a dominant and effective player to match up with the analytics that show that point and you have exactly the type of player that the Titans need and leave no

question about it despite the concerns about injury or production. Jadavion Clowney is one of the best defenders in the NFL. I'd say top 15, top 20 at max and I may go even higher than that if he's able to stay healthy so very very exciting Jadavian Clowney is on the Titans guys can't believe it one thing that I do want to point out here a couple more things that I want to talk about is check out the NFL's top 100 segment on Jadavian Clowney he was number 41 this year and just listen to Matt LaFleur from the Green Bay Packers talk about Clowney the entire game I do believe it was during the playoffs could have been during the regular season but the entire

game his main focus on where is Clowney is he on the weak side tell me when he's out of the game I need to know he can blow up our play so check that out if you have not and then the last thing that I want to talk about is the claim that I made at the beginning of our show that Clowney may in fact be the biggest free agent signing in the history of the Tennessee Titans and one of our show that Clowney may in fact be the biggest free agent signing in the history of the Tennessee Titans and one of the things that I want to talk about in that I just want to throw out the other names that are that are in there Kevin Mawai of course was fantastic Kyle Vandenbosch probably would be my pick at this moment in time Delaney Walker that's probably your top three there other guys like a Logan Ryan Ryan, Brian Arakpo, Randall Godfrey,

even a Ben Jones at this point, Nate Washington. Some of those guys would be in the mix, but Clowney's ability and his potential to impact the Titans and not only impact the Titans' defense, but impact the ceiling of the team and the potential of the team. If the Titans are able to make a deep postseason run here, possibly win a Super Bowl, and Judeavian Clowney is productive and healthy, I think it would be impossible to argue. So I think at this time, just based on name and talent alone, Jadavion Clowney may in fact be the biggest

signing, free agent signing in Titans history. And the biggest takeaway from me on that note is not just about his ability to help in the 2020 season. To me, it's about the culture and the vibe around this franchise. The Titans have the potential here with a couple more winning seasons and some more deep playoff runs to kind of get themselves out of that bottom cellar of the NFL in terms of popularity and recognition and national brand. The Titans could really vault themselves up a category in terms of interest surrounding the franchise if they're able to capitalize on this time

period right now and make another deep run, possibly to the Super Bowl. And if you want to dig a little bit deeper into the Titans this year as they make that run, then you have to get football on your time with NFL Game Pass. You can catch every snap from every game with full game replays. You see all of the plays in just 45 minutes with condensed games. You can relive all the gutsy calls, crazy catches, wild comebacks, and breakout stars from every game every week. It's all the action, all the football you can handle all in one place.

And NFL Game Pass is the only place you can replay every game all season long. You'll learn from the league's best players with over 40 NFL Game Pass film session episodes, go inside the game from a player's perspective as they break down the game's concepts and techniques, learn from the best like Deshaun Watson, Stephon Gilmore, Devontae Adams, Ryan Tannehill, and many more. NFL Game Pass also provides access to the entire NFL Films archive. Go to NFL.com slash Game Pass to start your free trial today. NFL Game Pass, where football never stops. And you guys have to think outside the box as well.

While you're enjoying all of the Titans replays and diving into the coaches film on the Titans to get a better idea of what they're doing on the field schematically and marrying that with listening to this podcast as I break that down weekly, you also have the opportunity to do those game replays. Check out your fantasy players, scout fantasy players, make sure you're up to date on which players could be breaking out soon, paying attention to target rates, things like that. There are so many benefits from actually breaking down the game tape and actually watching football games, not just the highlights, not just the box score. So if you want to be the most knowledgeable Titans fan and NFL fan you can be this year, you have to check out NFL Game Pass.

Once again, that is NFL.com slash Game Pass to start your free trial today. Send in the clown. I can't help it. I'm still so excited about the Jadavian Clowney signing. I'm sure you guys can hear it in my voice. I'm kind of losing my voice to it a bit because I got so hyped about the Clowney signing. I was ranting and raving, screaming in excitement. I'm not going to lie. I was super pumped. It's something that the wait and the six-month process made it that much more rewarding when it actually happened.

But we have to talk about the impact on the roster here. And Clowney still has not officially signed his contract at this moment. It's about 1.30 p.m. Central Time at the moment. So right now the Titans have 53 people on the roster. And one of those isn't Clowney. So somebody's going to get bumped immediately. As soon as he officially signs his contract. But per Mike Vrabel's press conference today. He has started his COVID testing and things like that.

So the process is going. So no worries there. But just keep that in mind. And I'll remind you guys at the end of our roster reactions here. Because I've got to give you a prediction on who I think that person is that gets bumped off the roster for Clowney. But let's dive in to the Titans roster and I'm going to do this through a lens of rather than just reading off the names,

let's go through some of the biggest surprises, the biggest takeaways here from the roster reveal from the cuts that took place on Saturday. And for me, we have to start with, and some may say this is an L for me, but Logan Woodside ended up with the backup quarterback spot. He beat out Trevor Simeon and has made it onto the active roster. At this point, you've got to be proud of a guy like Logan Woodside. You've got to feel good for him.

He's obviously worked hard, spent time in the AAF, been on practice squads with the Titans. So he's definitely deserving. That's absolutely the case. So good for Logan Woodside. I just hope that that is good for the Titans and that if he is called into action in any way, he's able to steady the ship until Ryan Tannehill is back out there and ready to go.

So that remains to be seen. That means that Trevor Simeon did not make this roster, and we will talk more about Trevor Simeon later on, but Logan Woodside won that battle and will be the backup quarterback for the Titans in week one. Also, very surprising that at first, the Titans only kept three running backs. Well, backs, I should say. It was Darrington Evans, Derrick Henry, and Kari Blossom game. The original version of the 53-man roster, that was the three running backs that were kept.

But what ended up happening is the Titans had to make some additional roster moves on Saturday after they decided on their 53 with two players who are going to be on the 53-man roster that can't be on the 53-man roster right now and one of the players that they used to fill those two spots was bringing back running back center-rise Perry. So as I mentioned in my roster predictions, I thought Perry had a pretty decent shot to maybe stick with the team on the practice squad, but Perry can give you a little bit as a runner, not much, but he's really going to add value on special teams.

So right now, in my opinion, Kari Blossom game is the third running back on the depth chart in terms of who they're going to hand the ball off to if they had to. But center-rise Perry as a fourth back can help on special teams, and I think that's super important for the Titans going into week one is having that special teams value. So right now on the 53, we have Evans, we have Henry, we have Blossom Game, and we have Perry.

Going to the wide receiver position, one of the roster role battles that we checked out throughout the year was the fifth and sixth wide receiver position who would take those roster spots. And it went to familiar names. Cameron Batson, who clearly still has the hearts of the Titans front office and coaching staff, has missed the entire season in 2019 as an undrafted free agent. They still gave him a contract, an exclusive rights free agent contract early in the offseason this year, and then he made the roster here.

So Cam Batson clearly has the favor of the coaches and the Titans organization. And then another familiar name, Cody Hollister. Hollister, a big body wide receiver. It brings us back to me saying that the Titans like to typecast along their roster and they want a small speed guy in Batson. They want a big body tall guy in Hollister. I don't think either of those players are excellent on special teams. Quite frankly, neither of them

are great on special teams. So a little bit of a surprise to me, but Batson and Hollister are guys the Titans can count on. and in a year that relies on continuity so much it makes sense that they bring back guys who they know can actually contribute and have been with the team for at least a season before but that brings us to the surprises here and one of the big surprises is Rashard Davis not making this team he had the ability to help in the return game in special teams. People had been raving about his route running. I thought that he had a good opportunity to be that second small guy.

He is a smaller guy. So I figured he'd take that Batson spot. But Batson beat out Rashard Davis. And not only did Davis get cut from the roster, he didn't even make the practice squad either. So potentially could see Davis back with the Titans at some point on the practice squad of the roster this year. But a big surprise that he was totally cut from the Titans organization. Moving forward to the tight end group.

And it was no surprise to me personally. And then of course we saw the Titans cut more wide receivers. Undrafted free agents Mason Kinsey, undrafted free agent Christian Wilkerson also were cut by the Titans. And then, Krishon Hogan, who was a veteran that was in camp with the Titans, all of them were cut completely. Didn't make the practice squad. Kind of interesting. Everybody talks about the Titans taking Patriots players well the Titans picked up Mason Kinsey and Christian Wilkerson so they brought on a couple

former uh Titans that the Titans had in camp so a little carry over there moving to the tight ends no surprise here the Titans kept the three tight ends from last year Pruitt, Ferkser and of course John U. Smith and then they kept Jeff Swaim which I predicted when he was signed by the Titans makes all the sense in the world they cut bait with Tommy Hudson but Hudson did stick around with the organization so we'll talk about that a little bit more later on when we talk about the practice squad moving to the offensive line and this was the biggest surprise to me quite frankly the Titans kept 10 that right, 10 offensive linemen on the active roster. So at tackle, you have Dennis Kelly, you have Taylor LeJuan, you have Ty Sambrillo, and then you have Isaiah Wilson. But here's the kicker. Isaiah Wilson, for the second time, was placed on the COVID-19 list. I got into the maturity concerns,

why that's a bad sign for the Titans, and why it shows that Isaiah Wilson's not going to be ready anytime soon. But this is just validation of my thoughts on that subject on the COVID list for a second time. It's really disappointing that Isaiah Wilson can't seem to be mature enough to keep himself safe and keep his teammates and the people around him safe. So that leaves three offensive tackles on the early version of the 53. Dennis Kelly, Taylor LeJuan, Ty Sambrillo, but of course Isaiah Wilson, as soon as he's healthy and ready to go through quarantine, he'll be activated and put back on the Titans 53-man roster. So when I talked earlier about two players who had to be taken off,

one of them was Isaiah Wilson, who initially made the 53, but then was put on the COVID reserve list, which allowed a guy like Centerize Perry to get onto the team. This is where the big shot comes to me, the interior offensive line. Roger Saffold, Ben Jones, Jameel Douglas, Nate Davis, Daniel Murner, Aaron Brewer all made it. So Brewer, Murner, Davis, Douglas, Jones, Saffold, six interior offensive linemen. Maybe when Isaiah Wilson comes back, one of them gets bumped off, but pretty surprising there is the Titans also kept two offensive linemen on their practice squad. So really stacking up at offensive

line this year. It's a position where you want to have continuity. You want to have guys who know the system. So it makes sense that the Titans are not taking any chances. They're going to have offensive linemen. And if they need to use offensive linemen due to injuries or COVID, they're going to have guys who have been in their building for months when they do it. So that's a smart move for the Titans.

But that is going to do it for the offensive side of the ball. I'm going to move over to the defensive side of the ball and the practice squad and the special teams in our final segment. Before I jump into that, I want to remind you guys about Bilt Bar. So the first time around with Bilt Bar, we completely sold out their inventory. Cannot thank the locked on listeners more. But now they are back better than ever and even more delicious.

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cooler with purchase once again that is promo code locked on for ten dollars off at builtbar.com let's dive into the defensive side of the ball and continue our roster reactions we will also finish out looking at the 13 members of the titans practice squad currently and talk about the players that were completely cut from the organization with no practice squad opportunities at this moment in time. So we'll dive into the defense first though and of course we're starting with the defensive line up front. So you have the two starters of course Daquan Jones and big man Jeffrey Simmons. Then you have Jack Crawford. Then you have Matt Dickerson.

Then you have Isaiah Mack and Larell Murchison. In my opinion, no surprises there at all. Six defensive linemen on the interior. All names that I expected to make the roster. The only people who did not make the roster were Joey Ivey and the two undrafted free agents, Kobe Smith and Tyier Tartt. I will mention all their names a little bit later on to provide some more

context, but before we do that, let's move into the rest of the defense and at the linebacker position, Jayon Brown, Rashawn Evans, no shock there. David Long, no shock there. And then, of course, the boy, the boy, Will Compton made the final roster.

And Nick DeZubnar, who was brought in to be a special teams ace, made the roster. And this made sense to me. DeZubnar's not a good linebacker. He's not good enough to play on defense. But he is amazing on special teams. So, when you look at a Jayon Brown, Rashawn Evans, David Long, all relatively young guys, all still on their rookie contracts. Jayon Brown had a little bit of an injury heading into the season.

So outside of those three guys, who could actually play linebacker for the Titans if there were some injuries or a COVID issue? You got to have a linebacker who can give you more than just special teams help, but you don't want to sacrifice the guy you brought in for that special teams ace position in the linebacker group that Darren Bates used to hold. Enter Nick DeZubnar as the special teams ace. Now Will Compton gives you value on special teams, but can also actually play some linebacker. He played a ton on defense with the Raiders last year, over 240 snaps, I do believe.

So Will Compton gives you versatility in terms of he can play defense, in terms of an injury, but he can also help you out on special teams as well. So, it makes sense that the Titans loaded up on the front seven there with the interior defensive line and the linebackers. Let's talk about the edge rushing group. And, of course, Jadavion Clowney is going to be in this group. But, as I mentioned, he's not signed yet. He's not signed yet. He's not signed yet.

So the group as it is right now includes Vic Beasley, Kamalei Correa. Oh, Vic Beasley, baby, past his physical, on the active roster, might be able to play some football this week. How exciting. Let's see if he can actually live up to any of that contract money that he got. But Vic Beasley, Harold Landry, Kamalei Correa, Derek Roberson, that is the only edge rushers that made the roster. So those four guys right there.

But of course, the Titans knew that Clowney was going to be in the fold when they made these decisions. So the only thing of note there is Roberson. Apparently, his injury isn't as bad as it seemed. He was not placed on injured reserve. So that means that the Titans think that he'll be able to play football within the first three weeks of the season. So keep that in mind.

And that's good news for the Titans defense. Roberson is a really nice project. And now that there's depth in front of him, he won't be called upon so early. He can just be used as a rotational pass rusher, which right now is where he adds the most value. Let's get into the secondary for the Titans at cornerback. Malcolm Butler, Christian Fulton, Adoree Jackson, Jonathan Joseph. That was going to be the major four cornerbacks. The Titans didn't plan on having any other pure cornerbacks, I say pure cornerbacks for a reason, on the roster until they decided

to put Dane Cruikshank on IR. And because they put Cruikshank on IR, that opened up another roster spot. Remember on offense, I said that the Titans put Isaiah Wilson and Dane Cruikshank were on the 53-man roster. But the Titans had to put Isaiah Wilson on the COVID list on Saturday, and they decided to put Dan Cruikshank on the IR, the injured reserve. So Cruikshank can't come back for at least three weeks. That is a change rule in the NFL.

The IR had been about eight weeks before the NFL changed it this year as part of all the different COVID-related changes they made to the rules. So the IR is a three-week designation at this point in time in the season. So that means that Crookshank can't come back for three weeks at minimum. And because of that, the Titans brought back Chris Milton, who was someone I thought was going to make the initial roster anyways because of his value on special teams. But apparently he was not one of the players that was going to be on that initial 53, but because of the spot opened up by Cruikshank, Milton will be on the roster.

So Milton is a cornerback in that group. Now, I'll use this player as a transition to the safeties from cornerback, and that is 7th round rookie out of Marshall, Chris Jackson. Jackson made this roster, and it's unknown whether it was him or Milton that actually got that final spot. But the reason I said that he wasn't a pure cornerback is because Jackson truly is a defensive back.

He can play safety. He's going to add major value on special teams, but he also got a little bit of run as a cornerback as well. So Jackson is the exact kind of versatile piece that the Titans would want to keep around as he can play all positions in the secondary eventually or has the talent to and then he's definitely going to help on special teams. So right now the Titans initially only wanted four cornerbacks on the roster but ended up with having about five and a half which leads us into the safety group that Chris Jackson is a half of a part of, but that leaves us with Josh Kalou, Kevin Byard, Amani Hooker, and Kenny Vaccaro, and of course, Dan Cruikshank

would have been on the roster, but he went to IR with an injury, won't be back for at least three weeks. Kalou is another one of those people between Milton and, well, we know it was Milton that was brought back onto the roster with Center Eyes Perry, but Kalou's got to be one of those guys that when Clowney gets signed or when Crookshank comes back, those are two guys being added to the defense, two roster spots, two guys are going to have to go. They don't have to be defensive players, but just would make sense to see Kalou or possibly Milton be the guy who has to be knocked off the roster from that. But at least one of them would make sense.

They're both in the secondary. Maybe not both of them. You wouldn't want to see both of them go for roster depth purposes. But Kalou is a guy I think was on that roster bubble. But he did make the roster. So that's Kalou. That's Bayard. That's Hooker.

That's Vaccaro. Dane Cruikshank on the IR. Chris Jackson with the ability to play a little bit of safety in a pinch if needed. But that is the Titans roster on defense. The special teams players, Bo Brinkley, of course, at long snapper, Brett Kern, the best punter in the league, no surprise there. But then ultimately, the kicker competition was won by Gostkowski. The Titans finally got serious about a couple positions, and although they didn't keep Trevor

Simeon on the active roster, just the practice squadostkowski the veteran did win out in the kicker battle and that means Tucker McCann did not make the 53-man roster but I will let Tucker McCann be my springboard into the practice squad this year the practice squad will have 16 spots available the Titans have 13 players that they have brought in to be on that practice squad already after they all cleared waivers on Sunday. One other thing to keep in mind is the NFL officially announced that you can have three veterans on your practice squad that have any level of NFL experience. The rule typically is three years on the practice squad or less,

two years of NFL experience or less. But in this scenario, the NFL made a lot of changes. One of those veterans that was brought on to the practice squad was Trevor Simeon. So Simeon did not make the roster. He lost out to Logan Woodside. But the Titans were able to keep him with the organization on their practice squad, so that's a good fallback plan if Woodside has the opportunity and doesn't take advantage of it, or if there's some injuries or anything like that, Simeon

is ready to get the call and move up to the active roster at any moment. Looking at the running back position, Jeremy McNichols, McWeapon, was brought on to the Titans recently, and I thought he had a good chance to make the roster because of the value that he could provide as an actual running back for the Titans, but they appear to be comfortable with Kari Blossomgame as a running back. Went with center-rise Perry and Kari Blossomgame for some special teams value and then the versatility that Blossomgame provides, but got Jeremy McNichols on the practice squad,

and I have a feeling that if anything happens to Blossom Game or Evans, McNichols would immediately get a bump up because they're going to need people to actually run the ball, not just people to help on special teams. Looking at wide receiver, only one wide receiver was kept. And it happened to be Nick Westbrook. And this is a little bit of an eye-brazer because Westbrook had a lot of problems with drops during training camp, but he is a big-bodied guy, 6'3", 200 pounds, and since the Titans kept Kalief Raymond and Cam Batson as small-bodied wide receivers, and they only have Hollister as that backup big-body wide receiver,

it makes sense that they'd want to fill the wide receiver spot on the practice squad with a big-bodied guy. Again, the Titans like to typecast. Moving to the tight end position, Tommy Hudson, an undrafted free agent, didn't make the final roster, got pushed off by Swaim, but the Titans did keep him around and I like that move. Then, moving on to the offensive line, the Titans kept no interior offensive linemen because of the six that they kept on the active roster with the initial 53. But they did keep two tackles. David Questenberry and then Brandon Kemp, the undrafted free agent out of Valdosta State. This was a tad bit surprising to me to see Kemp kept on the roster. The Titans had a lot of different options at tackle and just on the offensive line in general.

And I guess at the end of the day, I'm just surprised that they basically kept every single offensive lineman that was with them at the end of camp, except Zach Caron, the veteran interior offensive lineman. So like I mentioned earlier, the Titans clearly put a premium on offensive line and making sure that there would be people who, if they had to step up and play O-line and make the octave roster, the people, my voice is given out, the people who would be moved up from the practice squad are going to be guys who have been with the Titans for months. Again, the importance of continuity, the importance of familiarity along the offensive line is as high as it is at any position. So it makes sense the

Titans would want to keep all of the offensive linemen that they possibly could. Moving over to the defensive side of the ball, love seeing this. The Titans kept both undrafted free agent interior defensive linemen, Kobe Smith and Tyier Tartt. That's pretty exciting. I want to see how they develop. Also exciting, the Titans kept both of the edge rushers that they brought in in the middle of camp, Wyatt Ray and Jamal Davis. Really exciting that Davis and Wyatt Ray didn't get swooped up by any other teams during the waiver claim process. And then in the secondary, two cornerbacks that the Titans can rely on.

I love that these guys are on the Titans practice squad, and that's Ty Smith and Kareem Orr. I would be very comfortable with either of them being the fifth cornerback on the depth chart at any time throughout the regular season. And then finally, special teams. The last guy we have to mention is Tucker McCann. Glad to see him on the practice squad because he did have some punting experience in college. So if the Titans get in a pinch, they have a guy who can kick field goals, kick kickoffs, and punt a little bit if needed. So glad to see Tucker McCann. And let's be real, Gostkowski is older. He had problems with his hip and problems with injury last year.

He wasn't very accurate on his extra points last year. If anything happens to Gostkowski, the Titans have Tucker McCann ready to go in an instant. And that makes me very confident and very comfortable. So, really like the Titans practice squad where it sits right now. I do want to finish out just letting you guys know the names of the players that were completely cut from the organization. Didn't make the practice squad. Were let go entirely. And that was running back Marcus Marshall.

Interior offensive lineman Zach Caron. Interior defensive lineman Joey Ivey, a little bit of a surprise there. Outside linebacker DeAndre Walker, that was the biggest surprise probably of cuts so far. Simeon and Woodside who won that battle was a surprise to me, but the biggest surprise outside of that is the Titans gave up on DeAndre Walker, the fifth round pick out of Georgia from 2019, missed all of last year with injury. Everyone said he had been incredibly impressive. He was getting snaps and reps with the first team defense at times throughout training camp, so really surprising that the Titans give up on a fifth round pick in his second year.

He already signed with the Seattle Seahawks to be on their practice squad, I do believe, possibly on their active roster, but I know he's with the Seahawks organization. He didn't make it through waivers. Cal Garrett, the inside linebacker, was completely cut from the roster. A little bit of a surprise there coming out of Missouri, had a lot of potential. Kenneth Durden at cornerback, Abraham Campbell, the veteran at safety, Doug Middleton, who was just brought in this week, no surprise he didn't make it, Kenneth Durden at cornerback. Abraham Campbell, the veteran at safety. Doug Middleton, who was just brought in this week. No surprise he didn't make it.

Krishan Hogan, the veteran wide receiver. Big bodied guy, didn't make it. The Titans chose to keep Westbrook and Hollister over him. Mason Kinsey, who had a lot of, I guess, optimism around him because of the role that he could fill in an Adam Humphrey style. He didn't make it. Christian Wilkerson, cut from the organization. Both those guys ended up with the New England Patriots. And then finally, Rashard Davis.

Another surprise there for Rashard not making this team. But keep an eye on those guys. If the Titans have any injuries to anybody on the practice squad or the active roster, any roster shuffling, would not be surprised to see any of those names back in the fold with the Tennessee Titans. But what a Monday episode. So much to go through. One of the longer episodes that I put out in quite some time, but completely deserved. An excellent weekend for Tennessee Titans fans. So ready to go into the 2020 regular season. And a week from this, you guys will be hearing my preview for the Denver Broncos game and then the next time you hear me will be tomorrow on Tuesday and will be a week from

hearing my post game breakdown for the Titans against the Broncos it's here folks couldn't be more excited to get into all of our season preview content that will be coming out throughout the rest of the week tomorrow we are going to break down the Titans schedule now that we're closer to the regular season, have a better idea of what these teams actually look like. Let's go game by game and do some predictions of what the Titans roster could look like now that we know some more information and we're up to date. And we have Jadavion Clowney. So that is going to do it for today's show.

What a big episode on the Locked on Titans podcast. Make sure that you are subscribed on whatever platform you do stream. That's going to do it for me. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.