Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Senior Bowl Breakdown: Names to Watch, Practice Standouts & Titans Draft Connection

Episode Date: January 29, 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, admittedly, it's going to be tough to top yesterday's episode. We had David Turner on from Maverick Sports Consulting. He has nearly 20 years of experience in NFL front offices or as a scout. He had a lot to say about this year's NFL draft class as a whole,

but he also dropped some interesting nuggets and targets to watch for Titans fans that are playing in the Senior Bowl this weekend. And speaking of the Senior Bowl, one of the most important events in the NFL's pre-draft process is taking place on Saturday. And on today's Locked on Titans podcast, I am breaking down everything that you need to know about this year's event. First, we're going to talk about what the Senior Bowl actually is, where it is taking

place, where you can watch the game itself, and also going to talk about John Robinson's history with the Senior Bowl and current Tennessee Titans that played in the game. We will then transition into talking about what's more important than the game itself, and that is the week of practice at the Senior Bowl. Teams flock to this event and to the practice field to watch some of the top college prospects take each other on in an incredibly competitive environment. So I'm going to tell you which players were standouts during the week of practice and then at the end

of today's show I will run through a list of all of the players at certain positions that the Titans need to keep their eye on and Titans fans need to keep their eye on while watching the game. So a big moment this week in the NFL's pre-draft process culminating with the Senior Bowl on Saturday and we're breaking all of it down today on the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it. Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend awaits and so does the Senior Bowl. So we are breaking down everything Senior Bowl on today's Locked on Titans podcast. But before we dive into it, I want to remind you guys that I will be here with you Monday through Friday on the Locked on Titans podcast all off-season long.

Make sure that you never miss out on an episode and you subscribe on whatever platform you do stream, whether that be Apple Podcasts, following on Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts. Make sure that you're locked in to the Locked on Titans podcast. And follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans. And check out the new Locked on Titans Facebook page as well. But let's dive into the biggest college all-star game that there is. And that is the Senior Bowl that takes place in Mobile, Alabama. And is played at

Ladd-Peebles Stadium. It will take place at 2.30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on NFL Network, 1.30 p.m. Central Standard Time as well. Why is there such a bias to East Coast time? That is another discussion for another day. But let's talk about why the Senior Bowl is so important, not only in a typical year, but this year, especially in last year as well. So in a typical year, this is just another opportunity for teams to have one-on-one interviews with these players

and see them in a competitive environment. Teams after the Senior Bowl are only going to see these players, whether it be at the NFL Combine, where they're just going through drills, or they're competitive environment teams after the senior bowl are only going to see these players whether it be at the NFL combine where they're just going through drills or they're doing physical testing they're not actually in a competitive environment doing one-on-one things against other guys and then at their individual pro days at their colleges and that of course is not going to be the most competitive environment everything is set up to make those players look as good as possible, which I understand completely. But the point is the Senior Bowl is the last real chance for us to see these prospects

going as hard as they possibly can in the game of football. So that makes it a very valuable part of the evaluation process. But think about all of the circumstances. We are going to have a virtual combine this year. Some pro days don't even take place due to, you know, we're in the middle of a pandemic. So of course that is going to change the process and that makes circumstances like this and situations like this even more important because with a virtual combine, teams are not going to get the opportunity to sit down one-on-one in the same room,

face-to-face with a player, and kind of feel them out. And the Senior Bowl is going to give them, even though limited, at least a chance to do that, because all of you know, as I know, that talking to somebody online, or talking to someone on Zoom, through email or through text, it's different than being in person. It's just a reality of us as human beings. And before I get too deep and philosophical, let's change this and move this forward to talk about how John Robinson specifically utilizes the senior bowl.

And we've seen John Robinson take a large number of his draft picks from people who were, if they didn't play at the senior bowl and And we've seen John Robinson take a large number of his draft picks from people who were, if they didn't play at the senior bowl and in the game, they were at least involved in the process. And 12 of John Robinson's 35 draft selections have been people associated with the senior bowl. And as for players who actually played in the game, right now the Titans have Kevin Byard, Jonu Smith, Nate Davis, David Long, and Larell Murchison on the team who actually played in the game. Right now, the Titans have Kevin Byard, Jonu Smith, Nate Davis, David Long,

and Larell Murchison on the team who actually played in the game. There are some others, like a guy like Christian Fulton. He was invited to the Senior Bowl last year, but didn't participate due to personal reasons. Whatever happened there, who knows? But either way, the point is, John Robinson takes a lot from the Senior Bowl, and based on comments that he's made previously at the Senior Bowl during interviews

and things that I talked about earlier in the week on the show, we know that John Robinson can kind of tip his hand in a way, and he's talked about certain positions this year that look pretty good. He mentioned cornerback, having long cornerbacks who are NFL ready. He mentioned the wide receiver position being deep, which just seems to be a reoccurring theme every single year now. Wide receivers come out of college ready to go in the NFL, and we see that. I mean, college wide receivers are getting two feet inbounds every single time, and they're

working on that already. So it does make sense that a lot of these wide receivers are coming in ready to go. But he also mentioned the offensive tackle group. Now that is very interesting. Obviously, the Titans took a chance on Isaiah Wilson. Things have gone sideways, to say the least. So will John Robinson dip back into the offensive tackle pool and basically wash his hands of the Isaiah Wilson situation and try to restock the offensive line again. Is that something that could happen? We will see.

But either way, the Senior Bowl is a big event, as I mentioned, in the pre-draft process. And Titans fans need to pay close attention to the players playing in that game as they are likely to become potential draft targets for the Titans. And speaking of those targets, one, we need to talk about the players in the Senior Bowl

who are standouts, who really made noise and made waves in Senior Bowl practices this week. And the practices are even more important than the game. We'll talk about that a little bit more at the beginning of our next segment. But we will talk about those standouts in the week of practice for the Senior Bowl. And then remember, at the end of our show, we are going to go through the entire roster of these teams, and I'll point out any names that you really need to pay attention to as well. But before we dive into those specific names, I want to tell you about our friends over

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Let's dive into practice at the Senior Bowl. So the game happens, and there are limited reps during the game. You want to get all these different players there's 134 players in the game split up on two different teams so you got to get everybody reps and you got to make sure everybody's time is being used wisely you got to make sure that you're doing right by the players as well and you're not going to get certain matchups in the game that you want to see certain players could get hurt and get knocked out. Who knows what could take place?

But during practice, players have no choice but to go as hard as they possibly can. And they have to take coaching as well. And there was an excellent video put out by Matt Rule. So every year, two different teams, usually teams that are picking high in the draft, get the chance to coach one side of the senior bowl and gives them, you know, an advantage in picking players. A hands-on look, their coaching staff comes out. This year, it was the Panthers and it was the Dolphins.

And Matt Rule, head coach of the Panthers, had an excellent video go out on social media where he basically got the team together and he was probably displeased with their attitudes, but he basically said, you got to take coaching. We're out here to help you. And if you're not going to get coached right now at the senior bowl, when your draft position is on the line, you're definitely not going to take coaching in the NFL.

And he said, taking coaching. Isn't just saying, yes, sir. It's looking me in the eyes, paying attention and have an intelligent football conversation. Active listening, critical thinking, those are all things that matter not just in football but

in life in general. So I love that video and as a football guy at heart I was ready to run through a brick wall for Matt Rule after that. I can see why he's such an infectious guy and can turn programs around. But the whole point is. Those type of things are what you're going to see in practice. And when you're a scout. Or when you're a member of a front office. And you're trying to figure out. Are these kind of guys.

And think about the Titans. Who care so much about football character. And how that kind of got away from them last year. They're obviously going to dive right back into that. We need people who love football. And you can tell. if a guy loves football. Everybody loves the game. You can tell if a guy loves football in practice.

That's where you see what players are made of, in practice. So that's why practice is so important. Here are some of the guys who really stood out in practice during the Senior Bowl this week. really stood out in practice during the Senior Bowl this week. Number one, and this may not be the most relevant for the Tennessee Titans, it could end up being though, based on how I kind of feel going into the draft, but the big star from the Senior Bowl week of practice was Quinn Miners. He's an offensive lineman from a small school, Wisconsin, Whitewater. He's an offensive lineman from a small school, Wisconsin, Whitewater.

He had the Ezekiel Elliott roll up the crop top, showing the abs off. But for him, it's more a showing the belly off. And that's part of the reason that he kind of got hot during the week, his fashion sense. But also on the field, the guy's a mauler, and he's incredibly athletic too. That's what's really appealing to me about Miners. He's probably going to play center, probably could play guard, but I think center is his ultimate destination, and I know that it sounds crazy, but if you look at the Tennessee Titans offensive line, some older guys there, so maybe they would consider an offensive lineman on the interior a little bit

earlier than some of us expect but that was probably the big star but of course like I said he played well but the fashion sense and the mentality was really impressive Carlos Basham the pass rusher from Wake Forest defensive end bigger guy like what he could bring to the table for the Titans Levi on Wuzeriki, the defensive tackle out of Washington. Now, the Titans may not look interior defensive line, but he was a standout during the week. Also, wide receiver Josh Palmer, a guy a lot of you might recognize from Tennessee, getting a lot of love. Shai Smith, a wide receiver from the University of South Carolina as well. Robert Jones, this is a name to watch, an offensive lineman, big offensive tackle out of Middle Tennessee State, so we know how John Robinson likes to canvas the local area, and the

guys at Senior Bowl standout, sounds like a solid option that may get some looks, and will probably go middle rounds. Then you have Creed Humphrey, the interior offensive lineman out of Alabama, but I'm sure a lot of you guys have heard of him as well. Quincy Roche, the edge rusher out of Miami, a real name to keep an eye on for the Titans. Thomas Graham Jr., cornerback out of Oregon, had an impressive week in senior bowl practice. And then finally, Dwayne Eskridge,

a wide receiver out of Western Michigan. His route running was absolutely flawless throughout the week. Now, he's a smaller guy. He's your prototypical slot receiver. But, man, the separation that he was getting. Now, one thing to consider, it is practice reps. And while they're incredibly competitive, there's no substitute for live full contact. But Eskridge did make a pretty solid impact

and for being a small school guy should really boost his stock. So there were some other standouts in there I could go on, but those are the main ones that I noticed and that I saw highlighted throughout most of the senior bowl coverage. Now let's take a look. I'm going to go through a longer extended list and talk about players on each side, on each team that Titans fans should be keeping their eye on at positions of need. So we're going to dive into that next. Before we do, I want to tell you guys about our friends.

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On Monday, it was a fan-made Monday, did a few mock drafts, answered your guys' questions in the Monday mailbag. Make sure that you send your questions to me, whether it be on Twitter, at TicTacTitans, or a five-star review in Apple iTunes. I'll make sure to answer those on Monday and give you a shout-out on the show. But we had Monday's show. on Monday and give you a shout out on the show. But we had Monday show.

Tuesday, we got into ranking every single position group on the Tennessee Titans in 2020. I felt that was a great way to kind of get over that 2020 roster. And then on Wednesday, we followed that up by diving into the financials of the 2021 offseason, talked about the Titans cap space, how they could create more, some potential cap casualties that could be cut by the Titans, some players who could be up for a restructured contract. Also discussed the in-house free agents. And then Thursday, what may have been the best episode of the week, we had our conversation with David Turner talking about the draft and the Senior Bowl. Of course, today, a complete Senior Bowl breakdown. So, a great week if I do say so myself.

Make sure that you are subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream as next week, I plan to get into some more NFL draft conversation and dive into some potential player spotlights from the 2020 season. Anybody thinking about Rashawn Evans? Should the Titans use that fifth-year option on him? That's a big player spotlight that I plan for later in the offseason, so make sure that you don't miss that. But we are going to cap off today's Senior Bowl edition of the Locked on Titans podcast by going through the players to watch

who maybe weren't standouts, but still we need to keep an eye on on either team. So let's start with the Miami Dolphins version of the senior bowl, the national team in quotes, taking a look on the defensive side of the ball first at defensive back a name that I mentioned earlier, but somebody that David also mentioned yesterday on the show is Thomas Graham Jr. from Oregon. He's been pretty impressive throughout the week, especially in one-on-one drills. It's really difficult to stay with wide receivers in one-on-one drills when they have the whole field in front of them.

Think when you're playing cornerback. In reality, there's a coverage. You know what your other teammates are doing. When you're on an island in one-on-one drills, it's very easy for the wide receivers to win. But Thomas Graham's done a pretty good job of mirroring guys, and when you can do that in one-on-one, it's just impressive to see. So maybe somebody will take a bump. A defensive lineman that I mentioned already, and I can't believe I was able to get his name close to right the first time, but let's go for round two on Wuzericki. Yes! Yes! Nailed the

dismount. On Wuzickey, the defensive lineman out of Washington. Like I mentioned, the Titans may not be keen for an interior defensive lineman, but imagine if Daquan Jones leaves in free agency. All of a sudden, that's a massive hole for the Titans that they'll probably need to fill in the draft. Then you have defensive lineman Rashad Weaver. He comes from Pitt, and he gives you a little bit more on the edge, kind of a more traditional pass rushing type, but we hear a lot more about his teammate Patrick Jones, also from Pitt, who's kind of an interior guy. I think that he's a version of Jadavian Clowney, maybe a poor man's Clowney. When I talked to David about Patrick Jones, he didn't seem

too elated, but said he needed to watch a little bit more of his film. So Patrick Jones and Rashad Weaver are guys from Pitt who I have my eye on as defensive linemen. As an actual outside linebacker edge rusher, you have Shaka Toney from Penn State, an excellent name. So can't really be mad if the Titans find a way to get their hands on him in the mid rounds. It's a great name to say. I know that inside interior linebacker doesn't seem like a big need, but as I mentioned yesterday, it's kind of a sneaky need in my eyes. And David Turner did mention Baron Browning from Ohio State as a potential option in the mid rounds. On the offensive line, as I mentioned, I think offensive line is a little bit more of a need

than we're paying attention to just because of the age of the offensive linemen that the Titans have outside of Nate Davis. So a guy like Dylan Randuns from North Dakota State, Creed Humphreys from Alabama who's been a standout, Quinn Miners who's been a standout as well. Those are guys the Titans could take a look at in maybe second, third round. Also at the wide receiver position, there's always a bunch of standouts there and a bunch of guys to watch because it's just easy to do well at wide receiver in the circumstances. Dwayne Eskridge, a guy I mentioned earlier from

Western Michigan, kind of a typical slot guy. You got Cade Johnson from South Dakota State. Nico Collins, a guy that David Turner did mention yesterday, he's going to be a big outside boundary wide receiver. Now Collins did skip out on the 2020 college football season and opted out due to COVID-19. Can't really fault him for that personal decision. And guys like that, though, their stock takes a natural hit because people aren't watching them play. But seeing Collins at the Senior Bowl this year should help him get a boost, maybe a

third round option, maybe even a fourth round option for the Titans if he's severely affected by missing the 2020 season. Frank Darby from Arizona State, Sage Sherratt from Wake Forest are other options at wide receiver as well. On the other side of the coin, we have the Carolina Panthers squad that is the quote unquote American team. Defensive back DJ Daniel was a guy that David talked about earlier or yesterday as well. Not a big guy, but somebody that could help you immediately, has good football character.

He did talk about, and David himself called himself the butcher after this one, but Hamza Nazir, not, oh, see, I thought I had it. I thought I had it, guys. I thought I had it. Hamza Nazirud uh, not, oh, see, I thought I had it. I thought I had it, guys. I thought I had it. Hamza Nazrildin. Boom. He's a safety, but he's an incredibly athletic guy. He's a big guy, big, strong safety.

Could even function as a nickel linebacker as well. So that's somebody to keep an eye on. Could be a best player available situation. And also, I would imagine my pronunciation of his name will only get better as time goes. But moving forward, another big name that David talked about a lot is Carlos Basham out of Wake Forest. Then you have another guy who could serve as a real edge rusher,

Peyton Turner out of Houston, who David talked about a lot. Also, Quincy Roche. So the Panthers version of the team has more of your prototypical edge rushers that Titans fans should be paying attention to. Now, on the offensive side of the ball, a guy who I really think the Titans could pay attention to and who recently said that he likes to watch Roger Saffold as someone to get him ready for the NFL, and that is Trey Smith, the interior offensive lineman out of Tennessee. The Titans could be in the market for a guard to replace Roger Saffold eventually. I'm

telling you guys, you don't want to wait until you have to replace all of them at once. You got to start refilling the cupboards a little bit earlier. Draft needs should happen a year before they're obvious, and that keeps you from being in a bad spot overall. So I would expect the Titans to maybe draft two offensive linemen this year, an offensive tackle and an interior guy to help kind of get ready for that. Ben Jones is a guy who deals with a lot of injuries and could, you know, here in the next two to three years be done. You want to get somebody to replace him who can learn from him so you're not blindsided if two guys leave at once or, God forbid, three. So that's somebody who I keep my eye on.

Another guy like that is Drake Jackson from Kentucky. Another guy who has pretty good mobility, good athleticism to fit in a zone scheme. At wide receiver, a guy who I really like a lot is Kadarius Toney from Florida. Again, David said based on his analysis, the Titans should look at some big body wide receivers and to look to add more size. I do get that, and I do think the Titans need to do that, but I think that the Titans may be better served getting that boundary wide receiver as a veteran in free agency, and then going for a speed guy in the slot in the draft, somebody like Kadarius Toney out of Florida State.

Somebody like Tylon Wallace out of Oklahoma State. Now if they want some bigger guys, think about Trevon Grimes from Florida State. Think about Amari Rogers from Clemson. So that's an option as well that'll be on the Panthers side. So those are all the names that I really wanted to go over with you guys. I hope you enjoy the Senior Bowl. I hope you're able to watch it.

It will be on NFL Network at 1.30 p.m. Central Time, 2.30 p.m. Eastern Time. So make sure that you guys check that out if you can. The odds are that some future Tennessee Titans are playing in that game. But we will discuss what took place in the game on Monday. Remember, send me those questions, those Mailbag Monday questions on Twitter at TicTacTitans or in the five-star reviews. Heck, if you go on Facebook and you like and follow the Locked on Titans page, you can post your question in there as well as a comment on one of my posts.

So I'll put up a mailbag post on there for you to put those comments if that is what is most preferable to you. Either way, I will see you guys on Monday. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans. you