Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tannehill's Elite Deep Ball & Draft Deep Dive: Larrell Murchison

Episode Date: May 21, 2020

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, another day, another article about how awesome Ryan Tannehill was in 2019. So earlier this week, we talked about an article that went over 13 different kinds of throws that quarterbacks have to make and which quarterback was the best at each throw in the NFL last season. Of course, as we talked about, Tannehill brought home four of the 13 categories, the most of any single individual quarterback.

Well, the USA Today is back at it again with another article talking about a specific kind of throw and who excelled at them most. And we are going to be talking about deep balls, deep passing. So we will talk about the top 10 deep pass throwers in the NFL in 2019 and where Ryan Tannehill ranks on that list. So that's what we will start off with today. And then, of course, we will continue our draft deep dive series. So we started on Monday with Isaiah Panda Wilson. On Tuesday, we talked about Christian K-Baby Fulton.

On Wednesday, we talked about Darrington Live Evans. And today, we are going to talk about Laurel Murchison. So very excited to talk about him in our second segment. We are going to do a little bit of a background and then talk about what he can provide the Titans on the field, his strengths and weaknesses as a prospect. Very excited to get into that. Of course, I did do a Tic-Tac Titans film breakdown on Isaiah Wilson and on Darrington Evans that are both live right now on Twitter at Tic-Tac Titans. So make sure that you follow me there. Also, make sure that you are subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast. You can go back and check out any of the previous episodes I just discussed if you haven't seen

listen to them already. If not, just be ready for more content coming up shortly. I'm going to get into draft class breakdowns for John Robinson. He is now in his fifth draft class, so it's time to go back and take a look at some of the other draft classes and how they stack up now that we have a little bit of time to accurately judge how he did. So we are going to do that in the future. Make sure you are locked on to the Locked on Titans podcast for that.

Of course, today's episode is sponsored by Built Bar. Make sure you check out builtbar.com and use promo code LOCKEDON for $10 off. Once again, that is $10 off with the promo code LOCKEDON at builtbar.com. But we are going to jump into talking about Tannehill and how he ranks in the list of deep ball throwers in the NFL, jump into the next edition of our draft deep dive about Larell Murchison and wrap things up with a little bit of Sounds of the Titans on Murchison as well. A very exciting episode to get in with you guys. Let's get it. In an article from earlier this week, USA Today's Doug Fara went over 13 different types of throws or situations that NFL quarterbacks are faced with and then determined which quarterback in the NFL last season was the very best at that particular throw. in the NFL last season was the very best at that particular throw and Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill was well represented in that article bringing home four of the 13 categories and

winning four of those categories out of the 13 was the most of any individual quarterback on the list and Tannehill was able to bring home a victory in these four categories. The three-step drop throw, the outside the pocket throw, the play action throw, and a throw with no pressure. But the accolades don't stop there for Ryan Tannehill. Fara came out with another article more recently this week talking about the best deep ball throwers in the NFL in 2019 and it is no surprise that Ryan Tannehill represented himself very well on that list as well. To give you guys more understanding of how this list was compiled

let's take a look at what statistics were used when making this list. Fara says that of course there was some opinion in the list but they also focused on tape study pro football focuses metrics regarding throws of 20 or more air yards sports info solutions data on specific deep routes like posts fades slant and goes and deep crosses and then also next gen stats numbers regarding throws into tight coverage, percentage of air yards, and attempted completed air yards as well. So let's get into the list, and Farah, of course, has Tannehill at number three, and those that came in behind him were Gardner Minshew, Kirk Cousins, Tom Brady, Deshaun Watson, Dak Prescott, Lamar Jackson, and Aaron Rodgers. So Tannehill will come in at number three

on the list and Fara had this to say about Tannehill and his ability to throw the deep ball in 2019. Quote, like Garner Minshew, Tannehill had a relatively low sample size as he replaced Marcus Mariota halfway through Tennessee's 2019 season, but he left no question about his abilities, and the deep ball was one of many positive factors. On deep routes, Tannehill completed 30 of 53 passes for 865 yards, 584 air yards, 7 touchdowns, 1 interception, and a passer rating of 134.6, which led the NFL. Tannehill did so while throwing into tight coverage on 19.6 of his total passes, sixth highest in the NFL. So looking at both of these articles from Fara, who has clearly done extensive research

on the quarterback position in recent weeks, it is obvious that Ryan Tannehill was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL last year, but not only that, was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL at multiple different types of throws. This should give Tennessee Titans fans hope and optimism that while Ryan Tannehill is due for some regression, it will not impact his ability to be a top half of the league quarterback in 2020. But with that in mind, it is time to get into the next installment of our draft deep dive series where we go over the background of Laurel Murchison, talk a little bit about his strengths and weaknesses on the field and how that fits into what the Titans want

to do. And then of course, to wrap up our show, we will get some sounds of the Titans where we hear from head coach Mike Rabel, general manager John Robinson about the selection of Larell Murchison. But we also will hear from his college coach to talk about how he was as a recruit and how he progressed during his time at NC State. So very excited to get into that draft deep dive with you guys. Before we do that, do want to remind you to check out Built Bar.

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As I mentioned at the beginning of the show, we started off the week with Isaiah Wilson. Have an awesome video breakdown to go along with our conversation from Monday's podcast on Twitter at TechTacTitans. Tuesday, we broke down Christian Fulton and talked about what he could be for the Titans secondary. Yesterday, we talked about Darrington Evans and how he can impact the Titans offense in comparison to what Deion Lewis was able to do and what I think will be a similar role. And I have a really great video breakdown on that as well on my Twitter at Tic Tac Titans. So did a film breakdown there for Isaiah Wilson and for Darrington Evans. Very excited for you guys to check those out. Make sure that you do. But today, it is time to get into Titans' fifth round pick, Larell Murchison.

And talking a little bit about Murchison, obviously, he came out of North Carolina State, but he spent two seasons at North Carolina State. He actually started his college career at Lewisburg College in Elizabethtown, North Carolina. Very, very close, which is only about two hours away from where he grew up in North Carolina. He was an honorable mention All-American at the junior college level, considered a top 50 JUCO recruit after his second season at Lewisburg,

and then he redshirted because of a transfer in his first season at NC State with the Wolfpack. But once he was able to actually get on the field in 2018, he started 13 games and was the defensive lineman of the year for NC State. He had 34 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 4 sacks and interception, and 2 pass breakups as a defensive lineman. He improved as a senior as well. Got second team all ACC honors and led the team with 12 tackles for loss and seven sacks. He actually had 48 total tackles and two pass breakups in his 12 starts as a senior as well. So Murchison is known as an incredibly

hard worker. He's only 6'2", 297 pounds, so a tad undersized for your typical interior defensive lineman, but he makes up for that with incredible effort. He's just a guy who is always hustling at all times, and obviously that type of attitude is exactly what the Titans are looking for as an organization. He did have production not only against the pass, we talked about the sacks, but against the run as well with the tackles for loss. He's, as I mentioned, he's more of an effort guy than a finesse guy, but being an undersized defensive lineman,

you counter that with incredible burst and good athleticism for his size. He's a very quick guy, and he's not going to be a defensive lineman who has taken on a bunch of offensive linemen trying to clean things up for the linebackers. That's more of a two-gap technique. This is a penetrating defensive lineman, so I hate to make this comparison. Obviously, the talent level isn't necessarily the same, and I don't want to put too big of expectations on Murchison here. I don't expect him to reach the pinnacles that this player reached, but just for pure comparison

of playing style, it makes sense. He's a Jarrell Casey type, and I know that, you know, that may trigger some people because of the Jarrell Casey trade, but I think it's clear that John Robinson and Mike Vrabel wanted to get a player, a similar style player, to Jarrell Casey in the building, and that's exactly what Murchison is. He is a one-gap penetrator, is a three technique. He could play a little bit of five technique, but I see him more as a penetrator in sub packages, playing alongside maybe a Jeffrey Simmons, giving Jeffrey Simmons a break and playing alongside a Daquan Jones.

I think he has the ability to do that. And also where he's very good using that quick lateral movement is against the run. It's not only just about rushing the passer. That's what we think of most when we talk about the D-line, but something to give you an example. So we talked about Isaiah Wilson and his ability to take that reach step off the snap and get in front of a defensive lineman who you know most likely or should at least have an easier route to the running back than it would be for the offensive tackle to get in front of them so Laurel Murchison whereas Isaiah Wilson's great at taking that reach step using his quickness and getting in front and crossing the face of that defensive lineman, Murchison is great at the opposite. When he has to get through an offensive lineman to get

to the side of the run, he uses that quickness to burst in front of an offensive lineman and cross his face a lot of the time. So really appreciate his ability to do that. And of course, that quickness helps him in the pass rush as well. And one of his best moves that he has, and it pops up a lot on tape, is a spin move. He puts a devastating spin move on interior offensive lineman because he's so low to the ground, has a good center of gravity, has good balance, and then of course utilizes that quickness and that burst from being a little bit undersized. He doesn't get put on the ground very often by bigger offensive linemen, which is something that I really enjoy seeing. He's physical, and he does play with proper technique when it comes to taking on double teams. So as an

undersized guy, you have to play with proper technique. If your size doesn't necessarily help you beat those double teams, then you need to do it by the book as best as possible. And then the last thing I do want to mention is that motor of his. He has never, ever stopped when it comes to charging forward to try to get to the quarterback. His initial move may not work. He may get swallowed up by a bigger offensive lineman, but his motor runs hot and he never stops trying to get to the quarterback.

Now the problem with what we've talked about, that undersized nature, obviously he's not going to be able to hold up against bigger, stronger offensive linemen. Also, like I mentioned, he's not a two-gap defensive lineman. You shouldn't ask him to hold up blockers to keep linebackers clean that's not what he does well he's explosive he's a penetrator he gets through the offensive line he gets through a gap and it's best if you just ask him to do that now he's not going to be great at catching running backs from behind he's probably not going to be asked to drop into coverage even though he has a little bit of success with that so I do think that while he has a lot of upside as a penetrator and a rotational

pass rusher I don't think that he has necessarily the size or the athleticism needed to become a full-time starter for the Titans but teams and Super Bowls are designed well teams are built and Super Bowls are won on depth along the roster. And having a good rotation of defensive linemen that can keep everybody fresh and have varying skill sets is very important to building an overall team. So I do think that from that perspective, Murchison can really help out this team even if he doesn't profile as a long-term starter.

He's going to be a cheap rotational defensive lineman for at least the next four seasons. And one thing I do want to mention about Murchison, just as we step into our third segment and get to hear from some of the people who have spent time scouting him and spent time developing him, Murchison has a very famous sack dance or a very famous celebration, and that is him playing the guitar. He strums the air guitar when he makes good plays.

Obviously, that will endear him to the Nashville and Tennessee market. So excited to see him play a little bit of air guitar in the backfield of opposing teams in 2020. But that is going to wrap up our draft deep dive with the film and the background for Larell Murchison. We are going to get into, like I said, the sounds of the Titans here. Hear from Laurel Murchison's college coach at NC State. Hear from general manager John Robinson and quickly hear from head coach Mike Rabel on

their thoughts about murchison by doing a little sounds of the titans and i've enjoyed this aspect of the draft deep dives with you guys i like playing some of the audio either from the player himself, from general manager John Robinson, head coach Mike Rabel, and in this case we are going to hear directly from Larell Murchison's college coach Dave Doran. He's going to talk a little bit about what it was like to recruit Larell Murchison, what his family is like, and then also talk about how he improved in college on the field talk just generally about the type of player and person that the titans are getting once again all of the audio here is

courtesy of tennesseetitans.com so definitely do appreciate that but i hope you do enjoy hearing from laurel murchison's college coach you know know, on film, he was a very disruptive player. You know, he was a guy that was constantly in the backfield. He was a penetration type guy, and that's what we like on the defensive line. He's just a very caring young man. You know, he's got a twin brother. The parents are awesome people. You know, blue collar, small town guy,

and everything that we look for besides the athleticism is the work ethic piece and that was a great match. I think the game just slowed down a lot for Larell you know he was just running around kind of out of control when we first got him wanting to make plays but not really processing the defense or taking in the information that offense was telling him to freeze now and so just you, understanding our scheme for one, and then being able to apply it to down and distance and formation tendencies and alignment, stance tendencies, taking advantage of those nuggets,

I think the game really slowed down for him. You know, physically, I would say it's his athleticism, like his twitch, you know, I think he's got a lot of disruptive ability. From just a day in and day out standpoint, I would tell you it's his consistent work ethic. I mean, he's just every day gives you everything he has and doesn't look a smile. You know, his sack dance is him playing the guitar, which I'm assuming is a big deal down there. I'm sure they'll like that part of what he does.

Mom runs a little restaurant, a nice little southern cooking restaurant over in the eastern part of North Carolina. They're getting the guy that's just going to handle his business and be a pro, I think, more than anything. He's going to be a guy that represents them in the community. He's going to be a guy that plays his butt off, you know, when given the opportunity. Next, let's hear from Titans general manager John Robinson about what attracted him to Larell Murchison in the fifth round.

Yeah, you know, I think that you've heard us talk about it, probably ad nauseum for some of you about the versatility for, for guys, especially on the line of scrimmage and either at receiver or defensive back, the more positions they can play, the more opportunity they have to make the team you know, Murchison kind of played all along the line there. I watched a lot of tape on him this past fall and he went down to the senior bowl and I thought had a good week, had good length. I had a really great conversation with him

via FaceTime a week or so ago. I know Big T, our D-line coach, has spent a lot of time with him and he was, we thought he was a guy that has some, has size, he has length, he has strength, he's got some power in the run game, he's got some quickness and the ability to flip his hips in the pass rush. So excited that he was there and we're going to get to work with him. And then finally, let's hear from head coach Mike Vrabel about what he liked about Murchison pre-draft and what he can do for the Titans right now. Well, I mean, I think that the further along you get into the evaluation process, you start to have feelings for guys and you understand their ability to learn and their ability to connect with you as a coach or a position coach. And I think that's what happened

here. The longer the process went out, the more that we all started to like Laurel and his willingness to learn our defense and build a relationship. So I think that there's, at least coming in, there's some versatility that he can provide us. All right, so that is going to wrap up our draft deep dive on Laurel Murchison. And full disclosure with you guys, I do not plan on doing a draft deep dive on Laurel Murchison and full disclosure with you guys I do not plan on doing a draft deep dive for Cole McDonald and Chris Jackson I think that the odds that they actually end up on the final roster are kind of low so I don't want to spend too much of my time or your time breaking down guys who quite frankly could be on other teams or on other practice squads by October. But with that in mind,

our draft deep dive series will come to a close. We are going to tomorrow, of course, pull out our Friday mailbag. So make sure that you are following me on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans and sending me your mailbag questions there. I am going to read those, answer those, and give you guys a shout out on tomorrow's podcast. Also going to hear from Jeff Simmons, going to hear from AJ Brown as they did a little bit of media availability on Wednesday. So I will make sure to get some of the highlights from that to you guys as well. So very excited about next week's content. Also, I'm going to be jumping into my draft class breakdown series

where we look at John Robinson's draft classes from the first four years of his tenure here in Tennessee and kind of take a look with a little bit more time to analyze those, how those drafts stack up. So excited to get into that next week. Make sure that you are subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast so you are there when those episodes go live. But that is going to do it for me today.

Now that you are done with this episode of the Locked on Titans podcast, make sure you check out the Locked on NFL Draft podcast. Still going over things from the draft. Still looking forward to the 2021 NFL Draft. And if you're a draft junkie like me me never too early to get started on those breakdowns but as always I am your host Tyler Rowland and this was Locked on Titans