Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Caleb Farley Looks Like a Bust, Chig Okonkwo Snap Counts & Defensive Statistical Dominance

Episode Date: November 14, 2022

The Tennessee Titans defeated the Denver Broncos on Sunday, but suffered some major injuries. 2021 first round pick Caleb Farley has had a tough start to his career and it only got tougher on Monday as it was reported he suffered a major back injury. With Farley's injury concerns coming out of college and has ineffective play when healthy, it looks like Farley was a draft bust. Next, the Titans offense continues to struggle and one of the players who can help is rookie tight end Chig Okonkwo. But the Titans have to get him the ball more and some recent stats make it even more frustrating that they aren't. Finally, despite the offensive woes, the Titans defense continues to dominate games and the stat sheet. All of it may just be a sign of Vrabel's greatness as a coach and why he may win Coach of the Year once again.Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videosSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFLBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!PrizePicksFirst time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That’s PrizePicks.com – promo code; LOCKEDONSimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnNFL to learn more.BlueNileMake your moment sparkle with Blue Nile. Go to BlueNile.com and use code lockedon to save fifty dollars on your purchase of five-hundred dollars or more.BetterHelpThis episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at Betterhelp.com/LockedOn and get on your way to being your best self. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, we got some unfortunate news on Monday, and it might be time to declare Caleb Farley a bust. Then we'll look at some snap counts from the Titans win over the Broncos. The Titans have to play their rookie playmakers more. And finally, we will appreciate some eye-popping numbers from the Titans defense in recent weeks.

All of that and more on today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it. You are Locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Titans fans, we got to talk about the unfortunate news with Caleb Farley, a new injury. I'm going to dive into that. Before I do, I want to let you know that today's episode of Locked on Titans is presented by PrizePix.

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LOCKEDON. Thank you guys for making the Locked On Titans podcast your first listen every day, Monday through Friday, daily, free Tennessee Titans content on all platforms all year round here on the Locked on Titans podcast. It's your team every day. So get subscribed and stay subscribed and stay locked in

to the Locked on Titans podcast. But we got to talk about Caleb Farley, and we got some unfortunate news in a tweet from Ian Rapoport, the NFL insider. He said on Monday, quote, Well, guys, that's not good. noted expert Dr. Robert Watkins is expected to weigh in on Farley and Tweet. Well, guys, that's not good. Number one, disc injury. That's the back.

What was the reason Caleb Farley dropped in the draft? Back injury. So you never want to hear that. And the reality here is, as a lot of you guys know who have back injuries, who have had back injuries, they don't really go away. So that is bad news that the back is now an issue. And also you look, determine how significant it is, how much time he'll miss.

That right there is telling us he's going to miss time. And with it being halfway through the season, I guess I'm just a little pessimistic that he'll be able to return at any point. He's seeing an expert as well on the back. Guys, it's just time to have the conversation. Number one, the reason Farley fell, as we just said, was injuries. He had ACL injuries.

He had back injuries. But the other reason that Caleb Farley fell was he was a major project. He was 6'2", 4'2", 40. Yeah, all the speed and size in the world, but he had only played cornerback for a couple of years since he'd been in college. Didn't have a lot of games of experience.

And there's some concern with a player like that that they'll never become the player you want them to be, whether they stay healthy or not. And I think that the reality here is I'm just willing to say that even if Caleb Farley stayed healthy I don't think that he ever would have been the player that we hoped that he would be.

I mean, and he's been healthy most of this year. Yes, he's coming off the ACL tear. I get it. Guys usually aren't their full self until the year after. But I mean, we were told he was healthy and he's been active and he's played a ton on special teams. He's had zero defensive snaps over the last four games. Zero. With all the injuries in the secondary. The Titans would rather get Terrence Mitchell off the street

and make him a starter. They'd rather take Josh Kalou and play him in the slot as a safety at cornerback rather than have Caleb Farley on the field. Guys. You can point to the injuries all you want. You can say, hey, we'll never know. We'll never know if Caleb Farley would have been a good player or not.

The injuries that... Call it what you want, but I'm willing to say it. Dude never would have done it. He didn't have it. It's unfortunate. Now, I know that the next logical step here is John Robinson. John Robinson. It's his fault. And yeah,

you know what? John Robinson did draft a bust in the first round, back-to-back years. He did. Now, Caleb Farley is nowhere near as bad as a draft bust as Isaiah Wilson. But, I get it. Now, I've defended J. Robinson. He was

really bad during COVID. He's been really good. Otherwise, we'll have that debated a different time. But I can't say that the philosophy is terrible because the philosophy brought Jeffrey Simmons. And yeah, Simmons and Farley were different players in college. Jeff was an absolute certified beast in college. No questions about it. He had an off-the-field incident

and then the ACL tear right before the draft that made him drop to 19th. Farley didn't have that sort of pedigree on the field, but it was the same idea of, hey, this team, the Titans, we're too good. We're never going to have a top 10 pick. We're never going to draft that high up to get guys who are top 10 talents. We're not going to have that opportunity. So if we do get the opportunity to draft top 10 talents,

it's probably going to be with some baggage. It worked out with Jeff. It didn't work out with Caleb. At the end of the day though, I can't say that I hated the swing. I can't say that I hate the philosophy in general, but we see

when it works out and when it doesn't work out. And, you know, maybe some of you guys have pushed back on it, and that's fine, but I think we saw enough from Farley to say, dude wasn't going to work out whether he got healthy or not. And it sucks. I feel bad. I feel sad for Farley. He's been through so much as a human being. He's been through so much. I do feel all for him, but the reality here is he's a bust.

And the Titans will have a need at cornerback again next offseason. So here we go again. But either way, we got to move forward here to some rookies who look like they will be very promising for the Titans. They just need to use them a little bit more. Before we get into that, though, do want to tell you guys a little more about our title sponsor, PrizePix. PrizePix is daily fantasy made simple.

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We just talked about Caleb Farley, his unfortunate situation, the unfortunate start to his career. But now I want to talk about some rookies who maybe are a little bit more promising than Caleb Farley has been during his rookie year or his second year before we get into it. Do want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day,

Monday through Friday, free Tennessee Titans content all year round on all platforms. Make sure you get subscribed and stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast where it's your team every day. But looking at some of the snap counts

coming out of the game against the Broncos, one thing that really jumped out to me was the snap count of the tight end group. Number one, you got Austin Hooper, 38 snaps. Okay, Hoop's been making some big plays for the Titans. This is what we expected. Hooper was tied in one, right? Jeff Swain, 33 snaps.

Chig Okonkwo, 20. Chig Okonkwo, 20 snaps. 20. Shout out to my man Will Lomas who put out this stat it's fantastic there are two tight ends two tight ends in the NFL

who have multiple catches of 40 yards one of them is a pro bowler who has just recently traded for a lot of draft capital in TJ Hawkinson. Now with

the Minnesota Vikings. The other tight end. I'll give you guys 10 seconds to guess who it is. Alright, never mind. You had enough time. It's Chigakonkwo. The Titans rookie who got the third most snaps of any tight end on the team. Look.

The Titans offense doesn't have the playmakers necessary to justify Chigaconquo being third place in snaps amongst the tight end group. They simply don't. That stat right there, the only two tight ends with multiple 40-yard catches, it's a pro bowler and Chig. In the last two games, Chigaconqua has two catches for 89 yards on five targets.

So you're telling me that every time you give this guy the ball, he gets 40 yards, and you're only going to try to get it to him five times, and you're only going to actually get it to him twice in two games, once a piece? Where are more screens for Chigaconquo? Where is the bootleg to throw to toss it to Aconquo in the flat? Where is the tight end wheel route after faking the block on play action

like they used against the Colts in week four? They're not doing enough to get this man the ball. And now look, if you're going to come in here and you're going to talk about the draft negatives with Okonkwo and you're going to say, well, Chigokonkwo doesn't have enough in his back pocket. He doesn't have enough mass. He doesn't have enough weight. He's not a skilled enough blocker. He doesn't have good enough technique. He can't be out there as much as Swain because he doesn't block as well. Okay. Okay. Well,

per pro football focus, Chica Conquo is a top three run blocker on the entire team. He's got a 74.7 run blocking grade. Top three on the entire offense. Jeff Swain has a 64.4. Now, what I'm not going to do is sit here and tell you that pro football focus is gospel and their grade is exactly

how these guys are playing, because it's not. It's not. But obviously, the gap between Chigaconquo and Jeff Swaim as a blocker is nowhere near as big as the gap between their snap count. Swaim is a better blocker. Don't get it twisted. But he's not that much of a better blocker to where he should be out-snapping Chigaconquo by 13 snaps.

End the madness. Get Swaim off the... Let Swaim be tight end three. He's a fine tight end three. But Hooper and Chica Conquo can't get out snapped by Jeff Swaim. Not with the state this offense is in. They can't. They need Conquo's playmaking.

They need his speed. They need the threat of him against the defense. And yeah, you can beat the Colts, the Texans, the Commanders, the Raiders, the Broncos. I mean, you can beat them this way, but you can't beat the Chiefs. You can't beat the Bills.

It's going to be tough to beat the Bengals, the Packers, the Eagles. I mean, they're going to have to get more explosive plays from the offense. And Chig has proven he can make them happen. Now, other than just Chigaconquo, Burks got 35 snaps, NWI got 48, Woods got 50. Burks was coming back from the injury, coming off IR.

Maybe they were trying to limit things, blah, blah, blah. But all I know is don't slow play this. If Burks is healthy, he's good enough to play, he needs to play a ton. He needs to play more. He can't be third place in wide receiver snaps. Yeah, you get a one

game reprieve here because he's coming off the injury. But the Titans can't slow play this and us come back after the next three games and say, oh, why are these guys still completely out snapping Berks? We can't have this happen. Look at the way other rookie wide receivers are being used around the NFL.

Come on. I mean, for better or for worse, these two rookies are two of the top three most explosive options that the Titans have after Derrick Henry. Maybe Dontrell Hilliard is in there. Get these two the ball. Get them the ball, Todd. Get them the ball. But, we're going to move forward. We're going to talk about this defense. We're going to talk about Mike Rabel. My God. My God. They are impressive.

And the numbers show that in a major way. Before we get into it, do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by Bilt. Bilt is home to the best tasting protein bars in the galaxy, the Bilt Bars. And let me tell you what, it's the best of both worlds. With Bilt Bar, you get all of the benefits of a protein bar. You get low calorie, low sugar, high protein, high fiber. They're not chalky, waxy, hard to choke down like a lot of protein bars. But you get all of the taste benefits of a candy bar as well. They got some new flavors. Cookie Dough Topper, Coconut

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We talked about Caleb Farley's situation. We talked about using the rookies and their snap count on offense. Now I want to just be very appreciative. I just want to get into some of the stuff that just makes you smile. The Titans defense and particularly the pass rush and Mike Vrabel as the head coach of the team.

Before we get into that, I do want to thank you guys again for making the Locked On Titans podcast your first listen every day. For your second listen today, check out Locked On Sports today. From the games that matter the most to the biggest stories in sports, go beyond the scoreboard and behind the scenes with local experts and insights only Locked On can provide.

Locked On Sports, available on this app, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This Titans defense. They had 40 pressures. 40 pressures. 40 pressures on Russell Wilson on Sunday. I mean, that's insane. 40? 40? 18 QB hits? That's nuts. That's nuts. the Titans had over 30 pressures in their last game so it's over 70 pressures in two weeks that is insane

and it makes sense when you look at the overall numbers right now the Titans are number one number one in the NFL in total pressures with 214 shout out to Zach Lyons from the Efforts Pod. For that stat. Put out some good stats. Another stat that Zach put out to go with that.

That I think is incredible. Is that the Titans are only blitzing 14% of the time. The team that's second in total pressures in the NFL. Is the Dolphins with 195. So 19 less pressures is second place. They blitz 27% of the time. So the Titans only blitz 14% of the time and have

20 more pressures than second place. Another great stat by Zach, looking at the money allocated on defense amongst the top five teams in total pressure. So it's the Titans, the Dolphins, the Vikings, the Jags, and then the Eagles. Those are the top five teams in pressures pressure. So it's the Titans, the Dolphins, the Vikings, the Jags, and then the Eagles. Those are the top five teams in pressures in the NFL this year.

Well, looking at the salary cap that they've given to the defensive side of the ball, the Titans are 18th in the NFL in salary cap on defense and are number one in pressures. The Dolphins are ninth in money spent on defense. The Vikings are 12th. The Jags are sixth. The Vikings are 12th. The Jags are 6th. The Eagles are 14th. League average is $67 million spent on defense.

The Titans are 18th below league average and money spent on defense. And they still have the most pressures in the NFL. League average is $150. And they got $214. I mean, if we ever needed an answer for how this team is doing what it's doing, it's obvious that it's the pass rush. And this is why I have said since I started doing this freaking show that to

me, pass rush will always be more important than pass coverage. If you can affect the quarterback consistently and quickly, you can get away with a lot in the secondary. You can get away with Trey Avery and Terrence Mitchell and Andrew Adams and Josh Kalou. Do you see what I'm saying? So, I mean, this is just, it's just incredible stuff

from the Titans defense, from the pass rush. Danico Autry is fourth in the NFL in pressures with 41. Over the last six games, and this is from Wes on Broadway on Twitter, over the last six games, the Titans are the number one scoring defense in the NFL, giving up only 84 points. And that includes a game against the number one offense in the NFL. Now again, I will admit, the competition, for the most part, has been weak. The Titans have only played

three teams that I think are any good. The Giants, the Bills, and the Chiefs, and they lost all three of them. Now, maybe the Titans win if they have Tannehill against the Chiefs. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Whatever, I digress. Point is, this defense is doing special stuff. And it's incredible the way that they're playing

and getting pressure on people without blitzing and with all the injuries and all the upheaval and how terrible the offense has been. I mean, this is just an incredible, incredible performance from the defense. And it makes you think, I mean, Mike Rabel might be coach of the year again. I want to read a tweet from Greg Rosenthal from the Around the NFL podcast. Great show. Greg does great work. Greg with 2G. Shout out, old boss.

The Titans are routinely down seven starters, rank 32nd in yards per drive, and have gained more yards than their opponent once this year. They're 6-3. I mean, that is a Mike Vrabel tweet. I mean, that's crazy. It's crazy. It's crazy. And, you know, that statement kind of ties in to what I said

about the opponents the Titans have faced. These next three weeks, on the road Thursday night in Lambeau against a hot Packers team who just had their best game of the year against a good Dallas team. At home, revenge game against Cincy. And then on the road in Philly against Philly, which we all

know all the talk on that game. I mean, these next three weeks, we're going to find out who the Titans really are. Are the Titans 6-3, one of the best teams in the AFC? Or is this a mirage? Is this a fraud? Is this the Titans barely won games against terrible teams? Will the offense catch up to the Titans is basically the question. Will the Titans

be in the worst offense in the NFL eventually catch up to them? We'll see. But all I can tell you is if the Titans go 10-7, 11-6, something like that, I mean, Mike Vrabel might win coach of the year again. He just might. But that's going to do it for me today, folks. Tomorrow is going to be crossover Wednesday because the Titans have a Thursday night game. So we're going to

be talking with Peter Bukowski from the Locked on Packers podcast. And then Thursday will be a game plan Thursday. And then Friday will be a recap of the Thursday night game. And I'll be going live immediately after the game on Thursday night to break down everything that took place. So make sure that you stay locked in to the Locked on Titans

podcast. But that's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans podcast. But that's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.