Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Calvin Ridley BEST Offseason Move, WORST Additions & Most Underrated Moves

Episode Date: May 8, 2024

The Tennessee Titans have completed the two biggest acquisition phases of the NFL offseason and that makes it a perfect time to go back and evaluate all the moves. First, the best move the Titans made was adding the speedy Calvin Ridley and stealing him away from Jacksonville. Also, the worst move the Titans made in the draft was adding the questionable T'Vondre Sweat. Finally, with all the other moves that have happened since, the most underrated move of the offseason so far was the signing of the reliable Lloyd Cushenberry.  Subscribe to the TicTacTitans Film Channel:https://www.youtube.com/@TicTacTitans TicTacTitans Merchandise: https://dixons-dream.square.site/shop/tictactitans-gear/C3AAPNWXSXA6SBYG3USV2I7R?page=1&limit=30&sort_by=category_order&sort_order=asc Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitans Follow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPod Subscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videos Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Monopoly GO!Game off! We gotta talk more about MONOPOLY GO! This fast paced game let’syou team up with friends for tournaments to unlock awesome prizes like,Unique stickers for trading,- Cool playing pieces,- And hilarious emojis for taunting your friends. So download MONOPOLY GO! now free on Google Play or the App store.Game on! eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply.   FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning GUARANTEED That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

With the two biggest parts of the NFL offseason behind the Tennessee Titans, I think Calvin Ridley was the best addition they made. I'll explain why on today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. 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. Today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast is brought to you by GameTime.

Download the GameTime app, create an account, use the code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. The Tennessee Titans have gone through the main part of free agency. They've gone through the NFL draft. Now it is time to look at the best moves that they made, the worst moves that they made, and the most underrated moves as well. I'm going to look at free agency and the draft and give you my take on each of those categories. Before we dive into it, though, I do want to thank you for making the Locked on Titans

podcast your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. You're not going to beat that anywhere else. Make sure you get subscribed. Stay subscribed to the number one Tennessee Titans podcast in the world. Shout out to my everydayers out there tuning in Monday through Friday. On tomorrow's show, I'm going to get to some of your guys' mailbag questions. Then we're going to hear from Brian Callahan and Will Levis and some people on

Thursday. I'll have a breakdown of that on Thursday night. Over the weekend, we have rookie minicamp for the Titans, and then the NFL schedule drops next week. So much content coming your way. Again, make sure you stick with me here on the Locked on Titans podcast. But with that being said, I said it at the beginning of the show, my number one addition for the Tennessee Titans this offseason was Calvin Ridley. I think that Ridley is such a perfect fit. Now, I'm breaking this up into free agency and draft.

So I'll tell you my best addition in free agency, obviously, is Calvin Ridley. So with Brian Callahan's offense that we've seen him have in Cincinnati, it's such a heavy wide receiver based offense. Three wide receiver looks. Always an 11 personnel out on the field. And the Titans simply did not have any speed at wide receiver. No separators whatsoever. Hopkins, great player, but always been contested.

Catch guy, physical player. Didn't really create a ton of separation. He just has great body control and great hands and again, great in contested catch situations. So he's able to make plays. But you look outside of that, Burks isn't a separator. He's a big physical guy.

NWI had some of the worst separation numbers in the entire NFL. Like the Titans wide receiver group was probably the worst separation numbers in the entire NFL. Like the Titans wide receiver group was probably the worst separating group in the entire NFL. Devoid of speed, devoid of quickness. So to add a guy like Calvin Ridley, it's not just that you got a really good wide receiver. Okay, just in general.

But it's the way that he plays and how it fits within what the Titans needed from their wide receiver group. Calvin Ridley is one of the best route runners in the NFL. Calvin Ridley has excellent speed and quickness. Calvin Ridley is a separator. So not only is he a good player in himself, but he is a perfect pairing with what the Titans already had on the roster

to explain it better, what they didn't have on their roster. So Calvin Ridley just solves such a major issue with this offense. And his ability to get open and get open quickly is going to be absolutely paramount for Will Levis to have somebody to throw to right away and not always just have to chuck it up and hope. You know what I mean? With DeAndre Hopkins, there's a bit of, hey, chuck it up and hope that Hopkins comes down with it. With Ridley, it's going to be, he is

open. I am throwing him the ball right now because he is open. No question about it. Especially when you look at the lack of moves that the Titans made outside of that at wide receiver. I mean, obviously, they're visiting with Zay Jones. They visited with Tyler Boyd. We talked about that situation yesterday. But right now, as things stand,

you just have Hopkins still there. That's good. They brought back NWI, Burks, Phillips. Big question marks at the end of the day. And then you bring in Jaquan Johnson, or Jaquan Jackson, in the draft, and, you know, there's high hopes he can be a contributor

from day one on special teams, but I'm not looking at Jaquan as somebody who's going to make some major impact on offense right away as a sixth-round pick. You know what I mean? So, with the lack of other moves that the Titans have made at wide receiver to this point, and then what Calvin Ridley provides to the group, absolutely my favorite addition of the entire offseason. Certainly my top addition in free agency. Even with the price,

and not only that, all of that, what he means to the Titans, and then stealing him away from Jacksonville and the way that that went down. Just absolutely my favorite move they've made so far this offseason. I know that some people are going to say LeJarrius Sneed, and that's fine. I will not argue with you on that one, but let me know down below

who your favorite best free agent addition has been so far. And of course, Sneed was a trade, but we'll count that in the free agency bucket because at the end of the day, it was basically a free agency transaction. But for the draft, not a lot of options in my opinion, so I'm going to go with J.C. Latham. At the end of the day, the Tennessee Titans had to get an offensive tackle. They needed to grab two starting offensive tackles in my opinion. They only got one so far during this process, but the one that they got, Latham has high end potential. Obviously, I really like Joe Ault. I would have been happy for the

Titans to get Joe Ault, but you're not being honest if you don't admit that JC Latham has higher end upside than Joe Ault. Joe Ault is the, I've explained this before, he's the plug and play, reliable, consistent guy. The Jake Matthews, the Taylor LeJuan, the Colton Miller, the Nate Solder I've seen people compare him to because of the height. He's that kind of consistent. Play for eight years. Never have to worry about it. He's not dominant or anything, but he just does a good job consistently for you.

JC Latham, on the other hand, has Laramie Tunsil, Trent Williams, Tyron Smith-type potential. You know, he's already cut some weight, so he's going to play quicker and more mobile with that kind of raw power and the strength in his hands and the coaching from Bill Callahan. Like, I think with missing a third-round pick

and my obvious thoughts on the second-round pick, we'll get into that in a second, but I just think that J.C. Latham is clearly far and away the best pick that the Titans made in the draft. The combination of the need that they had and the potential that he has together, and with the way the board fell, to me, I wanted neighbors. Those were my two top realistic

options because I knew that Marvin Harrison Jr. was never going to be close, and he wasn't close. I tried to tell everybody that for months and months and months. People wanted to play these dumb games where we act like Marvin Harrison Jr. was a possibility. He was never a possibility. So, for me, realistic, all and neighbors were my top two for sure. I would have been fine with taking Odunze. I think we could look back here and be like, man, Roma Odunze is a weapon. But at the end of the day, with the needs that the Titans had, with the potential that JC Latham has, having Bill Callahan on the staff,

I think it's pretty obvious that the best move the Titans made in the draft was to get JC Latham. So Calvin Ridley is my favorite move of the entire offseason. Definitely my favorite free agency addition. And then J.C. Latham was my best addition in the draft. Let me know your guys' best down below. Play along with me here. Let me know on Twitter, at TicTacTitans, how you feel about your picks. But with that being said,

we got to talk about my worst additions in free agency in the draft. Today's episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp is great. Alright? Because

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betterhelp.com slash locked on to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash locked on. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P,.com, slash, Locked On. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast.

We talked about my best additions so far this offseason in free agency, in the draft as well. We're going to keep that going, and I'm going to talk about my worst additions the Titans made in free agency and the draft. And at the end of the show, I'll go over my most underrated additions in both as well. Before we continue, though, I do want to thank you for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day.

Remember, tomorrow I'm answering your mailbag questions. Unless we get like a big signing with one of these wide receivers or something. Of course, I'll have to pivot. But Thursday, we're going to hear from Brian Callahan, Will Levis, some assistant coaches. I'm going to be bringing you guys a recap of everything they had to say over the weekend. Rookie minicamp.

Next week, the schedule gets released. We got a lot to discuss here on the show. Make sure you get subscribed. Stay subscribed to the number one Tennessee Titans podcast in the world. But with that being said, there were some questionable additions, in my opinion. Absolutely. The Titans made a lot of good moves this offseason. I'm very happy with a lot of the things that they've done. But there are clearly some things that I'm not as big of a fan of. We'll start with free agency. The addition of Kenneth Murray. Look, I know we have talked about the fit.

How Kenneth Murray fits in the Tennessee Titans defense. Why they would have gone out and prioritized Kenneth Murray over other options. We've discussed it. The reality is his skill set fits with a blitzing downhill defense. If the Titans plan to blitz from all over the field, if they want to bring their linebackers up the gut, they want to bring cornerbacks and slots off the sides, they want to bring safeties up the middle,

coming into the box and coming downhill, they want to do twists and stunts and utilize not only their defensive linemen in those twists and stunts, but utilize their linebackers and their defensive backs in those twists and stunts to really confuse offenses, to really muck up the line of scrimmage, to confuse blocking assignments with the offensive line. If the Titans want to do all those things, then I get why they went out and got Kenneth Murray.

All right, Kenneth Murray is a downhill player with great size, 6'3", over 200 pounds, probably close to 230. And he likes to go downhill. He's going to be a good blitzer. He's going to come downhill and be your take-on linebacker to take on lead blockers in the hole and smack people and just use his body. He's going to be a downhill force for the Titans.

That's absolutely the case. But Kenneth Murray has been an utter disappointment since he's been drafted. He's terrible on coverage. He has no coverage awareness whatsoever. Like, he just doesn't understand where to drop, doesn't understand how routes progress. He's a guy who can over-diagnose and over-read his keys. He doesn't have a great understanding of what he's seeing. His eyes lie to him all the time.

He'll overrun things. He'll pursue the wrong things. He gets fooled by misdirection, play-action fakes. He's just all over the place, man. Absolutely all over the place. Kind of like James Williams, Titans draft pick. I would say that's similar, but one's a first-round pick, one's a seventh-round pick, so it's definitely different.

But, like, while the skill set of Kenneth Murray does in theory fit with our theory of what the Titans are going to be doing on defense, and a lot of it is, you know, we're seeing the players that the Titans are adding and using that as a way to surmise what they could plan to do on defense. And I'll be honest with you, if they don't plan to use Kenneth Murray in the way that I just described, then it would be even more of a

disaster than what it is right now. You know what I mean? And I wouldn't necessarily call it a disaster. I would say it's questionable. It's the most questionable free agent decision that they've made. By far my least favorite free agency addition that they've made. I mean, I like the addition of bringing back NWI more than I like the addition of Kenneth Murray based on the other linebackers that were out there, which we've talked about during the free agency preview series here on the show. All the linebackers that were available to the Titans that they could have taken a chance on. And instead, they brought in Kenneth Murray. So it better be because he fits. And the way that he would fit is in the way that

I just described. Downhill, blitzer, take on backer. All of that stuff. Let him go downhill because when he goes backwards and when he has to think too much about what to do and key in diagnose what the play is, he's lost, man. He's just absolutely lost. So maybe the Titans find a way to get the best out of Kenneth Murray and putting him in a situation that fits his skill set and allows him to not think as much and just go out and play

like we've heard from Denard Wilson so far. think as much and just go out and play like we've heard from Denard Wilson so far. If the Titans do that, then maybe the Kenneth Murray deal can work out. But I got to tell you, I'm just not a big fan of the signing. Wasn't a big fan of the signing when it happened. And it's a big leap of faith in Denard Wilson to have Kenneth Murray be your only true linebacker addition in free agency. Like, you're playing with fire there. You absolutely are. To the draft,

I feel bad because you know, I've hammered this point home on my show, on other shows, on socials. I've hammered this point home. But I'm not going to get on here and lie either

just because people get mad about my opinion. One thing I'll tell you, as a listener of this show, I'm never going to falsify my opinions to serve the crowd. I'm never going to be a people pleaser. Hey, I know that people will be mad if I say my opinion, so I'm not going to say my opinion. That's not how I work. You know, that requires and will result in getting a lot of hate for some of the opinions that I

have sometimes and that's just the reality of it. But at the end of the day, be yourself. Say what you truly feel. Speak your mind and live with the results. And I, you know, I don't like the sweat pick. I don't like it. I think they overdrafted him. I'm not a big fan of how he projects into an NFL defense because of the weight concerns, the conditioning concerns,

which is crazy. I had people like, where are their conditioning concerns? I didn't see any of that. And then I dropped six scouting reports from the top scouting sites that are available to the public that all mention his weight and his conditioning, his concerns. Like, if you're going to tell me that you're not worried about that, then that's fine.

But don't act like those aren't obvious concerns. It's the number one concern with Sweat is his conditioning, his off-field commitment to football, his ability to play a ton of snaps at the NFL level. And you can talk about how he had the most snaps at Texas and blah blah blah blah. Okay, great. 35 snaps a game isn't going to make him worth the 38th pick in the NFL. So that may be the most snaps at Texas, but he's not going to play at Texas anymore.

This is the NFL. You know, Jeffrey Simmons is out here playing 75, 80% of snaps. He's got to be on that level if he wants to be worth the 38th pick. So to me, again, I am not convinced that Sweat is going to have the pass rush upside that some people think that he will. Therefore, I am concerned that he is an early down, two down, run stuffing nose tackle. And he doesn't really hit the knee on the ground when taken on double teams. In his pass rush, because people like to clip my show and take me out of context to try to

make me look bad online. Punch up. Keep punching up. But he doesn't play with enough power in his pass rush. He likes to hand fight instead of bull rush. I showed it all on my film breakdown on Tic Tac Titans. Got a lot of views on that. Thank you guys for checking it

out. But yeah, I'm not going to back down off this point anytime soon. I'm going to have to be proved wrong. I'm not just going to switch my opinion on Sweat, which I had before the draft, just to, you know, bow down to the Titans fan mob. Like, no, I'm going to hold strong with my opinion and what I saw on tape and what my concerns are

until he proves me wrong on the field. So obviously my worst, least favorite draft pick was to Vondre Sweat, but you all knew that anyways. But now we got to talk about the most underrated, the one people aren't talking about enough. Very excited to dive into that with you guys. Today's episode is brought to you by GameTime. Look, GameTime is the best place to buy tickets. I buy all my tickets on GameTime, whether it be football, basketball, baseball, concerts, theater, anything that you want,

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for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account, redeem code LOCKEDONNFL. That's L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N-N-F-L for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets. Lowest price. Guaranteed. Titans fans, let's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We talked about the best free agent and draft edition the Titans made, the worst free agent and draft edition the Titans made. You could call that my favorite and my least favorite too. It is just my opinion at the end of the day. But let me know your opinion

down below in the comments. Tag me on Twitter at TicTacTitans. Do want to remind you folks watching on YouTube that if you're ever on the go and you can't watch the show, check out Locked on Titans

on a podcast app. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, whatever. All the different podcast platforms that are out there. Check out the show on the audio version as well if you're ever on the go. Wanted to remind you there. But also, want to let you know that Locked On has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel. It's here on YouTube and now it's also available on Amazon Fire TV and the free Fire TV channels app. It's called Locked

On Sports Today. Locked On Sports Today is here for you again 24 7 covering the top sports stories of the day. You get local experts from all the Locked On shows. You get coverage of every league from our national shows. Find Locked On Sports Today now available on the free Fire TV channels app. But my most underrated additions for the Titans this offseason. In free agency, it's Lloyd Cushenberry. Cushenberry has been pushed under the rug at this

point. All the talk about Calvin Ridley. Then you get the LeJarius Sneed move. And then we move right on to the draft and all the conversation is about J.C. Latham and all the conversation is about Tavondre Sweat. And there's even a ton of conversation about Cedric Gray, the Titans' fourth-round pick inside linebacker. But Lloyd Cushenberry and his impact on this team

and what he can be for this team and how important it is to have somebody in the pivot. Look at that inside football guy calling the center spot the pivot, baby. I'm a big-time, 100 IQ guy. You know what I'm saying? All jokes aside, look, having Lloyd Cushenberry at center is huge for this team. The center is the nervous system, the brain of the offensive line,

speaking with both sides, getting guys lined up, pointing out blocking assignments. Like, it's critical that Lloyd Cushenberry was signed. I was so excited by that move when it first happened, and it feels like so long ago now that that happened. That was like the Titans' big first move. And because of that, it's kind of gone underrated and under the radar a little bit.

But Adam Cushenberry is just as important as Adam J.C. Latham. Like, the Titans could not roll with Aaron Brewer again. The Titans had to make a major addition at center. And we've heard from Lloyd Cushenberry, and he's talked about

how Bill Callahan being here and how he knows that Bill Callahan can take his game to the next level. So we're getting Lloyd Cushenberry, the player that he's been the last few years, is worth the money that the Titans pay. If we get a better version of Lloyd Cushenberry than what we just saw the last few years,

I mean, that would be one of the best centers in the entire NFL. It would be huge. So not only did the Titans make additions, you know, at tackle, but Adam Lloyd Cushenberry in the middle of it all is just completely gone under the radar, is completely underrated at this point. He may end up being the best offseason addition that they made. Now, I'm hoping that that is not the case and that there are other players that step up and make a bigger impact like Ridley, like Snead, like Latham. Of course, that's what you have to hope for, but I just think Lloyd Cushenberry is such a rock-solid addition, such a smart move, such a safe move that it just doesn't get as much love and as pub as it should at this point in the offseason. As for the most underrated in the draft,

I could have gone with Cedric Gray here, but he's getting a ton of pop at this point because he's expected to come in right away. I think Jarvis Brownlee Jr. ends up being the most underrated move of the entire draft. I know that he's coming in without a defined role as a starter right away. You're going to have Chito and Snead on the outside

and McCreary on the inside. But I think that there is a chance that Jarvis Brownlee Jr. could, like, be a long-term fantastic player for the Titans. Like, if there's somebody in the draft class who has, like, obviously with Latham and Sweat, there's a ton of potential there. There's all pro potential there. But if I had to pick a player outside of those two from the Titans draft class

who turns into like a superstar player, it would be Jarvis Brownlee Jr. All right, look, he doesn't have the fantastic deep speed. He's a smaller guy at 5'10". I understand the limitations here, but the feistiness, the fearlessness, the dedication to football, he's just a guy who, like LeJarius Sneed, I could see us waking up in a couple of years and Jarvis

Bradley Jr. is one of the best cornerbacks in the entire NFL. I could absolutely see that with just his temperament, his play style, and you have to remember, LeJarius Sneed was drafted at 138 overall.

The Titans took Jarvis Brownlee at 146. So, eight picks apart. So it's not ridiculous to think that the Titans could have just drafted the next LeJarius Snead. Like, I think that's absolutely a possibility. Is it likely?

No, of course not. It's never likely for a fourth round pick to be an All-Pro. It's never likely. But I just think the Jarvis and injuries are going to happen. There are going to be times where Brownlee has to go in. He can play in the slot. He can play outside. I just think that we're going to look back after this season and look back after a couple of years and be like, wow, that Jarvis Brownlee Jr. pick was way bigger than people thought. To me, just like the Roger McCreary pick.

You know, Roger McCreary got taken in the second round. I remember being like, why did they just take a cornerback? What are we doing? And now Roger McCreary is one of the only four players in the NFL last year to not give up a touchdown and is one of the best nickel cornerbacks in the entire NFL. So I'm just saying I think the Jarvis Brownlee Jr. move

has gone a little underrated at this point with all the conversation about the top three guys. But my best free agency, Calvin Ridley. Draft J.C. Latham. My worst free agency Kenneth Murray. Draft of Andre Sweat. My most underrated free agency Lloyd Cushenberry. Draft

Jarvis Brownlee. Let me know down below how you guys feel about all of these categories. Let me know if you agree or disagree with my selections. But that is going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.