Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Cam Ward Summer Camp Recap, Will Levis Trade Destinations & Special Teams Trio Set

Starting point is 00:00:00 It looks like Cam Ward's summer is going exactly as he planned. I'll tell you what he's been up to as we kick off our training camp preview with quarterbacks on today's edition of Locked on Titans. 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 Roland, Titans fans. Today's edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is brought to you by FanDuel.

Starting point is 00:00:40 Right now, new customers can get $150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. On today's show, we are finally going to kick off the 2025 Locked on Titans Training Camp Preview Series talking about the quarterbacks. But I'm going to go position by position through the offense, the defense, and the special teams to tell you who I think is a lock to make the roster, who is on the bubble to make the roster, and who is a long shot to make the roster. Training camp is two weeks away. I'm gonna get you as ready and as prepared as a Tennessee Titans fan could be. Before we dive into today's show, do want to thank you for making Locked on Titans your first listen each and every day.

Starting point is 00:01:27 Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. Make sure that you get subscribed, stay subscribed. It's your team every day. Speaking of every day, shout out to my everydayers out there. Tune in Monday through Friday if you aren't an everydayer. Now is the perfect time to join in again. We're gonna go through every position, go through the entire roster leading up to training camp just two weeks away and when the football is here, the football is here. Make sure that you stay locked in to the Locked on Titans podcast where it's your team every day.

Starting point is 00:02:00 With all that being said, Cam Ward told us a few weeks ago when mandatory mini camp ended that his plan for the summer was to stay in shape and throw the bleep out of the football. He wants to throw the bleep out of the football and it looks like that's exactly what he is doing. Cam Ward released basically a 20 minute video on his personal YouTube channel going over a workout session that he was having at the University of Miami at their facility and he had Xavier Restrepo there, he had Chim Dike there, he had Ellic Iomaner there, he had Chick Aconqua there, Chick showed up a little bit late but Chick Aconqua was there nonetheless and this is exactly what we wanted to see from Cam Ward during this little summer break. Cam Ward isn't being crazy and he told us, you know, he didn't want to take this big massive break and go lay back and get... Cam Ward is an obsessive psychotic worker. He is

Starting point is 00:02:58 driven to be the best. His entire goal... Brian Callahan said this recently in an interview with Titans Media that Cam Ward is literally obsessed with being the best professional quarterback that he could possibly be and it goes back to the video of Cam Ward and Shador Sanders from their pre-draft training where he's like you know hop on a song hop on a cam ward say I'm a football player I want people to know me for football and that's it like cam ward truly is a one-track mind singularly focused obsessive worker with football they showed up at the facility at 430 a.m. and guess who was early cam ward 418 saying in the video that he put out on YouTube that we're talking about, I was here at 418. Chig's late. Where's Chig at? Telling, I think I didn't recognize every player because there were some players who

Starting point is 00:03:54 were there who I think were from Miami or played with Cam at Miami who I don't recognize their faces because they aren't on the Tennessee Titans right now, but it might have been Thomas Odecolle, who was there potentially, I couldn't confirm that one. So I didn't say it, you know, I didn't add him in originally when we were talking about it, but that's a potential one. But you know, when you're working with Chigacanque, we're gonna talk about tight ends in the coming days. Chigacanque can have a massive year. Your trio of rookie wide receivers with Chim Dike, Elec Ioman, Xavier Restrepo, the guys who, you know, the Titans need Cam Ward to pop off, but the Titans need these rookie weapons to also take a massive, massive step forward in year one.

Starting point is 00:04:39 Like someone has to ascend here and become a starting level contributor. Like the Titans need that if they want to hit their ceiling this season. So love hearing that from Cam Ward. I would imagine Brian Callahan talked about Al, excuse me, that, you know, a couple of weeks after mandatory mini camp, you got to relax and make sure that you have a good balance. But Brian Callahan said, we get to the 4th of July. After that 4th of July holiday weekend, it's time to ramp it up. Like you need to be ready to go when training camp shows up and not use the first two weeks

Starting point is 00:05:16 of training camp to ramp up. You need to be ramped up from the two weeks before training camp and ready to go. So I would imagine that we'll see more from Cam Ward, maybe not on YouTube, but hear more about different throwing sessions and things he's happened, especially guys start getting back to Nashville, getting ready to go, Cam Ward getting them ready, but this is exactly what you wanted to hear with Cam Ward's summer plan. He's doing exactly what he told us he was going to do. Now, from the training camp preview standpoint of locks, the bubble, and long shots, Cam Ward is a lock. Do I have to go into major detail for why Cam Ward is a lock to make this roster? I don't think I

Starting point is 00:06:00 have to do that, okay? That's obvious. But one lock to make the roster at the quarterback position that I think could be controversial, again, excuse me, still getting over it folks. I'm pushing through. But it's Brandon Allen. And I know, I know you're probably thinking why would Brandon Allen be a lock to make this roster? Who in the world is Brandon Allen? And I know a lot of people maybe aren't every dayers and they should be. And they're kind of trying to tap back in before training camp to understand who's on the team, where's everything at. It's a good time for people to start doing that.

Starting point is 00:06:39 Brandon Allen is not a quarterback that you want out on the field. Okay. Brandon Allen is not a quarterback that you want out on the field. Okay, he's been in the NFL for about six years, seven years. He has 10 starts and he's two and eight in those starts. He is a backup quarterback. Will Levis has more career passing yards than Brandon Allen. This is not somebody who's a high-level backup who's going to come in and play, but why would it be a lock? Well, let me remind you that Brandon Allen was with the Cincinnati Bengals 2020, 2021, 2022. Who does that coincide with? Joe Burrow.

Starting point is 00:07:24 Brandon Allen was signed on this team. Brandon Allen was brought on to this roster to teach Brian Callahan's offense to Cam Ward in the quarterback room. It's one thing to get the coaching from your coaches, but when you're a backup quarterback and a guy in the quarterback room with you can, excuse me, kind of translate everything that the coaches are saying into maybe more of a player friendly way. Again, it's, it's a mentor. It's a translator. Brandon Allen was not brought on this roster because of his quarterback talent.

Starting point is 00:08:01 He was brought on this roster for his mind. Just like he taught Joe Burrow and he mentored Joe Burrow and he was a coach for Joe Burrow, he is going to be that 4K award and I think that was the purpose. So no matter what happens, Brandon Allen's going to make this roster. No matter what, Brandon Allen's going to be on the team because his role doesn't have anything to do with on-field stuff, if we're honest. And also, here's another reality. Just like when Joe Burrow tore his ACL, his rookie season with the Bengals, if Cam Moore does suffer an injury and he's out, you don't want to win. What would be best for the Titans at that point in time would be to lose

Starting point is 00:08:47 games with a bad backup quarterback and set a young team up to get a high level talent in the draft once again with the built-in excuse of, hey, Cam Ward got hurt. That's not what you want to see. But again, look at what happened with the Bengals and they get Jamar Chase. If the Titans were to get another top five pick, not because K-Mord was bad, but because something unfortunate happened, and they were able to get their edge rusher of the future. If they were able to get a trade down for someone coming up to get a quarterback, and stack first round picks, and then maybe they have multiple first round picks in 2027, and they can get a guy like Jeremiah Smith or Ryan Williams. You know, think about the possibilities here.

Starting point is 00:09:29 So, if a catastrophic thing happens, which is the worst thing that could happen for this season from a viewing perspective and a football perspective, with Cam Ward gets hurt, the last thing that you want, in my opinion, is for Will Levis to come in and eke out one or two more wins during the season and just hurt your draft pick. If Cam Ward gets hurt, play Brandon Allen, lose games,

Starting point is 00:09:50 set your team up for success, and next offseason. So that's where I'm at. Cam Ward is a lock, Brandon Allen is a lock, and Will Levis is on the bubble and in my opinion, still needs to be traded. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Look, summer sports are in full swing. Whether you're all about baseball under the bright lights, golf on the greens, high-stake soccer action, FanDuel is the best way to make every game even more exciting. You're already following the action. Why not make it just a little more thrilling?

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Starting point is 00:11:39 offense and defense, tell you who is a lock to make the roster, who is on the bubble to make the roster, who is a long shot to make the roster who is a long shot to Make the roster I told you why cam ward and Brandon Allen are locks to make the team now I'm gonna tell you why will levis is on the bubble and hopefully ends up traded We'll talk about some places he could go and at the end of the show I'm gonna give you guys my thoughts on the special teams trio because I think that is set in stone Heading into training camp. I will just get that out of our way. On tomorrow's episode, I'm going to look at tight end and running back,

Starting point is 00:12:12 and then I'm going to finish the week with offensive line. Next week, we'll do wide receiver and then get into the defense. Again, training camp practice, first one, two weeks away. With that being said, Will Levis is on the bubble. In my opinion, we look at lock bubble long shot and it's not because if Will Levis is not traded, he has a lot to make the roster. I do not believe, I do not believe that the Tennessee Titans would release Will Levis. Will Levis. I do not think that makes any sense. Okay? So, if Will Levis is on the team, not traded, he will be on the team. I think the Titans would keep three quarterbacks. They would keep Ward, Allen, and Levis, if that's the way that it goes down. But I refuse to believe anything other than the Titans would trade Will Levis if they had any opportunity to do it. Like immediately as they have an opportunity to get a fifth, a sixth round pick, they would trade away Will Levis. At the end of the day, I just

Starting point is 00:13:21 think it makes zero human sense to have Will Levis in this locker room with Cam Ward. He's gonna be, he's already said it, this sucks. That's his attitude towards it. And I don't blame him. I'm not blaming Will Levis. He's right. What happened to him sucks. He thought last year he was going to have the opportunity to be the face of a franchise, a good NFL quarterback. I'm sure in his mind he was going to be an MVP, a Super Bowl champion. This is my team. I'm going to lead Nashville. It's a book. And then it all comes crashing down in one year. Not only does it come crashing down on the field for you, but the team tells you we are giving up on you and they draft a quarterback number one

Starting point is 00:13:58 overall. And now you got to be in the quarterback room with that same guy? It just creates a toxic environment. I think that if you're playing Madden, then sure, all those inter-human politics don't matter at all, but when you're in the real world and in a real locker room, those sort of dynamics do matter. And not just for the Titans and for Cam Ward's sake, for Will Levis' sake. You think Will Levis wants to stay here behind Cam Ward? No! Give him,

Starting point is 00:14:32 even if it's to be a backup somewhere else, just the fact that it's somewhere else, a fresh opportunity, wash your mouth out of this experience that you've had with the Titans and go somewhere else, that is what's best for Will Levis too. And if you asked Will Levis, I bet he would tell you that he wishes he could get a fresh opportunity somewhere else. And he's spoken like that when he talked earlier this all season. I don't think you're going to get the best out of Will Levis in this scenario. If he stays on the team through the regular season, you're not going to get the best out of Will Levis in this scenario if he stays on the team through the regular season. You're not going to get the best out of Cam Ward either I don't think. Because instead of having Will Levis in the quarterback room why wouldn't you have somebody

Starting point is 00:15:15 who's more willing to help Cam Ward? And I don't blame Will Levis if he's not like, oh Cam by the way here's something I learned last year. Why would you expect Will Levis to do that? He's not an older player looking to mentor somebody like a Brandon Allen should be. So I will continue to say, and I even guaranteed that Will Levis will be traded because I refuse to believe that Will Levis on the week one roster with this team makes any sense. And you want to look at some places where he could make sense, there's a pretty good amount of them. And this is before we could see training camp injuries. This is before we see players totally disappoint and the team look to churn the bottom of the roster, churn their backup options. So this is even before teams start to move their roster around, try other

Starting point is 00:16:07 things, experience injuries, all of that. The Las Vegas Raiders. Tom Brady obviously has ownership in the Raiders now. He has a connection to Will Levis. Will Levis is big on Tom Brady's brand, like his clothing brand and stuff like that. There's been a connection between Tom Brady and Will Levis. I would rather have Will Levis than Aiden O'Connell. If I'm the Raiders behind Geno Smith, I would rather develop

Starting point is 00:16:35 Will Levis and his talent rather than develop Aiden O'Connell behind Geno Smith as a potential successor. At least you can, you know, groom Will Levis behind Geno Smith and say, hey, Geno's 35. In two years when we move on, Will Levis is the guy. We'll get him for cheap because his rookie contract will just end. We'll get him for, you know, a discount, 10, 15, 20 million a year on a cheap contract to see what he can do. That's our plan. What about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? No, Baker Mayfield isn't old. You don't need to groom a successor, but Will Levis is certainly a better player than Kyle Trask. And if Baker Mayfield were to get hurt or something like that, and you're Tampa Bay and you want to remain competitive, Will Levis is a better option than Kyle Trask. What if you're the Rams? You have Matthew Stafford, who's obviously an older quarterback, might

Starting point is 00:17:29 be his last season. Jimmy Garoppolo, who also is an older, often injured quarterback. If you're Sean McVeigh and you saw Will Levis have his best success in college in your style of offense with Liam Cohen, who's now the head coach of the Jaguars, who made Will Levis have his best success in college in your style of offense with Liam Cohen, who's now the head coach of the Jaguars, who made Will Levis look good at Kentucky in 2021, which is the reason he got drafted so high is that 2021 tape. If you're Sean McVeigh saying, hey, I've seen this guy do pretty well in my system, let's bring him over here and him and Jimmy G can compete.

Starting point is 00:18:00 And then when he wins, I can maybe groom him behind Matthew Stafford. And he can at least be a bridge for me until we find our next quarterback answer. What if Atlanta trades Kirk Cousins and you just want somebody behind Michael Pennings? What about the Detroit Lions? And I know, I know, I know, but Will Levis is better than Hendon Hooker. And Will Levis is at his best in a play action heavy, heavy run offense, which is what the Lions run with Jared Goff. So those teams right there all make sense as a potential option. And again, that's even before injuries, that's even before natural churn of the back end of rosters.

Starting point is 00:18:47 There are so many ways for Will Levis to find a way off this team into a better situation for him, and that would also be best for the Titans. For the locker room, for their draft capital moving forward, it makes too much sense. Now, the long shot at quarterback is Tim Boyle. If Levis is traded, then maybe he could stay on as the third quarterback.

Starting point is 00:19:16 Maybe the Titans keep three quarterbacks. But the odds that Will Levis is traded and Tim Boyle can beat out Brandon Allen with all the things he brings to the table that I talked about in the first segment. The odds that Tim Boyle can ascend all the way to back up quarterback, just not gonna happen. It's just not gonna happen. No! If the Titans keep three quarterbacks and they trade Will Levis, then Tim Boyle obviously gets the spot. But I just don't think that Tim Boyle is a guy who you need to keep on the roster to protect him from getting picked up on waivers. Tim Boyle gets picked up on waivers and you lose him,

Starting point is 00:19:57 so what? We can get a different third quarterback on the practice squad. Not worried about that. So, Tim Boyle, I'm sorry, I'm excited to see you out here in the preseason. I think we'll actually get a good look at the wide receivers on all three, first team, second team, third team. We'll actually get a good look at all the wide receivers this year with a guy like Tim Boyle in there. But at the end of the day, he is a long shot to make the roster. Now that's all four of the quarterbacks. Let's talk about special teams. Titans fans, let's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. It has begun the 2025 Locked on Titans training camp preview talking long shots, bubbles,

Starting point is 00:21:02 locks. We did quarterback. Now we got to talk special teams to cap things off again on tomorrow's episode. I'm gonna be doing tight ends. I'm gonna be doing running backs. We're also gonna be doing offensive line to cap off the week.

Starting point is 00:21:14 Wide receiver to kick off next week. Edge, linebacker, defensive back, interior defensive line. I'm gonna have training camp preview leading off next, next week. There's There's I mean so much coming our way football right around the corner Also, just want to mention superman coming out. I'm going tonight. Can't wait. You guys should check it out, too It's gonna be good. Anyways moving right along Special teams, I think it's pretty clear that the special teams trio is set. There's no competition out there at the moment on the roster.

Starting point is 00:21:53 You have Joey Sly as your kicker. And as a reminder, if you aren't familiar with the Sly Master, out here, Sly is a power kicker. He has a big time leg. He went 26 for 23, or 26 for 33. Last year on his field goal attempts, 25 for 26 on his extra points. This is a guy who makes bombs.

Starting point is 00:22:20 Last year with New England, 63 yarder. The year before that, 61 yarder. The year before that, 58 yarder. Like, consistently hitting. 6 for 9 on 50 plus yards last year, 3 for 5 on 50 plus yards the year before that, 4 for 6 on 50 plus yards the year before that. This is a guy who has a cannon for a leg and that's going to help with touchbacks something that obviously Nick Folk did not have a big time leg. Now Nick hit some big kicks last year some long ones a 51 yarder or 53 yarder I think Nick Folk hit last year if I recall so he actually hit his 50 yarders he He was great. But Joey Sly's leg helps, not only with scoring opportunities, because he can hit from 55+, but it also helps a ton with kickoffs.

Starting point is 00:23:16 So Sly is the kicker, and then we move to Punter. And Punter is obviously set in stone as well. Johnny Hacker. And it's kind of the opposite funnily enough. I don't think that funnily is a word uh comedically enough I guess I could go with but it's funny that the Titans went from an accuracy kicker without power and Nick Fulk to a power kicker with a little less accuracy in Joey Sly and then they go from a power punter in Ryan Stonehouse to an accuracy punter and Johnny Hecker.

Starting point is 00:23:49 So Hecker is an older player. He's 35 years old, just turned 35 in February. I can't say just, I guess February was a while ago now, but four time all pro or if you count second team, six time all pro been one of the best punters in the NFL for quite some time. Just incredible accuracy, incredible hang time, incredible directional kicking as well. Now, Hecker has definitely slowed down. He's not quite the all pro level punter that he was with, you know, St. Louis and then the Los Angeles Rams and Bones Fossil as his special teams coach from 2013 to 2018. He's not quite that punter anymore, which is why it was a questionable decision to let Ryan Stonehouse go,

Starting point is 00:24:34 even though Stonehouse struggled some last year with his hang time and things like that. But Johnny Hecker absolutely gives you more refinement from the punter position. I think that's going to help the coverage teams a lot because last year, we can blame the coverage units and we can blame Colt Anderson, special teams coach, and they deserve their blame. But quite honestly, Ryan Stonehouse deserves some blame for the struggles on punt return last year as well. He didn't quite have the hang time, the arc that you would want, the directional ability.

Starting point is 00:25:02 He was just booting it really far downfield, and it just gave a lot of opportunity for return units to get some good yards against the Titans coverage unit because they couldn't get down there fast enough. So I do think it is questionable to move on from Ryan Stonehouse to an older player and Johnny Hecker, but for what Bones Fossil wants out of a special teams unit, which I think we need to lean into the best special teams

Starting point is 00:25:22 coach in the NFL and whatever he wants to do. If this is what he wanted to do with his, you know, kicking unit with the punter and the kicker with Sly and Hecker, then I trust implicitly in what the vision is. Now, also got to mention Morgan Cox. So Morgan Cox is the Titans' long snapper. He's in his 40s. He is absolutely incredible still at the job. He made the all century team for the NFL for the long snapper position. Quite possibly the greatest long snapper of all time. Morgan Cox again,

Starting point is 00:25:56 older guy, but I'm willing to let Morgan Cox be the long snapper for this football team for as long as he wants to. He's from Tennessee. He's a guy from Collierville. I think it's the way you say it. Tennessee. He's 39 now. Okay.

Starting point is 00:26:11 He'll be 40 in April, but next April. But yeah, I just think Morgan Cox is a guy you let him do it as long as he wants to do. He made the Pro Bowl for the Titans in 2022 as a long snapper. He's been with the team for four seasons now. Just let him keep rocking until he can't no more. He's that good at it. He's a legend. And I think that's set in stone.

Starting point is 00:26:31 So we talked quarterback, special teams is set in stone. Tomorrow we're gonna be doing running back in tight end. We're gonna do the offensive line at the end of the week. Wide receiver to start next week. Training camp is right around the corner folks. That's gonna do it for me today though. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.

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Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Cam Ward Summer Camp Recap, Will Levis Trade Destinations & Special Teams Trio Set

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