Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Carson Wentz or Will Levis Choice, Cooper Kupp Great Fit & Kenneth Murray Traded

Episode Date: March 12, 2025

As the Tennessee Titans quarterback options dwindle, it looks like the choice could be down to Carson Wentz or Will Levis. It is a sad state of affairs, but Levis is the definitive right answer. No matter who is at quarterback, they will need some help at wide receiver and while the Titans may have signed Van Jefferson, Cooper Kupp remains a good fit for the team, but likely won't be interested. Finally, the Titans signings point to a clear path forward. They may not be outright tanking, but they clearly aren't looking for long-term solutions. 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!BetterhelpDiscover your relationship “green flags” with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com/lockedon today to get 10% off your first month. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA. 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)

It looks like the Titans options at quarterback this year could be Carson Wentz or Will Lepps. I'll break it down 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 on today's show. It's a recap of day three of NFL free agency. We got some more signings for the Tennessee Titans. Their plan is very clear and obvious.

And that plan may include Carson Wentz at quarterback before I dive into all of it. Do want to thank you for making locked on Titans your first listen each and every day, 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 tuning in Monday

through Friday. Couldn't do it without you guys. If you aren't an everydayer, you need to be one because there's breaking news all the time. This time of year, the draft is right around the corner. I'm going to be going over 200 different prospects. There's storm, still more free agency moves to make. I'm breaking it all down and keeping you as informed as possible here on the locked on Titans podcast, but the quarterback position still untouched, no additions at quarterback. As of this moment, we saw Jacobi Bursette go off the board. We saw Marcus Mariota, those who were hoping for a reunion.

Marcus Mariota goes off the board and goes back to the Washington commanders, which if you're Marcus, why would you come to Tennessee when you could go back to the commanders? Which is a great situation for him and a good football team, you know? So I don't blame Marcus whatsoever. I didn't think that Marcus was ever coming back to Tennessee in the first place. But with that being said, and with the quarterback market, Rogers is going to go to the Steelers most likely. And then Russell Wilson is either going to go to the Browns or go to the giants. Like the Titans are in on any of those names, but a name that the Titans

are reportedly in on is Carson Wentz. Wait, what Carson Wentz? This comes on top of the only other rumored interest that the Titans have that can be taken seriously is Mack Jones and Zach Wilson. And even Zach Wilson went to Miami to hang out with Nick Westbrook. So what are the options here? Jamis Winston is still available. Garner Mentschew is. Garner Menchu is available.

Carson Wentz is available. And then you have Will Levitt still on the team. And I guess what most people are screaming at their screen right now is, or yelling at their podcast is, Cam Ward. Cam Ward. And look, at this point, and I said it recently, it was yesterday's show. You're either taking cam ward or you are tanking the season. Like that's where the Titans are at.

Because if you want to go with Carson Wentz or Will Levis, or even if it's Mac Jones or Gardner Mintchew or Jamis Winston, like none of those quarterbacks are going to lead you anywhere close to a winning season. There is no magical turnaround that is happening this year. If that's who one of your starting quarterbacks are going to lead you anywhere close to a winning season. There is no magical turnaround that is happening this year. If that's who one of your starting quarterbacks are, if the Titans do decide to pass on cam ward and trade down in the draft, then there is no doubt about it. That they are tanking this season on purpose. And we're going to talk about that later in the show.

When we talk about how the Titans total vision is very clear. But if the Titans were met with the decision of starting Will Levis or Carson Wentz, Mac Jones, James Winston, Garner Minchew, they have to start Will Levis. Like, what are we talking about here? What are we really talking about? Think about the upside. How many games are you winning with Garner Mintchew or Mac Jones or Jameis Winston? I don't think you're winning any additional games with those three

over Will Levis. And if so, what is the difference? One game. You can't sit up here and tell me that Jamis Winston is a three game difference to Will Levis or Mack Jones is a three game difference than Will Levis or that Garner Mintew is a three game difference from Will Levis. I'm sorry, I'm not buying that. Mack Jones played for the Jags all year. Garner Mintchew played for the Raiders all year. Jameis Winston played for the Browns. How good were all those teams?

Those guys aren't difference makers. Those guys aren't going to make the team any better. At that point, you have to, you have to go with Will Levis for another year. The reason that I have never thought that Will Levis starting next year was realistic is because Brian Callahan would immediately be fired. Like Brian Callahan has no chance at saving his job. If Will Levis is his starting quarterback next year. But if you look at what the Titans have done so far, they don't care about Brian Callahan's job security. They are setting Brian Callahan up to be fired.

I think that Amy just didn't want to fire Brian because she didn't want to pay him and variable. At the same time. She doesn't want to, you know, fire another coach and do another coaching search on top of a GM search. We fired too many people. We fired variable, and then we fired ran. We can't, you know, fire another coach too. After one year, we can't be the franchise that fires a head coach after one year.

But I think it's pretty clear that Brian or that Chad breaker and Mike Borgazzi. Don't care if Brian Callahan gets a fair opportunity to save his job. Like if you give him Carson Wentz or Will Levis or Will Levis and Mac Jones or Will Levis and Jamis Winston, or, you know, like you're not giving him a fair chance to win. But, but if those are my options, if that's what I'm choosing between is those veteran pick up off the street quarterbacks and will Levis will Levis has endless more upside than any of those guys. None of those guys are a long-term option for you anyway.

So start will Levis like I know that Levis was terrible last year. I know the odds of will Levis ever being good are very, very low. But again, what is the upside with Minshew or Winston or Mack Jones compared to the benefit of starting those guys? Like, I'm sorry, but it just, the math ain't math and on that it doesn't make any sense. There isn't enough upside in one of those veterans to eliminate the upside of Will Levis. And if you're going with Garner, Mentsch, you or Jamis Winston or Mack Jones at quarterback,

you are already acknowledging that you're not a playoff team this year. So you're not trying to maximize wins anyway. So if you're not trying to maximize wins, you might as well go with the higher upside player, which is Will Levis. This would be the first time in four seasons that Will Levis got to have the same offense and the same play caller.

I don't think that Will Levis is the answer. I don't think that Will Levis is going to be good all of a sudden. I don't think that Will Levis is the answer. I don't think that will Levis is going to be good all of a sudden. I don't think that will Levis should be the starting quarterback for the Titans. I can already hear the comments. You love will Levis your will have it. No, I'm not. I don't want will let us to be the starter for the Titans. I would rather have cam ward by far a hundred times, but what the Titans are doing is

sending you a message and if you don't want to listen to that and you want to ignore it, then that's on you. So if I have the choice between two bad options between old Will Levis and new young Will Levis, I'm going to go with new young Will Levis over old Will Levis, which is just Carson Wentz. Carson Wentz is old Will Levis and Will Levis is young Will Levis. So I'm going with Will Levis. No question about it.

No doubt about it. No doubt about it. No if, ands or buts. I'm not starting Mac Jones, Jamis Winston or Garner Minju or Carson Wentz over Will Levis. I'm just simply not. It doesn't make any sense. But with that being said, if the Titans do want to take this season seriously and go out and get some real help at wide receiver, Cooper cup is now

available, plus the Titans signed a wide receiver and an offensive lineman. Do you want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by Monarch Money. Ever check your bank account and wonder, where did all my money go between dining out, online shopping, entertainment apps, it's easy to lose track. That's where Monarch Money comes in. Your personal CFO giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money isn't just a budgeting app.

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That's MonarchMoney.com code locked on NFL for half off your first year. Titans fans. Let's continue today's edition of the locked on Titans podcast. We talked about the quarterback situation and where the Titans are at right now. We're here and they're reportedly interested in Carson Wentz. How real that is. I don't know, but if the Titans truly do not draft a quarterback and they go with Will Levis or competition, they have to start Will Levis.

But to make the offense better, no matter who is playing quarterback, the Titans could probably use some wide receivers. They signed one on Wednesday, but, uh, they could probably use another wide receiver and somebody who would make a ton of sense is Cooper cup. Cooper cup was officially released by the Los Angeles Rams. Look, I get it. You know, Cooper cup has really slowed down in his last few years. He's only played 79% of, of his possible games since 2021, where he went crazy. That doesn't really fit with what the Titans are doing this all season. If you look at all of the players

that the Titans have signed this all season, they're all very, very durable players for the most part. They're all guys who for the most of their career have played all of the games. So with that in mind, I don't think Cooper cup necessarily fits. He's going to be 32 years old coming up this season. He's probably going to get, I would imagine between 12 to $18 million a season. I know that's a big gap, but it kind of depends on what he wants to do. If Cooper cup wants to win and he's going to prioritize winning, well, then he's not going to be an option for the Titans no matter what the money is.

He'll probably take less money to go somewhere and win versus he could probably get 15 to $18 million for two seasons from the Titans because the Titans are in a desperate spot at wide receiver. So Cooper cup again is my best older option, but I would love a Mari Cooper to a Mari Cooper makes a ton of sense for the Tennessee Titans as an older veteran wide receiver that can come in and just give them production, man. Because right now you got Calvin Ridley and Traylon Burks and Jaquan Jackson and Bryce Oliver.

And that is a despicable quartet right there. No matter who is going to play quarterback, whether it's cam ward or whether it's Will Levis or whether it's somebody else. So outside of a Maury Cooper and Cooper cup, you could look at a Keenan Allen. Deandre Hopkins went to the Baltimore Raven, $6 million. Not shocked there. Um, Mike Williams could be an option for you as well. That could make some sense.

Stefan digs coming off the ACL tear. Maybe the Titans take a chance there, but basically the Titans should look to one of these veteran wide receivers for 10 to 15, 16 million dollars for about two years. That's really low money, really value deals right there. You're not making, you know, make half of one year guaranteed. Like you don't need to break the bank to bring in one of these guys can be very low end and be like, Hey, we'll pay you the most money of anybody on the market to come in for one season and just beep her up.

Like that simple. But if the Titans do something like that, I guess I'm, I'm not confident it would be Cooper cut because of the injury stuff, but anytime like Stefan Diggs is off an ACL Amari Cooper has missed time. Kenan Allen has missed a ton of time in recent years. Mike Williams, of course, has been known as an injury guy. So you're already going into one of those signings and one of those situations, knowing that you're not going to get a guy with incredible

durability. Now the Titans did go out and sign a receiver on Wednesday, but I gotta tell you, it's not much to write home about. They got van Jefferson, six foot one, 200 pounds. He is a hometown guy. He's from Brentwood, Tennessee. He is 28 years old. He's going to be 29 in July.

Another guy played 16 games, 17 games, 11 games, 17 games, 17 games. He's just a guy who plays. He's played 16 or 17 games, five out of his six seasons or one, two, three, four, five, four out of his five seasons. Another guy who's incredibly durable. Now productive in his second season in the NFL, that super bowl year with the Los Angeles Rams. It's funny. We go from Cooper cup to talking about one of his teammates on that super

bowl team with the Rams van Jefferson had 50 catches, 802 yards, um, two or how many touchdowns that year? A couple of touchdowns that year. I do believe I'm not crazy. Uh, yeah. Or no, no, no, no. I'm crazy. Six touchdowns that year. I do believe I'm not crazy. Uh, yeah. Or no, no, no, no. I'm crazy. Six touchdowns that year. Yeah. So we had a great year, but then he kind of comes back down to earth. 2022, 24 catches, three 69, three touchdowns. Then 2023 is last year with the Rams. He got traded to Atlanta during that played 12 games with Atlanta five with, uh, the Rams. He only had 209 yards on 20 catches and zero touchdowns last year.

24 catches, 276 yards, two touchdowns. Like van Jefferson is replacing Nick Westbrook. Akina is their wide receiver for that's the role that van Jefferson should be playing in the NFL right now as wide receiver for that. Like, like Pittsburgh had van Jefferson is their wide receiver two last year. And they made a mid season trade for Mike Williams because van Jefferson was not good enough to be their wide receiver too. He's a wide receiver for the Titans.

Don't have a wide receiver to where a wide receiver three, they have Calvin Ridley as a wide receiver one, which some may say Calvin Ridley is slowly turning into a wide receiver three. They have Calvin Ridley is a wide receiver one, which some may say Calvin Ridley is slowly turning into a wide receiver too. So that's an option. But like, if you don't have a wide receiver one, you don't have a wide receiver three, you have wide receiver two and wide receiver four again. I don't care who plays quarterback, whether it's Will Levis, Carson Wentz, cam ward, Cheddar Sanders, or, you know, me, like the wide receiver group is going to be awful and there's

nothing they can do about it. Like there is nothing that they can do about it. I guess if you draft wide receiver, like if they trade back to number three and they take Travis Hunter with the understanding if they trade back to number three and they take Travis Hunter with the understanding they're going to play him at wide receiver full time. And then you draft another, like you draft Isaiah bond with one of the extra picks that you get, you know, or Xavier Restrepo, something like that.

A slot guy. If the Titans go out and draft, you know, Travis Hunter and a Mecca, a Bucca. Yeah. Well, then the wide receiver group is saved and they're awesome. But are the Titans going to do that? No, they're not. So look, I'm not mad at the van Jefferson signing.

He's a nice wide receiver for it's just when you don't have a wide receiver tune, you don't have a wide receiver three. It's just something where you kind of just roll your eyes. But again, it's another durable player. receiver two and you don't have a wide receiver three. It's just something where you kind of just roll your eyes, but again, it's another durable player. And then the Titans signed an offensive lineman on Wednesday. Blake Hans six foot five, 310, 315 pounds, uh, just turned 29 years old. He has been a backup his entire career.

He started out with bill Callahan in Cleveland in 2021, 17 games played 644 snaps started eight games with bill Callahan in Cleveland as a right tackle. Then he went to San Francisco for a year, played a little bit of tackle, played a little bit of guard played in 16 games. Then he goes to Jacksonville for the last two years. He's been in Jacksonville, uh, played 17 games in 2023 only made one start played nine games last year only made one start. He is a swing tackle, versatile guy on the interior or on the

offensive line in general, a guy with familiarity with bill Callahan, but this is not a starting level player. Like this is not the Titans new starting right guard or anything like that. At least it shouldn't be folks. It should not be her boy. I would be very worried about that, but van Jefferson, Blake Hans, if you look. But van Jefferson, Blake hands, if you look, 17 games, 16 games, 17 games, nine games last year, like it's a guy who just plays.

He's durable. He's available. And at the end of the day, what the Titans are doing in free agency makes their plan clear for what they're looking to do in 2025. First, do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. March Madness is here and FanDuel is giving you the chance to get in on the action like never before. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. That's 200 extra bucks on everything from buzzer beaters to Cinderella stories. Even who's cutting down the nets.

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It's Fandl, America's number one sports book. Titans fans. Let's cap off today's edition of the locked on Titans podcast. Talked about the quarterback situation and the rumor that the Titans are interested in Carson Wentz, what that means, who he would be throwing to Cooper cup is free, but I doubt they go that direction. Some other signings worth noting van Jefferson was one year, 2 million. And Blake Hans was one year, 1 million. So, I mean, they're, those are nothing signings at the end of the day, but I

want to talk about what all these signings mean the end of the day, but I want to talk about what all these signings mean so far for the Titans. It is truly been a boring free agency. The Titans make the splash with Dan Moore, but after that, you know, they bring in Cody Barton and they bring in Johnny Hecker, a punter, and now they bring in van Jefferson and they bring in Blake Hance. It's like, it's all right in front of us. And again, I felt at the beginning of the week before free agency was about to start

that the Titans were going to go get cam work. But after seeing what they've done here in free agency and what they haven't done in free agency, to me, it seems pretty clear that the Titans are willing to punt this season. They don't care about getting high end players. They don't care about getting players that have anything to do with the future. That's what it really comes down to. Tanking means that the Titans are intentionally trying to lose. And I don't think that they're intentionally trying to make the team bad, but they're intentionally trying not to, not to add any long-term answers.

They are just punting on finding anybody who could play safety for a couple of years, play linebacker for a couple of years, play guard for a couple of years. Play wide receiver for like the Titans aren't looking to add any pieces to the team that they plan to keep around longterm. Everybody that they brought in besides Dan Moore, which makes me sad because it's the one signing I actually dislike other than Dan Moore. Everyone is just a spot filler. Just plug a hole.

Just a, we know we're not winning the Superbowl this year. We know that we're not even competing for the playoffs. We need a starting safety. We don't want to pay into the future for a starting safety. We're signing a one-year deal Xavier woods, two years, 10 million. It's going to be a one year deal. The Titans are just saying, we know we're not going to have a competitive year. We're not giving out any money at all into the future.

What, who we are in 2026 will be infinitely different from who we are in 2025. They are literally just kicking the can down the road. Yeah, we need a long-term starting safety. We can't find it and we're not paying for it this year. Xavier Woods, fill the spot. Yeah, we need a long-term starting inside linebacker. We can't find it. We're not paying for it.

Cody Barton, one year deal. We know that we can't fix wide receiver this year. We're not going to pay for it. Van Jefferson, one year, 2 million. Go out there and be our wide receiver too. You're cheaper than NWI. We're not even paying for NWI. Apparently according to reporting from Paul Karski, the Titans had an offer.

Or no, I think it was, I think it was Terry McCormick, the Titans had an offer, it might've been John Glenn. I'm sorry. I forget. It's been a long day for me. Uh, the Titans had an offer on the table, similar to what NWI got from the dolphins and he picked the dolphins anyway. Interesting.

But yeah, at the end of the day, again, what my overall point here is, is that look at what the Titans are doing in free agency and it is pretty clear, pretty clear that, uh, the Titans are just kicking the can down the road. Now we have a trade here. The Tennessee Titans are trading Kenneth Murray to the Cowboys. Thank you, Jesus. This is incredible. Now it looks to be a late round pick is what we're hearing. Maybe even a late round pick is what we're hearing.

Maybe even a late round swap is what we're hearing. Okay. Basically this frees up $7 million a cap space for the Titans and salary that was owed to Kenneth Murray. There will be 2.5 million in dead cap. That's perfectly fine. Not worried about that. I wanted Kenneth Murray cut all along.

The Titans signed Cody Barton to be their number one linebacker. I think he's a better player than Kenneth Murray and he was cheaper than Kenneth Murray. So I love that looking for official trade compensation here. The teams are swapping late round picks. So it's probably, you know, like the Titans get the Cowboys fifth round pick and the Cowboys get the Titan sixth round pick, but either way, the Titans are going to improve their draft pick status even on day three by getting rid

of Kenneth Murray, he was someone I wanted cut from the team. So the fact that Kenneth Murray wasn't cut and got the Titans and improvement in their draft picks, that is incredible news. Like that is miraculous news for the Titans. So don't have the official pick swap, but they're swapping late round picks. Probably six for a seventh. It could even be, well, the Titans have a higher pick than the Cowboys. So it can't be that it's going to be a fifth for a six, a six, four, seven,

or one of the Titans late picks. Cause they have two, uh, fourth rounders and two sixth rounders. It could be their later fourth or fifth or sixth rounder for an earlier sixth rounder from the Cowboys, which is probably what it is since it's a late round swap. It'll probably be something like that. So either way, no matter what it is, the Titans are getting better draft picks.

For getting rid of a player that I thought they should cut anyway, while saving $7 million of cap space, better picks, more cap space, rid of a bad player. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. Excellent work by Mike Borganzi. Boom, even more Tennessee Titans news, of course, right at the end of the show,

but better late than never. The Tennessee Titans have signed their starting right guard, Kevin Zeitler. We've talked about Kevin Zeitler for quite some time. He's 35 years old. It's a one year, $9 million deal. This just continues the conversation we're having right now. The Tennessee Titans are looking for spot fillers. They don't want to commit any future resources to anybody.

They're just looking to get one year contracts with veterans to plug a spot so that they can reassess after the year. And I mean, it's hard to fight them on that philosophy at the end of the day, right? Like last year, the Titans were super, super aggressive and they lost a bunch of games this year. They're being super conservative. They're not giving out any big contracts other than Dan Moore. And they're just like, Hey, fill this spot for right now.

And we're going to through the draft this year and through the all season next year, build the roster the way that we want. This is just, Hey, we don't have any good long-term options. It's time to fill a spot with a cheap guy and you go get a 35 year old dude on a one year contract. He'll get just give you a league average starting guard play that simple. So with the Kenneth Murray trade signing Kevin's E Zeitler, all the moves they made so far with Van Jefferson and Blake Hance and Cody Barton.

Like it just tells you everything you need to know. The Tennessee Titans are just doing the bare minimum they can this year to fill spots and then move forward. That's what the goal is. So there we go. More breaking news on tomorrow's show. Assuming that there isn't even more breaking news after this. I'm going to kind of do a recap of the first week of free agency.

Everything we've seen from the Titans. I'm going to grade each move that they've made so far as well. So very excited for that. But that's going to do it for me today. Folks, as always, I am your host Tyler Roland, and this was locked on tight.