Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Chig Okonkwo Needs to Be Delanie Walker, Wesco & Whyle Roles and Tight End Roster Battle

Episode Date: June 25, 2023

The Tennessee Titans will need a special season from tight end Chig Okonkwo. Okonkwo always gets compared to former Titan Jonnu Smith, but the Titans really need Okonkwo to be more like Delanie Walker! Next, the Titans two role players at the tight end position are Trevon Wesco and Josh Whyle, but how much will each play? Tyler looks at possible snap counts. Finally, a roster battle between Kevin Rader and Thomas Odukoya, but special teams versatility will be key!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!FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Everyone compares Titans tight end Chigaconquo to former Titan Jonu Smith, but the Titans really need Chigaconquo to be more like Delaney Walker. I'll explain why 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. Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland.

Titans fans, we are continuing our positional preview series before training camp on today's show with the tight end position. We're going to dive into why Chigakonkwo needs to be more like Delaney Walker and not Jonu Smith for the Titans. Also, we're going to talk about some certified role players with Trevon Wesco and Josh Wiley, and then another roster battle between Kevin Radar and Thomas Odukoye. So we're going to dive into the tight end position today. Before we get into it, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, official sportsbook

of the NFL. Make every moment more. Visit FanDuel.com slash LockedOn to sign up today. I do want to thank you guys for making the LockedOn Titans podcast your first listen every day, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round

on all apps, always for free. Make sure that you get subscribed. Stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, where it's your team every day. Shout out to my everydayers out there as well. Listen to the show Monday through Friday. You caught the tight end, the running back,

the wide receiver preview that we did last week. Go back and check those out if you missed them. This week, we're going to hit tight end like we are today, offensive line, get into the defense. Make sure you don't miss any of the free Titans content that I'll have coming out for you guys every single day of the week. But moving right along, I said at the beginning of the show that Chigakonkwo needs to be more like Delaney Walker than Jonu Smith for the Titans. And I think that is exactly what the Titans need because if we go back, everybody romanticizes Jonu Smith.

But Jonu Smith was never the player that everybody thought that he was in terms of being that bona fide number one overall tight end. And I think that Chigakonkwo can be greater than Jonu Smith. And again, approach that Delaney Walker level of production. So you look, Jonu's best season for the Titans, 41 catches, 448 yards. Second best season, 35 catches, 439 yards. Second best season, 35 catches, 439 yards. Well, I mean, Chikokonkwa already had more yards last season than we saw from Jonu Smith in either of his best seasons. Jonu's yards are 157, 258, 439, 448, 294, 245. Chika Conkwa had more yards last year in his rookie season than John Lewis had in any season of his career.

Now, only 32 catches, which is not as high as the 35 or the 41 that we just talked about with John Lewis. But other than those two seasons, Chika Conkwa, again, his rookie season with 32 catches is better than four out of six seasons for Johnnie Smith so don't get me wrong I was a big fan of Johnnie Smith but at the same time I said when he was a free agent the Titans should let him go for the money that he was supposed to

be paid and the money that he got paid he was absolutely not worth it, like $12 million a season for Jonu Smith? No way. So this isn't meant to be, you know, hating on Jonu. It's just the reality of that when people say that Chika Konkwo needs to be like Jonu, Chika Konkwo is already as good as Jonu Smith. He's already that good and more explosive as a ball carrier as well. He has more wiggle to him. He just simply does. So, to me, it's more about Chikokonkwo being like Delaney Walker.

Look at Delaney Walker's stats here during his time with the Titans. 86 catches, 571 yards. 63 catches, 890 yards. 94 catches, 1,088 yards, 65 catches, 800 yards, 74 catches, 807 yards. That is where Chigaconquo needs to be. The conversations that we've had about Chigaconquo that the fan base is having about Chigaconquo going into the year. If he repeated what he did last year, 30 some catches catches, 400-some yards, that's John U numbers, and that is not good enough for the expectation that Chigna-Conquo now has.

And if Conquo does that, the Titans are probably screwed as an offense because one of the big, big things that has to happen here, if the Titans want to win as much as they possibly can, they need Burks and they need Conquo both to do their part. They need to be studs. They need to be studs. They need to be the number one pass catching options in the offense. And 32 for 450 is not

good enough for Chica Conquo. You can't just repeat your rookie year. So for me, if we want a realistic kind of range of where Chica Conquo should be production wise, it's more in line of what we saw from Delaney Walker. 65 catches, 800 yards. I would love to see Chigaconquo between 60 to 75 catches,

700 to 900 yards. That is where Chigaconquo should be. And my thing is at the tight end position, it may be difficult to do that. But Ch Chick isn't just a normal tight end. Chick is going to be that move tight end. He's not going to be the inline tight end sitting next to the offensive tackle a bunch. I just don't think that's going to be his role. He's going to be a move tight end. He's going to be able to split out at wide receiver, play in the slot, come in motion. I think they're going to use him again as an offensive weapon, not just a tight cast as a tight end. And that versatility is going to be huge. I think that the Titans have talked about outflanking people on offense. We heard Chiggy Conkla talk about this himself.

That the Titans are moving quick on offense and looking to outflank people. Well, there is no better person set up to do that than Chiggy Conkla with his skill set, his power, his speed. I mean, he needs to improve his blocking enough, okay? But Chigaconkwo was a good blocker on the move when he was moving around and using his athleticism within his blocking. If you want him to just go one-on-one straight up with a defensive end in a phone booth, I just don't think that's ever going to be

who Chigakonkwo is consistently. Maybe he can do it a little bit in the right matchup, but that's never going to be what he does consistently. He's always going to be that move player, which is why Wesco and Wiley are so important to watch. But again, for me, Chigakonkwo, forget Johnnie Smith, folks. Put that comparison in the past. To me, Chigakonkwo is already at the level of Johnnie Smith, folks. Put that comparison in the past. To me, Chigaconquo is already at the level of Johnnie Smith

or past it because he was a rookie and basically did better than Johnnie has done his entire career. So to me, I'm looking at Chigaconquo right now. Chig is like 6'2 and some change, 240-some pounds. What was Delaney? 6'2 and some change, 240 pounds. Delaney was a little bit bigger, but of course, Delaney came to the Titans after a couple of years of his career.

So Chigaconkwo is going to pack on weight and pack on muscle and then probably be Delaney's size here in a couple of years. So to me, if we're talking about what we need to see from Chigaconkwo, it's much more in line with what Delaney Walker did than it is with what John Smith did. And if the Titans want to be who they want to be in 2023, they need Chigga Conqua to get a lot closer to the Delaney Walker side of things. So that's what I'm expecting as well. Let me know down below

whether you think Chigga Conqua is more of a Delaney Walker or whether you see him as a John U. Smith who just had a really good rookie or let me know down below. Throw a thumbs up on the video as well. But we got to talk about Josh Wiley and Trevon Wesco, the role players for the Titans. And at the up on the video as well, but we got to talk about Josh Wiley and Trevon Wesco, the role players for the Titans. And at the end of the show, another roster battle,

which based on a quote from one of the coaches could get very, very interesting as we get into training camp. Before we move on though, do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. FanDuel Sportsbook is America's number one sportsbook, and right now, the MLB season is in full swing. There's no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel. Right now, new customers get a no-sweat first bet up to $1,000. That's up to $1,000 back in bonus bets, even if your first bet doesn't win.

Just go to FanDuel.com slash locked on to join today. A couple of losses to a really good Atlanta Braves team, but the Cincinnati Reds are still as hot as possible. They're red hot, you could say. So you could put some money on the Cincinnati Reds. You would have made a lot of money over the last few weeks doing that. Either way, don't miss your chance to win, or not to win, but to snag

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the official partner of Major League Baseball. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We are breaking down the tight end position as part of our positional preview series before training camp. We talked about quarterback, running back, and wide receiver last week. Go back and check those out if you missed them. I know my everydayers didn't, baby. Shout out to you guys. Let me know down below who you are.

But going forward this week, we're going to be talking offensive line. We're going to be talking defense. And then DeAndre Hopkins could sign at any moment. Training camp's right around the corner. Make sure that you get subscribed. Stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content for free

on all apps all year round. Shout out to my everydayers again, but full disclosure, I just spilled a ton of water all over my notes. So just keep that in mind as we move forward that I'm playing through adversity here for you guys as well. But all jokes aside, hope everybody had a fantastic weekend.

We're moving right along to our role player section here. And I just want to talk about the two role players for the Titans. We know that Chigakonkwo is supposed to be the star of the tight end room. He's the stud that the Titans have at the position. But with how much the Titans rely on tight ends, have at the position, but with how much the Titans rely on tight ends, Trevon Wesko and Josh Wiley are going to be absolutely huge. But my question is, my question is, how do they divvy up the snaps left by Jeff Swain? So, Jeff Swain played 577 snaps last year.

That is why I've written an article at Sports Illustrated, alltitans.com. I've talked about it on Twitter, but I'm a little concerned with how much Trevon Wesco might actually play. Here's the thing. Wesco only played 181 snaps last year. So you're not going to take a guy who played 181 snaps last year

and all of a sudden give him 500 plus snaps. I just don't think that would be the right move. So obviously, Chikokonkwo, Chikokonkwo only got 37% of offensive snaps last year. 378. That cannot happen this year. That cannot happen. So to me, you want to take 200 from Swain.

That'll probably go to Chikokonkwo this year. Just if there's one tight end on the field, it'll be Chig. So you take away 200 of the 577 there, that leaves you 377. I think that Wesco will get 200, 250, and that leaves 100, 120, maybe up to 200 because there are other tight end snaps, of course, available other than just Swaim, Austin Hooper snaps are in there. So I think that splitting up those Swaim snaps and how much they actually use Trevon Wesco in there will be incredibly important.

I think really what it comes down to is how much can Wesco give you as just a baseline receiver? The guy has eight catches in four years. Eight catches in his entire career. four years. Eight catches in his entire career. I mean, he is not somebody who is going to be catching the ball a ton, but Swain really slowed down over the last few years, and he is basically non-existent as a pass-catching threat to the defense. Defenses would essentially ignore him, and when he came on the field, they were just like, hey, you're going to run the ball.

And if you try to trick us, Swaim is such a running in combat boots option that we're not even worried about it. You know, we're not even worried about you taking advantage of us and tricking us because you don't have the talent to take advantage of it. So, Wesco, to me, can't be much worse than that as a receiver, right? Just that philosophy there. Wesco can't be much worse than that, but at the same time,

fifth best blocker at the tight end position in the entire NFL based on pro football focus grades. Whether you look at pass blocking, whether you look at run blocking, if the tight end played as many snaps, which is only 181, if the tight end played as many snaps as Trevon Wesco, they probably weren't better at blocking. So again, zero sacks, zero pressures,

fifth best pass blocking grade amongst tight ends, fifth best run blocking grade amongst tight ends, fifth best run blocking grade amongst tight ends. Swaim just fell off the cliff. He just wasn't a good enough blocker. We already talked about the issues that he gave you in pass. So, they need Wesco. Even if Wesco is not a valid receiver of the ball, they need him to at least be good at what he is supposed to be,

which is a blocking tight end. But I'm just telling you, Wesco is going to play a lot more than people are expecting. That in-line blocking tight end, I just said last segment, you can't have Chiggy Conquo go one-on-one with a defensive end over and over in a phone booth. That's just not who he is. He's a great blocker on the move. Those one-on-one

blocks in those isolated situations, that's where he's got to improve. And with Chig's build, I just don't know that he'll ever be great at those. He's going to be a good move blocker though, I believe that, but in the Titans offense, they need that one-on-one blocker at tight end that can go one-on-one with that defensive end in the phone booth, and that's going to be Wesco. So hopefully he doesn't play a too ridiculous amount, 250 snaps, 300 snaps at most.

But I think he's going to be absolutely critical to what the Titans want to do on offense. So it'd be interesting to see how he fares as a receiving option to keep defenses honest. But on the flip side of that, you have Josh Wiley, who is basically like the opposite. He is a great receiving option, a guy who I think that you can isolate out on cornerbacks in the red zone,

matchup situations. He can be a rookie lesser version of what they did with Austin Hooper last year. But my question becomes, what does Wiley have to show for it to be him and Chig out there primarily as the two tight ends? I don't think that's going to happen. It may take a few years of development for Wiley to add strength and become the blocker that they need him to be.

But for the time being, Wiley can still absolutely be a matchup-based player who gets 200, 225 of those snaps, maybe 250 on his own, and the Titans can use him as a matchup hunter. Because he's 6'6", again, would split out in college in the red zone, short-yarded situations. The Titans can really take advantage. And we talked about Kyle Phillips. My everydayers remember this.

We talked about Kyle Phillips and how with the amount of man coverage that the Titans see, they're going to need Kyle Phillips to win. I think Josh Wiley was a guy who was drafted with that in mind as well. We're going to see so much man coverage, get a small, maybe less than ideal athletic linebacker on Josh Wiley, and we can attack that matchup. Just like with Kyle Phillips, we can attack that matchup. And Tajay Spears, we can attack that matchup. The Titans are creating matchups that can be won in man coverage,

which is absolutely critical for what they see from defenses on a weekly basis. But with that being said, we are going to move forward here. We got to talk about a roster battle at tight end that popped up last week, an interesting quote. And I think that both of these players, well, one of these players is incredibly underrated. The other one we haven't seen a lot of, but again, the coaches are hyping them up. So roster battle, Kevin Radar versus Thomas Odukoye.

We're going to get in that in just a moment. Titans fans, let's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Once again, we are in the midst of our positional preview series. Excuse me. We've gone through quarterback, running back, wide receiver. We're in tight end right now. We're going to do offensive line later this week. We're going to get into the defense later this week as well, going through every single position.

All 90 players that the Titans have on their roster as they head towards training camp. If you missed any of the previous ones, go back and check that out. Make sure that you don't miss any of the ones that I got coming up. Get subscribed. Stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network where it's your team every day, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round,

always for free on all apps. Stay locked into the Locked on Titans podcast. Shout out to my everydayers out there. But I want to talk about this roster battle. And I know that Kevin Radar and Thomas Odukoye are not the most exciting names. But I dove into Radar a little bit before I got in here. And I'm telling you, people are just underselling how much Kevin Radar factored into the Titans offense last year. Number one, 142 offensive snaps.

That's quite a bit. But here's the thing that people are missing. 46 of those snaps came at fullback. In the backfield. Fullback. The Titans used to have Torrey Carter. And I was a big Torrey. Well, they had Corey Blossom game and then Torrey Carter.

And that's just recent history. But I was a big fan of Torrey Carter. But at the end of the day, he got injured early in his second year. And he was not the same when he came back. And the Titans didn't bring him back. I think that with the amount of movement and the amount of motion and the amount of misdirection that we are going to see from the Titans offense, having a fullback who is more of an H-back than a traditional blood running down the nose fullback

like Torrey Carter was, I think having a versatile tight end that can play fullback and more of an H-back philosophy, I think that'll be absolutely huge for the Titans. I think just having somebody who's comfortable being in the backfield, even if they're not a traditional fullback, will be key. And one other factor that I want to bring up here with Kevin Radar, 194 special team snaps as well. So when we talk about these end of the roster battles, special teams will always be almost more important

than what you can do at your position. Kevin Radar is going to be tight end four if he makes this roster. He must, he must factor on special teams. Absolutely has to. And he played 200 special team snaps last year for the Titans. 194 and rounding up, whatever. So clearly the Titans trust Kevin Radar to be on their special teams units. That's big for me.

It's all versatility. He played, again, 72 snaps as an in-line tight end. 46 snaps in the backfield as a fullback. Versatility. He can back up Trevon Wesko as that blocking tight end inline. He can be your fullback H-back guy in the backfield when you need it. Not only that, but he can play 200 snaps or more on special teams. He only played 14 games last year, so you could get more out of him there.

I mean, I think that sort of versatility is absolutely huge for the Titans. But, again, roster battle. Thomas Odukoye. So, Odukoye is an international pathway player from the Netherlands. He was with the Titans last year. He never made it up to the big ball club,

but he was with the organization almost all year long was in training camp last year all that he's 6'6 253 pounds and Mike Vrabel said the last open OTA

Mike Vrabel said that Thomas Odukoye has improved a lot since last year. He said the staff was just discussing him. So literally the entire coaching staff was together discussing Thomas Odukoye and his improvement from last season to this season. And it makes sense. Thomas Odukoye is going to be a slow developer because he's from the International Pathway Program.

It's not a guy who grew up playing football and had football in his blood. Like, I mean, I'm a terrible example of a professional athlete, but like when I was like seven years old, I spent my every day on Sunday at the football field all day long. Like I watched football all day, every life. I practiced football, had a football in my hand since I was two years old.

That's not what Thomas Odukoye's life was growing up internationally. So, some of these international prospects take some time to really get together and some of them just never get it together. And look, I don't want to be fooled by off-season conversation. I mean, Dylan Radins and

Des Fitzpatrick won off-season work awards from the Titans. Okay? And what did it mean? Nothing. So I'm not going to get too jazzed up here over one quote from Mike Braywell about Odukoye. But, again, being from the International Pathway Program, you can expect slower development and may take some time. But if things have clicked for Odukoye,

who, again, 6'6", 253 pounds, got some athleticism to him, he could take that Kevin Radar spot and be a guy who plays on special teams, be a guy who could double as an inline tight end, maybe line up in the backfield a little bit for you. But to me, again, it all comes down to special teams. It all comes down to special teams. Here's what I will say though. Wesco, Trevon Wesco missed a lot of time during the OTA period.

He only showed up for the last week of them. Not showed up in terms of wasn't in the building. I'm not reporting on that. But I'm just saying out on the practice field. He was seen out on the practice field for the first time in the last week of OTAs. That gave the other tight ends, Josh Wiley, Thomas Odekoye, Kevin Radar, it gave them a lot more opportunity.

And especially for Odekoye, who probably needs those reps more than others, a lot of opportunity for Thomas Odekoye to impress the coaching staff. And it sounds like that's exactly what he's done. So that is a roster battle that I'll be monitoring. For me, the versatility and the reliability of Kevin Radar makes more sense. That's who I think wins it. At the end of the day, I think the Titans do keep four tight ends.

Kika Conquo, Trevon Wesco, Josh Wiley, and Kevin Radar. I think tight end is going to be that important to the team that they end up keeping four. But that is going to do it for me today, folks. Again, we are going to continue. We're going to continue the positional preview series throughout the rest of this week. Excited to dive into it.

Again, that is going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titan.