Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans DeAndre Hopkins TRADE Possible, Must Keep Jeffery Simmons & Will Levis Health News

Episode Date: October 2, 2024

The Tennessee Titans got their first win of the season, but with a tough schedule coming after the bye, the Titans could be sellers at the NFL trade deadline. If that is the case, DeAndre Hopkins and Nick Folk are prime candidates to be dealt. On defense, the Titans cannot trade Jeffery Simmons or Harold Landry, even if they wanted to. Finally, we got a slight update on the health of Will Levis and Jeffery Simmons and both are positives.Subscribe to the TicTacTitans Film Channel:https://www.youtube.com/@TicTacTitansTicTacTitans Merchandise: https://dixons-dream.square.site/shop/tictactitans-gear/C3AAPNWXSXA6SBYG3USV2I7R?page=1&limit=30&sort_by=category_order&sort_order=ascFollow 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!PrizePicksDownload the app or click HERE and use code lockedonnfl to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelPlace your first FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - guaranteed ! Visit FANDUEL.COM 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)

The Tennessee Titans should not trade DeAndre Hopkins. Yet. That and more 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 PrizePix. Go to prizepix.com slash locked on NFL. Use the code locked on NFL, all lowercase to win $50 instantly when you play $5. On today's show, I'm going to give you a health update on Will Levis and Jeffrey Simmons, talk about some defensive players who the Titans may be interested in trading if things go as they have the first four weeks. And first, we're going to talk about trading DeAndre Hopkins, which I think would be the most likely trade player

for the Titans to give away this season, but they shouldn't do it just yet. Before we dive into it, I do want to thank you again 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. Make sure that you get subscribed, stay subscribed. It's your team every day here on the Locked on Titans podcast. Speaking of every day, shout out to my everydayers out there.

Tune in Monday through Friday. Couldn't do it without you guys. If you aren't an everydayer, you need to be one. Speaking of every day on tomorrow's show, I'm going to look at things through the first four weeks that have gone right for the Tennessee Titans. Look at some things that have gone wrong for the Tennessee Titans, and then look at some things that need to get better.

On Monday's show, I'm going to have a mock draft Monday. It's about that time. Start looking at some mock drafts for the Tennessee Titans. Tuesday, I'll have an AFC update for you guys to tell you what the Titans need to do to get back in the playoff race. Also going to have another mailbag next week, and then we'll be right back to Crossover Thursday to get ready for a game against the Indianapolis Colts. But with that being said, want to have this conversation because a lot of Tennessee Titans fans are starting to have

this conversation, and the reality is with the Titans being at one and three, it's about time to set our gaze to what the Titans can do here to make some trades and maybe recoup some draft picks. All right, the Titans obviously gave away a third round draft pick to get LeJarius Sneed, so there's a chance that maybe they could get something like that back in return, but there are going to be a lot of options on this team that I think people are going to discuss with a trade

no more than DeAndre Hopkins. DeAndre Hopkins is the number one trade target I think other teams would have on the Tennessee Titans. Obviously, a Hall of Fame level player. He still has it, as we saw in a couple of recent games. And I think that Hopkins could really help a contending team. But the question becomes, what would have to happen for the Titans

to even consider something like that? Well, let's just look ahead here for a second at the remaining schedule in the next few weeks, in the next month. So the Titans have the bye this week, but then they come out and they have a home game against the Indianapolis Colts, their first divisional game. Now, if the Titans were to win that game and go to two and three, things feel a little bit differently than they did before the game against the Dolphins. You beat a Colts team where you'd have to play a lot better to beat the Colts than you would to have to beat the Dolphins. So it would require better football from the Tennessee Titans

than they have played so far this year. So that would obviously bring some optimism to the table. But look after that. And this is why there were other Titans content creators telling you that they had an easy schedule this year. And I disagreed. Okay? Because after the game against the Colts, the Titans are on the road against the Buffalo Bills and on the road against the Detroit Lions. I don't know about you guys,

but I am not going to pick. Maybe the Titans beat the Colts. I don't know about you guys, but I am not going to pick, maybe the Titans beat the Colts, maybe. But the Titans aren't beating Buffalo and the Titans aren't beating Detroit. So let's say, doomsday situation here, the Titans go 0-3 in all those games. And they drop to 1-6 on the year.

It would be negligence, in my opinion, to not make some trades. I think It would be negligence, in my opinion, to not make some trades. I think that if we could go back in time, Rancard Thon would make that trade and send Derrick Henry to the Baltimore Ravens at the trade deadline and get a pick back since Derrick Henry's going to end up with Baltimore anyways. DeAndre Hopkins is in the last year of his contract.

At 33 years old, DeAndre Hopkins is not going to come back to the Tennessee Titans after they miss the playoffs. Why would he do that? If DeAndre Hopkins is any level of competitor at all, he's going to go to a team that has a chance to win a Super Bowl. If the Titans win three, four, or five games, you cannot reasonably argue that they are a Super Bowl-level team, and they would be restarting at quarterback as well. And DeAndre Hopkins isn't going to be here for that. So if I'm the Titans, I got to see how these next three games go.

If the Titans come out one and two in those games, and they are 2 and 5 maybe with a game against the Patriots a game against the Chargers those sorts of games ahead of you Jacksonville you got 2 games left maybe you can tell yourself

hey we're going to compete and we're still good enough to where I want to get a good look at Will Levis but if the Titans are 1-6 and they lose all three of those games, who are we kidding? Who are we kidding? Look, DeAndre Hopkins only has an $8 million salary this year. Bonuses

and things like that make it to a higher cap hit than that. But when you're trading the player, you just got to worry about the salary. The Titans have paid the guaranteed money that's on the salary cap. So if I'm the Titans, and I'm one in six, I'm trading DeAndre Hopkins, whether it be Kansas City,

whether it be Cleveland. And according to Mary Kay Cabot, who's been covering the Cleveland Browns forever, it feels like, one of the more respected journalists in Cleveland. According to Mary Kay Cabot, the Browns do intend to reach out to the Titans about DeAndre Hopkins. So I don't think the Titans should make any kind of trade right now, but if the Titans are 1-6 four weeks from now,

they absolutely have to trade DeAndre Hopkins and get a third or a fourth round pick back and try to set this team up to add more talent in the draft. Absolutely have to do that. And not only that, but I would look at Nick Folk. Nick Folk had a fantastic game against the Miami Dolphins, AFC Special Teams Player of the Week. But if you're 1-6,

what is the point in keeping around a 40-year-old kicker that's not going to be there next year anyways? When there are teams out there, like the Green Bay Packers, who need a kicker and will need somebody who's reliable like Nick Folk is. So to me, the top two candidates on offense are that score points, we will say. DeAndre Hopkins and Nick Folk. Now, I know a lot of you are screaming at your screen right now.

They should trade Traylon Burks. Why would anyone give up anything for Traylon Burks? Why? Why would they do that? It doesn't make any sense. So me and you could sit here and say, yeah, they should trade Traylon Burks, and I wish they could. But Traylon Burks has zero value around the league.

So it wouldn't make any sense. I would rather trade DeAndre Hopkins, who does have some value. But again, I don't want to do that yet. But if the Titans are 1-6, that's the move they absolutely have to make. We'll look at some trade candidates on the defensive side of the ball right now. First, I want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by GameTime.

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What time is it? It's GameTime. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Looking at some trade options for the Titans. Look, it's the bye week. We're not going to have another bye week. Although it does feel a little bit early, like I said, I'm not willing to make any of these moves yet.

It does make sense to maybe start greasing the skids for some of these conversations. We talked about DeAndre Hopkins. We talked about Nick Folk. I talked about why Traylon Burke's being traded as a pipe dream at the end of the day. But now I want to look at the defensive side of the ball. And while I do think the Titans should trade some of the players that we've talked about already,

I want to talk about some players that Titans fans talk about trading that I don't think really makes any sense, not only from the Titans perspective, but from another team's perspective in the NFL. Before I do, I do want to thank you again 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. Make sure that you get subscribed, stay subscribed.

It's your team every day here on the Locked on Titans podcast. But the number one name that I want to talk about is Jeffrey Simmons. I just don't understand why some of you want to trade Big Jeff. I just don't get it. Look, DeAndre Hopkins is past his prime. He's a good player still, but he's not in his prime. He's on the last year of his contract. All of those things.

Jeffrey Simmons has three more years of his contract left, and he's still a really, really, really good player. Now, I get Jeffrey Simmons has been a little bit banged up in recent years and that has soured some people on him. Jeffrey Simmons hasn't made the splash plays that we are accustomed to him making early on in this year. But Jeffrey Simmons impact goes way past the box score. Like if the Titans don't, everybody's excited about the Tennessee Titans defense. You know, the Titans defense number, everybody's excited about the Tennessee Titans defense. You know, the Titans defense is number one

in the NFL statistically. All of that. That doesn't happen without Jeffrey Simmons. Yeah, the Titans look great against the Miami Dolphins, but it's the Miami Dolphins, and it's a JV version of the Miami Dolphins. That's why this goes back to my conversations about Mason Rudolph.

Like, Mason Rudolph completed one pass in the second half. Brian Callahan even admitted, yeah, it was boring. It was a boring end to the game. But I wanted to make sure that we got out of there with a win. Alright? The Titans don't get to play the Dolphins every week. So saying that Mason Rudolph did this, did that,

blah, blah, blah, against the Dolphins, well, you know, to me, that doesn't really mean much because you're not going to get to play the Dolphins every week. So the Titans' defense looked absolutely fantastic against the Dolphins, but Devondre Sweat's not going to get Aaron Brewer

every week. All right? So the Titans need Jeffrey Simmons, and like when people talked about trading Jeffrey Simmons in the offseason and I said it was crazy, Jeffrey Simmons is a guy that you build a defense around. He is a building block that you can truly build the entire defense around.

And the Titans have. Having those two interior defensive linemen, it's Evandre Sweat and Jeffrey Simmons, is what allows everybody else to do their job. It's, I mean, multiple of Harold Landry's sacks this year have been because of the attention paid to Jeffrey Simmons. So, I get it. The injuries,

not really loading up the box score, hasn't made the splash plays like we've seen in previous years. I get all that. I really do. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that it's been a great year for Jeffrey Simmons and the games that he's played. But at the same time, I'm willing to trade some people, but you don't absolutely gut the roster of the best players on the team. That's not what you do.

Jeffrey Simmons is still a player that you build around. And let's just also talk about this. Simmons has like $20 million more guaranteed on his contract. And you've got to think about this from other teams' perspectives. Remember, I said DeAndre Hopkins' salary is about $8.5 million. Some of that has already taken up because they played games. You've got to think about it being in the middle of the season and whether or not these other NFL teams around the league

have the money to acquire a player that's paid as much as a Jeffrey Simmons. And most of them simply do not. One of the big reasons that trades happen in the NFL in the middle of the season is because teams want to bolster their squad as they make a playoff push without crushing their cap situation going forward. You don't see high-priced players traded very often

in the middle of the season. Devontae Adams, he might get traded, no more guaranteed money on his deal. You know what I mean? That's why I named DeAndre Hopkins and Nick Folk because they don't have any money after the year. Teams would trade for him with a win now mindset. If you trade Jeffrey Simmons or you trade for Jeffrey Simmons, you are acquiring three years of money that you may not be ready to acquire. That may not make sense for your team. It's just way more difficult to do that. So from the Titans perspective of building a defense and Jeffrey Simmons being a leader and from another team's

perspective of acquiring that much guaranteed money, it doesn't make any sense to trade Big Jeff. And I'm totally against it anyways. So, that's that. But another name that I see a lot of people mention is Harold Landry. And look, for a similar reason, Harold Landry doesn't have the guaranteed money in the future that Jeffrey Simmons does, alright? But, but,

the money that is owed to him just based on his salary $17.5 million in 2025. $17.5 million in 2026 at 30 years old. And look, we also have to have a conversation about Harold Landry

here, okay? Harold Landry has four sacks this year. That's good production. He's played well. Alright? But if you look at some of the advanced data, you know, EPA per play, pressure rate, things like that, Harold Landry isn't a guy so far this year that is consistently putting pressure on the quarterback.

He's a guy who makes the one splash play per game, and he's got four sacks, and people will look at that and say he's been fantastic. He's been good. He hasn't been great. And I continue to say that Harold Landry is not T.J. Watt, or Miles Garrett, or Nick B know, or Micah Parsons. You know, the top edge rushers in the NFL. He's not on that level. So at the money that Harold Landry will command going in, look, a team with the lack of guaranteed money in the contract, the team could rework Harold Landry's contract easily.

I know that. But teams don't like to do stuff like that in the middle of the season. So, while I do think that it makes sense for the Titans to trade some of the guys on offense, DeHop, Nick Folk, obviously Nick Folk's special team is not offense, but it just doesn't make any sense to trade any of these guys on defense. I'm not really for that. If the Titans wanted to trade somebody on defense, for me, it's Jack Gibbons or Arden Key. Those are the two guys that I would be willing to deal.

Just let Jalen Harrell play edge. Jalen Harrell hasn't been great out there this year, which he's a seventh-round rookie, so I always expected that it would take a little bit. It's just nice to have him playing snaps at all as a seventh-round rookie, so I always expected that it would take a little bit. It's just nice to have him playing snaps at all as a seventh-round rookie. But if you could send Arden Key to a team where he can be a backup edge rusher, which is what he should be in the NFL, or you could send Jack Gibbons to a team that wants experience at linebacker

and maybe they don't play such a downhill style of football, those are trades that make sense. Not Simmons or Landry. That doesn't make any sense at all. Speaking of Jeffrey Simmons, we got an update on his injury. We got an update on Will Levis' injury as well. I'm going to bring that latest news to you guys right

now. First, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by Fan Duel Sportsbook. Hey, Titans fans. Yep, talking to you, Titans fans. You can start the second quarter of the season with a big return on FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. When you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can go to FanDuel and check out the latest stats, view live play-by-play, and so much more

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number one sportsbook. It's FanDuel. Go to FanDuel.com. Titans fans, let's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Talked about some trade options for the Titans, some that I'm here for, some that I'm not here for. But again, it all depends on what happens the next three weeks for the Titans, some that I'm here for, some that I'm not here for. But again, it all depends on what happens the next three weeks for the Tennessee Titans. I do believe the trade deadline for the NFL

is November the 5th. So the Titans definitely have some time to think about what they want to do and see how the season progresses. But speaking of progressing, do want to talk about some injury news for the Titans. The offensive captain, Will Levis, the defensive captain, Jeffrey Simmons.

Before we get into it, thank you again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. For your second listen, check out Locked on NFL. I'm the lead host of Locked on NFL. You get all your Titans news here with me. Get all your NFL news with me as well on Locked on NFL. It's your team every day here on the Locked On Podcast Network. But Jeffrey Simmons provided an update on his elbow injury.

He said that it is very similar, kind of like, I believe is the correct terminology that he used, like a Tommy John injury in baseball. And I do find it very interesting that you could have Tommy John surgery in baseball and And I do find it very interesting that you could have Tommy John surgery in baseball and you're out for a year. But according to Jeffrey Simmons, he doesn't even need surgery. The doctors have just told him he needs to rest and let it heal a little bit.

But according to Big Jeff, he's not going to be out very long. He expects to play against Indianapolis. Again, this is not a major injury for an NFL football player like it is a Major League baseball pitcher or a pitcher of any kind at any level in baseball. It's a totally different sport with totally different skill sets. So Jeffrey Simmons may have an elbow injury, a torn ligament in his elbow, but he should be able to return against the Indianapolis Colts. So that's great news for the Tennessee Titans because, again, you don't get to play the Miami Dolphins every single week.

The Indianapolis Colts have one of the better offensive lines in the entire NFL. So they're going to need Jeffrey Simmons in that game and going against Buffalo and going against Detroit. All three teams have great offensive lines. So going to need Big Jeff in those games, and good to hear that his injury isn't super serious, and it doesn't require surgery. That's great. Now, on the Will Levis front, obviously, it's a shoulder injury. I've heard people speculate

about what it would be, but we haven't heard anything official about what it would be. What I did hear, though, is Ian Rappaport on NFL Network said that it looks like Will Levis should be good to go for the game against the Indianapolis Colts. That he should be back. And Levis had his helmet on, on the sideline, throughout the game on Monday night,

which, let me tell you this, it was so sad seeing Levis have his helmet on. You know, in his his mind he's saying, I've played so poorly and turned over the ball so much that if Mason Rudolph plays well, I may never get to come back in. You know that he was thinking that. And that's why he had his helmet on.

It was probably begging the coaches to let him go back in because he could see his dream slipping away in front of him. And, I mean, I can't blame the guy. He should feel like his dream slipping away from him with how he's letting the ball go into the other team's hands. But I think this is a reality that we have to accept. And I said this online, and I'm pretty sure I said this right after the game on Monday night, well, Tuesday morning at that point.

The reality here is Brian Callahan probably could have put Will Levis back in. But he wanted to use that opportunity, one, to make sure he got a win. Two, evaluate the rest of the team. How does the offensive line look when the quarterbacks get the ball out of their hands easy? How good is this team when we don't turn over the ball three times a game? How does Mason Rudolph look? Just on its own. I think that it's pretty clear that Will Levis could have come back in the game.

But Brian Callahan just wanted to see. Just let me see something real quick. I want to see something real quick. I think that's pretty clear. But regardless of that, Callahan has made it known that Will Levis will be the starter when he's healthy. And again, according to Ian Rappaport of NFL Network,

it looks like Levis will be good to go for the week six game against the Indianapolis Colts. Now, that's not full confirmation. That's coming from a media source, not the team. So we will wait to see what the Titans say next week as we get closer to that game against the Colts. But I think that's good news when Big Jeff and Will Levis don't seem to have, you know, injuries that are going to force them to miss extended time. That's not what we want. So maybe some of you want Levis out for extended time, but I don't. I've made it clear they need to ride

Will Levis and let him play the entire season and see where it takes him. But with that being said, that is going to do it for me today. Folks, make sure you throw a thumbs up on the video, throw a Titan up down in the chat. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.