Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans DeAndre Hopkins Visit Update, Patriots Trip Uncertainty & Hopkins Contract Projection

Episode Date: June 12, 2023

The Tennessee Titans hosted DeAndre Hopkins on a visit this week and Hopkins posted a few updates on his personal Instagram. Also, Bill Belichick made some interesting comments on Monday that casted some doubt on whether Hopkins will make his trip to New England. Second, what would a Hopkins contract look like? Tyler goes over the latest details from the experts. Finally, Hopkins gets compared to other failed veterans receivers in Titans' history, but his situation is much different from the previous.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!BirddogsGo to birddogs.com/lockedonnfl and when you enter promo code, LOCKEDONNFL, they’ll throw in a free custom birddogs Yeti-style tumbler with every order.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED 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

Did DeAndre Hopkins cancel his visit with the New England Patriots? There were some interesting comments made on Tuesday. We're going to go over that, plus some updates from Hopkins' visit with the Titans 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. DeAndre Hopkins, is he still taking a visit to the New England Patriots? Bill Belichick had some interesting comments that we're going to talk about. Plus, got some updates from Hopkins' visit with the Titans. Then we're going to talk about what a contract for DeAndre Hopkins could look like. A contract expert broke it down on Tuesday. And then finally, a little Roland's rant for you guys on why we should not be worrying about wide receiver PTSD when we are considering a pursuit for DeAndre Hopkins. So a lot to get into today.

Before we do, thanks for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content on all apps, all year round, always for free. Make sure you get subscribed, stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast. We got Titans OTAs, the last OTA of the summer coming up this week. I'm going to be previewing it tomorrow. I'm going to be breaking it down after it happens. So make sure that you stay locked into the Locked on Titans podcast where it's your team

every day. Diving right in here. Things were interesting last night as everyone was anticipating DeAndre Hopkins news, what's going on. And we got two updates from Hopkins over the weekend that I just want to go over quickly before we get into the strange comments coming out of New England. But number one, the first, I guess, confirmation that we had that Hopkins was in Tennessee, was in Nashville, was this from Hopkins Instagram. And if you're just listening to the show and you're not watching on YouTube,

check out the YouTube channel, subscribe over there. But Hopkins put on his own Instagram a picture of him in the back of what looks to be a bus or a limousine with the location tag of Nashville, Tennessee. And there's a screen in the back of the bus that says, Welcome to Nashville, DeAndre Hopkins, with a photoshopped picture of Hopkins in a Titans uniform.

Absolutely beautiful to see. Love that they rolled out the red carpet for him. They're throwing all the bells and whistles in while they're doing the transportation. That wasn't it, though. And some of you guys may roll your eyes at this one. I was like, we'll see here. But you never know what Hopkins is into. We know that Hopkins did go

to CMA Fest. I think that's Country Music Awards. I like country music, but it's not what I'm listening to on a daily basis, so forgive me. But everybody knows Tim McGraw, for God's sakes. Tim McGraw on stage, DeAndre Hopkins in the crowd. So clearly the Titans

picked him up in style, took him to the CMA Fest so that he could have a good time, giving him the real Nashville experience. Hopefully that includes obviously time at the facility, talking to the coaches, something similar to maybe what we saw play out on yesterday's Locked on Titans podcast, which I appreciate the feedback for there.

My everydayer's got a real treat yesterday when I mocked what Hopkins visit. Maybe, like, go back and check that out if you haven't seen that already. I'm pretty happy with how things turned out there. But that was what we know about Hopkins visit. Not a lot. But what the conversation turned to on Tuesday was, or on Monday, I should say, getting my days mixed up here, was did Hopkins cancel his visit with the New England Patriots?

I don't think so, but there was some uncertainty coming out of New England this morning, and I'm just very surprised. It could be Bill Belichick just, you know, trolling the media like he likes to do, but he was asked about DeAndre Hopkins and him visiting on Tuesday. And Belichick said, talk to him, working through it, not sure. What?

Talking to him, working through it, not sure. You could see the exact quote in the tweet that it came from from Doug Keed up on the screen right now on YouTube, but okay. So they're not sure that Hopkins is going to be coming in. Interesting there. Belichick went on, and I think it was, I guess, a little less concerning if you're a Patriots fan or a little less exciting

if you're a Titans fan as you get more into the full comment here. Bill Belichick did say for the full answer, he asked me about the date. I am not sure. We are working through it. I don't really have anything to add to that. It relates more to logistics and things like that. I'm not a travel agent here,

and I thought the travel agent comment was pretty interesting. But you can see what Bill Belichick would be saying there. It's not necessarily that DeAndre Hopkins and this tweet really got people going from Phil Perry saying they're not sure if Hopkins is going to make his visit to the Patriots. I think that what really happened here was Bill Belichick didn't want to give away

too much information. He doesn't want to dive into things too deeply. We know that about him. And I think he's just saying, hey, I don't know if he's going to be here on Tuesday. There are logistical issues. When can he get on a plane? When can he show up here? When can he

get transportation to make his visit? All of those different things. So I think it's more, like Bill Belichick said, it's more of a logistical issue and uncertainty rather than uncertainty that Hopkins isn't going to make the visit at all. But I will say this.

It is possible. It is possible. That Hopkins wanted to go to the Titans all along. Has always known that the Titans are going to give him the best offer. But he wanted to schedule the visit with the Patriots and leave that on the calendar as a negotiating tactic to get the Titans to be serious and give their best offer up front

because we joked, and I named the episode thumbnail that yesterday, don't let Hopkins leave. Don't let him leave without a deal. Well, if you can say to the Titans, well, we got to visit with the Patriots. I think we're going to go check out what kind of offer they got. If the Titans know that up front, they will come prepared. And if they don't want to let him leave,

then they're going to throw out their best offer right away. And it'll probably be the offer that Hopkins wanted all along. So do I think that Hopkins is going to skip his visit with the Patriots? No, probably not. But, but it is an interesting tactic to think about that Hopkins could just be negotiating through his schedule. So wanted to at least represent all the different things that could be going on here. But at the end of the day, I think it's just as simple as they don't know when Hopkins is going to arrive because of the logistics of the plane ride and

transportation and all of those matters. So I got why Titans fans got so excited early in the day. I don't mean to kill the buzz or anything, but let's just take a deep breath here and see how things play out. But I feel pretty good about the Titans chances regardless. And when it comes to the Titans chances, really the deciding factor I think is going to be money. We had a couple people break down what Hopkins might be getting paid on Monday. So I want to dive into some of the contract projections that we're hearing right now. Before we get into it, do want to let you guys know though that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Look, the NBA Finals is coming to a close. I know, but we got MLB going strong. Golf is still going strong.

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There's no better place to bet all the sports action than America's number one sportsbook. Visit FanDuel.com slash locked on and get a no-swe sweat first bet up to $2,500. That's FanDuel.com slash locked on. FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the NBA. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We just talked about all the uncertainty coming out of New England on Monday morning. It's a little overblown in general, but I understand where all the excitement comes from. But I want to get into something that's probably a little more important of a conversation. It's what the Titans contract with Hopkins would look like if he signed.

We started getting some information from different sources throughout the day on Monday talking about what that deal could look like. I want to start with Michael Giannetti. He is the guy from spot track.com. Great contract resource, one that I utilize all the time when I'm doing my research for the Titans and things like that and looking at different options around the league. But Michael Giannetti went on Ramon, Kayla, and Will this morning. I think it's 104.5 The Zone. I'm not local in Nashville,

so I don't know all the local stations and stuff like that. But Ramon, Kayla, and Will's show. Shout out to them. And they had Michael Giannetti on. And I actually saw this information in a great article by my friend, Will Lomas of Titan Size. But Michael Giannetti from SpotTrack came on the radio show and talked about what a contract for Hopkins would look like.

And something that was interesting that he said was, during this period of time in the offseason, over the last six years, the highest amount of guaranteed money given out is $9 million. So players who become free agents and get deals during this time of year, for the last six years, the most that they've gotten in guaranteed money is $9 million. So with that in mind, Giannetti basically said he would expect DeAndre Hopkins to get a two-year, $20 million contract, $10 million a season, with the first year $10 million of that guaranteed.

Now, I don't think that, I guess it's just my opinion here, I think Hopkins would want more money in the contract than that. And I think we could see a two-year $30 million contract with $12 to $15 million guaranteed with anywhere from $7 to $10 million in incentives over two seasons. Like, I think that the Titans should, I think two years, $20 million as a base for Hopkins makes a ton of sense, but I think Hopkins would want some ability to make more in there with incentives. And something we're going to talk about at the end of the show, based on some of the experiences that the Titans have had

with aging wide receivers in the past, I would think it would be smart to put some incentive-based pay in that contract for Hopkins. Hey, there are concerns, the PD suspension, the injuries, the production, the age. Hey, if you do it and you ball out and you play like yourself, you're going to make enough money to justify it. You know what I mean?

So I would definitely have some incentives there. But I think two years, $20 million for Hopkins with $10 million guaranteed would be an absolute steal. I mean, that would be an absolute steal. And the minimal amount of risk involved with that price point. I don't see how the Titans could turn that down. I don't see how they couldn't offer that. That is an absolute steal.

It wasn't just Michael Giannetti on Ramon, Kayla, and Will, though. It was also Albert Breer, my colleague at Sports Illustrated. But Albert Breer said he spoke with multiple league executives. One of them said that if Hopkins was a free agent in March, he'd probably get $18 million a year. But with where he's at right now, it's probably looking at $8 to $10 million a season, which is right in range with what Michael Giannetti from SpotTrack was saying.

So if the Titans give Hopkins a base two years, $20 million, let's say there's $5 to $8 to $10 million in incentives, $10 to $15 million guaranteed, I don't see how the Titans could turn down that sort of situation. That contract, for a player of Hopkins' ability, if he gets right, even if Hopkins is 75-80% of himself, I mean for $8-10 million $8-12 million a year, that's still a bargain and that's still worth it to me with where the Titans are at as a wide

receiver group. See, the thing that I've been hitting on all along is the Titans have Derrick Henry and the Titans have Ryan Tannehill and the Titans have Kevin Byer. And they may not have them for more than one more season. So if you're going to go all out with those guys, then actually go all out. And that price for Hopkins

is not that punitive in the future. The Titans are going to have anywhere from $70 to $100 million in cap space over the next two seasons maybe more so don't tell me that having 10 to 15 million dollars of dead money for Hopkins if it comes to that if he's terrible in one year don't tell me that that's that big of a deal okay it's not and I'm going to explain at the end of the show why it's a totally different situation than we saw with even Julio, Randy, Andre Johnson, the list. What I do want to point out here real quickly before we move on though

is one key factor that works in the Titans favor honestly when it comes to money. We only think about things in terms of cap space. Do the Titans have cap space? How they structure the contract? Rarely, and this is a conversation I had earlier in the offseason, my everydayers will remember, rarely do we think about how much money the owner has to pay to the player.

That is cash spend. Okay? We're having a deep financial discussion here of the difference between, we've already talked about void years, salary cap, dead money, cap hit, APY, bonus, all of the different ways that things can be done, all the different factors to look at.

But one thing we don't talk about enough is cash spend. And going into an offseason, every team has a budget in terms of what their cap space situation will allow, but they also have a budget in terms of how much money of the owner's money they can spend. You could go out there and structure every contract that you signed in the offseason with huge bonuses and low salary to help the salary cap. But the owner doesn't have the money

to just pay that bonus for every single player. That's why teams restructure contracts, but it doesn't happen like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom all the time. They still play within a set of rules. And if everybody says the salary cap isn't real, well, you know what is real? The owner's pocketbook. So while a team like Buffalo or Kansas City or whatever,

they can restructure contracts to make room for Hopkins, but the owner has to pay the bonus money up front to the player as part of the restructure. And a lot of teams at this point in the year have already hit their budget, not for salary cap, but for how much money the owner is willing to shell out this summer. How many checks the owner is willing to write. We don't talk about that as a factor in the NFL enough. owner is willing to write. We don't talk about that as a factor in the NFL enough.

Well, the Titans didn't give out barely any real guaranteed money this year other than Jeff Simmons. So, if there's any team out there that still has budget left, not just cap space, but owner's money, it's the Titans.

And I think that helps them. This type of contract we just talked about would absolutely work for Hopkins and work for the Titans. And I don't think anybody's going to be willing to beat it. I really don't. But moving forward, I just want to have a quick Roland's rant on this entire wide receiver situation

and why in recent days I've just felt there are some big differences between some of the past situations that people bring up and what's going on right now with Hopkins. So we're going to get into that in just a moment. Titans fans, let's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We talked about Hopkins and the uncertainty in New England with his visit. We talked about what a contract would look like and what some people have been saying about what Hopkins could potentially make.

Now I just want to have a fan-to-fan conversation with you guys. And I put on my little show rundown on the YouTube. Nope, other way. I always get my sides mixed up. On the YouTube page. Right here. It's right here. I'm trying to get my finger right.

Boom. There we go. All right. Anyways, that was dumb. I put no PTSD. And I don't mean that to be insensitive to the actual, you know, issue of PTSD in our country and things like that, you know, not to minimize that, but just using it as a way to describe the feelings that Titans fans have

when they're pursuing DeAndre Hopkins. And I get it. And I went back, of course, you have Julio Jones. Some people would even put Eric Decker in there. I wouldn't, but the pedigree there is not the same as these names that I'm about to read. But Randy Moss, Andre Johnson, I get it. And look, people compare it to Julio and it's closer to Julio than any of the other, than the other two. It really is. It really is. But the one thing I want to point out here is based on the contract that we just

talked about as a mock contract, Julio was paid more than Hopkins. Julio cost the Titans multiple picks to acquire his services. The Titans were in a much tougher

salary cap situation because of where they were at as a team and trying to go for it. So Hopkins probably be paid less than Julio. It's not going to cost the Titans draft picks to get DeAndre Hopkins and the Titans cap situation is way, way, way more manageable than it was with Julio. Like I just said in the previous segment, the Titans are going to have $70 to $100 million in cap space over the next two years. Even if, even if the Hopkins thing doesn't work out

and the Titans got a cut bait with him after one year and it was a mistake and it's Julio 2.0. It's not going to hurt the Titans as bad to make that mistake. The risk is nowhere near the same as Julio Jones. It's nowhere near the same. And let me say this. I'm just going to say this out loud. Julio was there when it mattered.

Julio had, what, over 60 yards, a couple of catches in the playoff game against the Bengals? I mean, if Tannehill doesn't ruin that and the Titans go on and go to another game, are people going to look at the Julio Jones situation the same? I mean, it could have went better. I understand that. But like, in the playoffs, when you needed him, Julio was there.

And he caught, I think it was three for 66. Him and A.J. Brown together went over 200 yards. I mean, if you would have told a Titans fan when the Julio thing happened, that the Titans' first playoff game, Julio and Aio and AJ were going to combine for 200 yards and a touchdown. Would Titans fans have been happy? I think they would have. I think they would have been. So I don't, I feel the same about Clowney too. I just don't view Clowney's stint with the Titans as like some huge failure like a lot of people act like. I would have done the Julio trade again. I would have done the Clowney signing again.

If you look back in the moment, the Titans were going for it. J-Rob was going for it. I have much more of an issue with the draft picks, signing Vic Beasley. That didn't make any sense. Picking Des Fitzpatrick over Amon Ross, St. Brown. Those things are bad misses. Julio was a bad miss, but it wasn't make any sense. Picking Des Fitzpatrick over Amon Ross, St. Brown. Those things are bad misses. Julio was a bad miss, but it wasn't a bad idea, okay? It wasn't a bad idea.

It just didn't work because Julio didn't want to practice, was unhealthy, and Hopkins may go the same way. But what I'm saying is the risk is so much different between what the Titans had to pay, not only money, but picks for Julio and where they were at compared to right now. It's just not as risky of a deal. So I'm not going to look at the Julio thing and say, oh, it's Julio 2.0. They shouldn't do it. They should do it. I think they should have done the Julio trade. They couldn't have known that it would have been, you know, what it was. And honestly, like I said earlier,

he was there when they needed it. And the Titans went 12-5 and got the number one seed. And it wasn't Julio Jones' fault that the Titans lost in the playoffs. Okay? That's all I'm saying. So, do it again. Do it. Keep trying, man.

I want the Titans to be a team that tries. Go for it. That's why, you know what? They didn't work. Clowney signing, I'm still not going to say that was a bad idea. I'm not. The Julio trade,

not a bad idea. Go for it. Try. Because when those moves work, when those moves work, that's how teams win Super Bowls. Look at what the Rams did. Add an OBJ.

Add in Von Miller. And it worked. Throughout history, you see little additions like that. Hey, and it worked out. So, it doesn't always work. It probably more often than not doesn't work. But the Titans' risk here is so low. It's worth it. Only that Randy Moss, Randy Moss was 33 years old. He played for three teams that year

with the Titans. That is not like this. Andre Johnson was 35 years old, folks. That is not this with Hopkins turning 31. That is not this. So I get everyone's concern. I get the nervousness, but I'm telling you, let that stuff go because the risk involved here and the situation here is totally different than it was with the previous ones. So just wanted to say my piece on that. But tomorrow I'm going to be back to preview the Titans' last open OTA of the summer workout schedule.

Really can't wait to dive into all that with you guys. Titans football, we take like a six-week break after this last OTA, so I'm very excited to preview our last little glimpse of football until training camp rolls around. But with that being said, that's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowlandland and I'm still working out the kinks of this ending and the timing, but this was Locked on Titans.