Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans DEFENSE STRIKES BACK as Jeffery Simmons DOMINATES & Pass Rush Problem Unsung Heroes

Episode Date: August 17, 2026

The Tennessee Titans defense got some revenge on Monday after the offense had their way in Saturday's practice with Jeffery Simmons and the defensive front having their way. Joined by Jermaine Johnson, the defensive line got pressure routinely and some new faces saw new opportunities. It wasn't all defense though as Cam Ward and the offense made their plays including a crazy 4th down conversion to Carnell Tate and Elic Ayomanor continuing to make plays. The Titans may have a pass rush problem on their hands though as Simmons doesn't have much help on the edge and now names like Truman Jones are getting starter chances and it just makes you a bit concerned, Finally, the Titans are dealing with some absences from practice, especially at running back, but it is nothing to be concerned about. Will Levis may get more chances as well if Mitch Trubisky turns out to be banged up after leaving practice early.   LOCKED ON TITANS EVERYDAY CLUB: https://lockedontitans.supercast.com/   Subscribe to the TicTacTitans Film Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/@TicTacTitans   TicTacTitans Merchandise: https://dixons-dream.square.site/shop...   Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitans   Follow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPod   Subscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@LockedOnTitans   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COM to play Daily Dingers and make your free pick on who’s hitting a homer this MLB season.   KALSHI For a limited time,Download the Kalshi app and use code [LOCKEDON] to get $10 when you trade $10. Square Get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at https://square.com/go/lockedonnfl! #squarepod Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. 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) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jeffrey Simmons was dominant as the Tennessee Titans defense had the upper hand at Monday's practice, and that's exactly what Titans fans should want to hear. I'll explain why 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 Rowland Titans, Today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast is brought to you by Fandul Sportsbook. Join all the action at fandle.com to play daily dingers and make your pick on who's hitting a homer this MLB season on today's show. I'm going to break down everything you need to know coming out of Tennessee Titans practice on Monday. We're going to talk about some of the injuries the Titans are dealing with in the backfield on offense and why.

I don't really think either of them are big time concerns. We're also going to talk about the concern with the Titans pass rush and talk about some of the recent developments with some unsung heroes you may not be thinking of in that group, but we got to start with a defense-led day for the Titans at practice on Monday. It was back and forth in the offense, certainly had their moments, but it felt like the defense was making more plays based on the report you see, the play-by-play calls and all that.

It felt like particularly Jeffrey Simmons was dominant. in this practice, whether it be a deflected pass, multiple would be sacks against practice. You're not taking the quarterback to the ground. Usually somebody out there determines, is this a sack? Is it not? It felt like Jeffrey Simmons was getting in for a sack every five minutes. He was all over the first team offense. And that's exactly what you want to hear. I mean, Jeffrey Simmons is a dominant player. And I feel like with the fight and him getting thrown out of practice and them kind of playing it slow early on in the summer, I think we have a really seen Jeffrey Simmons decide, oh, I'm going to be absolutely dominant.

I remember one time I was listening to play by play. Somebody said, you know, it felt like Simmons maybe letting the offense get the playoff right there. And I think that that's a good teammate, not destroying absolutely everything nonstop, because the reality is, Jeffrey Simmons is the best interior defensive lineman in the league. You actually aren't going to see a Jeffrey Simmons every single week in the NFL like the Jets. Don't have anyone on the interior defensive line anywhere close.

to Jeffrey Simmons. You know, so listen, I understand where his heads out is a dominant player. The, you know, the calculation is a little different. But when Simmons wants to turn up, and especially after the day that the offense had on Saturday, and I think that is a big part of this is the revenge factor where the defense, all they're hearing about is Cam Ward, five touchdown passes, deep bombs, this and that. Jeffrey Simmons said, I've had enough. If I want to destroy your practice, if I want to end this drive,

if I want to make sure that you don't get these throws off that look like big time plays when really I'm in the backfield, then I'm going to make sure that that's the type of player that Jeffrey Simmons is. And when he's on that level, that is what this team is going to be built around. And that really is what makes me excited about this and why I think that Titans fans should be excited

when the defense has great days. We all get hype and we all get excited for the offensive days. And when Cam Ward has big performances, and I get it, the crowd loves, offense. We all know that. But this Tennessee Titans team, if it's going to be a 10-win team, if it's going to be an eight-win team, I think if it's going to be a seven-win team, which I think would be a great outcome for the Titans this year. I know that that sounds like blasphemy to some of you guys out there who are more optimistic, but I think a seven-win season

would be incredible progress for the Titans. And we would have fun on the way there with some fun wins and some good football and some clunkers and some bad football and some bad games from Cam where he has turnovers and where the secondary gets roasted and the ends and outs and we'll all be up and down and whatever. But a seven-win season when we look back at it, we'd be happy, feel like we made progress. Hey, we had this in the all season. We do that. So that season, I think, does involve a better defense than an offense,

where the Titans defense is top 12, you know, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, real good. The offense is, you know, 18, 19, 17, somewhere in there where it's not absolutely despicable, but it's inconsistent week to week, and you don't know what you're going to get from a young offense in a new system. I think that would be an incredible outcome for this team

and push them forward. That relies on the defense being good, and it relies on Jeffrey Simmons being Donald. So you don't want to hear that the offense is destroying the defense over and over and over again. That's not good for this Titans team. I think that would point to this. If the defense is nowhere near close to where I was just talking about, I don't think that the offense is going to be a lot better than what I was just talking about. I think that I just painted an optimistic picture of the offense.

There's a chance that they are around 22, 23, 24, 25 points per game, total yarded, stuff like that. I think that's probably more likely early on in the season as they gel together and grow up a little bit. So if the defense isn't good and the defense is 19, 20, 21, in the NFL level good, then the Titans are going to be in trouble.

So you want to hear about days like today where Jeffrey Simmons is in the backfield constantly, where Jermaine Johnson is getting into the backfield, where Caldric Falk is getting a pressure, where Cedric Gray is getting multiple run stops and flying all over the field, where the secondary even is getting involved in the action, a bunch of reports about Cordell Flot,

public enemy number one right now for Titans fans, getting a PBA, U, Alante Taylor getting a stop, Josh Williams, PBU, Kevin Winston, breaking up a pass, hitting another big time Titans wide receiver and Carnell Tate, which we'll talk about in just a second. Kevin Winston, I love the aggression. But my lord, I mean, you know, there were guys out there making plays. Michael Robinson got a pass breakup. Bishop Fitzgerald, my guy, the undrafted free agent safety out of USC.

Like, the Titans defense made place. And again, it wasn't completely one-sided. The Titans' offense had their moments to, I mean, Cam's completion. I think Jim White said he was like 22 for 26 or something. something like that. But again, some of these were, you know, it was a sack. Like there was a deep play to Ridley, according to the play-by-play, but it was really a sack for Jeffrey Simmons.

You know what I mean? So that's why it sounds like that, getting the pass off, this and that. And there was the fourth and eight conversion to Cornell Tate at the end of practice, the one that Kevin Winston hit him on that was obviously a highlight play. I'm sure the Titans will probably put that out in some aspect. There was some red zone touchdowns to Tate. Spears and big plays to Ridley and Robinson over the middle and things like that. Like the offense had their moments.

But to see the defense respond after I didn't think it was an incredible performance in the preseason game against San Francisco and then come back out and we were all excited about Cam Ward bouncing back. But he did all of that on the defense that doesn't probably have its confidence right now in a scheme that, in my opinion, the Tennessee Titans defensive scheme is hard for defensive backs. There's a lot of rules. There's a lot of different ways to read things

and handle things based on different formations and things like that. And the Titans have a lot of young defensive backs mixed in there all the time. I just think it can be difficult. New faces being asked to not only do new things but play new positions like Alonte Taylor as well. And again, I remind you, like I've been saying,

Robert Salas defense is a bend don't break. He said it himself publicly. He doesn't want to give up points. He'll give up yards to not give up points. So there's just some of this that we have to accept, and then some of it is the secondary ass to gel together. You know what I mean? So it was back and forth.

Both sides had their run, but the defense made more plays on the day, and it's nice to see them rebound because, again, if the Titans defense isn't good, I don't think this team is going to be as good as you all want it to be. This is not going to be an offensive-led team and reach the goals that we're hoping that they reached this year. I'm just saying, I don't think that that's going to happen. So good rebound day from the defense, from Jeffrey Simmons,

but I still have some questions about the pass rush. I think the Titans might have some problems there. And when we talk about some guys in practice who were getting, some run with the first team and some guys who I think stood out on tape. They're just some names that I guess folks wouldn't expect. What's going on everybody? My name is Ross Jackson, host of the Lockdown at Saints podcast. And today's Lockdown episode is brought to you by our friends at Basque and Lather.

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Again, we talked about a defense dominant day where Jeffrey Simmons really went off. We saw a lot of different contributions all the way throughout all three levels of the defense. But I want to focus in on the pass rush problems for the Titans and talk about some names that you would not expect to hear that have been showing up lately in practice. And quite frankly, it doesn't make me feel a lot better about it. But something I don't feel that bad about is the injuries the Titans are dealing with in the absences. The Titans are dealing with in the backfield at practice. I'll explain that at the end of the show.

But again, the pass rush problems for the Titans. Yes, Jeffrey Simmons, a dominant force, best interior defensive linemen in the NFL. we talked about his performance in practice, multiple sacks, knocked down a pass, disruptive in the run game. He was awesome. All right, great. John Franklin Myers. Now, I know that JFM has been out at times with injury.

He's been dealing with injury, lower back, missed time, missed a week, you know, but it has been quiet, it has been quiet from John Franklin Myers. Have not heard a ton since he. He's been dealing with the injury, of course. And they need those two desperately because the reality is where the past rush problems are going to come from and where they came from against San Francisco's backup offensive line,

the reason the Titans couldn't get any pressure, is because they just double-teamed Jeffrey Simmons, had the running back watch Jeffrey Simmons, along with the two linemen double-teaming him, and they just let everybody else go one-on-one. Now, when one of those guys is John Franklin Myers, there's a chance that he's going to win that matchup. Great.

But the problem is, what if you were to double team Jeffrey Simmons and then you had a really good guard on John Franklin Myers? Well, now you're relying on the Titans defense events. And Jermaine Johnson had a good practice and has had good practices against Dan Moore. Well, what do we think about Dan Moore? You know what I mean?

Like, let's just have that moment where we're all like, okay, so it's no shock that. That doesn't mean that Jermaine Johnson is because he had some okay plays in the preseason game, but it wasn't like he was getting pressure consistently against a backup offensive tackle. And then you have Jacob Martin who was working on a side field, according to reports at Monday's practice. So getting close after banging up his knee against Sanford. Francisco. But again, I continue to, and I know some people sometimes, this is, again,

like we talked about, they say the panic thing, you're panicking or whatever. Sure, I've had these concerns about the edge and the overall pass rush for quite some time. But Jacob Martin is a guy where you're like, oh, God, they need Jacob Martin back. Well, he's a 30-year-old who had a career high five and a half sacks last year. But like, you know, he's been a backup and a journeyman throughout his career. and he's like a critical starter for the Titans now. You know, like that, I don't think that makes me panicky

to be like, hey, man, that's a precarious situation to be in. And then you have Falk who, listen, Falk had a pressure in practice like we talked about. The Femi and Falk Tick-Tac Titans film breakdown will be out on Tuesday morning. They showed progress. But I am pumping the break. on expecting anything out of either of them.

I mean, Femi basically missed most of last year, switched his position, switched his scheme, totally change in the way, like Jeffrey Simmons has talked about how it's a totally different defense in terms of attacking off the line of scrimmage versus reading and reacting like he's done with all the rest of the defenses and his career.

So it's a brand new stylistic ask for Femi, even though he showed a little bit of progress and how he's firing off the line of scrimmage and sustaining his rush and trying to keep his balance, although it's certainly not all the way there. And we'll talk about that in a second because there are signs that the team knows that. Folk, I think has, he is so athletic.

I'm so excited to show you guys his film on the Tick-Tac Titans YouTube channel. But he's so athletic and he's so long and he's so strong and he just has all the talent in the world. And I think that he's closer to making an impact than I think I initially thought. And I think the team is trying to get him more opportunities and more reps so that they can accelerate that development. Because I think they know they need him right now.

Like we should press patience. It's not his fault that they neglected the edge the way that they did and they need him so desperately. But like think about it. You have a traded up for first round edge, a second round edge. You shouldn't be this thin and this disdain. this disastrous on the edge. So it is what it is.

They're going to need Falk to develop faster and play more and get better and be disruptive. And he has the ability to do it. It's just I think we've got to give him some patience even though the team can't afford it. Now Femi, I mean he's strong and

he'll fly up field and his get-off is getting a little bit better. It's got to keep getting better. He just does not have anything in the way of pass rush moves still. He's just not good enough with his hand. he's not accurate enough and his strikes when he's trying to knock down

an offensive lineman's hands or swipe him to the side and get around and he just he loses his battle he's just not agile enough he's just very straight line so whenever he tries to like make a quick move it to like dip

and slide around or like knock hands away and then get to an edge he like loses his balance and And here we go. So the unsung heroes. Truman Jones, a guy that I identified when we did my last roster thing,

like I think they like Truman Jones. I just, I notice his name a lot. I notice the coach is talking, saying good job to him a lot. I think they like him. Well, Truman Jones was getting run with the first team defense because Jacob Martin was off on a side field, practicing according to all their reports

and wasn't doing the actual team stuff yet. Well, it was Truman Jones. Fult got a ton of opportunities, of course, but Truman Jones into Jacob Martin rule, not Femmy. Now, apparently they don't line up on the same side very often and Sala's big on sides right now. So, you know, maybe he's just not his direct backup.

But I'm just saying, I think Truman Jones is a guy that has a chance to be a depth piece on this team can be in the Jalen Harrell role from last year is like that fourth, fifth rusher, him and Femmy, going back and forth. But I do not think that's a good place for the Titans to be when we just talked about in the first second

how the Titans defense has to be dominant and that's all based on Robert Salas' defensive line. Well, if the edge lacks this depth and we're talking about Truman Jones in an important role, then, you know, It just, it makes me concern. It makes me concern. That's all I can say.

So, do the Titans have pass rush problems? You tell me, my answer has been throughout the entire summer when I was like, sign Joey Bosa. You know, bring in somebody else. You know, term gross mottoes. You know, bring, just like try a veteran who's had actual sacks in their career. Because I just don't know.

I just, can Robert Salas plan work with the edge rush talent that he currently has. I do wonder, I do wonder. So we'll see. I want to see Jeffrey Simmons and John Franklin Myers out there together and see how that impacts the offensive line to determine how worried we should be about the lack of edge talent. I think we got to see that before we throw it into the bucket

with like Cam's accuracy and the secondary. You know what I mean? Before we throw it in that bucket, We got to see that. But with that being said, one problem we don't got to throw in the bucket is the injuries in the backfield. You shouldn't worry about them. I'll explain. Do you want to let you know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDool Sportsbook.

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an official partner of the MLB. Fans, let's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Again, we talked about the defense winning the day on Monday, led by Jeffrey Simmons. We talked about some of the pass rush problems, though, that I'm worried about with the Titans. Now I want to talk about an update on the Titans backfield injury situation before we get into it though.

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Locked on Titans. But with that being said, Titans barely had any running backs at practice on Monday. No Tony Pollard. No Calell Mullings, who seems to be always hurt at this stage. No Nick Singleton. Apparently Robert Sala said that Nick Singleton

was just a rest day because he got so much work in the preseason game and probably on Saturday and all that. It's crazy that to me Nick Singleton has already gotten to a point where remember on the first unofficial debt chart, he's sixth, last, behind Mullings and Chestnut and Carter.

And now he's gotten so much work that they're giving him a rest day so important. The sixth guy on the debt chart is so important that they're giving him a rest day. Yeah, right. Nick Singleton is going to play a role in this offense this year, I guarantee it. But three running backs out,

a lot of work for Tage Spears, Michael Carter, Julius Chestnut. But, again, I don't think that there's any need to worry about the running back spot. They have enough numbers, just brought in another guy, camp bodies.

The Titans are turning people right now, and I'll tell you, they're going to be here for a cup of coffee. Like, nobody that the Titans are bringing on to the team right now in this roster churn of, you know, ACL and IR and all that are making an impact.

It's just the reality. They're brought in to fill the spot, take the reps, so that the real guys don't have to play. but nonetheless Tony Pollard's fine they don't need Calell Mullings Nick Singleton is on a rest day

Spears looks good Michael Carter and Julius Chestnut can eat innings until the cows come home do not worry about that at all and then the quarterback situation so Mitch Trubisky left practice early with a biceps injury

He was holding this walking off according to all the reports. And Robert Sala said in his press conference after practice that he thinks it's fine, but he's an eternal optimist. So that read to like, I don't know, to me, when I heard him say that, I thought, oh, so you have no idea whether it's good or not, you're just going to say, like, you think it's good, just to like manifest.

You know, Robert Sala does seem like a spiritual vibe superstitious kind of guy, you know what I mean? So he's like, ah, I think we're good. I think we're good. Even though he doesn't know for certain yet. So let's hope that he was right. But I gotta tell you, barring it being like a biceps tear

and Mr. Trimisky's out for the season forever, like if it's just like a strain bicep or, you know, just soreness from throwing or whatever it happens to be, that would be fine. Throw Willis out there. Let Will Levis be QB too. Sure. You know, like, given Will Levis more opportunities at this stage,

instead of Mitch Trubisky, I've wanted that throughout the whole process anyway. I talked about that before. Mitch Trubisky is a veteran. We don't need Mitch Trubisky to be out there running the offense and doing a bunch. Like, he's a veteran guy. We know who he is. He is who he is. You know, they need him out there to throw, like to eat innings and run the plays

and do it correctly and have tape of plays being run by a veteran and the proper way and stuff like that. So he has value. But when we're talking about the preseason game or the joint practice coming up or anything like that, let Levis go out there. Maybe he catches a rhythm. Apparently he cried baby in all of training camp

and boo-hooing out on the field because he's playing with the third stringers and they're not any good. I've heard multiple people who have been at practices talk about his body language on the field. Well, now you get to play with the second stringers. How's the body language going to be now?

You got bumped up, prove it, you know? Let's see how you play. You got better protection. You got better weapons. You get to throw to Chim and Iyo. That's pretty good. Show us now. And if he can go out there in the preseason game and let Cam Ward play,

Robert Salas say in a half. I mean, shoot, gosh, maybe like four series would be good for me. Let Cam play four series. and then Levis plays until, you know, two-thirds left in the fourth quarter and then Henan Hooker comes in. Just give Levis a bunch of run. That's the only way he's going to have a chance

to benefit the football team. They're not going to keep him. I don't buy it unless Trubisky's injury is into the regular season. If Trubiske's injury goes into the regular season, it gives them an excuse to keep Will Levis. Just in case, just in case somebody gets somebody gets desperate.

I mean, it's incredibly unlikely, but at that point, what's a better option? That's the best route to go anyway. So it kind of works itself out. Like Levis having surgery last year worked itself out in the quarterback room, it would work out this way to where they kept Levis around for a while.

And maybe Trubisky comes back in the middle of the season and then they can make their decision on Levis then. Maybe it opens up other avenues, you know? There's a lot of different things that can happen. I would not worry whatsoever about the backfield injuries. I don't think you should worry about that at all as a Titans fan. There are injuries to worry about these aren't the ones. These aren't the ones.

Luckily, knock on wood, Titans haven't had a bunch of terrible injuries, but they're out there. I mean, Canick and Harold just went on IR. Anyway, with that being said, wanted to take a moment here at the end of the episode to let you guys know about a new project I'm doing with Locked On called Locked on Titans hit. It's the Titans hit on all social media here on YouTube as well. You're going to get two five minute podcasts each day. So it's bite-sized format. I'm going to be doing short content over there as well. So make sure that you check it out. Locked on Titans hit on all social media and everything like that.

I'm very excited about it, kind of a new wave of content that we're going to be diving into. And I think you guys are going to enjoy it. So check me out there as well. But that's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.