Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans DEFENSE STRIKES BACK - Jeffery Simmons & Femi Oladejo BRING PRESSURE

Episode Date: June 11, 2025

The Tennessee Titans offense, led by Cam Ward, dominated Day 1 of mandatory mini-camp, but the defense got their revenge on Day 2. Jeffery Simmons, Femi Oladejo and other brought pressure all day and disrupted the offense consistently. This is exactly the back-and-forth you want to see from a competitive team. However, the offense did have their moments including Cam Ward connecting with Calvin Ridley on a long touchdown. Cam didn't have the best day, but continuing to build his primary connection is critical. Finally, Van Jefferson, Chim Dike and some other names that don't get much hype deserve to be pointed out for their performance so far. Subscribe to the TicTacTitans Film Channel:https://www.youtube.com/@TicTacTitans TicTacTitans Merchandise: https://dixons-dream.square.site/shop/tictactitans-gear/C3AAPNWXSXA6SBYG3USV2I7R?page=1&limit=30&sort_by=category_order&sort_order=asc Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitans Follow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPod Subscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videos Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFLfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.Skylight CalendarRight now, Skylight is offering our listeners $30 off their 15 inch Calendars by going to Skylightcal.com/NFL. FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.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 defense got revenge on day two of mandatory mini camp and I'm breaking down everything you need to know 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 fans. Today's edition of Locked On Titans is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Look, dollars in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. Look, it's Tennessee Titans, mandatory mini camp 2025 episode two, the defense strikes back. Jeffrey Simmons, Femi Oladejo making plays. We'll talk about everybody on the defense who stepped up, but Cam Ward had his moments as well. So we'll talk about what the offense did

on Wednesday, and then we'll finish about what the offense did on Wednesday, and then we'll finish things out with some guys who I think just need more discussion. We'll talk about the punt returner position, talk more about Femi Oladejo, Chim Dike, and Van Jefferson, who could be a sleeper on this offense. Before we get into all of it, do want to thank you for making Locked on Titans your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. You're not going to beat that anywhere else. Make sure that you get subscribed, stay subscribed.

It's your team every day. Speaking of every day, shout out to my everydayers out there tuning in Monday through Friday. Couldn't do it without you guys. If you aren't an everydayer, you need to be one. It may be the off season, but there is no off season for Locked on Titans. I'm going to have a recap of tomorrow's mandatory minicamp practice. Also, next week we're going to take a look at all of the biggest stories and biggest questions coming out of mandatory minicamp before we have the summer break until training camp. But with all that being said, the defense gets its revenge on the offense on day two, tying up the proverbial score, I guess, one to one between the offense and the defense. So remember yesterday, Cam Ward went crazy. 20 for 21, the offense was on point. He completed 18 straight passes, 14 of 14 in the team period, 11 on 11s. The offense was just fantastic and it sounds like the defense thought about that

all night long before they hit the practice field on Wednesday because it was a totally different story according to all of the reports. The defense certainly won the day, tied things up, as I said, and it was the pressure that the defense was getting on Cam Ward and the Titans' quarterbacks all day long that made the biggest difference. And no surprise, the Titans worked on third and long situations for the offense and the defense, and when it's third and long, you can dial up the pressure, you can get in the quarterback's face, you can make it tough on them and see what happens. And the defense definitely had their way,

but it's not just that the defense bounced back here. Okay, because that's very, very important, but it was the players that were involved in the defensive effort that get you so excited. So first and foremost, the defense bouncing back is critical. We wouldn't want things to be too one-sided. Like remember a couple of years ago when Andre Dillard was starting at left tackle and every single day it was the defense, the defense were like,

this is going to be a dominant defensive front. This is going to be an incredible pass rush. And it wasn't really that, you know what I mean? It was just the offensive line was that bad. So you don't want to see one side of the ball absolutely dominating over and over and over again. A good football team, a good football team with a competent offense

and a good defense is going to go back and forth. They're going to battle back and forth, different days, different moments, different momentum. That's what it's all about. That's what you truly want to see. And I talked about this before Mand mini-camp even started. That I don't expect one side of the ball to dominate every time, or I want Cam Ward to play great, but there are going to be ups and downs throughout the season. And this is why the defense should have their wins. The defense should

have their days where they're on fire, they're shutting it down, they're flying around, they're doing things. If it wasn't that, and if the Tennessee Titans offense with a bunch of rookies and a new offensive line was dominating the Titans defense every day, that would not be a good thing. So overall, great that the defense was able to bounce back, have some success here, that's what you want to see, the give and take of the offseason, ones on ones. But again, the players involved here Jeffrey Simmons I will continue to say how critically important it is that Jeffrey Simmons is out there with his teammates and out on the field and it's funny that some

people can admit it's very important that Jeffrey Simmons is out there and then also not be able to say man it would have been nice if Jeffrey Simmons would have been out there a little bit earlier, you know, but bygones be bygones water under the bridge. As they say, Jeffrey Simmons is out on the field and he is making place had could have been a multiple sack day with two sacks had pressure in the back field was barking at cam ward, barking at the offense, keeping them on their toes, bat it down a pass at the line of scrimmage as well against Will Levis. So, Jeffrey Simmons is just making it happen. All right, just had a great day. He's in

great shape, like we talked about, dropped 20 pounds. He's 301 and you could tell a difference looking at him moving around. He looks slimmer, he looks quicker, he looks faster, you can tell. So, big day for Jeffrey Simmons. Head-butted Cam Ward at one point in time in the middle of the field when they were going at it. Sounded like it was, you know, uh, Tyron Davenport was the one who reported the head-butt. Sounded like it was cordial. It wasn't like, you know, they were like really looking to fight each other in their head-button, but it's a competitive environment. They're jawing back and forth, trash-talking, representing their side of the ball. I love hearing that.

So Big Jeff making a big impact right away, mandatory mini camp. And then Femi Oladejo. I'm going to talk about Femi more at the end of the show, but let me just tell you this. Every time we hear about one of these practices, every time we hear someone talk about Femiola De Gio whether it be a coach a teammate anything it just gets me more and more optimistic for what he can be right away. He made multiple plays in the backfield multiple plays throughout the practice had what would have been a sack on Brendan Crenshaw Dixon the undrafted free agent tackle out of Florida had a long arm into J.C. Latham's chest that pushed him back, according to a report,

and disrupted a play and caused an incompletion. Maybe would have turned into a sack eventually, so disruption in the backfield, a sack, disruption that causes an incompletion. And then, I also saw that Buck Rising reported Femi dropped back into a zone, into the flat and made a pass breakup on Van Jefferson as well and looked incredibly fluid. I think I saw, you can tell that he was an off-ball linebacker because he moves like it. That versatility, to me, Femiola De Gio can be Harold Landry on steroids. Like, Harold Landry on super soldier serum.

That's what Femiola Degeo can be for this defense. Versatility. And on multiple occasions like Tyron Davenport said, that dude Femi gets off the ball well. Like everybody is talking about how fast and powerful Femiola Degeo looks out there. Not only that, but Cody Barton on blitzes. The Titans defense blitzed a lot. Cody Barton on blitzes. Getting into the backfield, getting pressures. Arden Key getting pressure in the backfield. And then more pass breakups at the line of scrimmage.

Jeffrey Simmons had one, but Tavon Dre Sweat pushing the pocket, knocking down a ball. I think I saw a report that said Draymond Jones got one down as well. Draymond Jones had a lot of had a lot of pop at The practice on Wednesday before practice the interviews and stuff like that heard a lot about Draymond Jones but the team finished practice with the two-minute drill and The Titans defense wiped the offense off the map

Cam Ward will get into Cam Ward's performance But he had multiple plays in a row where he had to throw the ball away because there was pressure in the backfield. Cam Ward's group, the first team offense did not get points in the two minute drill. They weren't able to do anything and Jeffrey Simmons was very happy about that. He ended the two minute drive and ended the practice for first team with a sack.

Jeffrey Simmons making an impact. The defense strikes back. We're going to talk about what the offense did though, because it wasn't all bad. And Ken Ward might have had his best play of the entire offseason so far. Today's episode is brought to you by the Skylight Calendar.

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I know that's for them. And then there's overlap. It just makes it so easy to keep everything organized. Right now, Skylight is offering my listeners $30 off their 15 inch calendars by going to skylightcal.com slash NFL. Go to skylightcal.com slash NFL for $30 off your 15 inch calendar. That's S-K-Y-L-I-G-H-T-C-A-L.com slash NFL. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the locked on Titans podcast. We talked about the defense as a whole, striking back, Big Jeff, Femi Oladejo making plays. We got some more players on the defense to talk about as well, but I want to get into the offense for a little

bit because make no mistake about it. The defense won the day on Wednesday for the Titans, no doubt there, but the offense had some moments and cam ward again, had what might've been his best play of the off season program so far. Now, before we get into it, do you want to thank you again for making locked on Titans your first listen, make sure that you tune in tomorrow where I break down the final day of mandatory mini camp, figure out who won the offense or defense, who's going to win this mandatory mini camp battle. And it's the last time we'll see the Titans out on the field

Until the end of July so you're definitely not gonna want to miss everything that happened at practice on Thursday, but Cam Ward at one point in time during practice According to Tyron Davenport Was at the line of scrimmage. All right at the line of scrimmage third and long. They've been practicing third and long all practice long at the line of scrimmage Looks around Titans defense Starts to inch up starts to creep up. It's a blitz ladies and gentlemen It is a blitz third and long blitz is coming cam ward looks around

Check check audibles and Blitz is coming. Cam Ward looks around. Check, check. Audible's. And then fires a strike. Downfield drops it at a bucket to Calvin Ridley for what would have been a 50-plus yard touchdown. Boom. That's, I love seeing that. And think, this happened in the middle of practice, closer towards the end of practice.

So Cam Ward had been seeing these blitzes all practice long and identifying what the defense was doing. And then he was able to say, all right, I've been seeing you do this all practice long, you've been giving me heck. Really held myself back on that one. Just went with the double hockey sticks. But he adjusted, he read it,

and made a huge play. 50 yard bomb to Calvin Ridley. And that really, that was clearly the best play of the day. He had a back shoulder throw to Ellic Io Manor and seven on seven hit Ridley on that two minute drill that we talked about to finish practice. He hit Calvin Ridley early on to get it going, hit Calvin Ridley again on that drive before it stalled out ultimately. Ultimately, in the defense won the day again, Jeffrey Simmons sack to end the two minute drill,

ones V ones. But during sevens and other teamwork with third down drills, hit Xavier Restrepo over the middle two times, was able to find again, Alec Io Maneri found Van Jefferson throughout the day and I'm going to talk about some of these individual players towards the end but I do want to focus on this Calvin Ridley connection. So Calvin Ridley had a drop early in practice, came back, had three catches on the day, was making plays available to all of the quarterbacks. Will Levis had a very good

completion to Calvin Ridley on a corner route deep down the field had another completion deep down the field to James Prochet. Will Levis's group, the second team, did actually end up getting into field goal range because he completed a deep pass to James Prochet. So good for Will Levis continue battling. I hope the rest of the NFL is paying attention, baby. Look at Will Levis. Look at Will Levis. He's having a pretty good camp. He's doing pretty good. He's back up quality backup. You could still develop him. Come on folks. Come get Will Levis. But either way, we saw some good moments and we saw some of the players that we

want to see make plays. But overall, Cam Ward had a couple of fumbles on the day. He fumbled one while he was in the pocket. They tried to run a reverse toss to Chim Dike that ended up on the ground. Cedric Gray actually recovered that one. We'll talk about that in a moment, but Cam Ward had multiple throwaways. Uh, according to Jim Wyatt, he had some throws that were, he either overshot the guy or they were a little bit behind. So it was not the best practice for Cam Ward. It was not the cleanest practice for the offense overall. Again, the defense

won the day. But as I talked about in the opening segment and I talked about last week, you want to see this back and forth. It's not going to be completely linear. Well, Cam Ward just gets better and better and better and better and better and better every day. I would compare it to golf. It's not like you're just going to cut, you start, you shoot a 55 on nine holes. You know, you shoot a, you shoot a 100 and just every time you play golf, the rest of your life, you're going to get better every single time.

Doesn't work like that. It doesn't work like that. So, and most people's development is not linear. It just doesn't go straight up like a mountain, you know what I mean? So, K-Mortar is going to have those plateaus, those jagged parts, where you just climb eventually, and it happens over time. So, this is what we expected, and again, I would be super down on the defense if they just got absolutely cooked like they did yesterday over and over again you know what I mean you wouldn't want to see that

so the offense was not sharp was not clean a lot of it had to do with its third down they're practicing third and long third and long is a difficult situation for the offense all the time anyways especially when the defense knows and they can bring that pressure all the time. So tough circumstances, but these are the type of days that Cam Ward needs to have. And these are the type of days, honestly, that I want to see the Titans defense have. The connection with Calvin Ridley being something that showed up even on a bad day, even on a bad day, the connection with Calvin Ridley showing up. That's critical. That's critical for the Titans. Now, again, I do want to talk about Van Jefferson for a minute. I want to get into some more of the individual players as we get towards the end of the episode, but Van Jefferson continues to get

rave reviews. Quite honestly, his speed, his size, remember he's six foot one near six foot two. Is a speed player, good movement skills, and really what I've heard people raving about with Van Jefferson is the versatility. I've talked about the X wide receiver position for the Titans and why I'm so high on Elec Io Manor because the Titans don't really have a pure X wide receiver. And I said the only other people on the team who have the size and ability to really even try to play that is Van Jefferson and Traylon Burks. And since Traylon Burks is a ghost and we can't count on him and talk about him, it's just Van Jefferson and Elec Iow Manor as far as I'm concerned. And Iow Manor is a rookie at the end of the day. And I have said, I think that the starting three wide receivers

that go out there in week one will be Calvin Ridley, Tyler Lockett and Van Jefferson. Because Van Jefferson can do anything. Van Jefferson could play is a big slot. Van Jefferson could be your Z wide receiver, which is where I think his natural position would be. He could play the X wide receiver position if you need to because he's big enough to do it. He could be your speed vertical X guy. Van Jefferson is being overshadowed, rightfully so, rightfully so. He's being overshadowed by the young guys. By Iow Manor, by Restrepo, by DK. And we'll talk about DK in just a second. He's another guy, him and Jefferson are having similar impacts, I think, but

you just see it all these different, hey, Van Jefferson looks good out there. Van Jefferson's moving around. I think Van Jefferson is maybe going to be more important than people realize. I am not going to overhype Van Jefferson, but I think he can play an important role early on for the Tennessee Titans as these rookies do come along and his versatility and the ability to play any position Makes him very valuable and it makes him very helpful as well, especially considering that you know, Xavier Restrepo is slot only and You know Elec Ioman are probably not gonna be a guy you want to play in the slot or play as a Z like just keep him As the X receiver like there are guys on the Titans roster right now that I don't think have as much versatility. So having guys like Van

Jefferson who do have a ton of versatility, I think that's key. So developing those connections with Calvin Ridley, Van Jefferson, Tyler Lockett was still just doing the jugs machine, not involved in practice. They're taking him slow. Maybe there was an injury, I don't know, but either way, just even though in a down day for the offense, I love hearing about the connections that Cam Ward is still cultivating and some of these guys that continue to show up, but let's talk about two rookies I'm so hype about.

Femi Oladejo, Chim Dike, who's getting similar love as Van Jefferson. Also, we got to talk about the punt returner situation, because there's a lot to unpack there as well. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. The NBA Playoffs, the NBA Finals, really, are in full swing, and every night delivers highlight-worthy performances, major momentum shifts, and can't miss moments. Whether it's a game-winning shot or a breakout player, there's never been a better time to get in on the action. FanDuel makes it easy to stay in the game before a tip-off and live with player props, performance trends, and same-game parlays.

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Make every moment more with Fandle, official sports betting partner of the NBA. Titans fans, let's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast, breaking down day two of Tennessee Titans mandatory mini camp. The defense got their revenge, but Cam Ward still had his moments. Now I want to dive into some of the individual players that just deserve more discussion before we get into it. Do want to thank you again for making Locked on Titans your first listen. For your second listen, check out Locked on NFL scouting. As training camp gets closer, moves are being made.

Host Kyle Krabs and Joe Marino will make you the most informed NFL fan this off season, find Locked On NFL Scouting on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. But dive it in here. Femi Olidasia. Yesterday, left practice early. I was concerned. Femi needs development, Femi needs reps, desperately so. More than anybody else on the defense, Femi Oladejo needs reps.

He cannot afford to miss time injured. But luckily, doesn't seem like it's very serious. Brian Callahan said that it's not very serious, and Femi Oladejo was back out on the field, and clearly, he was making place. Couple of things that stand out to me. Again, every single report, every person that was there that talked about Femiola De Gio said the way that he jumps off the line of scrimmage, his speed, his burst off the line of scrimmage, insane. And that is half the battle right there, right? If you can win that battle and get an advantage because you are the quicker guy

off the line of scrimmage, that's huge. And for a guy that needs technical refinement with his hands and his pass rush moves, who hasn't done a ton of that before because he was an off-ball linebacker, for a guy in that situation, winning everywhere else other than the technical aspects is critical. That's why him getting off the line of scrimmage the way that he does. Him using his power and just putting his hands in a guy's chest and driving him back. Those things are going to be so, so critically important for Femi Oladejo early on because he's not going to be some savant with his handwork like he's Deniko Autri or Jarell Casey or something.

He's not going to be on that level yet. He's got to use his physical athletic gifts to win right away as he develops his technique. And it sounds like he's already doing that. Again, you could say, oh, he had a sack against Brendan Crenshaw, uh, Brendan, uh, Brandon Crenshaw, Dixon, the offensive tackle from Florida, undrafted free agent, say, Oh, that's an undrafted free agent. Guy's not even going to make the team. So what? But he had a great pressure on J.C. Latham. And this isn't the first time in Titans

offseason practices that we've heard Femi might have got the best to lay on a rep. So I love hearing that. Also, you hear about the versatility, like I said, dropping back in coverage and making plays. Femi Oladejo is by far the biggest, well, I won't say by far, but I would say out there right now, Femi Oladejo is the biggest X factor on defense. No doubt in my mind. The difference in what the Tennessee Titans defense will be, Femi Oladejo is the biggest X factor on defense. No doubt in my mind. The difference in what the Tennessee Titans defense will be if Femi is just okay in a rotational player versus what the Tennessee Titans defense could be. If Femi is awesome right away.

It's a big difference in my opinion. It's a massive difference in my opinion. If Femi can come in right away and be an impact player. And that's not my expectation for him. You could say, oh he's a second round pick, but this is a team that went three and 14 last year. It's a rebuilding football team and Femi is a player who barely has played at the position that he's going to play on defense in the NFL. He was an off-ball linebacker. So everything about Femi's development says, slow down. Slow your expectations down. Don't expect too much too early. But man, it's hard to not get excited when you see everything that people say about Femi

and how impressive that he is. So, cannot wait to see his development continue. Happy he was back out on the field. Glad there's nothing serious Chim Dike another rookie who we must discuss rave reviews I saw I forget who said it but that Chim Dike is probably going to be way more important to the Titans offense this year than people realize right now like Van Jefferson he's a guy with size, six foot one and speed. The combination of that is not something the Titans have a lot of. Okay? So, and quite honestly, you want as many guys as you can get. So, Chim Dike, not only with the size and the speed, but the versatility. DK is another guy who's been able to move around. And I think it was Nick Holes talked about how, you know,

he's been able to absorb everything. He knows what he's doing everywhere. Jim DK, if he can come in right away and play all three positions at wide receiver, slot, Z and X, I mean, that's the plan for him. If you could have Restrepo, who is a clear slot only guy, and you could have Io Manor, who could be your X, and then you have DK, who could be a Z. Now you have a really good group of guys to build around, and whether ChimDK is your starting Z or your backup Z,

whether, you know, they're your top three wide receivers on the debt chart or not, which they shouldn't be long-term. The Titans will need an Alpha number one wide receiver. But if those three guys are staples on your debt chart, and you know that you have somebody that you can count on, and at all three spots, you have somebody that you can count on, what a great start for the Titans rookie class of 2025. Think about what we're talking about here. So Chim Dike needs to get more love. He's not as exciting as Io Manor and Restrepo.

That's a fact. But speaking of the versatility, top punt returner, Chim Dike. You also have Xavier Restrepo punt returning. You have Jaquan Jackson punt returning. You have Jaquan Jackson punt returning. You have James Prochet punt returning. Prochet had a very good practice. Had three catches on the day. The deep catch from Will Levis and two minute drill.

Had a couple of other plays. Good day from James Prochet. He's an interesting player to watch. A veteran who not a lot of people are counting on to make this roster. And I'm not either, but we'll see. Also worth mentioning, but we'll see. Also worth mentioning, and we'll probably talk about this more next week when I have just more time to dive into everything that we're hearing here, but Cedric Gray recovered

a fumble. James Williams, good day in coverage. The young linebackers, got to keep an eye on them. I don't think it's all positive, but still nice to hear some good things. We'll probably, again, dive. There's so much meat on the bone that we're gonna chew through after these, because I cover practice every day, the practice that happened. There's not a lot of time to go back and talk about the day before,

you know, talk about the day ahead or things like that. So next week, we're really gonna have some fun conversations about what we saw during mandatory mini camp. But I'm going to be back with you guys tomorrow to break down the final day of mandatory mini camp. Who is going to win the ultimate battle? The offense or the defense? Let me know down below. Hit me up on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans. Let me know your answer, but that's going to do it for me today. Folks, as always, I am your host, Tyler Tyler Rolland and this was Locked on Titans.