Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans FREE AGENCY GRADES: Dan Moore is RISKY, Kenneth Murray Trade Fleece & Cutting Chido

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Tennessee Titans fix their offensive line through free agency, but they took a big risk to do it. I'm giving out grades for every free agent move for the Tennessee Titans 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 FanDuel. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins.

Starting point is 00:00:45 On today's show, I'm going to be giving out grades for every single free agent signing the Tennessee Titans have made, plus some other roster moves that they have made during the off season as well. Before we dive into the grades, do want to thank you for making a lock on Titans. 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.

Starting point is 00:01:08 Stay subscribed. It's your team every day. 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 because there's still plenty of moves to go for the Tennessee Titans this all season. The draft is right around the corner.

Starting point is 00:01:25 You want to make sure that you're up to date on everything you need to know, including the Titan salary cap space. I'm going to break down on tomorrow show all of the different contracts, the Titans have signed and how much salary cap space they need or how much salary cap space they have. Certainly they need all of it. And then what they need to do with that cap space going forward they have a needed corner back now need another edge some other additions

Starting point is 00:01:49 especially wide receiver so we'll dive into all of that as the week continues to unfold but do want to dive into today's episode giving out some grades for the Tennessee Titans all season and before I go into the individual moves I want to give a grade for what the Tennessee Titans have done so far in totality. And for me, it's a B minus. I think the expectations for the Tennessee Titans during this all season, this free agency period in particular, were definitely low. I didn't think the Titans were going to go out and make some crazy moves and anything like that. But while they haven't done anything crazy, and that was the expectation, they haven't done anything overly positive in my opinion, either. My, my expectations were low, so I weren't, I wasn't expecting some

Starting point is 00:02:39 massive move or something like that. But even the big time move that they made, I can't say I was a huge fan of. They haven't done a lot of bad moves in my opinion, which is key, but overall it's just a B minus so far. Now we're one week into free agency folks. There is a lot to go. There's a lot of roster building time left. So I'm not here to, you know, judge the Tennessee Titans all season in totality one week into

Starting point is 00:03:01 free agency, but what they've done so far, I give it a B minus. And the biggest move they've made so far is definitely the addition of Dan Moore at left tackle. So this move, I give the Tennessee Titans a C plus for the Dan Moore move. Look at the positives. The Tennessee Titans needed average starting level offensive line play. Like that's an upgrade over what they got at right tackle last year. So now you bring in another offensive tackle who granted is going to play at

Starting point is 00:03:28 left tackle with JC Latham moving to right tackle. But I think the level of play that we should expect from Dan Moore at left tackle next year is what we got from JC Latham last year. So I would say that the Tennessee Titans got. League average level left tackle play from JC Latham as a rookie last year, which is great news for JC Latham, because if your league average starter as a rookie, odds are as you improve as a player, you're going to be way better than average. Okay.

Starting point is 00:04:00 So that's not a knock on JC Latham as a rookie. When I say that he was an average starting offensive tackle, but I guess it could be a knock on Dan Moore because while he is an average to me, Dan Moore is like, you know, anywhere from 35 to 55 in terms of like starting offensive tackles in the NFL. You want to look at just left tackle. He's probably anywhere from like 18 to 26 in my mind. So he is a low level and he's an average starter in the NFL, low level starter. High level backup.

Starting point is 00:04:44 That's the level of play that he's at. And that's basically what I think Latham was last year. So in theory, you move Dan Moore to left tackle, you get average play there. You get better than average play from your right tackle. And the offensive line is better, I guess, just at the end of the day, paying $20 million a year, $50 million guaranteed, which is going to create a three year commitment to Dan Moore for the Tennessee Titans. Like that's just a lot to pay for that level of play, even

Starting point is 00:05:10 if it's what the Titans needed. So it's a C plus for me, but Kevin Zeitler at right guard, that's a B plus for me. I can't give it an A. The reason that I can't give it an A is because it's not a long-term answer for the Tennessee Titans. Kevin Zeitler is not a long-term anything for the Titans. He's 35 years old. So you go out, you don't make a strong financial commitment. You don't commit future funds to Kevin Zeitler.

Starting point is 00:05:39 It's a one-year deal. $9 million. That is a positive for me. I love that for the Titans that they're only doing a one year deal here with Kevin Zeitler. You fill the hole, you plug the hole with solid veteran NFL level starter. But it's still a problem that the Titans are going to have to fix in the draft. They're going to need a new starting right guard next season.

Starting point is 00:06:01 So while it's a good spot filler with no financial commitment into the future. At the end of the day, it's a one year gap filler. So it's a B plus for me. It could only be an A if it were a multi-year solution. And it's not that, but moving to the last couple of signings we saw on offense. Van Jefferson is where I'm going to start. And to me, van Jefferson is a C minus. Not only because bringing in van Jefferson doesn't really do anything for the wide receiver group. It's very okay. They're just as bad as they were before. You picked Van Jefferson over NWI. And look,

Starting point is 00:06:46 I know that the immediate pushback to that is, no, the Titans gave NWI a similar offer to the Miami Dolphins and he chose to go to Miami. Well, that was NWI's choice, but the Tennessee Titans chose not to offer NWI more. And if they would have offered him a big enough difference between the Dolphins, he would have came back. And NWI is a better player than Van Jefferson. Now Van Jefferson is a local guy. He's got the Tennessee story. Dad used to coach for the Titans.

Starting point is 00:07:20 He is a faster player than NWI and the Titans want more speed. But NWI is a better player. And againI and the Titans want more speed. But NWI is a better player and again, he chose to go to Miami, but the Titans chose not to give him a better offer. So it's not like the Titans were completely helpless in the situation. The last deal on offense that I want to talk about is Brandon Allen, the backup quarterback. I give that a B. He's not one of the high level backups that I would have liked to have paired with cam ward, like a Jacobi Burset or. Jamis Winston or even a Joe Flacco would have been a great option in my mind. Brandon Allen though, experience with Brian Callahan in Cincinnati, two

Starting point is 00:08:03 years is the backup during the bangles Superbowl run. He knows the offense. He knows the system. He's 33 years old. He's not going to threaten the rookie quarterback, but he's going to be able to support and mentor the rookie quarterback. So I'm going to give it a B. It's not an A. It's not an A, which is what Winston or Burset would have been, but it's a solid B getting Brandon Allen. But now let's go to the defensive side of the ball, where it's not just signings that I'm excited about big time trade. My only a plus move of the all season so far for the Titans, the big time trade. So we're going to dive into the defensive grades right now.

Starting point is 00:08:41 Do you want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by fan dual sports book America's number one sportsbook. March Madness is here and FanDuel is giving you the chance to get in on the action like never before. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. That's 200 extra bucks to use on everything from buzzer beaters to Cinderella stories. Even who's going to cut down the nets. Look, I know that upsets and Cinderella's are more exciting, but I love picking favorites and going chalk and I can back the favorites with spreads, totals,

Starting point is 00:09:17 game props. I could stay in the action all tournament long with games happening almost every single day. Plus, the Fandool app is simple to use, and when I win, I get paid instantly with no waiting around. Make sure that you visit Fandool.com to get in on the College Hoops action all tournament long. Again, that's free agency grades. Addition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We did the offensive signings and moves over there. Now I want to move to the defensive side of the ball before I do.

Starting point is 00:10:05 Thanks again for making locked on Titans. Your first listen at your team every day here, the locked on Titans podcast. But we'll start with Cody Barton, which was the big signing that the Titans made on the defensive side of the ball. They give Cody Barton a three year deal, $21 million, 13 and a half million dollars guaranteed. It's basically a two year commitment to Cody Barton. I gave this move a B plus.

Starting point is 00:10:26 I really like the addition of Cody Barton. He's a three down linebacker. He's a durable player. And that's the one thing that's going to pop up. I've been mentioning it for a few shows now, but the one thing that's going to pop up consistently when you look at these free agent signings and the pattern that the Titans had and the through line between all these signings is durability. All of these guys stay on the field and Cody Barton is a guy who's going to be out there, he's going to be out on the field.

Starting point is 00:10:52 He's got three down linebacker ability. Again, he can cover sideline to sideline. He is a phenomenal tackler. Cody Barton is an excellent tackler. One of the best, most reliable tacklers in the entire NFL. Also, he's not going to be great in man coverage. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that Cody Barton is incredible in coverage and all of this, but he is an instinctual player in zone coverage.

Starting point is 00:11:13 He understands where to drop to. He understands where to be as a good understanding of what offenses are trying to do. So he knows how to pinch certain routes and take away certain concepts. He's just an intelligent linebacker out there. So to me, going from Kenneth Murray to Cody Barton, that's a B plus signing, but the Kenneth Murray move on its own. Trading Kenneth Murray to the Dallas Cowboys is my only a plus move of

Starting point is 00:11:38 the all season so far. And not only is it an a plus, I feel like the teacher in a Christmas care or a Christmas story, uh story to Ralphie's theme. It is a plus plus plus plus to take a player and Kenneth Murray, who was not very good last year, has never been very good in my opinion. has never been very good in my opinion. And not only get off of the player, but when you make the trade, you don't even have to pay any of the additional seven million dollars.

Starting point is 00:12:15 So you save seven million dollars. You get rid of a bad player and replace him with a better player in Cody Barton. And then, you improve your draft picks because of it. How? How were they able to do all that? Get a better player, less money,

Starting point is 00:12:39 and improve your draft picks. Like that is an A plus plus plus plus plus plus move. The switch inside linebacker is incredible. Now look, I'm not giving Cody Barton on its own and a, because Cody Barton is a Jag. He's just another guy. It's like when the Titan signed Kenneth Murray or when the Titan signed Aziz Alshayar or when the Titan signed Wesley Woodyard or when the Titan side, Avery Williamson. You know, like these are just average level starting linebackers.

Starting point is 00:13:12 They're not elite. They're not terrible. You could switch them in and out with a bunch of guys around the NFL and get similar similar results. That's where Cody Barton is, but he's a slight bit better than Kenneth Murray, which is important and improving the draft pick and saving money to do it. Absolute home run by Mike Borganzi and crew. Fantastic job there.

Starting point is 00:13:35 And then we move to Xavier Woods and to me, Xavier Woods, that safety is just a simple B. I mentioned a JAG just a second ago. If you don't know what that is, a Jag is a common NFL term. It's been around for decades and decades, and it's just another guy. The majority of the NFL is just another guy. Again, you could switch them out with 20 to 30 other guys and probably get similar play. Not a difference maker. That's what Xavier Woods is.

Starting point is 00:14:10 Now I have to tell you I would have rather gone with Morgan Moses and Javon Holland over Dan Moore and Xavier Woods. Period. There's no question about it for me. But, but Xavier Woods on its own, when taken out of that equation, Xavier Woods is fine. He's another durable player who always plays league average starter, could do a little bit of everything, not great at anything. He's just a versatile guy. He'll come down in the box, play a little split field coverage.

Starting point is 00:14:49 I don't know if I want to save your woods being my free safety in the backend at center field, but he's a versatile safety. Who's a veteran who two year, $10 million deal. That's nothing one year, $5 million. That's nothing. The problem is you kicked the can down the road. So considering all the good and all the bad involved with this process, it's just a B move for me. Then we get to Draymond Jones. And I like Draymond Jones. I'm giving it a B plus, but maybe not for the reasons that everyone will think so when draymond jones was signed And if you like go find draymond jones on certain websites It's going to say he's an edge rusher

Starting point is 00:15:33 And seattle did use him more on the edge last year than we've seen before in his career. I don't want the titans to do that Draymond jones Is a versatile chess piece He's played in the B gap, 500 steps. He's played on the edge. He's played everywhere in between. They need to move Dremont Jones up and down the line of scrimmage like they did with the Nico Autry, like they should be doing with Arden Key. I don't think that Dremont Jones rushing off the edge like you think of when you think of Harrell Landry or Arden Key. To me, that's not the right thing to do.

Starting point is 00:16:09 Draymond Jones needs to rush from the interior. He can be a bigger, more physical edge on early downs and maybe that'll help you in run defense, but I don't think that Draymond Jones is better in run defense than Harold Landry is. This was a pass rush move move and the ability for Draymont Jones again, to move up and down the line of scrimmage with different pass rush units. That is important. But to me, the Titans still need to edge rushers. Draymont Jones is not an edge guy. He's a defensive lineman, not an edge.

Starting point is 00:16:39 So with that in mind, it's a B plus. I like the move. I like the pass rush ability. I like that it's a one year, $10 million deal where the Titans aren't given a lot of penalty into the future. But, you know, it's Draymond Jones. It's not a difference maker. It's not changing the outcome of the team. It's just another piece to use in a big rotation, but they still need more pieces in that rotation. The last mention that I want to have here is Johnny Hecker.

Starting point is 00:17:07 Uh, the Titans bring back Hecker or bring in Johnny Hecker, the swap out for Ryan Stonehouse to me, that's a B. It's not an A because Hecker's in his mid thirties. Ryan Stonehouse is in his mid twenties. You gave up a big opportunity for a long time all-pro punter in Ryan Stonehouse because Bones Fossil wanted Hecker. Now Hecker's been an all-pro in the past, but the reality here is Hecker doesn't hit the ball as far as Ryan Stonehouse. He doesn't hit the ball as high up in the air as Ryan Stonehouse.

Starting point is 00:17:40 Their hang times are not that different, which is something that surprised me. But Hecker is much better with positional punting. He's much better with his placement punting. And I think that's going to help out the coverage units for the Tennessee Titans, and it's going to make them better on special teams. So I can't give it an A because you're going with a much older player. But I will give it a B because you did improve the special teams with this move.

Starting point is 00:18:08 Now those are all the free agent along with Blake Hans. My, my letter grade for Blake Hans on the interior offensive line is IDGAF. That's my letter grade for Blake Hans. He is going to battle with Andrew Rupsich as the primary backup guard. Cool. Whatever. But I want to go over some moves that the Titans made that aren't free agent signings, whether it be in-house re-signings or some cuts that they made. The NCAA tournament is here and so is the bracket breakdown.

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Starting point is 00:19:23 Titans fans, let's cap off today's edition of the Locked On Titans podcast. Giving out some grades for free agency so far. I did the offensive signings. I did the defensive signings with Johnny Hecker. Now I want to look at some moves that weren't free agent signings, but were moves that the Tennessee Titans made on the roster nonetheless. Before we get into them, do want to thank you again for making Locked On Titans your first listen each and every day for your second listen. Check out Locked On NFL. I'm also the host of Locked On NFL. Your first listen each and every day for your second listen check out locked on NFL

Starting point is 00:19:45 I'm also the host of locked on NFL you get all your Titans news here with me in under 30 minutes every day Get your NFL news with me in under 30 minutes every day at locked on NFL free and available on all platforms But with that being said again, I want to go over some moves that weren't free agent signings for the Tennessee Titans The Titans have made nine signings so far We went over all of them, but I want to talk about these cuts because the Tennessee Titans cut Harold Landry and I got to give that move a B.

Starting point is 00:20:13 So the Titans did save $11 million. Harold Landry was not a great player at the end of the season last year. So you get a guy like Draymond Jones, maybe you bring in another free agent edge, you draft an edge rusher. You probably have a better edge rush group, but Harold Landry had been a stalwart with the franchise.

Starting point is 00:20:31 Harold Landry had been a leader in the locker room. Uh, the Titans cut Harold Landry and they needed two edge rushers before. Harold Landry was cut. Now they need three. Probably if you want to count Dray jones in that they still need two more So while I do understand that the titans wanted to save money on harold landry. I think replacing him For

Starting point is 00:20:56 You know like they spent 11 million dollars or they saved 11 million dollars to cut harold landry and they spent 10 on draymont jones so all you did was instead of paying $24 million for Harold Landry, you're paying $24 million for Draymond Jones, you know, because you were paying Landry 13 and then him 10. Like ultimately it's the same. Now Draymond Jones has a better pass rush win rate than Harold Landry, but you know, it's not like some incredible move that they made to do this. So it's only a B for me and cutting Cheeto Awuzie is a C.

Starting point is 00:21:33 Look, you save cash. The Titans are going to have $12 million in cash savings this year, but it only saves them $2 million in cap space. Um, the Titans are going to have to draft a cornerback now, or they're going to have to go out and sign another one in veteran free agency. And you save $2 million on the cap. You go out and you sign another veteran cornerback, even a low end one for 3 million or so. Like you didn't really save any money on the cap. You saved a little bit of money in cash, but what are you going to spend that on? Now the Titans don't have

Starting point is 00:22:03 as good a depth at cornerback. And again, they're going to have to use either more cap space and more cash, or they're going to have to use a draft pick on cornerback when you had a really good top five. So I know that Cheeto only played eight games last year. I know he was overpaid for what he was getting, but considering where the Titans are out with the cap and the depth at the position, I didn't really see as big of a need as the Titans did obviously to cut Cheeto. So the theory that I work under is that Cheeto asked to be released when they told him you're not starting next year. It's going to be Snead Jarvis Brownlee Jr.

Starting point is 00:22:40 And Roger McCreary. That's going to be your three starting cornerbacks and cheeto was going to be cornerback four So if he was like, nah, i'm not doing that i'm going somewhere else they were like, okay fine We'll just cut you then that makes a lot of sense to me, but i'm giving that one a seat. Um Now for the players That were resigned Sebastian joseph day is an a to me. I thought SJD was a guy that Titans needed to bring back all along basically. Really productive as a depth

Starting point is 00:23:18 piece knew that he wasn't going to cost a ton. Titans gave him like one year seven and a half million dollars and two and a half million of that as incentive incentives. He got like four million last year, basically got back. Excuse me. I have the hiccups now. Got back for five million dollars. So that's a good deal for the Titans. They also bring back Mike Brown, Otis Reese, Andrew Rupsich, Keandre Coburn, Corey Levin. None of these players are going to make a huge difference for the Titans, but they're good depth pieces and you need to have

Starting point is 00:24:00 players at this level of salary on basically minimum deals who know your locker room, who know your system, who know what the expectations are. I personally can't be mad about any of these re-signings of these low level deals. Reese is probably going to compete for a starting job. Sebastian Joseph day was a starter. Rupcich and Blake hands can compete on the interior offensive line. Corey Levin is now the backup center instead of Daniel Brun skill. That's Blake. Hance is your new Daniel Brun skill.

Starting point is 00:24:39 And they like Corey Levin as their backup center. So all of those moves are an A to me. Nothing, nothing to bat your eye at. So with that being said, before I'm overcome by the hiccups, that's going to do it for me today, folks, as always, I am your host Tyler Rowland, and this was locked on tight.

Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans FREE AGENCY GRADES: Dan Moore is RISKY, Kenneth Murray Trade Fleece & Cutting Chido

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