Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans GM Jon Robinson is Underrated and Titans Statistical Ranks on Offense & Defense

Episode Date: October 12, 2022

The Tennessee Titans General Manager Jon Robinson has had some very poor draft picks in his tenure, but far more great ones. With a trade talks in recent days, a lot of Titans fans have proclaimed draft picks useless because Robinson is not a good drafter. Tyler is here to set the record straight and claim Robinson is not only a good drafter, but a great one. Then, with nearly a third of the Titans season complete, how do the Titans stack up in the key stats on offense and defense? Tyler goes over the number and where the Titans rank.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!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFLBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!PrizePicksFirst time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That’s PrizePicks.com – promo code; LOCKEDONSimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnNFL to learn more.BetterHelpIt’s not a crisis line, it’s not self-help, it’s professional therapy done securely online, available to people worldwide. And they have a special offer for my listeners: get 10% off your first month at Betterhelp.com/LockedOn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, on today's show, I'm going to tell you guys why Titans general manager John Robinson is now incredibly underrated and disrespected as a drafter. Then, with about a third of the Titans season complete, where do the Titans rank in certain statistical categories within the NFL? We're going to discuss that and more 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. Titans fans, as you know, it is Thursday, and normally we would have a crossover Thursday, but it is the bye week for the Tennessee Titans. But that doesn't mean that today's show isn't presented by our friends over at PrizePix. PrizePix is so much fun.

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Subscribe there, smash the notification bell, and throw a thumbs up on the video if you're hoping that the Titans can get all their players healthy and get them all IR and ready for the Colts game. But like I said in the intro, John Robinson, the Titans general manager, is criminally underrated at drafting now. It's happened. I get it. There's been good, there's been bad,

but the bad is really, really loud. But I am here to tell you that John Robinson is a really, really good drafter. And I saw yesterday a lot of people's reaction to the trade talks with Carolina or the trade conversations around Carolina saying, oh, John Robinson's awful at drafting anyways. Who cares?

F them picks. You guys are nuts. It's nuts to look out at that Titans team every Sunday for the last five, six years and say that John Robinson is a bad drafter. All right. I get it. He had two very poor drafts during COVID.

And I'll talk about that in just a second, my thought on that. But we got to go through this record, guys. And you guys got to adjust what your definition of a good draft pick is. A good draft pick doesn't have to be a certified all-star. A good draft pick doesn't have to be a certified all-star. A good draft pick doesn't have to be a pro bowler. A good draft pick doesn't even have to be

a consistent starter all the time. Teams are not built with only those guys. You need depth. You need role players. Like, an NFL team isn't all-stars, all pro bowlers. That's not how it works. So that can't be how you judge draft picks. Like, let's doers. That's not how it works. So that can't be how you judge

draft picks. Like, let's do this. Let's go through. 2016, Jack Conklin plays for the Titans for four years, a part of some big wins and some big playoff runs. An all pro is a rookie, is a first round pick. To trade back and then to come back up and get, I mean, that's a great draft pick. Even though he didn't stay with the Titans after his four years, what it did was it netted the Tennessee Titans a compensatory pick. That's the thing. Good teams in the NFL don't re-sign every good pick that they have. You can't do that, Baltimore.

You can't do that. Baltimore, you can't do that. What they do is good teams in the NFL, like the Packers, like the Ravens, like the Patriots over the last decade, like the Steelers, they've racked up compensatory picks. So part of the draft, was it a good draft pick? Did you get good production out of the player?

And if they left, did you re- of the player? And if they left, did you re-sign them? And if they left, were they good enough that you got a comp pick in return to help replenish the stock? Jack Conklin playing four really good years for the Titans and then being so good that he got a big contract and gave the Titans a compensatory pick back, that is a win

for John Robinson. That is a good draft pick. Same thing. Derrick Henry in round two. Do I need to say more? Kevin Bayard in round three. The two best players on the entire team outside of Jeffrey Simmons. Drafted by John Robinson. Even Tajay Sharp was a good depth wide receiver during some important years for the Titans. 2017. No. Corey Davis was not good enough to be a fifth overall pick. A Dory Jackson, maybe a borderline first rounder. But they both gave the Titans multiple good years of service. Corey Davis got the Titans a good compensatory draft pick.

Like, Corey made some big plays, had some productive moments. He was awesome in 2019, which is the best year that the Titans have had since they went to the Super Bowl. And Corey Davis was a big part of that. That's a good pick. And he got you a comp pick when he left.

And he was overpaid by the Jets, and the Titans were smart to not do that. Jonu in the third round. Jayon in the fifth round. Hell, Corey Levin is still a depth player for the Titans and he got him in the sixth. That's a good pick. Yeah, Tywon Taylor is in there in 2017. Kevin Dodd is in there in 2016.

But look at that. Conklin, Henry, Beyer, Sharp, Corey Davis, Dory Jackson, Jonu Smith, Jayon Brown. How important were those guys to those Titans teams of 2017, 18, 19? Like that matters. Those are good players, good productive NFL players who turn into comp picks for the Titans for the most part. 2018, only four players in the draft class,

but Rashawn Evans was a good player here for a few years. He was the starting inside linebacker. No, he wasn't a first-round pick, but that's a solid pick. And Harold Landry was in the second round. Harold Landry, who had 12 sacks last year for the Titans when they were the number one seed. John Robinson got that guy. Everybody misses Dane Cruikshank, loves Dane Cruikshank. Well, John Robinson

got him in the fifth round. And last year, he turned into one of the better tight end stoppers in the league. 2019, we're here. Simmons. AJ got traded, but the Titans got Burks from him. And it's AJ Brown. Scout process, not result. That is an incredible pick. He found A.J. Brown in the second. Nate Davis in the third. Imani Hooker in the fourth. David Long in the sixth. These are insane. This is insane all-time draft class. John Robinson. Now look, we get into 2020. Isaiah Wilson, ugly. One of the worst first-round picks of all time. But Christian Fulton?

Christian Fulton is the best cornerback on the team. 2021. Yeah, it looks bad with Farley. Radins looked okay in that game, though. And if you take those out, Molden, Weaver, Rice, Racey McMath, these are good picks. And then 2022, everyone is hype on this draft class.

Burks looked pretty good when he was healthy. He's going to be back. Roger McCreary has had his ups and downs, but for a rookie corner, he's been awesome. NPF has probably been the best rookie offensive tackle in the league despite ups and downs. Malik Willis was a very smart pick at 86. Whether he works out or not,

Chigga Conkwell might be the best tight end on the team now. Kyle Phillips might be the most explosive wide receiver available for the team now. Hassan Haskins is the starting kick returner. He got Ryan Stonehouse as an undrafted free agent. He got T.R got Ryan Stonehouse as an undrafted free agent. He got T.R. Tartt as an undrafted free agent. Naquan Jones as an undrafted free agent. Nick Westbrook-Akina and Aaron Brewer, starters on this team as undrafted free agents.

That matters. John Robinson is not a negative in the scouting process. John Robinson is not a negative in the draft process. Yeah, he botched the COVID drafts. When COVID impacted the scouting Yeah, he botched the COVID drafts. When COVID impacted the scouting process, he did terrible. Now, that highlights a deficiency in the Titans scouting process. Their intel, they aren't getting proper intel from these coaches.

But in a non-COVID impacted scenario, look at 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022. Every single draft that John Robinson has had that wasn't impacted by COVID has resulted in multiple starters. Every draft. So yeah, probably Corey Davis, Adoree Jackson, maybe a tad overdrafted. Rashawn Evans, maybe a tad overdrafted. Isaiah Wilson, all-time bad. Caleb Farley, Dylan Radin's looking bad. But the loud or the bad is way louder than the good,

and the good far outweighs the bad. Wake up, guys. John Robinson has led this team to nothing but winning seasons and really good draft classes. The two COVID impacted, and that's not excusing bad draft classes. They were bad,

and they need to examine how that happened. But the reality is a COVID impacted draft process was only those two years. And immediately once we got out of that, John Robinson delivered what could be his second best class of all time in 2022. So, calm down with the John Robinson sucks at drafting stuff. It's just not founded in reality.

Anyways, we're going to move forward here. We're going to look at how the Titans stack up in some statistical categories now that we're about a third of the way through the season. We'll start on the offensive side of the ball. Before we get into that though, I do want to tell you guys a little about Simply Safe. Simply Safe is basically like a strong defense for you when burglars and thieves are trying to get into the end zone that is your home. That's why I use and trust Simply Safe as well. Moved into a new house,

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There's no safe like SimpliSafe. Titans fans, we are about a third of the way, a little more than a third, but about, or a little less than a third, but about a third of the way through the Titans schedule now that they've played five games in five weeks and we've come to the bye. So I feel like this would be a natural point to take a look at where the Titans stack

up in certain statistical categories on offense and defense and see just really where they are within the NFL. Now, before we get into the offensive stats, I want to go over, want to thank you guys for making the locked on

Titans podcast. Your first listen every day, make sure you subscribe on whatever platform you do stream tomorrow is going to be a mailbag episode. So you guys on YouTube, throw in your comments in the comment section. You guys on Twitter, shout me out at TicTacTitans on Twitter and let me know your question and I'll get those in on tomorrow's show. Shout you guys out and we'll have a fun time to cap off the week.

But moving into the offensive stats here. Number one, the number one thing I want to look at here is yards per play. The Titans right now are 27th in the NFL in yards per play. 4.9. This obviously paints the picture that we see every week. The Titans just struggle to consistently move the ball, and it's because they're unable to consistently get yardage.

When they get into the red zone, they're going to score. That's what we see, and we'll talk about that in a second. But they just can't get yardage. They have to be gifted, good field position. They need a couple penalties. They need some lucky plays. They need Derrick Henry to go megastar and carry them down the field in some way. I mean, it's just not good enough. It's simply not good enough.

And the Titans have maybe won games against bad teams. They beat the Colts. They beat the Ra teams. They beat the Colts. They beat the Raiders. They beat the Commanders. Well, two of those teams are one and four. So the Titans were able to make less mistakes than bad teams to win. But if they don't find a way to get more yardage just on a regular singular play,

I mean, they're not going to be able to keep it up. And you go down. Passing yards. 29th in the NFL, 877. I'm not expecting the Titans to be an aired out passing team, but 29th, they have to get more out of the passing game. And like we talked about yesterday, I hope the quick game can help with that

and can help with yards per play. Just more consistent positive yardage. Negative plays, sacks, penalties. Like they have to clean it up. They're not a talented enough offense to play as sloppy as they played. Rush yards. Even the rushing yards.

This is part of the yards per play. It's not like the Titans are a great rushing offense. They're an inefficient rushing offense. They've only had 514 rushing yards this year. That's 20th. The Titans have been one of the top five best running teams in the NFL the last few years. They're 20th now. And that's why I say it's not sustainable.

It's just simply not. It's just not going to get it done. Saks, they've allowed 12, which is 13th most in the NFL. Honestly, it could be worse. And it should be worse with the way that Todd Downing's been calling the offense. The real issue here is the points per game. 23rd with 19.2. This team is averaging under 20 points a game. How often are you going to win a football game each week only scoring 19 points? Again, against bad teams, you might be able to get away with it.

But you're not going to get away with it when you play the Chiefs and when you play the Packers and the Bengals and the Eagles and the Chargers. You're not going to get away with scoring 19 points.

The frustrating thing is in the red zone, the Titans are absolutely insane. They are at number one in the NFL. 92.3% of their red zone opportunities get converted to touchdowns. So they have a phenomenal red zone plan. They have a good opening game script.

Everything in between is awful. Everything. And it does make you wonder, again, I talked about this a couple of weeks ago, it is all, all too convenient. All too convenient to say, hey, all the good stuff that we see is Tim Kelly, all the bad stuff is Todd Downing.

That's not true. But it does make you wonder that the things that can be pre-planned before a game are the best things that they have, and the things that have to be decided in the game are the worst that they have. in the game are the worst that they have. So, I would say that Tim Kelly, who's helping with the game plan, can probably help a lot more with the pre-plan stuff than he can help with the adjustments made during the game.

So while, like I said, it's far too convenient to believe that theory, there's also some logic there too. So while, like I said, it's far too convenient to believe that theory, there's also some logic there too. So I think fans deserve some answers as to what's going on with the play calling. And no one's asked, hey, has Tim Kelly's role increased at all during the season? What parts of the game is Tim Kelly helping with the most? Is it red zone? Is it run game?

I know he's the passing game coordinator, but are there any other responsibilities that he's helping with more than maybe others since the beginning of the year? Yeah, Mike Vrabel probably won't give you a real answer because he's not going to try to throw Downing under the bus. But dear God, we deserve answers with these stats. Because the Titans may be

number one in red zone efficiency, but they're only 24th in red zone opportunities with 13. 27th in third down conversions, 35.6. And it's probably because they have so many third and longs. And they're not equipped to get those.

Now I do gotta say here, the Titans are top 10 in kickoff return and punt return yardage. Love to see that. And that's part of helping this offense that is struggling. And part of the struggle is the Titans are fifth in penalties with 37. Far too sloppy

to expect to win against good teams. That's what the stats are telling us there. But we're going to get into the defensive stats, and there are some fun ones in here as well. Before we get into them, though, I do want to tell you guys a little bit more about our title sponsor, PrizePix. Guys, it's fantasy football made simple. PrizePix has a projection for every player.

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We talked about John Robinson's underrated draft history. I'm just sick of seeing all the hate. It doesn't even make sense. Then we talked about some of the stats that stick out to me from the first third of the season for the Titans and how they rank amongst the NFL, where they're going to get better, where they need to hold. Well, now let's get into the defense before we do.

Thanks again for making the Locked On Titans podcast your first listen every day. The defense. Yards per play, and this is so funny. Yards per play, their third worst in the NFL, giving up 6.3 yards per play. Most of that. Passing yards.

This reminds me of the 2020 Titans defense, quite honestly. Because in passing yards, they're the second worst pass defense in the NFL, giving up 1,438 yards. Rushing yards, yeah, they had that bad week in week one against the Giants. They're still the ninth best rushing defense, only allowing 516 rushing yards. Sacks, they're tied for eight with 13 points.

They're 18th, 23.6, but, you know, Buffalo scored 41 in that game, and that makes that number way higher than what it really is or should be, considering what the Titans are doing week to week with their defense. It's funny to me that... I guess what's funny to me is

that the Titans can be first in third down percentage as a defense only allowing a conversion on 27.1 of their third downs, but also, also give up the third worst yards per play. That right there, being the best third down defense in the NFL. See, this is what's so frustrating about this team. They're the best third down defense in the NFL, but yet they give up the third most yards per play in the NFL. They're so good.

But also so bad. You can stop everybody on third and medium and third and short. But you can't stop explosive plays. And similarly, it's like the offense. You're the best red zone offense in the league. Yet you're nearly last in yards per play. You're so good when you get into the red zone, but you can't get there.

I mean, it's so, so frustrating. It really is. It really is. I mean, this team, and I said it last year, and I'll say it this year, they are the two-faced Titans. In the red zone on defense, 50.6%. That's 22nd, 11th worst, if you want to look at it that way. So they're okay in the red zone.

They're just stopping people from getting there because they stop them on third down. But if they don't stop you on third down, they're going to give up a huge explosive play. It just... How can you be so good but so bad at the same time? You know? Like insanely good.

But also insanely bad. The two-faced Titans. It blows your mind, doesn't it? When I was looking at all this stuff, I was just like, how? How in the world is all this true? How can you be the best third down defense but also give up one of the most yards per play

averages in the league? How can you be the number one red zone offense in the entire NFL, but be 23rd in points per game? It's like this team is really, really good, but just got a few little things that are really bad. And that prevents them from being the football team that we want to see every Sunday. Frustrating, but that's where they stack up right now amongst the NFL.

But that's going to do it for me today. I'll be back with you guys tomorrow for a mailbag episode. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Tigers.