Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans HC Mike Vrabel Training Camp Presser Highlights

Episode Date: July 28, 2021

On today's show Tyler dives into the highlights from Titans Head Coach Mike Vrabel's Training Camp opening press conference!!First, we hear about the general message to the team heading into camp and ...how Mike Vrabel has evolved as a coach.Next, Vrabel talks individual players and gives injury updates.Lastly, we hear from Vrabel about specific position battles and Vaccine status of the team.Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 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, this Wednesday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is presented by the Peacock and Williamson podcast. NFL analyst Brian Peacock and former NFL scout Matt Williamson host Locked On's Peacock and Williamson every Monday through Friday. Brian and Matt give you a national perspective on all of the latest NFL news,
Starting point is 00:00:38 so make sure you check out the Peacock and Williamson podcast, part of the Locked On podcast Network, wherever you get your podcast. Titans fans, yesterday was day one of Tennessee Titans training camp. But the reality of the situation here is it's rather anticlimactic. So, of course, all the players come in, but we don't get any awesome videos of them on the field during practice. All we really get is Mike Vrabel's training camp opening press conference. So, of course, we are going to take the opportunity to break everything down that he had to say. And he had to say a lot of very interesting things.
Starting point is 00:01:22 He talked about adjusting the schedules based on who the player is and what each individual plan is for each player. I mean, he didn't go into all the individual plans of all 90 guys, but you get what I'm saying. He talked about some of the vets and some of the ways that they might handle each individual player's agenda. Also, he talked about certain players
Starting point is 00:01:43 who have really changed their physique and their body from last year to this year. I really appreciated that insight and shining a positive light on those guys. Also, Mike Vrabel did touch on the Tennessee Titans COVID vaccine status, if you want to call it, with the players and the coaches. So we are going to hear about that as well. But very excited to dive into the highlights from Mike Vrabel's training camp opening press conference on this Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it! While day one of Tennessee Titans training camp was anticlimactic, like I said, day two is the first day of real practice.
Starting point is 00:02:40 So very excited to break down everything that's going on in Titans training camp. We're going to dive into Mike Vrabel's press conference highlights, but as I mentioned, today is the Titans first practice, and I'll be breaking that down on tomorrow's episode. And speaking of tomorrow's show, make sure that you never miss an episode of the Locked on Titans podcast as I continue to put out Monday through Friday daily Tennessee Titans content throughout training camp, throughout the preseason, throughout the regular season, all year long. Make sure that you subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast.
Starting point is 00:03:15 Follow me on social media at Tic Tac Titans on Twitter, at Locked on Titans pod on Facebook, and look out for the Locked on Titans YouTube page coming very soon. But let's dive into these press conference highlights. And number one, Mike Vrabel just talked about what his message to the team is at the start of training camp. And of course, audio is courtesy of TennesseeTitans.com. Well, I think that we always want to raise expectations. We want to try to find a way to make a positive daily impact on this football team. We want to show up with a great
Starting point is 00:03:50 attitude. But I think when you look at training camp, from all the training camps that I've been associated with going back to 1993 or even in high school, that you have to build a certain foundation. You have to build a foundation that is going to stand up over time. It's going to stand up over the stress of a football season that's going to happen, whether it's with injury, with loss, with family, with COVID, with positive tests. I mean, there's going to be stress, right? There's a lot of stress in what we do. That foundation begins now and it gets built now.
Starting point is 00:04:21 of stress in what we do. And that foundation begins now and it gets built now. Hopefully with the foundation of effort and finish, technique, fundamentals, accountability, build and trust, those are all things that we believe in. And Vrabel is 100% right there. Training camp is really the beginning of it all. You can't skip steps and get too far down into the scheme, into the details. You have to make sure you lay a foundation for success.
Starting point is 00:04:51 It's like building a house. If you don't have a really good foundation, it's going to be hard to build a good house. But Mike Vrabel also went on to talk about how this training camp is going to be different. This is the first year of three preseason games with 17 regular season games. Does that do anything to change how the Titans training camp will operate? I mean, I think the way that we approach camp is that we have a
Starting point is 00:05:17 schedule that we're working off of and then always willing to adjust and adapt based on health of the football team, what we need at a particular moment, what situations we may need to go back and revisit. So I think the one thing that we've always been willing to do is to adjust a schedule. You know, we've got padded practices scheduled and there may be days where we're not or that there's days where we don't have pads on that we may have to be in pads. So I think that's something that we've always been real comfortable doing is adjusting the schedule based on what we feel like we need. And quite frankly, it would be foolish for the Titans to set a rigid, strict schedule and follow it no matter what. Any smart coach is going to adjust based on what he's seeing from his players.
Starting point is 00:06:07 It's a push-pull situation. You've got to get out of your team what you need, and sometimes you've got to dial it back and make sure that they're healthy and they're fresh going into the season. But sometimes if you're not seeing what you need, you've got to dial up the intensity as well. So I love that answer from Mike Vrabel, trying to figure things out as you go.
Starting point is 00:06:26 Never create too strict of a plan that it actually sets you back. And I would like to think that that's something that Mike Vrabel has learned throughout his time as a head coach. And Vrabel is going into his fourth year as the Titans coach. He talked about how his perspective has changed or what's different now in his fourth year as compared to the beginning the early stages of his time as head coach. I think having been at college and then you go to Houston you try to find what your coaching style is and you don't ever want to change or waver but you know I just think that there's so much more involved with me investing time
Starting point is 00:07:08 in the individual and the person as well as coaching them and I don't know if that was necessarily the case when I played but I don't you know I take that in you know I'm very honored to be able to build that trust and know, you know, what are the good things that are going on in a player's life and what are some of the things that maybe aren't so good and that we have to work on because we all have it. We all have things that we have to deal with. And so I think I've probably put a lot more time into that
Starting point is 00:07:38 than I thought I would have. And that's okay because I've enjoyed that just as much as coaching a guy on a field as I have, you know, trying to get to know him and help him through. I would have and that's okay because I've enjoyed that just as much as coaching a guy on a field as I have you know trying to to get to know him and help him through his growth as a man as a brother a husband you know and as a father. I absolutely love that answer from Mike Vrabel one of my favorite answers that we're going to hear throughout this episode. Gets very candid, gets very honest, reflects on his journey as a coach, and really gives us a solid answer
Starting point is 00:08:10 as to something that has changed for him or something that he's realized. Those personal relationships and building those personal relationships are so important in every facet of life. And Mike Vrabel realizing that, leaning into it. Putting a big focus on that.
Starting point is 00:08:27 Is only going to make the players buy into him more. And is only going to help the Titans become a better football team. Full of better men. But the last thing that I want to talk about. Before we move into our next section. Is Mike Vrabel's answer to how important training camp is. The question is generally, is training camp the most important time of the year? And I think Mike Vrabel's answer is an excellent one.
Starting point is 00:08:53 There's always that purgatory, right? That time after mini camp before training camp. And so everybody talks about what's the most important time of the year. And to me, that's the most important time. Because whether they're working out with somewhere in May or June or they're working out with you in May or June, they leave and they go away and they go different places. And it's the players that can go
Starting point is 00:09:15 and be self-motivated and be determined to come back better in end of July than they were for off-season workouts, better than they left it. So we'll see. I mean, you don't really have much contact with them other than a text like, hey, how's it going, just checking in on you.
Starting point is 00:09:33 We do that throughout the summer. But to see them physically, I can just go by the conditioning text, which was excellent, and then where we're going to start at tomorrow. I mean, everything about that makes perfect sense. The work that you do when no one is watching, the work that you do when no one is pushing you to do it is the most important work, and quite frankly, not to get too deep and philosophical with you guys,
Starting point is 00:09:59 but that's life, right? That's life in general. How hard are you going to work when no one's watching, when there's no one to impress, when there's no one viewing you, no one pushing you to be better? How much can you self-govern and self-motivate? Especially, especially in professional sports,
Starting point is 00:10:17 that is probably the most important quality you can have, being a self-starter and a self-driven person. But we are going to continue hearing the highlights from Mike Vrabel's press conference. We are going to hear some more team-related, individual-related answers on specific guys. Before we get into that, I do want to remind you guys that BetOnline.ag is the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. Football is right around the corner. Baseball season is in full swing.
Starting point is 00:10:47 Plus, there's some good UFC boxing events going on this summer that you can bet on as well. Before the next pitch, make sure that you use your laptop or your mobile device and head over to betonline.ag. You can sign up for a free account, and when you use the promo code LOCKEDON, you'll get a 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. It's free money. Make sure you go to betonline.ag. Again, use the promo code LOCKEDON.
Starting point is 00:11:17 Bet online. You're online sportsbook experts. Titans fans let's continue breaking down and analyzing the highlights from Mike Rabel's training camp opening press conference of course audio is courtesy of TennesseeTitans.com. But now Vrabel gets into some individual player tidbits, some information and some analysis on some guys individually. The first one that he talks about is right tackle rookie Dylan Radins. But the answer may have started about Radins, but it goes into some pretty significant and pretty interesting
Starting point is 00:12:05 information about the Titans veterans along the offensive line. So let's dive into Mike Vrabel's thoughts on if Dylan Radins coming from a small school is going to make it more difficult to translate to the NFL level. Yeah, I mean, I don't know that the size of the school necessarily matters. I mean, I'm sure there's been good players from small schools, just as there's been probably the numbers would be the only thing that's different. Dylan's working hard. He's learning.
Starting point is 00:12:33 He's been here the last couple days. It's been good to be here with Taylor and Roger, a couple guys that came in here early, and we're really ready to go, really, really excited about their, the way they showed up here with great leadership, great attitude, great effort, great conditioning. Thanked them for that. Those guys were off today, so hopefully they can all come back and those 30 guys can be ready to get going tomorrow with this new group of 60.
Starting point is 00:12:59 I mean, could you hear anything better than the head coach saying that the two elder statesmen on the offensive line, well I wouldn't call them the two elder statesmen with Ben Jones around, but the two most highly touted offensive linemen on the Titans line are in the building, working early, giving leadership, giving advice to the young gun on the right side. I mean, you couldn't ask for anything more. That's just the reality there. Love seeing that. There's been so much discussion about Taylor LeJuan's leadership throughout his career. And I mean, Taylor LeJuan is a guy who loves to talk about it, but things like that are actually showing that leadership that people have been wanting from Taylor LeJuan all along. So love hearing that. And actually, Mike Vrabel continues talking about Taylor LeJuan
Starting point is 00:13:49 and Roger Saffold and how to kind of manage them. They're coming in days early, getting in extra work. You've got to make sure, like we talked about before, that you don't work these guys too hard too early. And Mike Vrabel talks about how each player has their own plan here. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of guys that are going to be, you know, off and on and do things. And, you know, that's all part of what I tried to talk about with Jim's question was just to have the ability to adjust and adapt and look and see what guys need. You know, some guys may need more individual time and less team reps.
Starting point is 00:14:19 Some guys may need more team reps, you know, based age based on how they feel based on what they're coming back from so to sit there and say this is exactly what it's going to be I couldn't tell you that but yeah there's not you know he's not going to take every single he's not going to be in every single period from from tomorrow until the end of training camp I think we all know that and obviously they're at the end of the answer Mike Mike is talking about Taylor LeJuan coming off an injury. You're not going to have him out there on the field for every single possible rep. That doesn't make sense even if Taylor LeJuan wasn't coming off of an injury at this point in his career. That's not necessary either. And speaking of injury, there are two at least big-time players or expected
Starting point is 00:15:02 big-time players for the Titans that are coming off injury and are starting the season on injury list of some sort, whether it be the PUP or the NFI. And that is outside linebacker Bud Dupree and cornerback Caleb Farley. And Mike Vrabel gave us a little update on those guys in a roundabout way, still just primarily talking about how each guy has their own individual plan. Well, they're on PUP, so they work out, they go to meetings, they rehab, and they just can't be involved in practice or the walkthrough. And those guys are working hard to get better.
Starting point is 00:15:40 And the same thing I tell our team, that everybody here has a plan. For most everybody, that plan's the same, but then for others, it's a little different. But at the end of the day, everybody's working hard to improve or get better and help the team. And the Titans really, truly do need Bud Dupree and Caleb Farley to get better and help the team. Those are going to be two critical pieces for the Titans
Starting point is 00:16:05 if they intend to turn things around on defense. And speaking of that turnaround on defense, Mike Vrabel talked about how he expects some of these new defensive pieces to help the team. I mean, I think you're always looking for players that are impactful, that are willing to be playmakers within your scheme. You know, I think that you have to play within a scheme and you have to do your job. But at some point in time, there's a football and your job is to go get it or knock it away from somebody or, you know, tackle the guy with the ball. And so the more that we can have guys that impact football game, that are ability to make plays, would always be welcome.
Starting point is 00:16:45 That's a big thing for me here when you look at some of the additions that the Titans have made on defense. Yeah, they do fit the scheme, but overall, these are just guys who make plays. Caleb Farley has been making plays on the ball throughout his college career. Elijah Molden in college was one of the more ball productive cornerbacks in his division out there in the Pac-12. Also, you look at Bud Dupree, Danico Autry, guys who, and Jack Rabbit Jenkins, who have historically been play makers. And Mike Rabel, for better or for worse, I think he leans a little bit too much into this philosophy, and that's some of the
Starting point is 00:17:23 downfalls that he has as a coach. But he always says it's the Jimmys and the Joes, not the Xs and the Os. Thinking about defensive playmakers transcending scheme and just making football plays, sounds like that lines up exactly with that thought process and that philosophy. The next thing that I am going to bring up here is Mike Rabel continuing to talk about the defense and how much belief that he has that the Titans can be a better defense this
Starting point is 00:17:53 year. A lot. You know, I mean, a lot. I can't wait to watch these guys play, practice, perform. You know, because we go back and our job is obviously with coaches, especially you're looking at the negatives. You can remember every time you called something and they hit you on it or something bad happened.
Starting point is 00:18:13 But, you know, when you go back and you watch, there's a lot of great snaps. There's a lot of great defense. But we have to be better. We have to be better on third down. We have to go and force the quarterback and make him be uncomfortable. And we have to cover guys at the sticks and, and all those things that we teach. Because again, that's where the problems occurred. I don't think that it was like, you know, just miserable. You know, there's a lot of grid snaps in there. And then unfortunately,
Starting point is 00:18:39 when you, when you play bad third down defense, you're just giving them more opportunities. And you know, we know with more opportunities comes more production. So, you know, that's something that we hit hard in the offseason. You know, we were teaching it and practicing it. So hopefully that will start to show up and then we'll be, you know, we'll be obviously practicing it out here. Well, here's the thing, Mike. It may not have been absolutely miserable.
Starting point is 00:19:03 There may be some good snaps in there somewhere, but even a broke clock is right twice a day. Even sun shines on a dog's behind. So to me, I don't see how you could look. It kind of worries me that Mike Rabel would look at last year's defense and say, oh, there's some good defense in there somewhere. That just makes me a little worried, quite frankly. I mean, when the defense performs 25th, I believe, in yardage, the lack of pass rush,
Starting point is 00:19:32 19 sacks, I think looking at it and saying, oh, well, you know, there were some bright spots. I think that's a dangerous walk to go down. That's a dangerous path to tread, in my opinion. So hopefully Mike Rabel's right. The good defensive moments, the flashes that we saw, they're able to get a lot more out of that, get a lot
Starting point is 00:19:52 more consistency from the Titans defense. If you want to see a lot more consistency from yourself, make sure that you check out the best tasting protein bars ever from our friends over at Built Bar. When you go to built.com, you're going to find nine delicious flavors and they always have some special limited
Starting point is 00:20:11 time flavors rotating in as well. But part of those nine delicious flavors are two of my absolute favorites, the salted caramel and the peanut butter brownie. I would tell you, put both of those, try them both in the refrigerator and especially with the peanut butter brownie, I would tell you, put both of those. Try them both in the refrigerator and especially with the peanut butter brownie, try them in the microwave. I mean, just absolutely delicious. The textures are fantastic. The bars are covered in 100% chocolate. And I could spend the entire commercial talking about the taste, but the bars are healthy for you as well. commercial talking about the taste but the bars are healthy for you as well low calorie low sugar high protein high fiber and what's really cool is built bar is the official sponsor of the united
Starting point is 00:20:54 states track and field team so make sure you go to built.com today use promo code LOCKED15 and you'll get 15% off your first order. Once again, that's promo code LOCKED15 for 15% off at Bilt.com. We are going to cap off today's Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast with the last and final highlights from Mike Vrabel's opening press conference for Titans training camp. Before we do, just want to tell you guys that betting on the Titans doesn't have to be a guessing game. If you listen to the new Locked on Bets podcast
Starting point is 00:21:45 hosted by your boy Q and handicapping expert Lee Sterling. Get daily picks, blowout specials, wrong team favorite picks, and Lee Sterling's lock of the day. Follow the Locked on Bets podcast brought to you by betonline.ag, wherever you get your podcast. Brought to you by BetOnline.ag, wherever you get your podcasts. But we're going to dive into these final highlights here. And I got them split up.
Starting point is 00:22:15 There is a little bit of vaccine talk at the end of the show. I will alert you all to that if it's something that you just don't feel like hearing about. But we got a couple more Titans football related items to go over next. And the first one that I want to talk about with you guys is Mike Vrabel answering the question, did COVID make it harder for defenses? And he gives a quick answer on that. But what's really interesting here is three Tennessee Titans players who he gives a lot of credit to for changing their body from last year to this year. You know, I just think that anytime that you don't have those reps and you're used to having them,
Starting point is 00:22:51 we were excited to be able to work with the guys that were here, either for the entire offseason or the ones that came in at some capacity throughout it. That's all I can say. I can't really tell you why or what happened because we didn't have it last year. I just can tell you that I saw some guys make some significant progress, guys that were here. Anthony Ferkser, Tier, Tart, Christian Fulton, those guys that were here working out.
Starting point is 00:23:25 And I see them now, and they look different. They don't look like the guys that we coached last year. I mean, if you told me to pick three guys that Mike Vrabel would be very impressed with their transition from last year to this year, I mean, Tyer Tart, Christian Fulton, and Anthony Fergser would be incredibly high on that list. Christian Fulton and Anthony Fergster would be incredibly high on that list. Those are three guys who are going to have to play a dramatically more important role this year than they had to play last year. I mean, Tyre Tartt's a second-year player.
Starting point is 00:23:54 He's probably going to be a starter in the Titans-based defense. He's going to be asked to rotate in quite a bit on the defensive line. Anthony Fergster obviously jumping up into that starting tight end role. And then Christian Fulton, who had a really down year last year dealing with injuries, is going to be asked to probably be a starting cornerback on day one for the Titans. So it gets me very excited to hear Mike Vrabel give those guys praise. It's not like Vrabel is somebody who praises players publicly all the time.
Starting point is 00:24:21 So those dudes must have really done something to impress him if they're getting this kind of love this early on. And some guys who aren't getting a lot of love from me personally, but we need to keep our eye on, are the backup quarterbacks Deshaun Kizer and Logan Woodside. And Mike Vrabel talks about the opportunities they will have in this training camp and preseason. I would imagine they, you know, I don't really go in there with a plan,
Starting point is 00:24:46 but I would imagine they're going to play a lot and they're going to play a lot with different people. I think that's the thing when you're evaluating quarterbacks is that, you know, they both have an opportunity to play in front of some or play with some players that you anticipate being on your roster. You know, and then sometimes you evaluate them with guys that may not be. And, you know, how do they motivate those guys? How do they inspire those guys?
Starting point is 00:25:07 How do they function when they're not playing with a first string receiver or a first string offensive line? The backup quarterback conversation turned into quite a feisty discussion on Twitter on Tuesday. Blake Bortles was released by the Green Bay Packers. Somebody who I've been saying for the entire offseason, I would like to see as the backup quarterback for the Titans. It turned into a Blaine Gabbert versus this guy versus that guy conversation.
Starting point is 00:25:40 And at the end of the day, guys, I will still tell you, I would rather have Blake Bortles, who has over 17,000 yards and has played in an AFC championship game in his career, over Logan Woodside, who had seven touchdowns and seven interceptions in the AAF. And I got people on Twitter telling me about Logan Woodside and how he's better than Blake Bortles and he's better than Blaine Gabbard. And I would take Deshaun Kaiser over Logan Woodside.
Starting point is 00:26:08 Man, if you're high on Logan Woodside for some reason, just wipe your mouth. I can see the Kool-Aid stains. There's just no reason whatsoever to be high on Logan Woodside other than blind faith in the Titans organization. That's it.
Starting point is 00:26:25 That's it. That's it. That's the reality here. If you just absolutely pump up and cape for every player who's on the Titans roster until they're off the roster and then you act honest about their skill set, well then I can't do anything for you anyways. But there's always a particular group of people online who always come at me with the same group think. All of them think exactly the same all the time. There's never anything bad about the Titans. Mike Vrabel's
Starting point is 00:26:51 ego isn't a problem with hiring decisions. The Titans aren't going to cut both their starting quarter cornerbacks. The Titans are going to pay Johnnie Smith and Corey Davis and they're not going to make as much money as they did. it's just always the same when these Twitter discussions break out between me and certain sections of the fan base I'm just going to keep it honest all the time and everything that I say
Starting point is 00:27:16 isn't going to be some fluff piece for the Titans or for their players I called David Flewellen the roster pirate for two years. Because he was stealing a roster spot. And I had people then tell me, Oh no, David Flewellen, the coaching staff believes in him.
Starting point is 00:27:34 And then once he got cut, everybody crushed it. The same thing is going to happen with Logan Woodside. He's never going to do anything positive for this team. He's going to be off the team eventually. And then everyone's going to come out of the woodwork and say, Oh yeah, he was one of the worst backups in the NFL for the entire time he was in the league. Sorry guys.
Starting point is 00:27:52 I'm burnt out on backup quarterback. The Titans are going cheap, cheap, cheap at backup quarterback and that's why they keep Logan Woodside around. Not because he's any good. Okay? It's just not the case. It's just not the case. So anyway, yeah, get me Blake Bortles, but either way, my
Starting point is 00:28:07 partial rant here in the middle of our third segment was to set up Mike Vrabel talking about the kicking situation, which I feel very similar about. You got two young guys who aren't going to make this team. The Titans are going to go out and get Steven Gostkowski before the season. He's a veteran.
Starting point is 00:28:23 They're letting him rest. He lives in Nashville. He's at home doing his own thing. There's no need for a guy with the experience level of Gostkowski, especially when you consider he plays at kicker. There's no need for him to come into training camp and compete day in and day out in the summer heat with these young bloods. It's actually better for the Titans for him to not come in this early and let them get a look at these younger guys.
Starting point is 00:28:47 Either way, Mike Vrabel talks about the kicking competition here, and quite frankly, I roll my eyes at the end of the answer. Mike Vrabel knows that he's going out and getting Steven Gostkowski, and he just can't come out and tell us exactly what the plan is. Well, we'll work with those guys right now and see where it goes. You know, we're comfortable and positive that those guys are going to go out and compete. Give Tucker an opportunity. He wasn't available to us last year. He was really impressive as we worked our way
Starting point is 00:29:15 through training camp and then got injured. I think it's, and so does John, obviously the right thing to do to let those guys compete. And then, like any other position, if we have to bring guys in, we can do that. Until he retires, I would imagine that anybody would be a potential. But I don't know. Massive. Massive. Eye roll. I mean, until he retires, I would say anybody has potential. Oh, give me
Starting point is 00:29:46 a break, Mike. Give me a break. Okay? No one's buying that. The Titans will have Steven Gostkowski as their kicker this year. I'm sticking to that no matter what. Lastly, and I told you guys, we're at the 30-minute mark of the podcast, maybe a little bit more.
Starting point is 00:30:01 I am about to play Mike Rabel's conversation about the vaccine. He talks about the vaccine status of the team, and then he talks about the vaccine status of the coaching staff. If you don't want to hear about this, if it triggers you, if it upsets you to even hear about it, then thank you very much for listening. Been a great show. I'll be back with you tomorrow to break down the first practice of the year. But if you do want to hear what Mike Rabel has to say about this issue, then here you go. Number one, talking about how they handle vaccination with the team.
Starting point is 00:30:35 And there's a lot there, and there's going to be a lot there with the vaccine. I get that. I recognize that. Hopefully we can get a lot of that covered here today so that moving forward we can talk about football, we can talk about our team, and we can talk about our players. The first thing is that obviously this is something that's very sensitive to everybody. It's also very important to everybody in the league. It's important to the fans, the players, the NFL, the NFL Players Association.
Starting point is 00:31:03 fans, the players, the NFL, the NFL Players Association. It's important for all of us to make sure that we're well aware of what the protocols are for vaccinated and unvaccinated players and that we follow those without reservation, that whatever that may be, the mask wearing, we're all wearing the tracing devices, the social distancing, the responsibility that each and every one of us has to this game, to this league, and most importantly, to the team. I'm comfortable with where we're at. We continue to add players as recently as yesterday to the vaccination list. And guys are continuing to do research, to educate themselves, to make a personal decision that we've said it was all along.
Starting point is 00:31:56 It's a personal decision and hopefully one that they can come to that will help them and that will help this team. So, you know, the percentages, I'm very comfortable with where they are. And I think they've continued to go up and I would expect them to go up. As far as identifying those players that haven't been vaccinated, that will be done, you know, within our building so that we can continue to remind them of the protocols that they have to do and make sure that they are following those protocols. You know, there won't be any different protocols once you're on the practice field. So I wouldn't see any reason
Starting point is 00:32:34 to try to differentiate those players on the field. It's being done so that inside the building, you know, we can remind those players that aren't of, hey, this is where you have to sit. This is what you have to do. And so that was the reason for that differentiation. And to be honest with you, as I'm recording the podcast right now, we just got a new memo from Tom Pelissero that came from the NFL saying that basically unvaccinated players, non-vaccinated players are going
Starting point is 00:33:05 to have to wear a mask on the sideline during practice. So Mike Vrabel can say that we only need to know for inside the building or whatever. But if you go to Titans practice, you're going to notice which players are wearing a mask on the sideline and which players aren't. And you're going to know who's vaccinated and you're going to know who's not. And the NFL's rules have set that situation up. They're not trying to hide it for players. In my opinion, based on the way the rules are written and set up,
Starting point is 00:33:31 like we're saying, guys wearing a mask if they're unvaccinated on the sideline, the NFL wants people to know who's vaccinated and who's not. And you can talk about the ethics of that move if you want, but that's just my read on it, the way I see it. Now, Mike Vrabel also talked about the vaccination status of the coaching staff. Very quick, very short, very sweet answer here. All our coaches that will be working with the players have been fully vaccinated, yeah. At some point during Tuesday's press conference,
Starting point is 00:34:03 Mike Vrabel was talking about the players' choices and all of that. And he did, as a quick throw in line, he said, as for the coaches, we didn't really have a choice. And he's right. And we've seen a few coaches around the NFL quit due to the vaccination requirements, essentially. If you're a coach and you're not vaccinated, you're not allowed to be in the building. You've got to coach your players on Zoom, over Zoom, while they're in the meeting rooms and in the facility. You can't be in the facility and work one-on-one with players.
Starting point is 00:34:34 I mean, the NFL has made it to where if you're a coach in the NFL, you have to get vaccinated. It's just the reality here. We can talk about, well, they have the choice to quit, and they sure do. But if you don't want to quit and you want to do your job, I mean, basically, you have to get it. That's the situation, and I'm not here to give you my moral opinion on whether they should be able to, or should not be able to, or anything like that. I'm just here to give you the facts, and that is going to do it for us today. I will be back with you guys tomorrow, as I said a couple minutes ago, to break down the first
Starting point is 00:35:06 day of practice for the Titans at training camp. That'll be very exciting, but I had a good time breaking down everything Mike Vrabel had to say with you guys today. But that is going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.