Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans, Lamar Jackson "Make Sense," Sean Murphy-Bunting Signs & Arden Key Felt "Disrespected"

Episode Date: March 20, 2023

The Tennessee Titans continue to be linked to Lamar Jackson from NFL Insiders. This time Jeremy Fowler made the connection and referenced multiple league executives. If Lamar came to Tennessee, when and why would it happen? Also, the Titans are set to sign cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting. Tyler breaks down his background and why we could see the best version of SMB in Tennessee. Finally, the Titans introduced their first five signings on Monday and each spoke with the media. Andre Dillard talked about his expected position on the offensive line and Arden Key explained why he felt disrespected by the Jacksonville Jaguars!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!Built 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.Ultimate Football GMTo download the game just visit Ultimate-GM.com or look it up on the app stores. Our listeners get a 100% free boost to their franchise when using the promo LOCKEDON (ALL CAPS) in the game store.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Tennessee Titans and Lamar Jackson noise continues to get louder. We're going to talk about all of 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. Welcome to the Locked On Titans Podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans.

We got a lot to talk about on today's show. And NFL Insider says word around the league is the Titans make sense as a destination for Lamar Jackson. We're going to talk about that. Plus, the Titans made another free agent signing, this time bringing in a Super Bowl winning cornerback. We're going to talk about that. Made another free agent signing, this time bringing in a Super Bowl winning cornerback. We're going to talk about that. And got a lot of quotes from the Titans opening press conference with the first five free agents that they signed in week one of free agency. So going over all of that and more before we get into it,

I want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content on all platforms, all year long and always for free. Make sure that you get subscribed and stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast where it's your team every day. Throw a thumbs up on the video right now if you're watching. It goes a long way to help support the channel.

The show is always free. All I ask for in return is the press of a button. And also, been a little light on podcast reviews on Apple iTunes recently. If you guys wouldn't mind, my birthday is on Wednesday as a birthday present to me. I would appreciate some five-star reviews on Apple Podcasts. It does a lot to help the show, and I would greatly appreciate it as well. But with that being said, time to move forward into the Lamar Jackson noise. And all of this got going with a quote from Jeremy Fowler from ESPN who was talking over the weekend about Lamar Jackson, his situation, and he had this to say.

Quote, And then, when you talk about good fits, I asked some executives around the league what teams would make sense. They mentioned Tennessee, who just cleared some cap space. They have a new GM in Ran Carthon, who's working on the roster. They could use a running quarterback. They have experience with that in the past. He also mentioned Minnesota as a potential dark horse, wild card team for Lamar Jackson. But what an interesting quote.

Asking executives around the NFL who think that Tennessee makes some sense. Now, you may be thinking to yourself, cap space? The Titans don't have cap space. But look guys, it's something that I have mentioned throughout this free agency process. The Titans may not have a ton of cap space right now, but they are going to have nearly a hundred million dollars in cap space next year. Maybe even more the year after that. So what the Titans can do easily is and this is why I never ruled out any of the big money names

on the free agent market for the Titans because all the Titans would have to do like we see around the league consistently like the Titans have done with Bud Dupree like the Titans have done with Harold Landry and so many others when the Titans or other teams make a signing of a big-time player, they'll give that player a ton of bonus money up front,

which allows them to keep their salary low in the first year. Look at Deshaun Watson. His salary last year for the Browns, despite getting $230 million guaranteed, his salary was a million bucks. And that allowed the Browns to keep his cap hit low last year. Now, of course, it's going to go up eventually. You can't pay a player like Lamar Jackson or Deshaun Watson or Orlando Brown or whoever you want to say. You can't pay those kind of players and it always be a low hit on your salary cap. Eventually, the bill comes due.

But in year one of a brand new deal, it's easy to finagle the money and make it easy to get a guy on your cap, even a guy like Lamar Jackson, who's going to make a ton of money. So the Titans could, quite frankly, make it easy to bring Lamar over, trade for him while he's on the franchise tag,

negotiate a brand new long-term deal that has a lot of bonus money, and then you keep the salary low in year one so it doesn't hit the cap hit that hard. Then in the next two seasons, 2024 and 2025, when the Titans do have Buku bucks to use, then Lamar Jackson's cap hit can go up and you'll have the ability to deal with that. So that is absolutely a possibility. Now, if the Titans did make a move for Lamar Jackson, in my opinion, it would have to come after the NFL draft because what the Titans don't want to do and what a lot of teams don't want to do

is give up this year's first round pick. If the Titans get Lamar Jackson, they'll probably, hopefully, be better than getting the 11th pick in the next few drafts. You would think the Titans would be in the late 20s. Hopefully, maybe even number 32. Do you see what I'm saying? So it would be in the best interest of the Titans

to wait until after they make their first round pick and then make a trade with Baltimore so that the two first round picks that they end up giving to Baltimore will be a 24 and 25 first round pick. So that's the timing of it. That's how the money could work for the Titans. But let's just talk about what the realities are here. Nobody is giving a deal to Lamar Jackson right now because they don't want to do the Ravens homework for them. Because you go through all the effort, you go through all the work of negotiating a contract with Lamar, and then the Ravens just match it and say, oh, that's a pretty good contract.

We'll just do that one right there. Now you're doing the Ravens homework for them. So a lot of teams just don't want to do that. And at the end of the day, the Titans may not be close enough to a Super Bowl roster to where they add a Lamar Jackson. Even if you want to build around Lamar, maybe the Titans view themselves as nowhere near close enough to make a kind of move like that. But I think that there is a school of thought here where you get your quarterback in place, you know how much you're paying for him, you know what his cap hits are going to be the next few years. And now you can build around him.

Yeah, the Titans may not have a first round pick in the next two drafts. But like I just said, they're going to have $100 million in cap space potentially. And even if they do a deal with Big Jeff and they do a deal with Lamar Jackson, they're still probably going to have $50 to $70 million in cap space, They're still probably going to have $50 to $70 million in cap space, which is still plenty, plenty to build out a competitive roster around Jeffrey Simmons and Lamar Jackson. So I see it from both sides. Maybe even with a guy like Todd Monken,

who is just the Georgia offensive coordinator, you want a quarterback like Stenson Bennett, but at the NFL level, get your hands on some Ryan Tannehill. So maybe the Titans could put Ryan Tannehill in the deal back to the Ravens. And you're like, why would the Ravens want Ryan Tannehill? He's only going to be $27 million against the cap, which is cheaper than what they'll pay Lamar on the franchise tag. And it's only a one-year deal.

And then they're off of him. So that may make sense for the Ravens as well. Again, guys, I've said this before. I don't think that this deal happens, but the noise isn't going away because the Titans do realistically make sense as a fit. And you can say whatever you want, and I can talk all the logic I want about the picks and the money and the deals and what they got to do. But Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry in the same backfield, that sure would be fun to watch on Sunday. So going to continue to monitoring the situation. If you're somebody who wants this deal to happen,

be patient because I wouldn't expect anything like it to happen until draft weekend for sure. But with that in mind, we're going to talk about a player who did sign with the Titans, and it's Sean Murphy Bunting, a former Super Bowl-winning quarterback, cornerback from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We're going to go over his signing and what he can bring to the Titans defense in just a moment. Before we get into it, though, do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel.

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an official sports betting partner of the NBA. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We talked about the Lamar Jackson noise, the Lamar Jackson rumors, and everything that that kind of entails, what all could go into that situation. Now, I want to move forward from a player the Titans could acquire to a player that the Titans did acquire,

and it happened just before I went live on Sunday night, but the Titans are adding a veteran cornerback, and he may be a veteran, but he's still a pretty young player nonetheless, and it is Sean Murphy Bunting, formerly of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Before we get into it, though, do want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Again, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round on all platforms, always for free.

Make sure that you get subscribed. Stay subscribed. It's part of the Locked on Podcast Network, where it's your team every day. Diving in here, Murphy Bunting is about six foot, six foot one. He's still only 25 years old. Like I said,

he's a four-year veteran, a Super Bowl champion, but still only 25 years old. That gives you a lot of room for improvement. He's played 53 games in his career, has 188 tackles, six interceptions, 21 pass breakups.

When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers went on their Super Bowl run, he had three interceptions in the playoffs. So as a guy with incredible ball skills, he's got the ability to make plays, turn over offenses, and that's exactly what you want on defense. I talked about this when we talked about Kevin Byard yesterday, that the most important thing you can get from a defensive back in today's NFL is a guy who can turn over the ball,

get the ball back to your offense, because offenses are so good in the NFL these days that it's very rare that you're going to be able to stop them consistently from getting down the field. So rather than focusing on not letting teams score points, focus on turning teams over because not only are you taking away a scoring chance from that offense, but you're giving a better scoring chance to your offense. So I think having that ability to turn over the ball is absolutely critical, and I know it's something Mike Vrabel looks for heavily,

so that's probably why SMB made a lot of sense for the Titans. And no, I'm not about to say Sean Murphy Bunting every time I say the guy's name. SMB, learned it from my folks over with the Buccaneers, makes all the sense in the world. So we got NWI, we got NPF, we got SMB. We're the acronym gang over here with the Tennessee Titans. But breaking down Sean Murphy Bunting, and there it is.

I did it again. Just trying to, you know, balance things out here between full and abbreviated. But breaking down his game, he's an inside-outside versatile cornerback. He's made plays from the slot. He also has the length and the size and the press man ability to play on the outside and play on the boundary. And that's really what the Titans need. Because you have a guy like Christian Fulton who needs to play on the outside and play on the boundary. And that's really what the Titans need. Because you have a guy like Christian Fulton who needs to play outside.

They did some experimenting with him in the slot early in his career. Did not go well. But Christian Fulton has dealt with a lot of injuries too. So you need a guy who can play outside if he gets hurt. You got SMB. But also Elijah Molden had some injuries last year. Barely played. You got a guy in SMB who could play in the slot.

Roger McCreary was drafted, and a lot of pundits, including myself, including myself, and I'm sure Mike will let me know that he was all over that, but a lot of people thought that Roger McCreary would be best served to play in the slot. Well, his best moments came on the outside last year, not in the slot. His short area quickness struggled a little bit with some of the slot receivers when he went in there.

It is possible that Roger McCreary is a guy who needs to play on the outside, even though his length of his arms and himself doesn't really lend to that. He definitely performed better on the outside than in the slot last year. So, if you have McCreary outside, you have Fulton on the outside, you need someone to play in the slot, especially on passing downs, because that's not something that Elijah Molden has done well

throughout his career. Elijah Molden, I've broken this down during the season, but if you weren't following the packaging of the Titans defensive backs over the last few years, then I would understand maybe if you weren't up to date on this. But the way the Titans like to use Elijah Molden is as an early down slot player. So he's a guy who can blitz off the slot. He's a guy who can slide into the box and play a little bit of linebacker. He is aggressive.

He is physical. He can blitz. So Elijah Molden would play the slot on first and second down. Or if it was third down or second and long, the Titans would take Elijah Molden off the field. And they would bring somebody else to play inside the slot

that's a better pass defender and better in coverage than Elijah Molden. So I would expect that to continue. And what the Titans could do is they could have Sean Murphy bunting, come in and play the slot on passing downs and take Molden off the field like they had been doing in 2020 when Molden was healthy. So schematically, he makes a lot of sense as an outside inside versatile piece. Again, like I said, great ball skills, long arms, can play press coverage. He's got familiarity with every coverage type that you would want.

They've played man coverage in Tampa Bay. They've played cover four. They've played cover two. They've played cover three. He's got familiarity with it all. But it doesn't mean everything is good. So some of the things that concern you about SMB. One, I trust my guy John Ledyard,

who covers the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and he is not high on Sean Murphy bunting at all. He said, I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but he's awful. One of the big things he points out is a lack of instincts. Gets lost in zone coverage. Doesn't have a good understanding of route combinations and route concepts and where a guy is going to go. Doesn't read the quarterback's eyes very well. Those are all issues. Those are all definite issues, which is why I'm trying to, I guess, tamper down any high

expectations that the Titans just got some stud cornerback or anything like that. This is going to be a deal, just like we saw with Aziz, just like we saw with Brunskill. It's going to be a one-year deal worth probably $5 million or less. So we don't have contract details yet because the news is just coming out, but you can almost guarantee that that's the case. And one other big issue other than just his play out on the field is being out on the field. SMB has missed 13 games in the last two seasons. He dislocated his elbow in week one of 2021 against the Cowboys on one of the primetime games in week one. I still remember that. It was brutal, man.

But that's not like a soft tissue or a ligament issue. That's a dislocated elbow. That's a weird one. All right? So give him a little bit of a pass there. But last year, he missed a bunch of games with a quad injury. I think five a little bit of a pass there. But last year he missed a bunch of games with a quad injury. I think five games in 2022 with a quad injury. So if, if you were one of those people out there who said the Titans only need to get people with a 100, 100% perfect

clean bill of health, then you may be a little bit worried about this signing as well. So I'm excited about the signing. The Titans needed a depth piece to be added to the cornerback room. But I'm also not going to sit here and tell you guys that the Titans got some stud, some young guy who was available for pennies just because they're so smart. There are definitely some downsides with SMB, and it'll be interesting to see if the Titans could get the best out of him by giving him a great pass rush. And the last thing I want to mention here is Chris Harris,

the new defensive backs coach for the Titans and passing game coordinator on defense. He was hired over from the Washington Commanders. I've talked about Chris Harris quite a bit. He got the absolute best out of all the young guys in Washington. Hopefully, he's able to do that with this young group in Tennessee as well. But the five Titans free agents that have been signed officially all spoke on Monday.

Going to talk about some of the best quotes we got from them, including Arden Key saying that he felt disrespected by the Jacksonville Jaguars. And that can only mean good news for Titans fans. But before we get into that, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by Built Bar, the best tasting protein bars in the galaxy.

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We talked about the signing of Sean Murphy Bunting. Now I want to get into some of the best quotes from the opening press conference of the Titans five free agents. They signed before I get into it. Do want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Now for your second listen, check out Locked on NFL scouting with the draft dudes from free agency to the draft,

salary cap management, and much, much more. Join NFL experts Kyle Krabs and Joe Marino as they take you through what it looks like to build a successful NFL franchise every Monday through Friday. Find Locked On NFL Scouting with the Draft Dudes wherever you get your podcast.

And it's on YouTube as well. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network where it's your team every day. Once again, guys, my birthday is on Wednesday. Just got engaged. Been putting in a ton of work for a lot of seasons now.

The show is free every single day. I am asking for two things. Throw a thumbs up on the video right now. It goes a long way to help support the channel. And two, if you're listening on the podcast or if you have the ability to do so, go on the Apple Podcast app and give the Locked on Titans podcast a

five-star review. Not only have I been putting in a lot of work lately to give you guys a free show and would just appreciate it, but I've gotten some poor reviews lately that are strange. I had somebody give me a one-star review because I'm not a religious person. They told me to find Jesus. I mean, you're going to give me a one-star review because I don't practice the same religion as you?

Man, that's like everything against what Jesus would want from you. Just saying. Anyways, but moving right along. Anyways, I'm just asking for a little help, a little support here to kind of balance things out lately, some things that are just a little weird. So you guys do a great job of supporting the show. I feel the support all the time.

Thank you all so much. Just wanted to make it vocal and ask you guys for a favor. So five-star reviews, thumbs up on the video. I appreciate you guys so much. Just wanted to make it vocal and ask you guys for a favor. So five-star reviews, thumbs up on the video. I appreciate you guys so much. But moving forward, Andre Dillard had a hilarious comment, and I love it. I love it. I mean,

I guess it wasn't hilarious, but it was hilarious for me to see a guy come out and just blatantly say what he wants on the Titans. I mean, the Titans always play this stupid game where every offensive lineman can play any offensive position. They never want to tell a guy, hey, I'm going for this spot. Well, Andre Dillard came out and said, I have my sights set on left tackle. He did the qualifier of I'll do whatever the team needs me to do.

But he did say that he has his sights set on the starting left tackle position, and I love hearing that personally. We don't got to play these stupid games where a guy can be anything. Let Andre Dillard try to play left tackle. If it doesn't work, then let him do something else. Don't do this thing where the Titans up with Jamarco Jones and Dylan Radins and other guys where they're like, hey, he can play anything. We're going to get him some reps everywhere. Let him try out at one position. If it doesn't work, then move

to another one. But you're going to cap guys development by trying to move them up and down the offensive line all the time. It obviously hurt Dylan Radins and he said that himself. That it hurt his development switching all over the offensive line all the time. So do not do this with Andre Dillard.

Let the man play left tackle. If it doesn't work, then move him to left guard. Arden Key. Arden Key had two delicious comments. One of them was really, really fantastic, and I talked about it a second ago, but Arden Key said that he thought he was going to be a Jacksonville Jaguar. After the season ended, he

thought he would be back, but the Jags gave him a lowball offer that he said felt like disrespect. He felt disrespected by the Jacksonville Jaguars and he said, I like the fans, I love my teammates, blah blah blah,

but we're going to have to see them two times a year. And you could tell. You could tell how excited Arden Key was at the possibility of getting revenge twice. Twice in one year. So excited to see him do that. Because the last Tennessee Titan that felt disrespected by an offer

from an AFC South team and came to Tennessee was Danico Autry. And I'd say that signing worked out pretty dang well. But speaking of Danico Autry, one of the big things that Arden Key said made a decision for him to come to Tennessee was the bullies on the defensive line. He said, you play Tennessee, you know they got bullies up front on the defensive line. That's how they want to play football.

He talked about Jeffrey Simmons, Danico Autry, Harold Landry coming off the edge. He was excited to play with those guys, and he should be, because Arden Key said himself, I am a bully. So I'm excited to watch that bully go with these other bullies and get that Titans front and get that Titans pass rush back to where it needs to be. So I love that. Daniel Brunskill, the offensive lineman,

said he was happy to come to the Titans because he knows that they run the damn ball. Love hearing that. He said, I want to hit somebody in the mouth. That's one of the big things I love about football. I love that mentality. And you know that Mike Rabel was in his coach's office just lapping it up, loving every second of that.

I thought Luke Gifford had a great quote as well, saying that he wants the opportunity to play more on defense, but he knows that he was brought here to dominate on special teams. I'd love to see Gifford do just that. The Titans could use it. And then finally, Aziz Alshair, he actually didn't say anything that I thought was all that interesting. Very professional, Mike Vrabel-like press conference.

But he did say that, you know, the culture with the Titans was something that he liked and he wants to bring some over from what he had in San Francisco and bring that to Tennessee. He wants to be a leader on defense. He thinks the defense goes as the linebackers go. So love all that he had to say, even if it wasn't the most exciting stuff I'd ever heard. But that's kind of a recap for you guys of the opening press conference

of the Titans' first five free agents. Again, we talked about Lamar Jackson. We talked about Sean Murphy bunting, signing. Talked about those quotes there. I'm going to be back with you guys tomorrow to break down everything you need to know from the day that was. But that's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland.

And this was Locked on Titan.