Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Most UNDERRATE Move: Fixing Injuries, Levis Leadership & Offseason Workout Schedule

Episode Date: April 1, 2024

The Tennessee Titans have a made a bunch of high-profile moves this offseason, but the biggest move of them all has gone relatively undiscussed. The Titans have hired a new Director of Sports Performance and fixing the injury bug would do wonders for this franchise. Next, Will Levis and his success is so critical to this team, so it is great to see Levis taking a leadership role and contacting the Titans' recently acquired players. Finally, the Titans will be on the football field in no time and the offseason program begins next week! Subscribe to the TicTacTitans Film Channel:https://www.youtube.com/@TicTacTitans TicTacTitans Merchandise: https://dixons-dream.square.site/shop/tictactitans-gear/C3AAPNWXSXA6SBYG3USV2I7R?page=1&limit=30&sort_by=category_order&sort_order=asc Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitans Follow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPod Subscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videos Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. RobinhoodRobinhood has the only IRA that gives you a 3% boost on every dollar you contribute when you subscribe to Robinhood Gold. Now through April 30th, Robinhood is even boosting every single dollar you transfer in from other retirement accounts with a 3% match. Available to U.S. customers in good standing. Robinhood Financial LLC (member SIPC), is a registered broker dealer. BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelNew customers, join today and you’ll get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)

The Tennessee Titans made a major move recently to fix their biggest issue, but no one's talking about it. I'll tell you what the most underrated move of the all season is for the Titans 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.

Today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Make every moment more. Right now, new customers get $200 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That's $200. If your bet wins, visit fanduel.com slash locked on to get started. The Tennessee Titans might have fixed their biggest issue over the last few seasons, and no one's talking about it. So I'm going to tell you what the most underrated move of the offseason has been for the Titans so far, and Will

Levis is what the Titans' future depends on, and he is showing signs of being an incredible leader. And then finally, I'll give you guys the Tennessee Titans' off-season workout schedule, which starts in less than a week. So much to go over on today's show. Before we get into it, thank you for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day.

Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. Make sure you get subscribed, stay subscribed. It's your team every day. Shout out to my everydayers out there tuning in Monday through Friday. A ton of draft content coming your way soon. Going to begin the 2024 Locked on Titans NFL Draft Preview Series where I go position by position for the top prospects,

the mid prospects, the low prospects that make sense for the Titans. We go over about 180 guys. You're not going to want to miss it. Also, thumbs up on the video if you're watching on YouTube. Thank you. But with that being said, what is, ask yourself this, and answer down below if you're watching on YouTube. What has been the Tennessee Titans biggest issue over the

last three seasons? The number one, this is killing us, can't get over it, injuries. In 2021, the Tennessee Titans get the number one seed in the AFC. Mike Vrabel gets coach of the year and everybody freaked out. Why? Because the Titans used 91 players in 2021. An NFL record for most players on a roster. The injuries absolutely decimated the Tennessee Titans.

They were still able to survive. You get to the play. We don't need to talk about what happened at the end of this season. But the point is the Titans had record setting injuries in 2021. 2022, 34 players placed on IR leads the NFL. I think last year in 2023 the injuries weren't quite as bad as the two years before, but I still think the Titans used 80-some players last year.

The injuries have been insane. And let's just say what it is. The Titans can sign Calvin Ridley, trade for LeJarius Sneed, sign Lloyd Cushenberry, hire Brian Callahan. The Titans can draft Joe U All or Malik Nabors. The Titans can make all of the big-time player transaction, coaching transaction moves that they want to make. If the Titans don't squash the injury bug,

none of it will matter. None of it will matter if they're the most injured team in the NFL. And while I think Mike Vrabel's style of play and the way Mike Vrabel pushed players in the summertime, while I think that contributed heavily to the injuries, the other side of it is are the Tennessee Titans doing everything they can

staff-wise to prevent these injuries? I know that my everydayers, my every-ears out there who've been watching this show for some time, we have complained and complained and complained for three years. The Titans need to make a change to their sports development, sports performance, their injury management.

The Titans need to make major changes to those positions. People need to be fired for record-setting injuries. Now, look, I've said it before. I'll say it again. I'm not a doctor, all right? I'm not a doctor. I'm not going to be able for record setting injuries. Now look, I've said it before, I'll say it again, I'm not a doctor. Alright, I'm not a doctor. I'm not going to be able to tell you, hey, the director of sports performance for the Titans Frank Pirano, he's doing this wrong. But I've had people who have interviewed for the Titans. I've had

people who are in those fields reach out to me and tell me, the Titans aren't advanced. The Titans aren't doing things the right way. The Titans don't have this kind of way. The Titans don't have this kind of equipment. The Titans aren't using this kind of technique. All right? And that goes in line with how I've been saying the whole entire organization is evolving this offseason.

So, with that being said, the most underrated move this offseason for me has been the Titans firing Frank Perrano and hiring Zach Woodfin. So the Titans bring in Zach Woodfin, who had been the director of sports performance and wellness for the entire UFL. He was at the top of the food chain for the entire league.

Woodfin has a ton of experience. He was a former NFL player, not for a long time. He was a former college football player at UAB. He's worked in college. He's worked in the NFL as an assistant director of sports performance. Woodfin is a very experienced guy who's had a lot of high-profile

jobs. And he's going to come in now and take over the Titans situation and they needed it so desperately. I want to touch on what Brian Callahan had to say about this hire. He said it was a, quote, really important hire. Callahan said, quote, that was a really important hire, and I waited until the end of it so I could really spend my attention,

focus on who the best person for that role would be, and Zach Woodfin has knocked it out of the park. He's fantastic. A ton of really interesting experiences, and that comes from TennesseeTitans.com. Callahan also said on TennesseeTitans.com, what I think is really cool is the guys that he brought with him. Quick stop. The Titans kept two people from Frank Perano's staff. He kept Haley Roberts and he kept Brian Bell. But the new addition of Zach Woodfin, he has brought in Mark Lovat. He has brought in Grant Thorne. He has brought in John Shaw. And Callahan continued

quote, we had two people with Haley and Brian Bell that I think are really fantastic coaches and people that we wanted to keep. He had a couple of guys that he wanted to bring with him. Just gave you those names. I think we've done a really good job of dividing that department. We have someone that's going to do the sports science. We have someone that's going to do the speed training. We have a head coach. I think we've made that program a little bit more robust with adding some more pieces and some more knowledge to try to do the best we can to keep those guys getting stronger,

faster, and stay healthier. Again, guys, this is the most underrated move of the entire offseason for the Titans because if the injuries don't slow down, none of the moves will matter. And the Titans, making this department, the sports performance department, more robust, read between the lines here. They hired three more people, so now there's five people instead of three. They fired the top dog and replaced him with a new guy with more experience. And again, that word, robust.

Just like the data analytics department. Just like the analytics department. Just like the scouting department. The Titans are building out these departments where they were lagging behind the rest of the league. And again, it is, we could talk about all the individual moves, but the biggest takeaway from this offseason for me is how the Tennessee Titans are evolving as an organization,

going from a mom-and-pop shop to a Fortune 500 company, going from Main Street to Wall Street. And this, what the Titans have done here with Woodfin and making a more robust sports performance department, that's another continuation of that evolution. So no one's talking about this move, but I know Titans fans out there like me have been asking for this change for quite some time.

And we finally got it. Will Levis is becoming a major leader. I'll tell you what's going on next. Before I do, do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. What's the first thing that you do

if you have an extra hour in your day? Go for a run. Take a nap. Watch more tape. A lot of us spend our lives wishing that we had more time. The question is, time for what? If time

was unlimited, how would you use it? Therapy can help you find what matters most to you so you can do more of it. If you're thinking of starting therapy, you have to give BetterHelp a try. I've worked with BetterHelp. It was incredibly beneficial. It's entirely online. It's designed to be convenient, flexible, and it's suited to your schedule. All you got to do is fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist. And I love how in-depth the questionnaire is. They're really going to figure out

what you need help with the most so they can pair you with the right person. But you could switch therapists at any time for no additional charge. I love that feature as well. Learn to make time for what makes you happy with BetterHelp. Make sure that you visit betterhelp.com slash locked on to get 10% off your first month.

That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P.com slash locked on. Titans fans, let's continue today's informative edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We just talked about how the Titans need to squash the injury bug and how they finally made changes in that department to make it happen. So I love that. The most underrated move the Titans have made all offseason long is firing Frank Perrano and Zach Woodfin

and making a more, again, robust sports performance department. But now I want to talk about the other most important thing when it comes to the Tennessee Titans offseason. Another thing where none of the moves that they've made will matter unless Will Levis is the guy. All right? That's what it comes down to. And we saw Will Levis.

We didn't see it ourselves, but we heard about Will Levis taking some action here the last few weeks and showing that leadership and, again, instilling confidence in me and hopefully in you that he can be the guy. Before I get into it though, I do want to thank you again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. NFL Draft Preview Series is starting very, very soon.

You're not going to want to miss it. Make sure you get subscribed, stay subscribed to the number one Tennessee Titans podcast in the world. Women lie, men lie. Numbers don't, baby. But with that being said, Will Levis. Titans have had a lot of players.

They've been signing guys. They've been trading for guys. Sounds like Will Levis is reaching out to every single player. According to Jim Wyatt from TennesseeTitans.com, Rand Carthon said this recently, quote, the cool thing for him, Will Levis, as he grows into this leadership role on this football team

is he asked that every player that we sign could get their phone numbers so he could reach out to him. We love to see that. All right, here's what Brian Callahan has said about Will Levis that also gets me very fired up. We've surrounded Will with more playmakers, which I think every quarterback desires.

So we've had a chance to build some explosiveness I think. We're trying to give him a chance. To have success. I think as a young quarterback. That is all you could ask for. A team investing in the talent around you. To give you a chance to go out and perform. Will is really excited.

I think it makes him want to work harder. He is an intense personality, as it is. It inspires him to go to work, which he doesn't have any problem doing. Just the excitement of, man, we're being aggressive. We're trying to add good players. We aren't sitting back. We're being aggressive in our offseason approach. I think he appreciates it, and I think he is excited

about it. I mean, if that doesn't get you fired up for Will Levis, I don't know what will. If that doesn't get you fired up for the connection between Will Levis and Brian Callahan, I don't know what will. I mean, for Will Levis to take an ownership, again, being a leader of this team and saying, hey, anybody that you go out and sign, anybody that you go out and get, defense, offense, O-line, receiver, doesn't matter. I want their phone number. I'm calling these guys. It's my team. I'm leading these players. For a second-year player, and Levis talked about in this offseason, there are other

interviews out there with him. He's done a ton of appearances, things like that. He talked about how, you know, you want to be a vocal leader. You want to, you know, be the quarterback, be the guy. But when you come in and you're the third stringer and you're behind Tannehill, you know, you kind of got to grow into that. You can't just come in as a rookie third on the depth chart and start barking at guys. as a rookie third on the depth chart and start barking at guys. That's why him and DeAndre Hopkins having that little barking match in the middle of Will Levis' back half of the year,

I saw that as a great thing. Because that means that Will Levis takes such ownership that he doesn't care if he's stepping to a Hall of Famer. This is my football team, and I need to iron out these details. I mean, obviously the physical talent has to be there, but the off-field stuff, more than not, can have a bigger bearing on how a guy's career plays out. His situation, his leadership,

the intangibles, the hard work. Yes, we need the big arm. We need the mobility. We need the size, all that stuff that we can see. But the stuff that we don't see, and honestly, that's an allegory for life. If you're a young person listening to this, the stuff that you do when no one is watching you, the work that you put in that you never get credit for, that is what drives you. That is what's going to make a difference. Do you know just a little story about me? I didn't get this opportunity. I went to journalism school,

the third best journalism school in the entire country. I went and was dominating. Ran out of money, had to come home. I didn't do a paid football job from the time I was 20 years old in college until the time I was 28 and a half years old. During that time, I worked for free. I did stuff purely out of passion,

purely out of I love this and I want to do it. I wrote for blog sites that didn't pay me. I did streams on my personal Facebook account to talk football, to try to get people to pay attention. I started Facebook pages about sports to try to get people to pay attention. I started Facebook pages about sports to try to be a meme aggregator. I've done so much stuff for free just out of drive and passion that no one will ever see, that no one will ever care about, honestly. And that is the stuff that put me in a position and kept me going and kept my heart still in it and kept my passion alive

for when I did get the opportunity. Alright? It's the same for Levis. Alright? The stuff that no one sees is the stuff that's going to set him apart. And, of course, we're never going to see all of it, but hearing about these little things

of him taking ownership, him taking phone numbers, him being a leader, these are the things that are going to make the difference. Because again, like I said to start this segment, and to tie that into our first conversation to start the show, if the injuries don't stop, and if Will Levis isn't the man, then hiring Brian Callahan, signing Calvin Ridley,

signing Lloyd Cushenberry, trading for LeJarius Sneed, drafting Joe Ault, Malik Nabors, whoever, none of that's going to matter. It's not going to be enough. It's not going to be enough. So these two things at the top of the show, the Titans taking steps to help with the injury issue in Nashville. Will Levis

taking steps to truly make it his team. And to hear DeAndre Hopkins and Calvin Ridley talk about Will Levis and his skill set. Get your hype. So, again, we can talk about all the transactions and moves, but the most underrated thing

is the Titans fixing the injuries and the most important thing going forward is Will Levis. So love what I'm seeing with both of those aspects of the offseason moving forward. Now, again, this is an informative episode. I'm informing you on the hiring of director of sports performance, Zach Woodfin. I am informing you of the background info of Will Levis and how he handled some of these signings and some of these moves. Now, we need to keep that information rolling. The Tennessee Titans off-season workout schedule has been released,

and it starts in less than a week. Not only that, but LeJarius Sneed talking to Tennessee media soon. I'll tell you when that is as well. Before we get into that, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. The sports calendar is loaded, folks. Like, we're about to talk about the Tennessee Titans workout calendar

and just how loaded, folks. Like, we're about to talk about the Tennessee Titans workout calendar and just how loaded it is. FanDuel is making it even more exciting to get in on all of that sports action. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That's right. You place a $5 bet, and if it wins, that's $200 that you can use to bet the tourney, the MLB, the NBA. I mean, think about it. The tourney is in the final stages. The MLB season just kicked off. Go Red Lakes.

The NBA is about to hit the playoffs. The NHL is about to hit the playoffs. You could do some NFL futures. I mean, make sure that you guys visit fanduel.com slash locked on and make your first bet a big win. FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Titans fans, let's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We talked about the moves made with the sports performance department. We talked about Will Levis showing leadership with some of the free agent moves.

Now I want to get into the Tennessee Titans all-season workout schedule. Before I do, thank you again for making Locked on Titans your first listen. Also want to let you know that Locked on has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel. It's on YouTube, and now it's also available on Amazon Fire TV in the free Fire TV channels app. It's called Locked on Sports Today. That's right.

Locked on Sports Today is here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day with local experts from Locked On, like me, and you get coverage of every league from our national shows. Find Locked On Sports Today now available on the free Fire TV channel app. Guys, it's time for a hydration break. Take a drink of water right now. Got to stay hydrated, especially it's going to start getting warmer as spring gets here.

Make sure that you're getting that water in, folks. All right, but fun story. As I was taking a drink of water before our second segment, I literally poured the water all over myself trying to go too fast. I'm a hot mess out here, but either way, make sure you get your hydration, even if it comes with a little bit of a wet shirt. But Tennessee Titans off-season schedule starts in less than a week. That's right, April the 8th.

Less than a week, the Tennessee Titans are going to be on the field doing things. I mean, not precisely that early on, and we'll talk about that early on. You know, things are strength and conditioning type things. I mean, not precisely that early on. And we'll talk about that early on. You know, things are strength and conditioning type things. So first day of off-season workouts. April the 8th. Phase 1. Alright? And here's what the NFL says

is Phase 1. Phase 1 consists of the first two weeks of the program with activities limited to meetings, strength and conditioning, and physical rehabilitation. So think the first two weeks, the players are going to be in the building.

All they're really doing is meetings, learning the playbook, working out, lifting, dealing with any lingering injuries, anything like that. That's what the Titans are going to be focused on in this first couple of weeks starting on April the 8th. But then we get to April 22nd through April 24th and it's time for voluntary minicamp.

I don't expect a ton of people to be there, but I can tell you who should be there. Will Levis. Traylon Burks. Have to be at this voluntary minicamp. Period. Tons of players on the young side. And we'll talk more about voluntary minicamp as we get closer to it.

But that is April 22nd through April 24th. So literally, we're going to have a team activity to talk about in three weeks, right before the draft kicks off, the Titans are having a voluntary minicamp. So love to hear that. Love to hear that. We don't have the exact date for the rookie minicamp, but I'm sure it'll come right after that. Of course, it's usually right after the draft, which is April 25th to April 27th. Then you get into OTA workouts. All right, so organized team activity. May 20th and 21st,

and then May 20th. Usually they go two days break one day. That's how the schedule kind of works out normally. You got May 20th through May 21st, and then May 23rd. Then you have May 28th and May 29th, and May 31st. So there's, you know, blocks.

First block, second block. And then you have June 10th through 13th. There is also a mandatory mini camp in between from June 4th to 6th, which again, mandatory. And that would be considered phase two. So phase two consists of the next three weeks of the program. On-field workouts may include individual or group instruction and drills as well as perfect play drills and drills and plays with

offensive players lining up across from offensive players and defensive players lining up across from defensive players. So you're not intermixing the two sides of the football. All you're doing is you're allowed to line up like football. So you can work on positioning, alignment, those sorts of things. Hey, if they come out in trips and we're in this coverage, we're going to do this. Hey, if the defense comes out in a too high shell and we're in trips right, we're going to have our alignment be a little bit different

than what we would do if they were showing man across the board. Stuff like that. So they're going to do all that stuff at a walk-through pace, no live contact, no team offense, no first team defense drills, nothing like that. Just line up and walk through. All right? And then phase three consists of the next four weeks of the program.

Teams may conduct a total of 10 days of organized team practice activities or OTAs. No live contact is permitted, but you can do 7 on 7, you can do 9 on 7, you can do 11 on 11 drills. Alright, so basically the first two weeks after the draft, just that walkthrough stuff,

and then the three weeks after that as we get into June, the end of May, now the Titans can actually do some drills, 7-on-7, 9-on-7, 11-on-11, stuff like that. Alright, so that is what the Titans all-season schedule is. Again, April 8th is the first day of all-season program work. You get into voluntary minicamp April 22nd through 24th. OTA is from May the 20th all the way to June 13th with a mandatory minicamp from June 4th to June 6th.

Football is right around the corner, folks. I know, I know, I know. It goes so fast. Thank the heavens for that because I'm ready for some football back in my life. But Tennessee Titans out on the field before you know it. That is going to do it for me today, though, folks. Again, I just mentioned it.

LeJarius Sneed. Introductory interview. 1030 Central on Tuesday morning. I'll be covering that on tomorrow's show. But as always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland. And this was Locked on tight.