Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans MUST Fire Todd Downing, Fixing the O-Line & Mike Vrabel Silver Lining

Episode Date: January 9, 2023

The Tennessee Titans tumultuous offseason starts now and the first move has to be firing offensive coordinator Todd Downing. The numbers show this is one of the worst offenses in the league AND we got reports that Downing could be gone by next week. Next, the other priority for the Titans is fixing the offensive line. Tyler lays out his plan at each position to correct a major issue. Finally, this is a tough time, but there is a silver lining to the offseason and we get to learn a lot about what Mike Vrabel likes and doesn't like.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; LOCKEDONUltimate 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.TurboTaxCome to TurboTax and don’t do your taxes. Visit TurboTax.com to learn more.Tommy JohnWinter mornings are brutal. So here’s my tip for tackling the day in comfort: Grab new Tommy John Loungewear and take cozy wherever you go. Get TWENTY PERCENT OFF YOUR FIRST ORDER at TommyJohn.com/LOCKEDON. BetterHelpThis episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at Betterhelp.com/LockedOn and get on your way to being your best self.  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, the season is over and now the offseason begins. Step one for the Titans, fire Todd Downing. And I'll tell you why we got a report over the weekend that says that may happen soon. Then we got to talk about fixing this offensive line. I'll go through my entire plan to revamp this group in one offseason. And finally, I'll point out one of the cool parts about this offseason,

and it's figuring out exactly what Mike Braybill didn't like about the John Robinson era. 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. Titans fans, Todd Downing must go. That has to be the first step of the Titans retool throughout the 2023 offseason. I'll tell you why you should feel optimistic

that that does happen. Before we get into that, do want to let you know that today's episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. It'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.

You can get 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com slash locked on. Thank you guys for making the Locked On Titans off your first month at betterhelp.com slash locked on. Thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Remember, it's not just during the season. Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content for free all year long on all platforms, including the Locked on Titans YouTube channel.

Make sure you subscribe. Throw a thumbs up on the video. I greatly do appreciate the support. I am going to be putting out player breakdowns throughout the season. We're covering 180 prospects in the draft. We're doing free agency breakdowns and previews. A lot of great off-season content coming your way. So make sure you stay locked in to the Locked on Titans podcast.

But diving right in here, Todd Downing must go. And you guys watch the games yourself. We have talked about all of the just ridiculous play calling that we've seen throughout the year. Yeah, at times Todd Downing has had some good play designs. At times Todd Downing has called some good games. But the inconsistency and the consistent problems that the Titans have had in the second half and specifically the fourth quarter

just make it impossible to keep this guy around for another season. You look at the raw numbers for the Titans. 30th offense in total yards, 28th offense in total points, and that's before the rest of the Week 18 slate is played. I'm recording on Sunday before the games are played. So this is only going to get worse. They are 30th in total passing yards. And we talk about them being a good rushing team. They're only 13th in total rushing yards. They weren't even that great of a rushing team this year. They were just barely above average in the NFL. Their average plays per drive were last in the NFL,

so they had the shortest drives of any team in the NFL, and that puts an extra weight on the defense. This type of poor offense has a ripple effect to the special teams. Now you're not moving the ball to flip fields when you're doing special teams activities, giving other teams better field position consistently. You're not letting your defense rest out there, putting your defense in a position to pin teams back. All of that is involved.

So 31st in average yards per drive, 28th in average points per drive. I mean, this is truly one of the worst offenses in the entire NFL. And yes, the personnel isn't some of the best personnel in the NFL. There's been Ryan Tannehill missing for a lot of these games. But simply put, it should be better than this. And that's when I go back to, yeah, the numbers you could counter back with the injuries and the circumstances. But we watched the games.

We saw the bad decisions and the mistakes that were made by Todd Downing in the games that also contributed to this lack of success. So number one, Todd Downing has to go. And we did get a report over the weekend that indicates that he very well may be on his way out. Now, I want to say this. First and foremost, major grain of salt. The report comes from Ken Moore at KMooreSports on Twitter.

He's a college football analyst for ESPN+, ESPN3, Legacy Sports Network. He does some Titans coverage as well. And to Kenny's credit, he did have the Jadavian Clowney scoop. In July of 2020, he had the Clowney scoop. So there is something to point to. But again, I would tell you, this isn't one of the major news breakers in the NFL, so grain of salt. But I believe it was on Friday of last week, Kenny Moore reported this, quote, per sources, Todd Downing expected to be among several coaching changes

on the Titans staff whenever the season concludes. Mike Vrabel will not be among those changes. Vrabel will be involved in the GM discussions as he should be, Ken Moore throws in. And look, this is exactly what we thought. Mike Vrabel made a power play. Mike Vrabel is going to hire a GM that works for him. We usually we see the GM as above the coach, but there are instances within the NFL

where the coach hires a GM to be their partner and go shop for them to get the groceries so the coach can then make that meal to use a Bill Parcells reference. So I think that's very likely. That all makes sense. And whether that report is true from Ken Moore or not, like I said, a grain of salt.

But boy, it makes you feel better about things because this team cannot move forward. And fans cannot have hope in 2023 if they don't get rid of Todd Downing. With a guy like Tim Kelly, who has called successful offenses with the Houston Texans, with not a lot of talent there either other than Deshaun Watson, I think you've got to give Tim Kelly a chance to work this offense. And at minimum, if you don't want to hire Tim Kelly because of what he's done as his part of involvement with the offense this year, that's fine with me. Hire outside the building. Think about a guy like Frank Reich, who doesn't

have a job right now. I would love Frank Reich is a very good football coach. He is an excellent offensive coordinator, and I think that would be a great move for the Titans as well. But next, we got to talk about the other problem with this team, and it's the offensive line. How do you fix it? I have an entire plan laid out of what the Titans should do and what the O-line should look like next year.

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All you got to do is go to TommyJohn.com slash locked on. See site for details. Also, do want to let you guys know that today's episode is sponsored by BetterHelp Online Therapy. Look guys, I have worked with BetterHelp myself. The reality here is when, especially if you're a male in this country, you're expected to be great all the time. Well, I'm here to tell you that's just not the case. I have struggled at times in my own life.

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as well. So you have a lot of ability to customize this the way that works best for you. So get unstuck right now, learn more, and you're going to save 10% off your first month of online therapy at betterhelp.com slash locked on. That's better, H-E-L-P, betterhelp.com slash locked on. Titans fans, we are going to continue this aftermath edition of the Locked On Titans podcast. The season ended. What needs to happen next? Well, obviously the two big issues are offensive coordinator.

We just discussed the most recent report on Todd Downing and what needs to happen there. Now we need to dive into this offensive line because if those two things aren't solved, then you can't expect much better from the Titans offense next year. So before we dive into that, though, do want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Remember, as I said before, Monday through Friday, free Tennessee Titans content all year round on all platforms. The offseason is where the Locked on Titans podcast really shines, going over 180 plus

college prospects for the draft. We go through every position in free agency. We're going to go through who the Titans need to re-sign, who they should bring back, who they should cut, all of that. So make sure you stay locked in to the Locked on Titans podcast. But looking at the offensive line, something that I have been interested in for quite some time now is the ability to take a top 10 offensive lineman

or top 11 at worst for the Titans. And when you look at the three top offensive linemen in the draft right now, you got Peter Skowronski from Northwestern, you got Paris Johnson, the offensive tackle from Ohio State, you got Broderick Jones, the offensive tackle from Georgia. Now, I would say that Paris Johnson is probably more of a pass blocking guy who would be better there. Broderick Jones is more

of a rough and tumble, drive you off the ball, run blocker. Skowronski is a do-it-all guy, but Skowronski has short arms. He has 32-inch arms, which there aren't a lot of starting tackles in the NFL with 32-inch arms. An example of a guy is like Braden Smith from the Colts is a guy who could go in that category. But here's what I have to say about Peter Skowronski. Some people think he's a guard. Some people think he's a tackle because of the short arms. He's only 6'4". This goes back to Rashawn Slater. Slater didn't have the longest arms. Slater was somebody who people said, oh, he's probably going to be a guard at the next level. He comes out his rookie year and is an excellent tackle. Don't overthink it with some of this stuff. We get in draft season, people start getting these ideas in their head and people start overthinking it. Peter Skowronski has been an excellent offensive lineman

at offensive tackle for multiple years in college at a power five school that goes up against Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State. I mean, Skowronski is an offensive tackle in my mind. And at minimum, if he fails at that, then yeah, he'll probably be an excellent guard. So to me, you can't really go wrong with any of those three guys. And if you're somebody who's going to tell me, oh, well, the Titans won't get their pick of the litter on that. They're at pick 10 or pick 11. There's a chance that offensive tackles go before. Well, with four quarterbacks slated to go in the top 10, probably at least

three with Stroud and Young and Levis. And then the defenders that are available in this draft with Jalen Carter and Will Anderson, wide receiver is always a premium position that people go after. Cornerback is a premium position that people go after. Cornerback is a premium position that people go after. The Titans will have the ability to get one of these three offensive linemen if they just stand pat. So that right there is the start to me. You look at left half, see a Dennis Daly, obviously. And look, I'm going to say this and maybe you guys won't like it, but if the Titans keep Dennis Daly around as a depth piece,

I'm not going to to be mad about it. Just veteran minimum, cheap deal, depth. I mean, he started all year. No, he's a terrible starter, but you've got to have backups, and you can't have eight starting-level offensive linemen in your offensive line group. It simply doesn't work like that. So you're going to have to have backups and role players,

and Dennis Daly is slated to be a backup. That's what he should have been all along. So you take Peter Skowronski, you take Johnson, you take Broderick Jones, they can play left tackle. If you see Skowronski as a guard then heck, have him play guard. On the left side of the offensive line, I think you got to fill left guard and you got to fill left tackle. One needs to be that first pick in the draft. One needs to be a free agent. To me, so you want to do this. Sign Andre Dillard

to a mid-range offensive tackle deal. Sign Isaiah Wynn to a mid-range offensive tackle deal. Draft Peter Skowronski. There, Skowronski plays left guard. One of those guys plays tackle. You could flip that. You could draft Paris Johnson. You could draft

Broderick Jones. You could draft Skowronski and play him at left tackle. And then you go into free agency and get yourself a decent guard. I like a guy like Isaac. I'm not going to say his name right. I practiced all before the show and I'm still not. Samola, I think. I'm not saying it right. Just forgive me. I literally

had it before the show and it's leaving me now. But the left guard for the Philadelphia Eagles. That would be an option for the Titans. So, go get a mid-range guard in free agency like you did with Roger Saffold a couple of years ago. Add in that left tackle in the draft. Left side, saw. Center, some of you guys won't like this,

but I think Aaron Brewer should start at center. The reality is the Titans aren't going to be able to go out and find four starters. They don't have the cap or the draft capital to do that. They simply don't. And if you think you can do that with the draft, you're relying way too heavily on rookies. I expect one top 10, top 11 rookie offensive lineman

to be a starter here. Okay, that's not out of the realm of possibility. So left side, solve. One spot free agency. One spot draft. However, the Titans want to do that. Aaron Brewer at center where his size and his weight

is at least acceptable at center. He can't do it at guard. Right guard. The spot track market evaluation for Nate Davis right now is $7 million per year. You're bringing Nate Davis back at that rate. Even if he wants eight or nine AAV, you bring him back at that rate.

Okay? Do it like you did with Imani Hooker. Do a three-year deal that's basically a two-year deal. And you bring back Nate Davis. And then you got Nicholas Petit Ferrer chilling at right tackle. And some of you guys are getting way too harsh on the rookies and blaming them for stuff that's going on. You guys remember when Jack Conklin got All-Pro his rookie year?

They should have given that award to Anthony Fasano. Okay? They chip-helped for Jack Conklin so much all year long. Conklin was good. I'm not going to lie to you. Conklin was good. Especially run blocker. Conklin was good. I'm not going to lie to you. Conklin was good, especially run blocker. Conklin was good.

He deserved the credit he got. But the Titans gave him a ton of help as a rookie. You know what rookie offensive tackle who wasn't a top 10 pick like Conklin, who was a third round pick, 69, who didn't get any help this year because the Titans had to focus most of their chip help for Dennis Daly,

it was Nicholas Petit-Ferrer. So give me a break on all the slander of Burks and NPF that you guys are doing. Man, I know everyone's upset. Come on now. Come on. So to me, that's a really good offensive line overhaul.

Free agent, draft pick on the left side. You figure out which one you think. We'll go through those machinations as we get into the free agency previews. Brewer at center. Cheap. Nate Davis back on a good mid-range team-friendly deal. NPF is a cheap starting right tackle rookie.

We ride. We ride. I'm not saying it's the best offensive line in the league, but God, it should be a major improvement over what we saw here at the back half of the season. And the next thing that we are going to discuss on today's show is one of the cool silver linings that I'm finding in this offseason. I just, I know it's a bad situation right now, but I keep finding the good guys and I'm going to keep doing that all season long. So we're going to get into one of the big silver linings of the all season here in just

a moment. Before we do, I do want to tell you guys that today's show is brought to you by the Ultimate Football GM app. Guys, this thing is so addicting, and if you're like me and you've dreamed about being an NFL GM and you want to manage your football franchise, then you are absolutely going to love the Ultimate Football GM app. You can control every strategic aspect of your team, hiring coaches, firing coaches, and maybe something you're interested in right now, staff, scouts, you know, scout prospects. You could trade for players, you make draft

picks, you sign guys in free agency you cut players, you set up your formations, your style of offense and defense and you play through the season and try to lead your team to glory and actually one of the coolest things about it is you can set up leagues with your friends to compete against each other

right now we have a league going on with all the hosts of the Locked On NFL podcast. I love trash talking and doing all that stuff. So right now, Locked On Titans listeners can get a 100% free boost to their franchise when you go inside the Ultimate Football GM app and use the promo code LOCKEDON in all caps. That's LOCKEDON in all caps. To download the game, just visit ultimate-gm.com

or you can just look it up in the app store. That's the easiest way. ultimate-gm.com The Ultimate Football GM. Start your dynasty today. Titans fans, we are going to cap off today's episode of the Locked on Titans podcast with a little silver lining and something interesting that I am going to be watching for

as the offseason progresses. Before we get into it, I want to thank you guys again for making Locked on Titans your first listen every day. For your second listen, check out the Locked on NFL podcast. You get all your Titans news here with me, but get all of that insight on national conversations on the biggest stories in the NFL with Locked on NFL. And I host the Thursday show of the Locked On NFL podcast. So if you subscribe to the Locked On NFL YouTube channel

or the Locked On NFL podcast, you're also showing me some support. And hey, all the content's free. So a little click of a button goes a long way. And I definitely do appreciate it. It's available right now on YouTube or whatever platform you use to stream podcasts. It's Locked on NFL every day. But like I said, one of the silver linings here of this situation is that we're going to see exactly what Mike Vrabel disagreed with John Robinson on.

Draft philosophy. What kind of players to go with. John Robinson made a pretty big change in his philosophy draft philosophy. What kind of players to go with. John Robinson made a pretty big change in his philosophy in his last draft as Titans GM. He went with nothing but high-level Power 5 conference players who have a ton of experience

in high-level college football games. That was a major correction to some of the ways that he had drafted before. Now, I know you could throw in the Malik Willis thing, and that was a blip pick that the Titans felt was a luxury. Okay, but look at all the rest of them. Burks, Arkansas, McCreary, Auburn,

NPF, Ohio State, Haskins, Michigan, Chigaconkwo, Maryland, Kyle Phillips, UCLA. I mean, these are big programs, high-level college football at some of the best conferences in the country. Was that something that Mike Vrabel had wanted? Because I could see Mike Vrabel being a guy who wants guys with real high-level experience.

None of these project players who I got to do all this development with were not in that window. So I could see that. That lines up with what I think about Mike Vrabel. But to see it take place in the draft, that would be confirmation. Same thing. What about free agency approach?

What does Mike Vrabel try to do there? I think that'll be very interesting to watch and it'll tell us a lot about how Mike Vrabel feels about the team and how you should build a roster. It's not only that, but certain changes. Changes on the coaching staff. Changes with the roster. Who they cut. Who they keep. Who they restructure. Who Vrabel wants to keep around. All of that. What if he were to cut bait with Malik Willis or something like that?

That would tell us exactly what I've theorized already that John Robinson wanted to take Willis and Vrabel wasn't on board for it. So, I think it's just incredibly interesting the fact that we're going to be able to learn so much about Mike Vrabel. Think about staff stuff. What about the analytics department? the fact that we're going to be able to learn so much about Mike Vrabel. Think about staff stuff. What about the analytics department?

Is Mike Vrabel a believer in analytics? John Robinson famously said one time at the Combine, I am the analytics department. Well, how does Mike Vrabel feel about that? Does Mike Vrabel wish they had a better analytics department? Because here's my thing about the analytics. No, they're not the be all end all. No, you don't do exactly what the analytics people tell you. But when almost every other team in the NFL has an analytics department and the Titans have one person

maybe zero after Vrabel's gone, it could go the other way. It's hard to not see that as a detriment, as a liability, as something they have to overcome. Because even if you aren't beholden to analytics, at most guys, it's more information. You don't just look outside at the clouds and say, I think it's going to be 56 degrees,

probably a 30% chance of rain. Yeah, I'm going to do this. No, you look at the weather report. Getting more information, even if you decide you're not bringing your umbrella, getting more information is never a problem. It's never bad to have too much information. All it can do is inform your decision. And even if Mike Vrabel says, oh, the analytics say do this.

I don't care. I'm feeling the game out. I'm the head coach. I want to do this. At least he had that information available to make the best decision. So I'm curious to see how all these things play out. Like I said, one of the big silver linings in this game is

we're going to see exactly what Mike Vrabel disagreed with when it came to his relationship with John Robinson and exactly what he wants to do going forward. Going to be incredibly interesting to watch. But that's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland. This was Locked on Titans. you