Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Offseason Review, Free Agents & Draft Needs and Watching Linebacker Decision

Episode Date: March 3, 2023

The Tennessee Titans have gone through a wild offseason so far with cuts and changes to the organization. Tyler brings on the Locked On Titans 2023 Fantasy Football League Champion Taisei Fu to give his thoughts on all that has taken place so far. Did the Titans make the right move with their cuts and did they make the right hires? Tyler and Taisei dive in. Also, what moves need to be made in the future to get this team back to winning? Finally, what will be the biggest need for the Titans no one is talking about so far? Tyler says inside linebacker, but depending on how free agency plays out!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.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Place your first FIVE DOLLAR bet to get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Free Bets – win or lose! Visit Fanduel.com/LockedOn today to get startedFANDUEL 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

It's a special edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Time to get a listener's perspective on the offseason move that the Titans have made so far and what the Titans should do going forward with some key decisions. We're going to go over all of that with a special guest 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, very excited for today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We have Ty Seifu, the winner of the Locked on Titans Ultimate Fantasy Football Championship, ready to join us on today's show to break down what the Titans have done so far, what we'd like to see the Titans do going forward. So really excited to do that. As most of you know who listen to the show for quite some time, I do run a fantasy football league throughout the season,

and the winner of that league gets to come on the show for one episode this year. So many of you reached out wanting to get into the league. I ran two leads and then had a super face-off at the end. And my guy Ty Say was the winner. So we're going to bring on Ty Say in just a moment. Before we do, I want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content on all platforms,

all year round and always for free. Now, I say that knowing that some of you guys didn't get the show in your feed on Thursday night on YouTube or Friday morning. I did have a rather extensive dentist appointment on Thursday, which any of you guys who have been to the dentist, which I would imagine is most all of us, can relate to that. So I wanted to at least explain my absence or my tardiness, you could say. But with that in mind, I do want to bring on today's special guest, Ty Say, and we are going to talk about all things Tennessee Titans,

talk about what's happened so far, talk about what we want to see going forward as well. So we're going to dive into all of that. Ty, I say first and foremost, thank you so much for coming on. I definitely do appreciate it. Just for a moment, talk about your fantasy championship. And you're not the first Locked on Titans fantasy football champion, but you're the first super champion with multiple leagues competing. So just give us a window into your thought process about that championship win. Yeah. Well, you know, first of all, I got to hat

to you, Tyler. Um, great initiative on the whole, you know, the fantasy football thing. Um, you know, I was, I was a listener back when you ran the first iteration. Um, and I was, you know, you heard the idea, unfortunately couldn't get on it that time time but i'm so happy to go this time around um and so you know credit to you great initiative there getting us engaged like that um i appreciate it yeah um but yeah a window into my fantasy outlook i mean i think uh as with any fantasy winner you obviously you get quite lucky right uh the the injury bug doesn't hit you in the wrong way um but uh yeah i think i think the key to my success personally my approach is you know obviously the most important

day of the year of the fantasy year is that draft day right and it's to really hammer that down uh and so i think this year i really got i hammered that well in our league in particular you know i got like christian mccaffrey in the first round um hitting on on joe burrow on davonta smith uh in the later rounds. I think that was the key to success. And actually, I think I got away with being one of the less active in terms of transactionally, one of the less active owners in our league, actually.

I think I had the second least moves, but I think it's just a testament to just how important that draft day is. And it kind of carried that success all season. Yeah, it's a testament to your drafting ability, Ty Say. Let's call it what it is, an expert drafter. We might have to get you down to Nashville to help out Rand Carthon for this draft as well. But with that being said, of course, congratulations to you on winning the league. For anybody interested, I will be running another Locked on Titans Fantasy Football League

before the season begins, but we have plenty of months to go through before I get out the information there. But this is what you would get from winning that league, so just keep that in the back of your mind as the months continue to pass and we get closer to the season. But with that said, Ty Say, I want to do a little bit of a talk about the Titans' moves so far. So we've seen them cut Taylor LeJuan, cut Robert Woods, cut Zach Cunningham,

seen them cut Randy Bullock. Are there any of those cuts that you don't agree with? Or what were your general thoughts when you saw those cuts happen? No, I think, well, first of all, I think your podcast had us prepared for those eventualities, talking about it weeks in advance.

But also, no, I think at the end of the day, you look at the financial situation, the dire straits that the Titans are in cap-wise. And, you know, they're obvious. I mean, the, the savings, uh, that you get cap wise, uh, from cutting those guys, obviously it hurts to see a guy like Luan, you know, franchise icon, seeing them go. Uh, but at the end of the day, I don't, you know, I don't object to any of them because, you know, what's best for the Titans moving forward, even just this season, uh, there was really no other way, you know, being over the salary cap already. Yeah. You're 100% right there. And obviously, I agree, like you mentioned, something that we

had talked about a few weeks in advance, just moves that had to be made, I guess, with Randy Bullock, the Titans had finally had some semblance of consistency with the kicking game. But I think you could do a lot better than than Bullock. And I think the risk is worth it there. And obviously, you agree with that. Just your final thoughts on what we've seen so far here. We've seen Rand Carthon added as GM. We've seen Tim Kelly added as offensive coordinator. What were your thoughts on those big moves the Titans made? Yeah, well on Rand Carthon, you know, that, that move I got to admit after the season we had last year, even, even at when we were sitting at seven and three, I was not optimistic about this team.

Um, and especially, you know, you hit the seven game losing streak and you're really feeling down in the dumps. This franchise feels like, honestly, like it was going nowhere fast. Um,

but a higher like rank are thought from, from the background that he has, the reputation he has around the league. Um, and like, it just gets me super optimistic. Uh, the,

the one point in particular that really gets me optimistic is what he's done with the analytics department hopefully you know moving forward i've been banging on i've been banging this on this like at the table for so long with people around me when i because it's feel like for years the times have been you know years behind the rest of the league uh you know consistently ranking uh you know the least amount of uh analytics personnel um and so know, to finally see us take that step into this new age of analytics, right? It's just another tool,

but it's a tool that we haven't had in the organization for so long. And I think it set us behind. And so to see him kind of put a priority on that, hire guys like Chad Brinker, I'm just super optimistic. And from a guy with, you know, with a track record of success in San Francisco,

I'm optimistic that we can build a roster, you know, with a similar caliber of success that they have over there. Yeah, I think everybody should be optimistic right now. And I wanted to throw in at least real quick here that Rancar Thon, if you guys didn't miss or if anybody missed his comments on Chad Brinker from the Combine, Brinker actually has created analytics models to track injuries and to track salary cap

stuff that is his own personal IP he literally owns the models can bring them from the Green Bay Packers to the Tennessee Titans and that's something that Rand Carthon talked about when he discussed how important the move from Brinker was but I know you were going to finish with your thoughts on Tim Kelly yeah right so you know on Tim Kelly. Yeah, right. So, you know, on Tim Kelly, I'm hopeful that he's, you know, that he's confident he can call a good offense. Obviously after the last couple of years with Todd Downing, you know, just the bar is low for this guy. But, you know, looking at what the, what the work he did back in Houston. So, you know, I'm hopeful that he can, you know, add something to the offense. And I feel like another key trait, if he does happen to be good at the play calling side of things, is I'm hopeful that, you know,

I think Vrabel in his press conferences while he was doing his OC search, he snuck in the word loyalty as one of the characteristics that he was looking for. And I hope that if Tim Kelly does pan out as that play caller, that, you know, like a guy like Ben Johnson out in Detroit, he can show that loyalty, maybe stay that extra year, right? When other teams are calling him, trying to get him promoted to the head coach. Because, you know, the one flaw with Vrabel that I have, and it's honestly not specific to Vrabel,

but more defensive head coaches, is, you know, given how offensive heavy the league has become, you need that continuity for sustained success in the league. And I think, you know, if you can get that extra year out of a competent offensive coordinator, I think that's so important. And so, you know, hopefully to begin with, you know, Tim Kelly, he's that guy, right. He can finally open up that offense. But, but secondly, you know, hopefully he doesn't bolt at the first opportunity,

maybe stay that extra year, get that extra Superbowl opportunity, really, you know, give us an extra shot given that we have that defensive head coach. Yeah, absolutely. I think that's a great point. I think when people talk about Eric Biennemi and him not getting a shot in Tennessee, that may have been one of the key factors. Mike Vrabel talking about wanting to have a guy who's not going to be looking to bolt

at the first opportunity. So that's definitely a good thing to point out. Great answers from you there. We're going to continue talking about the Titans moves, continue visiting with Ty Say, the Locked On Titans fantasy football champion. I'm sure you like hearing that as well, but before we get into the rest of today's show, do want to let you know that today's episode is sponsored by Built Bar, the best tasting protein bars in the galaxy. Look, you get the best of both worlds with Built Bar. You get all the health benefits that you must have from a protein bar, low calorie, low sugar, high protein, high fiber, but you get all the taste benefits

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but once again, now they're available at your local Sam's Club or Walmart. So that shows you just how popular this product really is. Check out the best tasting protein bars of all time. Built Bars, today. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Again, we have the Locked on Titans fantasy football super champion, Ty Seifu, on the show with us today going over what we've seen from the Titans so far. We're going to dive into some more questions and just more comments about the Titans all season, what we want to see going next.

Before we do, just want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content on all platforms all year round and always for free. Make sure you stay locked in to the Locked on Titans podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network. It's your team every day. But Ty say, I wanted to get you a heavy hitting question here to start our

second segment. And it's a question that a lot of people in the fan base have different opinions on. But if you were in charge and you were running the team, what would you do at quarterback? Would you try to go trade for Aaron Rodgers? Would you bring in a Derek Carr and cut Tannehill? Would you keep Tannehill around for another season? Would you try to trade up into the draft? Would you roll with Malik or Dobbs? I mean, there's so many

options. If you had your say, what would you want the Titans to do next year? Yeah, if I've got rank our funds here on the phone right now, I'm telling you trade Ryan Tannehill. All right. I think, um, I personally, as a fan, I'm done with this good quarterback play, you know, like, I think I, I think we need to look for something great. Um, because you know, with Tannehill, we need, we need a great roster around him to have that success. Uh, and at the end of the day, if you're looking at this upcoming season, if we're being honest with ourselves, the Titans don't have that great roster yet. Right. So it doesn't make sense with him only having one year left on his contract to keep him around and to stick around and be mediocre. When, on the other hand, if you trade him, there's obviously I think there's certainly going to be a market for this guy, you know, because he is a good quarterback and teams are always looking for that.

So, you know, I think the opportunity cost of keeping him around is too great when you consider that, you know, you can get that, you know, a second round pick, a fourth round pick and a nice little package that you can then use to build that great roster for or even trade up for that next great quarterback, which leads to those extra draft picks you know i i'm perfectly on board with packaging them up and trading up in this year's draft uh going after a guy like you know cj stroud bryce young um either of those guys i'm very happy with and you know we're really going for that great quarterback uh because that's really the most sustainable way uh to get success in today's on nfl right is to have that elite quarterback hell the stuff around him might be terrible. Uh, and yet, you know,

he can really elevate your team to the next level. Um, and if that, you can't get that going, if you don't get, if you're not able to trade up in that draft, uh, then my alternative is,

you know, I don't think they're going to do this, but it's, it's a tank for this year. And not necessarily, and that doesn't mean tearing the roster apart. It just means accepting that, you know, you're going to roll with maybe a Malik Malik Willis and give him a shot for

the season and accept that, you know, odds are, you're not going to be successful that you're going to have an unfortunate season. But that, if that does happen, that comes with, you know, the reward of next season. And at that point, you can really kind of package everything together, trade up, or maybe you're already there in a position to, you know, draft a kind of Caleb Williams kind of talent. Yeah. Even if you're not there, you're going to be close enough to where it's at least feasible for you to do so. People always talk about the chiefs trading up for Patrick Mahomes,

or they talk about, you know, uh, moving up to get your guy, but it's, it's hard to move up all the way to the top five when you're at 27 or 28 or 22, where the Titans have been the last few years. It's tough to make that far of a jump up. And at least the way that it looks like right now, guys like Caleb Williams or Drake May, who should be high picks at quarterback next year, those guys are going to go in the top five.

They're not going to be around until 10, like a Mahomes was, or like a Deshaun Watson was to trade up. So yeah, if the Titans play too well this year, they're not even going to be around until 10, like a Mahomes was or like a Deshaun Watson was to trade up. So yeah, if the Titans play too well this year, they're not even going to be close in the range. So going with a Malik Willis, going with a Josh Dobbs, maybe as an option, maybe even if they decide to go with like a Baker Mayfield

or a Carson Wentz or something like that after they get rid of Tannehill, that would at least give them the ability to maybe be close. But obviously, like you mentioned, or like we have discussed on this show, I don't know how keen Mike Rabel and Rand Carthon will be with that sort of plan. But I agree with you. I think it would be a logical move going forward. But you talked about the roster.

I just wanted to ask you here, when you look at the roster, I know there are some obvious needs, but just your opinion, what do you think the Titans should attack first when it comes to free agency in the draft? Or how would you kind of rank the positions of need for the Titans? Well, I think, you know, I like to look at, you know, you combine the free agent and the draft as a whole when you come up with your approach like that. And I think you look at the draft class at wide receiver this year, and unfortunately it doesn't seem like it's the best draft class in order to build out your wide receiver room. So I think, you know, given the

state of, you know, the current room right now, it makes sense to attack that position. I don't think, you know, you necessarily spend top dollar, but maybe a guy like, you know, it is a weak class in free agency too, granted. But, you know, you get a guy like Alan Lazard, who, you know, I looked at the spot track numbers before we got on,, he's around $12 million for maybe three years. And you know, I can get with that. I think, uh, it's just the cost of doing business in, in a week wide receiver class, unfortunately. But I think, um, I think this, this year in particular, I think the free agent class is

where you attack the wide receiver and that would be my first priority. And otherwise I think I would also focus on resigning the guys that the titans have uh coming up i think guys like nate davis and david long i think unfortunately it seems that ray bull isn't too keen on these guys uh mostly due to their injury history um it seems to be something that he keeps mentioning over and over you know guys guys about injuries even just the other day he's talking about david long talking about how he needs to stay healthy um i don't think that bodes great but if you know if i was a general manager, that's what I would focus on.

And guys like T.R. Tartt, who, you know, restricted free agent, but given how key he is to, you know, running our defense on that defensive line, I think I would consider even maybe extending him for a multi-year contract. Yeah, that's where I would go. Yeah, I like that. And Tartt is somebody who, out of those three guys, I think it'll be easiest to keep Tartt around because he is a restricted free agent. And he's a guy who I think, you know, David Long, when he's out there, is the best player out of those three. But it's just, we've seen so much that he's going to have issues and particularly at his size. I don't think that David Long is the type of guy who fits every team's system. I think having a guy like Jeffrey Simmons and T.R. Tartt in front of David Long allowed him to kind of fly around,

be an undersized linebacker that makes plays. So I think you're pretty smart that, you know, looking at all the names, Tartt may be, at the end of the day, the one that's most important to get back because of how he protects your linebackers, whoever it is. But I do want to say that you start thinking about what the Titans linebacker group looks like if David Long goes and boy, it is, it may fly up the chart to be maybe their number three need behind offensive

line and wide receiver. At that point, it'll be very interesting to see how the Titans attack linebacker. If they don't resign David Long, which is why I'm in agreement with you. I think they need to try to get Long back. If he gets paid too much, if he is going to be around that $13 million range, like maybe pro football focus is projecting, yeah, you might have to let him go at that point in time. But I think if you can get him around $9 to $10 million,

I think that would be wise to bring him back. And like you said with the offensive line, Nate Davis, you know, Nate Davis, $7 million, $8 million, $9 million. That seems about right. I'm more just worried about what the Titans do at offensive line if they don't bring him back because they don't have a ton of cap space. They don't have a boatload of draft picks. Maybe a little difficult to replace, you know,

four spots on the offensive line with solid players moving forward. But we are going to continue moving forward. Got a couple other questions here that I have for Ty Say that I want to dive into. He's going to ask me a couple of questions to round out today's show as well. Before we get into that, though, I want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first to listen every day. But as for your second listen, guys, it is draft season.

We are in the heat of the battle when it comes to the NFL draft. So for your second listen, make sure that you check out the Locked On NFL Draft podcast. It's got Damian Parson and Keith Sanchez. They both are going to provide in-depth coverage of the biggest NFL draft prospects, but they also do deep dives into the sleepers and the hidden gems that can change the future for the Tennessee Titans. Find the Locked On NFL Draft Podcast wherever you get your podcasts, and it's on YouTube as well, so go subscribe there.

It's part of the Locked On Podcast Network, where it's your team every day. Titans fans, we are going to cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Definitely a special edition with a special guest. We have Tai Seifu here from the Locked On Titans Fantasy Football League he was our super champion not only won his league but he was able to defeat the other league's winner

in the final week of the season as well fantastic victory and happy to have him on we've talked a ton about different Titans related topics and talked about the offseason moves, what we want to see going forward. Tosia, I just wanted to ask you one final question before maybe you ask me a couple of questions to round things out here. If the Titans do have a successful offseason, and some of the things that we talked about do go the right way,

do you think that the Titans have a chance to, I guess, compete for a Super Bowl again this year? Would you say that one offseason from where they finished is still too short of a time for them to get back to that kind of competition level? Well, I think, you know, to get to that competition level, you need to have that quarterback, right, at the end of the day to be in Super Bowl contention. So I think you're probably not there in terms of at the end of this offseason.

Even if you do get that rookie quarterback, you know, that probably means that you didn't address the offensive line in the first round, for instance. And so, you know, there's still schools on that roster. So I think, you know, at best, if Rand Carthon really knocks it out of the park, I think you take, it takes two more offseasons one and then the one after and then i think honestly the the roster otherwise isn't good enough shape where we really can compete for the super bowl and that's part of what fuels my optimism because you know maybe with john robinson or maybe after you know that aj brown trade uh it felt like you know contention was never there uh not enough for five not for 10 years um but now

it really does feel like the window but that the window to open the window is there. And so, yeah, I think a couple more years, if things go right, I think we can be right back in it. That is a great phrase right there. I'm going to use that on the show, the window to reopen the window. I love that right there. But Ty, I say thank you for answering all of these questions. I think you have a great outlook on the team. Pretty honest that right there. But Ty say, thank you for answering, uh, all of these questions. I,

I think, uh, you have a great outlook on the team. Pretty honest, pretty fair. Uh, before we get out of here though, do you have any questions for me or anything like that to flip it around a little bit? All right. Well, you know, the one question I thought of was, um, what, what do you think is the underrated need on this roster, uh, that people aren't talking enough about? Because obviously we hear wide receiver, offensive line, maybe even kicker with Randy Bullock on. But what's a position of people you don't think that people are talking enough about on this Titans team? Well, I kind of hinted at it earlier,

and it does depend on what happens in free agency because I'm looking at inside linebacker, what happens in free agency because I'm looking at inside linebacker and I am not somebody who values inside linebacker at the top of the list. It's not really something that I think you should put major draft capital into or major money into. I think Rand Carthon is a good example.

He was able to find some mid-round linebackers like a Fred Werner, like a Dre Greenlaw while he was in San Francisco, or at least the 49ers organization was able to find those people. And they've given you incredible production while being mid round picks, a late round pick for Dre Greenlaw. So I think like David Long, like Jayon Brown before him, you can find good off ball inside linebacker play late in the draft. And if the Titans let David Long go, I was shocked,

truly shocked when I saw pro football focus give his contract estimate around $13.5 million. I don't know who has been watching David Long or what they see. I think David Long's a great player, but my Lord, that's a little out of the ballpark for me. So if someone around the NFL agrees and wants to give David Long nearly $13-14 million a season on average, then you've got to let him go and you've got to take the compensatory pick that you're going to get next draft for losing him.

I think that is one aspect to losing Nate Davis, losing David Long that is interesting is the Titans could get a comp pick back for that next year, which could really help them retool after this season into 2024. But if David Long goes to another team, the Titans have Monty Rice, you know, Jack Gibbons, Chance Campbell. I mean, that is just on, I know that they would make additions, but that right there is the worst linebacking group in the NFL. I think Monty Rice could be decent. I think Campbell and Gibbons both have had moments, but we have to be honest with ourselves here.

I think that if David Long does walk in free agency, the Titans are considering taking a linebacker in the second round at that point because they don't have anybody ready. And yeah, some of these late round draft picks could turn into good players after a year or so, but going into next year with Monte Rice as your lead linebacker and then maybe a late round draft pick in this year's draft competing with Campbell, I think that would be pretty rough. And the Titans don't have enough cap space to give a decent deal

to a starting level inside linebacker, in my opinion. I would much rather see that money go elsewhere. So I think that if David Long leaves in free agency, inside linebacker is one of the top three needs on the team behind offensive line and wide receiver at that point. All right. Yeah. No, I agree. And I don't think we can have that. Honestly, it's not the best class to draft for inside linebacker, right?

So, you know, I don't think you want to put yourself in that, you know, position of desperation at that position. Yeah. I agree. That's it for my questions. I'm with you. That was a great question. And, you know, another thing, depending on what happens with Nate Davis,

depending on what happens with Tierra Torre, I mean, there are some needs. And Mike Vrabel said it at the Combine just a couple of days ago. We have some real holes and some real needs on this roster. And Vrabel's been very honest and open about it. And I think some of that is self-preservation. Like, hey, if things don't go great this year, don't be mad at me because the

roster is still crappy from what the previous GM did. I think Brave was already setting up his escape hatch there already, but at some point, you do kind of have to agree with him. So thank you so much for coming on, Ty Say. I definitely do appreciate it. You've been a loyal listener for a long time, and I'm happy you were able to win and get the opportunity to jump on the show. Thank you guys all so much for tuning in. That's going to do it for us today though. I'll be back with you guys on Sunday night into Monday morning

to break down everything that happens over the weekend, but that's going to do it for us today folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland and this was Locked on Titan.