Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans PERFECT DeAndre Hopkins Contract, Intel on Hopkins Pursuit & RT Battle Updates

Episode Date: July 27, 2023

The Tennessee Titans added DeAndre Hopkins and we got news of a two-year, $26 million deal. Recently, we got the actual details of the contract that show cap hit, guarantees and what the deal means for the future. Next, Titans' GM Ran Carthon and his assistant GM Chad Brinker gave some intel on the pursuit of DeAndre Hopkins and what it took to land him. Finally, we got updates on the Titans right tackle battle and heard some glaring praise for UDFA OT John Ojukwu.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!BetterHelpThis episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. If you’re thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. Visit BetterHelp.com/Lockedon today to get 10% off your first month.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to TWO HUNDRED 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

we finally got all of the details on DeAndre Hopkins' contract with the Tennessee Titans, and Rancar Thon has done it again. A great deal for the Titans, and I'm breaking it down 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. Number one, we finally got the details on DeAndre Hopkins' contract with the Titans. I'm going to go over a cap hit, how spread out the bonuses, the guaranteed money, all of that. Talk about how the Titans can get out of it, the dead money involved. It's a great contract. I'm going to break it all down.

Also, we got some great intel from the Titans front office on DeAndre Hopkins' visit, his recruitment process, all that. So I'm going to take you guys behind the scenes on the Hopkins signing. And then we got to discuss the right tackle battle as Mike Vrabel and the players involved had a lot to say about what's going on there at right tackle. Before we get into all of that, I do want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. Remember daily, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round on all apps

and always for free. Make sure that you get subscribed. Stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, where it's your team every day. Shout out to my everydayers out there. I got a lot planned for you guys this weekend. No breaks this week on the Locked on Titans podcast. The Titans practice on Friday.

They practice on Saturday. I'm going to have a little emergency breakdown of both days of practice for you guys. Even on my off days, I'm bringing you guys free daily Tennessee Titans content. All I ask for in return is the press of a button,

throw a thumbs up on the video if you're watching and hit that subscribe button as well so you never miss any of the free content that I'm putting up again. It's like seven days a week at this point in the season. So with that being said, though, I do want to dive into this DeAndre Hopkins contract. And I'm going to throw the contract up on the screen for you guys so you can get a little bit of a visual.

But don't worry, my podcast folks, I'll be breaking it down verbally as well, which you can count on me to do. But a great contract structure here. We got the large terms, two years, $26 million. That's all pie in the sky in reality. The devil is in the details, as they say. And what I want to start with is looking at the low salary cap hit that DeAndre Hopkins is going to have in year one.

If you're looking on the screen right now, and this is courtesy of overthecap.com. Shout out to overthecap.com. Great financial work, covering sports, especially the NFL, all that. So shout out Nick Corti on Twitter. I think he's the leader in charge over there. But you can see in this column that says cap number,

which is what the player's value is that actually hits the salary cap. And Hopkins came in at $3.6 million. $3.6 million for DeAndre Hopkins on the salary cap. That's only 1.6% of the Titans total cap space being used on DeAndre Hopkins there. So how did the Titans create a contract structure where they could give DeAndre Hopkins a good chunk of guaranteed money, but keep that cap hit low. It all comes down to the void year. So as you can see, if you're looking, this is a two year contract with DeAndre Hopkins. But when you look at it for a financial perspective, it's a five-year deal because the last three years on the deal are void years. DeAndre Hopkins is not expected to play

in those years. DeAndre Hopkins will not be on the Titans in those years. So why are there three extra void years? Well, it's simple. Whatever signing bonus a player gets is divided by the years of the contract, and that's how it's split up. So if you got a $10 million signing bonus and you had a five-year contract, for salary cap purposes, that's $2 million per season. That's how the bonus is spread out.

So the Titans gave Hopkins a $9.8 million signing bonus, broke up over five seasons. That's $1.8 million signing bonus, broke up over five seasons. That's $1.9 million per season. So the Titans gave Hopkins a low salary of $1.1 million and then gave him a bonus of $1.9 million. And together, along with some extra bonuses that are obtainable, that made the Hopkins $3.6 million cap hit. So the Titans kept the salary really low.

They gave Hopkins a nice bonus of around $10 million, but then they spread the bonus throughout the five years of the contract using three void years to limit how much that bonus is going to hit. Because if they didn't use the void years, then it would be like $5 million per season in bonus charge, which means that Hopkins' cap hit would be $6 or $7 million this year, which totally changes the equation of what the Titans can do going forward. So that's excellent.

I also want to point out two more things, though, before we move forward. Number one, look in the column here that says guaranteed salary. After year one, there is no guaranteed salary for Hopkins. There's none. So basically, the Titans gave Hopkins $10.9 million in actual cash in year one, and they have $0 guaranteed to him going forward after this year. So if you really want to look at the brass tacks, it was a two-year deal, $26 million.

No, this is a one-year deal worth $10.9 million for the Titans in terms of the money that they've committed to DeAndre Hopkins. If the Titans want to get out from Hopkins, if this year doesn't go well and they want to cut him next year, you know, in that February range where we saw the veteran cuts happen this offseason, if the Titans want to do that, they'll only have $7 million in dead cap, 7.8 to be exact, and they'll get $8 million in cap savings. So basically, to cut out the fluff here, the Titans gave a one-year deal to DeAndre Hopkins, and if they get rid of him next year,

they're going to have $70, $80 million in cap space to easily absorb a $7 million dead cap hit. I mean, there is no financial downside to this deal. There is no risk to this deal. But I want to point out one more thing. Look at year two for Hopkins. He can get an $8.2 million base salary. He can get a one, well, not the bonus. He already got the bonus, but for cap purposes, that's in there still. But he can get an $8.2 million salary. He can get nearly $5 million in a roster bonus if he's still on the team in March.

He'll get per game bonuses of $1 million or more and he gets a workout bonus of $250,000. He'll be a cap hit of $15.9 million next year if the Titans keep him. Which $16 million

for DeAndre Hopkins, who's worth being kept into his second year, means he had a good year in his first year. That is still an incredible steal for Hopkins as a wide receiver. It's still incredible. So the Titans can pay Hopkins adequately next year so that he's satisfied if he earns it and deserves it and proves that he should get it.

So they keep everything low this year. They keep the guarantees low this year. They keep the salary hit low this year on the cap. And they give themselves a chance to really pay Hopkins if he earns it next year. This is an incredible win for the Titans. It's a win for the Titans. It's a win for Hopkins as. It's a win for Hopkins

as well to get the opportunity to really get paid next year if he earns it. And it's a win for the city of Nashville who had a lot to do with this. So we're going to dive into Rand Carthon and Chad Brinker gave us some serious intel into the process of looking at Hopkins, signing Hopkins, his visit. I'm going to dive into all of those details and take you guys behind the scenes in just a moment. Before we do that, though, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by eBay Motors.

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the Titans are back out on the practice field on Friday, on Saturday. I'm going to be doing an emergency breakdown of both of those practices. I'll be back with you guys on Sunday night on YouTube to break down the entire weekend, set the stage for the week ahead of training camp as well. So much content coming your way. Do want to remind you that I appreciate you making

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team every day. We got to dive into some intel we got from the Titans front office about the DeAndre Hopkins process. The recruitment, why they did it, going into the visit, what helped them land Hopkins. We got a lot of fantastic

quotes from not only GM Ray Carthon yesterday, but also Assistant General Manager Chad Brinker as well. So I want to dive into some of that information that we got. Before we get into it, I want to remind you guys at the end of the show, I'm going to be diving into what Mike Vrabel had to say about some of the right tackles involved in the right tackle battle. We have Jamarco Jones, who we know is a holdover from last year, but We have Jamarco Jones, who we know is a holdover from last year, but undrafted free agent John Ajuku out of Boise State has a serious chance to start at right tackle.

So we're going to talk about all of that at the end of the show, but there are four components, four components to the DeAndre Hopkins process that I thought really stood out when we were looking at some of the quotes that that again, the Titans front office had to say. And the very first thing that mattered was gathering intel. When you're looking at a free agent, you're looking at a prospect in college, you have to gather information on that player so that you could feel comfortable with what you're getting. What I would relate it to is looking at reviews for a product that you're considering buying or looking at reviews for a restaurant

that you're considering going to. You have to gather intel about the player that you're looking at so you know whether or not you're comfortable even starting the pursuit of that player. And here's what Rancor Thawne had to say that stood out to me. It all comes down to the player and their

wiring. I think Hop is made of all the right stuff I know a couple guys that trained with him and that's part of it using your contacts each and every one of those guys was like dude still has it and now we hope to see that I believe that we will

so Carthon got in his book and said, hey, what are you guys seeing from Hopkins? How does he look? The people that he's training with. Hopkins said recently that he just started training at Exios. I believe it's the correct Exios. It's a facility that's all about speed training. And Hopkins is obviously trying to kick up his level of preparation as he gets older.

That's something that he talked about. And Carthon got in touch with those guys because they would know best. They're working with Hopkins directly. And like Grant Carthon said, all of them told Carthon that the dude still has it. Hopkins still has it. So I like hearing that. And regardless of what Carthon's thoughts are, his concerns deep down, I love that he showed belief. He showed confidence in Hopkins. And he said, I believe that we will. We will see it from DeAndre Hopkins.

So number one, Grant Carthon went word of mouth. The oldest form of communication ever went and got some intel on DeAndre Hopkins. But, it's not just about the intel. It's not just about the word of mouth. You gotta look at the research into the player beyond that as well. And especially on the analytics side. And

I just love some of these answers that we're getting from the Titans. From John Robinson saying, I am the analytics department, to what we got now. I mean, the Titans built a new analytics department once Rand Carthon was hired, led by Chad Brinker.

Sarah Bailey is a big part of that as well. And the Titans are flexing that muscle. And they're using it in different ways. Like in this circumstance, the Titans are usinging that muscle, and they're using it in different ways. Like in this circumstance, the Titans are using analytics, among other things, to determine whether they should have gone after DeAndre Hopkins at all. So here's what Chad Brinker said about using analytics to figure things out.

He said, quote, Hop is a proven player in this league. We all know that. Of course, we looked at the analytics. I had Sarah Bailey run analytics on Hopkins and what it will look like, what his win probability is on the field, how productive he is. We looked at the GPS and all the things that go into it.

I mean, Titans fans, just take a moment and soak that in. Now, look, I'm not going to get up here and tell you that analytics is the end-all be-all, that whatever the analytics say is what you got to do. But the fact that the Titans are taking in that piece of information, if you had to make a decision, and you could have one piece of information, or you could have three pieces of information, what would you want to do to make the decision?

You would want three pieces of information to make would you want to do to make the decision? You would want three pieces of information to make the most informed decision possible. Even if you didn't use one of them, you got three pieces of information. You didn't care for one of them. You only really cared about two of them. At least you saw it. At least you had that third piece. At least you could consider it and even have the opportunity to say, oh, I don't really care about what that has to say. consider it, and even have the opportunity to say, oh, I don't really care about what that has to say. To me, analytics isn't about,

oh, the analytics say this, so we got to do this. It's about just having more information to make an informed decision. And it was a segment of information that the Titans' previous iteration of the front office never got to take advantage of. So just by default, this new front office structure is going to be more informed, more intelligent, have more information at their fingertips

just because they are courting more information. They are willing to take in more information and spend on that and care about that and give those people a voice. I mean, this is just huge for the direction of the Titans organization as a whole. Brinker did throw this in, though. He said, I think it is important with my background with scouting

and also cap and analytics. Flex it, Brinker. Flex it. All of it goes into decision making. I think it is important that we understand it goes back to the tape. That's where it starts, and that's where it ends. I love that quote from Brinker. He's reminding you. Yes, we did all the analytic background research that we needed to,

but the tape, the tape is still the true north here. The tape is what tells us how to move going forward. So I love hearing that from Brinker. Collaboration. Now we're moving in from the background research on whether they should go after Hopkins, whether he would be a hit or a fit. Now we transition into the visit itself.

And cooperation, collaboration, those have been big buzzwords for the Titans. And Ray Carthon brought that into the visit and the recruitment of DeAndre Hopkins. Carthon said this, quote, It was a month-long date. I'm pretty sure you guys know we brought him in for a visit, which I felt went really well.

It was just a long date. While we're on it, it was from top to bottom. It wasn't just personnel. It wasn't just Mike Vrabel with the coaches. We had help throughout the building. Jahari Matthews, which is, she's the vice president, executive director of the Titans Foundation. Amy Adams-Strunk, of course, controlling owner.

Tina Tuggle, who's the vice president and the diversity officer. Everybody played a part in getting him here. That collaboration is real. And the Titans proved that with their recruitment of DeAndre Hopkins. And it's kind of tied into family. Family is the big part. Is this a Fast and the Furious movie? Family.

But look, this is what Carthon said about bringing Hopkins' family in and focusing on his family and the support he got from Nashville. Quote, It wasn't just making sure DeAndre knew this was the best place. We didn't only recruit him, we

recruited his family. He had his family here with him. We made sure they got to see what the city of Nashville had to offer because they're going to be more involved in the city as opposed to Hopkins. So we rolled it out and let them see. Thank you to those people I mentioned and

thank you to the city of Nashville for stepping up and showing out for us. The Titans did their preparation. They got intel from people around Hopkins. They did their own background research with the analytics and the tape. They obviously collaborated together as an entire organization

to make sure that Hopkins felt welcome and felt wanted. And then, of course, they showed him that family is what matters most and your family is going to love it in the city of Nashville. The Titans flexed all their muscles in the pursuit of DeAndre Hopkins. And I don't know how you can hear all that and not be incredibly fired up for the future of this organization. But we got to talk about the future of the right tackle position and who's going to start. We're going to dive into that in just a moment. All right, Titans fans, let's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast.

We talked about DeAndre Hopkins' contract details, got into those. We talked about DeAndre Hopkins' visit with the Titans and the pursuit of DeAndre Hopkins and all the background information there. But now I want to talk about the actual team and something out on the field with the right tackle position. With Nicholas Petit-Ferrer being suspended, there are two guys right now who are really stepping up

and have the ability to compete for that right tackle position, at least in-house options for the Titans. We're going to talk about those, what Mike Vrabel had to say. We're also going to hear from Jermarco Jones directly. So before we get into all that, I do want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day.

Another reminder, tomorrow, the Titans will have practice on Friday. The Titans will have practice on Saturday. I will have an emergency 10 to 12 minute recap of both of those practices up for you guys on YouTube later in the night, Friday night, Saturday night. So make sure that you come back and check those out even during your busy weekend.

I'll be back on Sunday night as well to get you guys ready for the week ahead. But get subscribed, stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast. It's your team every day. But we know that Nicholas Petit-Ferrer is suspended for the first six weeks. And we know now that Jamarco Jones is the guy who's stepping into the first team role with the Titans. And Jones wasn't healthy last year. Mike Vrabel said that he wanted to come back, but that wasn't going to be possible. I think it was a situation where the Titans weren't willing to burn one of their returns from IR. You get a limited amount of guys

you can return from IR each year. They weren't willing to burn one of theirs on Jamarco Jones, so he was probably not happy with the team, but he didn't have a lot of options in free agency or in the offseason. The Titans didn't cut him. They held on. So now he's back and he's competing for the right tackle position. It's funny.

They asked Jamarco Jones how last year was for him. He even said it effing sucked. And I thought it was hilarious that he said it. All right. I gave you the PG version. He said it to the reporters. So he's just being honest with you. He looked a bit dejected, if I'm honest.

So he's just a guy who's really trying to keep his head down right now, not make any waves. I mean, the only waves he made last year was getting in that fight with Taylor LeJuan before practice. So Jones is really trying to keep a low profile, keep it low key, not say too much. And his responses basically show that he said, quote, I'm just trying to go, go there, compete, help this team however I can. I'm just glad to be back on the field. Said, I mean, you know, everybody's got things to work on. I spent a lot of time working on different things this fall season and I'm feeling pretty good headed into the season.

He said, I think I can affect the game in many different ways. I'm just trying to enhance all my skills. Just, you know, regular coach speak nonsense answers. Look, I'm going to cut you guys straight. Jamarco Jones may be alright as a backup guard, but I'm very very scared if Jamarco Jones is starting a right tackle for the Titans.

Mike Vrabel just loves the kid. He loves him. Mike Vrabel recruited him, got to know him as a kid in high school when he was a basketball player. He even mentioned that. Vrabel said, well, he's just an athlete. I watched him play basketball when he was recruiting him in high school and got to know him and his mom.

And when he came to Ohio State, I went to Houston. And again, you make a lot of connections and relationships in life and coaching and recruiting. So that was another example of that. I would say in the free agent process, there was some versatility. He played all across the front for Seattle. And then like you alluded to, he had a setback, had an injury, tried to come back. It wasn't going to be possible. See, I mentioned that earlier. So now he's going to take advantage of the opportunity that he has. I mean, it just sounds like Vrabel really, really likes the kid. Vrabel wants the kid to succeed.

And I think Vrabel has too much faith in him, quite honestly. The Titans need to call George Fant. Because outside of Jamarco Jones, their other option is Jonajuku. And Jonajuku is an undrafted free agent rookie out of Boise State. He was playing as the second team right tackle with Jamarco Jones as the starter. And he played pretty well on Wednesday, according to my guy Greg Arias from Sports Illustrated, my coworker at AllTitans.com.

Greg said that he performed pretty well. Now, Ajuku coming out of Boise State, he's 6'9". He's 309 pounds. A lot of people expected him to get drafted. He had a draftable grade according to multiple scouting services, but he did go undrafted. And Mike Vrabel, Mike Vrabel really hyped up Ajuku, and he calls him OJ.

So I'm going to start calling him OJ from now on as well. But Vrabel tried to stop himself here. He almost said and you can tell what he wants to say but he kind of corrected himself just to be careful. He said quote, talking about John Ajuku he was probably in the five years now going on six

of going through that post-draft process and being excited. What Vrabel is trying to say is, John Ajukwu has Vrabel as excited or more excited than any other undrafted free agent that he's brought in in five to six years. That's what Vrabel is trying to say. To continue the quote, he knew how we played. He knew what our demeanor wanted to be.

He's come in, he's learned, he knew how we played. He knew what our demeanor wanted to be. He's come in. He's learned. He's a smart player. He's got good legs. And so he shows up. And by being out there every day, we tell him they can do three things. They can improve. They can take advantage of an opportunity if it's there.

And they can be evaluated. So that's where he's at. And he's getting started. John Ajuku is a guy to watch for the Titans. Mike Vrabel loves the kid. It's obvious that Ajuku is doing all the things that Mike Vrabel expects, and I don't have a lot of faith in Jamarco Jones, and if he doesn't hold down the position well enough,

John Ajuku, undrafted free agent out of Boise State, could be your starting right tackle on opening day. Exciting, but also very scary. But with that being said, though, that's it for today's show. That's it for this week. I'll be back with you guys the next two days for practice breakdowns. But as always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland.

And I'm tired. This is Locked on Titan.