Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Peter Skoronski Was Worth First Pick, Brewer v Levin at Center & Dark Horse IOL Option

Episode Date: June 30, 2023

The Tennessee Titans took OL Peter Skoronski in the first round of the NFL draft and some folks thought it was too high to draft a player who might be a guard, but Tyler explains why the draft class makes that idea illogical. Next, the Titans will have Aaron Brewer move to center this season and be set as the starter, but if Brewer continues to struggle we could see Corey Levin take the center spot early in the season. Finally, Xavier Newman-Johnson could make the Titans roster this year even if he is not expected to.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!FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

even if he plays at guard, Peter Skowronski was 100% worth the first round pick. I'll explain 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're continuing our positional preview series leading up to Tennessee Titans training camp. We're talking about the interior offensive line and nobody better to start with than first-round pick Peter Skowronski. Before we get into it, though, do want to thank you guys again for making the Locked On Titans podcast your first listen every day. Remember, 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 where it's your team every day. Shout out to my everydayers out there. I know you guys haven't missed an episode of our preview series. We've talked quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end. We talked offensive tackles yesterday. Now it's time to dive into the last spot on the offense and that is the interior offensive line. We're going to start, like I said, with Peter Skowronski, the Titans' first round pick.

And there was some pushback to the Peter Skowronski pick that maybe it was a mistake by the Tennessee Titans because Skowronski is set to play a guard. Maybe that, you know, you don't want to take a guard that high. Last time the Titans took a guard that high, James Wormack, it didn't work out. I understand. I understand the concerns. But every single

draft, you have to look at that individual draft. You can't just say, well, you can't take a guard that high. Well, the situation that the Titans were in, if you listen to what Rand Carthon said before the draft saying that they wanted to get a blue player,

a blue chip player, well, Peter Skowronski was absolutely the right pick if that's what you were looking to get. I mean, outside of Skowronski, some people who went lower, what, Jameer Gibbs, the running back? That wouldn't make any sense. Lucas Van Ness, the edge,

went to Green Bay from Iowa. I think that would have been a solid pickup. The Titans got there, but I think Skowronski was a much better player. So I had Skowronski graded higher than Lucas Van Ness. Maybe you believed in Broderick Jones, the offensive tackle from Georgia, but he's a little undersized for an offensive tackle. May have to play guard eventually anyway. He's a younger player, more of a project and offensive tackle out of Georgia. Is that what people wanted? Will McDonald, the edge rusher, got drafted super high

for where I thought he was going. And after that, you're talking two cornerbacks and Emmanuel Fords, Christian Gonzalez, Jack Campbell, Kalijah Cansey, the undersized interior defensive lineman. Jackson Smith and Jigba went at 20, and that was the only player that I would have even been okay with the Titans taking instead of Skowronski. It's the only player I would have been able to sleep at night if the Titans took them instead of Peter Skowronski at 11.

So, look, I get what people are saying when they say you don't want to take a guard. To me, it's like linebacker, like running back. Maybe even you could put safety in that category at this point, but the positional value isn't there. But based on who was available and the way that the draft fell, the Titans are lucky that they ended up with Peter Skowronski. The odds are that Skowronski is going to be a pro-bull level left guard.

And if he needed to, he could probably be a serviceable starting offensive tackle as well with where the Titans are at. We just talked about offensive tackle on yesterday's show. The Titans are on thin ice and it would be even more of a potential disaster if they didn't have Skowronski who could actually be that swing tackle for them. And if NPF struggles, Dillard struggles, or either get hurt, Skowronski is available to be there and kick out to tackle. And you could feel reasonably okay that he could do a good job. I mean, the Titans are so lucky to have a versatile, consistent,

reliable offensive lineman like Peter Skowronski. I mean, it's absolutely worth the pick at 11 based on this draft class, based on the way the board fell. It made a ton of sense. I mean, we're talking about a guy. Now here's a guy. Sound like Chris Collinsworth on Sunday Night Football. But 882 snaps as a senior.

Fourth overall highest graded offensive tackle in college football. 89.5. The number one rated pass blocking offensive tackle in all of D1 college football period. Period. And we're talking about Peter Skowronski who played at Northwestern

in the Big Ten. Who went against Lucas Van Ness, who went against Ohio State and Michigan, and these defensive lines that see people get drafted every single year. I mean, Lucas Van Ness went right behind Peter Skowronski two picks later. So, I mean, you could not find one sack, six pressures. The year before that, 2021, two sacks, 20 pressures. I mean, a little worse, but my God,

we're talking about such a consistent player. And if his arms were a half an inch longer, this is a guy who might have gone top five. So, I don't care if he's a guard. I don't care if it's the 11th pick. Peter Skowronski, absolutely worth the draft pick. Absolutely worth it. And I think he's a player who's not only going to help the Titans this year,

but he's going to help the Titans for a decade on the offensive line. This is just a guy who I believe in, who I trust, and I'm excited for what he's going to do because, again, the Titans' offensive tackle spots are shaky. Aaron Brewer, we think he'll be better at center, shaky. Brunskill has been just a guy for most of his career, just a solid, consistent, average player. Skowronski is the guy on the offensive line

with the ability to be a high-end player. And if you have one guy who is just playing at an incredibly high level and you surround him with some consistent pieces, some average pieces around him, now the Titans' offensive line is significantly improved. And if the Titans add even more talent on the offensive line, now you have a high level piece. You add one more high level piece on your offensive line and you have the ability to create one of the best offensive lines in the NFL. So Skowronski is a building block for building one of the better offensive lines in the NFL. It may

take another season or two to get there, but we know that we can start with Skowronski as that foundation there. And with all of the issues the Titans have had with first-round picks recently, I don't see how you couldn't be excited and think. Think. Titans could have ended up with pick, what, 22? Nowhere even close to Peter Skronsky. So thank the Lord that they ended up with pick number 11, like I was hoping for.

That's all I have to say about that. We'll move right along. But we do got to talk about Aaron Brewer against Corey Levin for that center spot because it's going to be interesting to watch as the season unfolds if Aaron Brewer doesn't really transition to center as well as maybe some people are thinking. But we're going to dive into that in just a moment. Before we do, I want to let you guys know that today's episode

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slash LockedOn. FanDuel, official partner of Major League Baseball. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We are breaking down the interior offensive line as part of our positional preview series leading into training camp. We've talked quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end, offensive tackle,

finishing up the offense with interior offensive line. If you missed any of those episodes, go back and check those out. Plus, going forward tomorrow, I'm going to be talking about defensive free agents that could make sense for the Titans. But next week, we are going to continue our positional preview series,

dive into the defensive line, dive into the linebackers, the secondary, all that. You're not going to want to miss it. So make sure that you stay locked in to the Locked on Titans podcast, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content for free, all year long on all apps.

It's your team every day. Moving forward, though, Aaron Brewer versus Corey Levin. Right now, it's really just about Aaron Brewer, okay? Aaron Brewer is set to be the starter at center, and he played left guard last year. It was ugly. I mean, there's no way around it. He's too small to play left guard.

He got bullied. He got moved around. He needs to play center. He's the smallest starting offensive lineman in the NFL. He needs to play at center. Having that advantage, not only of, you know, being in the middle of everything where you can get more help on both sides. But, but when you're snapping the ball, that gives you a timing advantage, which accentuates Brewer's size and quick, well, I should say not size, but quickness advantage on defensive linemen. Playing at center is going to allow him to plus that even more. So it makes a lot more sense for his size, for his quickness, for Aaron Brewer to be at center. And that is where he's going to be now. So I can tell you all the stats of him playing left guard, but that's not what we're getting

from Aaron Brewer this year. We don't know necessarily what we're going to get from Aaron Brewer with a full season at center, but I went back and I looked at the last three games that Aaron Brewer played at center for the Titans. games that Aaron Brewer played at center for the Titans. 2021, he played 13 snaps during the Jets game at center. Zero sacks, zero pressures. Not bad, right? Not bad. Last year in 2022, he played the entire game at center for the Green Bay game. Best game of the year. And for the Cincinnati game.

123 snaps. Two straight full games at center. Zero sacks. One pressure. Now, pass blocking isn't everything. It needs to be able to run block. But again, you It needs to be able to run block.

But again, you're going to be able to run block better if you have an adequate passing game. And that's actually a threat. So the Titans have to get better at throwing the football. They have to throw the football more. That's going to allow them to be better in run blocking and in the run game as well. But right there, small sample, 136 snaps. But Aaron Brewer's performance at center, pretty solid.

Pretty solid. So, and you got to think about this. Like I said, now he's in the middle. He's going to have Daniel Brunskill, a grown man, 6'5", over 300. Peter Skowronski, 6'4", over 300. He's going to have a grown man on both sides of him playing center. Whereas last year he had Dennis Daly on one side

and then honestly, Ben Jones trying to gut it out with all the injuries on the other side. So, I just think being in the center, at center, the pivot,

and having those two huge dudes around you who are going to be true professionals from day one, I just think it's a totally different environment for Aaron Brewer, but there is the chance that he's still too small. It's a big man's game. He can be tougher than a $2 steak.

He can be athletic. All that can be great. But he wasn't good enough to play left guard. And maybe he's just not good enough to be a starter in the NFL. In comes Corey Levin. Levin's played in 45 games in his career, all with the Titans.

Spent some time elsewhere but didn't actually get on you know the active game day rosters there he played in all 17 games last year and ended up starting three games he started at center the last three games of the year

Levin's 6'4 307 pounds he's just significantly bigger than Aaron Brewer Aaron Brewer's like 6'1 290 pounds came in at like 270 he says'1", 290 pounds. Came in at like 270.

He says he plays at 290. I hope that that's true. But Levin is just a much bigger human being than Aaron Brewer is. In week 16, 17, and 18, when he started at center last year, Corey Levin only gave up one sack and two pressures. In the game against Dallas, he was flat out awesome. Great grades across the board. He did have 17 snaps against Buffalo as well in week two. Zero sacks, zero pressures.

77.2 pass blocking grade. Corey Levin had some really nice moments last year as a backup. That's why I'm comfortable with the number one interior offensive lineman backup. I feel differently about interior O-line than I do offensive tackle, although I'm a little bit worried about the depth at both. At least I know that there's Corey Levin. The Titans have six offensive linemen with the best backup interior offensive linemen that they've had in a while.

I like Corey Levin, and I think there's even a chance that if Brewer doesn't get the job done early, that they go to Levin. Again, Brewer may just be too small. Corey Levin has that experience. He's been with the Titans organization for a long time, spent a lot of years with the Titans throughout his career. It could just make sense. So I feel comfortable with the center position,

whether it be Brewer, whether he gets beat out by Levin. Either way, I feel comfortable with either of those two at this stage. Would I like to have a Pro Bowl-level center like Creed Humphrey or something? Of course. And that could come in the future. But for right now, going into the 2023 season, I feel comfortable that the Titans did the best they could with getting Aaron Brewer or Corey Levin as battling out.

I think that's a smart way to handle things. Use that first-round pick on Skowronski. Use some money at other positions. Feel comfortable with Brewer and Levin battling it out for center. I think Brewer does win going into the season, but again, we'll see how he does at the new position. And knowing that you have Corey Levin in your back pocket, I think that's really important for the Titans offensive line going forward. But we got to talk about the rest of the players on the Titans roster at interior offensive line. I think there

are some solid options here and I got a dark horse candidate for you that I don't think people are talking about enough. So we're going to get into that in just a moment. Titans fans, we are going to cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast, breaking down the interior offensive line group for the Tennessee Titans. We talked about Peter Skowronski and why I think it's obvious that he was worth the first round pick.

Talked about the center battle between Aaron Brewer and Corey Levin and who could step up there. Now I want to talk about the rest of the interior offensive line group on the roster and a dark horse who I think could make this team and make an impact. Before we get into it, I do want to thank you guys again for

making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Remember, tomorrow, defensive free agents. We're going to talk about some guys who are still on the market who could make sense for the Titans before next week we get into our defensive positional breakdown. We're going to talk about some guys who are still on the market who could make sense for the Titans before next week. We get into our defensive positional breakdown. We're going to talk interior D-line, edge, linebackers, safety, cornerbacks, talk a little special teams maybe as well. So make sure that you stay locked into the

Locked on Titans podcast for your Monday through Friday daily Tennessee Titans content for free on all platforms. Talking about the rest of the group. So you have Jamarco Jones, who was out all last year with injury. And, I mean, the most that he did last year was basically fight Taylor LeJuan before practice. Taylor LeJuan even talked about it on Twitter. Said he gave him a five-piece combo before practice one time. I guess they're all good, but going to need you to hit some other people this year. Jamarco Jones.

Dylan Radins, like I said on yesterday's show, everydayers will remember, and everydayers will know how I've talked about Dylan Radins all offseason. He tore his ACL in week 15. Mike Vrabel effing hates the kid. So, I mean, I'm just not counting on Dylan Radins for anything. I'm just really not factoring him in.

He's going to start the season on PUP, most likely. Miss the first four to six games. I just don't think the Titans can bank on him for much right now. Outside of that, you have Jordan Roos, who played some in spot duty last year for the Titans, and it was not good. So I think Roos is a practice squad player, but a guy who the Titans feel comfortable with,

and he's going to give them a good look in practice, and he's going to work hard, and all those things that Mike Vrabel loves. So I like Roos, but I like Roos as a practice squad guy. The Titans have waved him and brought him back before, so he's clearly not, you know, a hot name on the market around the NFL. So I think they could get Roos back to the practice squad.

Let's see here. James Eppie. I think I wrote down the name wrong. I'm not even certain that that's a real name. No, just kidding. They brought him in as part of their undrafted free agent group. But, you know, whatever. Moving right along. The name that I want to mention here as a dark horse to make the roster

is Xavier Newman Johnson. Okay, so only played four snaps last year. He played him against Dallas. 67.4 run blocking grade. All four snaps he was blocking in the run, so no pass blocking snaps. But you go back to Xavier Newman in college when he played at Baylor. Zero sacks

allowed in 2021. Only five pressures. In an entire college season, zero sacks and only five pressures. He's 6'2", 300 pounds, so good size. He played 6'2", 300 pounds, so good size. He played a little bit of center during practices,

played a little bit of guard as well. He's a better pass blocker than he is a run blocker, and that may make you think that the Titans would lean away from him, but again, throughout this offseason, Mike Frabel has talked about the importance of pass blocking, keeping the quarterback upright. It's obvious that as an organization, and Mike Frabel in particular, has realized we need better pass blockers.

We can't just have these road-grade run-blocking guys. We need guys who can protect in the pass. Just not good enough pass protection for the quarterback, you're going to get Tannehill hurt. And Mike Frabel knows that that's how you get losses. So Xavier Newman Johnson is a much better pass, or I wouldn't say much better, but he's a better pass blocker right now

than he is a run blocker. If he can improve in the run blocking, use his athleticism, use the Titan system to put himself in good positions, I think he's a guy who could play some ball this year. I think he makes the roster. Like,

I would take Xavier Newman Johnson over anybody else that the Titans have on the interior. Jamarco Jones maybe withstanding. You get Jamarco Jones, Corey Levin, Xavier Newman.

You use Peter Skowronski and Jamarco Jones as your backup offensive tackles if you need them because see the thing is is if Dillard or NPF get hurt

what most likely needs to happen there is because the Titans don't have any good offensive tackles outside of those three guys Skowronski needs to go

to the other tackle spot and then because your interior offensive linemen in your depth are better than your depth at offensive tackle, I would rather kick Skowronski out to tackle and move Jamarco Jones or Xavier Newman

or Corey Levin into the starting lineup at guard or on the interior rather than trying to get one of the backup offensive tackles we talked about yesterday to come in for NPF or Dillard and leave Skowronski at left guard. So I just feel more comfortable with the interior offensive line group because Skowronski and Jamarco Jones have the ability to kick out and play some offensive tackle.

Dylan Radins comes back in the middle of the season. Maybe that makes even more sense for you, but because you have some guys who, with versatility, can play offensive tackle, I would keep people who are interior offensive linemen, unless the Titans add some depth at offensive tackle, which I still would like them to do. But I like the interior offensive line group as it stands. Maybe they add another veteran in there,

but I would really rather see that addition come at offensive tackle than interior O-line. I feel DeMarco Jones, Xavier Newman, Corey Levin feel pretty good with the depth right there on the interior offensive line. But with that being said, do want to remind you guys that I'm going to be back with you tomorrow going over some defensive

free agents who are still available before training camp. But that is going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titan.