Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Practice Recap: Burks Practice Progression, Radunz IS A TACKLE & Coordinators Speak

Episode Date: June 2, 2022

The Tennessee Titans continued with their organized team activities on Wednesday and you'll get a full breakdown of what took place on today's show!! First, Treylon Burks has been at the center of a lot of conversation during OTAs. How did he do on Wednesday? Next, Dillon Radunz IS A TACKLE, per Mike Vrabel, but things are still not completely clear! Finally, both Titans coordinators spoke on Wednesday, what stood out during their comments? Tyler dives into it!!Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitansSupport 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 “LOCKED15,” 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!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.Blue NileMake your moment sparkle with jewelry from Bluenile.com, and LOCKED ON SPORTS listeners get $50 off purchases of $500 or more using code LOCKEDON. 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, it is another edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. And on today's show, we are breaking down everything that took place at Tennessee Titans practice on Wednesday. First, the biggest story surrounding the Titans right now is the performance and practice of wide receiver Traylon Burks. I'll tell you how the rookie did on Wednesday. Then, Dylan Radins is a tackle, according to head coach Mike Rabel. Kinda.

I'll go into details as to what coach Rabel had to say about Radins. And finally, we'll hear from Tennessee Titans defensive and offensive coordinators and see what they had to say on Wednesday. Recapping all of Tennessee Titans practice 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, we are recapping the Tennessee Titans practice from Wednesday on today's show. So excited to dive into all of it.

Before we do, do got to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. If this is your first ever listen to the Locked on Titans podcast, make sure you subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. I am going to be putting out Monday through Friday, daily Tennessee Titans content all year round, free and available on all platforms, including the Locked on Titans YouTube channel.

Make sure you subscribe over there. Smash that notification bell. So you know when all the content goes live and throw a thumbs up on the video. If you're watching right now, you can follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans as well for all of my additional analysis. And check out the show Facebook page at LockedOnTitansPod. Going to dive into today's practice and we're going to start with Traylon Burks. It's been an up and down start to Traylon Burks' career with the Titans. And it's starting to kind of catch the national media's attention.

And over the weekend, we got a report from Albert Breer basically talking about some of the issues that Traylon Burks had during the pre-draft process. He outlined how some of the testing numbers weren't up to snuff. Some of the individual workouts that Traylon Burks did with certain teams rubbed teams the wrong way, and it seemed to be a common theme. Worried about his weight, worried about his conditioning. He weighed in in the pre-draft process at about 225 pounds,

but there were some whispers that at Arkansas he ballooned up to around 240. Right now, some people are estimating during the pre-draft process after the combine that he got back into the 230 range, and there were some issues there. The Titans took him, and Mike Vrabel had something to say about that report from Albert Greer during his press conference today. I want to start out with Mike Vrabel here, talking about the quote-unquote weight issues with Traylon Burks before the draft.

Vrabel said this, quote, We're excited to have Traylon. We feel good about each and every guy we drafted. That's why we drafted him. Let Albert know. So Vrabel keeping it pretty coy with his first couple of sentences, but let Albert know. I really like Mike Vrabel coming to Traylon Burks' defense there,

and we'll talk a little bit more about that. Now, of course, we got to talk about how Traylon Burks did during practice, and it may not have been an incredibly ideal practice for Burks, but definitely an improvement from what we saw in the first couple of rookie minicamp OTA practices here. There were multiple individual drills and Traylon Burks only participated in about 60% of the individual drills. Now he did perform in some team drills as well later on in practice. He got work done today.

Mike Vrabel said that it was good work that he was able to get done today. Traylen Burke's coming along. Again, all the nonsense is a bit overblown. He was involved in individual drills. He's been involved in meetings. Although he was a tad bit limited overall and didn't do everything out there, he was still incredibly involved and he seemed to do more, according to some of the reports in today's practice, than he has done throughout OTAs.

So, again, it's a downtime media-wise in the NFL with just OTAs and OTAs getting ready to wrap up. People are fishing for different stories and different things to kind of harp on like Albert Breer was. And while there may have been some concerns with Traylon Burks in the pre-draft process, I think using what's going on right now as any kind of, you know, judgment on the kid would be completely overblown in my opinion, I guess. And there were some more quotes here about what is going on with Traylon Burks because that's on everybody's mind. So he's using the inhaler. Some people are asking questions about allergies.

People are asking questions about whether he has asthma, all those different things. And Mike Rabel did actually talk a little bit about some of those issues when he was asked about it. Asked directly about the inhaler. He said some guys need it. Some guys don't. He mentioned both of his sons and said one of his sons needed an inhaler.

One of his sons didn't, but he wouldn't quite say directly that he has asthma. But I feel like based on the way that he answered that question, some guys need inhalers. He said Carter did. His brother didn't. So I feel like that right there is kind of a fair indication that he may have asthma. You don't want to say anything directly.

Traylon Burks wouldn't confirm. He was asked directly if he had asthma with the inhaler, and he said you're going to have to talk to Mike Vrabel about that. Mike Vrabel also said that we're excited about Traylon Burks. Quote, he's gotten better each day he's been here. So again, Mike Vrabel is praising Burks. He's not going to throw him under the bus. He said he got good work in today.

Excited to have him. We're excited about all the guys we picked. To me, it's just pretty obvious what's happening is Mike Vrabel sees a guy who just came off the pre-draft process. He had to go to a bunch of flying around the country to a bunch of different individual workouts. He got drafted. There were some celebrations in that as well. Coming in as a rookie, Mike Vrabel is defending the guy.

Mike Vrabel sees it, sees the young man, and he says, I'm not going to let the media turn this into some monster story where they crushed this young dude for no reason. Similarly to like what we saw with Jamar Chase last year, a different issue entirely. It was about, you know, dropping the football during camp and whether he can catch an NFL football and all that. But, you know, media needs stories during these slow periods. Traylon Burks, unfortunately, because of, but, you know, media needs stories during these slow periods. Traylon Burks, unfortunately, because of some of, you know, his limited participation early on

in voluntary organized team activities has caught, you know, the attention of the national media, but I really like what Mike Vrabel did today, kind of shot that down, and from, according to all reports, Traylon Burks had his best day of OTAs with the Titans. So, again, it's probably going to be a bigger story than any of us want it to be. But overall, Traylon Burks shot it down. Mike Vrabel shot it down. And if Traylon Burks was really a problem and the team was really disappointed with what he was doing,

I don't think that Mike Vrabel would come out in the way that he did to try to defend him. So with that being said, we got to talk about the rest of practice. Mike Vrabel called Dylan Radins an offensive tackle. We are going to go over that quote, exactly what was said and talk about what this means. But also we got to go into everything else that happened in practice. It was dominated by the Titans secondary. We'll talk about that also.

Who was at practice today that wasn't last week and who was still not at Titans secondary. We'll talk about that also. Who was at practice today that wasn't last week and who was still not at Titans practice. We'll dive into all of that. Before we do, do want to tell you guys about the best tasting protein bars in the galaxy from our friends over at Built Bar. With Built Bar, you get the best of both worlds. You get all of the health benefits that you want from a protein bar.

You're going to get low calorie, low sugar, high protein, high fiber. It is a protein bar. After all, it needs to be healthy for you. But guys, I hate to bury the lead here. The flavor, the taste, the texture covered in 100% real chocolate every single bar. I like the salted caramel, the peanut butter brownie. Oh my God, guys. The brownie batter puffs that they just came out with,

the birthday cake puffs, the white chocolate cheesecake. I mean, I could go on and on and on. Make sure you guys go to built.com right now. Use promo code LOCKED15 to get 15% off your next order. Once again, that's promo code LOCKED15 for 15% off at Bilt.com. Titans fans, we're going to continue today's Tennessee Titans practice recap. Before we do, I got to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Make sure that you subscribe to the show on whatever platform you do stream.

Again, I'm going to be putting out daily Monday through Friday Tennessee Titans content pretty much all year long here on the Locked on Titans podcast. It's always going to be free, available on all the platforms. I do want to say this, though. As we get into some of these slower weeks, the next six weeks after next week are basically the only dead period in the NFL. There may be a few weeks where I put out three shows. I got to tell you guys, working from 7 in the morning until 8 o'clock at night,

the girlfriend, she wants a couple of weeks. She wants to go to dinner. She wants to do a few things. She's going to be mad that I'm blaming her, but it's the truth. And, you know, over these next, you know, four to six weeks, maybe three shows a week, but either way, you guys know I'm going to be here if anything major happens and pumping out the content. And most of the time, I just can't help myself,

and I want to talk Titans with all you guys, and I put out the five shows anyway. But I just wanted to let you guys know about the content schedule and everything as we get into really the slowest six weeks of the entire NFL calendar throughout all 12 months. And at the end of the day, I'm thankful that the NFL is a 12-month sport. But before we get into what happened, the rest of Titans practice is going to talk Dylan Radins,

talk about who was there, who wasn't there, and the dominant secondary performance from the Titans. We do have an important favor to ask of you here at the Locked On Network. We put together a survey so we can learn more about listeners like you and make your favorite Locked On podcast even better, including this one. This is your opportunity to tell us what you like and don't like about Locked On podcast. So go to lockedonpodcast.com slash survey right now to get started.

It won't take very long. Everyone that completes the survey actually can qualify for a chance to win one of 10 $100 Ticketmaster gift cards. To take our audience survey, go to lockedonpodcast.com slash survey. Thanks for your help. But let's dive in here to what happened in practice, and we are going to start with the comments about Dylan Radins. Dylan Radins is a tackle. Although I've contemplated the possibility of him playing left guard,

all along I have said the man should be playing tackle. Period. And Mike Vrabel has been coy about it earlier in the offseason. Todd Downing, earlier in the day on Wednesday, was coy about it as well. So everybody is not saying a ton about what Dylan Radins is going to play, what he's going to do. Todd Downing said his approach has matured or is a little bit more mature. He knows what to expect from the coaching staff.

Downing said he wouldn't pigeonhole Radins into any particular position, guard, or tackle. So no one has been willing to talk about what Dylan Radins is actually going to play this year. And someone said something to me on Twitter earlier today, and I forget who said it, so sorry that I can't shout you out right now directly, but they said,

do you think that no one wants to say what position Dylan Radins will play at because maybe the answer is nowhere? Maybe he's not good. Maybe he's disappointed, and maybe they don't want him to play anywhere, so they don't want to say he's a tackle or a guard or whatever, because he might not play anywhere.

That's a possibility, but Mike Vrabel came out and said this. And boy, was it nice to hear. Quote, Dylan Radins has been primarily working at right tackle so far, but he could kick inside if needed. Vrabel also said Radins' conditioning level is good, which is important, and it's allowed him to get a better shot at a bigger role on the offensive line. Love hearing that.

Love getting some clarity from Mike Vrabel. I think that they were doing the kid a disservice by not saying that he's been working primarily at right tackle. Yeah, he could probably play some guard if you needed. The Titans are all about versatility. They'd rather have a guy who could play five spots okay than have a guy who could play one spot really good. That's just what we know now. So for Vrabel to actually come out and say, hey, yeah, he's working at right tackle. We get him a little bit of work at guard. He can kick in if we really need,

but he's working at tackle. It's just nice to have some clarity. And I think ultimately, that's what's best for Dylan Radins as well. It put a lot of unneeded pressure on him to have everyone talking about where he's playing or what position he plays. So, yeah. I think it's good that Mike Vrabel finally came out and said something about that. So I like that and hopefully Dylan Radins is doing well.

But next, we got to talk more about like some actual practice information here. Who was not at practice for the Titans? Number one, Derrick Henry.

Doesn't need to be. Take your time, King. No big deal. Number two, Jeffrey Simmons. Doesn't need to be. Did you see that workout video of Simmons from last week? Came out on Friday. I retweeted it if you need to go see it.

Came from his representation. God, he's a beast. So I'm not worried about the two of the three best players on the team. Zach Cunningham. Knows the system. Veteran player. Not that worried. Zach Cunningham knows the system veteran player not that worried although

because he only spent a little bit of time with the Titans last year would be nice to see him there but not not high on my concern level Howard Landry

not concerned Nate Davis just for continuity's sake on the offensive line it seems like the Titans halfway through the year are saying oh we haven't had a lot of time

to gel we haven't had a lot of time to get continuity on the offensive line. Well, maybe it's because they're always moving people around. Nate Davis isn't there. But again, concern level, very low. Very low.

LeJuan, LeJuan was there last week, and then he's not there now. So I'm not too worried about that either. Danica Autry, again, not concerned. Guy's been in the league for nearly a decade. Who cares? Again, not concerned. Guy's been in the league for nearly a decade. Who cares?

Two people, though, that I want to point out that I have some concern about. Bud Dupree and Monty Rice. Monty Rice was a rookie last year. He was banged up a little bit throughout the year as well. I want to see Monty Rice getting reps right now. This is when Monty Rice needs to be with the team. I'm sure there's a good reason why he's not there, which is what Mike Rabel said last week.

But still, I guess the other guys don't worry me in any way that they're not there. This is valuable time for Monty Rice, and he may have a very good reason as to why he's not there. Not saying that he doesn't, but I'm still saying either way, it's a detriment to his career that he's not there right now. I think it matters for a young guy. And then Bud Dupree, just with how banged up he was last year,

I would like to see him get in that continuity with the defensive line. But then again, Jeffrey Simmons isn't there. Danico isn't there. Harold Landry isn't there. Hard to get too worked up about that. I do want to say this, that the secondary dominated practice on Wednesday, according to all reports. The secondary dominated.

Five pass breakups were reported. Two turnovers by the secondary, a forced fumble and an interception. Imani Hooker had some great plays against Austin Hooper, and I misinterpreted a tweet from Ben Arthur. So shout out Ben, who's been doing great work during training camp, covering it live. He tweeted out that Imani Hooker was a tight end stopper on the day because he had multiple pass breakups against Hooper.

I took that as Imani Hooker was playing that Dane Crookshank role as the tight end stopper. Ben clarified later to me on Twitter and was like, no, I didn't mean that he was playing that role in dime. I just meant that he had some good plays against tight ends during the day. So shout out Ben. Wanted to clear that up because I kind of took his comments the wrong way.

I took it too deep. It's not that deep, Tyler. You know what I mean? It's not that deep. Anyways. People who were there, who weren't there last week. Kevin Byard and Jeff Swain. deep, Tyler. You know what I mean? It's not that deep. Anyways. People who were there, who weren't there last week. Kevin Byard and Jeff Swain.

KB just said he just wanted to be out there with the guys. He loves football. Kevin Byard also talked about his improved diet. He's intermittent fasting now. Eating less red meat, more veggies, more fruits in the morning. He's lost about five to seven pounds. Feels leaner and quicker.

So that's good for KB. Probably my favorite Tennessee Titan of all time. It's getting close. Love me some Kevin Byard. Jeff Swaim getting back. Just like to see that. Role players get that continuity. Love to see that there.

Other than that, Josh Malone had a deep catch from Ryan Tannehill. The offense struggled. As I could tell, the secondary dominated. The offense struggled, so it was a good rebound play and team for Ryan Tannehill to hit Josh Malone. Also, Kyle Phillips got banged up on contact with Shaheem Carter, but came right back into practice, made a catch, so good stuff there.

But that's kind of all the stuff that really happened in practice that was noteworthy. We're going to talk about the Titans offensive coordinator, Todd Downing, and the Titans defensive coordinator, Shane Bowen, who both made comments on Wednesday. First, we've heard from them in a while, so go into some of the interesting things they had to say. Todd Downing talked about how the offense started so slowly, non-stop last year, so it was good to see him take some accountability there. He talked about Tim Kelly's assistance, talked about Malik Willis, Shane Bowen, the DC, talked about Caleb Farley, David Long, Roger McCreary.

We're going to get into all of that, but before we do, I want to tell you guys about BetOnline.net. BetOnline is your number one source for all your sports wagering information. They have the latest odds, props, and lines. They have a new and improved website at betonline.net. You can go there with your mobile device or your personal computer. Check out all the trends and all the action that they have available at betonline.net. BetOnline, where the game starts. Titans fans, we are recapping Wednesday, Wednesdays. I sound like my dad, old school Midwest accent, Wednesday.

We are recapping Wednesday's practice for the Tennessee Titans OTAs, organized team activities, voluntary. Do have to mention that. We just talked about Traylon Burks and some of the, I guess, media storm around him during this slow period. We also talked about Dylan Radin, some of the people who weren't there, some of the people who were there at practice on Wednesday, the secondaries performance, all that.

But the Titans offensive coordinator, Todd Downing, and Titans defensive coordinator, Shane Bowen, did make comments on Wednesday for the first time in a little while. And I want to dive into some of the more interesting things that they had to say. Before we do, I do got to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. If this is your first ever listen, make sure you subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. It is your team every day. But

as for your second listen, check out the Locked On NFL podcast. It's all the national news in the NFL in under 30 minutes. It's great to pair with getting all your Titans news from me here at Locked On Titans. I actually host the Thursday show of the Locked on NFL podcast. It's on YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcast, every platform.

And again, always free. So check out the Locked on NFL podcast. And I would appreciate your support there. But diving into some of the comments, we're going to start with Todd Downing. So diving into some of the comments, we're going to start with Todd Downing. And Todd Downing had some interesting comments about the slow starts that the Titans got off to last year. I have been trying to find the tweet where I actually put out the numbers on this, but the Titans obviously had 18 games last year, including the playoff game.

I think, if I'm recalling, they scored a touchdown in three of those games. They only scored points in eight of those games. So five field goals, three touchdowns. Don't quote me on those numbers exactly, but I know that it was less than half that the Titans even got points on their opening drive. And offensive coordinators script their early game play calling. Like they go into it with the plays in front of them that they want to call early.

So what that tells me, and no, I don't know every play and why Todd Downing is calling it and this and that, but I do know that only scoring points on eight of your 18 drives, regardless of what excuses or reasons you want to give, regardless of that, that's not good. And the Titans were in the low half of the NFL in terms of scoring on their opening drive. Todd Downing said, quote,

we didn't do a good enough job early in games last year. I'm not hiding from that. You better not. Because that's an indictment of your game scripting. I'm not saying that Todd Downing is an awful offensive coordinator, even though I could. But what I will say for sure is he is terrible at opening game scripts. And to me, that's a preparation thing.

That's not understanding what you're seeing on tape. Now, Todd Downing is an offensive coordinator in the NFL. I'm not going to get too crazy about criticizing him. He knows more about football than I will ever know. And I think that's fair. But at the same time, it's obvious from what we've seen that that isn't good enough. So Todd Downing also said that he definitely learned, this is a quote, he definitely learned last year that you don't want to bank too much on one formation

because you never know who will be available week to week. So Todd Downing's telling you right there, hey, there's one formation that I just really liked. And to me, it's 11 with three wide receivers. Way too much three wide receivers. And another thing, the Titans were super injured at wide receiver almost every single week. So if you go into a game with the game plan

that you're going to run a ton of three wide receiver and then Julio's out, AJ's out, this and that, well, it's going to be hard to run three wide receiver sets all game with success when you're playing Destin Patrick and Ray C. McMath and Chester Rogers and Marcus Johnson, a ton of snaps and Nick Westbrook, Akina and Cody Hollister. Like if Cody Hollister and Nick Westbrook, Akina are two of your top wide receivers and you're running a ton of three wide receiver sets because of the game plan,

that may not be good. Shane Bowen or not Shane Bowen Todd Downing is telling you what happened last year. He's telling you. I tried to run way too many three wide receiver sets and we didn't have the wide receiver talent because of injuries to do so and I wasn't prepared enough to switch to more tight end heavy looks. And that's why the Titans go out and get Austin Hooper and draft Chika Conkwell and bring back Jeff Swain for $3.5 million. Because they're like, okay, we got to have talented enough tight ends to be able to do more heavy tight end looks. It's right there. Read it in wheat.

He also talked about Tim Kelly. He said, quote, it's been great to have passing game coordinator Tim Kelly. Great football mind and it's great to have another sounding board. Todd Downing said he himself had a similar role with the Minnesota Vikings. Todd Downing also said Tim Kelly will help look at things in a different perspective, bring some fresh ideas. He also mentioned that Tim Kelly was able to look at those things that they were doing early in games. So to me, it's obvious that Tim Kelly watched the film of every single Titans game,

which I don't think I'm surprised by that at all. Anyway, coming into the team, that's what a coach should do, and is already giving ideas. Heck, Shane Bowen, Titans defensive coordinator, said that he was with passing game coordinator Tim Kelly in Houston. It's great to be with him again. Anytime you have a smart football mind, you can bounce ideas off. It is valuable.

So everybody seems to recognize the value of Tim Kelly with the Titans. And it's something that I have been super high on all along. I wanted Tim Kelly to be the OC and go a step further. And now he's in a perfect position to assume that role if things need to go that way. But Todd Downing also talked about Malik Willis. He said having Ryan Tannehill as a starting quarterback takes a lot of pressure off Malik Willis. He notes that the rookie QB doesn't usually make the same mistake twice,

which is absolutely great to hear. Todd Downing also talked about Traylon Burks and said that he's been getting more comfortable every day. He likes where he's at, and he likes where he's growing. So all good stuff there. Do want to talk about some of the things that Shane Bowen had to say, the Titans defensive coordinator. He talked about Caleb Farley early on,

and what he had to say here was, Caleb Farley has done a great job this offseason, working hard, engaged, working his way back, starting to see him mature and figure out what it is to be a pro when you're a rookie. A lot of things get thrown at you. The universal, unanimous praise for Caleb Farley continues. Shane Bowen also talked about David Long,

and he said David Long has embraced more of a leadership role heading into 2022, adds that he's been a solidifying force in the linebacker room, and he's been more vocal with Zach Cunningham, not at OTAs, having David Long there to kind of coach all those guys up. I think that's super, super important. And then lastly, he did talk about Roger McCreary. And Shane Bowen wasn't the only person that talked about Roger McCreary, but here's what he had to say.

He said he's competitive about everything he does. He wants to have the right answer all the time, even if it's unrealistic for a rookie. He's been a joy to have him in the room. Again, said he's come in and done a great job. He loves the game. He loves learning the game. And not only did Shane Bowen talk about Roger McCreary, but Mike Vrabel said he's gotten

off to a good start in the offseason, says the Titans have been playing him inside and outside. So shout out to whichever of you guys have been in my mentions on YouTube saying that Roger McCreary can play outside. So shout out to whichever of you guys have been in my mentions on YouTube saying that Roger McCreary can play outside. I think he's more of an inside corner long-term, but hey, if he's getting looks outside, then that's great news as well. But that's going to do it for me today, guys. That is a complete recap of the Titans practice on Wednesday. The Titans have OTAs on Friday, but that's not open to the media. So we're going to be doing some talking points here throughout the rest of the week. The Titans will have one more OTA open to media next week on Tuesday.

And then Mike Grable did say that they probably wouldn't use all their OTAs, which there are three set up for next week. I do believe at minimum two, one will be open to the media on Tuesday. And then I think that'll probably be the Titans last O OTA until they come back for mandatory minicamps and training camps. So the season moves along, but thank you guys so much for tuning in. That's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.