Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Practice Recap: Tannehill Teaches, Burks Limited & Who Wasn't There

Episode Date: May 25, 2022

The Tennessee Titans have begun Phase 3 of the 2022 Offseason!! This means it is time for a couple weeks of Organized Team Activities! What happened out on the practice field Tuesday for the Titans?? Tyler dives in!First, who wasn't at practice and how does it affect the Titans currently?? Next, some players coming off injury looked good in practice! How optimistic should fans be? Finally, Tyler goes over some interesting notes on Dillon Radunz and others!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. 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 a Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. And on today's show, we are going to recap everything that happened at Tennessee Titans practice on Tuesday. The Titans are in phase three of the offseason. That means organized team activities. We saw Ryan Tannehill talk more about that mentor comment about Malik Willis. We got updates on a lot of guys who finished the season injured for the Titans last year.

And we got a little bit of a nugget about where Dylan Radins was playing during practice with the Titans. We're going over all of that and much more on an OTA recap 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. Your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Titans fans, it is a Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast, or Tuesday night if you happen to be watching on YouTube.

I am your host, Tyler Rowland. We're going to get into an OTA recap for the Tennessee Titans, talking Tannehill's additional comments on mentoring Malik Willis, Dylan Radins, a little nugget there about where he might play on the offensive line. Injury returns of Caleb Farley, Rashad Weaver, Robert Woods. I mean, so much to dive into on today's show. Before we get into it, I do want 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 daily, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content, not only during the season, but literally all year long, free and available on all platforms, including the Locked on Titans YouTube channel. 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 on YouTube. But with all that being said, we're going to dive into this OTA recap for the Titans. And I'm very excited to dive into it because a lot happened in today's practice or yesterday's practice, depending on when you're listening. And the first thing that I want to get into, though, is who wasn't there? Who didn't show up to Titans organized team activities that always seems to be front and center on everybody's mind. So let's get into that. Number one, obviously Derrick Henry was not at practice for the Titans. No need for that,

but I'm going to get into each individual person after we get through the entire list of guys who weren't there. So, of course, Derrick Henry, Jeffrey Simmons, Kevin Byard, Bud Dupree, Zach Cunningham, Harold Landry, Nate Davis, Jeff Swaim, and then Danico Autry. Monty Rice and Elijah Molden were a little bit limited. And there were some other guys who were limited with yellow jerseys on. We'll get into all of that, but the guys who weren't there again, Derrick Henry, Jeffrey Simmons, Kevin Byard, Bud Dupree, Zach Cunningham, Harold Landry, Nate Davis,

Jeff Swaim, and Danico Autry. And if I'm honest with you guys, it doesn't matter. I mean, look at the names that we just went through. I mean, for the most part, we're talking about some of the best Tennessee Titans players. And Mike Vrabel, Mike Vrabel had quotes

today after practice saying that he's talked to everybody, he knows where these guys are, he's not worried about it. He did say, quote, it's critical anytime we have a chance to coach guys out on the field. So, he wants to coach everybody.

He wants everybody to be out there. But he also said he knows the guys who aren't here will come ready to go. Okay, that's all it comes down to. He also said, quote, I've been in contact with the guys on our team. I know the guys are working, end quote. with the guys on our team. I know the guys are working, end quote. So anybody who tries to make the absences of these players from OTAs a big deal is just full of crap.

You guys have criticized me in the past for some of my hot takes. I can be a little overzealous at times. I recognize that. I get a little bought into each situation. And I am sitting here to tell you, this is not a concern. This is not a concern.

Derrick Henry is a beast. He's going to be ready to go. I'm not worried about that at all. Jeffrey Simmons, are you going to tell me that you're worried about Jeffrey Simmons being ready for the football season? Kevin Beyer, give me a break. Now, Bud Dupree, I would like to have him in because of his limited offseason last year coming back from ACL. But another guy who's been a veteran in the NFL, he knows what's

best for him. Same with Zach Cunningham. Harold Landry just got the big time deal. Are we worried about Harold Landry's work ethic? No. Nate Davis, I'd like to have offensive line chemistry, especially with new starters. But with the Titans trying to find who they want to start on the interior of the offensive line, at least at left guard, that's just more reps for somebody else. We know who Jeff Swaim is.

I'm not worried about Jeff Swaim. Danico Autry, again, another guy who could come in, roll out of bed, and get eight sacks in the NFL. So I'm just not worried about it. And we want to talk about chemistry and all that. Well,

pretty much all the wide receivers and Ryan Tannehill were out there. So I don't know. I guess sometimes I get worried about certain things and this is just not one of them. I'm not concerned about it at all. And we think about some injury guys

who we were worried whether they would be ready for the season and they're out there. Caleb Farley, Robert Woods, Rashad Weaver, out there. So, I'm not going to be worried about guys who are healthy, getting ready to go during phase three of the offseason, OTAs in May. I just don't have the ability to get mad about guys not showing up. So that's my take on it.

Yes, you'd love perfect chemistry. You'd love perfect attendance. But we're talking about some of the best players on the team who are certified veterans in the NFL. I'm not going to trip if they weren't at an OTA in May. Sorry. Just not going to be able to get me worked up over that. But we're going to talk about the guys who were at practice.

Talk about Ryan Tannehill. And he made some additional comments on Malik Willis and the mentor comment. So we'll dive into that. Like I said, we got injured players who some people were worried about returning. We got a little nugget on Dylan Radins to go over. So very excited to continue today's show, recapping the Titans OTA on Tuesday. Before we get into the rest of today's conversation, though, do want to tell you guys about Athletic Greens and a great product that they have called AG1.

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nutritional insurance. Titans fans, we're going to continue this Wednesday edition, Tuesday night if you're watching on YouTube, of the Locked On Titans podcast. We're recapping OTAs from Tuesday. So the Titans are in phase three of their all-season program. They're doing OTAs between the beginning of this week, which was May the 23rd, all the way until June

9th. There will be no practice on Wednesday. The Titans had practice on Monday. They had practice on Tuesday. Monday wasn't open to the media though, so that's why no updates from that. But the Titans won't have OTAs on Wednesday. So, tomorrow's show,

I'm going to be kind of asking questions that I have during OTAs, things that I want to see, interesting comments that I have on where the Titans are at with the roster. So that's going to be tomorrow's show. But we're going to continue this recap now. Thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Make sure you subscribe on whatever podcast platform that you do stream.

If you're watching on YouTube, subscribe, hit the notification bell, hit the thumbs up video or the thumbs up button. I would appreciate that. But diving into some additional stuff here. Number one, we got to talk about the injury guys who are coming back. We're talking about Robert Woods, who tore his ACL last year, already participating in OTAs. Man, that is just phenomenal news. Robert Woods is going to be so, so important to the Titans now. His importance is heightened now that A.J. Brown was traded to have

a true veteran. Other than Robert Woods, the Titans have no real veteran wide receivers. I mean, Nick Westbrook-Akina, who I don't think should be anything more than a third or fourth wide receiver at best in the league. Outside of that, it's all rookies. So, very important for Robert Woods to be out there. Caleb Farley as well out there. And Rashad Weaver, another guy who everybody was interested in

coming off the broken leg, was out there for the Titans. Now, there is a caveat. Some of the guys who were out there were in a yellow jersey. So, think about these guys I just mentioned. Robert Woods, Caleb Farley, Rashad Weaver. Yellow jersey is non-contact. Don't make contact. But other guys.

Christian Fulton. That was a bit of a surprise to me, but also in a non-contact jersey. Racey McMath, Chris Jackson, Briley Moore, Monty Rice, Elijah Molden, also out there in non-contact jerseys. Again, guys, it's May. It's May. There's just no reason to freak out. All of these players being out there despite some offseason surgeries or injuries last season, that is a great thing for the Titans.

So all of this news is just fantastic stuff. Just to have those guys out there. The first session of full-team OTAs, and Caleb Farley's already out there looking big too, man. I mean, Mike Vrabel talked about this. He talked about Robert Woods and Caleb Farley recovering from ACL. He said, quote, building confidence as they get back out on the field recovering from their ACL injuries. Absolutely.

He talked about Caleb Farley. Quote, you see how quickly his body was able to develop when he had somewhat of an off season this year. Also talked about him changing his body more. He said, quote, it doesn't look like his jersey is hanging on a coat hanger. I think that's pretty funny stuff right there from Mike Vrabel. But yeah, seeing guys like Rashad Weaver, Caleb Farley, Robert Woods back out there after their injuries, just fantastic stuff. You got to be happy about that from the Titans' perspective. But also, I did want to mention some of the other guys who were dealing with injuries, Christian Fulton, Chris Jackson,

Elijah Molden, Briley Moore, Racey McMath, also out there, Monty Rice, also out there on non-contact injuries, just because I want to say, do not freak out. It's no big deal. It's so early. It's good that these guys are coming back from injuries and are even available.

Now, Caleb Farley and Robert Woods were both wearing knee braces, but I would rather have them wear knee braces than not. So I, again, not a reason for concern from my perspective. I just don't see it as an issue whatsoever. So, all good stuff, in my opinion. Not only that, but some other notes here that I wanted to get into.

One of the bigger notes, in my opinion, outside of who wasn't there, outside of the injuries. Dylan Radins. One of the bigger notes, in my opinion, outside of who wasn't there outside of the injuries, Dylan Radins. We wanted to know. You going to play him at guard? You going to play him at tackle? He was drafted as a tackle. He looked best as a tackle.

But the Titans did play him a ton at guard and all indications are that he played a majority of his snaps in practice at guard last year. I can't confirm that, but that's basically what you hear. So is Dylan Radins a guard or a tackle? Ladies and gentlemen, we got a little bit, a little bit of an answer at today's OTA. When the team split up into different groups, Dylan Radins went with the offensive tackles.

And thank God, man. Thank God. Now that's not a definitive answer, but Dylan Radins is a tackle. I mean, he played his best football at tackle. He made his way to the NFL as a tackle.

I just... The Titans need Dylan Radins to be a tackle. There's no way around it. And I think he is a tackle. And as a matter of fact, I think he's a left tackle. I think he's a left side player. I think he's better on the left side. And I think ultimately, he will be the Titans left tackle.

Not this year. Hopefully, he plays right tackle. But next year, I think there's a decent chance he could kick out two left tackle but I do have to say Radins got work at both inside and outside at today's practice so although when they split up he went with the tackles he did get some inside work as well. So we're not fully away from the nightmare of thinking that Dylan Radins is a guard, but just good positive developments on that front from practice. So I'd like to hear that. But I'm going to continue breaking down Titans OTAs. We talked the injured guys coming back.

That's a big boost. We talked the guys who weren't at practice, and we talked about Dylan Radins going with the tackles as well. We're going to do just general updates on everything else that took place at OTAs. Do got to talk about Ryan Tannehill following up on his comments about mentoring Malik Willis, and he really tried to squash that out today. So we'll go over all of that.

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Head there today to learn about all the odds, all the lines, all the props, all the trends, all the action. BetOnline, where the game starts. Titans fans, we're going to cap off this Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast, or of course, Tuesday evening, if you're watching on YouTube, by talking about all the other notes that took place at Titans OTAs.

We've talked about who wasn't at OTAs. We talked about the injured guys coming back. We talked about Dylan Radins going with the tackles. Now I want to talk about Ryan Tannehill's most recent comments on Malik Willis, some standouts from practice on Tuesday. So very excited to dive into all that. Before we do, I want to thank you guys again for making the Locked On Titans podcast your first listen every day. Ask for your second listen.

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channel. I host the Thursday national show so I would appreciate the support as well but let's dive back into Titans OTAs here. The Malik Willis stuff with Ryan Tannehill. but let's dive back into Titans OTAs here. The Malik Willis stuff with Ryan Tannehill. Ryan Tannehill had this to say, quote,

He's a great person. He's a talented person. I'm really disappointed in how things got spun. I pride myself on being a great teammate. Perfect answer from Ryan Tannehill. It's a perfect answer. And quite frankly, if Ryan Tannehill could go back

and give the original answer again, I believe that he would have said it differently. I believe Ryan Tannehill, that he says, I'm really disappointed in how things got spun. Pride myself on being a great teammate.

I believe Ryan Tannehill, if he wants to say that he's going to help Malik Willis. And there are videos showing that he was helping and teaching Malik Willis during individual quarterback drills. I believe Ryan Tannehill. But, I do just want to say this. Tannehill is smart enough to know,

and he's been in the NFL long enough to know, that his comment about not being a mentor, it's not his job to mentor, he knew how that would come off. He knew that that would be spun the way it was spun. He's no dummy. Tannehill's been in the NFL for a decade.

He knows how the media runs with things. So, I believe him that he's going to help Malik. I believe him that he didn't mean it the way that it came out. But I also know that Tannehill knows how that's going to come out when he says something like that. He knew it. So I think maybe he was just mad that they traded AJ

and drafted his potential replacement and just, meh, was in a petty mood. But either way, I do believe him he'll help Malik. And he was doing that today. So we can put all that behind us. And either way, I do believe him. He'll help Malik. And he was doing that today. So we can put all that behind us. And hopefully that topic is never brought up again. But outside of that, let's get into some standouts from OTAs. Number one, Austin Hooper. Mike Vrabel said, love Austin Hooper's attitude.

Was at a charity in California last week for foster children. Then took a red-eye flight to Nashville for an OTA session the next day. Also, worth noting, that a lot of people that were at practice were noting just how many catches Austin Hooper had. I mean, Ben Arthur from Sports Illustrated said Austin Hooper caught several passes during team period, was a favorite target for Tannehill. So, Austin Hooper, again, we knew this when Hooper was signed,

but it just is a great opportunity to reiterate here. Somebody like Austin Hooper, who is a legitimate threat, even if not an explosive threat, a legitimate threat in the passing game, but can also block, is going to help the Titans so much. Swaim, you're not worried about him catching the ball, even if he can block.

Anthony Ferkser, you weren't worried about him blocking, even if he can catch the ball. Having a guy that is a legitimate threat in both different fronts is just going to be so key for the Titans offense and not tipping what they're trying to do with their formations. Just so important. Some other guys who stood

out. Nick Westbrook-Akina had a ton of catches. Kyle Phillips had another good day. Also do have to talk about this stuff. Traylon Burks. Another limited day.

Struggled staying on the practice field, left a few times, came back a few times. Mike Vrabel said there's no limitations. He was asked if Traylon Burks is dealing with allergies and he said he wouldn't get into things like that. Guys, I just have to say here,

Mike Vrabel also said they come along differently. He's working hard. He's trying to improve. I'm not going to comment on anybody's allergies to pollen. He also said a lot of guys have allergies. Well, he was taking an inhaler. Dealing, last week, that was, oh, he's, you know, he's got asthma, that's why. This week, everybody's asking about allergies.

I don't know. In my mind, it's just the dude's out of shape, not ready to go. So, until I see something definitive saying he has asthma, he has allergies, he has this, he has that. I'm just going to say that the dude's out of shape and not ready to go. Which isn't that big of a concern because he's going to get in shape over the summer doing football activities.

So, man, just everybody relax on it. And relax in two different ways. Don't freak out because he's a little limited in OTAs in May. But also, don't try to say that he has asthma and allergies and make up all these medical conditions because you want to make an excuse for why he's behind. Going to need some proof of something like that before you can just make up those things.

So, we'll see. All right. And either way, he's going to have to play through asthma and play through allergies to be the player the Titans want him to be. So, whatever, you know.

Anyways, moving forward, another guy that I want to mention that was a little bit of a standout was Des Fitzpatrick. And I have been openly critical of Des Fitzpatrick. If any of you guys have been following the show since last draft I was I was critical of the

Fitzpatrick pick when it happened in real time this isn't hindsight 2020 I was even more critical of the Des Fitzpatrick pick when he didn't make the team when he caused two interceptions by messing up his route against the Texans in week 11. You traded multiple picks,

you traded up to get desk Fitzpatrick. And although there is some optimism around him right now, gonna have to prove it to me. Same thing with Nick Westbrook, Akina. There's a ton of optimism. Oh, he's made so much progress.

At the end of the day, Nick Westbrook-Akina shouldn't be more than your fourth wide receiver. He's a physical backup wide receiver who can be a good blocker in a run-first system. He's on the right team.

He's in the wrong role. We can get as hype as we want about wide receivers in the offseason. But everybody was talking about how much depth the Titans had at wide receiver and how good the wide receiver core

could be last year with Chester Rogers and Marcus Johnson and Racey McMath, Des Fitzpatrick, Mason Kinsey. And what happened? It turns out the Titans had one of the worst wide receiver groups in the NFL.

So I'm not going to get too high and I'm not going to get too low. And that is where I'm going to be throughout most of the offseason. So, that's a recap. The guys who weren't there, injured guys who returned and showed positive

signs. Dylan Radins with the offensive tackles. Ryan Tannehill on Malik Willis. The standouts from day one, or it's really day two, but the first one open to the media. I'm going to be back tomorrow and we're going to talk about things I want to see in OTAs,

questions that I have during OTAs as the Titans do not have practice on Wednesday. But that's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.