Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Re-Sign Ola Adeniyi, AFC South QB Moves & Not Drafting Linebackers in the First Round

Episode Date: March 24, 2022

The Tennessee Titans re-signed edge rusher & special teams ace Ola Adeniyi! How valuable is he to the team and why was this move so smart? Tyler breaks it all down. Next, we saw two major QB moves in the division with Matt Ryan coming in and Deshaun Watson going out. Is this good or bad for the Titans and how winnable is the division now? Tyler discusses. Finally, a Rowland's Rant on mock drafts! The Titans will NOT be selecting an inside linebacker in the first round, but national draft analysts keep mocking them to the Titans. Why this is happening and why it is foolish? Tyler gets heated while explaining it all!Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP3332GMOh4y5PX3q9NFybwSupport 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 Friday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. On today's show, the Titans made another signing on Wednesday, bringing back another Tennessee Titan from the 2021 team. I'll tell you who it is and why it's so important that he is back in his role. And then we're going to talk about two big moves that happened in the AFC South at the quarterback position. One quarterback leaving the division, another one entering the division.

We'll talk about how those two teams stand right now. And then finally, we need to talk about a position that keeps getting mocked to the Titans in mock drafts that they will not be selecting in the first round. All of that and more on a Friday 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, every day.

Titans fans, it is a Friday edition of the Locked On Titans Podcast. We're going to talk about a signing that the Tennessee Titans made earlier this week. We're going to talk about two quarterback moves that impact the AFC South, and I'm going to tell you why the Titans are absolutely not drafting a certain position in the first round of the draft, even if it is mocked to the Titans over and over and over again. Maybe you can tell my annoyance already, but before we get into that, 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 all year long. Make sure that you stay locked into the Locked on Titans podcast, especially on the Locked on Titans YouTube channel. Go over there, subscribe, smash that notification bell so you know when all my content goes live. Hit that thumbs up button on YouTube right now. If you are watching, check me out on social media

at TicTacTitans on Twitter, at Locked on Titans Pod on Facebook. But with that being said, time to dive into this signing. And it was the first Tennessee Titan to ever be on this podcast, Ola Adani. The Titans brought Ola Adani back on a one-year deal. Ola is a fantastic guy, first and foremost. Had a really great time speaking with him. I did an interview with him during the season. Very accommodating.

Very nice guy. But on the field, more importantly, for the Tennessee Titans, he played a very pivotal role. And he's definitely a role player, not one of the stars on the team. But when you watch the tape every single week, you can tell just how important a guy like Ola Adani really is. He is a special teams maven. He played in all 16 games, or played in 16 games for the

Titans last year, the switch to 17, still getting me to this day, but played in 16 of the 17 games for the Titans, made 21 tackles, had two and a half sacks, including basically that game winner against Russell Wilson in week two in the end zone that should have been a safety. He had 10 pressures, but more importantly, played 319 special teams snaps. That is 74% of the Titans special team snaps. So just critical on special teams. He's a guy who, specifically on punt coverage, one of the guys who lines up on the line of scrimmage for punt,

goes down, makes a play on punt return. He's a guy on kickoff return. He's a guy. So, Ola Dainey, very critical to the Titans special teams. He almost made the Pro Bowl last year. He's the second highest vote getter for the Pro Bowl, or for the special team spot for the AFC. So, definitely recognized as one of the best special teamers in the NFL,

and the Titans are recognizing that as well, giving him a one-year deal. Like I said, he's a great guy in the locker room, great personality, a fan favorite, not just a favorite of the fans, either a favorite in the building. The nutrition staff really loves Ola Dainey, something we talked about in my interview with him. Just a great guy to have on your team, to root for a great guy in the locker room.

But, you know, talking about his role more, obviously a special teams ace, but nice to have Ola Adani as a rotational edge rusher as well. And I think if you put Ola last year, he was basically the third edge rusher for a lot of the year with Bud Dupree being injured, Rashad Weaver getting hurt, Derek Roberson having injury concerns, Danico Autry and Harold Landry would kind of man those roles. But when the Titans went to their sub package line where they moved Danico Autry inside with Jeffrey Simmons

and Bud Dupree wasn't available, the guy that they really went to was Ola. Now I like Ola better in a role further down the depth chart in terms of edge rusher. And the Titans may be able to place him exactly in that role this year of course you're going to have Landry and Dupree at the top Rashad Weaver should be back and healthy and should be able to contribute and be a rotational pass rusher and then I would still like the Titans to either go out and get a veteran pass rusher a cheap veteran or address the position at some point in the mid-rounds of the draft. So if you had Ola Adani as your fifth or fourth rotational edge rusher, have him as your special teams ace. I think it's just an incredible value and a great signing by the Titans

to bring Ola Adani back. Also do want to mention the Titans contract details with special teams ace A.J. Moore, who came over from the Houston Texans, came out. It's going to be a $1.6 million cap hit for the Titans. I said it would be right around a million bucks, so $1.6 million on the cap hit. The Titans still at this time have about $4 million, a little over $4 million in cap.

They still haven't pushed out the contract details for Austin Hooper or Dontrell Hilliard or Trent Cole or Ola or Trenton Cannon. So a lot still to learn about the Titans cap situation. But my opinion is they're probably pretty close to being done spending and being done adding things in free agency. They're going to look to the draft and then that summer wave of free agents after cuts happen around training camp. I think that's when we'll see the Titans do anything. I don't want to say significant because I'm not expecting a significant move from the Titans going forward,

but I guess more impactful than what we might see with just some, you know, little role players here and there being added. And now I think that's, that's kind of over with until we get to the draft. But if anything pops up, of course I'll be there to break it all down for you guys. But with that being said,

I want to move forward, talk about the quarterback news in the AFC South. The Indianapolis Colts trade for Matt Ryan. The Houston Texans trade away Deshaun Watson. I'm going to tell you why overall it's a net positive for the Titans. Before we get into that though, do want to tell you guys about betonline.net. It's that time of year again. College basketball's tournament is finally upon us. Make sure that you go to betonline.net for all the latest odds, contests, and player props. They're your number one source

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and all the action. BetOnline, where the game starts. Titans fans, let's continue this Friday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We just talked about the signing of Ola Dainey. Also, the contract information on A.J. Moore. Now I want to get into some AFC South quarterback news. Before we do, I want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day.

Make sure that you also check out the Locked on NFL podcast. You get your Titans news here with me. Get your national NFL news with the Locked on NFL podcast under 30 minutes Monday through Friday. Pair that with the Locked on Titans, and you're going to be completely covered for all the news you need for the NFL. But moving forward, I do want to let you guys know, I've been talking about doing a depth chart review throughout the week,

but there's just too much news going on right now to kind of slow things down and look at the depth chart. I'll give the Titans another weekend to kind of figure all that stuff out. I do want to let you know that Monday is going to be another mock draft Monday. Tuesday will be a Twitter Tuesday where I have a mailbag and answer your questions. You can get those questions to me either as a five-star review on iTunes or by throwing them to me on Twitter

at TicTacTitans. Just tag me in a tweet. Put your question. I'll bookmark it and make sure that I get to it. When you guys send me questions as DMs, it makes it very difficult for me to remember them. I would much rather you tag me in a tweet, reply to the tweet that I'm going to put out on Sunday asking for mailback questions.

It makes it a lot easier for me to get to your question. Either a five-star review or tag on Twitter in a tweet, not a DM on Twitter. It makes it difficult. Moving forward, though. Two moves in the AFC South. We are going to start with a quarterback coming in and that is Matt Ryan being traded to the Indianapolis Colts for a third round pick. Okay. So I think this is a good move for the Colts. It's kind of like Phillip Rivers 2.0 and they were better with

the consistency and the reliability of Phillip Rivers than they were the, I guess, insanity that was Carson Wentz. So I do think that this is a good move for the Colts, but it's not great. Like, I don't think the Colts just solved their quarterback issue for years to come. Matt Ryan's 37 years old. Matt Ryan is breaking down a little bit. And while, like Phillip Rivers, even late in his 30s,

I think he could be a solid quarterback, that team the Colts had with Phillip Rivers was better than the team that the Colts have now. Number one, they lost their defensive coordinator, Matt Eberflus, which the defense was the core of their team. The offensive line is nowhere near what it was in 2019. They have no left tackle. They have no viable right guard right now.

Other than Michael Pittman Jr. I almost called him Michael Porter Jr. getting the NBA information crossed up. But other than Michael Pittman Jr., they don't have any wide receiver worth a dang. So, I mean, you keep going. Mo Alley-Cox brought back at tight end. He's been like their tight end two, tight end three. Jack Doyle hasn't been replaced by anybody worth a dang.

Cornerback situation is not great. So to me, this Colts roster is not as good as the one that surrounded Phillip Rivers. So even if Matt Ryan is a touch better than Phillip Rivers or at minimum the same, I don't see the Colts getting drastically better and being a Super Bowl contender. That's not going to happen.

They'll probably contend for the division with the Titans. They'll be in the divisional race just like they were last year, the year before that. The Colts are always going to be there because they have a solid foundation. They have good players on their team. They really do. But this doesn't make the Colts the AFC South favorites, and this doesn't make the Colts a Super Bowl contender,

and it doesn't solve their quarterback issue long term either. So while I do believe that this makes the Colts good, it doesn't make them great. So yeah, like I've said throughout, they're going to compete for the division. I fully believe that. But they're not a Super Bowl contender and Matt Ryan isn't a long term answer

and I look at the team with some of the holes that they still have. And I say they're probably a 10-7 ball club max. That's what I would say. 10-7 is the ceiling for the Indianapolis Colts. So will I be wrong on that? I don't know. You guys let me know down in the comments. What do you guys think?

What do you think the Colts record will be next year just based off what we've seen so far? With a lot of offseason left, of course, but I just think they have too many holes to fill all those holes with rookies and expect the team to be better than it had been the last couple of years. But that wasn't the only move that we saw in the AFC South. The rest of the NFL giveth,

and the rest of the NFL taketh. And the Cleveland Browns took Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans. Finally, that saga is over. And here's what I want to say. See ya! Peace out, Deshaun. Good luck. He's still in the AFC, and, you know, that is what it is.

But the Titans don't have to worry about playing Deshaun Watson two times a year. Give me Davis Mills. Yes, please. So besides all the stuff going, all the noise around Deshaun Watson, deserve it, not deserve whatever, you make up your mind, but the big takeaway is Deshaun Watson's out of the Titans division, and that's what matters most to me. I don't want to play that dude two times a year.

The last time that happened, the Titans barely beat a 4-12 Houston Texans team in 2020. Twice. In both games. I believe the Titans won by nine combined points in those two games. And they were both overtime. Or at least to the very end of the game. I know the last one of the year was overtime. So

it's too dangerous of a situation for me to want to play against Deshaun Watson. I don't care about where he went, what happened with the trade. All I know is he is gone. Houston did get a major haul, I believe five to six picks to bring or to

send Deshaun Watson to Cleveland? I don't care. I don't care. We all know and we've talked about all offseason how vitally important the quarterback position is and the Texans are considerably worse at quarterback now than they were when they had Deshaun Watson.

And that is all that truly matters to me. But with that being said, we're going to move forward here on this Friday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We're going to talk about a position that continues to be mocked to the Titans over and over again. I talked about it before, but I'm going to talk about it again. Linebacker is not going to be the Titans pick at 26 in the first round. You're insane, borderline stupid, if you think that.

And I'm going to go into detail as to why I feel that way. Before I get into that, I do want to tell you guys about the best tasting protein bars in the galaxy from our friends over at Built Bar. So protein bars often, in my experience, are hard to choke down. They're tough to chew. Flavors aren't really there. They're crumbly.

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You can have them as a healthy meal substitute, which is incredibly versatile, incredibly healthy, incredibly tasty. Make sure you guys go to Bilt.com right now. Use the promo code LOCKED15, and you're going to get 15% off your order. Once again, that's promo code LOCKED15 for 15% off at Bilt.com. Titans fans, let's cap off this Friday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Cap off this week of the Locked on Titans podcast. We're going to talk about not drafting a linebacker in the first round for the Titans

and why anybody who mocks that is foolish, quite frankly. Before we get into it, I want to thank you guys one last time for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. As for your second listen, check out the Locked on NFL Draft podcast. It is draft season, and nobody's breaking it down like Ryan Tracy and Eric Crocker, who's a former NFL cornerback. They're looking at the draft from two different lenses. One, the front office perspective.

And two, of course, breaking down and analyzing all of the prospects. Check out the Locked on NFL Draft podcast, free and available on whatever platform that you do stream, including on YouTube. But going forward here, it's a little bit of an impromptu Roland's rant. I've just had enough.

The Titans are not going to pick an off-ball inside linebacker with pick 26. They're not. So if you're somebody in the national media and you're listening to this or you hear this, stop it. It's like the Michael Jordan meme. Stop. Get some

help. I mean, we did this with tight end for years. Now linebacker is the new thing. No. The Titans aren't taking N'Kobe Dean. The Titans aren't taking Devin Lloyd. No. The Titans aren't taking Devin Lloyd. No. I'm sorry.

It's not happening. And it's a complete, it's multiple factors. So number one, the position of off-ball linebacker, inside linebacker, is not valuable enough to take in the first round. We see it over and over again. And just like I say with tight end,

if you get a stud in the first top 10 picks, you know, think like Devin White or Devin Bush, something like that, then yeah, okay, go ahead. But outside of those freakish studs, like with tight end, I always talk about Kyle Pitts and TJ Hawkinson. That caliber of linebacker is not available at 26. Okay? Nikovi Dean, Lloyd, they are not those guys.

So, the positional value of linebacker isn't high enough to use a first round pick there. Especially when you consider the Titans got David Long in the sixth round. If we can get a David Long in the sixth round, why in the world would I use a first round pick on N'Kobe Dean? Yeah, he's a decent player.

Same thing with Lloyd. They're good players. But linebacker isn't important enough and it's too easy to find viable linebackers later in the draft to take one in the first. It doesn't make any sense. And, and, not to mention, the Titans still have David Long, who I mentioned was a six-round pick.

He's going to start. He was the best linebacker on the team last year. They just did a contract restructure to give guaranteed money to Zach Cunningham, who's led the NFL in tackles before, who's been a pro bowler. And the Titans have a former tackle leader and one of the best young linebackers

in the NFL at linebacker and they're gonna draft one in the first round with wide receiver tight end offensive line hell even quarterback as options and needs I would take any of those quarterbacks over linebacker any day of the week. We just drafted Monty Rice last year. See, here's the reality.

These guys, these national guys who are mocking for the Titans, one, they underrate all the players on the team. They underrated Jonu Smith for forever

and said the Titans needed a tight end, right? Right? We were all there. We were there. We witnessed it in 4K. Okay? And the same thing's happening now.

None of these dudes know about David Long. That's the problem. Their lack of knowledge about the Titans roster and the players and how they performed last year. Think any of these dudes have watched tape on David Long, a sixth round pick out of West Virginia? No, they haven't.

Spoiler alert. So, to me, it's a combination of the positional value is not high enough at inside linebacker, along with the Titans already have good inside linebackers that don't need upgrading. The Titans have depth at the position. The Titans have needs that are far greater at other positions.

I mean, all of it combined. It's just nonsense is what it is. It's nonsense. I think it would be a better pick to reach for George Pickens or Watson, Christian Watson. I think it would be a better pick to reach for an offensive lineman like a Dylan Parnum. I think it would be a better pick to reach for Trey McBride

or Isaiah Leitner. Just any of that would still be better than taking a linebacker. better pick to reach for Trey McBride or Isaiah Leitner just any of that would still be better than taking a linebacker in the first round linebacker safety interior defensive line and running back are not going to be the pick in the first round literally anything else other than that I would take

cornerback I would take edge rusher far before I would take cornerback. I would take edge rusher. Far before. I would take quarterback. Far before I would accept taking an inside linebacker in the first round. I know some of you may not agree with me on all that, but it's just asinine that people keep doing this

and you got all these people trying to call Titans fans dumb online because they're trying to tell these national people the Titans aren't going to take a linebacker. And then they talk down to you. Say, oh, Titans fans dumb online because they're trying to tell these national people the Titans aren't going to take a linebacker. And then they talk down to you. Say, oh, Titans fans don't know what they're talking about. Titans fans think that their linebackers are so good. Titans fans know the team better than you.

How are you going to talk down to people who actually follow the team? It's just frustrating. And that's why. That right there is why ESPN and some of these national media places are starting to fade in popularity because there are people locally covering teams specifically, like somebody like me, like the Locked On Network in general. You got somebody who's dedicated all the time to covering one team.

Who do you think knows the Titans better? Some Joe Schmo on ESPN doing the 2 p.m. hit? Or me? I'm not even trying to toot my own horn. The reality here is it's not even close. It's not even close. It's not even, I'm not the only one. There are other people.

Will Lomas, my buddy from the No Nonsense pod. I mean, the guys who do the Broadway stuff. I mean, there are so many people out here who cover the Titans, who know the Titans ten times better

than any of these national dudes who just, oh, the Titans, I haven't thought about them in six months. I have no idea what their roster's like. I'm just going to pencil them in, pencil them in this player who I think should be in the first round who I don't have a good fit for. That's what the Titans pick is every year. It's, oh, this is a first round player.

I don't know anything about the Titans. I need to get this guy in here somewhere. I'll put him there. It's nonsense. It's garbage. And if you see a mock draft that mocks an inside linebacker to the Titans in round one, you can cross that person's

analysis all for the rest of the draft. Now, I do want to give a big shout out to Danny Kelly from the Ringer. So, Danny had a mock draft and he had the Titans taken. I can't remember the exact player but it was a defensive lineman

and I retweeted it and I said you know we just can't help these guys basically the pick is stupid and instead of telling me that I'm dumb about what I think the Titans will do he asked what do you think they'll do and we had a nice back and forth discourse

and I said you know, part of his reasoning is very sound. Basically replacing the Danico Autry role now. But there are more reasons as to why that won't be the case. But it's still a better pick

than inside linebacker. So really I just wanted to say give Danny Kelly support. Although he picked a pick for the Titans in the first round, I don't think that we'll see. He was at least willing to have discourse about the pick and at least willing to hear opinions from people who care much more about the Titans than he does. And that sort of open-mindedness needs to be commended

in this sort of media sphere. So, shout out to Danny Kelly from The Ringer. Check out all his work. He deserves our support because he's at least not a jerk who's going to talk down to fans who know more about the team than the person talking down to him that's all it comes down to but with that being said

I hope you guys have a fantastic weekend I'll be back again, it's going to be Mock Draft Monday going to look at some mock drafts maybe do one of my own see what we got there and then Tuesday will be a mailbag day a Twitter Tuesday so get those questions in as a five star review or tag me on Twitter at TicTacTitans

and send those in that's going to do it for me today though folks as always I am your host Tyler Rowland and this was Locked on Titans Thank you.