Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans REPLACING Kevin Byard with Elijah Molden, Tight End Snap Worries & OL Puzzle Pieces

Episode Date: May 24, 2023

The Tennessee Titans OTAs kicked off this week and one of the biggest stories is the absence of Kevin Byard. While it is most likely nothing to read into, when you combine the absence with the offseason financial rumors and Molden's transition to safety, it is fair to wonder are the Titans looking to replace Byard with Molden? Also, the Titans love their big bodied tight ends, will Chig Okonkwo get the snaps he deserves? Finally, Tyler puts on his investigative hat to see if he can guess who the Titans have on the first-team offensive line.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!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.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

Wait, are the Titans moving Elijah Molden to safety so he can replace Kevin Byard? We're going to talk about that and more 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. 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've got a lot to discuss on today's show. Are the Titans grooming Elijah Molden to replace Kevin Byard at safety? I'm going to talk about why that might be a possibility. Also, we all expect Chigaconquo to get a much bigger role in the offense this year. But is that foolish? Will he really get a bigger role? I'll explain why I have some concerns. And then, of course, we've got to talk about the offensive line.

Starting to get some clues as to what the offensive line could look like for the Titans. Before we get into all of that, I do want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round on YouTube and your favorite podcast app and always for free. Make sure that you get subscribed,

stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, where it's your team every day. Speaking of every day, shout out to my everydayers tuning in the show Monday through Friday. Couldn't do it without you guys. Thank you so much.

If you're new, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, nearly 25 years as a Tennessee Titans fanatic, a staff writer for Sports Illustrated over at alltitans.com, and a certified film junkie breaking down the X's and O's with you guys every single weekday. Again, all year long, always for free. But diving in here, yesterday or Tuesday, I guess it was, depending on when you're listening to this. Tuesday, we got word from Mike Vrabel and Elijah Molden himself that Molden is in the middle of a partial transition to safety. Yeah, he could play some nickelback.

That would obviously be playing nickelback. No, I mean football. He could play nickel in the slot for the Titans defense. We know that he can do that. But the Titans are trying to expand his role to give him more to do than just an early down slot cornerback for the Titans. So they want him to practice playing some deep safety. And when I say safety, I don't just mean that third safety

in the dime package like the dang crookshank roll where your garden tight ends are playing as a linebacker in passing situations. No, I mean a deep safety, going back deep, playing split field, cover two, cover four, playing single high, cover three, cover one, things like that. They're actually letting Elijah Molden play safety. And the word that I got was, and what I saw reported,

is Elijah Molden practiced exclusively at safety at Tuesday's OTAs that were open to the media. So, why would they be doing that? Well, as we talked about on yesterday's show, my everydayers would know, the Titans need depth at safety. I called it a hidden disaster position for the Titans because after Hooker and after Bayard, they don't have anybody I would feel comfortable putting out on the field. So you add Molden into that mix, the Titans really only need three safeties that they're going to use on defense. That fourth or fifth safety is mostly going to be a special teams player. So you add Molden into the mix and now you feel a little bit better about the group.

But what if it's more than that? What if it's deeper than that? Kevin Byard is not at OTAs. And I said it's not time to panic or worry about that. Doesn't seem like anybody in the organization is worried about that. But, but, Titans did ask Kevin Byard to take a pay cut. Kevin Byard is set to make $9.6 million against the salary cap this year. Titans asked him to take a pay cut because they don't think they can pay that.

Kevin Byard said no. All right? Now, rumors of a Kevin Byard trade or a Kevin Byard release, that's mostly been shot down or shunned down by the organization by some other reports. But, again, where there is smoke, there may be some fire. The Titans look like they are going to go all in one last season with Derrick Henry, Ryan Tannehill. And it would make sense that that would also include Kevin Bayard. One more run.

But if the Titans decide to pivot, if they decide, hey, I don't think we're making a Super Bowl run here, maybe it would make sense to flip Kevin Byard. It would be a tough thing to sell to the fan base, but I think it might be easier to sell that than it would be Tannehill or Derrick Henry. Tannehill maybe not, but definitely Derrick Henry. So you just look at it. Right now the Titans have about $11 million in cap space. They still have about $6.5 million that they need to devote

to the top three rookies, Spears, Skowronski, and Levis when they sign them. They still haven't signed their contracts yet, and that's for a reason. The Titans are trying to do some things to clear out some more space. Again, Kevin Byard is set to make $19.6 million

this year on the cap. Can the Titans afford that with where they are as a team? If the Titans decide to trade or release Kevin Byard after June 1st, they're going to save $14 million in cap space. If they only have $11 million right now, and let's say $4.5 million of that, because there are some salaries that fall off when you sign guys, let's say $4.5 million of that has to go towards the rookies,

then really the Titans only have $6, $6.5 million to play with, not only to add more veterans during training camp and after players are cut but if they want to make moves in the season that's not enough money to operate with. It just simply isn't. So the Titans are going to have to make another financial move here

whether it be an extension for Derrick Henry an extension for maybe Kevin Byard to move some money around a cut, a surprise cut, a surprise trade. The Titans are going to have to do something to clear out some more money here, okay? Now, they've said in previous press conferences that they have the ability to do it,

and they know they can do it. So they can, and I don't think this is likely, but I'm just saying maybe Elijah Molden playing safety so much, along with Kevin Byard's absence and contract situation, maybe the Titans are grooming Elijah Molden to take over as the starter for Kevin Byard. Maybe this year, maybe next year. All I know is if the Titans were looking to make a move with Kevin Byard, a logical move before that

would be grooming someone to take over for him since they don't have a very good depth chart at safety right now. So, I'm not saying it's likely, but I'm just saying if we connect the dots here, Kevin Byard isn't around for mandatory minicamp, and Elijah Molden continues to take those reps at safety, we just have to ask ourselves, what is really going on? So I thought I would bring that up with you guys.

I got another question here. Is Chigakonkwo truly tight end one? I'm going to go back into some of the snap counts from previous years and I got to show a little bit of concern about Mike Vrabel and him given the snaps that Chiggy Conklin deserves to him. Before we get into that, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. We are on the doorstep of the NBA Finals. Sadly, the Miami Heat weren't able to close out the Boston Celtics, but hopefully that has happened soon. You're going to have the Miami Heat weren't able to close out the Boston Celtics, but hopefully that has happened soon. You're going to have the Miami Heat and the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Finals.

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and an official betting edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We just talked about Elijah Molden, his transition to safety, Kevin Byard's absence and contract and what all of it can mean together. I was connecting the dots a little bit there. I'm like, what is it, Charlie from Always Sunny in Philadelphia with the vision board behind me, put on my tinfoil hat. You know, I'm just looking at things, just looking at things a little bit deeper. That's all.

But now I want to raise a little bit of a concern that I have about the snap distribution at the tight end position. Before we get into that, I 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 YouTube, your favorite podcast

app, always for free. Get subscribed, stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast, part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Shout out to my everydayers out there as well. But Chikokonkwo is widely, widely expected to get the bulk of the snaps for the Titans this year. Chikokonkwo himself at OTAs said,

I'm expected to step up and be a leader and lead this group this year. I know my role on the team, what I got to do. All indications that he's the tight end one. He's going to lead the team, snaps, production, all that. And when it comes to receptions and receiving yards and touchdowns, that should be the case. But what my concern is here is will Chikokonkwo actually get the most snaps?

Based on what we've seen from a Mike Vrabel offense, and that's what I'm going to call it, a Mike Vrabel offense. And that's what I'm going to call it, a Mike Vrabel offense. Because at the end of the day, they may have gotten a new offensive coordinator, but Mike Vrabel and his team still wants to run the ball, play defense, play action. The tenets of what they want to do on offense isn't going to change. Okay?

And while the Titans are getting a new offense from Tim Kelly, elements of a new offense, in my opinion, I'll be surprised if it's a complete overhaul. But while there will be a lot of new elements in the offense, are the Titans truly going to go away from their multiple tight end sets? Are the Titans truly going to go away from their multiple tight end sets? Are the Titans truly going to go away from wanting to have two tight ends and run inside zone, outside zone, things like that? Are the Titans going to stop running duo up the middle

with multiple tight ends on the field? I don't think so. I don't believe that. I think we're going to see a lot of the same formationally and like the actual plays that are called in the run game and those play action passes where you have max protect, you have both your tight ends stay in the block and you have two routes or three route combinations

where you're trying to hit deep shots on the defense. Is that going to stop? I personally don't think so. So when you take all that into account, what I want to do is I want to look at Jeff Swain's snap counts the last three seasons with the Titans. In 2020, Jeff Swain, 53% of the offensive snaps Jeff Swain played. of the offensive snaps Jeff Swain played.

In 2021, 65% of the Titans' offensive snaps, Jeff Swain was out there. Last year, with Chikokonkwo and Austin Hooper, Jeff Swain, 56% of the offensive snaps, 199 more offensive snaps than Chikokonkwo. Now, the obvious pushback there or argument would be, well, Chikokonkwo isn't a rookie anymore, so the Titans are going to give him more trust and more snaps and all that. rookie anymore. So the Titans are going to give him more trust and more snaps and all that.

Jonu Smith had like 74% of the offensive snaps in 2020. Do we think that in year two, Chika Konkwo is going to go all the way up to 70% snaps? I'm skeptical because Chikokonkwo cannot do what Jeff Swaim did. Now, Jeff Swaim didn't do it very well, but nonetheless, Chikokonkwo can't have his hand in the dirt next to an offensive tackle and go one-on-one and run blocking with a defensive end. That's just not what he's going to have success at over and over. That is why Trevon Wesco was brought in. Wesco is going to be the new Jeff Swain.

Wesco is going to be out there consistently. So, while I hope that Chigaconquo is given the proper amount of snaps for his talent and what he means to the offense, are we certain that that's going to happen? Are we for sure that Trevon Wesco in the Jeff Swain role won't get more snaps than Chigaconquo? All I'm saying is that shouldn't happen, guys. It shouldn't happen.

But I'm just saying, I wouldn't be surprised if we're here week one, week two, and I'm giving a Titan down to Mike Vrabel and the offensive coaching staff for playing Trevon Wesco more snaps than Chigaconquo. That is not out of the realm of possibility right now. So all I wanted to do is ask the question here. Based on what we've seen from Swaim and what we expect Wesco to do role-wise

within the offense, are we certain that Chigacononkwo will be tight end one in terms of snaps? I'm not. And I just have skepticism with Mike Vrabel. And all I'll say is this. If the Titans have a really poor season, and at the end, when we look back, Wesco is right there with Chig in terms of snap count.

The Titans have league-leading injuries again. At some point, despite all of the good, you just got to start asking questions about Mike Vrabel. Because it seems like we all complain about the philosophy of the team, whether it be the way that they prepare for injuries, whether it be the way they deploy personnel, whether it be stylistically what they want to be as a football team and be as an offense.

Well, all of that direction is coming from Mike Vrabel, who won a power struggle with John Robinson, got John Robinson fired, and then brought in a guy to as Rand Carthon has said, I'm here to get Mike Vrabel's players. Rand Carthon said that. I guess

this is just one thing to be watching as we go into the season. And it's one thing where I'm really going to be using it as a measure of what Mike Vrabel is doing in this year because it's all on Mike Vrabel now. It's all on him now. No one else to blame but him.

So with that in mind, we'll watch very closely the usage of all the players in the offense, but especially at tight end. But I want to talk about the offensive line to cap off today's show. You guys know me. I'm Inspector Gadget out here. I love looking at the Titans' videos that they release,

seeing if I can piece together some lineup information. So we're going to go over some new pieces to the puzzle that I've discovered in a recent Titan social media video about the offensive line in just a moment. Titans fans, we are going to cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast talking about the puzzle pieces on the offensive line and doing a little investigative journalism, baby. We talked about Elijah Molden potentially not just being safety depth,

but being groomed to take over for Kevin Byard in the event that the team and him part ways. We talked about Chiggy Conquo and my skepticism that Mike Vrabel will do the right thing at tight end when it comes to usage. Now I want to dive into this offensive line group. Before we do, I want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day, Monday through Friday. Tennessee Titans content all year round on YouTube, your favorite podcast app,

always for free. Get subscribed, stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast. But there was a video that came out on Tuesday. It was Ryan Tannehill throwing a pass to Chigaconquo. And you could see from the video that Andre Dillard was at left tackle. So they move around. They switch up lineups. You'll see Tannehill thrown with the third string guy sometimes.

But Tannehill was at quarterback. Dillard at left tackle. Pass went to Chigaconquo. We're talking about three guys who are probably starters for the Titans. So, at least logical to assume that Dillard right now is getting the reps as the starting left tackle. In a separate video, a different video, it came out on Wednesday. different video. It came out on Wednesday. We saw a Tannehill pass. I forget who it went to,

but we saw a Tannehill pass from a different angle. And in that video, you had Nicholas Petit-Ferrer at right tackle and Daniel Brunskill, number 60, at right tackle, and Daniel Brunskill, number 60, at right guard. So if we put on our investigative hats, we think Dillard at left tackle, Brunskill right guard, NPF at right tackle, then we can almost logically fill in the other two spots.

The Titans gave Aaron Brewer a second round tender restricted free agent contract worth nearly $5 million. He's a starter. They didn't pay him $5 million to come back to not be a starter. He's a starter at center for them. Whether he is good enough to be a starting center,

we'll see after this year. Because he's not good enough to be a starting guard. We know that. And then Peter Skowronski is the first round pick. There is no way. There is no way. There is no way that Skowronski isn't going to start. It's going to be a left tackle or left guard or right tackle. But what we're

seeing there, of course the Titans will continue to work and continue to learn and continue to practice. And the best five-man group will be out there at the end of the day. But what I'm just saying is, what the Titans think is the best five-man group from the jump will most likely end up being the best five-man group.

I mean, they know this team. So the expected starting lineup of Dillard at left tackle, Skowronski at left guard, Brewer at center, Brunskill at right guard, NPF at right tackle. Last year, when we looked at what would be the starting offensive line, and it ended up not being the case because NPF ended up starting at right tackle. So it doesn't always turn out the way that we initially project it, but based on what we've seen so far and just having a little fun investigating some of these videos, it looks like the Titans may be putting what we expect to be their best five offensive linemen out there from the get-go, which I think could be really, really important for building continuity.

How do we handle stunts? How do we handle certain fronts from a run-blocking perspective? All that stuff matters. So Mike Vrabel can sell you on versatility all you want. Oh, we like this guy. He's versatile. He can play multiple positions. But at the end of the day,

you're going to need to have guys in place, and they're going to need to be comfortable with what they're doing. And the best way to get comfortable is to have consistent reps in the same spot with the same guys around you who you know what they want to do so you can get on the same page.

So screw moving everybody around on the offensive line the whole time. Play that five-man group. And if it's not good enough, then change it. But from the start, sorry, you got to play that five-man group and see what happens. Give them a chance to build some chemistry. Don't mix and match so much that you lose that ability

because the Titans offensive line is going to determine what the offense is able to do this year. So, give them the biggest advantage possible. Put those five guys together. Let them play together for a while. Months and months before the season starts.

But that's going to do it for me today, folks. I'm going to be back with you guys tomorrow. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.