Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Rookie Camp Recap: JC Latham TAKING HEAT, T'Vondre Sweat's Weight & Undrafted Standouts

Episode Date: May 12, 2024

The Tennessee Titans completed their rookie mini-camp over the weekend and JC Latham is already under fire as the masses online totally fail to understand how football works. Also, drafted defenders T'Vondre Sweat and Cedric Gray get off to positive starts. Finally, the Titans brought in a ton of undrafted free agents and a few names like Cole Spencer and Dillon Johnson stand out as guys who have a shot to carve out a role on the roster. Subscribe to the TicTacTitans Film Channel:https://www.youtube.com/@TicTacTitans TicTacTitans Merchandise: https://dixons-dream.square.site/shop/tictactitans-gear/C3AAPNWXSXA6SBYG3USV2I7R?page=1&limit=30&sort_by=category_order&sort_order=asc Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitans Follow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPod Subscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videos Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning GUARANTEED That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. 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)

Tennessee Titans completed their rookie minicamp over the weekend and first-round pick J.C. Latham is already taking heat. I'll tell you why the criticisms are ridiculous on today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. You are Locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked On Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Roland, Titans fans. Today's edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. Make every moment more.

Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That's $150 with any winning $5 bet. Visit FanDuel.com slash locked on to get started. Rookie Minicamp was over the weekend for the Tennessee Titans. We saw the draft picks in action. We saw the undrafted free agents in action. Saw even some veterans in action as well. I'm recapping everything you need to know from that rookie minicamp,

including JC Latham already taking unnecessary hate online. Also, we'll get an update on Tavondre Sweat, Cedric Gray looking the part as the Titans' top linebacker, and I'll tell you which undrafted free agents I think could be standouts for this team and challenge for a roster spot. Before we get into all that, thank you for making the Locked on Titans podcast

your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. Make sure you get subscribed, stay subscribed. It's your team every day. Shout out to my everydayers out there tuning in Monday through Friday.

Got a lot of great content coming this week for you guys. The schedule drops on Wednesday, so I'm going to be breaking that down entirely. Throw a thumbs up on the video if you're watching right now on YouTube as well. But with that being said, let's get it. Rookie minicamp took place over the weekend, and the big standout conversation

for me was the hate that J.C. Latham got for his battles with the Bill Callahan sled. So if you've ever played football, you know what a blocking sled looks like where the offensive lineman and sometimes the defensive line as well will line up, get their

hands on it, looking to simulate blocking. It's one of the most old school pieces of equipment used in football practice ever. Okay? And Bill Callahan, Tennessee Titans' legendary offensive line coach, man, it feels good to say that, has a specialty sled that weighs 380 pounds. And we saw first-round pick J.C. Latham go toeam go toe to toe with it during rookie minicamp. There's two sleds, one named Bertha, one named Olga,

that the Titans will be working with. And the sled is different than a normal blocking sled. Already, like I said, it's 380 pounds, okay? And it's a single sled. And the body of the sled is kind of tilted down. There's a slant on the legs of it that make it kind of move in a certain way. But basically, you have to have perfect technique and tons of strength to be able to move this sled. And J.C. Latham took a crack at it, all right?

And his first attempt wasn't great, okay? It wasn't a great first attempt. He wasn't able to move it very well. And you could see Bill Callahan in the background smiling. And on some of the videos, you even hear Callahan say, hey, I don't want to take all of your money because it sounds like they're probably betting on how well Latham's going to do. All that, it seems all tongue-in-cheek, you know,

just a coach and a player getting along. But then J.C. Latham's second attempt. He gets up into it, raises it up, not really driving it, not really getting it to move. He readjusts his hips, and then he starts to drive this thing backwards about 10 yards. Looked beautiful. And this clip of J.C. Latham doing this with Bertha,

the big Callahan sled is getting passed around the internet and I'm having people from different teams fans of different teams all taking shots at JC Latham saying oh this guy's a bust already he can't even move the blocking sled absolute nonsense

if you see people saying things like that or you have fans of the Titans even took some shots at J.C. Latham, but if you hear people's reaction to that video be negative, they simply do not know football, okay? There's no other way around it. You do not know ball. If you're criticizing J.C. Latham from the video of that rep, and you can see that on Tennessee Titans Twitter account.

It's been shared all over social media. Go to my Twitter account at Tic Tac Titans if you want to see it. I've retweeted those videos from some of the beat reporters at practice. But not only did Latham figure out, oh, I gotta do it this way and figure out how to do it

on day one, but he was able to drive this sled backwards 10 yards on his second attempt. Okay. One, you want the blocking sled to be hard. You want it to be difficult. You want it to simulate what it's going to be like to move the Tavondre sweats in the NFL.

That's the whole point. It should be hard. And this is a sled that was made specifically by Bill Callahan to simulate real live action. This isn't just an ordinary blocking sled and like Latham is struggling with it. And not only that, but Brian Callahan said that some of the veterans who had been in the last few weeks struggled with the sled. Latham talked about it, and shout out to TennesseeTitans.com, but Latham talked about the sled after practice, and he said, quote,

At Bama, we have a sled similar to it, not exactly like it, but we just put our coaches on it, so it's kind of the same in that sense, but it really emphasizes technique. On my first rep where Bill Callahan wanted us to move it, I kind of shot out of my hips and kind of got the sled straight up. And if you get it straight up, you're not going to move it as a D lineman.

It will be a stalemate. So you really kind of got to gradually drive as you rise your hips up. So that's something that I was learning as I went, but it really emphasizes technique. And Latham talked even more about Bill Callahan in general. He said he's very, very intricate with the details of the work. He'll let you know if you had a bad rep. He'll just tell you your rep sucked.

And if you did good, he'll let you know you did good. He'll let you know the did good. He'll let you know the areas to improve in. And he's really intricate. Even in the meetings, he'll show us the film, what it should look like, how it's supposed to be done. He'll talk to us about it. And then he'll even grab one of the guys and be like, hey, let me see you do this, do this, do that. He grabbed me out earlier when we were in a meeting and we were going over our stance. And I was in my stance for like two minutes, which is a long time for an offensive lineman to be in the stance.

So he was just trying to show us and show me how to keep the knee bend, the weight distribution and all that. But he's a good coach. A great coach is actually what J.C. Latham said. And Brian Callahan even talked about it as well. He said JC looks strong and athletic. All those things that we thought we saw on tape translate here. We saw all those things.

He's got really good feet. He's got really strong hands. You saw his power. For a guy first time hitting one of those sleds, he had a few that were pretty impressive. His ability to brace was good to see. So my whole entire point here is just to stress to some of the haters He had a few that were pretty impressive. His ability to brace was good to see. So my whole entire point here is just to stress to some of the haters out there already taking shots at J.C. Latham,

some of the people who simply don't understand football and football practice and how this works. J.C. Latham was impressive over the weekend and impressed his coaching staff and impressed his head coach and his reps against that sled being used to you know criticize him it's actually 100% the opposite for anybody who actually understands football so just wanted to take a moment defend JC Latham set the record straight and obviously hearing from his coaches hearing from Latham himself the record straight. And obviously, hearing from his coaches, hearing from Latham himself, I think it was a great start for JC Latham in this rookie minicamp.

But we heard from Tavondre Sweat. We heard from Cedric Gray, who did some good stuff during this rookie minicamp. But there are also a bunch of undrafted free agents that the Titans brought in. And there are a few of those guys that I really have my eye on going forward. So we're going to dive into all of that. But first, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by eBay Motors. Passion, drive, and patience. The formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive.

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eBay guaranteed fit only available to U.S. customers. Titans fans, let's continue today's recap of Titans rookie minicamp, which took place over the weekend. JC Latham was out there hitting the Bill Callahan sled. Bertha and Olga, the twins, out there doing a great job despite the hate that he took on social media, which was completely misplaced. Besides that, though, the other rookies were out there as well,

including two guys who are going to be very important to the Tennessee Titans defense in 2024, and that's defensive lineman Tavondre Sweat and linebacker Cedric Gray. I'm going to give you guys an update on those two before I do thank you again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round,

always for free. Make sure that you become an everydayer because you're not going to get better content than this all summer long for your Tennessee Titans. But with that being said, to Vondre Sweat, and I always feel the need whenever I bring up to Vondre Sweat

to say, obviously, you know, I wasn't a huge fan of the pick. But putting that aside, it is time to cover this player. He is on the Tennessee Titans, and I thought Tavondre Sweat looked good. The videos of him running through the bags, hitting the bags, making turns. I thought that Sweat looked pretty good out there. Looked like he was moving pretty good. Of course, that is not some sort of indication that Sweat is going to be a good player or anything like that.

As we know, with other players who maybe didn't fare as well during their rookie minicamp, at least getting off to a good start and not looking like you're having troubles is key. Tavondre Sweat looked good out there. And it felt like, you know, other people said similar things. And Tavondre Sweat talked about what the biggest concern is for him going forward. And it's his playing weight, keeping his weight in check. That's obviously a function of the conditioning part of football and the sport. So if he keeps his weight in check,

he's going to be able to keep his conditioning in check. If he keeps his conditioning in check, he's going to be able to be out on the field more. If he's able to be out on the field more, he can make more of an impact, all three downs. That is what has to happen. Sweat stopped. Everybody said, quote, right now, before anyone asks, me and my nutritionist and my coaches are looking to find that perfect weight for me to play at. Don't know that perfect weight, but y'all will see when y'all see. So it sounds like the nutritionist, the strength and conditioning staff, the coaching staff, Devondre Sweat himself, they're all kind of looking to figure

this out right now, what would be best for him, because you want the man to have the requisite strength and the requisite power that you need from a man that size, but you also want to make sure that he's nimble enough to access that athleticism, and again, the conditioning, being able to be out on the field and make an impact is going to be so, so critical for Sweat. But it sounds like head coach Brian Callahan was happy with what he saw. Callahan said, quote, he looked good today. I thought he moved well. You never know when guys get here what they are going to look like. I thought he did a nice job.

He looked like the guy we saw on tape. So, again, doing well in rookie minicamp doesn't mean you're going to be an all-pro or doesn't mean that you're going to be a pro bowler, any of these things. But sometimes when guys have bad starts at their rookie minicamp, it is cause for concern. And at least with Tavondre Sweat, he looked good, he was running good, he was moving well, all that different stuff. You can see it on the videos from the Beat Reporters, obviously the quotes courtesy of TennesseeTitans.com, but good news from Tavondre Sweat's first weekend with the Tennessee Titans. Now I want to talk about Cedric Gray, though, because the linebacker may have been my favorite pick of the draft,

the fourth rounder out of North Carolina. And a lot of the conversation about Cedric Gray is his ability to wear the green dot. Can he wear the green dot? Can he call the plays for the Titans? Can he do all those things? And he is already doing that. Cedric Gray said himself, quote,

it was good. That's something in the job I want to be able to have. The green dot, of course. So being able to go out there and do that for the first time today, it was great. So Cedric Gray was already out there calling the plays, communicating to teammates, being a leader. And that's the stuff this coach is talking about. Here's what linebacker coach

Frank Bush had to say. He said, quote, I've got friends on the staff in North Carolina. Watch this kid over the years just get better and better and better. He's shown leadership. He's shown the ability to fix his mistakes. He self-corrects. He talks football and there's some football knowledge in there. He understands schemes and whatnot. So, you know, you're dealing with a set of traits that are going to help him go forward. And I believe that came from John Glennon, maybe Teron Davenport, obviously the beat John Glennon, Teron Davenport, Jim Wyatt, Teresa, obviously, is the GOAT. But all quotes coming from the beat reporters of the team themselves, TennesseeTitans.com, and this came from Titans.com.

Brian Callahan even said, quote, As you saw today, they did some sort of 11-on-11. More walkthrough. Introduce a couple coverages. To see the command there. Being able to get people lined up. Communicate amongst the defense. You see him interact with his peers

off the field, in the locker room, in the building, in the meeting room. So there's things that you can glean from it. A lot of it is going to have to do with how quickly he can understand the information and then be able to communicate it to others in live moments. Now there is no live football here to be played, but that is where you see how quickly he can pick it up. Really important part of the process to determine whether he has that leadership ability.

And obviously, like I said with Latham, like I said with Sweat, it's rookie minicamp, so nothing that happened this weekend is a definitive sign of what's to come. But with Cedric Gray already being out there and already kind of communicating to the defense, being a guy who's calling the plays, already being given that responsibility shows that the work he put in leading up to this point, I think Cedric Gray said in one of those interviews that he got the playbook like a week ago, for him to already be up to the point where he can even do some of that, it's a great sign of

what's to come. And Cedric Gray was known as a pure leader coming out five-time captain twice in high school, three times in North Carolina, may have been three times in high school, twice at North Carolina, but some sort of combination there. Five-time captain, a guy who's known for being an intelligent football player. So you love to see that already from a guy who a lot of fans have high hopes that he can be the number one linebacker on the team and the green dot on this team.

And, of course, the green dot is the guy who gets the calls from the coaches on the sideline and then gives the plays to the rest of the defense when they're out on the field. So really good start for the Titans. First three draft picks out there again, can't become an all pro in the first weekend, but you could definitely set yourself back as we've seen in the past as Tennessee Titans fans. So really nice to see all those guys kind of hit the ground running and do a great job. But with that being said, I do want to talk about some of the guys who did not get, well, let me throw this in Jarvis Brownlee Jr.

Unfortunately left practice on Friday with an injury. Talked to a trainer that don't know for certain that's a problem. I think it was Kayla Anderson who reported that if I'm miscrediting, then my apologies, but definitely don't want to hear that, but don't think it's anything too serious right away. The team's probably definitely playing it safe with some of these rookies since they haven't been doing, you know, they've been training for the combine

and all those different drills. They haven't really been doing football a ton over the last few months. So definitely okay to play it safe. But with that being said, undrafted free agents, there are guys, the Titans signed 16 of them, but there are a couple of guys that I really have my eye on

that I think could potentially find a role on this football team. I'll tell you who they are next. Before I do, though, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Look, it's winner take all time

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Fandle, America's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast, recapping rookie minicamp for the Titans, which happened over the weekend. We talked JC Latham. We talked to Vondre Sweat. We talked Cedric Gray, Jarvis Lee Brownlee, or Jarvis Lee, Jarvis Brownlee Jr., I should say. Now I want to talk about some of these undrafted free agents who I think could potentially carve out a role with the Titans.

Before I get into it, I do want to thank you again for making the Locked On Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. Also want to let you know that Locked On has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube, and it's now also available on Amazon Fire TV in the free Fire TV channels app. It's called Locked On Sports Today.

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I want to quickly go through the list of the 16 undrafted free agents the Tennessee Titans have brought onto the roster. Number one at running back, we have Dylan Johnson from Washington. Then we have running back Jabari Small from Tennessee, who Vols fans out there should know very well. Then we have wide receiver Sam Snee from Northern Iowa.

We have Bryce Oliver, wide receiver out of Youngstown State. Then we have two tight ends, Steve Stellanos from Iowa and David Martin Robinson from Temple. Then we have three offensive linemen, Zazavu Godlin from Liberty, I guess. Not very many names you see start with an X and a Z. All right, so give me a little bit of a break there. Brian Dooley from Eastern Michigan. Cole Spencer from Texas Tech. Then on the defensive line, Isaiah Iton from Rutgers at edge. Khalid Duke from Kansas State. Then defensive backs, we have Rod Gatterson, Western Carolina.

Robert Javier, Towson State. Gabe Judy Lawley from Tennessee. Another Vol for you guys. Keaton Ellis from Penn State. And then finally, we have a kicker. We have Braden Narveson from Duke, I do believe it is. He kicked like a 57-yarder game winner, like longest ever. I think it was at Duke.

So, definitely makes sense to have a young kicker in there to compete with Nick Folk. But, you know, I think the old man will probably win the job once again. But out of those names, there are probably about four or five that I'm interested in. Three more than any else. But there are about four or five that I'm interested in. Number one, the running back spot.

Dylan Johnson from Washington. 5'11", 217 pounds. He's really good in traffic. He's got good vision. He can really see things. May not have the best long speed ever, the super jukes and quickness, but he's going to run downhill. Again, he's going to be good in traffic. He's got good vision to get himself in the right spot. I think with Tony Pollard and with Tajay Spears, the Titans could use a pure power back. And Dylan Johnson is a guy who I think could really fit that role for the Titans. So he's someone I got an eye on.

Jabari's small. Again, maybe not as powerful, but another guy who runs downhill, is going to make the best of certain situations. Maybe not as much special teams value or receiving value, but I think that he's a guy who's going to get tough yards for you. And a lot of you Tennessee fans who have talked about him said he's a guy who really runs tough.

So Jabari Small, I'll keep my eye on that running back position. Also, offensive line, Cole Spencer. So I talked about Cole Spencer during the draft process. It was reported, I think, by Justin Mello of Draft Network. I think that it was reported that he spent like a couple hours watching film with Bill Callahan, met with the Titans three different times, Pro Day, Senior Bowl.

I don't know if it was a top 30 necessarily, but they met with him multiple times and had long interactions with Cole Spencer. So I believe that there is real interest there. Spencer's 6'3", 307 pounds. He's more of an athletic guy. Not a big, heavy power guy, but an athletic guy. He was a tackle early in college.

I think it was like Western Michigan or Western Kentucky, something like that. And then transferred to Texas Tech and ended up playing left guard. He had an injury his final year, happened in September, but came back, played six games. He's a good pass protector. Okay. He's a good pass protector. So maybe if the Titans think they can put more weight on him, they can put more power on him. They can tap into that athleticism. And you can maybe have like your backup center. Like maybe Cole Spencer could be a backup center for the Titans.

So I think that's a name to watch. Cole Spencer from Texas Tech. Also on the D-line, Isaiah Iton from Rutgers. 6'2", 277, 34-inch arms. He's kind of a tweener in a sense, but I think he could be like a versatile defensive lineman, put some more weight on him. I'm not going to say like Danico Autry, stuff like that,

because he's nowhere near that. We're talking about an undrafted free agent. But he's just a guy who's got good versatility on the defensive line and could be a good project for the Titans, maybe on the practice squad throughout the year. I never know whether to say Khaled, like DJ Khaled or Khalid. You know what I mean? Because, you know, I've seen it pronounced both ways.

But Khaled Duke, Khalid Duke, out of Kansas State, 6'3", 246 pounds, edge rusher. All right, he may not have great length. He's got rusher. He may not have great length. He's got short arms. He may not have great strength. He definitely needs to put on some mass and get stronger. But he has bend. And that sort of flexibility and quickness is hard to find.

So you get a guy who's 6'3", 240 some pounds. With that sort of bend around the edge, Okay? So you get a guy who's 6'3", 240-some pounds, with that sort of bend around the edge, I think with the Titans' knee to edge, that could definitely be something to pay attention to. Other than that, I mean, there are other guys, I mean, maybe you Volves fans out there will like Gabe Judy Lawley. I know that there are some people out there who are high on like Steven Stolanos,

the blocking tight end out of Iowa. Obviously, the Titans need like that pure blocking tight end type guy. So maybe he would make some sense. There are options here. Now, we're talking about undrafted free agents. So the odds of one or two of these guys make, last year, the Titans were being crazy and like seven of them made the roster. I don't think that's going to happen this year

because the Titans have a more talented roster. But overall, you just never know. Like, this is a crazy stat I hear all the time. There are more undrafted free agents in the Hall of Fame than there are first-rounders. That's a crazy stat. So, hey, never count any of these guys out. It'll be interesting to track some of them

when we get to, you know, full team OTAs, full team mandatory minicamp, and, of course, training camp at the end of July as well. But with that being said, before I go, let me know which of these undrafted free agents that you have your eye on and think could maybe impact this team.

Very interested to hear what you guys have to say about that. But with that being said, that is going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans. So