Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - TENNESSEE TITANS ROSTER PREDICTIONS: Femi Oladejo is a FREAK, Surprise in Secondary & Linebacker Battle

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

The Tennessee Titans defense needs to be much more consistent this year and a player like Femi Oladejo at edge should allow them to do that with his freakish profile even if it may take some time. In the secondary, the Titans are surprisingly thin at corner and a young player in Gabe Juedy-Lally seems to be stepping up. Finally, the linebacker group will be battling, but special teams and skillset will be what decides the fight.  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!LinkedInPost your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelRight now, new customers can get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS when your first FIVE DOLLAR BET WINS! Download the app or head to FANDUEL.COM to get started. Bet with FanDuel—Official Partner of the NBA.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year.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 second round pass rusher Femi Oladejo is a freak and he gives the Titans edge rush group way more potential than they had last year. I'll break it down and predict who makes the roster on today's edition of Locked On Titans. 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 rolling Titans fans on today's show We are gonna continue my 53 man roster predictions. We did offense yesterday today We're gonna dive into the defense Who makes the team in the front seven who is able to break through in the secondary and I got a big

Surprise for you there, but we also got to acknowledge special teams and their roster spots So we're gonna cap everything off on today's show before we dive into it Do want to thank you for making locked on Titans your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. It may be the off season for the Titans, but there is no off season for Locked On Titans. So make sure that you get subscribed, stay subscribed. It's your team every day. Speaking of every day, shout out to my everydayers out there tuning in Monday through Friday. Couldn't do it without you guys. If you aren't an everydayer, you need to be one.

The Tennessee Titans have practice again tomorrow. And I'm going to be here to break it all down with you guys. We're going to be reacting to it throughout the rest of the week. And I might finish the week with a little bit of a mailbag, taking your guys' questions as well. But with all that being said, we do got to dive into my roster predictions for the Tennessee Titans defense. We left out of offense with 25 players on the roster. We had two quarterbacks with Cam Ward and Brandon Allen.

We had four running backs with Tony Pollard, Taje Spears, Kal-El Mullings, and I think the fourth running back will be someone who's not on the roster. Right now, six wide receivers, Calvin Ridley, Tyler Lockett, Van Jefferson, Chim Dike, Eleki Omaner, and Xavier Restrepo. Cut, Traylon Burks on that one. Chigokankwo, Josh Wiley, Gunnar Helm, and David Martin Robinson. My four tight ends. And on the offensive line, we have the starting five of Dan Moore, Peter Skoronsky, Lloyd Cushenberry, Kevin Zeitler, J.C. Latham,

and then four backups. Ali Udo at offensive tackle, Blake Hantz and Jackson Slater at guard and Corey Levin at center. So going into defense, we know that we have 25 spots to play with essentially. And I'm on the defensive line. And just like last year,

the defensive line depth, just not really doing it for me. The edge group has a little bit more potential this year with Femiola De Gio, but let's discuss the front seven here, especially the linebackers. Look at it edge. I think the reality is the Tennessee Titans edge group is still bad. It's still really bad. At the end of the day, it was bad last year with Harold Landry. They've added Draymond Jones. They subtracted Landry.

They've added Femi Oladejo, but the big issue for me is there's just not a lot of pass rush talent here. In my opinion, Draymond Jones is better rushing from the interior. Arden Key, better pass rusher than run defender, certainly. Arden Key has some pass rush talent, but if Draymond Jones is better rushing from the interior, then what do you have after that? Well, you have Femi Oladejo, and look, Femi is an absolute freak. I am so excited about Femi Oladejo. I talked about it at the end of last week when we were talking about practice that happened, his build at long arms, 6'3", and some change, 260 pounds.

His energy, his personality, his drive, his potential considering he was an off-ball linebacker for forever. I think Femiola De Gio is going to be an absolute monster. I'm just not certain that it happens right away. Now here's what I will tell you. Compared to last year, excuse me, way more potential in this edge rush group. Way more potential in this edge rush group. It's really not even close because like I said on that episode at the end of last week, Femi in theory should be a project that takes some time and that's where I'm going to be. But if he blows up right away, Femi's potential alone, and him turning into a significant player right away,

the fact that that's even possible gives this edge rush group way more potential. And then you add in Draymont Jones, who is a better rusher than any of the Titans' third options last year. Arden Key already, pretty decent edge rusher. So if you have Arden Key, Femi, Draymond Jones, you're going to have Lorenzo Carter, but Lorenzo Carter is not a pass rusher whatsoever, but he's an early down physical edge setter. And then you have Jalen Harrell. Remember, seventh round rookie from Michigan last year. Those five guys I think are going to make the roster.

The problem is, do I give a sixth spot to the D-line or do I keep Ali Gay? Remember, you got Leo Titus, who came over to the Tennessee Titans on waivers from the New England Patriots. You also have a guy like Desmond Evans, who is an undrafted free agent, but I don't think they're going to make the team. I think those top six edge rushers of Arden Key, Femiola Dejo, Draymond Jones, Lorenzo Carter, Jalen Harrell, and Ali Gay, I think that's the six. So I've made up my mind. I'll figure out the defensive line when we go to the defensive line at the end of the show, but I'm keeping those six edge rushers because not only do edge rushers.

Give you the ability to play edge on defense, but it's more likely you're going to get a special teams coverage player from an outside linebacker than it is a defensive lineman. So that's what sways my vote. I guess from that perspective, if I'm going to take six from one, that's where I'm going to do it. But anyways, moving right along, we look at that defensive line. We'll just get into the defensive line right now.

Okay. Defensive line. You got big Jeff, you got Tavondre Sweat, you got Sebastian Joseph Day. Those guys are locks to meet up front. Then you have the backups. You have Carlos Watkins, you have Keandre Coburn, you have James Lynch. James Lynch and Keandre Coburn spent time with the Titans last year. Then behind them you have even younger guys. You have Devonte O'Malley, Cam Horsley, Philip Bleedy, Isaiah Raikes, all undrafted free agent guys that the Titans brought in. I don't like the Titans' interior defensive line depth for another season.

I just simply don't. I'm not a huge fan of Keandre Coburn. James Lynch is just okay. The top three, good. Jeff Sweat, SJD, awesome. But this is another area where I'm going to say the Titans keep five guys. They keep Keandre Coburn and James Lynch. And at the end of the day, it's just cause I'm not very high on any of the other options. Carlos Watkins is the only one that I would seriously seriously consider. But at the end of the day, I think this is another spot, just like we're going to talk about when we talk about some other spots. This is a spot where I think the Tennessee Titans ultimately have someone make the roster who isn't on the roster right now.

I think the Titans add somebody in waivers. Whether it be in place of Keandre Coburn or James Lynch. Or maybe they keep six because they like the guy they get. I'm going to have them keep in five. But I think this could be a place where the Titans could keep six D-line and then only five edge rushers and let Allie Gay go, if they find a good sixth interior defensive lineman that they want to keep around. But for right now, I'm gonna go five interior defensive lineman with Jeff, Sweat, SJD, Coburn, and Lynch.

I'm gonna go six edge rushers with Arden Key, Femi Oladejo, Draymond Jones, Lorenzo Carter, Jalen Harrell and Ali Gay. But now we got to talk about the secondary. We got to talk about inside linebacker and we got to talk about special teams. Do you want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by LinkedIn. As a small business owner, your work doesn't end. When the clock hits five, your business is always on your mind, which means when it's time to hire, you need a partner that works just as hard as you do.

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That's LinkedIn.com slash locked on NFL to post your job for free. Terms and conditions do apply. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We talked about interior defensive line. We talked about edge rushers. That's 11 players that I've added to the Tennessee Titans roster to add to the 25 that I did with the offensive version. If you missed the offensive episode yesterday, go back and check that out. Do want to thank you for making Locked on Titans your first listen.

Get subscribed, stay subscribed. It's your team every day. Again, the Titans have practice tomorrow and I'm going to be here to break it all down with you guys. But now we've got to move to the back half of the defense, okay, to the back end. And we have the secondary. Cornerback. A lot of players brought in at cornerback. A ton of new faces at cornerback. But, there are five guys who we already know.

We know Ligeria Snead. We know Roger McCreary. We know Jarvis Brownlee Jr. We know Jerome Baker, Jerome Baker, the linebacker, Darrell Baker Jr. And we know Gabe Judy Lawley. Gabe Judy Lawley, the undrafted free agent out of Tennessee who hasn't made the roster,

or didn't make the roster last year, but has been kept around the organization for quite some time. Getting rave reviews out of the first week of phase three of OTAs had a few pass breakups, was running with the first team, apparently with a luxurious need out again, undrafted free agent last year out of Tennessee. He's a big bodied corner. He's about six one, six two, got some size to him, can play on the outside. And that is exactly what the Tennessee Titans need because Jarvis Brownlee Jr. Set himself last year when he was drafted that he thought that he would be best at the nickel.

And now he's playing outside for the Titans. Roger McCreary is a slot cornerback. We've done this so many times we know that he can't play on the outside. It's a bad matchup for him. Well, the Titans drafted Marcus Harris out of of Cal who came from Idaho before that. But he's a smaller slot cornerback. So it's like the Titans have a lot of guys that you could look to and say, Hey, they might be best in the slot, which means it puts a major emphasis on guys who can actually play on the outside. And if Ligeria Snead isn't healthy and L Legerius Need isn't ready to go for training camp and all that, that's going to make that need even worse.

They need outside, bigger, physical, longer boundary cornerbacks. And Gabe Judy Lawley can fill that role. This is very similar in my opinion to the conversation that we had about Ellic Iow Manor. in my opinion, to the conversation that we had about Ellic Io Manor. And it's not that I think that Io Manor is, you know, significantly better than Xavier Restrepo or all these other, I don't know that yet, but just the opening of the role, the big physical X receiver, the Titans don't have a lot of guys who could play that role who they can count on. You can't count on the ghost of Traylen Burks, Van Jefferson, are you really

going to play him over a high upside rookie in IO Manor? I mean, what are we doing there? So to me, this is the same conversation on the other side. Is Gabe Judy Lawley significantly better than a guy like Marcus Harris or some of these undrafted free agent guys the Titans brought in like Jalen Kimber out of Penn State or Jermari Harris out of Iowa. Clarence Lewis, Davion Ross, Amani Uruwariye, who the Titans got off waivers or signed as a free agent, I guess, from Dallas, not off waivers, but he's a veteran guy. Can any of these guys step up? Maybe.

And some of them fit the same mold as a Gabe Judy Lawley. They're bigger, more, you know, maybe outside corners, like a Jermari Harris, something like that. But at the end of the day, Gabe Judy Lawley has been with the program. He's been with the team. He's a local guy. He fits the size. So I think that Gabe Judy Lawley makes the roster right now.

I'm going to say the Titans keep five cornerbacks. The top four that we know about with Snead, Roger, Jarvis, Baker, and then Gabe Judy Lolley is the guy who makes it. The Titans may choose to keep six cornerbacks. Maybe they do keep a guy like Marcus Harris, maybe one of these undrafted free edge. Like Jamari Harris is a guy. I'm very interested in it. But right now, right now I'm going to give Gabe Judy, Judy Lolley that final spot. It's a little bit of a surprise. I didn't expect to be saying that, but just coming out of one week of OTAs, hearing how the coaches appreciate him. I mean, if they're giving him the opportunity to run with the first team, I think that means something.

So I'm going to go with Gabe Judy L Lawley as kind of a surprise addition, but five cornerbacks for me make the roster. And that means Marcus Harris, a guy who was drafted does not. So that'll be one to watch for sure. But going to safety, safety is a place where I kind of decided to bite the bullet a little bit. Am I going to keep a fifth safety? Am I going to keep a fifth safety? Am I going to keep an extra person in the front seven? Just like with offensive line, I kept nine offensive linemen. Why did I do that? Because I want to be beefed up in the trenches.

And especially with the top waiver claim. Remember, the Tennessee Titans have the top waiver claim all off season long to pick up anybody who's eligible on waivers that gets cut from any team in the NFL Titans get first dips. So I think they're going to take advantage of that. And a lot of these places, like I talked about interior defensive line linebacker might be a place and we'll talk about linebacker here in a second, but linebacker might be a place where the Titans do that. But with safety, that's another spot where I could see him add somebody

from waivers because I just don't like anybody outside the top four. You have a money hooker. You have Xavier Woods. You have Kevin Winston locks. I like Mike Brown. I've always been a Mike Brown defend defender. He can play special teams. You can actually have him play a little bit of safety on defense.

Not a special teams only guy. Love that. Outside of that though, you have Julius Wood. You have Kendall Brooks. You have Mark Perry as well, who was claimed off waivers from New England, had the interception on Will Wevis. Maybe one of those guys steps up, but at the end of the day, I think the difference between the top four and then the next three, there's a big gap. So maybe the Titans had somebody on waivers and that makes them go with five safeties. Safeties can be very valuable for special teams, so it wouldn't be a shock. But I'm just going to go with four for right now. I'm just going to go with four safeties

for right now. So I got five interior defensive linemen, six edge rushers, of linemen, six edge rushers, four safeties, that's 15, five cornerbacks, that's 20. So I have five more spots that I have to fill and we head to the linebackers. And then of course, there are three spots for special teams. Titans fans, let's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We are finishing off my 53 man roster prediction, my early 53-man roster prediction. I would imagine I'll do this again during training camp. I see things right now. We did offense yesterday, doing defense today. We've done the defensive line, the edge, the secondary.

We need to talk linebackers, need to talk special teams before we do. Do wanna thank you again for making Locked on Titans your first listen. For your second listen, check out Locked on NFL Scouting. As training camp gets closer and moves are being made, host Kyle Krause and Joe Marino will make you the most informed NFL fan this offseason. Find Locked on NFL Scouting on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts.

But linebacker, hotly contested position, especially for that second starting role. I've said I'm going to take James Williams in that battle. That's going to be my pick, my guess, but we're hearing that Otis Reese might have the early lead, so that'll be something interesting to watch. But this isn't just about who's going to start. This is about who makes the roster. And at the end of the day, all three of the young linebackers that I'm talking about having a chance to take the spot.

Cedric Gray, James Williams, Otis Reese. I think all three make the roster. And they're going to be right next to Cody Barton. Barton is going to make this roster. To me, there will be more than four linebackers. There will be five or six linebackers. Now, I have room for five, but the Titans could easily change things around to give themselves more room. They could go with five edge rushers and five interior defensive linemen and then six linebackers

because linebackers are a prime special teams coverage position. But I'm just going to go with my five. And I told you my top four Barton Gray Williams Reese, but my fifth, I'm going to go with Curtis Jacobs. So Curtis Jacobs is a guy that Titans picked up off waivers. He was an undrafted free agent last year out of Penn State or actually I think he might have been drafted as a matter of fact, day three, I believe. But either way, Curtis Jacobs is a linebacker out of Penn State last year's class. And I just think he has a lot of potential and the Titans picked him up early in the waiver claim process. One of their first waiver claims that they made.

I think that Curtis Jacobs has a good chance to make the roster. I think he has some ability and coverage, which James Williams, Otis Reese, Cody Barton, they're all downhill tackler guys. Cody Barton is kind of a do-it-all type of guy, but James Williams and Otis Reese are both downhill players who are pretty good against the run and struggle against the pass. Cedric Gray is more of a pass coverage linebacker. At least that was his profile coming out of college. And Curtis Jacobs comes to give you a little bit of both. I think he's a decent athlete. He's going to be a downhill linebacker,

but I think he gives you a little bit of potential in coverage as well, which adds more balance to the group. So I'm going to go with Curtis Jacobs as the fifth linebacker, and that's going to round out the defense. Again, five on the interior defensive line, six at edge, five at linebacker, five at cornerback, four at safety.

And then of course you have the three special teams positions. You're going to have Morgan Cox at long snapper. You're going to have Joey sly at kicker, and then you're going to have Johnny Hecker at punter. So that's my 53 right there. You've got the three of them, special teams, 25 on defense, 25 on offense. I'm not a hundred percent certain that that's exactly how it'll work out. But at the end of the day, I think that it's going to be close no matter what.

Couple here, couple there. I don't think it'll be too overall slanted, but they have a lot of tough decisions. And it's not necessarily about players because, you know, it's David Martin Robinson or Blake Hance or Corey Levin or, you know, is David Martin Robinson or Blake Hans or Corey Levin or you know, like Jaylen Harrell or Curtis Jacobs or Gabe Judy Lawley like Mike Brown or any of these guys like, oh, we got to have them. We got, you know, no, it's not about the individual player. It's about where you want to fill your roster and where you want to make moves. And I think doing it this way is, is where I would be right now.

But, uh, let me know your predictions for the offense and the defense again, on tomorrow's show, we're going to be going over Tennessee Titans practice, uh, breaking down everything you need to know from that, 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.