Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans SHOULD NOT Trade for Devin White, Wide Receiver Lies & Jeffery Simmons Signs Contract

Episode Date: April 12, 2023

The Tennessee Titans have made some changes to their linebacker group this offseason, but they would be making a MAJOR move if they traded for linebacker Devin White. Tyler explains why the Titans SHOULD NOT consider the trade. Also, the Titans are reportedly meeting with free agent wide receiver Chris Moore. Tyler breaks down the report and explains why it is another sign the Titans aren't learning anything at wide receiver. Finally, Jeffery Simmons gave comments to the media today after signing his new deal and he had some very interesting things to say!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!BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist who can take you on that journey of self-discovery from wherever you are. Visit BetterHelp.com/lockedon today to get 10% off your first month.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.Ultimate Football GMTo download the game just visit Ultimate-GM.com or look it up on the app stores. Our listeners get a 100% free boost to their franchise when using the promo LOCKEDON (ALL CAPS) in the game store.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

Should the Tennessee Titans trade for linebacker Devin White? I say absolutely not, and I'll explain why 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. 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. First, should the Titans trade for linebacker Devin White after he requested a trade from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? I'll tell you why my answer is a simple no. Also, the Titans had a meeting with a free agent wide receiver, and it is Chris Moore. I'll tell you why this upsets me so much. And then finally, we'll talk about Jeffrey Simmons' contract press conference that he had on Wednesday, and I'll talk about some of the great things that I thought Jeffrey Simmons had to say.

We're going to dive into all that in just a moment. First, I do want to let you know that today's episode is brought to you by Fandul Sportsbook, the official sportsbook of the NFL. Make every moment more. Visit Fandul.com slash locked on to get started today. Also, thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content on all platforms, all year long, and always for free.

Get subscribed. Stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, where it's your team every day. I want to give a big shout out to my everydayers out there tuning into the show every single Monday through Friday. Thank you all so much for anyone tuning in right now. Throw a thumbs up on the video.

The support helps the channel quite a bit. Do want to remind you guys, we are in the middle of the 2023 Locked On Titans NFL Draft Preview. We did quarterback on Tuesday. We did running backs on Wednesday. Tomorrow, to cap off the week, we are going to dive into the wide receiver position, which is a very important one. Make sure you tune into that.

But for right now, we got to talk about a question that I got a lot on Tuesday when the news broke that Devin White, linebacker from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a former Pro Bowler, a Super Bowl champion, requested a trade. And now, anytime that a player requests a trade, what do you think the reason behind that request is? I'm going to go three seconds and let you guys answer. One, two, three. Money. Of course, it is money.

And Devin White is getting ready to play on his fifth-year option. He wants a long-term extension like what just happened with Jeffrey Simmons. Devin White wants that contract to secure his future. And if Tampa Bay isn't willing to give it to him, then he wants to be traded somewhere where they will. And look, I get it from his perspective, but from the Titans' perspective, they absolutely should not entertain a trade for Devin White. Number one, the contract. If Devin White gets traded, he's going to want a contract,

and his market estimations right now are like $20 million per season. He wants to be paid like the highest linebacker in the NFL, and the Titans are not in a position right now to paid like the highest linebacker in the NFL. And the Titans are not in a position right now to be paying an inside linebacker top money in the NFL. That's just not where this team is. So he wants a major deal and the Titans are not the team that should give it to him. Not only that, but inside linebacker in general is just not a position that I think you spend big dollars on we could go through this whole entire topic and maybe later in this all season when things slow down after the draft this is something that I'll get into but ranking positions

and how important they are of course you have quarterback then me, you have left tackle, edge rusher, wide receiver, cornerback. To me, then you go to interior defensive line, tight end, interior offensive line. But at the very bottom of the list, to me, the three positions are linebacker, off-ball linebacker, inside linebacker, not edge rusher, not outside linebacker, whatever you want to call it. To me, there's edge, interior, and off-ball linebacker. There are only three positions in the front seven. That's how my brain works and how I see football these days. So inside linebacker, running back, and safety.

Maybe you put guard in there, but the position players, of course, not counting long snapper kick or all that. So to me, you don't spend big time money on those positions. You just don't. Now, if you get a player who is far and away a huge difference maker like the Titans have with Kevin Byard, who creates a ton of turnovers, then yeah, you can pay that player in a special circumstance.

But as a general rule, I'm not paying big time money for linebackers and I'm not doing it for a guy like Devin White who maybe came out and started his career gangbusters but has fallen off a little bit since so I'm just absolutely not doing that anyway and then you add in who did the Titans just hire as their general manager

Ran Carthon where did Ran Carthon come from? San Francisco. Who are San Francisco's linebackers? Pete Warner, second round pick, and then Dre Greenlaw, day three pick. So to me, when you hire somebody like Rand Carthon, who comes from an organization that has found really,

really good linebacker play later in the draft, you don't ruin that skill by paying an off-ball linebacker big-time money. Rand Carthon has shown that he can be involved in processes that add late-round linebacker big-time money, Rand Carthon has shown that he can be involved in processes that add late-round linebackers and turn them into starters. Look at what the Titans did with David Long. So, to me, anytime, this is just what it is.

Anytime a name that people recognize goes on the trade market or gets released, I get a million requests of, should the Titans bring this guy in? And I just want to answer the question simply, no. And for all the reasons that I just laid out. He wants a major deal the Titans shouldn't pay. You shouldn't pay big deals to inside linebackers anyway. And Rand Carthon has the ability to find really good inside linebacker play late in the draft.

So all of that together makes it an easy no and an easy pass for me on Devin White. But we're going to move forward to another player that the Titans should pass on anyway, and it's wide receiver Chris Moore who is supposed to have a meeting with the Titans. I'll explain why I feel so strongly and why it's bigger than just the meeting with Chris Moore. Before we get into that though, do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you

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We just talked about Devin White and his trade request. Now I want to get into this report that the Titans are meeting with free agent wide receiver Chris Moore. And if you're looking at your screen right now, if you're listening to me in your ears and you're going, who in the world is Chris Moore? Well, I don't blame you. And I'll explain why.

Before we get into it, I want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Shout out to my everydayers out there listening to the show Monday through Friday. Can't tell you how much I appreciate the support. But I want to dive in here, and I'm going to rant a little bit. I'm just telling you guys right now. This is going to be a Roland's rant for you. And everybody was telling me that I was freaking out on Twitter earlier

and I'm overreacting and there's no reason to care about this, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Let me adjust the hat here for a moment. But hear me out on this, folks. So the Titans are set to have a meeting with free agent wide receiver Chris Moore. Now, Chris Moore started his career in 2016 with Baltimore. He played five seasons in Baltimore as kind of a backup wide receiver.

Never had more than 20 catches in a season during his time in Baltimore. Highest yards total was 248. He's a depth wide receiver. He goes to Houston the last two years. Does better than he's done before in his career. Went over 20 catches both years. And last year, had his best year of his career. Had 48 catches for 548 yards.

All right. That's it. He's a depth wide receiver who had a good year with Houston last year. He's going to be 30 this year when the games start. 30 years old. Mike Vrabel told us that this team needed to add wide receivers.

He told us that this team needed to get faster, needed more speed. And his response is to re-sign Nick Westbrook-Akene, one of the slowest wide receivers in the NFL who looks like he's running in combat boots, and a 30-year-old wide receiver

who has been a depth piece his entire career? That's the speed? That's the wide receivers? And look, I can already hear the responses, oh, it's April. The Titans are still going to draft people. The summer... Veterans of consequence, veterans who move the needle, veterans who make a

difference are not going to be available in the summer. That's not how it works. And the Titans can go draft a wide receiver. They can draft Jackson Smith and Jigba with the number 11 pick. They can draft Quentin Johnson. They can draft Zay Flourish. Whoever you like at wide receiver, whoever you think the Titans should take at the 11th pick at wide receiver, just fill in the blank in your head with that name. If the Titans add blank wide receiver at pick 11, that still leaves them with the worst wide receiver group in the NFL. So, in a vacuum, in a vacuum, by itself, the Titans adding a depth wide receiver for probably a veteran minimum contract who had over 500 yards last year and had some kick return ability.

Oh, yeah. Doesn't seem too bad. Sure doesn't. contract who had over 500 yards last year and had some kick return ability. Doesn't seem too bad. Sure doesn't. But, look at the totality of the situation. I like Burks. I am going to pound the table for Traylon Burks. I think Traylon Burks is going to be a really good wide receiver in the NFL. But, spare me the Kyle Phillips optimism. Kyle Phillips was a fifth round rookie and people are talking about Kyle Phillips like he's Wes Welker. The dude caught eight passes last year and you're telling me, hey, if we have Burks, a rookie, and Phillips, that's a really good group.

What? What? Traylon Burks, a rookie, Kyle Phillips, NWI, and Chris Moore? You're telling me that that is a good wide receiver group? No, it is not. Okay? Chris Moore should not even be in consideration for this team. And here's why. Instead of whatever reps,

whatever snaps, whatever opportunities you were going to give to Chris Moore at 30 years old, why would you not give that to a younger player? Why would you not draft two wide receivers in the NFL draft? And any time that Chris Moore spends on the field is taking away time from a younger wide receiver who may actually turn into something for you. Imagine Chris Moore getting snaps

or practice opportunities over Racy McMath. Chris Moore may be a better player than Racy McMath, but is Chris Moore going to make a difference between the Titans winning games and not? Absolutely not. You know who potentially could if they develop properly? Racy McMath. So whatever the Titans have planned for develop properly? Racy McMath. So,

whatever the Titans have planned for Chris Moore, if they sign him, all they did was meet with him, and I get it. But if they sign Chris Moore, every opportunity that they give to him should actually be going to a player who is not 30 years old.

The Titans need to find 21, 22, 23-year-old Chris Moore. And every moment and every second that they spend meeting with a Chris Moore. And you know what? Forget that it's Chris Moore. If the Titans are meeting with Chris Moore, then they're meeting with veteran wide receivers like Chris Moore. And look, I know some people are saying to me,

you complain when the Titans don't sign a wide receiver. You complain when they're meeting with a wide receiver. My complaint is that they didn't do something earlier. That is my complaint. What is this team doing at wide receiver? It's a disgrace. It's a disgrace. And even if they sign or they draft a

wide receiver in the first round, this wide receiver group is still absolutely despicable. And for you people who think, oh, they got Derrick Henry, they got Tannehill, make another run at it. They ain't making no run with that wide receiver group. With Traylon Burks, Jackson Smith and Jigba, Kyle Phillips, NWI, and a Chris Moore. Even if it's not Chris Moore himself, make it whatever other, you know, barely hanging on to his life in the NFL,

veteran wide receiver you want it to be. The point is, it's not about Chris Moore. It's not about NWI in a vacuum. It's about the entire approach. We were told that this team was going to value wide receivers and needed to add wide receivers. We were told that this team needed to add speed. They have not done that for a single moment in any move they have made so far. And you can tell yourself, it's early, it's not even April, it's blah, blah, blah. But the main time to add veteran players is over now.

You're getting scraps the rest of the way. You're getting other people's garbage the rest of the way. So, yeah. I wanted the Titans to sign Alan Lazard. I didn't want them to go out and get Jacoby Myers, but my God, it would have been something. You don't want to pay top dollar?

That's fine. McCall Hardman, Paris Campbell, Richie James, for God's sakes. Richie James would be the second best receiver on the whole team right now. I'm not asking the Titans to go out and spend a million, or a million dollars really doesn't make any sense, $10 million on a wide receiver. Go spend $2 or $3 million on a guy like Hardman, a guy like Nelson Aguilar, for God's sakes.

That is where the Titans are at right now as a team, that players like Richie James and Nelson Aguilar would be difference makers. And they still don't want any of them. To do what? To sign Chris Moore and NWI? I'm just telling you, it's frustrating. It's upsetting. And I don't know how you can have optimism in this team

even if they draft a wide receiver at 11. They're going to have anything close to a good enough wide receiver group this year to compete. They simply don't. They simply don't. I mean, if you want to bring up Houston, you want to bring up Green Bay, we'll have that conversation. But for my money, the Titans have the worst wide receiver group in the NFL,

and drafting Jackson Smith and Jigbutt at number 11 isn't going to change that. They needed more. I went into the offseason saying the Titans needed to attack wide receiver early in the draft and they needed to sign a good wide receiver in free agency. They have not done that. And there is nobody available now in free agency

or that will become available that can check that box. The box that needed to be checked if this team was going to be a serious team. And they're not. They're unserious about wide receiver. And until the Titans figure out that wide receiver is now far more important

than it was 10 years ago, we're just not going to see the change that we hope we see philosophically from them on offense. So, if you want to keep building the offense around a nearly 30-year-old running back and try to run the ball down people's throat all the time with garbage at wide receiver,

then I guess they've been trying it since 1999. I guess they're going to continue to do it. But, again, it's not about one individual meeting. It's not about one individual signing. It's about the philosophical approach to the position throughout the entire offseason. That's frustrating to me. And if you're not frustrated by it,

I don't understand the blind optimism that you have after watching this team for the last couple of years, for the last 20 years. You've got to be a new fan who just hasn't seen the reality yet. Either way, we're going to move forward to a more positive conversation. Jeffrey Simmons signed his big contract,

did a press conference. I'm going to talk about some of the things that he said that I really like to hear, so we'll get into that in just a moment. Titans fans, we are going to cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We talked about Devin White's trade request, why I'm out on that. We talked about the Chris Moore meeting that the Titans are set to have

and why it's just another issue with the overall philosophy of the team and handling wide receiver. But now I want to talk about that Jeffrey Simmons press conference. He signed his contract officially on Wednesday. Before we get into it, I want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. As for your second listen, check out Locked on NFL Scouting with the Draft Dudes from free agency to the draft

to salary cap management and more. Join NFL experts Kyle Krabs and Joe Marino as they take you through what it's like to build a successful NFL franchise every Monday through Friday. Find Locked on NFL Scouting with the Draft Dudes wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube. It's part of the Locked On Podcast Network where it's your team

every day. And shout out to my everydayers listening to the Locked On Titans podcast Monday through Friday. Definitely do appreciate all you guys. Want to let everybody know tomorrow will be the wide receiver draft preview episode. You're not going to want to miss everybody know tomorrow will be the wide receiver draft preview episode. You're not going to want to miss it because obviously, as I just ranted about for 10 minutes,

it's a very important position for the Titans, and they need to do everything they can to look towards the future and add some wide receivers who can help. Maybe not this year coming up, but the year after that. So we're going to talk about that tomorrow. But for today, the Jeffrey Simmons presser. Number one, do want to point out, Jeffrey Simmons said that the reason that he scrubbed his social media

from everything Titans and deleted them for a little while and stuff is he just didn't want to get tagged in a bunch of different things. And let me just take a brief moment to say, you guys who like tag players and stuff, like somebody says something bad about a player and you reply to them and tag the player in it. I don't know if you want like a pat on the head from the player, like, oh, you're a good fan,

but all you're doing is presenting negative feedback to players that they don't need. I don't understand why people tag players when you're having discussions with other fans or why certain people comment to me and tag Mike Vrabel in it. You know? What are you doing? They don't want to see that. They don't care.

So I don't understand that as a general philosophy. But either way, moving forward, Simmons just said he didn't want to see it. He didn't want to be tagged and stuff. He didn't want to have fans arguing about him. He didn't want to see the stuff where people say, oh, he shouldn't, he's not worth the money. But he didn't want to see the good or the bad. He just wanted things to take care of itself. Said he wanted to focus on his rehab, getting healthy, getting ready for the next season and letting everything play out. So I totally understand that. Now he did scrub some Titan stuff from his profiles,

which if you just didn't want to be involved in the social media discourse around you, I get that. But why did you like delete Titan stuff? That doesn't really make, but whatever. Today's not the day to investigate that issue. But speaking of health, so obviously Jeffrey Simmons had a beat up ankle

at the end of the year. Simmons said that he's fully healthy now, and he's just worried about staying healthy and getting better. So you love to hear that. Another big thing that stood out to me, and I'm considering writing a little bit of a piece on it for alltitans.com for Sports Illustrated, but Jeffrey Simmons said that he couldn't know for certain because the contract negotiations

are ongoing at the time, but he said he felt very comfortable that he was going to be back with the Titans when after John Robinson was fired, Amy Adams Strunk told him that they would take care of him. I mean, shout out to Miss Amy. That is leadership from the top. The owner telling you, hey, I know we fired our general manager. We're going to have to hire a new one, but we are going to take care of you. And in fact, they did. And in fact, they did.

So I loved hearing that from Jeffrey Simmons. Also, he talked about talking to Rand Carthon. hearing that from Jeffrey Simmons. Also, he talked about talking to Rand Carthon, and he didn't want to divulge all of the, you know, details of the private conversation, but he said after he talked to Rand Carthon, he felt pretty good that he would be back with the Tennessee Titans.

He said, I want to be in Tennessee the rest of my career, and I know that's a common thing that guys say at their press conferences. They just got paid. It's basically a honeymoon period. But I believe them. It felt earnest. It felt honest. It felt genuine. And I gotta

tell you guys, you gotta go back and watch that press conference. There's in the middle of it, Simmons kinda, not kinda, but he gets emotional and he breaks down a little bit. He's got to pause, collect himself. And I'm not going to lie to you guys.

During that moment, I started getting emotional. Simmons talked about his mom being a single mother. Times where he knows that she didn't want to, you know, do this, do that, take him here, take him there, blah, blah, blah, and taking care of his brothers and sisters, and all that, and he, you know,

like I said, got really, really emotional about everything that they've been through, and you could just tell, you could tell at that moment, every single thing in his life, all the ups, all the downs, the bad times, all of it was going through his mind at once. And he was just thinking about all of this stuff that used to happen. When you're a regular person, you're not a pro athlete with fame and money and acclaim and blah, blah, blah. You're just a regular person, especially when you're a child. When you're 10, 11, 9, 8, 12,

and bad things are happening around you, and bad things are happening with your family, to reach your dreams and get generational wealth for your family, and then to think back about the way your life was then, I mean, I experienced some of that sometimes and I'm not getting generational wealth. I'm nowhere near anywhere close to the fame

or acclaim of Jeffrey Simmons, but I get emotional sometimes just thinking about all the stuff that I went through as a kid. It was really bad. You know, when I was a child and I had no control and all these down times and all the bad memories that you have from bad things that happened to you. And then you think about where you're at now. And it's like in that moment, watching Jeffrey Simmons kind of go through that

and you could see it on his face and then the emotions that came from him, it made me kind of think about my journey, you know? And it was inspirational in a way. So I just want to give a big shout out to Jeffrey Simmons for being vulnerable, being genuine, being honest, and just working hard to be a better person every day. Because Jeff even admitted, you know, the Titans have a female owner, a woman owner.

And with, you know, some of the off field issues that he had coming into the league, not only for a team to take a chance on Jeffrey Simmons, but for it to be a team with a woman owner, to use Jeffrey Simmons words, you know, it meant a lot to him for her to believe in him. And, and he's paid that off. He has paid that off. And hopefully he continues to pay that off. He talked a lot about what he does in the community and wanting to do more, giving back to his hometown in Mississippi, wanting to do more

in the city of Nashville. How Mike Vrabel put it is probably the best way to put it. Jeffrey Simmons embodies everything that is and everything that should be a Tennessee Titan. Jeffrey Simmons is a Titan. Jeffrey Simmons is a Titan. Jeffrey Simmons is a Titan.

Can't finish the show any better than that. That's going to do it for me today, folks. Remember tomorrow, the wide receiver preview in our Locked on Titans NFL Draft Preview Series. That's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titan.