Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Starters Return, Roster Cutdown Day & Elijah Molden Film Breakdown

Episode Date: August 24, 2021

The Tennessee Titans got back out on the practice field Monday and saw the return of numerous starters like Nate Davis, Ben Jones & Denico Autry. Tyler tells you everything you need to know in a practice recap. Then, the Titans made several roster transactions on Monday in preparation for Tuesday's mandatory cutdown. Tyler explains who was cut and where the roster is now. Finally, step into the film room as Tyler breaks down Elijah Molden's big night in Tampa.Follow the Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube page:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP3332GMOh4y5PX3q9NFybwSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Locked On Titans Podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, this Tuesday edition of the Locked On Titans Podcast is presented by the Locked On Podcast Network's Ultimate Season Preview 2021. The NFL season is about to begin and nobody covers it like the Locked On Podcast Network. August the 30th through September the 8th,

Locked On's Ultimate Season Preview is taking you through every team and every division with the help of Odyssey's NFL experts. Follow the Ultimate Season Preview 2021 feed on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast and make sure that you tune in beginning August the 30th. But a big time Tuesday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast ahead. Number one, we are going to start with Titans practice on Monday,

which included the return of a ton of Titans starters. I'm going to tell you who was back out on the practice field. Also, the Titans have to cut down the roster from 85 to 80 at 4 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, and they got the ball rolling on Monday with some roster moves. I'm going to tell you exactly what happened. And then finally, we're going to cap off the show by stepping into the film room for a little Tic Tac Tuesday film breakdown and talk about Elijah Molden's performance on Saturday night in Tampa Bay. So a lot to discuss on a Tuesday 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. A lot to discuss, and we are going to dive right into all of the big takeaways from Titans practice on Monday. Before we do that, though, do have to remind you guys, I'm going to be putting out daily, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content here on the Locked on Titans podcast.

So make sure that you subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream, and make sure that you subscribe to the Locked on Titans YouTube page. Any platform that you are on, you can find the Locked on Titans podcast there, and it will always be for free. Also, check me out on social media, on Twitter, at Tic Tac Titans put up an awesome film breakdown thread of Elijah Molden on Monday night. Also, check out the Facebook page at Locked on Titans pod.

But let's dive into Monday's practice. And the biggest headline is all of the starters that were back out on the practice field for the Titans. They included A.J. Brown, Marcus Johnson, Jeff Swaim, Nate Davis, Ben Jones, Danico Autry, Kendall Lamb. We also saw Derrick Henry get the most work he has had in Titans training camp or the preseason so far. Derrick Henry went through full go 11 on 11, full speed, hitting everything for the first time of this football year. So you love to see Derrick Henry kind of officially start his ramp-up process. I have no problems and no qualms with the way that the Titans have handled Derrick Henry so far.

He's got a ton of mileage on him already. We know that running backs burn out very quickly. While I think Derrick Henry is a unicorn and you can't put those normal running back rules on him, still nice to see that ramp- up process begin for Derrick Henry. But I also do want to mention while A.J. Brown was back out on the field, he wasn't out there forever. He did stretching and warm up with the team. He went through individual drills and then he went over to the sand pit

and just got in some more separate work. Now, AJ Brown was a little bit of a strange topic on Monday. We saw ESPN's Adam Schefter report early in the morning that AJ Brown is dealing with a knee injury, but the Titans think he'll be ready for week one. Well, yeah, of course he's ready for week one. He's actually going to practice on Monday. So, duh. It was just weird timing on that report. Didn't make a lot of sense. And A.J. Brown came out later in the day and even tweeted,

some people just love to make up stories. So, I'm not worried about A.J. Brown. The other wide receiver that we talk about a lot, though, is Julio Jones. And he did not practice on Monday. Of course course neither did Darrington Evans neither did Jeremy McNichols neither did Larell Murchison Chester Rogers Brady Breeze or Chris Jackson now Julio was out on the field as was Dane Cruikshank but they were on the third football field just getting in some light work over there as they work on returning to play. Now one guy that did step out on the practice field but ended up leaving early was Josh Reynolds.

Who looked like he pulled up, has been dealing with an Achilles injury. And it looked like it was some sort of lower body injury. He left practice early and went with the trainers. So you never like to see that. But overall a very positive day for the Titans at practice with the return of a lot of starters that had not been getting a lot of work so far, like Kendall Lamb, Jeff Swaim, Danico Autry, Nate Davis, and Ben Jones. I also do want to address Mike Vrabel was not at practice on Monday, obviously. We've discussed that he tested

positive for COVID and is in his stay, as I predicted on yesterday's episode, special teams coach Craig Aukerman was the head coach, the proverbial acting head coach for the Titans. And I don't really feel like I got anything right or need any credit. That's something that Mike Grable had mentioned in his press conferences earlier in the year and last year. That if he was out, Aukerman would be the guy to take that spot. Because you don't want to take your offensive or defensive coordinator away from the pile of work that they're dealing with. Getting their sides of the ball ready to go for the season.

So those are the big takeaways from practice. I want to mention some little details in here as well. Jeffrey Simmons was barking all day. He got in some shouting matches with a few guys on the offensive line, including Roger Saffold. Now, cooler heads did prevail, and there was no dust up there physically between the two, but definitely some jawing going on.

But you like to see the intensity raise as the Titans get closer and closer to the regular season. We are going to move forward. We have a lot to talk about still with some roster moves for the Titans as they get ready to cut down to 80 players at 4 p.m. on Tuesday. Before we get into that, do want to remind you guys about betonline.ag. It's that time of year again and all eyes are now turning to football as the teams get back out on the gridiron to start the season. As always, BetOnline is your number one spot for all of the pro and college

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Obviously, if you guys are listening this or watching this on Tuesday, so how the NFL has done it this year. We saw the cut down a week ago from 90 to 85. Now we get the cut down from 85 to 80. And the next cut down that happens on the 31st will be down to 53. So the season is right here. But the Titans got the ball rolling on that cut down on Monday. We saw them wave two people.

We saw them put, well, wave three people. We saw them put a fourth guy on the COVID reserve list. And then we saw them make a signing. So let's go through all of the different moves. Number one, to start the day, the Titans cut three players. Number one, Paul Adams. And poor Paul Adams on the offensive line. He was cut previously to get the Titans down to 85.

And then Brent Qualley got hurt and went on IR. They brought Paul Adams back and he didn't last very much longer. He was cut again. Also, another offensive lineman, Ross Reynolds, was cut as well, more of an interior offensive lineman, but that's a good sign as the Titans get back Nate Davis, Ben Jones into practice. Hopefully Aaron Brewer gets back very soon as well. Also, the third player that was cut, kicker Tucker McCann. Now you feel really bad for Tucker. Two years in a row,

he has experienced some serious injuries that have prevented him from competing the way that I know he would want to compete. When you're competing for a spot, even if you lose, you want the chance to compete and actually put your heart out there and do the work. When you get hurt, it kind of robs you of that feeling of, you know, at least you gave it your all even if you didn't accomplish the goal. And a lot of the time when you sit back in life, it's did I put in the requisite effort? Yeah, you win some, you lose some, but did I give it my best? And no matter what happens when you get hurt, you don't feel like you were able to do that.

So I feel for Tucker McCann, who felt like he was going to be the Titans kicker this year, but now I just don't see any way he's going to be able to wrestle it away from Sam Ficken, especially because he's not on the roster anymore. If Ficken experiences an injury, Tucker McCann gets back to health.

Maybe he comes back, but overall, I just feel bad for Tucker McCann not having a real opportunity to finish out the competition. The final roster move that we saw in terms of subtractions from the roster was the Titans put defensive lineman Anthony Rush on the COVID reserve list, and that takes him off of the active roster and off of the 80 players that we're going to be, you know, painting this whole entire discussion around. So Anthony Rush off the roster, onto COVID reserve list. That wasn't the only roster moves that the Titans made on Monday, though.

They did make an addition to the roster, and it came in the way of defensive lineman Freedom Akinmalondon. He's 6'3", 284 pounds. He's only played in four career games. They were all with the Cincinnati Bengals over the last two seasons. He's also spent some time on the Giants practice squad as well. The Titans are dealing with some issues on the

defensive line. Like I mentioned earlier, did not have Larell Murchison. They're also dealing with injuries to a guy like Kyle Pecco, who I thought played pretty well throughout the preseason. So with rush on COVID, Murchison and Pecco dealing with injuries, they bring in another defensive lineman. And with that, we talked about cutting the roster down to 80. Well, the Titans were at 84. They have three guys get cut in Adams, Reynolds, and McCann. Then they put Rush on the COVID list.

That gets them down to 81. My apologies. My math is all wrong. It's late. I'm dealing with it. The Titans were at 85. They got rid of four players in some way. That brought them down to 81.

And now they add Freedom. That's 82. So the Titans are going to have to cut two people to get down to that deadline by 4 PM. And I'm going to tell you some options. I think that the Titans would have number one, they add a defensive lineman. So maybe they aren't looking to get rid of any defensive linemen. So I wouldn't put this as my favorite, but Woodrow Hamilton, he's at the bottom of the depth chart. I thought he played better than Anthony Rush, but with Rush out of the picture,

now in my opinion, Woodrow Hamilton is the worst defensive lineman on the team. So he could be cut just because of that fact. Also, fullback Torrey Carter behind Kari Blossomgame. I think it's pretty obvious at this point that Kari Blossomgame is going to get the fullback spot. Torrey Carter is not going to make the roster. He's probably not going to be on the practice squad either. So from my perspective, Torrey Carter could be on the chopping block. But again, I don't think that's the favorite.

Who I do think would be the favorites are the next three names. Linebacker Jan Johnson. In my opinion, he's going to be behind the top four that we know. Evans, Jayon Brown, David Long, and Monte Rice. But I also think Nick DeZubnar as an inside linebacker is going to provide more overall for the team than Jan Johnson or a Justin March Lillard. Either of those guys.

And Jan Johnson was behind Justin March-Lillard during the game. So Jan Johnson could be cut very soon. Safety, Jamal Carter, and simply he's just the newest safety to the team. We saw Brady Brees dressed for the preseason game, although he didn't practice on Monday. He could be back pretty soon. And Matthias Farley, Dane Cruikshank was working on the third field. The Titans are going to get one of those three safeties back soon. And Matthias Farley, Dane Crookshank was working on a third field. The Titans are going

to get one of those three safeties back soon. And when they do, Jamal Carter is going to be the safety that gets cut. So just waiting for that to happen. Don't know if it'll be on Tuesday, but I think he's a favorite for that. And then wide receiver, Fred Brown, poor Fred Brown. I guess when people discuss who could make this team at wide receiver, no one ever mentions Fred Brown. And that's for a reason. The Titans have a ton of numbers at wide receiver right now. They could look to go ahead and cut Fred Brown because he is not going to make this roster. And I don't see why the Titans would even consider putting him on the practice squad either in lieu of some other

younger options like Nick Westbrook, Akina, Cam Batts, and Mason Kinsey, Racey McMath, guys like that. So that's how I see the, I guess the cut list, the potential cut list going in to these cuts at 4 p.m. Again, two players have to be cut by 4 p.m. I do think they will come from one of those five spots. But that's all the roster transactions for Monday. The guys I think could be cut on Tuesday. We are going to step into the film room next and take a look at Elijah Molden's performance against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Of course, that is in concert with my visual film breakdown that I put up on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans. Make sure you guys go check that out. Posted that on Monday night as a thread for you guys. But before we get into the film room, I do want to tell you about rockauto.com. Rockauto.com is a family business that's been serving auto parts customers online for over 20 years. Their online catalog is unique. It's remarkably easy to use, easy to navigate. You can quickly see all the different brands,

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Put that in the how did you hear about us box When you go to rockauto.com So they know that I sent you Amazing selection, reliably low prices All the parts your car will ever need rockauto.com We are going to cap off today's show Stepping into the film room And taking a look at rookie cornerback Elijah Molden's impressive night in Tampa Bay.

He had eight tackles, a tackle for loss, had a pass breakup that turned into an interception, had a fourth down stop that resulted in a turnover on downs, had a pass breakup that turned into an interception, and had a forced fumble. Now the Titans didn't recover that, but just an overall great night for Elijah Molden. Before we get into that, I do want to remind you guys that betting on the Titans doesn't have to be a guessing game. If you listen to the new

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you get your podcast. But again, I put a lot of work into setting up the film breakdown thread on Twitter, so check me out on Twitter at TicTacTitans. Make sure you check out the film breakdown, but we're going to talk about Elijah Molden and basically everything that he was able to do. So obviously he is starting in the slot for the Titans. That's the third cornerback on the inside.

He's on the inside of the defense with the two cornerbacks on the outside. And he got better and better as the game went on. Number one, I want to mention this. I had somebody hop into my mentions in the first half and say that he didn't think Elijah Molden was playing well because he was making a bunch of tackles. Okay, you're not going to be able to never allow a catch. You're not going to be able to prevent every catch. Part of a cornerback's job is not allowing much damage after the catch

if you do allow one. And Elijah Molden allowed a few catches, but made great tackles coming up and stopping the guy for little to no yards after catch, especially one play that I referenced. I think it's the first play that I put in my thread. He's trailing a guy across the field, getting blocked by Scotty Miller, getting a pick from the other wide receiver from the Buccaneers but he's still able to stay on Tyler Johnson's hip and as soon as he makes the catch he takes him to the ground for about five to six yards that's a good rep that's not a failed play so number one we have to start there but speaking of those crossing routes Moen got even

better throughout the night there's another rep in there on Tyler Johnson where he just absolutely stayed attached to him to the point where the crosser over the middle of the field wasn't open for the quarterback and he had to go up the field to a deeper route that was knocked away by a different Titans defender. So good job by Elijah Moulton taking away the primary read for the quarterback. And then on the pass breakup that led to the interception, Elijah Moulton just completely shut down the inside breaking route. The wide receiver's in the slot.

He tries to go to the inside, and Elijah just jumps his body to the inside, completely cuts it off. It ruins the timing of the route, forces the wide receiver to just go ahead and go up the field rather than getting that inside break. The quarterback has nowhere to go. The timing is ruined now because of Elijah Moulton's jam at the line of scrimmage. The quarterback throws it anyway. Elijah is right in his hip pocket, hits the ball away. The ball pops up in the air and it turns into an interception for the Titans defense, a turnover. That is ball disruption. I mean, that is big-time stuff from the rookie making those plays.

But it's not just his coverage ability, which is what I've been focusing on. He may be undersized, but he is fearless, and he is physical, and he is tenacious. So, number one, the Titans blitzed him out of the slot over and over and over again throughout the game. And although he doesn't always get to the quarterback, the quarterback can feel him on multiple possessions. I know there's one play. David Long got the sack on the play.

But Elijah Moulton came off a blitz from the slot. And Giovanni Bernard, the running back for Tampa Bay, stepped up to get him. And when I tell you Elijah Moulton gave him a one-two step and then used his hands to knock away the hands of Giovanni Bernard, he would have made the sack if David Long wasn't there a split second earlier. Elijah Moulton would have had two sacks on the night. So I love to see that because David Long may not get there every time during the season or whoever the blitzer is for the Titans. And Elijah Molden was a split second

away and it just shows that he has a plan as a rusher when he gets in there. Now, of course, we got to talk about probably the best play of the night for Elijah Molden. He comes off the slot blitz. There are two offensive linemen in front of him. He's able to basically slide on his knees underneath and in between the two offensive linemen, pop straight up, and then take the quarterback down for a sack. I mean, I don't have anything schematically to tell you. That is just, I will not be denied. That is just, I will not be denied. And that ferocity, the ferociousness of that play is everything you need to know about Elijah Molden. But I also want to mention a couple other plays that display physicality.

Number one, a wide receiver screen was thrown to not Elijah Molden's man, but the wide receiver standing next to Elijah Molden's man. And Jalen Darden, the rookie wide receiver out of North Texas, tried to block Elijah Molden, and no, just absolutely not. Molden drove him back about five yards. It completely disrupted where the wide receiver that caught the wide receiver screen was going to go, and it allowed the other cornerback next to Elijah Molden to make that tackle.

But although Molden didn't make the tackle, he made the play for his defense. And then later in the game, the Bucs tried to throw a wide receiver screen to Elijah Moulton's man. And my God, when he realizes, when he IDs what is happening, he plants his back foot into the ground and shoots like a cannon straight to the wide receiver and destroys him. Take him down for about a five yard loss.

Ducks right underneath the tight end who's trying to come out and block him. He's just too fast, too tenacious to be stopped. Beautiful. And all these plays are highlighted in my film breakdown thread on Twitter at Tic Tac Titan. So if you need a visual to go along with the audio breakdown I'm giving you right now, make sure to go check that out. I'm going to be doing it all year. I've been doing it four years.

If you like this podcast, I don't understand how you couldn't get on Twitter and follow me to check out the film breakdowns. I just don't see how you could avoid doing that. It's crazy talk. But either way. Also, I want to mention that the tackle for loss, it was a fourth down, fourth and one early in the game Elijah Molden who's undersized when they're running a heavy run play up the gut

Elijah Molden just darts through a gap doesn't care gets into the backfield and here's what I love if you hit a running back up top on a short yardage situation he's going to be able to power through and get that yardage but if you wrap his legs and you take his feet off the ground, there is nowhere for him to go to fall straight down. Elijah Moulton got in the backfield and he

gator rolled the guy's legs, just wrapped up the legs and rolled. Nowhere for the running back to go. No power for him to generate to burst through the Titans' defensive line. Fourth down stop brought to you in part by the 5'9 physical slot cornerback for the Titans, Elijah Molden.

So, incredibly impressed with what Molden did on Saturday night. As I've said throughout the offseason, I expect Elijah Molden to be the starting slot corner for the Titans. Chris Jackson, not a chance. So anyways, that's all I have to say about that.

But again, check out the film breakdown on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans. Subscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube page. Smash that notification bell so you know when a new episode goes live. I appreciate all of you guys' support on the new YouTube page. Smash that notification bell so you know when a new episode goes live. I appreciate all of you guys' support on the new YouTube page. Subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast wherever you get your podcasts

and remember, the Locked on Titans podcast is on every platform and it's free. It's free. So, that's going to do it for me today, folks. I will be back with you tomorrow to break down roster cuts,

break down Tuesday's practice, and everything you need to know about your Tennessee Titans. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans. Thanks for watching!