Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Trade Rumors Heating Up, Kevin Byard to Philadelphia Eagles Rumors & Tannehill Week 8 Update

Starting point is 00:00:00 Tennessee Titans trade rumors are heating up, and I think one Tennessee Titan does get traded. I'll tell you who it is 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.

Starting point is 00:00:44 I am your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, official sportsbook of Lockdown. Make every moment more. Right now, new customers can bet $5 and get 200 in bonus bets guaranteed. Visit FanDuel.com slash Lockdown to get started. A lot to talk about on today's show. A ton of trade-related news. We got updated reports on what's going on with the Titans ahead of the trade deadline.

Starting point is 00:01:12 I'm going to go over those. Also, I'm going to make my bold trade predictions and tell you who I think will be traded and who I think won't be traded. And finally, we got an update on Ryan Tannehill's ankle and whether he will play in week eight. So a jam-packed show. Before we get into it, thank you for making the Locked on Titans podcast

Starting point is 00:01:30 your first listen each and every day, 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 here on the Locked on Titans podcast.

Starting point is 00:01:44 Shout out to my everydayers as well. Tune in Monday through Friday. Couldn't do it without you guys. Got a great week ahead. Tomorrow, we are going to take a look at where the Titans stand in the AFC, where the Titans stand in the Tankathon, what the Titans record will be the rest of the way. What's next?

Starting point is 00:02:00 Wednesday, we look ahead to the Falcons crossover. Thursday with Aaron Freeman of Locked on Falcons. Game plan Friday to tell you how the Titans can win with those rookie quarterbacks. So a great week ahead again. Get subscribed. Stay subscribed. But diving right in to the latest rumors here, Diana Rossini, who was with ESPN for a long time,

Starting point is 00:02:20 has had her finger on the pulse of the Tennessee Titans during the John Robinson- Mike Vrabel era. She clearly has connections with Mike Vrabel. She was in Nashville this week. Diana Rossini had a lot of reporting here, and she says, quote, the Tennessee Titans need draft capital and have been getting calls from general managers

Starting point is 00:02:43 over the last few days. Though I haven't found a team showing significant interest in Derrick Henry, sources around the league tell me Tennessee has received calls about safety Kevin Byard and one team reached out about wide receiver Traylon Burks. One team reached out about wide receiver Traylon Burks. I don't get a sense Tennessee will move any young players. So let's start with the big news there. People are calling about Traylon Burks.

Starting point is 00:03:19 And look, I know a lot of people are frustrated with Traylon Burks. I understand he's missed games when he's out there. He's not necessarily what you expected when you thought the Titans were getting a number one first round wide receiver. Understandable. But you cannot give up on Traylon Burks yet. You cannot. On the rookie contract that he's on, you simply cannot afford to give up Traylon Burks, a young player.

Starting point is 00:03:38 The Tennessee Titans should be trading zero players on their rookie contract. Well, Christian Fulton aside, the Titans should not be getting rid of any young players. It's the older players. Right now, and let me not say right now because I believe this was after week five, but after week five, the Titans had had the third oldest team in the NFL

Starting point is 00:04:03 based on people who have actually taken snaps this year. 30 years old. The Titans can't be one of the oldest teams in the NFL and one of the worst. And you got to stay young. You got to keep your young pieces. See what they can do. See if they can grow. So I know people are frustrated with Traylon Burks,

Starting point is 00:04:21 but you cannot trade Traylon Burks. The other interesting aspect of this is, though I haven't found a team showing significant interest in Derrick Henry, Derrick Henry does not have a good trade market. I have been saying this for quite some time, that they could trade Derrick Henry, but people thinking that the Titans would get a first, a second, a third for a running back that's going to be 30 soon with a high-priced contract,

Starting point is 00:04:47 even in the middle of the season, you're still going to have to pay $5-6 million for Derrick Henry. Teams don't care about running back. Titans fans do not understand the revolution that has taken place across the rest of the NFL with running back. No one wants to do that. No one wants to do that. Okay?

Starting point is 00:05:11 For Bayard, one of the other aspects of this, people are connecting Kevin Bayard to Philadelphia. KB was born in Philadelphia. And I think I talked about this last week. If you were going to trade Kevin Bayard anywhere, I know that the Eagles with the A.J. Brown trade may leave some lingering bad feelings. But for me, you send him to an NFC team.

Starting point is 00:05:32 You send him to the place where he was born. You send him to a true championship contender. That is the best you can do for one of the greatest players in franchise history. Like that is what you do. And the reality is the Eagles are looking for a safety. That is a part of this rumor from Rossini. Diana Rossini is talking about how the Eagles have been canvassing the NFL looking for help in the secondary.

Starting point is 00:05:57 It's a perfect match. It's a perfect match. If you could send Kevin Bayard to Philadelphia for a third round pick, I think that that would make a ton of sense. One other thing that I, and we're going to talk about that more when I go into my bold predictions, I'm going to tell you guys who I do think gets traded, who I don't think gets traded, and I got an interesting bold prediction on Derrick Henry's status

Starting point is 00:06:23 that maybe is a little different than what I've been talking about for the last few months. But Charles Robinson from Yahoo Sports reported that the Titans are not getting any interest for DeAndre Hopkins. Nobody's willing to pay for Hopkins. They weren't willing to pay for him last year. They weren't willing to pay for him before he was released by the Cardinals as well. And a lot of teams weren't willing to pay for him after he was released by the Cardinals as well. And a lot of teams weren't willing to pay for him after he was released.

Starting point is 00:06:46 So taking on Hopkins' contract, giving up assets. Here's the truth. DeAndre Hopkins is still a very good wide receiver. He's a good wide receiver, but he's not DeAndre Hopkins in his prime. He's struggling to get off press coverage. He's not creating a ton of separation. He doesn't have the physicality to constantly win at the catch point like he used to. He is still a good player, and I think he would help a team.

Starting point is 00:07:07 But with this contract situation and with those factors, just not a lot of interest, according to Charles Robinson from Yahoo Sports for Derrick Henry and DeAndre Hopkins. So we're hearing that now. So it looks like one of the only real options the Titans would have is to trade Kevin Byard. Kevin Byard is my favorite Tennessee Titans player of all time. But I'm going to talk about him getting traded

Starting point is 00:07:33 and make some other bold predictions on the Titans trade deadline as well. And then we'll follow up and cap off the show with an update on Ryan Tannehill's ankle from NFL Networks. Ian Rappaport. A heavy, heavy news weekend for the Titans. I'm breaking it all down for you before we get into the rest of it.

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Starting point is 00:10:08 Got a ton of news. We broke down the trade rumors right there from Diana Rossini and Charles Robinson, what teams are hearing. Now I want to get into my bold predictions for the trade deadline for the Titans. And I really have two. I have two. And I wrote about one of these in our Bold Predictions article on Sports Illustrated at alltitans.com.

Starting point is 00:10:33 Check out alltitans.com for my writing there. But I'm going to start with one that I hinted at just a second ago. And I teased it at the beginning in the intro as well, so I owe it to you guys. But I think Kevin Byard gets traded. I think out of all of the talk, Danico Autry, Derrick Henry, Christian Fulton,

Starting point is 00:10:54 DeAndre Hopkins, Ryan Tannehill, Traylon Burks now, I guess, is being called about. Out of all of that, the only person I think actually gets traded is Kevin Byard. That's it. Maybe Danico Autry. He would be my number two.

Starting point is 00:11:11 All right? But here's the truth. And we just talked about it. Philly is looking for a safety. And we know Philly is willing to pay up. They're willing to pay up for a Super Bowl run. They have had a ton of injuries in their secondary, especially at safety.

Starting point is 00:11:28 They are looking for someone. As I said in the segment ago, KB is from Philly. Well, he was born in Philadelphia. It's an NFC team, and it's a team that really can compete for a title. All right? As much as it sucks,

Starting point is 00:11:43 look, I have, well, I have two now because I bought an Oilers one. But I had one Tennessee Titans player jersey for like the last decade. The only person because I had Chris Brown and Tyrone Calico

Starting point is 00:11:56 and freaking Andre Dyson and, you know, all these different jerseys as a kid. I'm like, I'm never doing this again. All these guys end up being bad. But anyways, I have a Kevin Byard jersey. I wear it with pride.

Starting point is 00:12:15 He exemplifies the type of player, the type of person that I want to root for on a week-to-week basis, that I want to cover with my life's work. Kevin Byard is a true Tennessee Titan. I went to the Dallas Cowboys game last year on Thursday Night Football where the Titans laid down and died. And who showed up for me in that game? Kevin Byard. Two interceptions. It's like, that's my guy. But the reality here is if the Titans can get a top 100 pick, a third

Starting point is 00:12:44 round pick, they have to do it. I mentioned this last week, but guys, the Titans, we're all talking about the Titans tanking. We're all talking about the Titans looking towards the future. We're talking about the Titans in 2024 a lot, what that will look like, the quarterbacks, all of that. Well, at the same time, you have to look at the draft capital here.

Starting point is 00:13:04 If this team needs to rebuild, that is done through the draft. First round pick. Second round pick. Fourth round pick. And three sevenths. That's not good enough. That's not enough draft capital. And look, three of those picks are seventh round picks.

Starting point is 00:13:21 What are those? What are those? Colton Dow's? Is that what we're getting here? What are those? Colton Dow's? Is that what we're getting here? Cole McDonald's? You know? What are we talking about here? More racing masks and Brady Breezes? They were 6th round picks. But you get what I'm saying.

Starting point is 00:13:38 More, well, no, that's 5th round pick. Not even going to say it. The point is, they have to restock the cupboards. They have to find a way-round pick. Not even going to say it. The point is, they have to restock the cupboards. They have to find a way to get something. To get one additional pick. They have to find a way. All right?

Starting point is 00:13:54 And with the lack of interest in Hopkins and the lack of interest in Henry and Tannehill now injured, and probably people weren't going to trade for him anyway, so let's just be honest. Kevin Byard's the only one that makes sense. Alright, and you add in the layers of

Starting point is 00:14:09 three layers here that I want to add in. Offseason contract drama. The Titans asked Kevin Byard to take a pay cut. He declined. We heard the rumors of him requesting his release, all that. It got shot down. But either way, there was definitely a

Starting point is 00:14:28 we don't think that you are worth what you're getting paid. Take a pay cut. And then, Byard actually did. He actually did it. And basically what it did was it made it, it took money from this year and said, hey, you can make that money next year if we decide to keep you around. The Titans set themselves up to let Bayard go. So that is in the offseason. And the third final layer, something that I talked about in the offseason that people said I was crazy for. The Titans moved Elijah Molden to safety

Starting point is 00:15:06 to give themselves this flexibility. One, Elijah Molden couldn't play slot cornerback because he can't cover in man coverage. And two, they moved him to safety. Right now, Elijah Molden, if you look at safeties that have played at least 20% of 475 snaps. So just safeties that have played at least 20% of 475 snaps. So just safeties that actually play in the games.

Starting point is 00:15:30 Elijah Moulton's number 29 in overall rank on Pro Football Focus. Now, he hasn't been asked to do anything super difficult because he's the third safety, the dime safety. But at the end of the day, Elijah Moulton has not been that bad. He's been banged up here and there. That is absolutely true, but, I mean, and let me just say this. Elijah Molden is ranked ahead of Kevin Byard. Now, I think Kevin Byard's been the better player,

Starting point is 00:15:56 and Elijah Molden is in a limited role, so I don't think it's fair, you know what I mean, to say that truly, but at the end of the day, the point is they moved Elijah Molden to safety to give themselves the flexibility to get rid of Kevin Byard. That's why they did it. I called that out during the summer when it happened. People said I was nuts. It's obvious. It's obvious that they're trying to replace that, give themselves a viable option at that position so they could make a move. And now is the time. So if one trade happens, in my opinion, it's trading Kevin Byard to Philadelphia. Now I want to say one other thing, and I opinion, it's trading Kevin Byard to Philadelphia.

Starting point is 00:16:26 Now, I want to say one other thing. And I'm going to keep it quick here because I want to kind of dive into it a little more maybe later this week or maybe later this year. But I think at this time, so what does the Titans running back committee look like without Derrick Henry? Let's just start there. If the Titans don't have Derrick Henry, they go to a committee approach, running back by committee, like 80% of the other teams in the NFL. In a committee, you have multiple backs and they usually have different styles,

Starting point is 00:16:56 different skill sets. So then they kind of blend together. You need a baseline level of versatility, but at the same time, you know, you want a Jameer Gibbs with a David Montgomery. You want a DeAndre Swift with a Jamal Williams. You know what I mean? A smash and dash combination. Now, the thing is, David Montgomery and Jamal Williams could both catch the ball out of the backfield,

Starting point is 00:17:16 so it doesn't really, you know, kill you, your versatility, like, say, Derrick Henry does. But if Tajay Spears is the back, and the Titans, instead of having a $16 million running back like Derrick Henry, they have a cheap Tajay Spears mid-round pick on a rookie contract. They bring in a cheap veteran for $3, $4, $5 million to go with him. The idea is you have three running backs for $6 million

Starting point is 00:17:44 rather than having one running back for 16. And you can get the same results by using three people instead of one. You know what I mean? That is the idea. That's what's happened in the NFL. No Super Bowl champion for the last 14 years has had a running back paid more than five million dollars be their leading rusher in the Super Bowl. Marshawn Lynch is the only running back that can than $5 million be their leading rusher in the Super Bowl. Marshawn Lynch is the only running back that can really kind of fight that battle. And that was forever ago.

Starting point is 00:18:11 So I think that there is a chance. My bold prediction here is that Derek Henry does not get traded and that Derek Henry is the running back the Titans bring back next year for $5 to $6 million for the committee. Derek Henry will take a $10 million haircut because who else is going to pay him? And Derrick Henry will be back with the Titans.

Starting point is 00:18:34 He will be the power committee back to go with Tajay Spears. But he'll just take a lot less money to stay. That's my bold prediction. So Henry doesn't get traded, and he's back on the Titans next year. I didn't think that that would happen for most of the year, but looking at the canvas right now and how things could set up

Starting point is 00:18:49 and the lack of interest in Derrick Henry, I think it's definitely, definitely a possibility. But we got to give an update on Ryan Tannehill's status for week 8 before I dive into it. Do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, America's number one sportsbook. Right now, new customers can get $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place a $5 bet.

Starting point is 00:19:20 That's $200 in bonus bets win or lose. Look guys, I personally love FanDuel. I'm on FanDuel Sportsbook nearly every single day looking for different promos, looking for different SPGs. I mean, you can bet spreads, player props, over-unders. Again, I like the

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Starting point is 00:20:18 We talked about the trade deadline rumors. We talked about my trade deadline bold predictions, which we might talk more about the trade deadline in the coming days. Trade deadline, of course, is the Tuesday after the Titans face the Falcons. So we're about 10 days out right now when I'm recording. If you listen to this on Monday, it'll be nine days out, whatever. You guys always kill me on the day details, all right? Always. Whatever. Anyways, moving right along. Want to talk about a Ryan Tannehill injury update we got from Ian

Starting point is 00:20:47 Rappaport of NFL Network. Before we get into that, thanks again for making the Locked On Titans podcast your first listen each and every day, Monday through Friday. Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. Get subscribed, stay subscribed. It's your team every day. Quote from Ian Rappaport on NFL Network.

Starting point is 00:21:04 Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill is currently in a cast for his high ankle sprain, sources say. An injury that's similar to the injury he suffered last year that necessitated surgery, but it is not considered as significant. but it is not considered as significant. Tannehill is using a cast so he doesn't put weight on his ankle, but he did not opt for surgery this time. While Tannehill hasn't been ruled out for the Titans game against the Falcons,

Starting point is 00:21:45 it's unlikely that he will play. Rappaport also said this, as for Tannehill, his injured ankle could be a bit more stable than would be expected, perhaps because of the tightrope surgery he had December 2022. Continuing his quote, sources say the Titans, who practiced several times this week despite their bye week, are preparing Will Levis and Malik Willis to start

Starting point is 00:22:12 if Tannehill is unable to play in week 8. Willis struggled in three starts last season and in relief of Tannehill last week, which could increase the chances they opt to go with Levis, the number 33 overall pick in April's draft, end quote. So a lot to process there.

Starting point is 00:22:33 One, Tannehill is in a cast, isn't putting any weight on his ankle, but isn't going to do surgery. Let's just call it what it is. Tannehill should get surgery, but he's not because he doesn't want to lose his job. He doesn't want to lose his job. He doesn't want to lose his job. He doesn't want to get Wally pipped.

Starting point is 00:22:50 All right? And that's understandable. But the reality is, even if he comes back at some point, how long until he hurts his ankle again? I mean, the ankle is going to take, normally takes four to six weeks to heal. I mean, the ankle is going to take, normally takes four to six weeks to heal. And he's going to come back in two or three at 35 years old on an ankle he already had surgery on? I mean, re-injury risk has to be so high at that point.

Starting point is 00:23:17 And also interesting, the Titans are practicing throughout their bye week because they got to get one of these young guys ready. And they got to let them battle it out. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see it enough in the preseason. That's the problem. That's why Willis or Levis missing those preseason reps was such a big deal. Because you got to figure out who the quarterback's going to be next year

Starting point is 00:23:39 before next year. So, to me, again, I've said it, I don't care if Tannehill gets healthy, I don't care if it's a month, I don't care if it's six weeks, you cannot play Ryan Tannehill again this year. You can't. It's over. It's done.

Starting point is 00:23:56 It's over. Ryan Tannehill came in in the middle of the season, and he's leaving in the middle of the season. It is over. So, I like what I'm hearing here. Practice through the bye week. You're two and four. You don't need a break anyways. So, Tannehill most likely not going to play in week eight. That's what we expected. The Titans are practicing through the bye week to try to get the quarterbacks ready. We're obviously going to talk a lot more about the quarterback decision as we get into this week. We have another Tennessee Titans game this week,

Starting point is 00:24:28 folks. Batten down the hatches. Before I go, love my sweatshirt. Sorry. Can't. Football. Bye. Shout out to my sister who made that to me. And with that being said, I am going to go enjoy a full Sunday of football. Tomorrow, as I said, AFC South recap, AFC recap, where the Titans stand, where they're at in the draft lottery, not lottery, but pick, and a lot more. So that's going to do it for today. This was Locked on Titans. We'll be right back.

Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Trade Rumors Heating Up, Kevin Byard to Philadelphia Eagles Rumors & Tannehill Week 8 Update

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