Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Training Camp Recap: Titans Offense Strikes Back, Individual Notes & Rowland's Rant

Episode Date: August 11, 2021

On today's Locked On Titans podcast:The Titans defense has rued the day for most of camp, but on Tuesday, Ryan Tannehill & crew got their revenge. Tyler breaks down everything you need to know from a team and individual perspective.Rowland's Rant: Tyler discusses to young Titans(Chris Jackson & Dez Fitzpatrick) and how reports out of camp are confusing & concernFollow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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, this Wednesday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is presented by the Peacock and Williamson podcast. NFL analyst Brian Peacock and former NFL scout Matt Williamson host Locked On's Peacock and Williamson every Monday through Friday. Brian and Matt give you a national perspective on all of the latest NFL news, so make sure

you check out the Peacock and Williamson podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, wherever you get your podcast. Titans fans, it has been a defensive training camp so far with the Titans defense coming out on top most days. But on Tuesday, the offense strikes back. That's right. The Tennessee Titans offense was able to have one of their most successful days of training camp on Tuesday, and I'm breaking it all down for you guys on today's

show. First, we're going to start with the bigger takeaways from a team perspective, including that offensive performance, and then we are going to move into a conversation about some of the individual aspects of Tuesday's practice. And to cap off this Tuesday show, we are going to have a discussion about two polarizing players on the Tennessee Titans right now based on conversations within the Titans community on Tuesday. Two guys, one who's struggling

and one who is surprisingly set up to have a starting role on the Titans defense. So I'm a little bit concerned about both of those two players in general, and I will explain to you guys exactly why. So a recap of Tuesday's practice, and talking about two major storylines surrounding two young Tennessee Titans players on this Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it! We are going to kick off this Wednesday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast by getting into a conversation about how the offense was able to get some revenge on Tuesday at

Titans training camp. Before we get into that, do got to remind you guys, I'm going to be putting out Monday through Friday daily Tennessee Titans content all year long here on the Locked On Titans podcast. So make sure that you never miss an episode of the number one Tennessee Titans podcast in the world by subscribing to the Locked On Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream. Check me out on social media as well. On Twitter, at TicTacTitans. Make sure you check out my film breakdowns

that I post on there. And check out the Locked on Titans Facebook page at Locked on Titans Pod. Also, gotta tell you guys, the Locked on Titans YouTube page is officially live. And as of next week, I will be posting

every single Locked on Titans podcast episode as a video episode on YouTube as well. I'll also be putting up additional content on YouTube, some weekend episodes, some live game recaps, all kinds of stuff I'm going to be doing on that Locked on Titans YouTube page. So make sure you go over to YouTube,

subscribe to that, smash that notification bell as well so you always know when I post new content. But speaking of content, let's get into that content. And as I said on Tuesday, the offense was able to strike back. So the Titans are doing different types and different format of practice than they had done previously in training camp. They're doing more game simulation, trying to get ready for that first preseason game on Friday night. They even had officials at practice on Tuesday and Monday. And with that, they did what Mike

Vrabel calls a team call it period. Basically, it's about 25 plays in a row with the first team, 25 plays in a row with the second team, 25 plays in a row with the second team where the defense and the offense are just going at it. And the Titans offense was able to have some major success for the first time in training camp. It has pretty much been a defensive led effort so far throughout training camp. And that makes sense. The offense is always going to be slower to get things in place. There's a lot more complexity on the offensive side of the ball. So totally makes sense. No reason to panic about the Titans offense and they're starting to come around

to the point where Taylor LeJuan even shouted at local media who were attending practice, make sure you guys report that the Titans offense was dominating today. So, hey, here I am making sure I get those reports to you guys. The offense was on point. Now, I do got to mention at the end of practice, things did start to swing the defenses way. They were able to get three interceptions at the end of practice in those team periods. On the first team, Kevin Byard was able to

get his first interception of training camp off of Ryan Tannehill. On the second team, Matthias Farley, who I've been very high on making this roster, Matthias Farley intercepted Logan Woodside. And then for the third team, safety, rookie safety out of Oregon, Brady Brees was able to intercept Matt Barkley. It was his first interception of Titans training camp since joining. Do want to point out that Titans offensive coordinator Todd Downing talked about the interceptions and the massive amount of interceptions that have been there throughout camp.

And he said, while some throws are understandable, some of them have been completely unacceptable. So this isn't just a situation where the coaching staff understands the offense is behind. There needs to be better execution as well. In practice, the Titans did their first kickoff return period of training camp. And we saw Darrington Evans, Chester Rogers, and Jeremy McNichols out there as the guys who are catching kickoffs. Darrington Evans is slated to be the starter in that role, but Chester Rodgers as the backup just solidifies even more that there's a very good chance

that Chester Rodgers does make this ball club, as right now he's set to be the starting punt returner. So being the starting punt returner and the backup kickoff returner, all of that smells like a roster spot for Chester Rodgers. And I haven't even mentioned the fact that he's played so well as a wide receiver in training camp. So make sure to throw that in. Chester Rodgers doing a great job.

But that's going to do it for the overall team analysis. We are going to get into some of the more individual tidbits from Titans Tuesday practice. And then of course, at the end of the show, I'm going to dive into two really hot topics right now within the Titans community about two different young players, one on offense, one on defense, and the news surrounding them, I guess, is very surprising. We are going to get into that, but before we do, got to tell you guys about betonline.ag, the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. Football season is right around the corner. Want to make sure that you get signed up at betonline.ag before the season

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BetOnline, your online sportsbook experts. We are going to continue this Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast by diving into some individual tidbits from practice, including the guys who were injured and the guys who sat out practice on Tuesday, which is always super important information for us to go over. Remember, we just talked about all the big team takeaways. I want to dive into those injuries first here in our individual period. And number one, A.J. Brown was back out at practice on Tuesday after resting on Monday. Now, he did have an entire sleeve on his left leg. The

sleeve was freaking gorgeous though. It was all red, had red gloves on. He just looked nasty. So I'm hoping that the red leg sleeve actually becomes a thing for AJ, but I hope that it's not a sign of any lingering issue. And quite frankly, if it was, they wouldn't have put him out there on Tuesday but good to have AJ back also out for the day was Julio Jones what's new Ben Jones as well Nate Davis Jeff Swaim Cam Batson Kendall Lamb who was injured on Monday Danico Autry and Dan Crookshank worth noting that Julio Jones Nate Davis Jeff Swaim Kendall Lamb and Danico Autry, and Dan Cruikshank. Worth noting that Julio Jones, Nate Davis, Jeff Swaim, Kendall Lamb, and Danico Autry all were out on the practice field riding stationary bikes. So that's nice to see them at least out there getting some work outside of the building.

But right now, no injuries to be truly, truly concerned about. It's good to see Kendall Lamb out there riding the bike. He hurt one of his arms, shoulder, arm, upper body injuries. So the fact that he was even out there riding the bike is a good sign that hopefully that's not very serious. Also want to mention somebody who's been a big lightning rod topic over the last 24 hours, Josh Reynolds at Wide Receiver. Thought he looked rather explosive.

So anybody who's following along on the Titans Twitter community will know exactly what I'm talking about. But moving forward, got to continue to mention Marcus Johnson continues to make big plays over and over. And he's actually going to be referenced in one of the controversial topics that we're going to talk about at the end of the show. But of course, him and A.J. Brown continue to really, really set themselves apart at the wide receiver position as the two highest performers of training camp. Also worth mentioning that Josh Reynolds, Marcus Johnson, who we just mentioned, and Fred Brown all did some extra work after practice.

They were the last guys out on the practice field working on catching the football with the jugs machine, the machine that shoots the football out towards you. That's a jugs machine. So Marcus Johnson consistently has been one of the last guys on the field. And you don't want it to be in vain. You don't want it to be, you know, any kind of show to do that. But you got to think the guys are really getting that work and it's very important. Also do want to mention that Nick Westbrook-Akina, while we're talking about wide receivers, had two good practices in a row. He was a little banged up early on,

but he's a guy who I most certainly do expect to make this roster because of what he provides on special teams. And Chester Rogers, Marcus Johnson, Cam Batson, all those guys who you think have a chance to make the roster, none of them match that physical size like Nick Westbrook-Akina does. So he makes sense to be on the roster because outside of your big three, he's another guy who has that physical stature. Another guy who we don't talk about a lot transitioning to the defensive side of the ball is Ola Adani. And Ola Adani has had some good practices in a row with pass rush, with stopping the run.

So you expect Ola Adani, I gotta make sure I don't put those two together. You expect Adani to be a special teams asset for the Titans. But if he could prove to be a little bit better on defense than some expected, including me, that would be very helpful for the Titans cause on defense and adding depth. You also have to mention that the Titans did have Matt Barkley in and although he threw

his first interception of camp, all reports do indicate that he has been substantially better than Deshaun Kizer. Now that makes me sad to report. You guys who have been listening to the show throughout the all season know that I had high hopes for Deshaun Kizer because of the natural physical attributes that he has that match what the Titans want out of a quarterback in the system. But quite frankly, if you're not organized enough from a quarterback perspective, getting everybody where they need to be, if you're not accurate enough, if you're unimpressive,

well, then you're going to get cut. And that's what happened to Kaiser and Barkley has been, for all intents and purposes, much better than Kaiser early on, despite the interception that he threw on Tuesday. cut and that's what happened to Kaiser and Barkley has been for all intents and purposes much better than Kaiser early on despite the interception that he threw on Tuesday also want to mention some quotes that came out specifically one from Kevin Byard talking about Tyre Tartt he said that it feels like he's a different player this year and Kevin Byard has been in his ear throughout training camp telling him to make plays pumping him up hoping that he realizes just how good he could actually be man Kevin Byard just continues

to be one of my absolute all-time favorite Tennessee Titans maybe my favorite Titan of all time by the end of his career here I mean I just absolutely love everything that Kevin Byard stands for in the leadership that he brings and I think he's going to have a major bounce back season this year. And it's funny, we're bringing him up on the day when he got his first interception of training camp. So all comes back to Kevin Byard at some point when we're talking about Titans defense. Now, the last few things I want to mention, got a Titans roster transaction. Donnie Ensberger, who was brought in as a low end of the roster tight end, did get hurt earlier this week and he was waived. He was just signed on the 5th.

So a cup of coffee with the Titans, but you feel bad because he did experience an injury. Next, I do want to give you guys an update. The Titans will not be having practice on Wednesday until 5 p.m. You may be asking yourself, they've been having practice in the morning every single day. Why would they do that? Well, Friday's preseason game is at nighttime, and I'm sure the Titans coaching staff wants to get the Titans players' bodies in the habit of being ready to go and play in the evening rather than playing in the morning. So switching up that schedule

will be good for the players' routine and getting them ready to go for Friday night. So excited for Friday night. By the way, just another reminder, I'm going to be doing kind of an instant recap on the Locked on Titans YouTube page that will not be available on the podcast feed. So make sure that you head over to YouTube

and check out the new Locked on Titans YouTube page. Subscribe. I would greatly appreciate it. But you should do it anyway. Where are you getting this daily Tennessee Titans content all year long? Nowhere else. So it's your loss

if you don't go check out the Locked on Titans YouTube page. But I got two players to talk about in our final segment of the day. And one of them is doing better than expected, but I actually think that that's quite a negative. And then one of the young players is doing a little bit worse than expected. And quite frankly, it's kind of my expectation.

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States track and field team. So that's pretty cool as well. Make sure you guys go to BuiltBar.com right now and use promo code LOCKED15. You'll get 15% off your first order once again. Use the promo code LOCKED15 for 15% off at BuiltBar.com. Titans fans, we are going to cap off this Wednesday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast discussing some, I wouldn't say controversial, but interesting storylines around two young players in Titans training camp. Before we get into that though, do want to let you guys know that betting on the Titans does not have to be a guessing game when you listen to the new Locked on Bets podcast hosted by your boy Q and handicapping expert Lee Sterling.

You can get daily picks, blowout specials, wrong team favorite picks, and Lee Sterling's lock of the day. Make sure that you follow the Locked on Bets podcast brought to you by betonline.ag wherever you get your podcast. So let's dive into these interesting storylines that popped up on Tuesday. I'm going to start number one on the defensive side of the ball. And this storyline is centered around second year cornerback, Chris Jackson. Let me just say this. Chris Jackson was

thrust into a position he was not ready for last year at the beginning of the year because of all the injuries in the Titan secondary. He was not ready to be a starting NFL cornerback and he got absolutely demolished early on in the season. He was, quite frankly, and I'm just going to be honest, based on the eye test, based on a lot of the statistics, based on pro football focus, if you're into their grades, Chris Jackson was the worst cornerback in the NFL to get the number of snaps that he got. And speaking of snaps, after week seven, Chris Jackson basically didn't see the field on defense because he was an absolute liability. I say this and I don't mean to be hyperbolic. He was the worst corner in the NFL last year.

The worst. Everybody online said, well, Jonathan Joseph has something to say. Look, Jonathan Joseph was bad, but Jonathan Joseph was still better than Chris Jackson. The Titans kept Jonathan Joseph on the field when they took Chris Jackson off of it. And, if we're just going to be honest here, Jonathan Joseph should have been retired. Of course he was bad. And the fact that he should have been retired because of his age, he still wasn't quite as bad as Chris Jackson. Now that's not a referendum on Chris Jackson's career.

Okay. That's not what I'm trying to do here. It's not like the guy is going to be terrible for the rest of his career. here. It's not like the guy is going to be terrible for the rest of his career. But the storyline here is, right now, Chris Jackson would be the starting slot cornerback for the Titans. And defensive coordinator Shane Bowen even said Chris Jackson has been doing really good work in the slot in training camp. Now, I'm not going to outright call Shane Bowen a liar, but I will say this. If Chris Jackson is starting for the Titans again to start this season,

the defense is screwed. Because he's a liability. And they're not giving themselves a chance. I would take 75... Why wouldn't they put Christian Fulton in the slot and let Breon Borders play outside? I would take Christian Fulton, who's not as adept to being in the slot as maybe we hope coming out of college.

He's been practicing as an outside corner. But I would rather have Fulton in the slot and Borders outside and have your three best cornerbacks on the field who aren't rookies. I would rather do that. I would take Elijah Molden as a rookie over Chris Jackson. The guy, I'm sorry, I just don't think the guy is an NFL level player. And I think the Titans are fooling themselves. The guy works really hard.

For all intents and purposes, which is the second time I've used that phrase in today's show, he's a good guy. He works hard, cares about his teammates, all the stuff you want. But he's just not talented enough. He's not physical enough. He doesn't have the traits to be able to succeed as a starter in the NFL. He could be a low end of the depth chart guy and help on special teams and all that and carve out a career.

But if the Titans have him as their starting slot corner on week one, oh buddy, I have an immense amount of concern about that. So good that he's played well in camp, but I just don't buy it. I just don't buy it. So that's where I'm at. That's how I feel about that. Moving on to the next conversation, we're going to flip over to the offensive side of the ball, and it has to do with rookie wide receiver Dez Fitzpatrick.

And it has to do with rookie wide receiver Dez Fitzpatrick. So what I want to do is, I want to read you guys something that came out in Jim Wyatt's, who's the on-site, on-staff reporter for the Titans. Something that he put in his recap of Tuesday's practice. Quote, I keep wanting to see rookie Dez Fitzpatrick take off, but he's been inconsistent in practices. As coach Mike Vrabel pointed out recently, he needs to step it up. End quote. Okay, Jim is state-sponsored media.

He's basically PR for the Titans. To have him come out and, you know, I don't want to say crush, maybe that's not the right word, but to have him come out and publicly just randomly say Des Fitzpatrick needs to step it up. To me, one of the coaches said, hey, throw that in there. Make that public. That does not seem like the type of thing that Jim would be reporting on his own. If Mike Vrabel was asked about that and elaborated in that way, then yeah. But to me, that's a sign that Fitzpatrick is truly struggling.

And either way, based on that and what we've seen from the other reports, he's being outplayed by seventh-round rookie Racey McMath. Nobody expected that to happen coming in. But I will say this. You know who was really upset about the Des Fitzpatrick pick? Like who really railed against that pick on Twitter as soon as it happened, made a reaction video as soon as it happened saying that it was a big mistake, talked about on a certain podcast about how big of a mistake that pick was

oh that's right it was me and I'm not patting myself on the back right now I'm not declaring a win and taking a victory lap guys don't get me wrong I want Des Fitzpatrick to be a good player I want Des Fitzpatrick to help the Tennessee Titans I want that pick to prove me wrong. I want Des Fitzpatrick to be a good player. I want Des Fitzpatrick to help the Tennessee

Titans. I want that pick to prove me wrong. But, he's struggling early on, and when you factor in all of the things that I talked about when the draft pick happened, the Titans

missed out on Hunter Long, Tommy Tremble, and Diemi Brown three straight picks in the early 80s. If the Titans wanted to sacrifice three picks and trade up, then why wouldn't they do it then to trade up and make sure they got one of those three guys? Instead, they wait an entire round, trade three draft picks up to go higher in the fourth round, and take Dez. It just doesn't make any sense. And add an additional layer, a guy like Amon Ross St. Brown, who wasn't super flashy athletically, but he was a guy who

just understands how to play wide receiver. He gets all the nuances. He's a good route runner, good with his alignments, reliable catching the ball. And a guy who, I know he was an injury concern, but a guy who's a more explosive athlete and a better yards after catch guy than Des Fitzpatrick is Tylan Wallace out of Oklahoma State. He went, both of those guys went after Des Fitzpatrick, not only after, but the Titans traded up three picks. I mean, my God, I'm just as mad about it right now as I was then. And the Titans have gotten Julio now.

I think that Des Fitzpatrick slots in way better now. But the fact is, there was some conversation online that he might be cut because of all the competition at wide receiver. And Ray C. McMath has outperformed him. So if you're going to keep the big three, and then you're going to keep Marcus Johnson, Chester Rogers, you're going to keep Nick Westbrook, Akina, well, that's six wide receivers.

Are the Titans keeping seven? And is it going to be Des Fitzpatrick over Cam Batson? to keep Nick Westbrook-Akina. Well, that's six wide receivers. Are the Titans keeping seven? And is it going to be Des Fitzpatrick over Cam Batson? Is it going to be Rayce McMath? I mean, do you guys see the numbers issue that the Titans are running into?

If Des Fitzpatrick is truly getting outperformed in that way, he might be cut. He might be. Who knows? And if that happens, then I will

take my victory lap. But, but, until that day, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to express concern and we're going to wait and see what happens with Des Fitzpatrick, who I still hope turns into a pretty good player. But that's going to do it for this Wednesday edition

of the Locked On Titans podcast. We went ahead and recapped all the team points from Tuesday's practice. All the individual notes. Talked about the two biggest storylines from Tuesday as well. So really good show today. A lot of good energy. Very excited for the season to roll around. Very excited for Friday's preseason game.

Can't wait to watch every single snap of that game like the absolute Titans junkie that I am. And I hope you guys will check out the Locked on Titans YouTube page where I'll be doing my instant reaction to that preseason game as well. 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.