Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Training Camp - Roger McCreary Dominates, WR Roster Battle & Defense Wins the Day

Episode Date: August 1, 2022

The Tennessee Titans put the pads on for the first time on Monday and the star of the show was rookie cornerback Roger McCreary! McCreary had six pass break ups and took advantage of a major opportunity. Next, one of the fiercest battles in camp is between the wide receivers at the bottom of the roster. Guys like Josh Malone, Reggie Roberson and others had great days on Monday! Finally, other notes on practice from a day won by the defense!Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitansSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DaveDownload the Dave app from the App store right now for an Extra Cash account and get up to 500 dollars instantly. For terms and conditions go to dave.com/legal. Instant transfer fees apply. Banking provided by Evolve. Member FDIC.BetterHelpIt’s not a crisis line, it’s not self-help, it’s professional therapy done securely online, available to people worldwide. And they have a special offer for my listeners: get 10% off your first month at Betterhelp.com/LockedOnBuilt 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.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! 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, on today's show we're going over the first padded practice of the year for the Tennessee Titans. And the star of the show was rookie cornerback Roger McCreary. I'll go over everything you need to know from his highlight day at practice. And one of the fiercest battles at training camp is between the bottom of the wide receiver depth chart. A few guys really stepped up on Monday. And finally, the Titans defense ran the practice.

I'll explain all of the standout performers. So covering everything you need to know from the Tennessee Titans' first padded practice of the year 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. Titans fans, I am so excited to break down the Titans' first padded practice of the season.

And every single day I get on here, it feels like we are talking about another standout performance from a Tennessee Titans rookie. We've been talking about Burks all week throughout the first week of training camp, but today was the day of Roger McCreary, the second round cornerback out of Auburn. I'm going to dive into all of his highlights before I do want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. If this is your first ever listen, I'm putting out Monday through Friday free Tennessee Titans

content from now until next summer. So make sure that you subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform that you do stream. Make sure that you follow me on social media at Tic Tac Titans on Twitter at Locked on Titans pod on Facebook. Check out the Locked on Titans YouTube channel. Subscribe there. Smash the notification bell. And hey, if you guys are watching right now, throw a thumbs up on the video. It goes a long way to help support the channel, but let's dive right in to Roger McCreary's day. Monday. The circumstances I think are very, very important. Elijah Molden did not practice again for the Titans. It's about two and a half practices now that we haven't seen Molden. Obviously with Buster Screens retirement, who was a primary slot corner for the Titans,

and then Elijah Molden being hurt, another primary slot cornerback for the Titans. This is going to give increased opportunities to Roger McCreary. What did he do with it? He grabbed it by the throat. Roger McCreary had practice in a stranglehold on Monday with six pass

breakups. Six in one practice. Roger McCreary was given the business and one-on-ones to Traylon Burks. They've been battling and Mike Vrabel talked about how nice it is to have Burks and McCreary go out of their way to battle each other. Iron sharpens iron. So McCreary versus Burks. McCreary got the best of Burks a few times in one-on-ones, knocking the ball away from him. And when you think about a guy like Roger McCreary, who coming out of the draft, he's got short arms. He's under six foot.

He's not the biggest guy. Well, what's Traylon Burks? Big, physical, monster. Everybody's been crying, oh, Traylon Burks been pushing off on guys. That's offensive pass interference. Okay, well, Burks couldn't get McCreary off of him in one-on-ones.

So think about all of that together and what that could mean for Roger McCreary. He had those pass breakups in one-on-ones against Traylon Burks, but in team periods, he had pass breakups against Nick Westbrook-Akina, who's 6'4", broke up a

pass from Racey McMath, who's 6'1", over 200 pounds, another big physical athlete. Knocked away a pass from Des Fitzpatrick, which I don't know how much we want to celebrate that, but I'll get to that a little bit later in the show. Either way, it was just a great day for Roger McCreary, and Mike Vrabel even had something to say about it after practice. He said he rarely makes the same mistake twice, talking about Roger McCreary and Mike Vrabel even had something to say about it after practice. He said he rarely makes the same mistake twice. Talking about Roger McCreary. I mean, that is high praise for a rookie.

And Mike Vrabel talks about, it's funny how Vrabel like sets the stage with his expectations. And then when he gives praise to players, he like follows those story beats. So he said plenty of times, what you want to see from rookies is that they learn and don't make the same mistakes twice. And then using that as a compliment to Roger McCreary and me is Mike Vrabel basically saying he's doing exactly what we want him to do. I mean, he's getting run with the first team right now and he's taking advantage of it and showing out nearly every beat reporter on site said Roger McCreary was clearly the star of the day. And I forget who said this to me on Twitter, but I want to make a future point here. We talk about Elijah Molden, and I will admit, I have some personal bias.

And this sounds kind of crazy, but you guys know what I mean. You see certain players who play like you played a sport. You know, there are certain players in baseball or high intensity, run the bases real hard, slide aggressive. And you see yourself in some of those players. You guys have players who you look at and you're like, you know what? If I made it to the NFL, if I would have been good enough, I'd play like that guy plays. And it makes you like those players more. Elijah Molden is one of those guys for me. He's crafty. He's physical.

No, he's not the most explosive physically but he plays tough. He'll smack you in the mouth. He knows what to do. Players like that I love guys like Elijah Molden. So the bias is there and I admit it but someone on Twitter today said to me

that it can't be considered a surprise if Roger McCreary eventually takes those snaps from Elijah Molden, even if Molden is healthy, because the reality is McCreary is a better athlete. McCreary played in a better conference. McCreary was a better prospect coming out of college as well, has more high level tape than Elijah Molden had against high level players who are in the NFL dominating right now like Jamar Chase and Justin Jefferson and Traylon Burks. So I think we, at some point, because we love the guys on the team, I love Elijah Molden as a player on the Titans,

but the reality is the reality. Roger McCreary may already be a better football player than Elijah Moulton. So while Elijah Moulton will always have his role, this great play by Roger McCreary early in camp, it just shouldn't surprise us. And if Roger McCreary comes out there and takes the majority of the snaps throughout the season in the slot, it shouldn't surprise us either. So a banner day for Roger McCreary. And by God, it's hard to believe, but the rookies,

the rookies are clearly far and away the biggest story of Titans training camp so far. And the other rookie that's really been carrying that water other than Roger McCreary has been Traylon Burks. And he had some good moments on Monday as well, along with a lot of receivers who are battling for a roster spot like Josh Malone, like Reggie Roberson. I'm going to break down all the highlights from those receivers and give you guys an

update on the back end of the wide receiver depth chart and who seems to be leading that race right now. Before we get into all of that, though, do want to tell you guys about the best tasting protein bars in the galaxy from our friends over at Built Bar. You get the best of both worlds when you try Built Bar. Yeah, you're going to get all the health benefits that you want from your protein bar. They're low calorie, low sugar, high protein, high fiber, but you also get all of the benefits of a candy bar. All the bars are covered in 100% real chocolate. They have a ton of different delicious flavors and textures. The peanut butter brownie, one of my favorites, the white chocolate cheesecake, one of my favorites. And right now they have a special flavor available. It is the cookie

dough chunk. And that chunk is going to have some crunchy bits in it as well with that cookie dough flavor. Again, 100% real chocolate coat in the outside. You guys got to go to built.com right now. Use promo code LOCKED15. You're going to get 15% off your order. Once again, that's promo code LOCKED15 for 15% off at built.com. Titans fans, we're going to continue today's edition of the Locked On Titans podcast, breaking down the first padded practice of the year for the Titans. We talked about the star of the show, Roger McCreary, rookie second-round cornerback, from an individual perspective.

But now what I want to do is start to get into some broader team discussions. Number one, we're going to talk about that end of the depth chart at wide receiver and some guys who are really starting to stand out. And then at the end of the show, I'm going to talk about how the defense won the day on Monday. And that shouldn't surprise anybody with how high the fan base is on the defense. But I'm going to go over some of the other individual notes. But let's talk about wide receiver before we do. Thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day.

If this is your first ever listen, make sure you subscribe on whatever platform you do stream your team every day, Monday through Friday, free and available on all platforms. But number one, what I want to talk about is Traylon Burks. We're going to get into the back end of the depth chart in just a second. But Burks, again, two touchdown catches on Monday. One just in the back of the end zone, a great play. And then one of the highlight plays of the day, Traylon Burks,

lined up in the backfield, comes out of the backfield, creates a matchup where Zach Cunningham, the Titans starting inside linebacker, is guarding Traylon Burks in a red zone situation. Burks runs the route. Cunningham has pretty good coverage. Tannehill tosses a back shoulder throw. Traylon Burks adjusts in midair with tight coverage, pulls it down, touchdown Titans. Let's break down what just happened. One,

Traylon Burks in the backfield, creating a matchup on a linebacker with your best athlete. That is using, see people compared Burks to A.J. Brown and Debo Samuel because Arkansas like to hand in the ball, get him little quick short touches, so he's basically just a running back. I want Traylon Burks to be an offensive weapon for the Titans, not just a wide receiver.

You guys see how big my pupils are right now? I tweeted out before the show that I had an eye appointment earlier today and my pupils were going to be huge and I feel like they are right now. So have fun with that if you're watching on YouTube. But not only is Burks being used as a weapon, not just a wide receiver, which is additional value and gives more creativity to the Titans offense,

especially in red zone situations. But another aspect of that was a back shoulder throw from Ryan Tannehill, and one thing that Traylon Burks did very well in college was adjust to the football, use his catch radius, which Ryan Tannehill talked about after practice. He said he has a huge catch radius, and he does. He's a monster of a man.

So throwing a back shoulder fade to Traylon Burks where he's utilizing his length and his size. You got the offensive weapon factor. You got the back shoulder factor. And Tannehill trust Burks enough to take advantage of that even though there was tight coverage. Tannehill referenced Traylon Burks big catch down the

sideline a couple days ago in practice. He talked about the throw he had to him today. Chemistry! Do you feel it? This is a weapon. Back shoulder. Chemistry. And I believe it was my

boy Will Lomas who pointed out that that's a Tim Kelly wrinkle right there. That type of stuff, putting Traylon Burke's in the backfield to create matchups, that is the Tim Kelly wrinkle right there. That type of stuff, putting Traylon Burks in the backfield to create matchups, that is the Tim Kelly influence at work. So that's another wrinkle. Just on that one play alone,

four different wrinkles that oh boy, have me very excited for Traylon Burks. But continuing forward, let's talk about the back half of the depth chart for the Titans wide receiver group. So, one, Kyle Phillips. Now, I don't really consider Phillips as a guy competing for a roster spot.

I think all of us are pretty much in agreement. Phillips is wide receiver four for the Titans. Maybe not on the depth chart long term, but in terms of the locks on the roster. Kyle Phillips is making this team, okay? But with that said, he had guys on skates on Monday in one-on-one tackling. So what they do is they have, you guys have probably seen this if you ever played football. If not, you're back-to-back. There are some cones. Once the coach blows the whistle or starts the drill, you got to run to that cone cone and then you turn around and you run at each other and there's an offensive guy trying to make moves

and there's a defensive guy trying to break down, be square, and make a tackle. All right, not full-on tackling, but just break down, get ready like you're going to make a tackle. Well, what they do is they toss a football to one of those guys, whoever the offensive guy is, and obviously in this scenario, they're throwing it to the wide receivers against defensive backs. Kyle Phillips shook Shaheem Carter

out of his cleats. Ugh. It was gross. I considered medical help afterwards. Felt nauseous. It was so nasty. All jokes aside, that is what you want from a guy like Kyle Phillips. And that drill, yes, it simulates going one-on-one in an open field situation.

But you know what else it simulates? Punt return. Kyle Phillips will be the starting punt returner for this team. I believe it in my soul. It's in my bones. I can feel it. And the way he shook Shaheem Carter, he also got Kevin Byard on the day,

according to some of the beat reporter notes. So that's all pro safety, but worth stating as well that Kevin Byard said, I've seen enough of this. And Kevin Byard purposefully said, I want Kyle Phillips in this drill right now. Twice said, come on, come on, young buck. You're going to make everybody else out here look bad. Not me. And Kevin Byard did get some wins on him that were clear and obvious. So, hey, that's the best safety in the NFL, Rook. Don't feel bad.

But Kyle Phillips, shifty out there, really putting on a show in one-on-ones. Mason Kinsey as well, another guy like that in one-on-ones. Not in that drill, but in one-on-ones, wide receivers versus DBs where they're running routes and having a quarterback throw to them. Mason Kinsey really did a good job. I think with Kyle Phillips, if Mason Kinsey makes it, he'll be considered the sixth wide receiver on the team. He would get that sixth and final spot,

but ultimately I truly do think Mason Kinsey ends up on the Titans practice squad. Here's who I really wanted to talk about today. And shout out to the guy who called me out on the show yesterday. I forget your name in my YouTube comments, but basically he said, Reggie Roberson, a long shot to make the roster. That's a joke. Basically saying that he thinks he is going to make the roster.

And by God, buddy, you may be right because Roberson had a great day on Monday. I believe he had two touchdown catches, one from Logan Woodside and one from Malik Willis. I believe one was in one-on-ones and one was in seven-on-seven. But Jim Wyatt put a note in his practice recap, Jim Wyatt, the lead writer for the actual Tennessee Titans franchise. And he said that Roberson has been incredibly consistent all five days of practice. And with his speed,

I mean, it could be a good fit for the Titans. So my apologies to the YouTube hater yesterday. Looks like I'm the hater and you may be right. Roberson really acquainting himself very well with the Titans right now. And another guy who's a similar skill set, but a much bigger body. God, there was a video today of the wide receivers, and Josh Malone, who a lot of you guys, you know, Vols fans in Tennessee probably already know.

Josh Malone is huge, man. I underestimated his size throughout the year. He had a touchdown over Amani Hooker in one-on-ones. Been pretty solid as well. So, Phillips, Kinsey, Malone, and Roberson kind of setting themselves apart right now in the wide receiver group. The last thing I want to mention is a guy who isn't setting himself apart. And you know what?

Yeah, you're right, guys. Self-fulfilling prophecy. I just want to give myself a pat on the back. You're gosh darn right. Des Fitzpatrick's not going to make this team. He's not any good. It was absurd that the Titans traded multiple picks and traded up into the fourth round

to take Des Fitzpatrick, who was considered an undrafted free agent or a seventh round pick by most draft pundits, over a guy like Amon Ross St. Brown or Brevin Jordan. And no, don't get in my comments and tell me that this is hindsight 2020. I said it when it happened. Go watch the videos. I said this is a terrible pick and a terrible trade. And it is.

Des Fitzpatrick went up against, listen, Christian Fulton is a good cornerback. Christian Fulton isn't Jalen Ramsey. And Christian Fulton dominated Des Fitzpatrick so bad in one rep that the quarterback couldn't even throw the ball. It was one-on-one, Fulton versus Des. The quarterback waiting, one-on-one drills, and the quarterback could never even throw it because it wasn't even close to open.

Des couldn't even get into his route because Fulton just had him crushed. Fulton is a really good player, but he's not an all-time Darrell Revis player at cornerback. It's absurd. It's absurd. Okay, Alphonso, you're right. I do stay fussy about Dez. Poor Dez. I get it.

But it wasn't just me. Paul Kaharski put out a tweet today and he said, Des Fitzpatrick is pedestrian. He's not been impressive. And Ryan Tannehill can talk Des Fitzpatrick up all he wants. Oh, mentally he's so much further ahead and blah, blah, blah, blah, but the guy ain't got it. He ain't got it. So while other wide receivers started to put themselves ahead of the crowd, Des Fitzpatrick falling back, falling back on me. Oh, I'm going to get a copyright strike now. God dang it. Anyways, Drake the GOAT. Moving forward, we're going to cap off today's show talking about the rest of the defense because it was a defensive one day.

The Titans defense won, and Ryan Tannehill admitted it afterwards. So we're going to talk about all of that, who stepped up, and just some miscellaneous notes that I want to throw out you guys from Monday's practice. So we're going to hop into that in just a second. Locked on Titans, your team every day. Thank you guys so much for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Ask for your second listen.

Check out the Locked On NFL podcast. We got some major news in the NFL on Monday. Deshaun Watson's suspension has been announced. We're getting some injuries rolling in from training camps. Unfortunately, you stay up to date with all your Titans news with me right now in under 30 minutes every day. Well, generally speaking, when it's not a mailbag. Make sure you get all your NFL news in under 30 minutes every day with the Locked On NFL podcast. Guys, it's free. It's

available on all platforms. If you're watching on YouTube right now, go to Locked On NFL's YouTube channel, subscribe. I host the Thursday show, which will be previewing Thursday night football and stuff like that throughout the year. I don't ask you guys for any money for the show. Throw a little support to the Locked On NFL podcast. That would be helpful. Getting some questions into the chat. Freddie, Racy McMath, what about Weaver? Haven't heard much about him. Freddie, I got you, buddy.

One, Racy's been okay, but guys, Racy McMath is a special teams only player. He's not a wide receiver. He's not. He's going to have one memorable wide receiver highlight in his entire Titans career, and it was when he fumbled on that short drag route, and he literally barely caught the ball and threw the ball up in the air, it felt like. Just embarrassing. Racy McMath is not a wide receiver. He is a special teams player. So, just not enough value there. He's a practice

squad guy, in my opinion. Love to have him back on the practice squad, but anyways. The defense. Dominant. Ryan Tannehill said that the offense was not sharp enough on Monday in his press conference after practice. And a lot of the reports from practice you know,

kind of reaffirmed that. So, what happened? A ton, a ton of pass breakups. The Titans were getting, the defense was getting their hands on everything. I already told you, Roger McCreary had a couple of, had six pass breakups himself. Imani Hooker had a pass breakup. David Long had a really nice pass breakup. Christian Fulton, of course.

Roger McCreary, as I mentioned. Kevin Byard had a couple of nice pass breakups. Harold Landry, from a run defense standpoint, Harold Landry had a good pop in the backfield along with Larell Murchison. Tyre Tart had a really nice hit in the backfield on a run play in team period. Larell Murchison had a play in the backfield. Kevin Strong had a play in the backfield. Rashad Weaver had a pass breakup where he knocked down a Logan Woodside pass at the line of scrimmage. The Titans defense was just everywhere on Monday. No other way around it. They had pass breakups and interception. Shakur Brown had an interception on the day on Malik Willis, but Brandon Lewis, probably the worst wide receiver that the Titans have in camp right now. He doesn't, watch him out there, guys. Number 84, he does not look like an NFL player.

It's like if Mason Kinsey and Kyle Phillips were slow. You know? I hate to be so harsh, guys, but I'm giving you real honesty here. The beat reporters, they can't be this honest because they'll have their credentials revoked by the team if the team feels that they're too critical

or too harsh or whatever on players. Not me. So, I'm going to tell you guys the real. Brandon Lewis is a camp body. He ain't making it. But anyways, defense, like I said, great plays, pass breakups, and interceptions. guys the real Brandon Lewis is a camp body he ain't making it but anyways defense like I said great plays pass breakups and interception the Titans

couldn't get any movement in the run game as well was another report that they had a hard time opening up any holes so guys what we can't do is when the defense dominates in practice we can't get too worried about the offense at the same time as saying that the Titans defense is going to be top three in the league and be nuts.

If the Titans defense is that good, well, then they probably are going to dominate the offense. And the offense takes a little longer to get up to speed because it's more complicated to play offense, generally speaking. Okay? So big defensive day, Because it's more complicated to play offense, generally speaking. Okay? So, big defensive day, but don't panic about the offense is the point. We want the Titans defense to be dominant right now.

That would make sense and line up with all of our opinions on what this team is going to be. So, no worries. But a great day for the defense on the first day that the pads got on. And think about it. Think about guys who play defense and their mentality and their mindset. Think about guys who play offense. The first day of pads. Yeah, I think the defensive players are going to win that one. No shocker to me. Their defensive guys are nuts and offensive guys are, you know, a bloody nose away from being a basketball player. So let's move forward with that. Other than the O-line, of course.

O-line players are like a couple biscuits away from being a hockey player. So anyway. Some other notes. Ben Jones was not out at practice early on. And he didn't go through individual drills. But Ben Jones did rejoin the team during team activities, full team, not seven on seven, but full team and stuff. Ben Jones got back out there.

So it seemed like just general maintenance, no worries there. But one thing of note is the Titans do this drill. And remember last Friday, I did my little detective search on the offensive line. I'm still using those clues. Last Friday, we saw a drill where it was the starting center, Ben Jones, the two starting tackles, Taylor LeJuan, Dylan Radins. And it was those three guys, snap the ball, pop out, just a little drill.

Then it was the number two center and the starting guards that went out next out of the three-man groups. Well, with Ben Jones not participating in that drill today early on, let's see some guesses in the chat. Who do you think the backup center was for the Titans? It was Corey Levin. And like I've said when I did my roster prediction, my belief was the eighth offensive lineman,

because I think there are seven locks at offensive line. LeJuan, Radins, Ben Jones, Aaron Brewer, Nate Davis, Jamarco Jones, Nicholas Petit-Ferrer. That's seven guys. I think all those seven guys are locked. The eighth and maybe not final spot, maybe the Titans keep nine, but my expectation is they'll only keep eight. The eighth offensive

lineman, in my opinion, will be Corey Levin. And Corey Levin was that backup center who was the starting center with Ben Jones not participating in individual drills early. So take that for what you will. He was ahead of Murner. He was ahead of Xavier Newman.

He was ahead of Hayden Hightower. Howerton, sorry. He's not going to make the roster. I'm trying, guys. There's 90 guys trying to say all their names right, get it all lined up for you guys. But yeah, Corey Levin is the backup center, which is no surprise to me.

And I think he will get the eighth and final roster spot for the offensive line. So in my opinion, I already know the eight offensive linemen that are going to make the roster. Maybe there's nine because they want to keep one of these young guys like Xavier Newman, Jaden McKenzie, Hayden Howerton. Maybe they want to keep one of those guys and not let them get

snatched by another team because they don't think they can get them to the practice squad. But either way, that right there I found pretty interesting and gives us a window into what the pecking order is on the offensive line. Not a shock to me. The last thing that I want to mention is Tommy Hudson. I've been pretty adamant that I think the Titans will keep four tight ends this year, and I thought that Briley Moore or Tommy Hudson, depending on how quickly Tommy Hudson got healthy during training camp, would win that spot.

I said that if Hudson came back quickly, I think it will be Hudson. I picked Briley Moore in my pre-training camp 53-man prediction because Tommy Hudson was hurt. You didn't know how serious it was. But Tommy Hudson returned to practice on Monday, was activated off the physically unable to perform list.

So that's all great news for the Titans. And I think Tommy Hudson will get a roster spot. And again, another interesting tweet from Paul Kaharski. He said that the team really likes Tommy Hudson and he wouldn't even be shocked if Hudson started getting some reps over Jeff Swaim. And if you've been plugged into the Locked on Titans podcast,

I said that for the last few weeks. Don't be surprised if Tommy Hudson can overtake Jeff Swaim at some point during the year. But there it is, guys. A full recap of Monday's first padded practice of the year for the Titans. That's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.