Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans' Treylon Burks Is Ready, Weekend Roster Changes & Malik Willis Signs

Episode Date: July 24, 2022

The Tennessee Titans begin training camp this week and one of the big questions was the status of rookie wide receiver Treylon Burks and his conditioning level. Burks had an up and down start to his Titans career, but a recent report indicates he will enter training camp at his best. Next, the Titans made roster changes over the weekend including one release, one signing and placed three players on the Physically Unable to Perform list. Tyler explains what this means for those three players and why names like Robert Woods, Caleb Farley and Kristian Fulton not being on said list, is the best news the Titans could have gotten. Finally, the Titans final unsigned rookie, Malik Willis, agreed to terms over the weekend. Willis will be ready for training camp as rookies reported on Saturday. What are proper expectations of Malik Willis in this year's camp? Tyler lays out his wants.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.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.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, we got a ton of Tennessee Titans news over the weekend to break down on today's show. First, is Titans rookie wide receiver Traylon Burks ready for Titans training camp? We got a major report over the weekend. Then the Titans made some roster moves as they get ready for training camp. They waved a player. They signed a player.

They placed three players on the physically unable to perform list. But the biggest news is three important players who avoided going on PUP prior to training camp. And then, as I predicted Friday, Titans rookie quarterback Malik Willis signed his contract with the Titans over the weekend. I'll give you guys my expectations for Malik Willis during Tennessee Titans training camp. All of that and more 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, as you can tell, I am hype. Last week, we got ready with the Locked On Titans training camp preview and it was kind of the calm before the storm. But the storm has arrived. Tennessee Titans rookies arrived at the facility on Saturday. The veterans will report on Tuesday. The Titans should be out on the practice field on Wednesday.

I am just as jacked up about this football season as I possibly could be. My fourth season hosting the Locked on Titans podcast. And thank you all for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. If this is your first ever listen, make

sure you subscribe. I'm putting out daily Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content from now all the way until next summer, free and available on all platforms, including the Locked On Titans YouTube channel. Subscribe there. Smash the notification bell. And throw a thumbs up on the video if you're watching on YouTube right now.

That little bit of support goes a long way to helping out the channel. You can catch me on social media at Tic Tac Titans on Twitter. You can catch me on Facebook with the show Facebook page at Locked on Titans Pod. But we're going to dive into the Traylon Burks update we got from over the weekend. Before we do, I want to remind you guys that today's episode is brought to you by BetOnline. BetOnline has you covered this season with more props, odds, and lines than ever before. BetOnline, where the game starts. Traylon Burks has had an up and down start to his Tennessee Titans career. Let me put it out here first and foremost. I was one of the first

people on the Traylon Burks train. I thought he would be the ideal pick for the Titans at number 26 in the first round of the NFL draftraft. Now, the Titans' path to getting that perfect prospect in Traylon Burks included an unexpected A.J. Brown trade. So even no doing of Traylon Burks' from the start, the pick of Burks is tied to the strange feeling of trading away A.J. Brown. So that's a tough start for him anyway. But then he created some of the tough start on his own. Now, comes in, some of the rookie activities,

wasn't able to participate, missed some practices, left some practices, just wasn't able to go full go like the other rookies and the other young players that were a part of those activities with the Titans. So a little bit of concern there. Of course, we have the infamous shot of him hitting the inhaler, the asthma discussion that's come since then. Some people, even medical people saying, hey, you got to take it easy on the guy.

He's got asthma. Some people who have asthma reaching out to me saying, hey, man, a bunch of athletes have asthma. A bunch of pro athletes have asthma. This isn't an excuse for Traylon Burks. As I say to you guys all the time when we discuss injuries or medical things, I'm not a doctor. I'm not.

I'm not. So that's as far as I'll get into that. But either way, with all of that up and down news happening, tough start for Traylon Burks to his rookie career. happening. Tough start for Traylon Burks to his rookie career. And then last week, his former college coach, Sam Pittman from Arkansas, made some comments about Traylon Burks. And it's my opinion from watching the video, which I've retweeted on my Twitter at TicTacTitan, Sam Pittman wasn't trying to cut down Traylon Burks. But he did mention some conditioning issues

that lingered into the beginning of his sophomore season. He also mentioned some confidence issues that Burks would deal with specifically during their game against Rice. Now Pittman pointed out that Burks rebounded. He had a great, phenomenal season after conditioning issues. He rounded into shape and dominated the SEC. He mentioned that the game after that Rice game where there were some confidence issues,

he bounced back in a major way. So those questions were created by Pittman, or at least confirmed by Pittman. But he also, on the back end of it, said he overcame those things and made plays for us and was a great player, ultimately getting picked in the first round. But hearing some of those things, definitely after what we've seen at the beginning is like,

oh no, oh no. But even I was a little upset, saying we got work ethic concerns obviously here. And maybe that's still true. But there's always the chance that this beginning to his Titans career was a wake-up call. And some of that would be confirmed by a report from Diana Rossini from ESPN over the weekend. She was on the Athletic Football Podcast talking about the Tennessee Titans and Traylon Burke specifically. Diana Rossini, as we know, consistently has an end to the Titans organization,

whether it be John Robinson, Mike Vrabel, or both. Clearly, she is the sounding board when the Titans organization wants to put something out into the national narrative. And the Titans organization felt they needed to put this report out from Rossini. Quote, I've heard he's in shape. I've heard he's lost weight. I've heard there's been so much growth already. And this is from an organization that doesn't like to share. End quote. So the Titans organization felt the need

to put out there this weekend that Burks' lost weight is in shape and is ready to go. I hope Russini is right. She was right about Derrick Henry's timeline, but she called the Titans a long shot to get Julio Jones when it felt like they were the only team seriously in it after it happened. And then she also said that AJ wouldn't be traded.

And she'd sent out all of the messages for the Titans organization that he wouldn't be traded. And then he was. So while I do want to believe this report from Rossini, and clearly it would be a positive report for the Titans, I do have to take it with a grain of salt. Because maybe after the PR nightmare within the fan base that was the AJ Brown trade,

the Titans organization feels they need to talk more into the media to calm their fan base. Maybe I'm wrong on that. Maybe this is just a typical leak that the Titans would normally do anyways, but the Titans aren't the type of team that feels the need to come out and calm the fan base down on things. And I feel like after the AJ trade, some people are mad. Some people are hot.

Some people are worried. Me included. Me included. So I feel like the Titans organization is like, okay, we got to do a little bit more here to calm everyone down. And I think that's why this came out. But either way, we got some concerning statements from his former college coach who worth noting

that Sam Pittman also had a lot of great things to say about Isaiah Wilson. So maybe he's just, you know, giving out crap information all the time. But some concerning things there. But that report from Rossini makes you feel a lot better heading into training camp. And hopefully we have no issues with Traylon Burks and conditioning. And he can just go through training camp like all the other rookies and get prepared to have what needs to be a major role for this Titans offense. But either way, you want to slice it.

Good news from a Titans perspective from Diana Rossini over the weekend. We also got some really good news in the form of some roster transactions for the Titans. We got a player waived. We got a player signed. We got three players placed on the PUP. But more importantly, we got three players who were not placed on the PUP ahead of Titans training camp. I'll explain who those players are, what the heck PUP is anyway. Before we get into that, though, I do want to tell you a little bit more about our title sponsor, BetOnline.net.

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and all the action. BetOnline, where the game starts. Titans fans, we are going to continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast covering all the big news stories from the Tennessee Titans over the weekend. We just talked about all the conversation and all the new little comments about Traylon Burks from last week and over the weekend. Now I want to talk about some actual roster moves that the Titans made to get ready for training camp. And before we do, I got to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast

your first to listen. Make sure you make the Locked on Titans podcast your first to listen. Make sure you make the Locked on Titans podcast your first to listen every day. Subscribe on whatever platform you do. Stream free and available on all platforms. Your team every day. All the code words, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But we're going to start here with me making fun of myself. So last week, specifically the last episode of the week, we did the roster locks, the roster bubble guys,

and the roster long shots for all positions, but we talked about the defensive secondary on Friday. And when I talked about safeties, I thought that Rodney Clements would be a guy who was on the bubble, who I thought had a chance to maybe fight for a roster spot uphill battle, but I thought he actually was on the bubble. Wrong. I was wrong because he was cut by the Titans over the weekend.

So, well, I say cut, but the official term is he was waived. And another team could pick Clemens up on waivers, but I don't think that that's going to happen, especially at this point in time. Before training camp, teams are pretty locked in with what they got. But with an open spot at safety, the Titans decided to bring in a familiar face. Joshua Blues Kalou.

If you remember back in 2019, Kalou was the one who had the field goal block at the end of the Chiefs game to secure that victory. Broke down on the field. It was a monster moment. And as a guy who's floating on and off rosters, he's not a secured NFL veteran by any means. He is scratching and clawing for his NFL life at all times. For a guy like Kalou to have that moment against the Chiefs during that Titans run, no matter what happens the rest of his life, he can point to that moment and know he made an impact in the NFL. And there are people like me who will forever remember the name Josh Kalou. And when I

see it, I have a vivid memory of his play in my head. So that is something to be proud of for a guy who's on and off rosters, fighting for his NFL life at all times. Big moment there. So what I mean to say is, it feels good to have Kalou back on the Tennessee Titans. And I talked about the need to have some special teams guys

in the secondary, since the Titans are loading up on offense at quarterback and running back, in my opinion. So having a guy like Kalou, who the Titans know can come in and play that special teams role, big. And honestly, it's going to make it tougher for Theo Jackson, for Michael Griffin, to make this roster. Shaheem Carter, guys like that. It's going to make it tough because when the Titans bring in these familiar faces, they do it with a specific role in mind.

It's going to be hard to not collude out of that role that the team envisions for him, in my opinion. But that wasn't the only roster moves. We got the wave. We got the signing. The more important things are the PUP. So Titans fans, what is the PUP? It is the Physically Unable to Perform list.

Basically, it's a way for you to have your guys on your roster and have other guys added to go into training camp because certain guys physically aren't able to perform. Now, there was some confusion online throughout the weekend as teams start making these declarations. The PUP has no impact right now on the regular season. Yeah, if you're on PUP at the start of the regular season, then you got to be out, I believe, at six games. The NFL has been changing their rules quite a bit lately on these sorts of things.

But I believe it's six games. You can't play at minimum if you're on PUP at the beginning of the year. But at the beginning of training camp, it means nothing. Okay? You can be brought back at any time. No minimum games that have to be sat out or anything like that when you're on the PUP at the start of training camp. It's the start of the regular season that that really matters.

But with that being said, three guys who were placed on the PUP for the Titans, linebacker, Monty Rice, tight end, Tommy Hudson, and kicker, Caleb Shudick.

So let's go person by person here. Monty Rice, I think this gives a great opportunity to chance Campbell, the rookie out of Ole Miss, and Jack Gibbons, the undrafted free agent. Listen, I know that we love what's happened with David Long. I know that everyone would love for Monty Rice to become the next David Long

in the sense of a late-round linebacker that became an actual contributor on defense. But we can't know that. And you can't count on that either. So, I think with Monty Rice being on the PUP coming off of what appears to be a serious

Achilles injury, all the news that we've gotten on that, what an opportunity for Chance Campbell and Jack Gibbons. I think it gives them a real opportunity to make this club. I think Monte Rice is going to make the team, of course, regardless of the injury, but he could be replaced in the pecking order when he gets back.

If one of these rookies takes advantage of this incredible opportunity to get a ton of reps at the beginning of training camp, one of these rookies might be the top inside linebacker on second team. Of course, you're going to have Cunningham and Long on first team, but to have the opportunity to be the number one linebacker on the second team defense, what an opportunity for one of these rookies. And personally, Campbell and Gibbons, I would trust before I would Joe Jones or Dylan Cole. So, I hope they get the opportunities they deserve. Hudson, on the other hand, that's unfortunate because I expect the Titans to do a lot of multi-tight end this year.

I thought there was a chance that Hudson could maybe even hop over Jeff Swaim at some point this year. But the Titans' young tight ends like Briley Moore, Tommy, they just cannot stay healthy long enough to have a chance. This really gives an opportunity to Briley Moore and specifically Chigaconqua. Hudson's been with the team longer, so while Chig has been

impressive early on, there is a chance I could see the Titans putting Hudson ahead of him in terms of the pecking order. Well, this erases that. Chigaconqua should be getting the third tight end reps see the Titans putting Hudson ahead of him in terms of the pecking order. Well, this erases that. Chigakonkwo should be getting the third tight end reps for the Titans at the start of training camp, and that gives him an incredible opportunity to just grab that role

by the horns. And Briley Moore, again, a guy coming off ACL. Can he stay healthy? And this should give him a lot more opportunities as well. And then finally, Caleb should it. I mean, he's cooked. He's cooked.

It was going to be hard enough to unseat. You got a home here, Randy. It was going to be hard enough to unseat Randy Bullock with how just solid he was last year for the Titans. This is the same thing that we see with any rookie kicker. If you miss time, you're cooked. You're cooked.

So, hopefully the Titans could slide Shudick on the practice squad and maybe we see him later in the year. More importantly, Robert Woods, Caleb Farley,

and Christian Fulton all did not start training camp on PUP. Woods and Farley coming off ACL tears. Christian Fulton coming off an off-season surgery. All three of those guys were in yellow non-contact jerseys throughout all of the off-season activities that they participated in.

So for them to be healthy, ready to go, no PUP, ready to start training camp, all three of them, obviously Fulton's the number one corner. Farley is a major X factor for the Titans. And Woods is the Titans' number one wide receiver. I mean, those are three critical players that are going to be available from the start of training camp for the Titans now.

So that is, out of all this roster news, that is probably the best news that we got all weekend long. We are going to get into Malik Willis signing his contract with the Tennessee Titans in just a second. Before we get into it though, do want to tell you guys about our friends over at Dave. Level with me here. We've all been in a situation at some point in our lives where we're a little tight on cash. Maybe you can only afford a couple of gallons of gas in your tank. You got another save the date over the summer and you got to have a gift

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We talked about the Traylon Burks updates and how everything's going with him right now. Positive news leading into training camp from Diana Rossini. We talked about the roster moves that the Titans made over the weekend. And now I want to talk about something that I warned you guys about on Friday's show. I said that by the time that you guys listen to the show on Friday, Malik Willis will probably be signed. Now, he ended up signing or were agreed to terms on Saturday, but there's a chance you listen to the show on Saturday,

and that's when he heard it. So, I figured this would be coming. I was not worried at all about Malik Willis signing his deal. As I mentioned on Friday, the salaries are slotted. The years are slotted. The things that get discussed are offset language, which is like if the Titans were to cut Malik Willis, and after his second year and his third year,

he signed with a new team who pays the majority of the salary there. Fully guarantees. When you get your guaranteed money, all those little ins and outs were what was being debated and negotiated and discussed. That makes it easy to get things done when these deadlines hit. And of course, Malik Willis agreed to terms. He's going to be ready to go for the Titans in training camp. But that leaves us with the question, what are the expectations for Malik Willis heading into training camp? Well, I just think it's this simple. Stay healthy and be ready for preseason action. I want Malik to be able to call the plays in the huddle. I want Malik to be able to move formations.

I want Malik to be able to read the defense, to be able to audible. Switch what side the run is going to. Audible from run to pass. Pass to run. Change the protection calls. I want Malik Willis to be able to do all of those things because I have been told by all of you Logan Woodside-ers

by Titans Twitter that Malik can't do any of those things and that's why Logan Woodside is better right now. Okay. Fine. Well then, dear God, what Titans fans need is for Malik Willis to get better at that stuff quick so that if Tannehill is out for two quarters, for two weeks during the season, we don't have Logan Woodside, the worst backup quarterback in the NFL starting games for the Titans.

That is unacceptable to me. There should never, whether it be week one, week two, week 1,000, there should never be a starting or a game where Logan Woodside is starting over a healthy Malik Willis. And if I'm being told that the only reason that Woodside would be in over Willis is because of these operational details, then by God, let's pray Malik gets on quick with them.

Because I think the Titans could maybe win a game or two with Malik if Tannehill was out three or four weeks. The Titans go with Lamar Jackson, Robert Griffin, Tim Tebow, Jalen Hurts style offense. They go heavy with the run game, quarterback run. I think the Titans could play some wildcat strange offense for a month in the season

and win a couple games until Tannehill is back. You know what I don't think the Titans can do? Win a game with Logan Woodside running Tannehill's offense. That's what I know the Titans can't do. Logan Woodside could barely win games in the AAF so my only hope here is that Traylon Burks Malik Willis

learns those operational things then his talent can just take over other than that, though, I just want him to maintain a positive attitude. Here's the reality, and I can't blame a guy for this. Basically, every single step

of Malik Willis' career, other than Auburn, he's been the man. He's come in right away and played. Came in and dominated. Used his physical talents to just be one of the best players on the field, if not the best.

I think it would be kind of tough to go from being that guy to, hey, you're not playing this year. There's no light at the end of the tunnel. You will not be playing starting in the games.

Maybe you play in some games later in the year in these packages that we all hope we get to see. Goal line, short yardage, third down. Hopefully we get to see some Malik Willis packages at some point. Goal line, third down, short yardage, all those things.

But at the beginning, the Titans are going to have him focus on that. They're going to have him, again, focus on the operational things to learn the offense. So I just hope that a guy who's been the guy his whole life and has always come in and played, other than Auburn, and maybe he can use that Auburn experience here, but I just hope that he stays positive.

Not even like he'll be malcontent and upset in the locker room, but just him in his quiet moments. I hope he never gets too down because he's not playing. I mean, he loves football. The guy's been playing football his whole life. There's a chance he might not get to see snaps if things

go the way the Titans want. That might be a tough pill to swallow. Right now, at the beginning, you're at a new job. Everything's happy. You're excited to be in the NFL, happy for the opportunity, but if you really love football, which I believe Malik Willis does, it is going

to at some point be a tough pill to swallow in his private moments that he doesn't get to play. So I just hope that his perspective and his attitude stay optimistic, stay positive. That's really what I'm looking for. A positive attitude

and learn that operational stuff so that you can be ready for preseason games so that you can show what you can do. And that's going to make the preseason pretty exciting for me. But what a weekend of news for the Titans. I mean, football is here. Tomorrow, it's going to be Monday night show, Tuesday show.

I mean, training camp literally starts. I'm going to go over my three biggest questions for the Titans heading into training camp. Can't wait. Make sure you stay locked into the Locked on Titans podcast. Subscribe. Throw a thumbs up on the video right now. Appreciate you guys watching. That's going to do it for me today, folks.

As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.