Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Tyler Boyd Signing Happening?? Boyd's Fit in Offense & Trouble for Treylon Burks

Starting point is 00:00:00 It looks like the Tennessee Titans will be signing Tyler Boyd, and he'll be the third best wide receiver on the team right away. I'll break down the potential signing on today's edition of Locked on Titans. 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. Today's edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is brought to you by Monopoly Go.

Starting point is 00:00:38 I admit I have a competitive side and it is a big fan of Monopoly Go, the mobile hit twist on classic Monopoly. Join your friends and download Monopoly Go now, free on the App Store or Google Play. It looks like the Tennessee Titans are going to be signing Tyler Boyd. This is a good move for the Titans. I'll break down how he fits within the scheme, who he is as a player, and what this means for some of the Titans' young wide receivers as well.

Starting point is 00:01:04 Before we dive into it, thank you for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. Remember, 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 00:01:23 Shout out to my everydayers tuning in Monday through Friday. It's been a great week and I'll have another great week for you guys ready next week as well. Do want to say before we dive into Tyler Boyd here, I did want to do a mailbag episode on today's show, but there's big news. The Titans are signing a wide receiver, so definitely need to pivot to that big news. Hopefully you guys do understand and I'll make sure to keep all those mailbag questions and dive into those next week as well.

Starting point is 00:01:48 But the big news takes precedent here, and Tyler Boyd looks like he will be a Tennessee Titan. So we got reports on Wednesday that Tyler Boyd was going to be taking a visit with the Tennessee Titans, but was going to be taking a visit with the Los Angeles Chargers first. So we didn't know for certain whether the Titans would get the opportunity. Would the Chargers let Tyler Boyd out of the building?

Starting point is 00:02:13 At the end of the day, the Chargers desperately need wide receiver help. But when I saw that report, my initial thought was, Tyler Boyd's going to be a Titan. And here's why. The fit is so much better with a Titan. And here's why. The fit is so much better with the Titans. And here's why. Number one, the Chargers are a Jim Harbaugh team now. And the reason that they didn't take a wide receiver is because Jim Harbaugh is going to be a team,

Starting point is 00:02:41 or the Chargers under Jim Harbaugh, is going to be a team that is big on physicality. They're going to play like the Titans did a couple of years ago. Two or three tight ends on the field all the time. And Tyler Boyd is a full-time slot receiver. How does he fit into an offense that isn't going to run a ton of three-wide receiver stuff? It just doesn't make sense. It's just a clunky fit overall. However, you spin that to the Tennessee Titans where you have Brian Callahan, who was the

Starting point is 00:03:11 offensive architect in Cincinnati, a guy who runs a ton of three wide receiver sets. You know, Brian Callahan uses his slot wide receiver as a secondary tight end. Rather than running two tight end sets, Brian Callahan wants a physical slot receiver, not like a Kyle Phillips, Julian Edelman type like that, you know, Golden Tate, another example of a smaller slot wide receiver that's real quick. What you think of when you think of your typical slot receiver,

Starting point is 00:03:42 not that type of guy. He wants a big physical slot receiver that can do some of those tight end duties. They can get down the field and get vertical as well. Not just be a change of direction guy, but a guy with some speed as well. And Tyler Boyd fits that exactly. He just fit that role in Cincinnati under Brian Callahan for multiple years. Okay. So it's a clean fit. So when I looked at the report from Jeremy Fowler of ESPN that Tyler Boyd was going to be visiting with the Chargers and visit with the Titans later in the week, I'm like, okay, as long as he doesn't sign with the Chargers

Starting point is 00:04:17 during his meeting with them, I think he's going to be a Titan. So then we got the report that the visit with the Chargers was already done. He already went there and had already left. And once I saw that, I'm like, oh, okay. Okay. And then last night you have Tyler Boyd posting on Instagram or Wednesday night, I should say you have Tyler Boyd posting on Instagram that he's in Nashville at a hotel. Downtown Nashville was the tag, location tag on it. And you're like, okay.

Starting point is 00:04:48 So he already not only left Los Angeles, he's already in Tennessee. Okay. And when guys start doing visits like this, it's because they want to get on a team. You want to get on a team before the OTAs start and the mini camps start and all that because you want to be acclimated with your teammates

Starting point is 00:05:03 and acclimated with the system and what the coaches want. You want to be in place. You don't want to wait too long into the summer. So I was pretty confident when I saw all of those reports. But then, if you guys don't know about the folk hero that is PrettyRicky213 on Twitter, I don't know what to tell you. You know, if you're not following him,

Starting point is 00:05:24 then, you know, all I can do is tell you that this guy gets things right. The AJ Brown extension, the Amon Ross St. Brown extension, this guy was tweeting about it 12 hours before it happened. All right?

Starting point is 00:05:37 During the draft, he was tipping picks way before they were going to happen. And Pretty Ricky got his own fair share of things wrong during the draft. And the draft is a crapshoot, of course. But, you know, he's gotten a lot right. And if you go back to free agency,

Starting point is 00:05:51 a lot of the things that happened in free agency, this same exact Twitter account was breaking the story five, six hours before the Adam Schefters, the Ian Rappaport. So while the Tyler Boyd signing is not official right now, PrettyRicky213 did tweet out. I know how silly this sounds, guys, but you just have to trust me here. This guy is not just, you know, an engagement farmer on Twitter. He's gotten so much stuff right.

Starting point is 00:06:19 It's pretty ridiculous. So when I saw him finally tweet on Thursday morning, word is that Tyler Boyd will be signing with the Tennessee Titans. And this isn't like a Titans account for any reason. Well, that combined with all of my other thoughts prior to that and the information that we had, you know, by the time that you hear this, Tyler Boyd will likely be signed with the Tennessee Titans. Now, in terms of contract, I'm expecting that basically, we're going to be looking at two years, $15 million, two years, $16 million at maximum. Probably only one year of that

Starting point is 00:07:03 is going to be guaranteed. You know, like, that makes sense. But again, Rancorthon put off his vacation to meet with Tyler Boyd. And the Titans have $20 to $25 million of cap space still to work with. So the odds are that something like this gets done. And as Brian Callahan has said earlier this all season, the Titans needed someone to emerge from the slot. Well, clearly no one has done that. And now they're on the hunt to get a slot wide receiver that they actually trust. And again, Tyler Boyd would be the third best wide

Starting point is 00:07:36 receiver on this team right away. Okay. Right away. Now, when we were talking about free agency, that first wave of free agency back in March, I did not want Tyler Boyd. I did not want the Titans to go out and spend their money on a Tyler Boyd. They needed to go out and get a Calvin Ridley, okay? Well, now that they've done that, they got a Lloyd Cushenberry. They added pieces on defense in LeJarius Sneed. They've gone through the draft.

Starting point is 00:08:03 Now, you have your leftover money and I can be fine with a Tyler Boyd signing for, you know, seven, eight million dollars, six million dollars, somewhere there on a cheap deal that's going to be one or two years at maximum. Now it makes a ton of sense once you have already done the things

Starting point is 00:08:19 that I wanted to see you do and you're just playing with your leftover money before the season starts. So, again, it's not official yet. It's not confirmed, but I feel pretty good about it happening, and even if

Starting point is 00:08:33 it doesn't happen right away, it's something that makes a ton of sense. So it may be over the weekend, they may iron things out, but it's something that makes a lot of sense for Tyler Boyd to be with somebody who he's worked with before. It makes a lot of sense for Tyler Boyd to be with somebody who he's worked with before. It makes a lot of sense for the Tennessee Titans as well who need a slot-wide receiver and every down slot-wide receiver.

Starting point is 00:08:52 So this looks like it's going to happen. Knock on wood, of course, but would be a very good signing for the Tennessee Titans if they do pull it off. Let me know how you would grade a Tyler Boyd signing down below, but now we got to talk about how we would fit as a player with the Tennessee Titans. Before we do, do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Look, it's winner take all time in the NBA and the NHL.

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Starting point is 00:10:10 FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We talked about basically all of the news and all of the series of events that has led to my opinion that Tyler Boyd is going to be signing with the Tennessee Titans. We got some pseudo reporting. We got some context clues to put together. But it looks like it would be a good fit for the Titans and for Tyler Boyd as well. Now, I want to talk about how Tyler Boyd can impact the Titans out on the field,

Starting point is 00:10:56 not just the brass tacks of the situation, but Tyler Boyd as a player and what role he would play within the Titans system. And then, of course, we're going to talk about how it impacts the rest of the wide receiver group at the end of the show. Before I get into it, thank you for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. As a reminder, over on the Tic Tac Titans film channel, I broke down every single draft prospect for the Titans this week.

Starting point is 00:11:20 So hope you guys enjoy that over there. And if you haven't seen that yet, make sure that you go check it out. But with that being said, again, Tyler Boyd is a full-time slot receiver. All right. But he is a bigger slot receiver, six foot two, 200 pounds. So this isn't Kyle Phillips. Okay. This isn't one of these small five foot 10, five foot 11,-pound guys, okay? This is a big slot receiver who, again, like I explained earlier, can be a pseudo-tight end within the Tennessee Titans offense. So I like the fit there for Tyler Boyd and what the Titans need. The Titans have been talking about needing a slot to emerge. I mentioned Kyle Phillips.

Starting point is 00:11:59 I mentioned Mason Kinsey. I mentioned NWI. Look, NWI can function as a big slot receiver as well, but he doesn't have the receiving chops or the quickness or the speed that the Titans are going to want from their current wide receiver group. So if you put Tyler Boyd in the slot with DeAndre Hopkins at X and Calvin Ridley at Z, I mean, that is what

Starting point is 00:12:25 one of the top 10 wide receiver groups in the entire NFL right away so to go from for the Titans to go from DeAndre Hopkins Traylon Burks and Nick Westbrook-Akene

Starting point is 00:12:42 to DeAndre Hopkins Calvin F.N. Ridley, and Tyler Boyd. What a change that is. And Brian Callahan has an offense that is built on the wide receivers. You need good wide receivers to play that offense because they need to get open quick, they need to get open early, and that's going to help the offensive line. And now you have three guys who can do that. And even if DeAndre Hopkins doesn't get open, he's open.

Starting point is 00:13:10 You know what I mean? So looking at Tyler Boyd, been in the league quite some time now, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight years in the NFL, 29 years old. It's funny he's the same age as Calvin Ridley, but Ridley came into the NFL so late and had a year and a half off that, you know, doesn't seem like he's been around the same,

Starting point is 00:13:29 but he's younger than Calvin Ridley. I mean, Tyler Boyd has 513 catches for 6,000 yards in his career, 31 touchdowns. And even last year, again, as a slot-wide receiver, 28 of his 67 catches went for a first down. So more than a third of his catches ended up in a first down for the offense. That's what the Titans are looking for here. You have Calvin Ridley, who can get open down the field with speed.

Starting point is 00:14:00 You have DeAndre Hopkins as your contested catch guy that's always open, that you can always go to. And then you have Tyler Boyd getting open quick over the middle of the field. The Titans can do a rotation here. Now, instead of needing Traylon Burks to play a big role in the offense, you can have Burks as your backup outside wide receiver. You could maybe use him in the slot just a little bit on gadget plays. You don't need to rely on Kyle Phillips whatsoever or Jaquan Jackson as a rookie whatsoever. You don't really even need those guys if you don't have to. What the Titans couldn't do here is go into next season

Starting point is 00:14:34 relying on Traylon Burks and relying on Kyle Phillips. Okay? Because those players have proved to be entirely unreliable. And we'll talk more about those guys and what it means for them at the end of the show. But the Titans needed a reliable slot-wide receiver. Jaquan Jackson, Mason Kinsey, Kyle Phillips, not big or fast enough to do that role in the Brian Callahan offense.

Starting point is 00:15:00 And then Nick Westbrook-Akene, not quick enough to play that role consistently in the Brian Callahan offense. So look, Tyler Boyd is going to be 30. Is he as quick as he was when he first came in the league? No. Is he as fast as he was when he first came in the league? Straight line, maybe. All right. And everybody wants to talk about, you know, drops and this and that. I mean, the guy has been pretty consistent his entire career, about 68 to 70% catch rate. He's going to catch 68 to 70% of his targets. And that doesn't mean that the rest are drops.

Starting point is 00:15:33 You know, that's not, that is, you know, the targets. And sometimes there are knockaways, past inaccurate balls. So last year, he had five drops. He had three before that. The year before that, in 2021, when the Bengals went to the Super Bowl, he had zero. So, you know, we are talking about a guy that's like dropping the ball all the time. I mean, he got thrown the ball 67 times and only had five drops.

Starting point is 00:16:01 Or 98 times. He got thrown the ball 98 times and only dropped it five. I mean, you know, it's not exactly what you want, but it's not some debilitating number. And again, I would tell you to go look at the leaders and drop the balls the last five years.

Starting point is 00:16:20 Tyreek Hill, Stefan Diggs, DK Metcalf, Debo Samuel. Like, you know, if you get thrown the ball enough, there are going to be a few drops. The point is that I want to make, and I made this point a ton last year, is when you play offense the way the Tennessee Titans played offense last year, every drop felt like a backbreaker because you don't have the offensive system.

Starting point is 00:16:42 You don't have the offensive skill to overcome those. You need everything to go perfectly when you're a crap, untalented offense. But the Titans aren't that anymore. They have better talent up front on the offensive line, adding Latham, adding Cushenberry. They have way more talent at wide receiver. They're going to have Will Levis in a better environment

Starting point is 00:17:10 with more confidence, who's grown as a player in his second year with much better play calling from Brian Callahan as well. So it's not going to be like last year where one drop ruined a whole quarter's worth of offense because the Titans can't come back after that, or one delay of game penalty ruined the whole drive because the Titans can't possibly come back from first and 15. It's not going to be like that.

Starting point is 00:17:35 So you don't want people to drop the ball. That's a fact. But it's also not going to be the backbreaker that it was for the Titans last year. So be careful getting too overly concerned with things like that. But, you know, with that being said, again, the slot wide receiver and Brian Callahan's offense

Starting point is 00:17:53 doubles as somewhat of a second tight end. So you get a bigger, stronger slot receiver in Tyler Boyd at 6'2", 200 pounds who could come in and fill that role right away. And the Titans didn't have anybody in that role that they had on the roster. I think that the Titans would have taken a wide receiver in the second round if like a Ladd-McConkie, Ricky Pearsall would have fell to them. But that run on wide receivers happened at the beginning of the second round.

Starting point is 00:18:20 And then the run on defensive tackles was getting ready to start. So they just said, screw it. We'll take the defensive tackle. We're not reaching for a wide receiver like Jalen Polk, you know what I mean, who I wouldn't have thought would have been worth the 38th pick as well. So that's how Tyler Boyd will fit in the offense. That's who he is as a player right now, and again, I like the signing. It makes a ton of sense. And hopefully we get confirmed news of that signing after the Titans visit with Tyler Boyd here shortly. But let's talk about what this would mean

Starting point is 00:18:50 for Traylon Burks and Kyle Phillips, who, I've been saying it, they're on notice. And I think it's pretty obvious that the team isn't as high on them as they may say publicly. Before we continue though, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by Monopoly Go. All right, game off. We got to pause here to talk about Monopoly Go and I know what you're saying. Flag on the play. You already talked about that, but there's just so much good

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Starting point is 00:20:01 There's always something fun to discover in Monopoly Go, so get off the bench and go download it now for free on Google Play or the App Store. Game on. Titans fans, let's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Again, I was going to do a mailbag today, but with all the Tyler Boyd news, had to pivot over to the big news, you know, right in front of us here. I'll save those mailbag questions for later. Before I cap off today's show talking about what this means for

Starting point is 00:20:45 Traylon Burks and Kyle Phillips, do want to thank you again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen. It's your team every day here on the Locked on Titans podcast, so make sure you get subscribed. Stay subscribed. Throw a thumbs up on the video as well. Show's always free. All I ask for in return is the press of a button,

Starting point is 00:21:02 but this is not good news for Traylon Burks and Kyle Phillips. And I already see the cope. There's always, there's already so much cope going on online. This doesn't mean anything for Traylon Burks. They already said they were going to use him in the slot and outside. This doesn't mean anything. But Brian Callahan just said this week they're off the

Starting point is 00:21:25 Brian Callahan is not going to go on a Nashville radio station and trash Traylon Burks. Why would he do that? One, that would be terrible for Traylon Burks' confidence. Two, that would send a terrible message to the locker room that the coach is going to criticize

Starting point is 00:21:42 you publicly. And three, if they ever wanted to trade Traylon Burks, you don't trash him publicly. What coach does that? Sometimes you guys do these things where it's like, well, he didn't say that. He's not going to. No coach is going to go out there and publicly trash his player.

Starting point is 00:22:02 I mean, any good coach is not going to do that purposefully. So, that's nonsense to me to point to that interview and be like, oh, see, Callahan does believe in Traylon Burks. He said so on an interview, on the radio. Come on, guys.

Starting point is 00:22:17 You can't be that naive, right? Like, that's not how this game works. But anyways, actions speak much louder than words. Traylon Burks is a first round wide receiver. When the Titans talked about pure slots, they didn't mention Traylon Burks. So you can get in the comments and say, oh, Burks played 77% of snaps in the slot in college. Well, the Titans don't see Traylon Burks as a slot. Like, they told us that. They drafted a slot. They're looking to sign a slot.

Starting point is 00:22:47 Like, how much evidence do you need? Actions speak louder than words. And the Titans' actions tell us they do not believe in Traylon Burks. If they don't see Traylon Burks as a guy who can play full-time in the slot, and they see him as an outside guy, well, they just went and paid Calvin Ridley $90 million. If you have a first-round pick who's going to play primarily on the outside, and you have DeAndre Hopkins, why would you go pay another outside receiver $90 million?

Starting point is 00:23:26 Why? Probably because you don't think you have two starters on the outside. And with Traylon Burks as someone in that mix, you don't because he's not a starter. So they went out and they got Calvin Ridley because we need two starters on the outside because Traylon Burks can't hack it. Then, okay, maybe we can use Traylon Burks in the slot some. Not a pure slot, not a full-time slot, but Traylon should get some work in the slot.

Starting point is 00:23:59 Okay, well, you went out and you drafted a full-time slot receiver in Jaquan Jackson, and now you're going to use a big chunk of money of your post-draft money to bring in another full-time slot? So if you have Tyler Boyd, and you have Jaquan Jackson, and you have Kyle Phillips, and you have Calvin Ridley who can also play in the slot and wants to line up in the slot, and you have DeAndre Hopkins who can also function as a big slot receiver. Where you bring back Nick Westbrook,

Starting point is 00:24:31 Akina, who you think can play in the slot and play on the outside. Where is it that you do want to use Traylon Burks? Because all that you've done all season is go give Calvin Ridley 90 million, bring back NWI, go draft Jaquan Jackson, sign Tyler Boyd. You're adding wide receivers at every single position, which continue to push Traylon Burks down the pecking order. So you guys

Starting point is 00:24:59 can hold on to that hopium if you want, but they are telling you with their actions, not their words, that they do not believe in Traylon Burks. Period. It's that obvious. And if you're Kyle Phillips, like, I'm getting closer and closer to saying,

Starting point is 00:25:18 I don't think Kyle Phillips makes this roster. I don't think he makes the team. I'm not quite there yet. But when we get into some of these conversations about the roster, as we get into the summer, and who makes the final 53, and who gets cut and all that, they drafted Jaquan Jackson,

Starting point is 00:25:39 who does the same exact stuff as Kyle Phillips. But he's a better returner, and he's got more long speed. They're going out and looking to sign Tyler Boyd, who is going to be their full-time starting slot-wide receiver. Not Kyle Phillips. So just in the past two months, they've added two guys who jumped Kyle Phillips at slot wide receiver. So, as I said last year,

Starting point is 00:26:10 if Kyle Phillips does not remember how to punt return and catch the ball, he's cooked. Because as a fifth round, small, slot wide receiver, who was drafted by the previous regime, he's on thin ice already. And then they go out and bring in two people at the exact spot that he plays. I mean, again, it's just the reality that Burks was a massive mistake. The A.J. Brown trade, John Robinson, massive mistake. Kyle Phillips doesn't fit with the new team and has been a complete disappointment as well.

Starting point is 00:26:56 Like, you could say that Kyle Phillips started to gain a rhythm with Will Levis last year. That's cool. But let's not pretend like there aren't better wide receivers who could do just as good with the time. So, I've been talking about this for a few months now. Traylon Burks, Kyle Phillips, the writing's on the wall, man.

Starting point is 00:27:15 You guys better come to play and show something because you're getting phased out quickly. And if the Titans do make this signing for Tyler Boyd, which we expect them to do, Traylon Burks on the trade market. And here's the thing. If you're a team who wanted to sign or wanted to draft a wide receiver in the draft

Starting point is 00:27:42 and you didn't get the guys that you wanted and you missed out on guys, why wouldn't you flip a 2025 pick and get in Traylon Burks with two years left on his rookie contract and a fifth-year option and see what you might be able to do with him? If the Titans could get a fourth, fifth, sixth, and 2025 for Traylon Burks after they sign Tyler Boyd,

Starting point is 00:28:03 I'm all for it. And I've been all for it all offseason long. But let me know how you guys feel down below. Again, I'm going to be answering those mailbag questions next week, so don't think that I forgot about you. But with that being said, that is going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland.

Starting point is 00:28:18 And this was Locked on Titans. tight

Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Tyler Boyd Signing Happening?? Boyd's Fit in Offense & Trouble for Treylon Burks

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