Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Weekend Report: Sunday's Practice Takeaways, Roster Role Favorites & Isaiah Wilson Drama

Episode Date: August 24, 2020

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, I hope you had a safe and enjoyable weekend. It is time to dive into another week of the Locked on Titans podcast. And I am going to be pumping out content for you guys Monday through Friday throughout the entire season. So make sure that you are subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast on Apple Podcasts, following on Spotify or whatever platform you do stream. Also make sure that you're following me on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans for up-to-date schedule

information. Also additional content and analysis that I provide there along with my Tic Tac Titan film breakdowns that will be coming out weekly during the regular season. But let's dive into this Monday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast by breaking down Sunday's unpadded practice for the Titans. The Titans had an off day on Saturday and then got back out on the field on Sunday. So we will break down everything that took place and all the big takeaways from that practice that the defense dominated. So we will talk about that.

And then I think it's a good time to revisit the roster role battles that we previewed before the beginning of training camp. So we will take a look at the seven roster battles that we talked about earlier in the offseason. And give you guys an update on where those competitions stand. And then to finish off today's show, we'll go over some of the odds and ends, the news, smaller news items surrounding the Titans throughout the weekend, including one high profile Tennessee Titans rookie that got himself caught up in some legal trouble earlier in the month.

So a lot to talk about on today's Locked On Titans podcast. Let's get it. The Titans had a game day simulation type practice on Friday at Nissan Stadium. But on the schedule directly after that was a rest day on Saturday as the Titans throughout training camp have typically been having three days straight of practice and then a rest day on the fourth day before kicking things back off again. And the Titans did kick practice back off again on Sunday. And although the practice was unpadded,

it didn't stop the Titans' defense from dominating, specifically in the secondary. Titans star safety Kevin Byard had two interceptions during team period, including one off of Titans' starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill. But also looking at individual one-on-one periods in the low red zone, that would be from the 10-yard line and closer to the goal line, Titans cornerbacks Dory Jackson, Malcolm Butler, and Kareem Orr all impressed with their physicality during that one-on-one period. So the Titans defense did technically win the day, but there were some standouts on the offensive side of the ball as well. Of course, tight end Jonu Smith, who is experiencing his first healthy offseason as an NFL player, continues to impress with his explosiveness. He had a long touchdown catch from Ryan Tannehill during team period that was very impressive.

Also, wide receiver Corey Davis continues to impress after his return from the physically unable to perform list. Remember, Corey Davis started off training camp recovering from offseason toe injury and was on the pup list and did not participate at the beginning of camp, but since his return last week, he has been incredibly impressive according to reports, and Sunday continued that trend. Also on the offensive side of the ball we saw Titans fullback Kari Blossom game get some work as a running back. His versatility and his ability to actually carry the ball and not just be an upfront blocker for the Titans gives him a much better opportunity of making the Titans roster for a second year

in a row. And then there was a tad bit of a dust-up in practice. The Titans training camp does not feature a lot of fighting or a lot of confrontation. That is by design, as Mike Brable has publicly spoken about the fact that fighting in a game will get you suspended and hurt your team. So fighting in training camp shouldn't be allowed either. But the Titans did have a mini dust-up between two stars, one on offense and one on defense, and of course it came in the trenches. Titans star left tackle Taylor LeJuan and upcoming star defensive lineman Jeffrey Simmons

had a little bit of a back-and-forth. It was quickly stamped out, but there was a tad bit of conversation between Simmons and Laun that carried over for a couple more minutes, but ultimately didn't result in any fisticuffs for the Titans, two stars on offense and defense. Now moving into some of the more negative news coming out of Titans practice, negative in the sense that it has to do with injuries and absences. The Titans saw two stars on the defensive side of the ball, outside linebacker Harold Landry and inside linebacker Rashawn Evans leave practice on Sunday early.

Now, Harold Landry went and worked on a side field with some assistant staff, and Rashawn Evans said that he was simply just sore and would be back to practice on Monday most likely. It seems like the Titans are having a very conservative approach when it comes to their more important players in this training camp as the limited offseason has to have the coaches concerned about the players level of conditioning and want to make sure that they stay fresh and don't put themselves in any compromised positions from an injury standpoint. Also, left guard Roger Saffold, safety Dane Cruikshank,

and rookie running back Darrington Evans missed practice. Of course, Saffold has missed multiple practices in a row, Sunday being his third straight. Cruikshank missed his first practice on Sunday, and then rookie running back Darrington Evans was hurt at practice on Friday, did not return to practice on Friday, and then, of course, missed practice on Sunday. So that is something to watch.

And then a final update on Beasley Watch 2020. Outside linebacker Vic Beasley, whose saga has been one of the more negative aspects of Titans training camp so far, was seen at practice, and although he wasn't participating in practice as he continues to be on the non-football injury list, he was seen riding a stationary bike on the side of the field with assistant training staff. The Titans will practice again on Monday at 1045 Central Standard Time in Nashville. Next, I want to update you guys on something that we previewed before training camp kicked off for the Titans, and that is our roster role battle series. So we took a look at not the roster spots,

but some of the biggest roles up for grabs heading into Titans training camp. And I want to update you guys on who is leading the competition at some of those roles, including backup quarterback, slot cornerback, and third defensive lineman in base. So we will talk about that next. Before we do, though, I want to talk to you guys a little bit about Roman.com. Talking about erectile dysfunction isn't easy and usually we just brush it off or blame ourselves say things like i just lost my mojo or avoid it all together with excuses like oh i just had a long day at work or just not feeling it honey things like that

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So as I mentioned at the beginning of training camp during my training camp preview, we did our roster roll battle series. And once again, just to clarify, we're not talking about roster spots. I'm not doing the math on who's making the roster. I'm going deeper than that, talking about who will actually fill the open roles that the Titans had going into training camp. So let's break down those seven roles that I see, and I'll add a little bit of an eighth role in there that we will talk about, but there isn't really a favorite at this moment in time. We just have some basic information on who is in the competition.

So let's dive into those seven, eight roles that we will be talking about. And first is the backup quarterback position, then the fourth wide receiver, then the starting right tackle. On defense, the third defensive lineman in the Titans' base defense, the secondary edge rusher across from Harold Landry, the slot cornerback position, and then of course the kicker position, the wild card eighth role that we will discuss is kick returner. So let's dive right in and start with the backup quarterback role. So of course we saw some changes here. When I initially did this roster role battle series, I gave you

guys a duh option, a maybe option, and a WTF option. I was pretty adamant that my WTF option at backup quarterback was the best option available. And I was talking about bringing in a veteran option like Blake Bortles or Trevor Simeon. So I've took my victory lap quite enough on the Trevor Simeon take. But let's take a look at it right now. So Logan Woodside is still there, and it appears from the investigative journalism, investigative reporting that I'm doing from all the videos and everything that I'm seeing from the Titan social media team that it looks like Trevor Simeon is still the third-string quarterback.

He's running with the third string, and then Logan Woodside still gets the opportunity to run with the second string. But it is my opinion based on what we're hearing out of training camp. The experience that Trevor Simeon has in the NFL. And just the fact that the Titans would even bring in backup quarterback options to compete. Shows me that they weren't satisfied with what they had. So to me I do think Trevor Simeon ultimately does win this race. But right now, we still have to say that Logan Woodside is the favorite.

Moving on to the fourth wide receiver role, and this is probably one of those roster role battles that we can call the fight. Knockout punch from Kalief Raymond. And of course, there are some prominent media members that cover the Titans that disagree with me on this but Kalief Raymond is a roster lock at this moment in time every single

day when I give you guys my major takeaways from Titans camp and all the reports coming out of all the different practices they always have something positive to say about Kalief Raymond, and Sunday was no different. He absolutely shook Malcolm Butler. You can find the video on Jim Wyatt's Twitter feed, on Twitter, at Jim Wyatt took a video of it, and Kalief Raymond just completely

disrespected Malcolm Butler. It was a great route route what Kalief Raymond did they were working one-on-one periods in the red zone so close to the goal line Kalief Raymond comes out crosses the line of scrimmage about five to six yards deep fakes an outbreaking route and then cuts back inside and just completely fooled Malcolm Butler his speed and explosiveness will allow him to do that now have to throw in the caveat that the Titans weren't wearing pads so that's gonna amplify the speed and quickness for Kalief Raymond and as we know Malcolm Butler his skills and his best assets as a cornerback are not to be matched up with quick small guys like that so I do like that Malcolm Butler is going out of his way to try to match up with a guy like that and improve in that area and I also like that Kalief Raymond is going up against a very physical line of scrimmage cornerback

because that's going to help him deal with that when the regular season comes. Both of those players are working on each other's weaknesses. So I'd really like to see that. Something I mentioned about A.J. Brown and Malcolm Butler going against each other earlier in training camp as well. So that was a major takeaway for me there, and it has been throughout training camp. Kalief Raymond is the number four wide receiver on this team, and I would even call him wide receiver 3B to Adam Humphreys 3A because Kalief Raymond is going to be more important to the Titans in certain situations than Adam Humphreys.

So I think it's an open and shut case now that Kalief Raymond is that fourth wide receiver on the Titans and will get the majority of the work when they need someone outside of the big three. Moving on to the last roster role that we are going to take a look at on the offensive side of the ball, and it is also pretty much a done deal at this moment in time, and that is the starting right tackle position it's going to be Dennis Kelly I've talked about things we've heard from coach Dave McGinnis on the OTP and how he kind of dropped a little bit of an easter egg a little bit of a nugget of information maybe unknowingly but mentioned that it's not a real competition a few

weeks ago and everything that's coming out of Titans training camp is confirming that. Dennis Kelly is the starter. And with the issues that Isaiah Wilson has had off the field that we are going to talk about at the end of today's show. It puts even a bigger spotlight on the fact that the Titans need maturity and continuity going into this 2020 unusual season. And Dennis Kelly is what's going to provide that. If Dennis Kelly, for some reason, is playing absolutely miserably, then the Titans have a first-round pick to fall back on, which isn't a terrible place to be, but at this

time, it seems obvious that Dennis Kelly is going to be the starting right tackle for the Titans out of the gate at the minimum. Moving over to the defensive side of the ball, and as we've progressed through the offseason and as we've progressed through training camp, the importance of this role has increased in my mind based on some of the information that I'm getting from around the NFL and some of the other beat writers, some of the other reporters who cover other teams, not just in the Titans division, but like I said, around the entire NFL. And let me dive into that first before I talk about the role.

So what I have been seeing, what I've been hearing, and some of the trends that we saw formationally at the end of the 2019 regular season, teams were starting to go away from the three wide receiver sets that had become so popular over the last few years in the NFL and they were starting to zag back the other way and go with heavy personnel three tight ends two tight ends one team that is a major highlight of this trend is the Los Angeles Rams the Sean McVay offense almost played exclusively in three wide receiver sets, 11 personnel, one running back, one tight end, 11 personnel. But we saw last year at the end of the year, the Rams offense was off track and they tried

to get back on track by going with multiple tight end sets. We saw the Baltimore Ravens last year revolutionize offense in the NFL with a running quarterback by playing three tight ends consistently and having packages with two tight ends, three tight ends consistently on Sundays. So NFL teams are starting to zig or zag back the other direction away from the three wide receiver sets and go with heavy tight end personnel. And the reason that they're doing that is because NFL teams were starting to counter those three wide receiver sets by putting more and more defensive backs out on the field.

Five, six defensive backs, nickel, dime sets from defenses. And as I've mentioned, almost 60 to 70% of NFL defenses were played in nickel or dime with five or six defensive backs out on the field. So NFL teams are starting to zag the other way and go heavy, which takes defenses out of their preferred nickel and dime sets. NFL defenses have been drafting four defenses that can combat these three wide receiver spread sets that offenses are giving them. And they've been going after linebackers and safeties like an Isaiah Simmons out of Clemson, a Derwin James, guys who can kind of be a safety linebacker hybrid to deal with these

spread out offenses. Well, now that teams are zigging the other way, the NFL teams don't have the time to draft to counteract that. They've been drafting these hybrid players. So teams are zagging. And that's a long explanation to tell you that Jack Crawford, who has recently come off the COVID-19 reserve list, appears to be that third defensive lineman in the Titans' base defensive formation. So talking about that base 3-4 that the Titans will run. So it looks like Jack Crawford, at this time, despite

missing so much time on the COVID reserve list, will be that third lineman in base defense. He's physical, he's big, but he's also got some mobility to play the five technique. He's one of the more versatile defensive linemen that the Titans have on the roster, so he right now is the favorite. The secondary edge, although Kamalei Correa has returned to practice after being injured early on and based on experience expects to be that guy, the second edge in the Titans-based defense. Can't count on Vic Beasley who going into this training camp was the odds-on favorite but we have to mention that rookie from 2019 DeAndre Walker has been incredibly impressive

and has gotten the majority of the first team snaps across from Harold Landry so far. I don't expect him to win that race long term. I expect it to be Beasley or Correa, probably Correa at this time. But we got to keep an eye on DeAndre Walker as he has been incredibly impressive throughout the offseason. Moving into the slot cornerback role. There's been a lot of names thrown in that conversation. Adorey, Christian Fulton, Kareem Orr, Chris Jackson, the seventh round pick out

of Marshall. But from what we've seen videos of team period, it's always Christian Fulton that's locked up in the slot on Adam Humphreys. So right now we have to say that Christian Fulton as a rookie who has been very impressive, who has gotten a lot of praise from Mike Vrabel and the defensive coaches, Christian Fulton is the tight end slot cornerback at this moment in time. And then lastly, the kicker position is pretty simple. Tucker McCann, the undrafted free agent out of Missouri, hasn't been bad, but Greg Joseph has definitely kicked at a higher percentage throughout training camp so far and is the odds-on favorite to win that role as well. Looking at the kickoff return list, like I said, I don't have a favorite for you,

but I do have a list of names who are being asked to field that position, and those names are Kalief Raymond, Cam Batson, Adam Humphreys, Rashad Davis, and Mason Kinsey. So the winner of that group will be the kickoff returner on opening day, but at this time, don't have any reports to indicate who is actually leading that battle. But next, I want to tell you guys about all the odds and ends that were in the news coming out of the weekend for the Titans, and then some general NFL news as well. But the major headline here is a Titans rookie who got himself in some legal trouble off

the field earlier in the month. Let's dive into some odds and ends from over the weekend in the news for the Titans and I'll finish out with some general NFL news. And we will start with the story that I have been teasing throughout and that is about Isaiah Wilson and some of the legal troubles that he almost got into. So here's the report and this is coming from the incident report. The police report. There was a party that took place. You know your typical college style party. That took place on August 15th.

At Tennessee State University. And Isaiah Wilson basically was at that party. And the party was busted by police officers. Campus officers. And the reason that the party was busted by police officers, campus officers. And the reason that the party was busted is because Tennessee state has a no visitors policy right now, obviously due to the pandemic where you're not allowed to have any non-students on campus at your residence or in your dorm or anything like that. The most peculiar part of the report is Isaiah Wilson telling police officers that he was considering jumping off the second floor balcony

so that he didn't get caught and didn't get in trouble. Obviously, he knows that he shouldn't be there. Even worse, there were other people, not Isaiah Wilson, but there were other people at the party that were cited for drugs, curfew, and trespassing. Isaiah Wilson was just given a warning for trespassing on campus during a non-visitor time period. So that is concerning for multiple reasons. Number one, I'll just get into the technical reason that it's concerning. The NFL and the NFL Players Association

agreed to bylaws for this pandemic. And if you're at any sort of get-together or anything like that, that has more than 15 people, technically, you could be suspended or reprimanded by the NFL, the Players Association, or your team. That's a rule that they made.

No gatherings with more than 15 people. So Isaiah Wilson could have potentially broken that rule and been punished for it at this time. Mike Vrabel has talked about how, you know, everyone needs to be conscious of what they're doing when they're outside the facility. They did mention, John Robinson mentioned that it would be handled internally and has been handled internally by the team. This is one of those things, like I mentioned in the last segment, Isaiah Wilson is not only a rookie, but he's a very young guy. He redshirted his freshman year at Georgia, played two seasons, and left after being a redshirt sophomore.

Three years. I mean, that's as little amount of experience as you can have in college before you can come into the NFL. He's got a real bright personality. He's a real excitable guy as you can have in college before you can come into the NFL. He's got a real bright personality is a real excitable guy. You can tell. And with that lively personality, like we get with someone like Taylor, you can have,

you know, that lively personality manifest itself outside the facility. Guys like that like to be out in public. They like to be around people, enjoy themselves. I'm kind of a guy like that myself I can't lie I understand it so this is one of those things from a technical standpoint it's concerning because Wilson could be disciplined but just from a logical standpoint this just shows

he's still a little bit of an immature college kid and these are the type of things that could derail a season if he would have contracted COVID-19 and it's worth mentioning he never missed any practice all his tests came back negative so that's good news but if he would have contracted COVID-19 and returned to Titans practice and passed that on to the offensive line and there was an outbreak for the Titans and this was in the regular season this could cost them games this could cost them a Super Bowl. So Isaiah Wilson has to be better, has to be more responsible, but that's a story that had to be reported. I had to talk about on the show, even if we're kind of past it, but Isaiah Wilson definitely needs to just be smarter off the field going forward as we get

closer to the season. Some other news, the only Titans member that was on the COVID-19 list, reserve list on Friday was outside linebacker Josh Smith. On Saturday, he was activated from the COVID-19 list, but subsequently cut by the Tennessee Titans. The Titans did have workouts planned for additional players, additional outside linebackers, some players in the defensive backfield, also some more running backs as well that the Titans will be working out in the coming days. So that's something to watch there. And then lastly, I want to get into some Titans relevant news in a sense, but it's that former Titans linebacker and special teams ace and emotional leader, in my opinion, linebacker Darren Bates signed with the Texans. You know, it's disappointing to see a guy who you like so much.

I really enjoyed having Darren Bates on the team go to a rival, someone in the division. And of course, you instantly have to worry about insider secrets. What is he going to tell the Texans about the Titans defense, about the Titans offense that could give them an advantage? But at some point in time, each year is a different year. So you can't worry about that too much and wish all the best for Darren Bates considering his contributions to the Titans team. Now, he was running a podcast earlier in the offseason and had said on Twitter that he

was going to do a podcast where he gives a lot of information on a certain Titans media member that has been mentioned earlier in our podcast as well. I'm sure you guys know who I'm talking about. Whether or not he recorded that, put that out, or will now that he's on an NFL roster remains to be seen, but definitely wanted to hear some of those stories as we know that this media member and Darren Bates had a cantankerous relationship in the locker room based on the loud music that Darren Bates liked to play. So good luck to Darren Bates, but hopefully he doesn't give away too much information or hopefully if he does, it doesn't hurt the Titans that much in their pivotal matchups

against the Houston Texans that lie ahead in the 2020 season the last few pieces of news that I want to get into are just general NFL news items have to mention the Earl Thomas situation punched a teammate during a fight and not it's like the Jaguars with dante faller and yannick and gawkway it wasn't a offense versus defense confrontation it was earl thomas getting a fight with his fellow safety chuck clark on the ravens and then and then after he was sent home earl thomas from practice for causing that problem he posted a private video that is not allowed to be public from Ravens practice and said I made a mistake in coverage him Earl Thomas made a mistake in coverage Chuck Clark called him out for it and held him accountable for it and he got mad and tried to fight him this isn't the first dust up

that we've seen between Earl Thomas and a Ravens teammate this isn't the first issue that we've seen from Thomas this offseason considering the weird story that came out with his brother and his wife. It just seems like ever since that Derrick Henry embarrassing stiff arm, his life has been on a downward spiral. Since that news, Earl Thomas has been released by the Ravens. His hometown Dallas Cowboys are obviously the frontrunner for his services, but wow, just a really crazy story that developed over the weekend on a national level. And then the final story that I want to mention is relevant to everyone. So the NFL is doing massive amounts of COVID-19 testing on the players,

everyday testing at this time with over, you know, think about 80 players on each roster, With over, you know, think about 80 players on each roster, 32 NFL teams. We're talking about over 2,400 people getting daily tests that need results back. So the NFL are using multiple different testing facilities. There was one specific testing facility, I believe BioReference, located in New Jersey, that had a ton of false positive tests come back on Saturday. And some NFL teams were really scared by the results. Including the Browns, the Bills, the Jets. They had multiple positive tests come on Saturday. After only having four people in the entire NFL on the COVID-19 list.

Which is very positive. So this was incredibly surprising. And sudden negative results. And what had been positive results so far throughout training camp. Now it turns out through more information that those tests that came back positive were false positives. And most of the NFL teams like the Bills, the Browns, the Jets just went ahead with regular practice throughout Sunday. So not as concerning as it initially seemed to be. It turns out those major spike in positive tests turned out to just be false positive tests.

But it's something to keep an eye on. What if the Titans get a big rash of false positive tests a day before a game? And, you know, there's uncertainty about the game. So it's stuff that the NFL is still having to work through but very I guess important news that I felt like was relevant to report but that is going to do it for today's show I did send out the group message for the Locked on Titans Fantasy Football League so we're going to have more information about that going forward but the group is set up and the league will be set up going forward. It's an honor to do that with all the 11 members who will be joining me on the initial inaugural

Locked on Titans Fantasy Football League. So very excited for that. But that's going to do it for today's show. I will be back with you guys tomorrow for another edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. It's been a great offseason so far. Really excited to continue to go into the most pivotal points of Titans training camp, guys. This is a big week here in terms of roster spots being up for grabs because after this week, the Titans will probably be beginning their preparation for the Denver Broncos.

So football is right around the corner, folks. their preparation for the Denver Broncos. So football is right around the corner, folks. I couldn't be more excited to give you guys Monday through Friday Titans content throughout the rest of the season. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans. Thanks for watching!