Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Who NEED to Play v Cardinals, Who Should Sit & Ugo Amadi Trade Reaction

Episode Date: August 25, 2022

The Tennessee Titans final preseason game takes place on Saturday night against the Arizona Cardinals. The Titans normally don't play their starters much in the preseason, but Tyler thinks there are some guys who NEED to play to be ready for Week 1. On the flipside, who does not need to play on Saturday? Tyler breaks down some of the biggest risks the Titans could take. Finally, the Titans made a trade on Wednesday for another defensive back in Ugo Amadi. This may seem like overkill with some of the recent moves the Titans have made, but Tyler points out a totally different reason as to why Amadi was brought on.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.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFLBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” 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!Athletic GreensTo make it easy, Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/NFLNETWORK.BriteCoThe guys at BriteCo Jewelry Insurance made buying insurance for your engagement ring, your watch, or whatever so easy you can get covered in 2 minutes on your cell phone. You won't find a better deal on coverage that's so affordable. Go to https://brite.co/lockedon 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, the Titans play their final preseason game of the year on Saturday night against the Arizona Cardinals. I'm going to tell you guys who I think needs to play in that game to be ready for the beginning of the regular season. On the flip side, I'm going to tell you who should not play in the game on Saturday night, who would be too risky to put out there.

And then the Titans did make a trade on Wednesday. I'll tell you who they traded for and why they needed to do it. And then I'll use that to give you the most up-to-date injury report from Thursday's practice. All of that and much 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 the final preseason game of the year is upon us the Titans will take on the Cardinals on Saturday night and that means that the regular season kickoff is right around the corner.

But with the regular season in mind, who needs to play in this game on Saturday night to get ready for the first game of the year against the Giants? I'll give you guys my list before we dive into it. Do want to thank you for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. I am going to be putting out daily, Monday through Friday, free Tennessee Titans content on all platforms all year long,

including on the Locked on Titans YouTube channel. Subscribe, subscribe on the YouTube channel, smash the notification bell and throw a thumbs up if you're watching on YouTube right now. You can follow me on Twitter for my in-game analysis and my film work at Tic Tac Titans. You can follow the show Facebook page at Locked on Titans Pod.

I'm breaking down everything you need to know heading into the preseason game tonight, but as I've done throughout the entire preseason, I will be going live on YouTube directly after Saturday night's game finishes to break down all the action and everything that took place. So make sure that you do stay locked into the Locked on Titans podcast so you catch that. And then all the content I'll be putting out Monday through Friday all season long on the Locked on Titans podcast. It's your team every day. But let's move into, excuse me, who I think needs to play in the game on Saturday night to be ready for week

one. And I'm going to start with Ryan Tannehill. So I know people, some people may say that's crazy to put the starting quarterback out there, but the Titans offense hasn't been completely buttoned up throughout this week. And if you recall, Ryan Tannehill didn't play last season. The Titans offense was completely unready to play in week one against the Cardinals and they got drubbed by 25 points. Okay. I'm sorry, but based on that, the Titans were not ready to go. And I think it would be smart for Ryan Tannehill to play two series, just play two series, get in the rhythm, toss the ball around, be ready to

go for week one because the Titans were not ready to go for week one last week. It was because their starting offense really never played in the preseason. With that in mind, I also want to put the starting offensive linemen out there for two series with one caveat. Ben Jones only needs one series. Honestly, I would be okay if Ben Jones got no series, but I think at least one would be good. Let Ben Jones and Ryan Tannehill go out there together for one series. Have Taylor LeJuan play two series. Have Nicholas Petit-Ferrer play two series.

Have Aaron Brewer play two series. Nate Davis is probably going to be out, so you're going to probably have Jordan Ruse at right guard. Whatever. Go ahead and let him do that. But when I said that I wanted Ben to only get one series, what I want to happen in that second series is kick Aaron Brewer into center and then have Dylan Radins play left guard

with Taylor LeJuan and NPF and Jordan Ruse and Aaron Brewer. Have that happen for one series with Ryan Tannehill out there. That, to me, would be it. Two series, done. All the starting level players would then come off the field, move Raidens to tackle, and keep Ruse out there, of course, and then go on.

So that's what I'm thinking, personally, and what I would like to see. I'd love to see Burks out there, but he didn't practice on Thursday. So I'm not expecting him to play on Saturday night. And that's worrisome because if the Titans don't have a healthy Traylon Burks, they have a top three wide receiver group of NWI, Robert Woods, and Kyle Phillips. And while we're all high on Kyle Phillips and we like the team, that's one of the bottom six or seven top three wide receiver groups in the NFL.

Burks was the explosive high-level talent that the Titans needed in their offense. So if he's not ready to go for week one, that's a major problem. So don't have Burks play. And I'll talk about that more when I get in the guys I don't want to play. But had to change my mind on that once I learned that Burks didn't practice on Thursday. Bud Dupree. I want Bud Dupree to be out there so he can have a good start, a good ramp up, and be ready to go for the season,

which is something he wasn't able to do last year because of injury. I want the Titans secondary minus Kevin Byer. I want Christian Fulton out there, Amani Hooker, Caleb Farley, Roger McCreary. I think that outside of the offensive line, the secondary is the position group that requires the most chemistry. Okay. They got to know how each other are moving, how they react to certain routes. So I'd like to see the secondary. And I think the Titans agree with that, with how much we've seen the starting cornerbacks and then Imani Hooker play early.

So I would imagine that would continue. The last thing that I want to mention here is I want Dontrell Hilliard to return kickoffs. He's been listed as the number one guy on kickoff return throughout the preseason on the unofficial depth chart, but he hasn't returned a kick yet. That's another thing where you kind of got to be in the motion. You kind of got to be used to how people flow out there. So I want to see Dontrell Hilliard at least return a kick. Two would be great, but I'll take at least one. Let's see it. Let's see it once, you know? And if not, then Racy can go out there

and do it and let Racy start. So I want to see Hilliard take one kick. So those are the guys who I really think need to go out there and play to be ready for week one. I'm going to go over my list of guys who I don't think need to be out there in the preseason game to be ready for week one. But before we get into that, I do got to tell you about our friends over at Dave. So let's all be honest with each other for a second.

We've all been in a situation in life where we're a little short on cash. We need a few extra gallons of gas in the tank. We got invited to another wedding and you need some sort of gift. You just got bills that are stressing you out. Well, that's where you can get a helping hand from Dave. Dave is a banking app that can help you get up to, that's where you can get a helping hand from Dave. Dave is a banking app that can help you get up to $500 instantly with extra cash. That's more money to fill your tank, buy that wedding gift, or catch up on those bills.

You can finally tackle the expenses that have been stressing you out without any hangups. There's no interest. There's no credit check needed. Millions of people have already downloaded the Dave app to get the financial relief that they need with extra cash. So if you're in a pinch and need some extra help, download Dave and think of it as a helping hand from future you. Download the Dave app in the app store right now. That's D-A-V-E.

Sign up for an extra cash account and get up to $500 instantly. For terms and conditions, go to dave.com slash legal. Instant transfer fees apply. Banking provided by Evolve. Member FDIC. Future you. Will thank you. Titans fans, we are going to continue talking about this Saturday night preseason matchup between the Tennessee Titans and the Arizona Cardinals.

I went over the players who I do want to play in the game. Now we need to talk about the guys who I don't want to play in the game or I don't think need to play in the game. Now we need to talk about the guys who I don't want to play in the game or I don't think need to play in the game. So number one, anybody who didn't practice on Thursday probably shouldn't play in the game. That's Traylon Burks. That's Elijah Molden. That's Nate Davis, Danico Autry, Jamarco Jones, Naquan Jones, Tommy Hudson. Just don't do it. Just, there's no point. There's no need. Especially a lot of those players who I mentioned,

other than Jamarco Jones kind of have, well, Jamarco Jones eventually will when injuries do hit, as they always do. All of these guys are going to have a pivotal role on the team. So, there's no need, in my opinion, to play anybody who didn't practice on Thursday. That is far too risky. Outside of that, don't play Derrick Henry. Derrick Henry's been ramping up in practice.

He looked really explosive in practice on Thursday, according to reports. That's great, but no need to put Derrick Henry out there. Get Derrick Henry ramped up like you're doing in practice. Do that. Do not put him out there in a game. Not worth it. Similar thing, Robert Woods. He's a vet. He doesn't need the reps and coming off the ACL, which in practice on Thursday, Robert Woods did say the ACL's not even a thought anymore. He's good to go. So he's good to go for week one. That's great, but I'm still not putting Robert Woods out there on Saturday night. Just not worth it. Truly not worth it. Austin Hooper,

he played last week, so he'll probably play this week. But Hooper's another guy, I think, while everyone's very high on Chigaconqua, okay, I get it. I've always said he's going to need some development. He's got to add mass. He's got to add power to his anchor in his core. He's got to get better at blocking. I really think that Chig can make some plays,

but we really got to pump the brakes on the expectations. He's going to be tight end three. Okay? Not tight end two. And that's why, to me, knowing that Chick needs more development than maybe people realize, and then also factoring in that Jeff Swaim is not very good, Austin Hooper is far too important to the tight end group

to have him out there on Saturday night. They had him out there in week two. I was surprised. He'll probably play, but I wouldn't put him out there. Like I said, Ben Jones, one series, not two, just one. Big Jeff, no. Harold Landry, no. And that's just going to create more opportunities for Rashad Weaver.

Let Weaver have all those snaps across from Bud Dupree. I explained why I wanted Bud to play. Let Weaver get all those snaps across from him. No need to play Harold Landry in this game. Kevin Byard. No need to play Kevin Byard either. Also, Logan Woodside doesn't play, but he's going to.

The Titans increased his workload at Thursday's practice. I think they're going to give Logan Woodside a true opportunity in this game to keep his roster spot. Like, they're going to give him equal. They're going to put Malik in just in the second half. They're going to have Tannehill run his two drives. Honestly, they'll probably give Tannehill none if I have to guess. I want to see

Tannehill have two, but I bet he has none. I bet Logan Woodside gets the whole first half and then Malik Willis gets the whole second half and they give Logan Woodside, hey, you're playing the entire first half. See if you can keep your roster spot. So, there's that loyalty.

They just have loyalty to the guy. So I wouldn't want Logan Woodside to play, but yeah, I have a feeling that he's going to play quite a bit in the game. Definitely based on the reports that we saw Thursday. Outside of that, I don't really have anybody else who I think shouldn't play in the game other than, actually, other than the linebackers. The starting linebacker, Zach Cunningham, was in a non-contact jersey on Thursday.

The yellow non-contact jerseys, that's not a great sign, but it may just be precaution at this point with Monty Rice going on the PUP. Yeah, not worth it. Not worth it as I'm thinking about it. David Long, Zach Cunningham, don't play them. And here's the thing. If Monty Rice is on PUP and he's out for four games, then that increases the importance of the backup linebackers. Dylan Cole, Chance Campbell, Joe Jones,

Jack Gibbons. Okay? So, in my opinion, it would be best if the Titans focused on getting those guys as many reps as they possibly could because they're probably going to have to play a little bit. And I want to mention this. I saw some people talking about Dylan Cole being inside linebacker three and all this.

Let me just speak my piece on the Monte Rice issue real fast. So, yes, it's unfortunate that Monte Rice is on PUP and out the first four games of the season, but Monte Rice was a mid-round pick. Pick number 92. David Long was a sixth-round pick. Chance Campbell was a sixth-round pick.

Monty Rice played okay last year in his moments, but it wasn't like he jumped off the tape. So is it really, really that crazy to think that Chance Campbell could be just as good as Monte Rice or better? David Long was drafted before, and he's a better player than Monte Rice. I mean, it's not like Monte Rice Rice was a first round pick top 100 pick, but I don't know.

Like Monty Rice is a good player. And this was peculiar to me. Uh, had an interaction, Paul Kaharski on Twitter. And he said that Monty Rice, you know, was kind of the backup pass coverage guy.

And I don't really see Monty Rice as a pass coverage backer. I see him as more of a downhill run stuffer. So, personally, I guess I would see Monty Rice as more of a guy who would fill in for Cunningham than a guy who would fill in for Long if, you know, the Titans had an ideal scenario. So, you know, maybe this increases the opportunity for a guy like Jack Givens, who's 6'3", 230 pounds, who can run a little bit. Yeah, Chance Campbell maybe isn't the athlete that Monty Rice was, but I don't think it's such a significant difference

that this is some huge problem, I guess. I like Monty Rice as a player, but I don't see him as such a significant loss for the first four weeks of the season. Maybe you guys feel differently personally, but I just don't think it's crazy that Chance Campbell could come in and do pretty much a similar job. Will Lomas made a great point when we were talking about it on Twitter,

and he mentioned that Rashawn Evans and Jayon Brown started for this team for a whole year and a lot of games last year. I don't think Chance Campbell was significantly worse. So, I don't know. That's just my feelings on it. Some people were kind of freaking out online. I don't really see the need to freak out. And I think Chance Campbell is better than Dylan Cole at linebacker already anyways.

So, I don't know. You guys can say it's Dylan Cole. Maybe that's what it'll be, but I don't know. I just believe that Chance Campbell was going to be all right. So I'm not going to overreact to any of that. But what we do have to talk about is a position. We talk about inside linebacker, but there's a position on the Titans that injuries have caused the Titans to desperately seek out some help. The Titans made a trade on Wednesday. Ugo Amadi, a local kid. I'm going to tell you why the Titans traded for him and what kind of player the Titans are getting. Before we get into that, though, I do want to tell you about BetOnline.net,

the fastest and easiest way to check in on all your betting needs. Find all your favorite sports and events at the number one online source for odds, lines, games, and live in-game betting. Find reviews and news of every league, including the MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, combat sports like USC and boxing, esports, and even golf. Head to BetOnline today. Use your mobile device to learn more about all the action happening right now. BetOnline, where the game starts. Titans fans, there was a trade, and we are going to cap off today's show talking about that trade and exactly what happened

and why it happened for the Titans. Before we get into that, though, I do want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. As for your second listen, guys, it is Fantasy Draft Week here on the Locked On Network.

You get Locked On Fantasy Football. You get Locked On Dynasty. They're going to give you all the information that you need for your fantasy drafts. Make sure that you check out both of those. They're free and available on all platforms, including YouTube, Monday through Friday,

giving you the best information that you can possibly get for fantasy. But let's dive into this trade. So on Wednesday, the Titans traded a 2024 6th round pick to the Eagles for a 2024 7th round pick to the Eagles for a 2024 7th round pick and Ugo Ahmadi. Okay, so basically a late round pick swap. The Eagles come up one extra round and the Titans get a guy who probably was going to get cut by Philadelphia. Ahmadi was traded from Seattle to Philadelphia earlier in the offseason. This offseason, he spent three seasons in Seattle. He is a 5'9", 200-pound defensive back who was

drafted in the fourth round in 2019 out of Oregon. And what is probably pretty interesting to a lot of you is he is a graduate of Overton in Tennessee in the Nashville area. So he is a local guy. So that's kind of the background there. Amadi as a player, a lot of people had him listed as a safety or just defensive back. But the reality is he is a nickel. So people are like, why are the Titans, you know, going out and get Lonnie Johnson using a claim on the waiver line? Why are they trading a conditional seventh for Tyreek Gillespie? Why are they going out and then again making another trade for Ahmadi? Why are they loading up on safeties?

Ahmadi is not a safety. Okay? Ahmadi is a nickel. I wouldn't even say he's a cornerback. Defensive back is probably the best way to put it. But he spent a lot of time at safety, but when he's at his best in the NFL and what he did for Seattle for a long time was play the nickel cornerback position. Think about Elijah Molden last year. So what we have to do is at some point we have to talk about the Titans cornerback

position in two different ways. There's your outside cornerbacks and there's your nickels. All right. And then you got to even look at nickelback in two different ways. You got to look at early down nickel, which is like what Elijah Molden played last year. And then you got to look at pass down nickel, which is when they would bring in a buster screen. And the Titans would do that rotation throughout the game. If they had three defensive backs on the field on early downs or short yardage, they'd have Molden out game. If they had three defensive backs on the field on early downs or short yardage, they'd have Molden out there. If they had a passing situation and they were in three cornerbacks and they were in nickel, they would have Screen out there

because of the difference in skill sets. Okay? So, Amadi is a guy who is like an Elijah Molden, who you want playing on early downs, who can play with physicality, play some dime linebacker. You want him coming forward, reading the eyes of the quarterback, using his instincts. He's not a guy who's going to be your passing down cornerback. It's not what he's going to do.

He's not a guy who's going to play safety in the way that Imani Hooker or Kevin Byard or Adrian Colbert or Tyree Gillespie are going to do. He's not going to be that kind of guy. He's an Elijah Molden type. And that's why when I wrote down my notes for the show, I thought this is not good news for a couple of people. Okay, number one, not good for Elijah Molden's injury.

Makes me concerned. He came back to practice, and now he's missed a couple practices in a row. Makes me concerned. He came back to practice, and now he's missed a couple practices in a row. Makes me concerned there was a re-injury, a re-aggravation, and it's more severe. And they think that Elijah Molden's going to miss time. That's a concern. So, not good for Elijah Molden

that they're going out and using draft capital to get somebody who does the exact same thing that he does. Number two, not great for Caleb Farley because you'd have to think, well, why would they need to go out and get somebody to replace Moulton? They could have Roger McCreary in there with Caleb Farley on the outside. Well, clearly, I think the Titans want to have McCreary and Fulton out there and have an Elijah Molden type in the slot on early downs. And then when they go in their passing down situations, then they'll bring Caleb Farley in and move McCreary into the slot. I don't think

they want McCreary playing the slot in those early down short yardage run situations like we talked about with Elijah Molden. I think that they want somebody else to do that and have McCreary on the outside during that time, which is not good news for Farley that they didn't want to do that. Last guy is Tyreek Gillespie because to my knowledge, that trade for Gillespie from the Las Vegas Raiders was for a conditional seventh round pick in 2024. And the condition was Gillespie had to make the roster for the pick to convey. Well, the Titans aren't doing that pick swap, in my opinion, if they don't think that they're getting their seventh round pick back because they're not going to keep Gillespie on the roster.

So that's a little bit of a deeper thought. Maybe a little bit of a conspiracy for you there. But the last guy. And the final guy that I want to say this is not good for is Theo Jackson. So we got reports that the Titans tried Theo Jackson at the nickel spot in practice on Wednesday. I don't think that went well. Because the Titans immediately after practice said, okay, we got to make a trade for a guy who plays the nickel.

So I think what's happening here is, just to make kind of a bigger overall point, Theo Jackson getting, you know, his first reps in the nickel. Dylan Radins getting kicked to guard. First reps in the nickel. Dylan Radins getting kicked to guard. Thursday was the last official training camp practice. Mike Vrabel even said, going forward,

we're going to have more of a regular season feel in our schedule, the way we meet and then do this and then get to practice and then meet after. Like, after this game on Saturday, it's basically regular season mode for the Titans. And they're going to treat next week like a bye week going into the year, proverbially. You know what I mean? So, trying these guys out at different spots, I think, are those last little things you've got to see before you make roster decisions. Hey, can Raidens play a little bit of guard?

Or, you know, do we need to keep an extra guard in here? Do we need to keep Xavier Newman? Do we need to keep Jordan Roos? Likewise, with Theo Jackson. I mean, Brady Brees was a sixth round safety and he got cut. So, I don't think it's insane that Theo Jackson would be cut. I know a lot of you guys are Tennessee people who are maybe Vols fans, and that would not be cool.

But I don't think it's insane that Theo Jackson is just cut. He's missed a lot of time. And what I've heard is he hasn't been that impressive. He hasn't really jumped out at you. Hasn't been awful, but he hasn't been a standout like some of the other rookies. So, I could see the Titans keeping some Lonnie Johnson over Theo Jackson.

Adrian Colbert, who I thought's been pretty solid in his coverage, and he's a guy who can also play some deep safety. Lonnie Johnson is more of a come-forward safety. I could see Colbert and Lonnie Johnson and Joshua Kalou being kept over Theo Jackson.

I could. I don't know if that'll be my final prediction, but just saying. Not good for Theo Jackson either. And it shows that the Titans are a little worried about the nickel position. But speaking of the roster decisions, on Sunday night for the roster decisions,

on Sunday night for the YouTube crowd, Monday morning, if you guys are listening on your commute with the podcast, I am going to be doing my official 53-man roster prediction before the Titans have to start cutting down from 80 to 53 on Monday and Tuesday. They have to be to 53 by 4 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday. They'll probably start making cuts on Monday and they'll start trickling out. So I'm going to get that 53 by 4 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday. They'll probably start making cuts on Monday and they'll start trickling out. So I'm going to get that out on Sunday night. There might be some cuts on Sunday that I'll have to take into account. And the Titans are going to cut more guys than 27, in my opinion, to go from 80 down to 53 because they're going to go out and get some guys who

were cut by other teams. So the Titans will probably end up cutting 60 to 62 players. Or 60 to 62. 30 to 32 players. And then picking up some guys who were cut by other teams. So I doubt my roster prediction will be 53 for 53. But I'm going to give it a go on Sunday night here on YouTube. And after three weeks of the preseason, see what I think is going to happen. But make sure that you guys tune in for that. Make sure you tune in live on Saturday night here on YouTube. And after three weeks of the preseason, see what I think is going to happen. But make sure that you guys tune in for that.

Make sure you tune in live on Saturday night after the preseason game for me to break down that performance. That's going to do it for me today, though, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland. And this was Locked on Titans.