Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Will Levis STARS at Rookie Mini-Camp, Skoronski Strong Start & Rookie Playmakers Emerge

Episode Date: May 14, 2023

The Tennessee Titans rookie mini-camp took place over the weekend and rookie QB Will Levis was the talk of the weekend. Tyler goes over the Levis' performance and why he should be the starter this season. Also, Titans' first-round pick Peter Skoronski got off to a strong start and showed his versatility out of the gate. Finally, Tyler goes over the debut of explosive playmakers like Tyjae Spears, Josh Whyle and Jacob Copeland.Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videosSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist who can take you on that journey of self-discovery from wherever you are. Visit BetterHelp.com/lockedon today to get 10% off your first month.Built 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.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis was making plays this weekend. I'm recapping everything you need to know from Tennessee Titans rookie minicamp 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. Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans.

I'm breaking down everything you need to know from Tennessee Titans rookie minicamp that took place over the weekend. That's going to include stuff on Will Levis, Peter Skowronski, Tajay Spears, and some other standouts as well. Spears, and some other standouts as well. Before we get into it, do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, the official sportsbook of the NFL. Make every moment more. Visit FanDuel.com slash LockedOn to get started today. Do want to thank you guys for making the LockedOn Titans podcast your first listen every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content on all platforms,

all year long and always for free. Make sure that you get subscribed, stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast, Locked on Titans YouTube channel, whatever your favorite podcast app is. You're going to find me there every single weekday. Shout out to my everydayers tuning in all week long. And if you're new, it's time to be an everydayer. Get subscribed, stay subscribed. I'm going to be breaking down Titans minicamp and OTAs coming forward in the coming weeks. Training camp is right around the corner. You're not going to want to miss any of the free content that I'll have for

you guys Monday through Friday. Throw a thumbs up on the video right now. I appreciate all the support. But with that being said, we have to talk about Titans rookie minicamp and the performance of quarterback Will Levis. I continue to say Will Levis needs to start this season. The Titans aren't winning a Super Bowl this year with Ryan Tannehill. They haven't built up the roster enough around Derrick Henry and Ryan Tannehill to do that. So with that being said, the Titans need to figure out what they have in Will Levis as soon as possible. See what you got in them.

And if it turns out poorly, you're going to have yourself a very high draft pick to fix your mistake and take another quarterback again next year and a good crop of quarterbacks coming out. So to me, it's a win-win for the Titans. And you don't want to get too far ahead of yourself here. A lot of the highlights that I'm going to be talking about, a lot of the things that we're going to be talking about are seven on seven drills. It's just rookie minicamp with no veterans, things like that. So you take all of the excitement and the optimism with a large, large grain of salt. But according to the people present, according to my colleagues at Sports Illustrated who were at rookie minicamp,

Will Levis looked pretty good. Jim Wyatt even described it as effortless arm motion, the way he throws, flicking his wrist, and the highlights that we saw of Will Levis indicated just that. Whether he's in the pocket, whether he was getting on the move, he just quickly releases the ball, and yes, it does look like he's just flicking his wrist like he's shooting a basketball. How quick it gets out of his hands. That's something that we talked about with Will Levis coming into the draft process. It's not new. That's not some sort of, oh Will Levis coming into the draft process. It's not new. That's not some sort of, oh, he's on the team now. I'm going to talk about how good he is.

No, his quick release and his throwing mechanics have been something that people have been excited about throughout the pre-draft process. Yes, he needs to work on his lower body mechanics, but the way that his arm snaps and his throwing motion, it's absolutely beautiful. We saw two highlights of Will Levis. One, getting out of the pocket, making a throw down the sideline to running back Chuck McClellan. Great throw, running on the move, looked beautiful.

Nice spiral coming into the running back on the sideline. Good adjustment to make the catch as well, of course, from McClellan. So you give him that credit as well. We saw another play that some of the guys talked about after practice on day two where Will Levis stands in the pocket and makes a dynamite throw over the middle right to Josh Wiley, who's cutting across the middle of the field. Wiley jumps up, grabs the ball over top of the defender. I mean, it was a beautiful play.

Now, again, just because I want to double down, we're talking about seven-on-seven drills. We're not talking about live action. They're in shells and things like that. So, brain assault here. But what I can tell you is Will Levis looked to be much further along than, say, Malik Willis was last year, which is to be expected based on where Willis was coming in in his development and where Levis is now.

But that's probably why Mike Grable was like, hey, I'm going out and getting Will Levis because of how much further along he is in the development. And you could see that. But got to point out, Will Levis did mishandle the very first snap of rookie minicamp. The very first snappy-toke, but after that, operation-wise, things went a lot more smooth. But overall, what you hear is just he was smooth running the ball, smooth throwing the ball, in the pocket, out of the pocket, moving around.

And Will Levis talked after minicamp, and I thought it was – it gives you optimism. Let's say it that way. Because he was talking about the similarities of the concepts and what the offense is trying to accomplish between him at Kentucky and him at the Titans, and this is something

that we've talked about a ton. Redraft process, now that Levis has been drafted, and I go back to that we've talked about a ton. Redraft process, now that Levis has been drafted. And I go back to Rand Carthon, and I pointed it out on Twitter, at Tic Tac Titans, follow me over there.

I pointed it out on Twitter when it happened. Rand Carthon had one of his pre-draft press conferences. He talked about what they look for on tape as things that are translatable. Oh, I see a guy do this within this play, and that's something that we're going to ask him to do. And I retweeted his answer, and I said,

hey guys, we all maybe not be high on Will Levis, but if Rain Carton is looking for a quarterback that has done things in college that are translatable to the Titans offense right now? Well, Will Levis checks that box, so you better prepare yourself. And it turns out Will Levis was the pick. And he said he's very comfortable. I mean, he's got to learn the offense. He doesn't want to use terminology from Kentucky to help him translate it. He just wants to learn it brand new and fresh with the Titans. But he said there are a lot.

And he emphasized a lot of similar concepts in the offense that he ran in college as to what the Titans are looking to do in the NFL. So I think because of that, that will accelerate Will Levis' progress and give him the ability to seriously challenge for starting quarterback role. And I'll tell you, the Titans are going to want to see what they have from Levis, but it continues to be my opinion that Will Levis needs to start this year. You can cut Tannehill and save the money,

try to get a trade if possible, take anything that you can. If there's an injury over the summer, it may be like a Ritter or Mayfield trash. That combination doesn't perform. Sam, how you trade Ryan Tannehill at all costs, the summer. It may be like a Ritter or Mayfield Trask. That combination doesn't perform. Sam Howe, you trade Ryan Tannehill at all costs if you can and roll with Will Levis. And I think this rookie minicamp was just one step towards proving that he is capable of doing that. But with that in mind, we're going to move forward. We need to talk about Peter Skowronski because we got some interesting information about the way the Titans are using him.

And the Titans offensive line was ranked last in the NFL in a recent ranking, but it didn't even make sense. And I'll explain why. Before we get into that, though, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Make a fast break to FanDuel during the NBA playoffs. We're heading into the conference finals, and you know that the Los Angeles Lakers

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FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Titans fans, we are going to continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We just talked about Will Levis and his rookie minicamp performance, what we've heard, what we've seen, what we know. Moving forward, we want to talk about Peter Skowronski on the offensive line already making a good first impression for the Titans, and it lines up with exactly what my expectations were for Peter Skowronski. Before we get into that, though, I do want to thank you guys again for making the Locked

on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Remember Monday through Friday Tennessee Titans content on all platforms. That's Locked on Titans YouTube channel, your favorite podcast app. It's everywhere and always for free. Shout out to my everydayers tuning in all week long. If you want to

be an everydayer, it's the perfect time. Titans have many camps and OTAs happening this week. I'm going to be doing daily recaps and breakdowns of everything you need to know. That's the kind of content that you're going to be getting as we get closer to training camp and mandatory mini camp is in a couple of weeks. I mean, there's a lot of content coming your way. Make sure you get subscribed and stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast

where it's your team every day. But with that in mind, need to talk some Peter Skowronski. So in the first highlight of Will Levis that we talked about where, and I just want to say this too, a lot of you guys comment or tag me on Twitter and say you want more visual elements to the show. I talk about a highlight, show the highlight. I just got to tell you guys, there are copyright issues. The company that I work for is not

about copyright infringement. That's why live game film, live highlights, stuff like that, I'm just not going to be able to use them. That's what my Twitter account is for, at TicTacTitans. Follow me over there if you want to see that stuff. I retweet stuff, do my own stuff, all that stuff all the time. So, just wanted to give a quick explainer of that

because I see a lot of those comments, and I appreciate it, and I agree, but laws, rules, the man keeping you down. You know how it is. Moving forward, though, the first highlight of Will Levis, where he rolled out to his right-hand side, made a beautiful throw down the sideline to running back Chuck McClellan. Peter Skowronski was lined up at left guard so he's playing guard there and you can tell from a picture and they have their names on their helmet so you can read that

then a different highlight that you got a Will Levis throw in the ball you saw Skowronski at left tackle so when Skowronski was drafted, the conversation became, is he going to play guard? Is he going to play tackle? What makes the most sense?

But, you also go back to Andre Dillard and his press conference after he was signed and he said he's going for the left tackle spot. So, I do think that ultimately Skowronski ends up as left guard for this Titans team. I think it just makes more sense to give Dillard a shot

at left tackle, but the Titans are looking at Skowronski at left tackle, and people can talk about arm length all they want. Rashawn Slater for the Chargers, out of Northwestern, same thing. They said his arms were too short

to play offensive tackle. He needs to move to guard. He's been a very good left tackle for the Chargers with his short arms. Braden Smith, a guy played for the Colts, short arms, plays right tackle, does fine. So I know that Skowronki is a bit of an outlier because of the arm length, but the Titans are using him at both spots. And as I said before the draft, the reason that Peter Skowronski was one of the guys who I was like the Titan, he is in a group of guys where the Titans have to get one of these guys at pick number 11.

They need a blue chip prospect, a blue player as Rand Carthon called him in his pre-draft press conference. Well, they got one in Skowronski. And him playing at left guard, playing at left tackle, all indications are he's moving well, his footwork was smooth,

in and out of drills, in and out of cuts. There was one highlight where he was working a combination block with a tight end where Skowronski was left tackle, the tight end was next to him the idea is that you want to fire out help the tight end, block the defensive end

and then Skowronski has left tackle then peels off of the double team block on the defensive end and gets to a linebacker on the second level on his right-hand side. So fire out to the left, hit the tight end, hit the defensive end, and then peel back inside to pick up a linebacker. It's kind of simulating maybe an outside zone play where you're setting the edge. Help the tight end, combination block, get to the linebacker as he flows over into the hole. And Skowronski, when he went to help the tight end, he absolutely bowled over the player who

was acting like the defensive end. And it was Jalen Duncan, number 79, looking like Isaiah Wilson getting bowled over on a extra point. But Duncan was holding the pad to simulate the defensive end, and Skowronski's, boom, punch came in, knocked Duncan right down on his behind. Strength, power. Skowronski. I mean, his name is Peter Skowronski. There's no way he's not going to be a great offensive lineman. Okay? There's just no way. Also, did want to mention this. Mike Clay for ESPN, analytics guy, fantasy football guy, does great work. Does great work, no doubt. No need to disrespect or besmirch Mike Clay. He does great work. So shout out to Mike.

He even responded to me on Twitter when I pointed out some of the issues. So I respect him for that. But Mike Clay put out his ranking of the offensive line units in the NFL and the Titans were ranked 32nd. And look, I know a lot of you guys

are going to be like, that's ridiculous. They're not that bad, but they were the worst offensive line in the NFL last year. And I don't know how much better Brunskill and Dillard are going to be. I think Skowronski is very good,

but still going to have Brewer, still going to have Nicholas Petit-Ferrer. So I don't think that this offensive line is so improved. Everybody says, oh, this is one thing that gets on my nerves. Small Rollins rant here. Just humor me. But people say, oh, well, he's that gets on my nerves. Small Rollins rant here. Just humor me.

But people say, oh, well, he's better than Dennis Daly. The offensive line is better than last year. Guys, just being better than Dennis Daly or just being better than last year doesn't mean that the offensive line is good. They could still be the worst offensive line in the NFL and be better than last year's offensive line. Both of those things can be true at the same time. So, look, I don't think the Titans have the worst offensive line in the NFL. I think they're probably in the bottom five, six, seven, somewhere in there.

But Klay had them at 32nd. But my big issue was he had the Titans starting offensive line. Eskeronski at left tackle. Daniel Brunskill at left guard, Aaron Brewer at center, Dylan Radins at right guard, and Nicholas Petit-Ferrer at right tackle. One, Dylan Radins tore his ACL in Week 15. He's not going to be on the starting offensive line. Sorry, not happening.

One, the highest-priced free agent that the Titans signed in the entire offseason was Andre Dillard. You think he's not going to start? You think he's not going to be a starting offensive lineman? Whether it be left guard or left tackle, Dillard is going to start for this team. And he's a much better offensive lineman than Dylan Radins. So,

duh, the Titans offensive line is going to be ranked last when you put it like that. But reality is, it's probably going to be Dillard at left tackle, Skowronski at left guard, Brewer at center, Brunskill at right guard, which is where he's played most of his snaps in recent years.

I don't know, left guard, how that makes sense. And then MPF at right tackle. Now, if you say, hey, that offensive line is still last in the league, then all right. But give an accurate representation of what the Titans offensive line is actually going to be. That's all I have to say about that. So mini rant, mini sidebar for you guys on something I saw over the weekend.

But with that being said, we got more rookie mini camp notes to go over. Tajay Spears, Josh Wiley, Jacob Copeland, Trey Wolf. More news, more notes on all those guys. Just do want to thank you guys for making the Locked On Titans podcast your first listen

every day. A lot of great content still coming your way. Titans fans, let's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast, breaking down and recapping everything you need to know from Titans rookie minicamp. We talked about Will Levis and his performance and some of the things that stood out. We talked about Peter Skowronski and how he looked

and the Titans offensive line in general conversation there. Now I'm going to get into some of the mid-round picks, some of the extra news and notes that I have on individual players. I do want to let you guys know, though, I just took such a great drink of water during the little transition. And just hydrate. Just whatever you're doing right now,

take a drink of water, guys. I got to pay it forward. That drink of water was so delicious and refreshing. You guys need one, too. Stay hydrated out there. It's getting hot. It's almost summer. That's my PSA for the day,

to drink water, a big water guy. But anyways, moving right along. Taj's getting hot. It's almost summer. That's my PSA for the day, to drink water, a big water guy. But anyways, moving right along. Tajay Spears. Tajay Spears, deep dive, breakdown, coming your way. I got such a good interview with Maddie Hawk, sideline reporter from Tulane.

What a banger of an interview. She has some great stories. It's going to be awesome. Tajay Spears, deep dive coming your way probably this week sometime. Got to navigate the schedule. Titans OTAs, camps, all that stuff. I'm going to be covering it every single day, so we'll get to everything that I have planned for you guys whenever there's a time to do it. But always hitting the most recent news and notes here on the show. But Tajay Spears was, quote, eye-opening,

according to Jim Wyatt, TennesseeTitans.com. Had wiggle, had juice, was catching passes. Also, reporters talked to Tajay Spears after rookie minicamp, asked him a bunch of questions about that knee. Does he have an ACL? How healthy is he? And at some point he just said, you know, no more questions about my ACL or my knee. I'm healthy. I'm healthy. And he looked explosive out there.

He was, again, catching passes out of the backfield, running the ball. There's one clip the Titans put out of him getting to the sideline and literally outrunning everybody down the sideline. So, very excited for what Spears can do. I know some people kind of kind of questioned the pick, but I really like the pick of Tajay Spears and that was something I said immediately when the pick happened. Like his addition to the offense. Josh Wiley hitting the bags, moving the sled,

caught a couple passes that you saw on video, that one from Will Levis. He literally mossed a defender in the middle of the field. It was amazing. It was awesome. And that is the type of thing that Wiley is going to be able to do. He's going to be able to go up over the middle, go up on the sidelines, in the red zone specifically,

really good red zone weapon to go up and over top of guys. And he's already shown that ability, shown that athleticism as well. Chika Konkwo has the ability to kind of use athleticism to get the ball,, he's more of a speed guy, a run-through-you guy than someone who's going to go over top of everybody. That's not really Chick's game. So having Wiley to pair with him in that sense, absolutely beautiful. Love that. Another guy that I got to point out and he's honestly had me excited since I kind of

read up on him when the Titans added him as an undrafted free agent. I'm not going to sit here and tell you guys that I know every undrafted free agent prospect. I scouted him. That's impossible during the pre-draft process to go over 400 people. You know, it's just a difficult task to get to all the undrafted free agent level guys. So didn't know a lot about Copeland when the Titans picked him up, but what I've seen so far

has scouting reports. There was a pass from Willis, from Willis, from Levis to Copeland. And man, all I know is Copeland has juice. He's got speed.

So, we talked about undrafted free agents last week, and I pointed out Copeland is one of the guys I think got a good chance to make the roster. Made some catches out there. I like Copeland. I do. So, we'll see what he has.

Trey Wolf. I think he's an interesting guy to watch the kicker out of Texas Tech because the Titans kicker situation is so strange. Up and down day. Some struggles with the timing and the operation of how the Titans set up kicks. But bounced back. Made some kicks at the end of the practices.

So, I'm sure he was nervous. NFL gig, undrafted, tryout basically. But, uh, looking to see a little bit more from Trey Wolf. But with that in mind, the rookies will join the veterans on Monday. And I'm going to be here to break down all of the OTA sessions that the Titans are going to have in the coming weeks with you guys. But that is going to do it for me today, folks. As always,

I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans. Thank you.