Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Will Levis Will Take QB2, Justin Murray on 1st OL & Deciding on DB Depth Chart

Starting point is 00:00:00 After two weeks of Tennessee Titans preseason games, I think that rookie Will Levis still ends up as the Titans backup quarterback, but I also still think that Malik Willis makes the Titans roster. We're going to go over my updated 53-man roster projection on today's edition of the Locked On Titans podcast. Let's get it. You are 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.

Starting point is 00:00:52 Welcome. Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans. I think that Will Levis still ends up as the Tennessee Titans backup quarterback this year, but I do think that Malik Willis sticks on the 53-man roster. We're going to dive into my 53-man roster projections after two weeks of the Titans preseason. Before we get into it, though, I do want to let you guys know that today's podcast is brought to you by BetterHelp. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try.

Starting point is 00:01:22 Visit BetterHelp.com slash LockedOn to get 10% off your first month today. Do want to thank you guys for making the LockedOn Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round on all apps and

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Starting point is 00:01:59 I want to dive into my 53-man roster projections as things stand after two weeks. Before we get into it, though, there were some roster moves that we need to talk about here, at least one roster move. A.J. Moore, Tennessee Titans safety, was waived by the team on Saturday. Moore left last year with an Achilles injury. The Titans brought him back about a month ago, dealt with a ton of injuries, actually practiced against Minnesota this week, but the Titans are looking to part ways with him again and waived him on Sunday. So with that being said, let's go ahead and bring

Starting point is 00:02:34 in my visual aid here for the roster that we've been using throughout the season to talk about this 53-man roster and what it could look like. So I have the entire roster up right now, and obviously I'm going to talk through everything for my podcast, folks. But what we're going to start with is A.J. Moore was waived by the team, so I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to take him off of our little roster assistant here that we got going over the depth chart. So we'll start with the quarterbacks where we kind of teased everything at the front. And as I said, I think that Will Levis will now surpass Malik

Starting point is 00:03:13 Willis for backup quarterback, but the Titans will keep Willis on the team. And look guys, at the end of the day, the big thing for Malik Willis, it wasn't can he run, can he scramble? It was, can he get the ball quickly out of his hands accurately? Can he go through his progressions in a timely manner? And at the end of the day, his time to throw, how long it takes him to get the ball out of his hands is simply still just too high. One of the worst quarterbacks in the preseason so far getting the ball out of his hands in a timely manner. And that's the number one thing that the Titans wanted to see from him. Malik Willis almost ran for 100 yards last night.

Starting point is 00:03:49 A lot of you guys are in my comments saying, hey, if Willis almost ran for 100 yards, how can you say that it was a bad performance or he didn't take advantage? That is not what we're looking for from Malik Willis. Okay, being able to run around and scramble against third stringers is not what we need from him. He needs to be able to sit in the pocket, progress through quickly, get the ball out of his hands, be accurate. And we haven't seen enough of that yet.

Starting point is 00:04:12 And last night, he had a great opportunity, or Saturday night, he had a great opportunity to really take the bull by the horns here and grab the quarterback two spot and really set himself above Will Levis. And like I said in Saturday Night's recap, I just don't think that that's what happened in the game. So I think that the Titans keep all three quarterbacks, but as I kind of talked about a couple of weeks ago, I do think that Will Levis will end up as the backup quarterback for the Titans. I know a lot of you guys are going to disagree with me, so let me know down below what you think about my ranking there at quarterback,

Starting point is 00:04:44 but I think all three quarterbacks make the roster, so that's three right there. Then we're going to move to running back, and I think that with the Jonathan Ward injury, it looked to be kind of a serious one. I don't know that he's going to be back in time for the regular season. I think Jock Patrick, Jacquez Patrick, the running back, ran hard yesterday. But I think at the end of the day, he is simply a camp body for the Titans. He's not somebody who's going to be seriously on the roster. So for me, I am going to go with Derrick Henry, Hassan Haskins, Tajay Spears, and Julius Chestnut. Now, let me make this perfectly clear to you. Tajay Spears is the backup

Starting point is 00:05:29 running back, okay? Tajay Spears is the backup running back. And to also be perfectly honest, Julius Chestnut is the third string running back. If you're talking about somebody that actually needs to run the football, it would be Julius Chestnut. But, and a lot of you guys still downplay this and look at the legal issues go sideways, then yes, of course, Haskins is not going to be on the team. The Titans will cut bait with him pretty quickly. But,

Starting point is 00:05:53 to me, Hassan Haskins is such a valuable special teams player that if the legal thing isn't an issue, Haskins is going to make this team as a special teams only player who can come in and pass protect a little bit and be an emergency running back if you get in a tight spot. So I still think Haskins has a ton of value. I know a lot of you guys disagree with me there. That's perfectly fine, but I like Haskins here. And then we go to the wide receiver position. And this is

Starting point is 00:06:20 going to be controversial and I get it. But I think at the end of the day, Karras Jackson got hurt. Karras. Karras Jackson got hurt. And I just am not impressed enough by everyone else to do more than five wide receivers. I know that this sounds crazy,

Starting point is 00:06:43 but after watching the game a couple of times, I just don't think that any of the wide receivers that are outside of the top five are going to make the roster. I just don't see it. I just don't think that it's worthy enough. I don't think it's valuable enough. I don't think any of the guys have solidified a position to do that. I don't. So I'm going to go with five wide receivers, Hopkins, Traylon Burks, Chris Moore, Kyle Phillips, and WI. If Kyle Phillips is seriously hurt or just not ready for the first week of the season, I think the Titans keep Mason Kinsey and I think he's earned it because they need a backup slot guy who can do those things. So I think the

Starting point is 00:07:25 Titans only keep five wide receivers here. I don't really see any of the wide receivers standing out enough. Maybe some of that is because Malik Willis struggles throwing the ball. But at the end of the day, I just don't think the Titans are getting enough value from any of the wide receivers to keep them around. I think a guy like Harris Jackson, a guy like Reggie Roberson, if you could keep them on the practice squad, that would be great. But I'm just not too overly impressed at this moment in time. I know a lot of the camp hype is there, but I just don't see it. And I'm going to finish up here with the tight ends. We're going to talk tight ends just to quickly roll through

Starting point is 00:08:02 the skill position players on offense. For me, I like the top three, Chigaconquo, Trevon Wesco, Josh Wiley. After that, I really think it's Thomas Odekoye. I think Thomas Odekoye is the guy who can be that Trevon Wesco type player. He can be the big body tight end that's basically an extension of the offensive line. I think he showed that here early on in the preseason, and I think Thomas Odukoye finds a way to make this team. So four tight ends there is kind of what I'm rolling with for the Titans. So three quarterbacks, four running backs, five wide receivers, four tight ends. That's where I'm

Starting point is 00:08:44 at on the skill positions on offense. We're going to move into the trenches. I'm going to talk the offensive line. A lot of math to go over there. We're going to talk the defensive line as well. And I think some of the newcomers on the Titans defensive line are going to end up getting roster spots for the Titans. So I'm going to go over who that is in just a moment.

Starting point is 00:09:00 Before we get into it, though, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by BetterHelp Online Therapy. Look guys, sometimes in life, we're faced with tough choices and the path forward isn't always clear. Whether you're dealing with decisions about your career, relationships, or anything else, therapy helps you stay connected to what you really want while you navigate life so you can move forward with confidence and excitement. Trusting yourself to make decisions that align with your values

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Starting point is 00:10:15 That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com slash locked on. Slash Locked On. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked On Titans podcast. Doing my updated 53-man roster projection. We talked about the skill position players on the offense. I got three quarterbacks, four running backs, four tight ends, five wide receivers.

Starting point is 00:10:58 I know there's some controversial calls in there, but that's the way that I'm seeing it. I'm going to go ahead and throw up the visual aid back on the screen here, but don't'm seeing it. I'm going to go ahead and throw up the visual aid back on the screen here, but don't worry, podcast folks. I am going to make sure that I keep you guys in tune with everything. Before we continue into my 53-man roster predictions, just want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast

Starting point is 00:11:17 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. But we went through the offensive skill positions already. I got those marked off so you can see exactly what I'm looking at. Now I'm going to move into the offensive line.

Starting point is 00:11:40 And I continue, continue, continue to be impressed by Justin Murray. Murray played exclusively at guard in the first preseason game, and then he played exclusively at right tackle on Saturday night against the Minnesota Vikings. I think that Justin Murray has a great opportunity to actually push to be the starter at right tackle for the Titans. It's been two full preseason games now where he's played a lot. He has yet to give up a pressure. Justin Murray has been mauling people in the run game. He absolutely has earned more opportunities

Starting point is 00:12:17 and a chance to maybe get a couple of first team reps in practice. But let's kind of whittle down here what I'm looking for. I think the top five on the offensive line, Andre Dillard, Peter Skowronski, Aaron Brewer, and Daniel Brunskill and Chris Hubbard, I think those guys are locked

Starting point is 00:12:38 in. So that's five right there. But what are the Titans going to do from there? Where does it go from there? That's the real decision that they're going to have to make. And for me, you keep Jalen Duncan. I think Duncan has earned it. I think

Starting point is 00:12:54 that he's a project that the Titans are going to want to keep around. And if you cut him, you're not going to get him back on practice. So you let Jalen Duncan stick around. He gets a roster spot. I think Corey Levin also gets a roster spot as well. He's the backup center. The Titans clearly trust him in the organization.

Starting point is 00:13:10 So for me, that's an easy one. But Andrew Rupsch, on with the glue. Sorry, not good enough. Not good enough, I don't think they're going to make it. Same thing, Xavier Newman-Johnson, had so much promise for him, was so excited for him. Haven to make it. Same thing. Xavier Newman Johnson. That's so much promise for him. I'm so excited for him. Haven't seen it. Jimmy Murray.

Starting point is 00:13:28 He's been James Murray, whatever you want to call him. He's been unnoticeable, quite honestly. John Ajuku. So excited to see what he can do, but he's hurt. He just hasn't been out there. So I don't think the Titans can afford to keep him around. Same thing. Zach Johnson.

Starting point is 00:13:44 When he's been out there, it hasn't been good enough. So I can afford to keep him around. Same thing. Zach Johnson, when he's been out there, hasn't been good enough. So I'm going to take away him. I'm going to put Justin Murray over there as the second string right tackle. We're going to get rid of Justin Murray over here in this part. All right. And this is where the tough conversation comes in. Okay, I'm going to go ahead and move Dylan Radins. Just for organization purposes here, so it looks nice.

Starting point is 00:14:08 MPF is suspended. Not going to count against the roster. Dylan Radins, PUP right now. I don't know if they're going to bring him back on time or not, so I'm not going to count him against the roster. But Jordan Roos. Roos played pretty well in the preseason. He really has. He's played pretty well.

Starting point is 00:14:24 So it's a tough conversation to have. But even at this moment, I'm going back and forth with it. And what I've decided is at this time, I was not going to have Jordan Roos making this team. But looking at things right now, I'm going to keep Jordan Roos around. I think the Titans want to be deep on the offensive line. They don't want to lose any of the guys that they trust.

Starting point is 00:14:41 So I'm going to keep Jordan Roos. Because that makes nine offensive linemen that the Titans will have active on the 53-man roster for the start. The starting five are Dillard, Skowronski, Brewer, Brunskill, and Hubbard. Then Duncan and Justin Murray is back to tackle. Jordan Ruse and

Starting point is 00:14:57 Corey Levin is back on the interior with Raidens on PUP and P.S. Suspense. That's where I'm at on the offensive side of the ball. We have our offensive depth chart completely set here. If you're taking a look. Tannehill, Levin, Willis, Henry, Spears, Chess, Haskins, Burks and Hopkins, Moore and NWI,

Starting point is 00:15:18 Phillips and the Slot, then Dillard, Skowronski, Brewer, Brunskill and Hubbard, Duncan, Roos, Levin, and Justin Murray in a tight end, Okonkwo, West, and Thomas Odekoye. There you go. That's what I have as the offense for the Titans, 53-man roster. Now we move to defense. I'm going to hit on the defensive front here.

Starting point is 00:15:41 Key, Landry, locked in edge. Simmons, Tart, Autry, locked in at edge. Simmons, Tart, Og, Locked in on the interior. Those five, they're making it. No question about it. Sean Weaver, Jaden Peavy, to me, they're locks to make it. Okay? After that, I got to have Caleb Murphy. I got to have Caleb Murphy making this team.

Starting point is 00:16:07 And I'm sorry, but Sam Okweononu, Thomas Rush, that's not seeing it. I'd like to keep Thomas Rush on the practice squad. Sam Okweononu, I've never been a huge fan of. And honestly, when I decided to keep Jordan Roos, Okweononu is the guy I'm taking off instead. So that's what I think the edge group is. Landry and Murphy,

Starting point is 00:16:32 Key and Weaver. Go with that. Just those four guys. I think the Titans are going to, again, keep other guys for special teams value in other places.

Starting point is 00:16:40 So now we go to the interior offensive line. And, I mean, Simmons, Tartan, Autry, and Peavy, but after that, Kyle Peckham, I think that Kyle Peckham is a guy that the Titans brought back this week. I think he's a guy that the Titans are impressed with. He continues to impress me every time he plays. I think Kyle Peckham does get a roster spot. And the newly acquired Michael Dwanford was explosive last night, or Saturday night,

Starting point is 00:17:10 getting in the backfield. So I think he makes it. So I think that's the backup interior defensive line for the Titans. I think you're going to have Pecco behind Tartt, you're going to have Dwanford behind Simmons, and you're going to have Pecco behind Autry.

Starting point is 00:17:27 That's what I see on the defensive line. So right there, if you guys are looking on YouTube, I'm explaining it to the podcast folks. That is my front for the Titans. Murphy and Landry, Lever and Key, 1-4 and Simmons, Pecco and Tart, Peevee and Autry. That's what I have there as the front. We're going to move to linebacker. We're going to talk about cornerback. We're going to move to linebacker. We're going to talk about cornerback. We're going to talk about safety as well. A lot to discuss there.

Starting point is 00:17:51 Before we get into it, though, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Man, the NFL season is almost here, guys. You know what that means. It is time to get on FanDuel so you can put your money where your mouth is. And right now, FanDuel Sportsbook has an incredible deal.

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Starting point is 00:18:47 start earning bonus bets with America's number one sportsbook. That's roster preview. I'm doing my updated 53-man projections. After two weeks of the preseason. We have talked about the offense. We've talked about the front of the defense. Now I want to get into the back seven of the defense. Talk off-ball linebacker, safety, cornerback, all of that.

Starting point is 00:19:34 Before I do, I want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. Unfortunately, because the Patriots experienced a really significant injury on Saturday night in their preseason game, we are not going to see the Titans against the Patriots in joint practices significant injury on Saturday night in their preseason game. We are not going to see the Titans against the Patriots in joint practices this week. The Titans will be practicing alone

Starting point is 00:19:50 before they do take on the Patriots for their preseason game on Friday night. Just wanted to let you guys know about that. But I'm going to be covering Titans practice all week long. We're going to continue to have these conversations about the roster as we go into Friday night's game. And then I'm going to be breaking down everything you need to know on Friday night live on the Locked on Titans YouTube channel

Starting point is 00:20:09 after the game concludes. But with that being said, let's dive back into the roster here. We got a lot to talk about still. We have gone over quite a bit. Okay, so if you're watching on YouTube, go ahead and take a look at where the roster stands right now. As we get into the back seven. On defense.

Starting point is 00:20:27 I'm going to start. Linebacker. To me. This was like the toughest position. This. This was the toughest place for me. To make a choice. And it hurt my soul.

Starting point is 00:20:39 But ultimately. I did have to go ahead. And trim off. Otis Reese. And Ben Neiman. The Titans have four linebackers that they can actually use in Campbell, Monty Wright, Aziz Alshire, and Jack Gibbons. Those are the four that you actually want out on defense.

Starting point is 00:20:59 Luke Gifford is huge. And he's so fast for a linebacker. He's just a perfect guy to have on special teams he was signed to play special teams I think the Titans let him play special teams and keep him as the fifth linebacker at the end of the day Campbell Rice uh Aziz and Gibbons are all better linebackers than Ben Neiman and Gifford is a better special teams player than Ben Neiman it makes me sad because I like Ben Neiman. I think he's a good player. But the roster numbers are the roster numbers.

Starting point is 00:21:28 And I'm going to give Gifford the nod. So five inside linebackers, five off-ball linebackers for the Titans. Let's get into the secondary. Things are really fun. So I think that Fulton and McCreary and Sean Murphy-Bonte are obviously safe. I'm not counting Farley towards the roster right now because he's still on P. Who knows if he's going to be ready. As you guys know, I love Aragar.

Starting point is 00:21:55 I do. He could be the backup slot for Roger McCreary with Elijah Mould now being at safety. I think that Aragar gets the spot. He's consistently around the ball. He's physical. He can punt return now. He's consistently around the ball. He's physical. He can punt return now. He's going to be on all the special teams unit

Starting point is 00:22:09 playing his best. I like Eric Gar and I think that he's been better than Armani Marsh. I don't think Marsh makes the team despite some people being high on him

Starting point is 00:22:18 during the preseason. Similar thing over here. Alonzo Davis, LJ Davis, I don't know what you want to call him. I've seen it both, but I don't think he makes the team. Stephen Jones and Anthony Kendall did well on special teams on Saturday. He really did. But the Titans only have so many numbers. Avery, Christian Fulton, Eric Garra, Roger McCreary, and Sean Murphy Bunting. How much more room do you have? You don't. You don't have enough room. So, to me, for visual purposes, I'm going to go ahead and put Farley over here.

Starting point is 00:22:58 But, to me, I'm keeping those five cornerbacks, and that's what I'm rolling with. Fulton, Sean Murphy Bunting on the outside, Roger McCreary in the slot, Avery on the outside. Gar in the slot, keeping five cornerbacks. That's what I go with. And now we get to say, and Elijah Molden and Mike Brown have stood out to me as, and we'll go ahead and put the injury tag on Molden, sadly.

Starting point is 00:23:25 I hurt in practice on Thursday. Did not play in the game on Saturday night. But I think with Bayard, Hooker, Molden, and Brown, you have your four safeties that you actually want to play defense. Those guys can go out there and actually play some defense for you. They're both the dime nickel now. You're going to have Fulton McCreary, Sean Murphy Bunting, Hooker and Bayard in the back. When the Titans go into dime,

Starting point is 00:23:49 they're going to have Elijah Molden as that dime backer. And the guy who's his direct backup is Mike Brown. So they serve that function as well. But Tyree Jones, Jaheim Carter, Matthew Jackson. I just don't think they're making the scene. Josh Thompson, you may be wondering, why is Josh Thompson making it? Mike Rabel talked about Thompson last week,

Starting point is 00:24:07 and he was just gushing about his special teams ability. He said they brought him in and kept him around, thinking he would be a core special teamer for him on every unit. I think Thompson still is able to do that, and the Titans keep him around. Obviously, we go over to Kicker. I'm a sad boy, but the reality is, Caleb Shudak has been better than Trey Wolf. So, I think

Starting point is 00:24:29 Shudak takes the spot, and that, for me, is my 53-man roster prediction. See it on YouTube right now. Fully laid out for you guys. If you aren't watching on YouTube, you should watch on YouTube, but I'll go over it one more time for everybody,

Starting point is 00:24:46 just so we're all up to date. On offense, three quarterbacks, Tannehill, Levis, and Willis. I think they all make it. Four running backs, Henry, Spears, Chestnut, and Haskins. Four tight ends, Okonkwo, Wesco, Wiley, and Udukwin. Five wide receivers, Hopkins, Burks, Moore, NWI, and Udukwin. Five wide receivers. Hopkins, Burks, Moore, NWI, and Phillips. Offensive line, nine offensive line.

Starting point is 00:25:14 Dillard, Skowronski, Brewer, Brunskill, and Hubbard. Duncan, Roos, Levin, Justin, Murray. On defense, I got Simmons, Tartt, and Autry, and then Dwum, Four, Pecco, and Peavy as their direct backups, respectively. Harold Landry, Caleb Murphy, Arden Keene, Rashad Weaver at edge. That's my front for the Titans. Then at linebacker, I have Aziz Alshire, Jack Given, Chance Campbell, Monty Rice, and then Luke Gifford.

Starting point is 00:25:40 At cornerback, five guys, Avery Fulton, Gar McCreary, and Sean Murphy Bunting. At safety, 55 guys, Avery, Fulton, Garner, McCreary, and Sean Murphy Bunting at safety. 55 guys, Bolden, Byard, Thompson, Brown, Hooker, and three special teamers, kicker Caleb Chudak, Hunter, Ryan Stonehouse, and long sack, Morgan Cox. That is my 53-man roster. Obviously, Caleb Farley, Dylan Bradens,

Starting point is 00:26:05 Nicholas Petit-Ferrer, not included in that because they're suspended, PUP, whatever it may be. And they'll obviously have to make some moves when those guys come back. If they do come back. So, that is what I am looking at for my updated 53-man roster projection. Of course,

Starting point is 00:26:22 let me know down below how you guys feel. Where do you disagree with me? Where do you agree with me? Who would you have? Going to be some tough decisions ahead for the Tennessee Titans and the math they're going to have to make

Starting point is 00:26:34 in just a week. So we'll be excited to break down their decisions once it happens. But that's my updated projection for right now. But with that being said, folks, again, no joint practices with the New England Patriots this week. The Tennessee Titans are going to be

Starting point is 00:26:47 practicing on their own, but I'm going to be here to break it all down for you guys. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland. And this was Locked on Titan. I don't know if it's

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