Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans 2021 Draft Deep Dive -- Dillon Radunz: Background, Scouting & Fit on Titans

Episode Date: May 10, 2021

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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, this Monday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is presented by Bilt Bar. Go to BiltBar.com, use promo code LOCKED15 and you'll get 15% off your next order of

the best tasting protein bars ever. Hope you guys all had a safe and fun weekend, but I'm so excited to kick off this week of the Locked on Titans podcast with our first installment in our Draft Deep Dive series. So when the Titans added eight new players just over a week ago in the NFL draft, I told you that at some point in the coming weeks, we would dive a little bit deeper into some of these prospects. And we are going to kick that off today, taking a look at Titans second round pick offensive tackle Dylan Radins out of North Dakota State. So as we are going to do through this series, we're going to start off by taking a look

at the players' background. Where did they come from? Not only college, but also some high school information as well. Then we are going to transition into a conversation about the game of the player, give you my scouting report, the positives and the negatives. Then we are going to project the player into the Tennessee Titans system, and I'm going to tell you how I think they could fit in the Titans scheme. So excited to dive into our first installment in our Draft Deep Dive series today on a Monday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast.

Let's get it! we are going to get into some background information on titan's second round pick dylan radens to kick off today's show but before we do a couple things i want to remind you guys of number one i'm going to be putting out Monday through Friday daily Tennessee Titans content, not only during the season, but all year long. There's not another Titans content creator that can say that. So make sure you never miss an episode of the Locked on Titans podcast by subscribing or following on whatever platform you do stream. Also, follow me on social media on Twitter at, at TicTacTitans,

and on Facebook, at LockedOnTitansPod, as I give you my continued analysis. And also, along with this draft deep dive on Dylan Radins, I'm going to be putting out my first TicTacTitans film breakdown of the offseason, diving into everything that I see in Radins' game. I'm going to use that to go along with today's episode.

So make sure that after listening to this episode, you head on over to those social media platforms on Twitter, at Tic Tac Titans, on Facebook, at Locked on Titans Pod, and check out the Tic Tac Titans film breakdown and see the visuals that go along with today's conversation. But speaking of today's conversation, we need to get into that background information on Dylan Radins. And where I wanted to get this from is the draft profile

and the draft guide from Dane Brugler from The Athletic. He puts it out every year. It is called The Beast. It is an in-depth draft breakdown. It really helps me during my process watching film, checking out a couple of different draft guides. But this helps me during my process watching film, checking out a couple of different draft guides, but this is one I really rely on. So I wanted to bring you the background information that Dane Brugler was able to piece together for Dylan Radins. And it goes

as such, quote, Dylan Radins grew up in Becker, about 45 miles Northwest of Minneapolis, population less than 5,000, and was a three-sport letterman at Becker High School. A two-way player, he became starting left tackle as a junior and helped lead Becker to back-to-back Class 4A state championships in 2014 and 2015, combining for a 25-1 record over his junior and senior seasons. Radins was a team captain as a senior earning district MVP and all-state honors. As a defensive end, he posted 163 tackles and 14 sacks in his prep career. Radins was a three-year starter and all-conference performer in basketball and finished sixth in shot put at the 2015 Class 2A State Track meet. A two-star defensive end out of high school,

Radins was the No. 165 ranked defensive end in the class and the No. 39 ranked recruit in Minnesota. He received mostly FCS-level offers, North Dakota State, Northern Iowa, South Dakota, South Dakota State, with a few FBS-level offers, Northern Illinois, Wyoming. Radins verbally committed to South Dakota State with a few FBS level offers, Northern Illinois, Wyoming. Radins verbally committed to North Dakota State initially as a defensive end and stayed loyal to that pledge even after a late push by Missouri on signing day. His younger brother Nick was an offensive lineman at North Dakota State College of Sciences

before transferring to North Dakota State before the 2020 season. Radins graduated with his degree in industrial engineering in December of 2020. He accepted his invitation to the 2021 Senior Bowl and was named practice MVP of the week. And that's a big thing about that background. You love seeing a multi-sport athlete, a captain. I personally love the fact that Radins is from a small town in the Midwest. Something about that really appeals to me. Also want to point out here that along with all of that background information, Radins is 6'5", about 301 to 305 pounds. He's 23 years old, so he's old enough and ready to contribute right away. And then another thing that stands out about Radins that has to do with off the field is his athletic score.

So a relative athletic score, an RAS score, is something that a lot of people use to measure prospects against other prospects, not only in their class, but historically. And Dylan Radins, as an offensive tackle prospect in the 2021 draft class, scored a 9.38 RAS out of a possible 10. That's 69th all time out of 1,103 offensive tackles from 1987 when they started taking it to 2021. So just absolute elite athleticism,

a great background that you can be, you know, not worried about, which is something that Titans fans feel very, very good about having players who they don't have to worry about them from a background standpoint. So a small town kid worked his way up, stayed loyal, MVP, team captain, a historic athletic ability coming out of college, everything you could want in an offensive tackle prospect, you're getting with Dylan Radins, at least from a background perspective. So with that in mind, we are going to move into the scouting section of this draft deep dive where I tell you what I saw on tape, what Radins does well, what he needs to improve

at, not only in run blocking, but also in pass blocking as well. Before we do get into that conversation, though, I do want to remind you Titans fans that Nugenix, the number one selling free testosterone booster at GNC, is offering a complimentary bottle to all football fans in America. To get your complimentary bottle of Nugenix Total T, text DRAFT, that's D-R-A-F-T, to 231-231. This unique man-boosting formula is powered by testophen, which helps boost free testosterone and total testosterone levels and increase energy and lean muscle mass.

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There's a ton of UFC and MMA events going on over the summer. So a ton of sporting events still to wager on at betonline.ag. Before the next pitch, make sure you head to their website on your laptop or your mobile device and check out all the great sporting news, sign-up bonuses, and contest information. Head to BetOnline.ag, sign up for free today, and use promo code LOCKEDON, that's one word, LOCKEDON, and you'll get a 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. BetOnline, your online sportsbook experts. Our first draft deep dive continues as we are looking at Titans second round pick Dylan

Radins, the offensive tackle out of North Dakota State. Just went over some of his background information. Do want to add that he did miss 2017 with a torn ACL, but after that did make 32 straight starts with North Dakota State. So hopefully that is not an issue for him going forward. Wanted to make sure that I did at least add that in for your guys' information. But this is my favorite part of the show, admittedly, getting into some of the tape, getting into the scouting portion of our deep dive.

And we're going to talk about Radon's first in the run game. So number one, what stood out to me is his burst off the line of scrimmage he's a guy who really gets off the ball and begins to drive his defender and drive his assignment back down the field so with a guy like Radins who has good athleticism good mobility that's something that you want to see if he was slow off the ball, that would be a major concern for a guy his size. You also, again, the mobility, getting out on the perimeter. So in North Dakota State's scheme, there was a lot more pulling. There was a lot more down blocking than what the Titans do

in their outside zone scheme and their zone running scheme in general. You don't see a lot of pulls. You don't see a lot of gap. You don't see a lot of power runs with the Titans. They mixed in a little bit of that last year. I count on my hand the number of times I saw a guard pool in the Titans offense. But that is something that Radins does well and did well at North Dakota State. Now that mobility and pulling out onto the perimeter as a tackle,

that'll really translate to the outside zone scheme. Think about the Titans running an outside zone run with Derrick Henry towards Dylan Radins, and he's not pulling necessarily, but using that mobility and getting out on the perimeter and getting up and sealing off that edge. That is something that will translate. And outside of his burst off the line of scrimmage and his mobility in the run game, he does a great job of being nasty and physical and tenacious. He blocks through the whistle.

There's multiple occasions in my film breakdown that I'm putting up today that show Dylan Radins playing not only to the whistle but through the echo of the whistle and obviously in Tennessee those are things that are very very important and very highly coveted you got to have an offensive lineman who wants to take another man's will that's very important at that position and I know that's not the most technical thing but the kind of round off things talking about his run blocking here uh Radins uses that burst of mobility and that nasty demeanor to get up to the second level very very easily he's very smooth very fluid getting through the line of scrimmage up to his assignment at the second level cutting off a linebacker and obviously linebackers are going to have better mobility and Raiden's mobility allows

him to stay and mirror them and get in their way for the Titans. And we're going to talk a little bit more about this, but getting up to the second level is going to be very important with the Titans offensive line. So showing that ability to use that ability to use that mobility, not only to get out onto the perimeter on run plays, but also get up to the second level to linebackers. That's very important as well. And in the run game, he does a good job to adjust. Sometimes there's a slant. Sometimes, you know, defenders don't do exactly what he's planning, but he shows a good awareness. He has good IQ out on the field. He has good processing

speed, especially in the run game. Seeing things when they don't necessarily go according to plan and adjusting his plan to make sure that he doesn't get beat on the play. There's a specific play that I had to cut out of my film breakdown, but basically he had a defender shoot in front of him, in front of his face, and dart into the backfield and look like he's going to mess up the play. But Radins is able to swivel his hips, get in front of him, and then another defender comes into the hole and he uses his hand to move him out of the way too so a great adjustment there at the line of scrimmage by Radins but some things that concern me in run blocking and their concerns with Radins game overall number one is strength

so Radins is a long guy he's got good mobility good athleticism but he's very skinny he's very slight for an offensive lineman his size he's's only about 301, 305 pounds, depending on where he weighed in at the senior bowl and at the combine. He might even play a little lighter than that at 295, and that's incredibly light for an offensive tackle and an offensive lineman at the NFL level. So there are some things that show up because of that, his balance. He tries to be very handsy,

and he doesn't necessarily have the hand power to always push people out of the way so when he's lunging forward and he's got his arms completely extended out in front of him and he's trying to push guys he doesn't have the strength to do that with just his hands so that requires him to continue chopping his feet and stay balanced and sometimes he gets his hands out in front of him and they don't have the requisite power to complete the block there he's going to need to churn his feet and stay balanced to go through it but he loses his balance because he's too far out in front of himself and he doesn't have the power to counteract that so you know he needs to add strength to his frame he needs to add

some muscle and mass to his core to allow him to stay balanced in his blocks and obviously his hand placement could get better it's not only just a strength issue but sometimes his hands get overextended he's on the outside of the defender rather than inside his shoulder pads and that can get him into some trouble as low and he is a tall guy so with that balance issue and all those things accounted for he needs to do a great job and a more consistent job of staying low out of his stance. He has a tendency to get too high, try to use his hands too much rather than staying low, staying balanced, and driving through the inside shoulder pads of the defender. As a pass blocker, the mobility shows up everywhere. He's able to beat guys to the corner and push them past the

running or push him past the quarterback when you see cornerbacks blitz off the edge against him he's able to fly out and get to those cornerbacks before they can get a good angle on the cornerback so that mobility obviously again his key trait but he also has great awareness this guy was incredible at games and twists and stunts at the line of scrimmage where defensive linemen try to collide and move him around. He recognizes that stuff immediately and very, very rarely do you see him get beat. In the games that I scouted, I didn't see Radins get beat one time on a stunt up front at the line of scrimmage. He has that great mobility and great athleticism as well and quickness.

So obviously I've talked about he needs to work on his hands, not only in the run game but in the passing game as well, but his feet are just incredible. Think about playing basketball one-on-one on a guy and he's doing crossovers in front of you and these dribble moves and in and outs, hesitations behind the backs. And all you're doing, you can't put your hands on him in his chest like an offensive lineman. You got to shuffle your feet and kind of mirror what he's doing. Well, that's what offensive tackles are charged with doing against defensive ends, essentially. They just get the added benefit of being able to use their hands.

But I saw numerous times on tape where Radins wasn't able to shoot his hands and get his hands to the defender, especially some reps he had at the Senior Bowl. But he chopped his feet. He mirrored the defender like he was playing one-on-one defense in basketball. And that in itself prevented the defender from getting to the quarterback, and once he got close enough to Radins, he was able to get his hands on him, and now you're good to go. He does a good job of using his arm length, but again, he can use his arms too much.

He can get them overextended, and since he doesn't have the power in his hands to immediately latch on to guys and end things, he can get his arms overextended, ruins his balance, get chopped, and that's how he can get beat. Also, his anchor, this is back to the strength concern we talked about with his run blocking. He's got to add core strength because when guys do a bull rush, they're not trying to swim you or get around you or dip to the outside or beat you to the edge or spin move back in.

They're just trying to drive you backwards into the quarterback slap. Well, because Radins comes out of his stance a little too high sometimes, because there are some balance issues with Radins, and because he doesn't have a lot of core strength, which ties into that balance, well, he can get driven back pretty easily by guys with strength. We saw him struggle with that a little bit at the Senior Bowl, although there were a lot of struggles at the Senior Bowl. He was practice MVP, but either way, at the NFL level, he's going to deal with more powerful competition, stronger guys, more athletic guys than he did in college. And he's going to have to add some core strength so that he can keep a wide base and anchor

up against those bull rushers and not get driven too far back into the pocket where it can disrupt Ryan Tannehill and the Titans offense. So those are the things that I saw from Dylan Radins on the tape. We're going to move forward and talking about how those skills and the lack of skills there and some of the concerns project into the Titans offense. Also, all of this stuff that I'm talking about right now is on display with my Tic Tac Titans film breakdown that I will be putting out on social media, on with my Tic Tac Titans film breakdown that I will be putting out on social media on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans on Facebook at Locked on Titans pod. Make sure if

you guys are enjoying this breakdown that you go check out the visual breakdown that I put up. I work really really hard on those and I really do think that you guys will enjoy them. So again on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans on Facebook Facebook at LockedOnTitansPod. But we are going to jump into that schematic projection for Raidens. Before we do, I want to remind you guys about the title sponsor of the show, and that's Built Bar, the best tasting protein bars

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But they're healthy for you as well. Don't forget it. They have high protein, high fiber, low sugar, low calories. Make sure that you go to BiltBar.com today. Use promo code LOCKED15 and you'll get 15% off your first order. Once again, use promo code LOCKED15 for 15% off at BiltBar.com. so far in this draft deep dive on Dylan Radins we have discussed some of his background information from high school and college I've told you guys from a scouting perspective what I saw on tape, his pros and cons, and not only run blocking, but in pass blocking as well. But now I want to talk about how those skills translate to the Tennessee Titans offense,

because not everything that Radins did in college is what he is going to be asked to do at the pro level. So we are going to dive into that. Before we do, I want to remind you guys about the Locked On Today podcast hosted by Peter Bukowski. Get all of your major sports news in under 20 minutes every morning. It's like having the sports section read to you. Make sure that you check out the Locked On Today podcast

on whatever platform you listen to your podcast. But one thing that stood out to me most is the scheme differences from North Dakota State to what the Titans do. So the Titans run an outside zone scheme, which is essentially where the Titans offensive line is blocking an area on the field and they work as one unit across to kind of block areas and block spaces and whatever defender shows up there is where they're going to block. Now the Titans do incorporate a little bit of man blocking,

but man blocking and power blocking, you're talking about down blocks. You're talking about an offensive tackle washing down on a defensive tackle while a guard pulls out to the perimeter. Or you're talking about a tight end, a guard pulls out to the perimeter, or you're talking about a tight end, a wide receiver blocking down as the tackle pulls out to the perimeter. So it requires a lot more pulling, and that pulling put Raiden's mobility on display, but the Titans don't do a lot of pulling. Like I said, they're a zone run scheme based team.

So wondering if the Titans will incorporate some more pulling or if they'll just use that mobility to get Raidens out onto the edge in those outside zone runs now one thing that that can utilize Raidens ability as a puller and utilize that mobility that I would like to see the Titans incorporate into their offense and coincidentally it's something that I've been asking them to incorporate into the offense even before the Raidens pick. And it goes along with Todd Downing being promoted as the offensive coordinator for the Titans. Downing used a lot more RPO concepts during his time with the Raiders.

He used more screens. He isolated certain players. He focused on matchups and getting certain players the ball. Well, I think the Titans need to use more wide receiver screens, more tight end screens, more running back screens this year. It's something they really struggled with last year that they have to find a way to incorporate this year because one of the things that gave the Titans trouble is when people, when teams put a lot of pressure, blitz, and man coverage onto them. One way to counteract that is with the screen game. So the Titans have to find a way to be better at that. And Radins has the athleticism

and the mobility, unlike somebody like Dennis Kelly, to get out onto the perimeter in almost a pulling fashion. So that's how Taylor LeJuan got hurt last year, unfortunately. But that sort of play is exactly what Radins will have the ability to do well. I'm thinking about wide receiver screens to A.J. Brown, tunnel screens to A.J. Brown, not only smoke screens, but tunnel screens coming back to the inside. A lot of different things, running back screens as well to Radins' side. I think we can utilize that Radins' mobility and his ability to pull and get out on the perimeter, not only as an edge setter in outside zone,

but also as a guy in the screen game. He did a lot of down blocking when he wasn't pulling in the college level. The Titans tackles aren't asked to down block a lot, but in inside zone, the Titans offensive tackles are often tasked with getting up to the second level and getting on a linebacker after a combo block with the guard. And Radon showed an ability to do that very very well at the college level something that I highlighted in my Tic Tac Titans film breakdown on social media on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans on Facebook at Locked on Titans pod yes I am beating

you guys over the head with that information go check out the film breakdown some other things that I want to talk about here is can Raidens hold up in pass protection with the confusing blitz schemes that you see in the NFL in his tape there wasn't a lot of you know crowding the line of scrimmage think about what Baltimore did put six or seven at the line of scrimmage in the box and not let the Titans know where the pressure is going to come from is Raidens going to be able to continue that high IQ to continue doing so well again in those situations where he has to adjust where he doesn't know where the pressure is coming from games is going to be able to continue that high IQ, to continue doing so well in those situations where he has to adjust, where he doesn't know where the pressure is coming from, games,

stunts, twists. Is he going to be able to use that IQ and processing speed at the NFL level when the athleticism is going to ratchet up tenfold from the FCS level to the NFL? Is that something that he's going to be able to continue? Is that going to translate? I think that it will. Now, at first, early on in his career, I think he's going to be a starter for the Titans. I think it will be between him and Ty Sambrillo if Sambrillo is healthy. But the Titans, like they did with Jack Conklin in his rookie year, I expect the Titans to help him out a lot. Six-man protections with a tight end in. Using the tight end or two

tight ends to Raiden's side. Let him get comfortable while he develops his body, while he develops that core strength that he needs to add to be a bona fide pro bowler at the NFL level. But either way, with his mobility, with his IQ, and the things that he did schematically in college translating to the Titans offense, I think, as I mentioned, Raiden's can be a day one starter for the Tennessee Titans

and potentially a pro bowl level player down the road. Either way, I think the Raidens pick was a great upgrade and a great value for the Titans in the 2021 draft. My favorite pick of the entire Titans draft haul. But that's going to do it for me today, folks. That's going to do it for our initial installment in our draft deep dive series. Talking about Dylan Radins, his background, the scouting information, and his projection

into the Tennessee Titans system. But that's going to do it for me today. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.