Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans All-Decade Team Series: 2010-2019 Offense, Defense & Special Teams

Episode Date: April 8, 2020

Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitans Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Locked On Titans Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, yesterday we kicked off our show by talking about the NFL's all-decade team for 2010 to 2019. Unfortunately, there were no Tennessee Titans on that list, but it got me thinking, what would the Tennessee Titans all-decade team look like for 2010 to 2019? So on today's show, it is going to be a way back Wednesday. We are going to look at the last decade of seasons for the Titans, and I'm going to come up with my own personal all-decade team for this last decade. And then what I'm going to do for you my own personal all decade team for this last decade and then what I'm going

to do for you guys is we are going to have a throwback Thursday edition as well where I talk about the 2000 season to the 2009 season all decade team for the Titans so a little bit of an all decade series here for you guys as we progress throughout the week. So there were a lot of tough decisions. There were some decisions that weren't very tough. It was actually difficult to find somebody worthy of being on the all decade team. I'm going to go through one quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, one tight end, two tackles, two guards, a center, two defensive tackles, two defensive ends, two linebackers, two corners, two safeties, and of course, you cannot forget the kicker and the punter.

So I'm going to go over all the positions for both of those different decades, and we are going to start with the most recent decade on today's show. So a lot of familiar faces to talk about and it probably will get pretty nostalgic, but we are going to break things up with offense first and then go to the defense to cap things off and of course special teams will be tacked on to the end of the defense, but I'm really excited to get into these teams with you guys. Excited to hear your choices as well. Make sure that you're following me on Twitter at TicTacTitans

and you let me know which choices you agree with, maybe which choices you don't agree with, and what your all-decade teams would look like. Also, subscribe to the show. Make sure that you're subscribed on Apple Podcasts, you're following the show on Spotify, Google Play, wherever you stream your podcast. You're not going to want to miss our Throwback Thursday

where we go over the 2000-2009 All-Titans Decade Team as well. So make sure that you're locked in to the Locked on Titans podcast going forward. But I have a lot to talk about with you guys. We have an all-decade team to dive into. Let's get it. The most recent decade for the Tennessee Titans is a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde, where you saw some of the worst stretches of Titans football in the history of the franchise, but also coming off the last four seasons, which were the most consistent winning seasons in the history of the franchise.

winning seasons in the history of the franchise. So almost an entire flip down the middle for the Titans from a doormat within the NFL to one of the consistent playoff contenders in the league. But let's start with the Titans offense when looking at the all-decade team for the Tennessee Titans from 2010 to 2019. And the quarterback for that team is Marcus Mariota. Although he just recently left to play for the Oakland Raiders after five seasons with the Titans, he was the most productive and consistent quarterback of the decade.

Mariota's overall record is 29 wins to 32 losses. He completed 62.9% of his passes for 13,207 yards with 76 touchdowns passing and 44 interceptions. Mariotta was a part of two different playoff runs and was the catalyst for the playoff run in 2017, leading the Titans to their first playoff victory in a decade over Kansas City and an incredible comeback win that will never be forgotten. Mariota had numerous big-time plays during his five seasons with the Titans, including his highlight year in 2016. Mariota was the easy choice. Now to the running back position where two players were selected and the first is a player who made both all-decade teams for the Titans and that is Chris Johnson. While CJ2K's 2,000-yard

season came in the previous decade in 2009, he still had four straight 1,000-yard seasons for the Titans to start the decade including a 1,300-yard season in 2010, and still was the focal point of the Titans' offense and a key performer to start the decade. Then, a key performer and the focal point of the Titans' offense to end the decade, and that is Derrick Henry, who had four seasons in the decade for the Titans, his first four seasons in the NFL, and in those four seasons for the Titans, His first four seasons in the NFL and in those four seasons for the Titans, he has totaled 3,800 rushing yards and 38 rushing touchdowns, including the most recent two seasons going over a thousand yards, including last season where he led the NFL in

rushing with 1,500 rushing yards and 16 total touchdowns. So two fantastic running backs for the Titans at the beginning and the end of the decade. At the wide receiver position, Nate Washington, who played five seasons for the Titans in this decade, had over 4,200 total receiving yards during that time and even went over 1,000 yards in 2011. And that was the last time that a Tennessee Titans wide receiver went over a thousand yards in a season until the next selection A.J. Brown and I know that A.J. Brown only played one season for the Titans but he was able to go over a thousand yards as a wide receiver for the first time since 2011 Kendall Wright got close early in the decade with a 900 plus receiving yard season

but no receiver has instilled hope in the Titans fan base and performed anywhere close to what we've seen out of A.J. Brown especially considering that he was a rookie during that time so a little bit of controversial pick there but I put A.J. Brown as the second receiver for the Titans all decade team despite only playing one season. At tight end, who else could it be other than Delaney Walker? Seven total seasons during the decade, 4,423 total receiving yards, 381 catches, 29 touchdowns, and three Pro Bowls during that time. Delaney Walker actually had himself a000-yard season as a tight end during that time as well. For the offensive line, we have Michael Roos, who had five seasons blocking mostly for Chris Johnson.

Taylor LeJuan, who has blocked incredible in his six seasons, becoming one of the better tackles in the NFL for the Titans. And then at guard, it was a difficult choice with not a lot of good options, but Quentin Spain and his four seasons for the Titans, and then Jake Scott, who blocked for Chris Johnson for two seasons at the beginning of the decade. Then to round out the offense, we have center Ben Jones, who has been phenomenal as the pivot for the Titans the last four seasons. And I have to be honest with you, when I was looking at the Titans offensive line for the past decade, there's just really nothing on the interior.

A bunch of misses in the draft, a bunch of guys who never panned out. Josh Klein actually got some consideration just because he was competent and the Titans had a little bit of success while he was in the lineup, but ultimately went with Jake Scott. And I have to be honest with you, a lot of it had to do with just his incredible beard. He always had such an incredible beard, and I really appreciate that more now in my adult years. So I wanted to get him on that list. But I thought it was pretty nostalgic to go through that list.

Obviously, it's a lot of the culture changers. That's what I'm going to call that era of Titans football. to call that era of Titans football that 2015-2014 into 2018 is really when I say it stops. 2019 feels like a new team for the Titans, but you have Marcus, you have Delaney, you have LeJuan, you have Quentin Spain, you have Ben Jones. I mean, those are people who came in and really steadied the ship when the Titans were going through their worst stretch in franchise history. So I have a lot of love and a lot of respect for those players who are a part of that culture change era for the Titans. Let's go ahead and jump into the defensive side of the football, of the Titans all-decade team from 2010 to 2019.

We are going to talk about that next. I ended off our first segment when we were talking about the offense by discussing the culture change era of Titans football and the type of players that they brought in at the tail end of the Rustin Webster era as free agents or through the draft and then the beginning of the John Robinson era where he only really kept the players that could make an impact on the culture or out on the field so it was very important as the Titans were going through the

worst losing stretch of their franchise history at least since coming to Nashville for them to get good guys in the building pros professional guys who work hard who study the tape who do everything that you need to do behind the scenes other than out on the field to be a successful player in the NFL, if anything, to teach the locker room what that looks like. You had a ton of players from the first four seasons of the decade who maybe didn't put that kind of work in. We love Chris Johnson, but there at the tail end of his career, he wasn't necessarily putting in the work. Someone like Kendall Wright really never studied the playbook or did anything to try to benefit his NFL career other than go

out and play. So you look at people like that, the Titans needed a course correction. They needed a 360 in player mentality, and they were able to do that with some of those culture changes I mentioned on offense. People like Marcus, people like Delaney, people like Taylor LeJuan, people like Ben Jones, but they also did that on defense. So let's talk about the Titans 2010 to 2019 all-decade team from a defensive perspective. Obviously, we are going to start out this team with Jarrell Casey. Played nine seasons of the 10 possible. Was drafted in 2011.

Had five Pro Bowls during that time. 51 sacks in his career with the Titans and for the majority of the decade was considered the Tennessee Titans only real good player I mean for the majority of the time at least nationally he's the only one that started to get recognition for how great of a player he truly was despite not being surrounded by a lot of help early on in his career. So Jarrell Casey obviously is a highlight on this list, but this is one of those moments where we get a bit nostalgic thinking about Jarrell Casey's career and everything that he did for this franchise to help turn things around. So thank you Jarrell, and obviously a highlight on this list. As I said, the second defensive tackle position.

As I've mentioned throughout the episode, some positions were hard to find anybody even worthy of being on the list. And that's why I went with Daquan Jones. And while Daquan Jones has been up and down throughout the beginning of his career when he was thought to be a pass rushing five technique kind of like Jarrell Casey once he dealt with those upper body injuries came back in rehab and turned himself into more of a run stuffing nose tackle defensive tackle he has been fantastic in his role and I will continue to sing the praises of someone like Daquan Jones, who, like I said, played six seasons during the decade for the Titans.

And to be a consistent starter on winning football teams for the majority of the decade, that gets you a spot in the Titans' all-decade defensive line. And at the defensive end positions, once again, we are going to talk about culture changers. Once again, we are going to talk about culture changers. Brian Arakpo had four seasons with the Titans during that decade, made one Pro Bowl in 2016, had 26 sacks for the Titans in those four seasons. He was a part of the change in culture around the Titans that led them into the period of consistent playoff contending that we are in the midst of now. So these culture changers really laid the groundwork for what this Titans team is about the period of consistent playoff contending that we are in the midst of now.

So these culture changers really laid the groundwork for what this Titans team is about to be for the next four seasons. And likewise, his battery mate on the other side of the defensive line, and that is Derek Morgan, who played eight seasons for the Titans during the decade, racking up 44 and a half sacks during that time. At the linebacker position, we have Wesley Woodyard. That's another guy I would point to as a massive reason for the culture change for the Titans. And Woodyard came over from the Denver Broncos, was considered to maybe be on his last legs of his NFL career, but ended up playing six seasons with the Titans, totaling 517 tackles. He had 124 tackles in 2017 and then followed that up with 113 tackles in 2018.

Like I said, when he came to the Titans, some people thought he might be on the last legs of his career. So to have that sort of production and be a dominant run defender as a middle linebacker in his 30s with the Titans playing six seasons and last season ultimately being a depth piece and a special teams player and a captain on this team emotionally, at least in the locker room, just had to get Wesley Woodyard on this list. And likewise, another guy who I wouldn't really give a lot of credit for a change in the culture, but played four seasons for the Titans during this decade

and was incredibly productive during those four seasons in his role as a run-stuffing linebacker is Avery Williamson 376 tackles in his four seasons with the Titans before ultimately going to the Jets and his career ending I had to put Williamson on here and as you notice throughout this list I mean it's mostly the guys who were on the team in the early stages of the John Robinson era because those guys made an impact on winning. The Titans had some terrible, terrible ball clubs in this decade. So it wasn't like I wanted to reward a bunch of guys who were on losing teams who just happened to have the stats.

So I wanted to reward those guys who were a part of teams that made playoff runs or made pushes for the playoffs like in 2016 and 2017. So a lot of these guys were here for a few years before the winning started but were kept around for the winning because they were productive players who had a positive impact on the team and the locker room. So we will move to the defensive backs for the Tennessee Titans 2010-2019 all-decade team. And we will start at cornerback with Parrish Cox. Okay, I'm just kidding. Parrish Cox may be my most hated player that has ever been on the Titans ever.

So 100% just a joke there. But my real selection at cornerback is Jason McCourty. And McCourty played seven seasons for the Titans during this decade before deciding to go join his brother in New England. And Jason McCourty was one of the more underappreciated players in Titans history. I thought he was one of the better cornerbacks in the NFL through the midsection of the decade, and the Titans just weren't good enough for him to get the national recognition that he deserved, and he got a little bit of that recognition later in his career when he played with his twin brother for the New England Patriots, but wanted to make sure that he got recognition at least here. For me. 13 interceptions in those seven seasons,

and he was one of the lone bright spots for the Titans in the secondary throughout the decade, and there were times where things were really, really bleak, and without him, it could have been even worse in the secondary than it was during the dark times. The other cornerback I'm going to put on this list, despite only having three seasons during the decade with the Titans, is Logan Ryan. And you guys know that I wax poetic about Logan Ryan.

And it's not like he's been the most productive in terms of takeaways, interceptions. He didn't have an interception with the Titans until this third season, but Logan Ryan, we want to talk about culture changers, and I've talked about culture changers quite a bit throughout the duration of this episode, but you want to talk about a culture changer, and that is Logan Ryan. I mean, he has everything that you want from a football player. Fantastic in the community, well-spoken with the media, and out in the community as well.

A communicator on the field, getting guys lined up from that slot cornerback position. He was able to blitz in the pass rush. He was able to play man and get physical with receivers at the line of scrimmage. He was intelligent about coverages. He understood how to play in the run game and was aggressive and physical and get physical with receivers at the line of scrimmage. He was intelligent about coverages. He understood how to play in the run game and was aggressive and physical and wasn't afraid of stepping up there and basically being a pseudo linebacker for the Titans. He just had his most productive season of his career. 113 total tackles, 4 tackles for loss, eight quarterback hits, four and a half sacks,

four forced fumbles, four interceptions. I mean, Logan Ryan was absolutely fantastic and really put a cherry on his season. And if he does move on from the Titans, I would love to have him back. But if he does move on from the Titans, we will always remember that he ended the Patriots dynasty with a pick six on Tom Brady in New England. And that'll never be forgotten. It's one of the better moments in Titans history, in my opinion. And quite frankly, this entire list is my opinion. So Logan Ryan will get the second cornerback position on the Titans all-decade team for 2010-2019. Moving to the safety position.

And one of the guys who's on both teams. There are a few members that are on both the 2000-2009 Titans all-decade team. And the 2010-2019 Titans all-decade team. And one of those guys is Michael Griffin. And Michael Griffin played six seasons with the Titans during the decade. Out of his two Pro Bowl years, he had one during that decade and had 14 interceptions during those six seasons in this decade. So Michael Griffin was one of the more talented players

to come through the Titans organization in the last 20 years and was very productive throughout a lot of seasons during his prime for the Titans. So I wanted to make sure he got on this list. And then the next safety that I'm going to talk about in the last player on the defense to make the Titans all-decade team for 2010 to 2019 is Kevin Bayard. How could I leave the mayor of Murfreesboro off the list? So Bayard had zero interceptions in his rookie season as a starter for the Titans in 2016, but every year after that, he's been dominant, taking away the football. 17 total interceptions in the past three seasons. Four seasons played for the Titans during that decade.

He has made one Pro Bowl. He was All-Pro, the highest paid safety in the NFL. I don't have to say anything more about Kevin Byard. You guys understand how incredibly important he is, not only to the Titans organization, but to that defense and to that secondary and, quite frankly, to the entire team. He made that interception in Baltimore, and it just really set the Titans on a course to win that game. So whenever things are in, he had an interception in Week 17 against the Texans as well to really cap things off.

So when things are as dire as they are, interception against the Bills when the Titans couldn't get anything going, when things are as bleak as they could possibly be, the guy who always steps up and makes a play is Kevin Byard. So of course he is going to be on this list. Let's round out today's episode. A double feature for you guys with two segments, but pretty long segments indeed. But I'm going to wrap up today's show with the special teams. So let's take a look at the special teams, players who are going to be on the all-decade team at kicker and at punter. At kicker, I know that there may be some consternation from you guys, but I went with Ryan Suckup.

Six seasons played for the Titans during this decade. 83.6% accuracy rate on field goals. Suckup made some big kicks, and that's all it comes down to, longevity. He had a 91% accurate kicking season during the decade for the Titans, had an 86% accuracy season for the Titans at Arrowhead, on the Arrowhead. I mean, there are just some kicks, specifically that one, that I'm never going to forget from Ryan Suckup. And although he had a, I guess he ended his career with the Titans in a whimper. I understand that and maybe that'll leave some lingering hard feelings. Ryan Suckup has been the best kicker of the decade for the Titans. And at punter, I mean, is this even a debate? The only guy from 2010 to 2019, to play all 10 seasons for the Titans on this all-decade team is Brett Kern.

Three Pro Bowls, one All-Pro. Obviously, last season, he's getting his due now for being the best punter in the NFL for the last few seasons. And quite frankly, had a case to be on the NFL's all-decade team, as did Jarrell Casey. And some people are saying Chris Johnson, but I didn't want to go there yesterday because I don't quite frankly believe that. I don't know how else to say it. I just wanted to be frank.

I don't believe that Chris Johnson deserves that honor. But Jarrell Casey and Brett Kern definitely, definitely have an argument to be made. But that is going to wrap up this Tennessee Titans 2010 to 2019 all-decade team. So one more time through the list. Quarterback Marcus Mariota. Running backs Chris Johnson and Derrick Henry. Wide receiver Nate Washington, A.J. Brown. Tight end Delaney Walker. Tackle Michael Roos and Taylor LeJuan, guard Quentin Spain and

Jake Scott, center Ben Jones. Defense, defensive tackle Jarrell Casey and defensive tackle Daquan Jones. At defensive end, Brian Arakpo and Derek Morgan. At linebacker, Wesley Woodyard and Avery Williamson. Cornerback, Jason McCourty and Logan Ryan, safety Kevin Byard and Michael Griffin, kicker Ryan Suckup, punter Brett Kern. So that is going to wrap up this way back Wednesday and this edition of the Titans all decade team for the most recent decade. Remember tomorrow we are going to do a throwback Thursday and break down the all-decade team for the Titans from 2000 to 2009. So hop in the time machine with me for a throwback Thursday, and we will be breaking that down then. As I said at the beginning of the show, make sure you're following me on Twitter, at TicTacTitans.

Let me know what you think about my list. Let me know what you agree with. Let me know what you disagree with. And if you would like, give me your entire list. I'd be more than happy to check it out. But now that you're done with this episode of Locked on Titans, make sure you go check out the Draft Dudes podcast from the Locked on Podcast Network. It is a great time to lock in with the NFL draft. And speaking of that, I have a lot of draft coverage planned

for the next few weeks to get you guys ready for April 23rd. So make sure that you're subscribed to the podcast. Make sure that you're subscribed on Apple Podcasts, you're following on Spotify, Google Play, wherever you stream your podcast. Just make sure that you are locked in with me as I continue to bring you content daily throughout the offseason. But that is going to do it for me today.

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