Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Complete Draft Class Signings, Add Interior Offensive Line Depth & Shane Bowen Talks Edge Depth

Episode Date: August 4, 2020

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

Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans. Panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, to quote the great American philosopher, designer. The panda is in the house. The Tennessee Titans have officially struck a deal with their first round offensive tackle. So we will start off today's show taking a look at those developments, taking a look at some of the contract details for Isaiah Wilson, a strange quirk that the late first round rookies have been able to get into their contracts. Also, the Titans made another follow-up transaction and added another member to the training camp roster. So I will go over all of those details in our lead story today. And then we started off our week yesterday by hearing from Titans offensive coordinator

Arthur Smith about different players who he's been looking at throughout the all season, his thoughts on play design and how to call plays. It was a very good interview, got a lot of insight from an impressive offensive mind in Arthur Smith. Well, today we are going to flip that over to the defensive side of the ball with, in my opinion, a rising superstar in the Titans organization this all-season, and that is outside linebacker coach Shane Bowen, who in my opinion is the defensive coordinator, if not an official title in spirit at the minimum. So we will hear his thoughts on multiple players on the defense and his general thoughts on

how the defense is going to work this season without Dean Pease. So I will be bringing you guys more of these Zoom conferences and more Titans breaking news throughout the rest of this week, Monday through Friday, not only this week, but through the rest of the season. So make sure that you are subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast on Apple podcast, following on Spotify or whatever platform that you do stream so you don't miss any of the content that I will be pumping out every single week. But with that in mind, let's dive right in.

The Panda has arrived. The Titans make another move. And we hear from Titans defensive coordinator, Shane Bowen. Let's get it. Since the NFL draft concluded this year, we have seen the Tennessee Titans come to terms with five of their six draftees from the 2020 class. On Monday, the wait ended and the Titans officially came to terms with the last member of their 2020 draft class, first round offensive tackle out of Georgia, Isaiah Wilson. And of course, when Wilson first arrived to the Titans facility for training camp, he had

not signed his first contract and also was immediately put on the NFL's COVID reserve list after having tested positive himself or being in contact with someone else who has. But on Monday, Wilson did sign his agreement with the Tennessee Titans to become the last member of their draft class to sign. Also, coincidentally, Wilson was the last member of the first round that was signed to their official deal, and that came to pass on Monday when Wilson signed a four-year, $11.57 million deal with the Tennessee Titans. This included a $5.97 million signing bonus as well. But that wasn't the only good news of the day. To go along with the news of the contract agreement between Wilson and the Titans was the announcement that he would be coming off of the COVID reserve list.

So Wilson has made two positive COVID-19 tests. So Wilson has tested negative for COVID-19 twice and also passed through a quarantine period. Now he can join Titans training camp officially and this is important for Isaiah Wilson to not miss any more time. It's been well documented that rookies will be behind the eight ball all around the NFL this year due to the lack of field time in the offseason from the COVID-19 restrictions for OTAs, voluntary workouts, all of the different activities that lead up between the draft and the actual start of training camp for NFL teams.

So the fact that Isaiah Wilson missed that time put him behind in terms of having the ability to compete for the starting right tackle position with the existing Titans veteran Dennis Kelly. Now Isaiah Wilson can get back with the team as on-field activities are starting to take off, which hopefully will give him the opportunity to have an honest competition for the starting right tackle role. Dennis Kelly has been with the Titans for multiple years and has starting experience in the NFL, so it will be an uphill battle for Isaiah Wilson to take that starting job He has been with the Titans for multiple years and has starting experience in the NFL.

So it will be an uphill battle for Isaiah Wilson to take that starting job. But now that his contract is officially signed, he is coming off the COVID-19 list and can join his Titans teammates. That'll give him the best opportunity possible to actually be the Titans starter on day one. Another strange quirk about the late end of the first round rookies and how they sign their contracts with the team and something that has been a pop-up in 2020, something we haven't seen quite a lot in the past, all of the rookies from pick 22 or lower in the first round

actually were able to guarantee 90% of their contracts. All of the picks from 22 or later were able to secure that in their contract, and that is somewhat of a new development here in 2020, and that's obviously something that Isaiah Wilson was able to take advantage of as well. But that wasn't the only transaction that the Tennessee Titans had on the day. Before we get into their secondary transaction, if you recall last week, the only opt-out that the Titans have had for COVID-19 voluntary opt-outs was undrafted free agent offensive tackle out of TCU, Anthony McKinney.

That opt-out came after the Titans had trimmed down their roster to 80 and made the initial six cuts that they first made last week. Well, in response to that open roster spot on the offensive line, the Titans have brought back one of those six initial cuts, and that is interior offensive lineman Zach Caron. Caron has played for three different teams prior to the Titans in his NFL career, the Vikings, the Lions, and the formerly known as Washington Redskins, he has played in 16 career games, two of them being starts, and will compete to make the Titans roster as a versatile interior offensive lineman who can play guard and center for the Titans.

And if you would like to compete against me and other Locked on Titans podcast fans, you can do so with the Locked on Titans Fantasy Football League that I am going to be kicking off this year. And as I mentioned to you guys last week, rather than having some sort of buy-in or cost and paying out money at the end, I think it's best to keep that all out and try to put our support towards the people who support the Locked On Podcast Network. So what I am calling for,

and I've had two or three people so far who are confirmed, and I will go over that Friday at the end of the week, but what I would like you guys to do is go to our faithful sponsor, rockauto.com, where you get amazing selection and reliably low prices all the parts your car will ever need. Make some sort of purchase. And right now, there are a multitude of different things that you can do to your car. I've already had multiple people reach out and say they were already planning on making a purchase for their vehicle, some sort of cosmetic, some sort of repair that they needed. So they went ahead and when they made that purchase on rockauto.com,

they put locked on in the how did you hear about us box. Once again, that is the how did you hear about us box that is right underneath where you put your shipping information before you make your purchase. Go ahead and send me a screenshot on Twitter, tag me, DM me, whatever you feel like, letting me know that you have made a purchase using the promo code LOCKEDON on the rockauto.com website and that'll guarantee your entry into the Locked on Titans Fantasy Football League. So rather than putting money into a pot for someone to win at the end of the year, I think it's best if we put our support, our dollars towards the people who support this podcast

and keep it free for everyone all the time. So make a simple purchase on rockauto.com. Send me the confirmation of putting Locked on in the How Did You Hear About Us box, and that'll seal your entry into the Locked On Titans Fantasy Football League this year. And of course, just if you need any reminder, all of the different benefits of shopping at rockauto.com. One, you're not going to get a different price, whether you're a professional mechanic or a do-it-yourselfer. Also, you're not going to be limited by the amount of stock that

the store has in the back. You're going to have a multitude of different options, specifications, prices that you can choose from and take a look at. And it doesn't matter whether it's your classic car or your daily driver, you can get everything that you need in a few easy clicks delivered to your door. So once again, that is rockauto.com. Put LOCKEDON in the how did you hear about us box. Send me confirmation of your purchase on Twitter at TicTacTitans, and you will get entry into the Locked On Titans Fantasy Football League this year. Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need, rockauto.com.

Sounds of the Titans. One of these days I'm going to add like an echo onto that and really surprise you guys out of the gate. But let's dive into the audio from Shane Bowen's Zoom conference from Friday with Titans Media. As I have mentioned and as I mentioned at the beginning of the show, in my opinion, Shane Bowen basically is the defensive coordinator for this team. Whether he is officially announced as that or not, it feels like it would be the smart move to proceed going forward, thinking of him in that way. And it's something that he was asked about quite a bit, obviously, and something that he talks about quite a bit, including his first response here

and just basically giving us his opinion on being Mike Rabel's right-hand man this year. Yeah, I mean, ultimately my job, first and foremost, is to get these outside linebackers to play at a high level and develop them and continue to make sure they're doing what they're supposed to do and contributing the way they're supposed to on our defense. But Mike's got a lot on his plate, so he needs somebody to help him out. And I've been with him a long time. The one thing I will say, I think I'm an extension of him

when it comes to our defense and what he expects and what he wants. I think that's where his confidence and comfort level comes with me just because we've been around each other for a while now. So I think that's kind of where it stems from. But ultimately for me, man, it's about these outside linebackers first between myself uh matt edwards who's helping out with the inside and outside backers uh making sure they're playing at a high level and then doing what i can to echo and reiterate some of the messages of what braves wants done defensively as a unit so he's gonna echo everything rabel says be his voice when he's not in the room. So if you have a defensive

leader who is the voice for the defense, who's an extension of the head coach, what do we call that? A defensive coordinator. If I'm Shane Bowen, why won't Mike Vrabel just make him the official defensive coordinator? One, if I'm Shane Bowen, unless, you know, there's obviously something behind the scenes, but it just seems like he's having all the responsibilities of a defensive coordinator without the title which from a professional career standpoint doesn't make a lot of sense but be interesting to see how that relationship progresses and continues if things stay in in the current situation that they do but Bowen talked more about being that defensive leader and kind of what all that entails obviously starting to hint at some play calling I would say

when when Mike's not around I mean just so we can function and get through what we have to get through somebody's got to take the role in terms of organizing a meeting and making sure we're checking all our boxes off as we prepare for practice, for the season, everything that comes with that. But like I said, I think I said in the spring, man, we got a great defensive staff. I mean, we all lean on each other with all that stuff. Haz has done it.

He's been a head coach. He's been a defensive coordinator. I mean, I'm very familiar with Midget and Book, and I've been around all these guys for the most part other than Haas. I've been around all these guys at some point in my career. So, I mean, I think as a group we're doing a good job in terms of collaborating as we work through some of this stuff. But, yeah, like when push comes to shove

and we've got to kind of move on to the next task, like I'm going to push it that way. And all of that makes sense that he's had experience with all of the different defensive coaches he's going to push things the way that they need to be pushed it's probably because he's the defensive coordinator and maybe Mike Rabel is just not giving him that title so that there aren't you know any more legitimate questions about who will call defensive plays, but that's obviously with all the responsibility that Bowen just explained that he would have. How could he not have some role in play calling?

And he talks about that because obviously everyone wants to know who's calling the defensive plays. Yeah, I think I don't see game plan being much different. I mean, Mike was involved last year. Obviously, not to the extent that he's going to be this year with having Dean. But he was still involved. And game plan, it is a group effort through and through like everything. We're talking through everything together.

We're coming up with the best plan because ultimately every coach has to be comfortable with what we want to do and feel comfortable teaching it to their players and that their players can actually execute it on Sunday so that's a I think that's a group deal so I don't see that changing a whole lot in terms of play calls on game day like I said I think that's just something we've got to work through here in this training camp and kind of see where things are at in terms of what Graves feels like he's comfortable doing on game day and everything else. So I think that's going to be something that we work through here this next month before we get to September 14th.

And that was the smart answer from Bowen there. All of the coaches are involved in the game plan and scripting things out and have to be comfortable with what they're doing, trying to make it not seem like he has any more responsibility than any other defensive coach. But who is going to call the plays? Who's going to call them in practice? Who's going to call the plays when the Titans do those live scrimmages

that Mike Vrabel talked about. That's a question that Bowen was asked, rightfully so. Yeah, I think right now we're just – everything's scripted. We're going through everything as a defensive staff. And, I mean, everything's there as we progress into practice and there's some oversteer on scripted periods. I think that's something me and Vrabel are just going to kind of work through

and see where things are at and just comfort level with how we want to be able to get the call into the defense. Again, ultimately, like, I'm an extension of Mike when he ain't around. So however that ends up playing out, we'll just have to see as we kind of work through it here once we get out there and get in some of these competitive situations where we actually have to call some things that aren't scripted. Basically, what we're left to believe is if the Titans had a game tomorrow,

Vrabel hasn't thought of who would call plays. I mean, that's what they're trying to sell to us is that right now they haven't decided who's going to call the plays, Bowen or Vrabel or a mixture who else could possibly be hazlit midget whoever and that's just a lie like i'm just going to call bs on that mike vrabel you're telling me everything we know about head coach mike vrabel that this guy doesn't have a plan is just flying into live scrimmages flying into games without a plan of who's going to call the plays. Hasn't figured it out yet.

Is going to kind of wait and see. There's just no way. I'm not going to believe that. There's no chance I'm going to believe that. They just don't want to tell us for whatever reason. That's perfectly fine. But we're going to find out eventually. They can't hide it forever. So I think in my opinion, it would be smarter to go ahead, get it out of the way, say who's

going to call plays, let the questions be asked about that and then move on with your season because then you're going to get bombarded with questions about defensive play calling when the regular season hits because you're trying to create some sort of mystery for some reason around it I just don't understand the vagueness surrounding who's going to call defensive plays it doesn't really make any sense whatsoever but outside of who's going to call plays and Bowen's role on the defense, there are questions to be asked about how you get a defense up to speed with all of the limitations that coaches are going to be dealing with. And Bowen talked about that.

Yeah, I think you've got to be creative with how you practice and you've got to simulate as many game-like situations as you can for these guys. I mean, it's a unique year. The timeline's totally different. Everything, I mean, it's all different. We talk about it being the new norm, and we've got to get adjusted to it, but I think in terms of the schedule, it just comes down to being creative, and Braves is already on top of all that

stuff he has a plan together and it's it's finding ways to simulate games in practice and doing it safely smart all that comes with that um but we got to put these guys in competitive situations and see who who rises to the occasion and who kind of disappears, so to speak. We've got to find ways to figure out who we want here when it's all said and done. And as is to be expected, I guess, at this point, Bowen echoes Mike Rabel there. They have to get guys in live competitive situations

or you're going to be flying into week one, as Rabel said, without guys ever having tackled or been tackled or been blocked and you just can't play football like that that's not how you get your team ready to go so you have to put guys in live situations throughout this preseason in quotes to get them ready to go for the regular season and to sort out like Bowen said who they want to keep here there's a roster battle going on they're gonna have to cut 25 guys well actually only 11 if they keep a bunch of them on their practice squad but you got to figure out who's gonna make it who's not who will get the job done who won't who gets certain rotation spots who doesn't all of those questions have to be answered and you

can't do that without live reps so if you need to simulate live reps how do you go about doing that yeah i mean we've done it in the past with some of those scrimmages whether it was at centennial or or a stadium scrimmage or all all those types of things i think we got to make sure we do some of that stuff um i mean we're just talking even for the coaching staff like how we're going to operate on game day. We're not having all those practice runs either. So whatever it might be, like I think we have to find a way to simulate it in terms of like it's going to be on September 14th when we go to Denver as best we can

just to get a trial run, make sure everybody's on the same page. Like little things from where you go on warmups, like all that stuff goes unnoticed, but you want to make sure you cover your bases. So these guys are prepared and not, not all over the place when they need to be focused on winning a football game in Denver.

Let's continue hearing from Titans outside linebacker coach, and in my opinion, Titans defensive coordinator, Shane Bowen. And before we heard more of the organizational answers, defensive play calling, game plans, how he is going to approach the offseason, things he wants to do to get the defense up to speed, he is going to approach the offseason, things he wants to do to get the defense up to speed. But let's hear Bowen talk about some specific players on the Titans roster, and especially in that outside linebacker group, as many players in that group are going to be expected to have a much more important role on the team with the absence of Cameron Wake and the absence of really any legitimate pass

rusher outside of Harold Landry. And first, obviously, we will continue Beasley Watch 2020. And here's Shane Bowen. Talk about Vic Beasley and some potential work ethic concerns that may have followed him from Atlanta. Honestly, I haven't ever even met Vic. I think it's unfair for me to even have any assumptions about anything, whether he works hard, whether he doesn't work hard.

Once we get him here, whenever that is, we'll kind of see. The one thing I will say, I think our culture as a team and as a defensive unit, if you ain't a hard worker it's probably not going to work out too well you know and i think a lot of guys conform and no matter whether they are or they aren't like they're going to fit into our culture and it's kind of the expectation level here um i'm going to go about the same way i go about coaching all these other guys like there's going to be high expectations so whether you make it or not make it if you're not a hard worker you're probably not going to reach my expectation level so that's just the nature of the beast but uh the one thing i will say i think just

our culture in general new guys whoever they are whether it's vick or anybody else um i think we got a good culture established here from John Robinson, Coach Rabel, from the top down in terms of what we're looking for and what we want from this team. A couple of different things from that answer there. First, he says he doesn't really know Vic Beasley. He doesn't know Vic. That's a little bit concerning.

He'll expand upon that in our next answer, but that's concerning. And then the second thing is while it's great that he's confident in the Titans culture the fact that a question was brought up about Vic Beasley and his answer initially or immediately pivoted to our culture so good that everyone's gonna have to work hard and you're not gonna be able to not work hard based on our culture I mean obviously that's what they were thinking as an organization when they signed this guy at all but to me that is a Freudian slip there that is a tell that the Titans know that Vic Beasley is not a hard worker this is not a shock to them and they're

hoping that the culture of the team will be good enough to set him straight and certainly we can only hope as much as well but again Shane Bowen talks about his limited time actually even getting to know Vic Beasley yeah so obviously we had the spring and we'd have some meetings and we did a lot of stuff and talked I mean it's just it's a unique situation um in terms of getting that's your first interaction and talking to them and you got all the other guys around too so it is a little unique but i mean we've had good conversations we've talked about things throughout the spring and i'm looking forward to getting here he got more and more comfortable as the spring went in terms of that um honestly we probably met with him a lot more

one-on-one than in the group setting even just because all the other guys have been here. So we're kind of trying to expand from 100-level learning to 200-level learning, so to speak. So in terms of being able to expand their horizons a little bit, where Vic was starting out at ground zero in terms of our defense there's probably a little bit more one-on-one than even group pivoting away from Vic Beasley as a person and looking at Vic Beasley as a player one thing that I covered in my tic-tac titans film breakdown covering Vic Beasley as a pass rusher, as a run stopper, and as a pass defender was his ability to be effective on stunts. Specifically, TE stunts, which was a great question from Teron Davenport here.

Something that I picked up from the film as well. But essentially, the defensive tackle will fire out, try to take the guard who's blocking him. And the offensive tackle meant to block the outside edge. And the edge will loop back in underneath the defensive tackle. The hope is that the defensive tackle occupies the offensive guard and the offensive tackle and gives the edge rusher a free lane inside to the quarterback as he loops around. Vic Beasley showed a lot of success last year doing that.

So what are Bowen's thoughts about Beasley's ability on those TE stunts? Yeah, absolutely. I think anytime you watch these guys and you feel like they do things well, we want to incorporate those things. We're trying to get every single player here in a position to do what he does best and ultimately help us play good defense and help the team win. So if somebody does something good, we're going to try to give them every opportunity to do that in the games and in practice and kind of go from there.

And the Titans definitely do need help on the edge, which leads us into the next portion of Bowen's highlights here. And he starts to talk about some of the lesser known edge players who could help the Titans this year, starting with DeAndre Walker, the Titans draft pick from 2019 that was out the entire year with an injury. Bowen talks about his expectations going into 2020. Yeah, I'm excited for whenever we start back in terms of going out there and actually practicing and seeing how he performs.

I think he's learned and has come a long way in terms of his mental aspect and understanding what we're trying to do with the position and defensively. But ultimately, it's about going out there and doing it. So I'm excited to see. I think he's got some tools to work with. He looks like an outside linebacker. He's what we're looking for. It's just him being able to go out there and execute and do it at a high level.

He looks like an outside linebacker. I like that answer. It's very clear that the Titans have a type when it comes to the type of outside linebackers that they are looking for. And another one of those is Reggie Gilbert. Reggie Gilbert was traded for by the Titans early in the season last year and had some really good production at times, playing his role as a

rotational piece on the edge Bowen talks about what they could get from Reggie Gilbert this year yeah man I was pleased Reg came in and he actually gave us something like we he got here late um he was playing catch up and he was coming off a knee injury um but he came in and he produced and he contributed for us so I'm excited to get him back. I think he feels good health-wise. So I'm excited to hear he's here. He has a veteran presence. He's smart. I think he can play multiple positions for us and do multiple things.

So he definitely has some value in our room, just being a little bit of the older guy and being around a little bit. So I'm excited about him. I'm excited to see what he does here this uh this training camp and bowen rounds out the edge rusher position talking about someone who flashed late in their rookie season last year for the titans and that is derrick roberson and the i guess critique here the expectation for roberson has been the same throughout the entire offseason,

which lets me know it's definitely something he struggles with. The fact that the coaches are willing to just call it out very plainly, even to the media. I'll let you know. I'm sure you guys can guess if you followed anything on Roberson, but I'll let Bowen tell you himself what he needs to work on. Developing on first, second down. I think he can rush and he's still got to improve as a rusher. There's things that he's got to take it to the next level,

but that's where he splashed early on in his first year. But with missing the spring and kind of with everything going on now, he's got to turn the page pretty quick and get back here, and hopefully he's been working this offseason just in terms of his development in the first second down run and pass game I think that's that's really where I want to see him take the next step and where ultimately he will develop a little bit bigger role what I take away from that is Roberson basically just wants to rush the passer pin his ears back go he's got to get better in his run fits on first and second down. That was obvious from watching him play. It's the reason that he was only able to get an

opportunity late in the year when the Titans were super banged up. So if he can improve on that, his pass rushing skill and potential is definitely very high. So the next thing that Bowen talks about is the undrafted free agents, especially at the inside linebacker group, something that I've talked about with Jayon being on the PUP. Evans expecting a big extension. Jayon expected to be a free agent next year. The Titans could this year look to add an undrafted free agent to the mix, keep them on the roster for special teams purposes,

but also the ability to groom that player into more of a rotational player if they have to be in 2021. Bowen talks about the undrafted free agents at the inside linebacker position. Yeah, I think with all these guys, it's like we had this conversation the other day. If these guys weren't here to compete and try to make the team, and I know they're a little behind the eight ball compared to most years, but they're still here. They've still compared to most years but like they're still

here like we still got every opportunity ahead of them to make this team we're not cut until I think September now so there's gonna be some time frames they're all gonna get plays and get reps and um obviously we lost some guys in that room and whoever it might be whether it's second year guys whether it's rookies uh somebody's gonna have to step up and kind of claim that role. And I think special teams plays a big part in that too. Anytime you're talking about back end of the roster guys making it special teams is going to be a huge factor. Finally, the last thing Bowen talks about here

is the slot cornerback position. There has been a lot of talk about the slot cornerback position throughout the offseason, but Bowen gives the answer that, quite frankly, I expected. Yeah, I think once we get out there come mid-August, I think we're going to probably try a bunch of different guys out there. We've got a bunch of guys on the roster right now that we feel comfortable with in terms of competing for that role.

So it'll be interesting. We're going to have to be creative as a staff defensively just in terms of rotating guys and giving guys a chance with this new structure that we have in terms of practice and everything else. But we've got to find ways to put different guys in those situations so they can show what they can do and ultimately compete to see who earns that role.

And as Bowen talked about earlier in the conference call highlights here, they're going to have to put guys in live situations to see who is going to win that role. The Titans have Imani Hooker, Dory Jackson, Christian Fulton, some other undrafted free agents or lower on the roster. Cornerbacks could take a swing at it as well. Maybe a Dane Cruikshank could have his hand at playing some slot cornerback. That's something that was originally envisioned for him as a possible versatile piece in the

back end of the defense. So they got to put guys in live situations to see who are going to take these roles by the horns going into the regular season. Have to have these questions answered before week one. But those questions will be answered and I will be here to break all of the answers down for you guys as we get through more of training camp and the Titans actually get out on the playing field. Make sure that you are subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast on Apple podcast, following

on Spotify or whatever platform you do stream so that you don't miss any of the content that I will be putting out Monday through Friday surrounding our Tennessee Titans. But with that, that'll do it for today's show. I will be back with you guys tomorrow. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans. you