Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Fifth Year Option Reactions, Crossover Convo w/ Locked On Vikings

Episode Date: May 4, 2020

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans. I hope you guys enjoyed your weekend. Do want to let you know that today's episode of Locked on Titans is brought to you by Built Bar. I had one of their chocolate salted caramel bars this morning, got me ready to go. Check them out at www.builtbar.com and use promo code locked on to get $10 off your first box of built bars but I do want to talk some housekeeping and get some things in order before we jump into today's content I've been talking with you guys last week about some draft breakdowns I had in the works, some previous draft class reviews and grades
Starting point is 00:00:46 that we are going to get into in the coming weeks, but a change of schedule has arrived. We are going to do a division crossover of sorts the next few weeks with our other hosts from some other Locked On podcasts. So the Titans obviously have their opponents plotted out already for the 2020 season. So we are going to talk to some of the hosts from the shows of the Titans opponents coming up in the 2020 season. And we are starting this week with the NFC North. And today's show is the Minnesota Vikings.
Starting point is 00:01:24 So what we're going to do is we're going to start off the show talking about the big decision on Sunday where the Titans decided on the fifth year options of Corey Davis and Adoree Jackson. We previewed that decision on Friday's show. We got the news over the weekend of what the Titans decided to do. So we are going to break that down and so we are going to talk about all the different ramifications of those decisions in our first segment. And then we are going to jump into a good conversation with Luke Braun from Locked On Vikings
Starting point is 00:01:56 to talk about the Titans and the Vikings upcoming matchup, where each team sits right now through their offseason, the middle of the offseason here, heading into the summer months. So I hope you guys enjoy that conversation with Luke Braun. The next few days, we will have an NFC North host on the show to talk about their team. And then Friday, we will pick back up with a typical Friday show. We'll do this for the next few weeks before we get into our draft breakdowns and draft class grades. So just wanted to give you guys an update on the schedule there before we jump into
Starting point is 00:02:31 today's show. Once again, the show is brought to you in part by BuiltBar.com. I implore you guys to check out their awesome tasting bars. So we will talk a little bit more about that later, but the Corey Davis and Adoree Jackson decisions are in. So let's talk a little bit more about that later. But the Corey Davis and Adoree Jackson decisions are in. So let's talk about those first before we get into an awesome conversation with Luke from the Locked On Vikings. Very excited to jump into another week of podcasts with you The Titans had until Sunday's deadline to make a decision on Corey Davis and Adore expected declined Corey Davis's fifth year option for 2021 that would have paid him north of 15 million dollars for the season and accepted Adoree Jackson's fifth year option that will pay him 10.2 million dollars for the 2021 season. As I mentioned, these were the expected outcomes. Corey Davis has been a solid receiver in his career,
Starting point is 00:03:49 but he has yet to live up to a fifth overall pick in the type of talent and production that you expect from that sort of draft selection. So it made all the sense in the world that the Titans would forego his fifth year and allow him to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2020 season. Now, as I mentioned on Friday in our update, the Titans could be staring at an empty bag after this season.
Starting point is 00:04:16 If Corey Davis's production takes a big increase here, if he finally showcases the type of talent that got him drafted fifth overall then of course the Titans could be in a tough position but it is a difficult thing to imagine that Corey Davis would produce to the level that he would need to to justify a 15 million dollar contract in 2021 so even if Corey Davis has the best year of his career, it still most likely would not justify the Titans picking up his fifth year option. So it made all the sense to see Corey Davis' option get declined. And hopefully with a second year with Ryan Tannehill, he can improve and help the team. But at this moment in time, it appears that Corey Davis will no longer be on the Titans after next season
Starting point is 00:05:05 unless he has another subpar year and the Titans find a way to extend him at a more reasonable price. But it does leave you with the question, at this moment in time, similar to Marcus Mariota, would Corey Davis just like a change of scenery to hopefully maximize his potential as a player rather than accepting maybe a secondary receiver role going forward but we do know that there is the option and some some general rumors that Corey Davis could be traded I don't expect that to be the case because the Titans should be pushing all in for 2020 and using this core of players to try to make another long Super Bowl run and you would need Corey Davis to do that,
Starting point is 00:05:45 but that is still something that we could see down the road. And another thing to consider with Corey Davis, if the Titans do let him leave after 2020, and he's an unrestricted free agent, and he decides to go to another team and gets a decent, reasonable-sized contract, well, that could reward the Titans with another compensatory draft pick. Probably not a third-rounder like Jack Conklin, but maybe a fourth- or fifth-round selection,
Starting point is 00:06:11 and any extra ammo for John Robinson in the draft is what the Titans need. As for Adoree Jackson, he has had up-and-down moments in his career. He came into the league as more of an athlete than a cornerback, but he has progressed with his career. He came into the league as more of an athlete than a cornerback, but he has progressed with his technique. He has become the best cornerback on the Titans, and his speed allows him to match up with some of the more dangerous threats around the NFL. He will be vital to the Titans' defense going forward as they transition to a more press man style. So, Adoree Jackson at $10.2 million in 2021 makes all the sense in the world for the
Starting point is 00:06:47 Titans. And it was expected that they would pick up his fifth year extension. And that's exactly what we saw. So that's a big deadline out of the way for the Titans as they continue to progress through the off season. But we will continue to progress throughout today's show as well. And next, we have a conversation with Luke Braun, host of the Locked On Vikings podcast. The Titans do play the Vikings later on this year in Minnesota. So it was good to kind of get an update from Luke on where he stands with the Vikings all season. How the Titans and the Vikings match up as they sit right now. Obviously, we will talk again during the regular season as the game approaches, but good to kind of check in with our NFC opponents here
Starting point is 00:07:32 and see how their off-seasons are going. So we are going to jump into a conversation with Luke next. We will have the rest of the NFC North opponents on each of the next shows throughout the week, so make sure that you are locked into the Locked on Titans podcast and subscribe on Apple. Follow us on Spotify, whatever service you use to stream your podcast. Make sure that you are subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast and follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans.
Starting point is 00:08:02 I think that some of the video breakdowns that I have been working on that I expected to roll out this week that I'm not in lieu of the division conversations, I think I might still put those out on Twitter and we can have our conversations about them when we have time on the schedule to do that. But I have been working diligently on those Tic Tac Titans film breakdowns.
Starting point is 00:08:25 So follow me on Twitter to make sure to get those as soon as they roll out. But with that in mind, we are going to move into a conversation with Luke from the Locked On Vikings podcast next. Before we get into that conversation with Luke, though, I want to tell you guys about Built Bar. And I know, I know, usually when you hear about a protein bar, they're going to tell you it tastes good. They're going to tell you it's healthy. And they always let you down. It's very crumbly. You're going to get crumbs everywhere. It's going to be very dry. It's like
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Starting point is 00:11:02 really getting on the salted caramel so far. It's so good. But the peanut butter brownie, 20 grams of protein, only 170 calories, three grams of sugar, three grams of net carbs. For you guys out there that like mint, there's a mint brownie, 15 grams of protein, 110 calories, four grams of sugar, five grams of net carbs. I mean, what more could you ask for out of a protein bar? And I don't mean to spend the entire episode talking to you about protein bars, but it's just delicious. Once again, taste.
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Starting point is 00:12:42 at i'm built and on twitter at Bar underscore Built to get their latest offers. But once again, that promo code is locked on at BuiltBar.com for $10 off your first box. And just as a reminder for you guys, on May the 10th, they are putting out a bunch of new flavors like chocolate cookie dough, mango, peach cobbler. So there's a lot of different flavors on there that you can get into. And like I said, they taste good. They're good for you. Why else would you go anywhere else? Get built with Built Bar. Okay, I am here, Luke Braun, with Locked On Vikings. I'm here with Tyler Rowland, Locked On Titans. What's going on, Tyler?
Starting point is 00:13:42 You know, just enjoying the home life, obviously, that most of us have been doing for quite some time. But it's been a good weekend, and look forward to our conversation, talking some football with you, Luke. Yeah, what even are pants? Right, at this point, who needs them? Yeah. So I guess we're going to start this off. I'm just going to ask you a few questions about the Titans. Obviously, the Vikings and Titans are going to play at some point this year.
Starting point is 00:14:01 We'll probably find out soon-ish. I don't know actually when. I think they just postponed the schedule release. But we'll find out soon-ish when they actually play. But this team, I think the Titans are coming to Minnesota this year. So I guess our teams kind of have a couple of interesting parallels. Obviously, the way that 2019 went, you know, six seeds that kind of, uh, went a lot further than they were supposed to kind of pulled off the comeback thing. They run very, very similar offenses.
Starting point is 00:14:30 Um, so I guess one of my questions for you is with Derek Henry, because we also have Dalvin cook here. So we both kind of have this idea of, you know, you extended your guy, we're talking about it. Uh, so tell me about the Derek Henry extension and his role on the offense. And just like, what's the vibe there when it comes to like extending or running backs? I know that's like a whole thing. Well, obviously there's a philosophical debate waging online at all times about how to treat
Starting point is 00:14:59 running backs and contract situations. And obviously for the Titans, it's a precarious situation because all of the data and all of the examples would point to not extending a running back long term and right now obviously the titans have derrick henry on the franchise tag and they're working on an extension and you know that they have until july 15th the deadline to get an extension done for this year and while like i said most of the data and examples that we have of the highest paid running backs recently that you could point to would tell you not to do that,
Starting point is 00:15:31 Derrick Henry feels like a different kind of situation. The physical specimen that he is combined with his off-the-field work ethic, it kind of makes him a little bit different than some of the previous examples that we have seen recently. So I would expect the Titans to extend Derrick Henry long-term by the deadline. And if not, then I would understand because of the examples that we met, but he is the foundation of the offense. And while you do need Ryan Tannehill and his accomplishments last season and his impact
Starting point is 00:16:01 on the team is sold short by most in the media, it seems, because most people just watched the Titans in the playoffs and saw Derrick Henry carry the team. But Tannehill is his partner in crime there, and they need each other to really take this offense to where it needs to be for them to build upon last season. So while that extension for Derrick Henry is very important, and until July 15th, there's still a possibility there, but having Tannehill back in the fold too, is an important extension of its own. So right now, I would say most people want Derek Henry back as do I, but I mean, I can understand if the Titans decide to maybe play it out one more year on the franchise tag. I could definitely see that, uh, and you know, the Vikings have a guy on the franchise tag too. And, and it's the same
Starting point is 00:16:43 conversation. Do you extend him? Do you trade him? What do you do? You brought up Brian Tannehill, though. And that's kind of the other thing I'm curious about with the Titans because, I mean, this obviously is like reclamation project. He seemed to be, you know, have his foot halfway out of the door to the league. And now he's back and he takes over for Marcus Mariota. And he actually, you know, kind of gives the, like injects some life into the franchise in that back half.
Starting point is 00:17:06 And you have this wide zone scheme that the Titans are running over there. And, of course, I don't know what offensive line you guys have, though. That's why I'm interested in that if we have time. But I really want to talk about Ryan Tannehill. And analytics crowd absolutely loves the performance you put in. And it's a very like sustainable way with completion percentage over expectation, which is basically, did you complete passes more often than passes that are that hard are completed. It's a little bit more sophisticated than completion percentage, but I think it's still pretty intuitive. You know,
Starting point is 00:17:38 if you complete a whole bunch of deep passes, that probably means you're pretty good at this, but there's still a lot of that bootleg, a lot of that wide zone. So I guess I would love to know, I mean, how is that kind of configuration coming along? I mean, is Ryan Tannehill the long-term guy for the Tennessee Titans, or is this something where you're starting to look up, you know, the quarterbacks in the next couple of draft classes, or were you talking about maybe like Jadon Swinston, maybe like Cam Newton to come in and compete, or is Ryan Tannehill like the guy? Let's do it. 10 years.
Starting point is 00:18:07 Well, I think at this moment in time, it's obvious that the way that the Titans organization has spoken about Tannehill, how he has spoken about the team. Bringing in somebody like a Cam Newton or any kind of veteran guy to really compete for the starting position. I don't think that that's going to be the case. That's what we did last year with Marcus and Tannehill, and the Titans found Tannehill. So I don't see them bringing in a veteran to actually compete for the starting position. Now, I think Tannehill is 31, and you're right,
Starting point is 00:18:39 it is a bit of a reclamation project. So maybe a little bit of lightning in a bottle there. So I think next year the Titans would consider a quarterback in the middle rounds. Maybe if things go poorly with Tannehill this year, they would consider an early quarterback. But right now I just don't think that's the plan. I think they believe in Tannehill, and the reason for that is what you're talking about with our wide zone run scheme and what Tannehill was asked to do in Miami with Adam Gase. Gase had a pocket-centric role for his quarterback.
Starting point is 00:19:11 Yeah, you know, all those short passes to Jarvis Landry, he almost ran like a quick passing West Coast scheme, and Tannehill didn't get to utilize his athleticism enough or his strong arm. And with the Titans, what they're asking him to do is on those bootlegs, use his athleticism, which he was a former wide receiver in college. So why would you want to hinder that or force him to stay in the pocket so you can use that wide zone scheme with some of that bootleg action that you see Vikings fans would know Kirk Cousins is
Starting point is 00:19:45 very good at. I think Tannehill is a little bit better of an athlete, but they have a similar skill set there. So utilizing Tannehill in a different way than he was utilized in Miami, I think really unlocked his potential. And while you do have to be careful of some regression based on his performance and based on what we know from his career before, I think it's safe to say that Ryan Tannehill is still going to be a good enough quarterback to take the Titans where they need to go at the next level based on the scheme that they put him in. So one last thing, and then we can kind of flip sides here. So one last question. I know that, you know, Jarrell Casey for the longest time
Starting point is 00:20:25 was really like the face of that defense. And he was really like a kind of face of the franchise beloved there forever kind of player. So he gets traded away. Who is the face of the defense? What's the identity of the defense now? Uh, you know, who, who kind of steps in and fills that role? Well, I think that the, the number one player that's going to step into that role is safety. Kevin Bayard, uh, Bayard's one of the highest paid safeties in the NFL.
Starting point is 00:20:47 He was the highest paid safety when he got his extension not too long ago. He's been an interception leader in the NFL basically every season of his career outside of his rookie season. He's had, I believe, the most interceptions in the NFL since he came into the league as a rookie. And he is not only just a fantastic player, but if you watch his interviews, you see his body language, you see his pregame conversations with his teammates. He's a real one. He's a leader.
Starting point is 00:21:15 He's a guy who's only focused on football. He's not champagning and campaigning out on the town or worried about things like that. It's pretty obvious from the way he talks, he's driven to be the best football player possible. And as a small school guy from Middle Tennessee State, a local kid, he's just everything that the Titans could ever hope for. He's one of my favorite players personally on the team for his demeanor,
Starting point is 00:21:38 his preparation, all the things that he puts into the game. You can see it on a consistent basis. Whenever the Titans are down in the dumps, he's always the guy that makes the play. And he's grown from not only being a great player and an all pro, but being to a leader. Same thing with Derrick Henry, as the Titans have kind of changed from the Marcus Mariota, Wesley Woodyard, Jarrell Casey, Delaney Walker led core to this new core with Tana Hill and Derek Henry, Jeffrey Simmons, Kevin Bayard. I think those are the names on defense.
Starting point is 00:22:11 There's Simmons, who is going to take over the three-technique role for Jarrell Casey, who was an impact player as a rookie coming off an ACL tear last year. And then Kevin Bayard, who's been a consistent all-pro and one of the best players in the league at safety. Those two guys are going to step up and become more, more of a leadership role at not just on the field, but in the locker room as well. So it's kind of a transition period in terms of the core leaders for this Titans team. But I have faith that based on their talent and their personalities,
Starting point is 00:22:39 it's going to take this Titans team to the next level. Yeah, it feels like a really exciting time. And I think that's kind of what you get when you draft really well consistently. And I think the Titans have done that. I really like the drafts they've had lately. Well, John Robinson and having a great general manager in the NFL is probably the best blessing that you can have. And having John Robinson take over this team in 2016, it totally changed the franchise
Starting point is 00:23:04 from top to bottom. So got to give the credit where it's due there. Absolutely. 2016, it totally changed the franchise from top to bottom. So got to give the credit where it's due there. Absolutely, yeah. It starts at the top. Hey, guys. We are back here for our crossover edition, talking to the host of the Locked on Vikings podcast, Luke Braun. We just had the first part of our conversation where he asked me some
Starting point is 00:23:36 questions about the Titans going forward. We are going to flip that conversation on its head. And I'm going to ask him a few questions about the Vikings and what Titans fans could be looking for in their regular season matchup coming up. As Luke mentioned in our previous segment, not a hundred percent sure when we're going to get that schedule, hopefully very, very soon, but we do know that the Vikings will be on there. So we will just jump into a conversation about the Vikings. And I wanted to start with your offensive group. Obviously, the offense had a fantastic performance last year on the ground with Dalvin Cook running a very similar scheme to the Titans,
Starting point is 00:24:13 the outside zone, the bootleg, really working on moving the pocket with Kirk Cousins. Just wondering, do you think that the offense improved? And do you think that the additions of high picks like Justin Jefferson at wide receiver and Ezra Cleveland at offensive tackle, do you think they make an immediate impact? And can you weave that into whether or not you think this offense has the potential to improve in 2020?
Starting point is 00:24:39 Yeah, so the answers to all those questions might kind of sound like they're in conflict, so bear with me here. But no, I don't think the offense improved. I think losing Stefan Diggs is a huge, huge blow to the offense in the short term. Obviously, he came back with a first-round pick. You get Justin Jefferson with that, and that kind of heals the burn a little bit. But losing Stefan Diggs is massive. He's a huge inaccuracy eraser, and sometimes you can use that to be inaccurate on purpose
Starting point is 00:25:03 to kind of get around tight coverage. Justin Jefferson's very good at that, but Stefan Diggs is one of the best guys like that in the league. He's this explosive dynamic playmaker was really a lot of the identity of the offense was deep shots to Stefan Diggs. And you can't exactly do that to Justin Jefferson, especially because the kind of deal with him is that he was a slot for LSU and they really didn't move him outside. So you didn't get to see him a lot against like press man. And so you don't know, even though he's like, I think he's like six foot two. He's like a big body guy. Can you put him on the outside against a press man corner?
Starting point is 00:25:32 There's going to be a question mark there. And they really liked to put Stefan Diggs outside and have him run a deep post and see if he couldn't, you know, go get a 60 yard touchdown. And he did plenty. That was a big part of the explosiveness of the Vikings offense. And I think Ezra Cleveland, it sounds like he is going to play right away. Um, he might not be ready right away, but I don't know if they have much of a choice. Last year, Pat Elfline started at guard. He was below replacement level, um, and was one of the worst, uh, interior linemen in the league. They can't just trot him back out there again. That
Starting point is 00:26:03 would be completely unfair to cousins and, and, and,ins and the offense as a whole. So now they've got Riley Reif and Ezra Cleveland. They could move Cleveland inside to guard. They've talked to him about that. They've talked to Riley Reif about moving inside to guard in the past. And I think in whatever kind of training camp you get this year, which is of course going to be kind of weird with COVID-19, but whatever you get for a training camp, you'll be able to move those guys around, see which one you want to be your left guard and the other one gets to stay at left tackle. And I think that's going to be your most likely configuration. So yeah, these guys are going to come in and play right away to answer
Starting point is 00:26:38 your original question, but I don't think that that makes the offense better. You've got a rookie starting on the line right away. You've got a rookie starting in place of one of the best receivers in football. I don't think you can call that a unit that's improved. Yeah, that seems like a fair evaluation, and I know that a lot of people just want to hear nothing but positive things. But yeah, in my evaluation, looking at the team, that does make sense. I can't say obviously the deep post to Diggs is a weapon, and I have a very close
Starting point is 00:27:05 friend who's a Vikings fan. And we talked about, you know, replacement receivers. And I was curious about the fit with Jefferson because he's more of a slot guy, which Thielen obviously dominates. And we don't see him outside taking deep shots too. So that's, you basically took my next question with that evaluation. And then, you know, talking about Riley Reif and Brian O'Neill at tackle, which one may transition to guard if they need that. So that is a very fair and honest evaluation. And Titans fans obviously know about Dalvin Cook, but that's some good inside information about the inner workings of the offense that the team obviously relies a lot on defense head coach, Mike Zimmer, obviously a defensive background, especially in the secondary. And that's where my questions about the defense are going to start,
Starting point is 00:27:45 because we know that the front seven has been a very solid front seven for quite some time, unless you're starting to see some cracks in the upcoming year. But that secondary lost a few key members, McKenzie Alexander, Xavier Rhodes, and added some good rookies with Cam Dantzler and Jeff Gladney, who was a Titans fan favorite. I guess just talk about in a similar vein, do you think the defense has improved at all? And how excited are you for the new young additions to the secondary when maybe some of the older players like Rhodes and McKenzie were maybe not playing as well as they had in previous years? Yeah, so I really, really hated what happened with the Vikings in free agency. I thought they approached it in a, with a really, uh, poor strategy. And I think you're seeing that
Starting point is 00:28:29 right now they have about $8 million in cap. They could have spent that on Mackenzie Alexander. They could have spent that on somebody, uh, like, Oh, I'm trying to think of like edge rushers or somebody like Shelby Harris or something like that. Um, and they didn't, they kept, uh, they, they let guys like Nickel, Roby coleman go even though they only would have had to outbid somebody by like 500 000 more dollars uh and they were very very very tight with their coin purse and now uh they're they're sitting there with eight million dollars and kind of nobody to spend it on and so i think that they kind of bungled that but in terms of the actually young players i love the in contrast i love the draft i a huge fan of the way that they
Starting point is 00:29:04 drafted jeff gladney was a favorite of mine. Um, I, I think he's just a deep ball eraser. He, he has got recovery speed. He attacks the ball so well at the catch point. He's five 10, but he plays like he's about six foot four. Um, and, and I, I think that's great. He is just a bully in press. So is Cam Dantzler.
Starting point is 00:29:21 Uh, Cam Dantzler is a very weird case. There's a really good article at The Athletic by Arif Hasan, who writes for them about how weird Cam Dantzler's combine was. He ran a 4.6440. That's abysmal. But he might have had some mitigating factors there. He might have been injured, but he ran it twice. And that's weird.
Starting point is 00:29:39 I kind of think he showed up overweight. He's a really skinny guy. Probably plays at about 180, which is tiny for a corner. So I think he tried to put on some weight for the combine, and it ended up being a lot of bad weight. He had a high body fat index there, and then he ran slow, and he didn't jump very high. So, you know, lose the weight, and you're probably back to the way you were on tape,
Starting point is 00:29:58 and everybody's really impressed by his tape. Can he start day one? I don't think so for Cam Dantzler. I think unquestionably for Jeff Gladney. And then it's a matter of, do you want to put him in the slot? I think you want to put Gladney outside, have him press guys, have him cover deep threats and stuff. Keep Mike Hughes, who's like your only starting or turning corner, keep him in the nickel. And then on the other side, you have a competition between Holton Hill out of Texas, who fell out of the draft because of some off-field issues, most of them involving marijuana, which is a much smaller
Starting point is 00:30:28 problem now, although he did have a PED bust and sat out half of 2019, and Cam Dantzler, and you have the competition there, and I would love to maybe go add some Dre Kirkpatrick at a vet minimum maybe to help that out. In terms of the front seven, they lost Everson Griffin. That was the only like major loss. I think that hurts. Of course, Lindvall Joseph hurts too, but he is, I think like 32 and he had very clearly begun to lose a step.
Starting point is 00:30:54 I think that was reflected in his deal with the Chargers being about half the size that it would have been with the Vikings. And then they replaced him with Michael Pierce who arguably was better anyways at a much cheaper price tag. So the interesting guy to watch for the Vikings is Ifadi Odenipo. He was a seventh round pick in 2017. He's an edge rusher, a real power guy. He actually didn't make the team. They tried to move him inside to three technique. It didn't work out. He got cut. He ends
Starting point is 00:31:20 up taking a journey through Arizona and Cleveland before ending up back with the Vikings. They said, hey, we won't move you inside anymore and we'll outpay you. Come to our practice squad instead. 2019, he makes a team. He actually ends up rotating in and getting like eight sacks or something. He actually got a defensive touchdown in LA against the Chargers. And I think he's basically slotted in to be the starter right now, unless he has, you know, he'll have to beat out like a fourth round pick and DJ Wanham out of South Carolina, I think, but that's probably a battle that he wins with flying colors. So he is going to be the next defensive end that comes out of nowhere that you've never heard of with Andre Patterson. They also lost Jerry Gray as a defensive backs coach. He's been there since
Starting point is 00:31:57 the Mike Zimmer era started and it has a huge, huge, huge impact on the defensive backs that have come out of there. And he leaves and he goes to green Bay to go coach for the rivals. So that's unfortunate too. Oh yeah. That really hurts. It's funny that you say that because the, the two things I was getting ready to reply to immediately as you answered your,
Starting point is 00:32:14 your, you ended your answer was how well the Vikings seem to produce cornerbacks, long cornerbacks on the outside. And then edge rushers that you, they're not high picks they're not people that you've necessarily heard of but the Vikings seem to have a factory going there when at those two positions at least but that kind of leads me into my last question for you and the kind of cap on our discussion here I guess if the if the Titans or when the Titans and the Vikings
Starting point is 00:32:39 face off where do you really see the game kind of swaying for the Vikings or the Titans? Do you think right now, based on how you see the roster playing out, that the Vikings would come out with that victory? Or do you think that the Titans have the upper hand, I guess, as things sit now, many months away from actual kickoff? Thinking about it from the Vikings perspective, I think there's two big things. For one, wide zone teams absolutely crushed the defense. The wide zone run game crushed the Vikings defense in the playoffs against San Francisco. They couldn't figure it out in either game against Green Bay. So can you figure it out on defense? You run it really well on offense, but can the defense figure
Starting point is 00:33:18 out how to stop it? That's one huge thing. And I think the other huge thing is how do you stop AJ Brown when your, uh, two main corners are five foot 10, that's going to be the thing. So it might be like a Jeff Gladney versus AJ Brown kind of thing, which, uh, is a,
Starting point is 00:33:36 a fun, I, I think they played, I seem to remember a TCU on this game back in the day, but anyways, the, the big matchup is going to be, what do you do with A.J. Brown? Do you put a 5'10 guy on him? Do you put Cameron Dantzler on him,
Starting point is 00:33:50 who is like, who's built like a stick? You know, do you put Holton Hill on him, who's still relatively unproven? And I think if Zimmer can figure out how to neutralize a guy like A.J. Brown, they'll have a pretty good run defense with an addition of like Michael Pierce. They have good run fits, great linebackers with Kendrickson Barr. I think the Derrick Henry thing is going to be a strength on strength, but I think the puzzle for the Vikings to solve is A.J. Brown. I just have to say, as a person who follows the Titans and has for two-plus decades now, to hear you talk about a Titans wide
Starting point is 00:34:25 receiver as an actual issue in your mind is just such a refreshing feeling. You know, we, we've been, I guess the opposite of Vikings fans for the last few years, haven't had a good receiver and what feels like forever, literally forever since, since the franchise moved to Tennessee. So it is a pleasant, pleasant, you, pleasant sound to hear you discuss a wide receiver on the Titans as such a threat. But I really appreciate the conversation that we have had today. You have taken time to give this information on the Vikings to Titans fans.
Starting point is 00:34:57 Luke, it has been a pleasure speaking with you, and I look forward to our conversation in season as well. Yeah, of course. Of course I'm high on A.J. Brown. He won me a fantasy league last year. Oh, well, that's going to do it. There is no stronger bond than a fantasy football owner and one of his key players on a title run.
Starting point is 00:35:15 There's nothing better than that. That's it. Absolutely. Well, also from Tennessee, enjoy Tajay Sharp as your third wide receiver. He won't be as quick and as fast as you want, but in the red zone, he can really help out. So Titans fans mostly enjoy his third down, you know, just run a quick dig
Starting point is 00:35:32 and get me seven yards kind of guy. Yes, absolutely. And a lot of times when the Titans really needed it, he was a reliable pair of hands. So sad to see him go, but understand the cap mechanisms that make rosters work in the NFL. But either way, Luke, great conversation.
Starting point is 00:35:45 Obviously be safe out there. Take care of yourself. And thanks for chatting with us. Yeah. Thanks for hanging out, man. Yep. Have a good one. So a good conversation there with Luke Braun from the Locked on Vikings podcast.
Starting point is 00:35:58 Go ahead and give him a follow on Twitter at Luke Braun NFL. Also the Locked On Vikings Twitter account while you're there follow the one and only, your guy the host of the Locked On Titans podcast, me, at Tic Tac Titans, make sure that you are
Starting point is 00:36:17 subscribed to the show, we are going to be doing more of these division crossovers throughout the next two weeks as I mentioned on Twitter on Sunday night, had some scheduling issues with Luke and myself being in different time zones and things like that. Made it a little difficult to get together, so that's why the show came out in the afternoon today on Monday
Starting point is 00:36:39 rather than in the morning. I know a lot of you guys love the morning show for your morning commute. I understand completely and typically. I am right lot of you guys love the morning show for your morning commute. I understand completely and typically I am right on with you guys. Christmas week, New Year's Day, every holiday I'm always pumping it out so I hope obviously you didn't throw off or rock the boat too much
Starting point is 00:36:56 this morning but we will be back on a normal schedule for the rest of the week and you will have your Locked On Titans podcast right there for you in the morning as always. But that is going to do it for today's show. Talked about the fifth year options, the decisions that the Titans made on those. Also had that conversation with Luke.
Starting point is 00:37:16 Now that you're done with this episode of the Locked on Titans podcast, check out the Locked on NFL podcast for all of your national NFL news. 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

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