Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Free Agency Recap, Week 1: Who is In, Who is Out & What Options Are Still Available?

Episode Date: March 19, 2021

Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You are Locked On Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked On Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans. It is a Friday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast. I hope you guys all had a smooth week and are ready for a safe and enjoyable weekend. I have to be honest with you, my week has been pretty chaotic, trying to keep up with not only all of the moves that the Tennessee Titans have made, but also all of the free

agent moves that have taken place around the NFL. And if it has been as difficult for you as it has been for me to keep everything straight, well then today's Locked On Titans podcast is the one for you. I'm going to kind of recap everything that's taken place in this first week of free agency. Number one, who has come in? Who have the Titans signed so far in free agency? And then who has gone out? Who have the Titans lost during this process gonna recap all that for you

and also let you know about a few maybes that I'm on the fence about whether they will come back to Tennessee or not so we're gonna hash that all out at the beginning of our show and then after that we are gonna move into a conversation about who is still on the market for the Tennessee Titans and what positions I think they still need to consider adding a player. So we will discuss all of that within those conversations. I will update you as best as possible as we continue to look for updated information as to where the Titans sit with their salary cap situation right now. So like I said, a total recap of the first week of free agency for the Tennessee Titans

on today's Locked on Titans podcast. It has been a great week of podcasts. If I do say so myself, reacting to all of the news yesterday, the interview with Ramone Foster, the interview with Chris Carter, the interview with Ross Jackson, maybe one of the best Locked on Titans podcasts I have ever put out, and I'm trying to match that today. But if you missed any of the shows from this week, go back and check those out, and make sure that you never miss another Locked on Titans podcast ever again by subscribing to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream.

Guys, there is not another Tennessee Titans content creator that has given you Monday through Friday daily podcasts. But with all of that said, it is time to jump into our week one free agency recap by talking about the players that the Titans have added, the players that the Titans have re-signed. Either way, these are the additions the Titans made during free agency, whether being outside free agents or guys that they are bringing back to Tennessee. Number one, the biggest name of them all, of course, edge rusher Bud Dupree. And we've had quite a few people on here talking about Bud Dupree.

I've given you my breakdown as well. I was a little bit lukewarm at the beginning, but of course, after hearing these stories from John Ledyard on Wednesday, hearing stories from Chris Carter on Thursday, and just my own general research on Bud Dupree, I am very, very excited about what he can bring to the Titans defense, and we are going to break that down more next week when we dive into the film and have a little tic-tac Titans film breakdown about Bud Dupree, So be on the lookout for that next week. But Dupree signed a contract that's going to be about five years, $85 million. Now, we still don't have the contract details,

but I'll talk about why that is later in the show. So Bud Dupree in. Also, in terms of pass rush, I love allocating the resources in this way. The Titans added defensive lineman, who's a defensive end, defensive tackle hybrid, Danico Autry, who is coming over from the Indianapolis Colts, so hurting the rival as well, gotta love that. Two years, $14 million guaranteed.

It's gonna be about a $3.6 million cap hit this year, which is great for the Titans as they try to make other moves also bringing in cornerback Janoris Jack Rabbit Jenkins again we do not have the contract details at this time I'll explain why later in the show then we saw backup offensive tackle or a tackle that's probably going to compete for a starting job now Kendall Lamb and he got a two-year deal, but it's really a one-year deal worth $2.6 million. Going to be a $2.6 million cap hit in 2021. The cap hits are more important than what the money is on the full contract at this time as the Titans try to make everything work with their limited money. The Titans did return tight end Jeff Swaim on a one-year deal, $2.4 million. Also returned

Anthony Ferkser on a one-year deal, but we don't quite know the money for that one either. Jayon Brown returned to the Titans on a one-year deal. Now, it was originally reported as a $5 million deal, but it looks like that's been backtracked a little bit, and we do not know the exact figures on Jayon's deal right now. They also brought in all-pro long snapper Morgan Cox on a one-year $900,000 deal, and Ramone Foster, 11-year NFL veteran, had a great story about how Morgan Cox honed his long snapping skills while they were in college together at University of Tennessee.

Again, if you missed that interview, if you missed yesterday's episode, you've got to go back and check that out as soon as you are done with this one. But also, while I was getting ready to record the show here on Thursday afternoon, the Titans have brought back backup offensive tackle Ty Sambrillo, which in my free agency previews and my little free agency snippets I've done prior to this week, I was advocating for Ty Sambrillo coming back to the team. I think that's a smart move. So that's where we sit right now.

The players that have left, Corey Davis went to the Jets, Jonu Smith to the Patriots. The Titans have cut Adoree Jackson, Malcolm Butler, Kenny Vaccaro, Dennis Kelly, and Adam Humphreys. So those are the players who are out now. The maybes still on the list. Michael Pruitt. Will the Titans bring Pruitt back with the tight end room in flux? I don't think that would be a bad idea to do.

Also, Daquan Jones. I've been saying to fill that nose tackle role, if Daquan Jones isn't getting a good deal out there, it would make sense for him to come back on a cheap deal like Jayon Brown. Basically, the defensive lineman version of what Jayon Brown did, come back on a one-year deal, probably about $2 million for Daquan Jones, see if he can play well in a system that he's familiar with, and then get back out on the free agent market next year.

Also, Desmond King, I don't see the Titans bringing him back. As I said on Twitter, at Tic Tac Titans, the Titans need to go away from the Logan Ryan type of slot and kind of modernize that position. So we'll look for them to do that. Steven Gostkowski, the kicker, he's a little talked about in-house free agent, but I do think the Titans ultimately bring him back. I just think that's something they're going to do at the end of the process and then finally Jadavian Clowney now I have supported bringing Clowney back but with the signing of Bud Dupree and just the things we're hearing from the Titans organization I do not believe that Jadavian Clowney will be back with the Titans so that's

who has come in that's who left, and that's who is still kind of on the fence. Now after this, we're going to get into a conversation about why the Titans haven't put out the official contract details of about half of their free agent class. So I'll explain the philosophy there before we get into kind of my remaining top free agent list and positions of need for the Titans. Before we dive into the next part of our show, though, I want to tell you guys about our friends over at BetOnline.ag. So March Madness is here, guys.

The games will tip off today after you listen to this show. Make sure that you place all of your March Madness wagers on BetOnline.ag. They even have you covered for award shows, TV shows, reality TV. Of course, you can bet NBA and NHL as well. MLB is right around the corner. They have real-time updated odds and props on anything that you can imagine. So head to their website or use your mobile device. Sign up for a free account and use the promo code LOCKEDON when you place your first deposit

and you'll get a 50% welcome bonus. BetOnline, your online sportsbook experts. So I'm going to give you guys a little peek behind the curtain, if I do say so myself. I really considered not recording today's show until Friday evening to give you kind of a more comprehensive recap of everything that's happened. But a lot of people get pretty upset if the show is not available for them early in the morning. So I wanted to kind of fulfill my duty. But here's what I will tell you.

If you're listening to the show right now, you have to follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans and check out the new Facebook page at LockedOnTitansPod. So something that the network has been doing is really focusing on video content, especially with breaking news. And I put out a few videos this week, the Bud Dupree signing, the release of Adoree Jackson, some other things as well that I've done recently. And a lot of you guys are, I don't want to say shocked, but it's kind of just a shock

to the system when you hear my voice every day and never actually see my face. So if you're somebody who wants to know what I look like or care about that sort of thing, you're going to find those videos and those instant reactions on the Facebook, at Locked on Titans Pod, on my Twitter, at Tic Tac Titans. And if something does break on Friday, there's some big news, maybe a possible trade, then I will be there giving you my instant reaction there. And then, of course, I'll dive into my full breakdown on Monday when we get back in the booth officially. But I wanted to kind of give you guys a little breakdown there.

If you're missing some Titans content, something big happens over the weekend, you will find my instant reaction on the show social. So let's get into this conversation I want to have with you guys. I was having a hard time articulating it on Twitter because of the character limit. But let me explain this. So a lot of people have been asking me why we don't have the details on Bud Dupree's contract. We don't know what his cap hit is going to be in 2021. We don't know the full guarantees.

We don't know if there are void years at the end, when the dead money is, when there's an opt-out option, when the Titans can get out of the deal is what I'm saying. We also don't know the details on Janoris Jenkins' contract, which I expect to be obviously much smaller and much simpler than Bud Dupree's contract. But we also got a little bamboozled on Jayon Brown's contract. We didn't get the official numbers on that, even though we thought that we did. So there are some deals out there. The Ferkser deal is another one.

We don't know the money. We know it's going to be a one-year deal, but we do not know the money value right now. And I'll tell you why. Somebody on Twitter said, are the Titans just trying to keep this a secret? No. I can say this right now. That is not what they are the Titans just trying to keep this a secret? No. I can say this right now. That is not what they are doing. There's nothing secretive about this. They're not hiding the information from anybody. That's not the case. So here's the deal. Basically, imagine

that you're going through the grocery store and you want to get a steak. Now you also have your staples. You got to get milk. You got to get bread. You got to get eggs. But you know, you know that the grocery is running a deal on eggs and cheese and milk. You know that there's a dairy deal going on at the grocery store. Now you don't know how much the deals are worth. So you need to get your dairy staples. You also want to get a nice steak. Well, the point is the quality of steak that you get and the price of the steak that you get will be determined by how good of a deal you get on your dairy items. If you go in with $20 to spend and you get a better deal than you're expecting on the eggs, the cheese, and the milk, well, that gives you more money to get a better

or bigger steak. So think about that. The Titans don't know what options are going to be available for them. They don't know what kind of steak they can get right now. They're still gauging interest from players. Let me give you an example. what if the Titans do find a way to agree to a trade with the New England Patriots for cornerback Stephen Gilmore? That's something that you guys have been talking about a lot, something that I'm interested in as well. But Stephon Gilmore is going to need, I think I just said Stephen Gilmore, Stephon Gilmore, it's been a long week, is going to need, I think I just said Stephen Gilmore, Stephon Gilmore, it's been a long week.

Stephon Gilmore is going to want a new contract when he comes to Tennessee. He's set to become a free agent after the year. So what the Titans are doing right now is they don't even know exactly what the Bud Dupree contract is going to be, exactly what the Janoris Jenkins contract is going to be, exactly what these other contracts are going to be, because they don't know what options are available for them and how big of a stake they're going to be able to get. So if the Titans do have somebody available to them who's pricey

and they're going to have to keep enough cap space open to make that deal, well, then they're going to go to Bud Dupree and they're going to say, hey, we're going to give you a bigger signing bonus than we expected so that we can keep your cap hit low. Same thing with Janoris Jenkins. They're going to go to Janoris Jenkins and say, hey, I know we agreed on this amount, but how about we give you a bigger chunk as a signing bonus so we can keep your actual cap hit down for 2021 and that'll allow us enough money to make this trade for Stephon

Gilmore or to sign this player here that's a little more expensive than we thought. The Titans are waiting to get a commitment from a player so that they know how much cap space they need and then they can determine exactly what to do with the money for Dupree and for Jenkins and for Ferkser and for Jayon. So the calculation is ongoing. They have not set up those deals. Perfect example, like I said, the Titans earlier in the offseason, John Robinson said they don't like to kick the can down the road. The reason that teams are having void years

and the reason that teams are doing these low cap hits with these high signing bonuses, the reason they're doing that is because the salary cap is so weird this year. Well, the Titans don't want to. If the Titans don't have to do those void years and those low cap hits and those heavy signing bonuses, if they don't have to do that because they aren't getting a Stephon Gilmore or another high price free agent, then there's no reason to kick the can down the road and to put money into the future. They'll just pay Bud Dupree a normal $85 million contract like we would see in a normal year

and use up all their cap space. They don't need that cap space for another big signing. But if the Titans do have another big, rich, free agent target and they need to carve out a little bit extra money, well, then rather than having to release more players, they can just go to Bud Dupree and Janoris Jenkins and be like, hey, we actually found another player that's going to come in and make this team better. Instead of giving you a normal contract like you would see in a normal year,

we're going to go ahead and do that weird signing bonus thing where we give you a ton of money on your signing bonus to keep your cap hit low this year so that we can bring in that high price free agent. Basically, the whole point is the Titans can't know how they're going to structure the Dupree deal and the Jenkins deal and the Jayon deal until they know exactly how many free agents they need to acquire. So if a trade pops up where they can get a Stephon Gilmore, they can get a Kyle Fuller from the Bears, well then they're going to go to Dupree and they're going to go to Jenkins and they're going to say,

hey, we're going to change this deal around a little bit, give you more guaranteed money up front, a bigger signing bonus to lower your cap hit for this year so that we can bring on this other talented guy. So that is why they have not given us the contract details for those two players or those three players so far.

That's your reasoning. Wanted to break that down for you. But now we're going to finish off today's show and finish off this week of Locked on Titans podcast by going over the three agents that are still on the market at positions that make sense for the Tennessee Titans. Before we do though,

I want to remind you guys about the Locked on Today podcast. You can get more of the sports news you need in less time with the Locked On Today podcast. You can get more of the sports news you need in less time with the Locked On Today podcast. Make sure that you follow the Locked On Today podcast on radio.com app or wherever you get podcasts. You'll get all of the sports news you need in under 20 minutes every single day hosted by Peter Bukowski from the Locked On Packers podcast.

It's basically like having the sports section read to you every single day. Make sure you check it out again wherever you get your podcast. Also, I want to tell you guys about our friends over at BuiltBar.com. Built Bars are the best tasting protein bars in the galaxy.

But now, we get to determine which of the flavors is actually the best with Built Bar Madness. Built Bar is doing a bracket style challenge for all of their Built Bar flavors. And again, you guys get to vote on which Built Bar is the best tasting of them all. Make sure that you go to BuiltBar.com right now. Or you can go to their Twitter account at Bar underscore Built. Today's matchup is the Double Chocolate Bar versus the Caramel

Brownie Bar. Now, the Caramel Brownie may be the underdog in this matchup, but as a man who does like chocolate but isn't overly a chocolate fan, for me, the caramel brownie is just perfect. I really love caramel, love having that little mix of flavor in there. You got that brownie texture. This is one of those bars that's excellent if you pop it in the microwave for a little bit, but I'm going with the caramel brownie. Make sure, like I said, you go place your vote at BuiltBar.com or on Twitter at Bar underscore Built. And remember, use promo code LOCKED15 to get 15% off your next order. That's promo code LOCKED15 for 15% off your next order at BuiltBar.com.

And make sure that you check back to see who's won today's matchup and who will become the best tasting Bilt Bar of them all. To cap off today's show, and like I said, cap off this week of the Locked on Titans podcast, we are going to dive into the remaining three agents that make sense to me at positions of need. And the funny thing is free agency moves so fast that the list that I developed earlier in the day to get ready for today's show, a lot of names are off the list already that I was talking to you about.

So we're going to dive into who has come off the list, who is available, and maybe by the time you guys hear this, the list could have even changed. So again, I will be giving you guys any important updates that happen on Friday or over the weekend as live videos on my Twitter at TicTacTitans on the Facebook page at LockedOnTitansPod. Also, before we get into the remaining free agents that make sense for the Titans, I want to tell you guys about the Locked On NFL National Show. Of course, you're going to get all of your Tennessee Titans news here with me, but to

get all of your NFL news, make sure that you check out the Locked On NFL podcast on this Friday. Your boy Q, who hosts the Locked On Bets podcast, and our guy Christopher Carter, who just had an appearance on yesterday's show, host of the Locked On Steelers podcast, are doing all of your NFL news on a Friday morning, so check out the Locked On NFL podcast. But what are the positions of need that I see most for the Titans? And right now, for me, it's wide receiver, cornerback, and then tight end. Now tight end, I'm putting at the end of that list because I could kind of see it not being

a need going forward. And I'll explain that when we get there. But number one, the wide receiver position. And there's no way around it here, guys. The Titans have to. The Titans have to add some sort of veteran wide receiver I have been pounding the drum all offseason that wide receiver is not an important enough position for the Titans to spend on Corey Davis coming back or to get a Will Fuller a Kenny

Galladay somebody of that nature Chris Godwin I didn't want the Titans to spend that much money at wide receiver too. One, rookies have been coming in at the wide receiver position and dominating early on. So there's no reason to pay a guy like Corey Davis $13 million or $12 million a year when you could probably draft a guy in the first or second round and he's going to give you pretty similar production. Wide receivers are coming out ready to play. So I want

the Titans to get a wide receiver early in the draft, but you can't have Cam Batson as your number three wide or your number two wide receiver with A.J. Brown going into the draft. You put yourself in a really bad spot if for some reason the guys that you're interested in go off the board earlier than you expect. So the Titans have to at least bring in some sort of veteran presence here. Doesn't have to be the wide receiver too. Can be a veteran slot guy, something like that. Either way, either way, the Titans have to get somebody in here before they go into the draft. Now the top names at the position that makes sense, T.Y. Hilton, but all of the indications I've got are that he's going back to Indianapolis.

Another guy who makes a lot of sense to me is Golden Tate. Golden Tate could be a slot wide receiver. It allows you to draft a guy like Rashad Bateman who can work in the slot, but also is primarily going to work outside. You have A.J. Brown as an outside boundary receiver, your typical X receiver in the offense. So Golden Tate, a guy from Tennessee, talked about him before. That's a nice veteran productive option. And he had about just as good of a year as Adam Humphreys last year and didn't miss as many games.

So Golden Tate would be a cheap veteran option in the slot. And it would just let the Titans not be in such a bad spot going into the draft. This is a name that I was really excited about, but he just got signed before I came on the podcast, and that is Keelan Cole, the speed wide receiver from the Jacksonville Jaguars. I can't think off the top of my head because I just saw the notification, but Keelan Cole did get a deal, and it was not the Tennessee Titans, so we can cross him off the list. Another guy, former Seahawks receiver David Moore, he came off the list.

He is going to be signing with the Carolina Panthers, so that makes things tough. Some other boundary receivers I had, Will Fuller, but Will Fuller got signed by the Dolphins on a one-year deal right before I got in the booth. So two guys that make sense for me as veteran wide receivers who can play on the boundary, which kind of opens up the Titans to draft a boundary receiver or a slot receiver. A guy like Rashad Bateman is both, but a name like Rashad Perryman, I think makes a lot of sense. And Keelan Cole ended up going to the Jets. So there's that. But Rashad Perryman, I think makes a lot of sense. A former failed first round pick, but a guy with a lot of sense and Keelan Cole ended up going to the Jets so there's that but Brashad Perryman I think makes a lot of sense a former failed first round pick but a guy with a lot of speed he's improved later in his career just one of those guys maybe it took him a little while

to get it you know what I mean I think that would be a solid option for the Titans and then Marquise Goodwin or Marquise Godwin nope Marquise Goodwin sorry Marquise Goodwin. Sorry, Marquise Goodwin didn't play last year. He was set to be traded from the 49ers, but the trade fell through and the 49ers cut him. Goodwin is a track athlete. He's an Olympic-level athlete in terms of speed, somebody who can take the top off the defense now. Admittedly, he has dealt with a ton of injuries. He's a slight-built guy,

so it makes sense that he's getting injured as often as he is but right now the options are dwindling for the titans to get a decent rashad higgins someone i was super high on the titans getting went back to the browns for a two and a half million dollar deal why didn't we do that why didn't the titans bring in emmanuel sanders for six million dollars i've been saying i don't want them to spend big money on wide receiver too but man right in that four or five million dollar range it made sense to get a valuable guy and then you draft a guy and then you're not fully dependent on the rookie the Titans have to find a way to bring in some sort of veteran wide receiver be interesting to see who that would possibly be and here's another thingelan Cole, if he's getting signed by the Jets,

it means they might cut Jamison Crowder, who, and also the Jets are in conversation with Juju Smith-Schuster. So if the Jets bring in Keelan Cole, they might bring in Juju Smith-Schuster. They're probably going to cut Jamison Crowder, and that's going to save them $10 million. He was incredibly productive,

the best wide receiver on the Jets last year. Bring in Jamison Crowder, and that's going to save them $10 million. He was incredibly productive, the best wide receiver on the Jets last year. Bring in Jamison Crowder, Titans. Make it happen. But going forward, the next position I want to talk about is the cornerback position. And although the Titans brought in Janoris Jenkins, I do truly believe that they need to go get another veteran cornerback. You can't just have Janoris Jenkins, Christian Fulton, and then a rookie. I don't think that's a good idea.

The Titans need to get one more veteran. So a slot cornerback that would make sense. Kawan Williams from the 49ers. Mackenzie Alexander, formerly of the Bengals and the Vikings. Brian Poole, formerly of the New York Jets. I had Troy Hill here. He was a slot cornerback for the Rams, but he just got a four-year deal worth $24 million before I got on.

Outside boundary cornerbacks who are veterans who make sense, A.J. Bouye, Casey Hayward, and then of course, trade options for the Titans, Stephon Gilmore from the Patriots and Kyle Fuller from the Bears. The last position here, tight end, going to go quickly. You guys know I've been pounding the drum for Jared Cook Jr. and Kyle Rudolph. Both of them got signed on Thursday. Jared Cook Jr. going to the Los Angeles Chargers to replace Hunter Henry. And then Kyle Rudolph signed a two-year deal to go with the New York Giants.

It was about $8 to $9 million a year. And I didn't want to pay that for Kyle Rudolph anyway. So at that price price I'm certainly fine with the Titans not bringing him in some other options they could always bring back Michael Pruitt as I mentioned before but Darren Fells Darren Fells is a 35 year old tight end played with the Texans last year but he had over 300 yards had four touchdowns had 20 some catches as a part of the Titans committee, which clearly they're going with a committee at tight end. That would make a lot of sense for me as a guy who can block and catch

and would kind of not fill the John U role, but kind of fill that versatile role within the committee. And I want to speak on that for a second. So to me, it's obvious that the Titans plan at tight end. If you don't have a Gronk, a Kittle, a Kelsey, a Darren Waller, if you don't have an elite tight end, to me, they're all pretty much the same. There's not a big difference between John U. Smith and Austin Hooper. There's not a big difference between Hayden Hurst or Tyler Eifert or any of these guys.

It's just, you know, Jack Doyle, Trey Burton. It just doesn't make a big difference to me Dawson Knox, Mike Gasicki I mean I could keep going here it doesn't make a big difference unless you have one of the top elite guys so to me if they're not bringing back Johnnie Smith which at that rate I didn't want to if they're not going to get a Kyle Fuller or Jared Cook Jr. on an economic deal

because those guys got more money than I expected, then I'm fully on board with a Jeff Swaim, Anthony Ferkser, and Darren Felser, Michael Pruitt tight end committee. Guys, the tight end position, like I said, if you don't have one of the elite top four guys, then everyone is close enough to where, go ahead and save the money there, Titans.

Save money at tight end. In this system, the Titans play action system creates separation for tight ends. Anthony Ferkser creates separation based on his skill set in passing situations. So for me, it's easy. The Titans can go with that tight end by committee

and save money there, just like they're doing it some other places, like, hey, backup quarterback. But that is kind of my recap of the first week of free agency for you guys. Hope that you come back for next Monday. Subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream.

That's going to do it for me today, though, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.