Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Free Agent Friday: Ideal Free Agent Fits at EVERY Position & Weird Cap Stuff in 2021

Episode Date: March 12, 2021

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You are Locked On Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked On Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, it is a free agent Friday here on the Locked On Titans podcast. We are talking everything free agency as we get ready for the craziness that will be next week. Now, I've already done my free agency preview.

We did that quite some time ago, going over all of the different options on the market at each different position. If you missed any of those shows, make sure that you go back and check those out to get you ready for free agency next week. But what I want to do is I want to give you guys more of a concentrated version today. I'm going to go position by position through the offense and the defense and give you my ideal free agent fit for the Titans at each of those positions. So obviously going through the list now, will the Titans sign a free agent at every single position?

No, of course not. That won't happen. But I want to give you what I think would be the ideal candidate if the Titans decided to dip into the free agency market at certain positions. So we will discuss that. But I'm also in the first segment going to talk a little bit about how this free agency is gonna be Different and how the numbers that we see are gonna be different how it could allow the Titans to utilize their cap space a little

Bit more efficiently than they would in a normal year So we'll talk about all of that to start things off before we go position by position Through the offense and the defense talking about ideal free agent fits for the Titans. So excited to get into all of this free agent madness with you guys on a Friday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it! Ladies and gentlemen, Titans fans all over, it has been a wild week on the podcast, on social media. It's just been insane.

The Titans have made a ton of different moves and some of those moves could be deemed controversial, at least by some of you online. I have been in mass discussions with every listener, every follower, other Titans content creators about a lot of the Titans' free agents and their value, their status, what their talent level is. Specifically, I've been talking a ton about Jonu Smith. I've seen so many different takes about Jonu Smith, all the way from, you know, he's a bum

and the Titans don't need to bring him back, all the way to he's an elite tight end and the Titans just misused him. So I've seen everything in between. You guys know that I land in the middle there. Jonu is a good player, but he certainly isn't anywhere near the elite tight ends in the league.

And the Titans certainly shouldn't pay him that way. But that's a discussion that we talked a lot about. The point is, it has been nuts this week with all the content. I felt fear every time I got in the booth to record anything that we would get some major Titans news while I'm recording. I mean, it happened earlier in the week.

Isaiah Wilson was traded after I recorded my entire show. So it's just been nuts out there, and it's only going to be crazier next week when the free agency deals start to roll in. You don't want to miss any of the Monday through Friday Tennessee Titans content that I will be putting out not only throughout the season, but all year long. There's literally not another Titans creator out there that gives you Monday through Friday content in the manner that I do.

So make sure that you subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast, whether that be on Apple iTunes, following on Spotify, radio.com app, Google Podcasts. Doesn't matter where you get your podcast. You can find the Locked on Titans podcast there. And we're having way too much fun on Twitter. So follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans. And I did start a new Facebook page. If you're a Facebook person, please go to Locked on Titans pod and like the show on Facebook.

I started it. It's new. It's fresh. I'd really show on Facebook. I started it. It's new. It's fresh. I'd really appreciate any support that I could get. But we're going to get into this discussion here. And what I want to do first is take a moment and explain why this free agency is going to be weird. So obviously, we've spent a lot of time talking about the depressed salary cap and how COVID-19

has impacted the salary cap for the 2021 season. Now here's the thing. The cap has gone way down from last year, about $15 million down, which usually goes up by about $7 million each year. But after this year, not only is the cap going to go back to normal as, well, the world gets back to normal, but also the NFL is going to have new TV money from new TV deals that they're working on right now. And the salary cap is expected to boom from the $182.5 it is right now

all the way up to about $250 million within the next five years. So what teams are going to do here is, because of the dip in salary cap this year, but the explosion of the salary cap that's expected in the next few years, teams are going to set up contracts to where it's as little money as possible in 2021 and then a lot of money in 2022. They're basically borrowing the cap space from future years.

So for example, what a team is going to do, look at J.J. Watt. J.J. Watt got about $24 million guaranteed, $31 million over the course of two years. You know what his cap hit is for this season for the Cardinals? $4 million. There was another elite player that was re-signed to his team. I'm sorry that I'm blanking on exactly who it was, but the cap hit was only $3 million, exactly who it was, but the cap hit was only $3 million. And he was a double digit contract guy, 10 million per year, but the cap hit was only 3 million. So basically what teams are doing is they're giving guys big signing bonuses. And then your signing bonuses is averaged out over the life of your career. And they're keeping their salaries low and backloading salaries

so that the guy may be getting $1.2 million in salary this year, but he's getting $15 million in salary in 2022. And then you're thinking to yourself, well, why would he only play for $1.5 million this year? The signing bonus. The signing bonus is spread out over the life of your contract. So let's say you got a four-year contract, $8 million signing year. The signing bonus. The signing bonus is spread out over the life of your contract. So let's say you got a four-year contract, $8 million signing bonus. That's $2 million on the cap each year of four years. But the player gets that signing bonus money up front. It's just

a cap mechanism that it's spread out over the contract. So these teams are giving players big-time signing bonuses that get spread out over the course of the contract so that the player is happy and has money up front. But then they're backloading their salary so that their salary is really cheap this year and then expensive, really expensive the next few years. Because teams know the cap is really low right now, but it's going to blow up in the next few years. So we're seeing players get signed, example like J.J. Watt, about $12 to $13 million of guaranteed money in the two years. But for him, they're structuring the contract in a way that the cap hit is only about $4 million.

So when I tell you that the Titans have about $17 million in cap space and that they may do some restructuring of different contracts to get more, but if the Titans have $20 to $24 million in cap space, they're going to be able to do a lot more with that cap space this year than they would in a normal year because players understand what's going on and teams are backloading these contracts and spreading out the guaranteed money and adding in voided years to the end so that the cap hits are super low so basically you could get a guy like let's say everyone loves Carl Lawson let's say Carl Lawson typically is like a 15 million dollar a year player cap hit wise well the Titans may do something where they give him a

bunch of guaranteed money up front that's spread out through the life of his contract, give him a really low salary this year, and then give him a really high salary in the next few years. That way they can keep the cap hit low. And a guy like Carl Lawson, where we look at him as a $15 million player, is actually only going to cost the Titans about $5 million on the cap because of the way the contract is structured so to talk about this and talk about free agency you have to have that in your head that the numbers may not make sense and you're like wait how could we afford Carl Lawson and William Jackson and John Brown and blah blah blah based

on what they would make per year that's's $30 million. Well, the contracts are being structured in a way to where the Titans can be more efficient with the money now, but the way that they're doing it is they're basically just saving themselves a lot of money right now and then overpaying for the players in future years. So that's the philosophy, and the Titans financial guru who handles a lot of this stuff, Ryan Cowden, he's going to have his work cut out for him.

And I'm sure that the work is already in progress. So keep that in mind as we discuss all of this free agency. But now we are going to get into my ideal free agent fits for the Titans at each position all the way through the offense and all the way through the defense. Before we dive into that, though, do want to remind you guys about our sponsor betonline.ag. Football may be over, but NBA, NHL, and college basketball are in full swing. MLB is right around the corner. BetOnline also has you covered for award shows, TV shows, and reality TV. They have real-time updated odds and props on anything that you can imagine. So head to their website, betonline.ag, or use your mobile device.

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I think that the Titans should cut Ryan Tannehill and try to trade for Deshaun Watson. Just kidding. Just kidding. Obviously, at the quarterback position, the Titans are set in terms of a starter. If you've listened to this show for any time, though, you know that I am probably not the biggest Logan Woodside supporter out there. I think that the Titans are really putting themselves in a bad position.

Listen, if Ryan Tannehill gets hurt for 8, 9, 10 weeks, a full season, the Titans are screwed anyway. The season is trash. There's no way around that. But the goal here is for your backup quarterback to be able to come in for a half, to be able to come in for two games, and maybe you don't just get murdered in those games. You have a chance to win.

So for me, the ideal free agent fit for the Titans would be C.J. Beathard. Now, Beathard comes out of San Francisco, obviously running that Kyle Shanahan system similar enough to the Titans where I think he would be a scheme fit. Also, you look, Beathard's 27 years old. He had two starts in 2020. He went one and one. So he can get you a win.

He's not an automatic loss. And a lot of people go back to Blaine Gabbert, but Blaine Gabbert got the Titans a win as well. So all you want from your backup quarterback is to steady the ship in the event that your starter gets hurt. Now, Beathard played in six games. He had 787 yards, six touchdowns, and no interceptions. Now, he's a backup. Don't get me wrong.

I'm not telling you all these stats to say he's a better player than what he is. But he's definitely a better player than Logan Woodside. He started in the NFL before. He knows the system, has executed a similar system, and he'd probably be looking at a million dollars a year, especially in this market. C.J. Beathard, or as a sidecar, I would take Nick Mullins, but it's the same thing. A guy with real NFL starting experience from a system in San Francisco that's similar to the Titans in principle and the tutelage of

Kyle Shanahan. I want Nick Mullins or C.J. Beathard as the backup quarterback for the Titans, but I do realize one of the places the Titans choose to save money is that backup quarterback with Logan Woodside because I'm sure in their mind, if Tannehill gets seriously hurt, we're screwed anyway. So what's the point of having an expensive backup? I guess I get that. I guess I get that too.

But C.J. Beathard, for me, at running back, I think Derrick Henry's Derrick Henry. The Titans are never going to get a replacement for him. But what they do have to do is protect themselves against another Darrington Evans injury. The Titans need that element to their offense. Jeremy McNichols didn't give them that. He's not explosive enough as an athlete. That's why they drafted Darrington Evans. So I think the Titans need to give themselves some Darrington Evans insurance. I think a guy that could be that, but could also possibly outplay

Darrington Evans in a Super Bowl potential year for the Titans is Jarek McKinnon. Yep, another San Francisco 49er. So McKinnon's 29 years old. Obviously he's had a ton of injuries in the past, but he played all 16 games in 2020 in a limited role. I think if the Titans use him as a third running back, using him to spell Darrington Evans, if Evans gets hurt, he's not going to be put in a position where he's got to be a primary running back and that may be able to keep him healthy. able to keep him healthy. But he caught 175 passes in his career, 1,237 receiving yards in his career, 2,237 rushing yards in his career. So he's not just a one trick pony who only catches the ball out of the backfield. He's not just a guy who can only run the ball and can't add value as a receiver. He does both of those and he can help you out in the return game. He had 12 kickoff

returns in 2020. He averaged 19.9 yards, so basically 20 yards per return. Kalief Raymond averaged 18.3. So that's a drastic jump up from Kalief Raymond. So Darrington Evans is set to be your kickoff returner, and he's meant to be your scat back on offense. Give yourself some Darrington Evans insurance and get Jarek McKinnon for cheap. Going forward, wide receiver. Now this position matters a lot more, and that's why I'm going to give you a couple

of options on this one. But wide receiver is a big one for the Titans. Number one, John Brown. So I've been talking about John Brown for quite some time now, but he was still on the bills until Wednesday. He was officially released on Wednesday. So to me, John Brown becomes the number one target for the Tennessee Titans. He gives you a speed threat on the outside.

He's a veteran guy who's been very productive. Yes, he has some injury issues, but guys, every player I'm talking about here has had some injury issues. Basically, it's NFL football. So when John Brown was in the lineup for the Bills their offense was better than what it was without him I think that at eight million dollars or the Bills saved eight million dollars so they cut him he's not a bad player but to me in this market he's going to be right around five six million dollars I think

instead of paying Corey Davis 13 million dollars like some team is about to do I would much rather pay John Brown six million dollars as the number two wide receiver and then go draft a wide receiver pretty high in the draft to be your third wide receiver to groom to take John Brown's spot after a year or two. To me, John Brown is the ideal fit for the Titans. If you don't want a John Brown, you want somebody like that though. Nelson Aguilar makes a lot of sense. He played primarily in the slot in 2017

for the Eagles, which was a productive year for him, but he's been mostly an outside receiver since he joined the Las Vegas Raiders. He's six foot, 200 pounds. He's only 28 years old. He's been good two out of the five seasons, but he's got speed. He's got versatility. I like Aguilar as a backup plan to John Brown. If you want to go with somebody older than that, I like Marvin Jones as an option. He's probably going to be around $4 million, $5 million. Again, getting 75% to 80% of the production of Corey Davis for less than half of the money. It's all about value. You're not going to get a better player than Corey Davis. You're looking to get a better value than Corey Davis because you can afford to do that with the way the offense is constructed. So to me, you're looking at John Brown, number one, Nelson Aguilar, number two, Marvin Jones, number three. And if all of those aren't available, I would take a look at

Rashad Hollywood Higgins, who played for the Browns in recent years. A big bodied guy will play outside, not the most explosive athlete, but just a productive wide receiver. And he would be the cheapest of them all, probably around two to $3 million, especially in this market. At tight end, another position of debate here. And I'm going to have to make it quick because we're running out of time for the second segment. You guys know me. I could talk all day about this stuff.

I love it. I love this stuff. Been talking all week on Twitter about it with you guys. I can't put my phone down. It's been excellent. But for tight end, give me Kyle Rudolph. That is the ideal fit for me. So Kyle Rudolph's 31, 6'6", 265 pounds.

You look at run blocking grade per pro football focus in 2020. Johnnie Smith was only at a 62.1. Kyle Rudolph was a 59.1. So not a big difference there in run blocking. And then you look at pass blocking. Rudolph was a 73.8. And Jonu was a 36.4. So Jonu not a good pass blocker per pro football focus.

Rudolph is a good pass blocker. And you look at this. Kyle Rudolph in recent seasons, last year he had a little bit of a down year, but he had eight touchdowns the year before, four touchdowns the year before that, six touchdowns the year before that. He only played 12 games last year, had 28 catches, 334 yards, and a touchdown. Well, Johnnie Smith only ended up with about 40 catches and 400 yards. So the difference in production compared to the difference in money, I would suspect that Kyle Rudolph's going to get about $5 to $6 million.

Jonu's probably looking at about $10 to $11 million this year. Give me Kyle Rudolph 75%, 80% of the production for half of the money. Now, will Rudolph join the Titans? He didn't really like being in a run-heavy offense in Minnesota, so there's some debate there, but if not, I look at a veteran guy like Jared Cook Jr., who was used very well in Todd Downing's offense in Oakland in 2017. Not going to be with the New Orleans Saints this year. A veteran guy who could look to come back to Tennessee and have an impact with an offensive coordinator who he's used to. Do also want to mention that Todd Downing has experience with Kyle Rudolph. Based on being an assistant in Minnesota as well. So there's tons of connections with those two guys.

I want Kyle Rudolph. If not, I want Jared Cook Jr. Quickly going through the offensive line. Offensive tackle. I'm going to cheat here. But I want the Titans to bring back Ty Sambrello if he's healthy. I thought he played very well in spot duty for Taylor LeJuan. He would be the best

possible swing tackle that the Titans could get, and he'll be cheap and want to come back to the Titans, bring back Ty Sambrillo, so a little bit of a cheat there. And then interior offensive line, going back to San Francisco. Ben Garland. So

Ben Garland has been a backup center for San Francisco for quite some time behind Weston Richburg, but he had plenty of starts this year in spot duty. He understands the type of scheme that the Titans are going to be running. He's a 72.4 run blocking grade, 10th best in the NFL per pro football focus at the center position amongst people with his number of snaps. He was at 333 snaps last year.

So no, not starter level snaps, but definitely it wasn't like a tiny sample size. He only had one penalty, gave up zero sacks in that time. He is a backup. But Ben Garland, for my money, is the best possible interior offensive lineman backup that the Titans could get on the free agent market. And at 33 years old, he's going to be incredibly cheap as his career is winding down.

So that's going to do it for the offensive ideal free agent fits. We are going to get into the defensive side of the ball next. But before we do, I want to remind you guys about the Locked On Today podcast hosted by the great Peter Bukowski. You're getting everything you need to know about the Titans, but what about the rest of the sports world? Check out the Locked On Today podcast. It's all of your sports news in under 20 minutes.

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See all the parts available for your car or truck. And when you place your order, make sure that you put locked on in the how did you hear about us box right underneath your shipping information so they know that we sent you. Amazing selection, reliably low prices, all the parts your car will ever need. RockAuto.com. Titans fans, we started off this free agent Friday talking about why this free agency and why the contract structures this year are going to be incredibly different and incredibly unique

compared to any season that we've seen before and how teams are basically going to be borrowing on future money to sign guys for cheap this year, at least cheap in terms of the cap hit. So we talked about that. Then I talked for 14 freaking minutes about offensive free agent fits. But of course, the tight end and wide receiver position are very important positions for the Titans this year. So I wanted to make sure I gave those the type of love that they needed. But we're going to dive into the defensive free agent fits that I see for the Titans, the ideal fit at each position on the defense. Before we do, got to remind you guys that betting on any sport or anything at all

doesn't have to be a guessing game if you listen to the new Locked on Bets podcast hosted by your boy Q and handicapping expert Lee Sterling. Get daily picks, blowout specials, wrong team favored picks, and Lee Sterling's lock of the day. Follow the Locked on Bets podcast brought to you by betonline.ag wherever you get podcasts. But number one, we are going to start on the interior defensive line. And as I kind of cheated with offensive tackle in the last segment,

I'm going to kind of cheat here as well. Out of all of the players that the Titans have as in-house free agents, Clowney, Jayon, Corey, Jonu, Desmond King, the guy who I think is most likely to come back is Daquan Jones, my boy DQ. And I got to give a big shout out to Daquan as I always do. Daquan is one of the Titans players who's retweeted my film work. And that's big for me. I mean, you know, I started this relatively unknown.

I started a brand new Twitter account from the ground up because I couldn't have the Locked on Titans podcast account from the previous people. Pettiness all the way around, but hey, it is what it is. So I had to start from the ground up and guys like Daquan recognizing the work that I put in and recognizing, yeah, basically all the work that I put into the film study and putting out the film videos and the video editing and all that. So shout out to Daquan for recognizing me, giving me a few retweets on my work. A lot of that has helped my followers

and helped people find my podcast as well. So shout out Daquan. But other than just my complete bias of being a huge Daquan Jones fan, it just makes sense. Daquan's not going to get two years, $14 million on the open market. He's not going to get $7 million a year

and big time money as an interior defensive lineman in this market. In this market. Considering that, why wouldn't Daquan Jones take a one-year deal to come back to the Titans and fill that role that he filled so well? Nose tackle, three technique, versatility on the defensive line, drop back into coverage every now and then. I mean, I just don't see why Daquan would go somewhere else. I don't think he's going to get a significantly better deal than the Titans could offer him

on the open market this year. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but I think the Titans need to focus on bringing Daquan back on a cheap deal. If that is impossible, if I'm wrong and Daquan does get a really good deal and goes elsewhere, then to me, Larry Ogunjobi who played for the Cleveland Browns in previous years he's more of a run defense expert but that's what the Titans will be looking for anyway he's still only 27 years old and right now you're seeing estimates of his contract being about one year two and a half million dollars he's going to want to prove

it and get back on the open market at his age. I'm all about that. Go ahead and come prove it in Tennessee. Larry Ogunjobi can fill that Daquan Jones role and maybe provide a little bit more as a pass rusher. I like that as a backup option for the Titans. But ultimately, I think if the Titans let Daquan Jones go, they need to try to fill that hole in the draft. But to the edge rusher position, the all-important edge rusher position, I'm going to give you a couple options here.

My number one candidate right now, I've kind of been back and forth, but my number one candidate right now is Yannick Ngakwe. Yannick Ngakwe is still 26 years old. Yannick Ngakwe has proven with 24 fumbles in his career, multiple over 40 sacks, Yannick Ngakwe can get to the pass, quarterback, passer, and he can get the ball out of his hands. No, he's not as versatile as the Titans usually look for. He's not going to drop back in coverage.

He may not be great against the run. But, cursing warning, cuss word alert, I don't give a damn about stuffing the run and dropping back into coverage. Somebody's got to rush the damn passer. Somebody. I don't care that Harold Landry is super versatile and can do all these different things on the defense

and be a 4-3 outside linebacker and a 3-4 outside linebacker and drop back into coverage 120 times. None of that versatility matters if you don't have at least one guy who can consistently get pressure on the quarterback. I'm tired of all these jack-of-all-trades. I want a master.

I want a master of the pass rush. Period. So Yannick Ngakwe is my top target at edge. He's going to get less money than Bud Dupree, probably going to get less money than Vaughn Miller, maybe less money than J.J. Watt. I want Yannick Ngakwe. And if the Titans can't get Yannick Ngakwe,

then I want Carl Lawson from the Bengals. And some news on him, he made it sound like in an interview on Thursday that he wanted to come back to Cincinnati, but he also made it clear that he wants the money. So Carl Lawson, who gives you a little bit more in run defense, a little bit more of a big-bodied guy, less explosive than Yannick Ngakwe,

but still a good pass rusher. People are banking on his potential once he gets out of Cincinnati. That's why I like Yannick Ngakwe as my number one ideal fit, but Carl Lawson is my number two fit. And then after that, I'm going with Hasan Reddick. And he should get less money than the other two. He's more of a risky proposition than the other two. But he played off-ball linebacker for the first few years of his career.

Finally got moved to edge rusher, which is what he played in college in his final year of his rookie contract. He blew up. He had 11 sacks. Now five of those sacks came in one game though. So I am a little hesitant. But if the Titans miss out on Ngokwe and Lawson, I would like them to take a look at Hasan Reddick for about 11. He had 11 sacks. Now, five of those sacks came in one game, though. So I am a little hesitant. But if the Titans miss out on Ngokwe and Lawson,

I would like them to take a look at Hasan Reddick for about $11-10 million. And then if they miss out on all those guys going into a cheaper veteran, I'm looking at Ryan Kerrigan. And I may want Yannick Ngokwe and Ryan Kerrigan if the Titans can afford it. But that's how I feel about Edge. At off-ball linebacker, I've made it very clear I don't think the Titans should spend money at this position, but you look at a guy like Kevin Pierre-Lewis, who most recently played with the Washington football team. He's mostly a special teams player throughout his career, which helps the Titans fill that Will Compton, Nick DeZubnar, Darren Bates role. He can help on special teams, but he played the most defensive snaps of his

career last year, 300 snaps, and he was pretty good in pass coverage. He's not a good run defender, that's a fact, but he did pretty well in pass coverage, and if you lose Jayon Brown, and you're going to roll with David Long and Rashawn Evans as your off-ball linebackers, I would like to bring in a veteran off-ball linebacker who can help in special teams, but also fill a little bit of that John New Roll as a pass coverage linebacker if needed. And I think Kevin Pierre-Lewis at about $1.5-$2 million for the season, I think that could make a lot of sense for the Titans. Moving to the cornerback spot, which is probably the second most important free agent opening on the Titans staff, on the Titans' defense. For me, I'm going to start, and let me explain this philosophy first

and foremost. So number one, the Titans cut Malcolm Butler. He was going to get paid $14 million. It saves the Titans $10 million. Rather than having a $14 million cornerback in Malcolm Butler and then a $9 million pass rusher in Vic Beasley, I want to flip that on its head. I want to pay Yannick Ngakwe $15 million and then pay one of these cornerbacks about $7-6 million. Probably even less with the cornerbacks I have picked out here. So I think that the Titans are going to need

a Dory Jackson and Christian Fulton to ball out this year. It's what they're going to have to have. I think the Titans should also draft a cornerback really high in the draft. They could even trade up in the first round for J.C. Horn. Maybe Caleb Farley falls to them.

I'm hearing he's dropping in people's ranks right now. So I would have the Titans go that route and go with Fulton, a rookie cornerback drafted highly, and a Dory Jackson, and then add a veteran like Terrence Mitchell, who's 29 years old, coming off a pretty good season with the Browns. Like Kevin King,

who had that embarrassing play against the Buccaneers in the NFC Championship game, but at 6'3 and at 26 years old is still a solid, low-level starting cornerback in the NFL. A Razul Douglas, who's 25, 6'2, incredibly long arms, and could still be a project. I want one of those guys for about $4 six million dollars at most maybe for a lot of these guys maybe even less three million dollars in this market in this economy

maybe three million so to me I would rather have three young corners or two young corners a dory and then one of these cheap vets and then use the 15 million on a pass rusher then do what the Titans did last year

and have tons of money $30, $35, $40 million in the secondary with Malcolm and Kevin and Kenny I would rather flip that let's have an expensive pass rush and save some money in the secondary that's what I want to do. So one of those, Terrence Mitchell, Kevin King, Razul Douglas,

I think they make a lot of sense. And Janoris Jenkins was recently released, recently released, by the New Orleans Saints. Janoris Jenkins, another veteran, experienced cornerback who I think could make a lot of sense. Basically the Jonathan Joseph role, but a more talented guy with a little more upside. I mean, imagine if they used the fourth cornerback Jonathan Joseph role

on a guy like Razul Douglas, who's still 26, 6'2", with long arms. I mean, why not? Why not? It makes all the sense in the world. And then finally at safety, I know I threw that crazy Kevin Byard theory at you guys yesterday, got a lot of people riled up on that note. But if something like that does happen, a guy like Jaquiski Tart, and if the Titans don't believe in a money hooker, a guy like Jaquiski Tart could be looking at about two years, $4 million, somewhere in there. So about two, two and a half million dollars a year.

He's still, he's 29 years old, so he's getting closer to 30, which will drive down the price. But he's a versatile safety. Again, another guy from San Francisco. But what I do know is Robert Sala is a good defensive coach. And I know that Jaquiski Tart is going to be coached up well.

And he's a versatile safety. He played in the box. He played deep. That's how San Francisco used their safeties. They didn't have a typecast, free safety, strong safety situation like you saw from the Legion of Boom, Seattle Seahawks with Earl Thomas deep, Cam Chancellor up. No, not in San Francisco. Their safeties did everything.

They do a little bit of everything. And that's how it is in Tennessee, quite frankly. Kevin Byard isn't the pure free safety you guys think he is. He's actually transitioning to being better in the box and better as a more traditional strong safety than a free safety. Imani Hooker, when the Titans played three safeties, it was Imani Hooker more often than not that was playing that deep third safety in the backfield. So Kevin Bayard's transitioning into a guy who's better playing downhill and playing closer to the line of scrimmage. So you get a guy like Jaquiski Tartt who could play that Kenny Vaccaro role, and now you can keep Amani Hooker as that deep safety,

keep Kevin Byard up closer to the line of scrimmage. I doubt the Titans go that route at safety. That's a place where they'll try to save some money. They're already doing that by cutting Kenny Vaccaro. But if the Titans do want to add a vet to that group and not count on Dane Crookshank coming off injury I think Tartt makes a lot of sense and if God forbid the Titans do cut Kevin Bayard

then I think Tartt makes even more sense than ever before so that is my ideal free agent fits for the Tennessee Titans that's going to do it for not only this Friday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast but also this week of the Locked on Titans podcast, but also this week of the Locked on Titans podcast. I think it has been a great week if I do say so myself. Next week is going to be even

crazier with free agency kicking off. Make sure that you are subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream so you don't miss any of my reaction and analysis from next week's free agent frenzy. Can't wait to see you guys back on Monday. Have a safe, have an enjoyable weekend out there, folks.

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