Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans have top ranked draft haul; Your questions on Mariota, Henry

Episode Date: May 9, 2019

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Welcome in to another edition of Locked on Titans. I'm Jimmy Morris, joined as always by Terry Lambert. Terry, how are you today? Doing all right. How about you? Doing pretty good. Today we're going to get into an interesting article about the Titans draft class, and then we're also going to take a couple of the voicemail calls and talk a little bit about those.

Before we do that, I want to remind you we're at VermeerCityMiracles.com. We're the Titans for SB Nation, so you can check us out there. You can also follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorrismcm. Terry's at tlamberttn. Get the podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Just search out Locked on Titans. And then if you want to be a part of our next voicemail

show, like we're doing today, you can call in to 615-787-8762. It was a minute-long voicemail, and we will play it on our show next week. And you can also play us on your smart speaker, whether it be in your car or your house, whatever it is. Just say, Play Podcast Locked on Titans, and you will get us there. All right, so there was an article over at Roto World from Thor Nystrom. He's got a cool name um but anyway talking about

the titans draft class and i think he ranked it an a plus which is obviously very solid but he went through and did comps for the different players and i thought that was the most interesting part of the piece when you look at some of the guys that he did comps to he comped jeffrey simmons to endomic and sue aj brown to juju smith schuster nate davis to ben grubbs amati hooky amati hooker to kenny vaccaro deandre walker to d ford and david long to. So, you know, if that ends up being true, this would have to be, I mean, what, the greatest draft class ever? Yeah, you take that every single day of the week. And then you look further.

I mean, the cool thing about this is he did undrafted free agents. He had them ranked. You know, he had draft classes on the undrafted free agents. Titans ranked 14th in that. So he kind of merged them together to create this overall draft hall ranking. Just really cool. It's a different way of looking. It's a deeper way of looking.

So like the running back that we talked about last week, Alex Barnes, that we think people are going to fall in love with. He comps him to Kalen Bellagio of the Miami Dolphins, a guy that went in the middle rounds last year. So just really cool, an in-depth piece. You know, you look at some of these comps, the Juju Smith-Schuster one stands out. Of course, the Ndamukong Suh one stands out too.

But Juju is one you've heard from multiple people on A.J. Brown. There just seems to be this confidence around brown uh in his prospects with the the nfl you know his production you know he wasn't the the best athlete juju wasn't the best athlete coming out but the production is there the ability to get open is there the ability to work different spots on the field out of the slot and the outside uh it all seems to be there. So, you know, just the overall confidence in this guy is really exciting. And, you know, me and you talk about it all the time, a tight end drafted receiver. Well, don't get your hopes up.

You know, something terrible is going to go wrong. Maybe A.J. Brown is the guy that's going to break that streak. Yeah, I was going to say really exciting slash really scary because you can just already feel how it's going to end. But, yeah, hopefully he is the guy that does that differently. Like you said, the Juju thing has come up quite a bit, and I'm really excited about just seeing that group of receivers in the field. I know there was some guy I was speculating last night on Twitter,

I can't remember who it was. The Patriots are looking for a speed receiver. They might be interested in Taewon Taylor. Whatever. Taewon Taylor is fine. But, again, when you've got these guys as your top three, I just think that's going to be really fun to watch. I think it's going to be unlike anything we've ever seen here

when you just talk about – I mean, obviously, Adam Humphreys, he was undrafted, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he was an undrafted guy, but he's obviously proven himself in the league. And then you've got the number five overall pick in Corey Davis. You've got a second-round pick in A.J. Brown. I can't remember the last time they've had that much talent at the top of that group,

just from proven-slash-draft-capital status. It seems like they've always been trying to piece things together. I mean, if you go back through the years and think about the best receivers the Titans have had, Derek Mason and Drew Bennett are at the top of that list. Derek Mason was a fourth or fifth-round pick. Drew Bennett was undrafted. He was a quarterback at UCLA. It's absolutely very sad that those are the guys you think of when you think of the best Titans receivers. But I just think that this group has a chance to be really fun,

to give them something that they haven't had in a while. And so, I don't know. I'm just excited to see what this offense is going to look like when it all comes together. But, yeah, this is a really cool article. And by the time this podcast posts, there will be a post of Amuse Me Miracles linking to this article. So go check that out for sure because, like Terry said, it goes really in-depth,

and there's a lot of cool stuff on there. And doing comps on all those players, that must have taken it forever. Yeah, I mean, he's got like a legitimate top 500. So it's kind of crazy just the amount of work. You know, he's got comps on all these undrafted free agents all the way down through Cortez Sapp. You know, guys that are not going to make this roster he's put in the work on. So, Thor is a really, really cool college football writer over at Roto World.

Definitely worth checking out. But going back to receivers real quick, I think it's worth noting that Taewon and Tajay are going to be the 4-5 in this offense, and that's where they should be. And that was the whole problem last year. They were forced into being the 2 and the 3 on this team. They should have never been that. It was kind of a raw deal with the way the Rashard and Matthews thing went down,

so it's hard to put that on John Robinson. But again, we were clamoring for another receiver. We were seeing the lack of depth on this team if something happened. Lo and behold, something did happen in an odd way, but it just lingered the entire year. So having those guys as your four and five is fine. You're not going to have to rely on those guys so much. Taewon is going to be a true gadget guy.

He's going to be a guy that you throw in the slot and let run down the field. So that's going to be fun. You know, Tajay Sharp, we've talked about that. Him as a five is fine. Him as a two is not fine. So I think adjusting the expectations, taking a little bit off those guys' plate, is going to do a lot for those two. Yeah, it should, again.

And we talk about it with a guy like Deion Lewis, you know, when they tried to thrust him into that lead back role that's just not where he's at his best and uh so i mean i think it is a very similar conversation with these receivers and hopefully that will be you know to the benefit of the entire offense all right coming up we're going to hit your voicemails but before we do we're going to tell you again about blue chew remember the days when you were always ready to go now you can increase your performance and get the extra confidence in bed. Listen up, bluechew.com. That's blue like the color blue. Blue Chew brings you the first chewable with the same FDA-approved active ingredients as Viagra and Cialis, so you know they work. You can take them anytime, day or night,

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BlueChew is the better, cheaper, faster choice, and we thank them for sponsoring the podcast. Hey, guys. This is John from New Jersey. Love what you guys do. Thank you for all the content. You know, you guys really keep me connected and not living so close to the Nashville area. But all right, so let's jump into it. I love what J-Rob did in the draft.

I love what J-Rob has done just in general since he's been there, right? He's filled most holes. He's really did in the draft. I love what J-Rob has done just in general since he's been there. He's filled most holes. He's really turned over the roster. And he's added depth across the board. Obviously, my opinion and I'm sure everyone else is out there, is that this season

going forward is all on Marcus' shoulders. We've seen flashes in the past. He's brought us to the playoffs. He's won us the playoffs game. Then, obviously, on the flip side, he can't stay on the field. I'm just wondering, in your opinion, what does he need to do this season for us to resign him?

You know, is it an amount of wins? Is it just his playing the field? Do we need to go to the playoffs? Do we need to win a playoff game? Because I think the rest of the roster, you know, does have the potential to be a playoff team. So, you know, again, what does Marcus need to do this year for us to resign him? And, you know, and if not, where do we go from there?

All right, guys. Yeah, I think we can all agree that Marcus Mariota is the guy that the Titans are waiting on. You know, that's the guy that's going to take the Titans over the top. It doesn't matter what this roster looks like if you don't have the quarterback. You're not going anywhere in this league in this day and age.

When you start to ask what does Mariota have to do to get to that next contract for the Titans to pay him, it's a complicated question. I mean, above all else, I think he's got to play 16. That's to me the most important thing. If he puts 16 games together and he's healthy, I think everything else kind of falls into place.

Now, we haven't seen him do that yet. You know, it's always something there, whether it be problems up front, whether it be problems with the coaching staff, whether it's been problems with the receivers or him getting banged up. If he can take care of the getting banged up part, that's going to help tremendously. So I've said it all along. I think it's really difficult to evaluate where he was last year as a player. I think he was really hurting.

I don't think he could grip the ball very well. I think the offense was really limited because of that. So if he can come out healthy and put up decent numbers, you know, this offense needs to be able to push the ball down the field. If the offense looks like it's unlimited by him, and he put 16 games together. I think the Titans are going to the playoffs, number one, and I think Marcus Mariota will get that contract. Now, whether or not that happens is a different story.

Again, we have no reason to believe that he can do all this. He's got to show it. So I'm glad I'm not in John Robinson's shoes. It's a really, really, really difficult decision. I'm glad I'm not in John Robinson's shoes. It's a really, really, really difficult decision. I'm not sure there's one thing you can point to outside of starting 16 games as to what he can do to guarantee that contract. Yeah, I think that's the biggest thing.

Let me ask you this. Let's say he plays 16 games, plays just reasonably well, not great, not bad. reasonably well, not great, not bad. How confident are you going to be if they do give him a new contract that that's the guy we're going to see going forward? I'm terrified. I mean, it's just something that you don't feel good about just because of his history. If he does it one year, are you automatically going to think,

oh, he's going to do this for the rest of his career? Is it finally behind him? Well, no. I mean, it's just such a complex situation. But at the same time, if you've got a quarterback playing even at an average level in the NFL, that guy's getting paid. Yeah, that's the thing. I mean, it's just like you said.

I'm with you. I'm glad I'm not John Robinson because this is a really tough decision that he's going to have to make because even if he comes out and he plays all 16 games and he looks good, he looks consistent, all that kind of stuff, then there's still going to be that thing in the back of everybody's mind is, well, what if this was the odd year out and every other year is going to look like what we've seen the last three or four. So that's always going to be a concern. But yeah, I'm with you.

I mean, they need to see him consistently available, consistently on the field. And with that, need to see, you know, consistent play from him. Because I think sometimes we don't talk enough about the fact that he hasn't played well at times when he's been on the field. Now, we will attribute that to injuries and that kind of stuff. And I think that that's fair to do. But he also just, you know, has not been a guy, even when he's been on the field, that, you know,

deserves that next big contract. Now, like you said, I mean, average quarterback play gets guys paid. So he's going to, if they feel, I keep seeing people say, well, you know, why don't you just give him two years, $30 million or something like that, just offer him that, he'll take it. No, he won't. And that's not how this works. I mean, look at why don't you just give him two years, $30 million, or something like that. Just offer him that, and he'll take it. No, he won't. That's not how this works. I mean, look at what Nick Foles just got.

I understand Nick Foles has a Super Bowl, all that stuff on his resume, but we see that stuff with guys all the time. You see backup quarterbacks all the time. Sam Bradford. Sam Bradford. Think about how much money he made in his career. I mean, you go all the way back to a guy like Matt Flynn. I mean, you can name a bunch of those guys throughout history.

So if they're going to do a contract extension for him, it's going to be $25 million a year, somewhere in that range. And so that's what you've got to see. But, yeah, for me it's just consistently being available, consistently being on the field. I still believe that if he can do that, if he can be on the field and consistently healthy, I think we'll see good play from him. I still believe that that's in there.

But, yeah, it's just a little bit terrifying that we may not ever see it. Or we may just see it once, he may get a bunch of money, and then go back to what we've seen for the last couple of years. And real quick, I will say the excuses are over. You know, I don't care if the receivers go drop a ball. You know, I don't care if he's nicked up his fingernail. The excuses are done. If there's something that's prohibiting him this year from succeeding,

I think you've got to move on because it's been something every year. We're some of the biggest Mariota fans out there. We can even say this. It just always is something. So even if it's just something super minor that keeps him from succeeding, I think you've got to pull the plug. Yeah, with you 100% on that. Because even if it's, like you said, something minor,

that's five years of something minor. So, I mean, that's a little bit extreme. But, I mean, that's what it feels like at this point. So, yeah, I'm with you on that. You can't give him a bunch of money if that's what happens. All right, we'll finish up the show with David calling from California who wants to talk about a guy that he thinks might be the most important piece of this year's offense.

Hey, guys, this is David calling from California. Always appreciate the content. Without a doubt, we know this is a huge year for Marcus Mariota, and between the draft and free agency, I think that receiving group is much stronger. The person who I really think is most important to getting the best out of Mariota, and between the draft and free agency, I think that receiving group is much stronger. The person who I really think is most important to getting the best out of Mariota is Derrick Henry. Last year when he found his groove in the second half of the season, I think we saw a much calmer and more efficient Mariota,

where he wasn't having to always be the hero to see our offense do well. Now, it might go without saying that every good offense needs a good run to supplement the pass, but I think in the Titans case, it's even more important given what we've seen historically. And between drop passes, coaching changes, and sometimes an overall weak receiving core, there's been plenty to not work in Mariota's favor. But just want your thoughts on the subject and see how important you feel our run game is to get the most out of our pass game. Thanks, guys. Yeah, I'm really interested to see if the Titans can recreate that special run game

that they had in the last month of the season. Derrick Henry, like we said on yesterday's show, ran like a man possessed. That's a guy that we haven't seen to this point in his Titans career. You hope that he can come through again and match that same intensity. You know, there's certainly the doubt in the back of my mind that we'll see the guy that was here, what, three years beforehand. We certainly didn't see that same intensity there. So, as important as Derrick Henry is, I think this offensive line is the key.

They've got to move some bodies. You know, that competition at right guard, what happens with Conklin or Kelly, that entire right side of that offensive line has to come through, number one, to protect Marcus Mariota, and number two, to blow people off the ball. I think the Titans have to consistently win at the line of scrimmage. They have to be a run-first team that's going to build off of play action that's going to help Marcus Mariota attack the middle of the field

where he's at his best. So, yeah, that run game is the key to me, but above all else it comes down to offensive line play. Yeah, and I think they're going to build this offense around that run game. I mean, obviously, you're going to have to have production from Mariota. I mean, we talk a lot about him, and we know the importance of the quarterback in the NFL. But I think they're going to try to run the ball first.

And I don't think necessarily in the stubborn way that, you know, the Malarkey-Robiski era, what we saw there. But it's kind of like what you saw with teams like the Rams last year. You know, if they can hand it off and get four and a half yards of carry, they're going to be perfectly fine to do that. And so, I mean, I think the Titans are going to kind of subscribe to a similar philosophy. You know, again, we're talking about a guy that has been inconsistent.

We're talking about a guy that we've seen flashes of greatness from in Derrick Henry, but we've also seen long periods of stuff that just doesn't necessarily make sense. So hopefully he turned that corner last year. I mean, I guess at this point there's no reason to believe that he didn't. It seemed like something clicked there. So you've got to feel pretty good about where he is. But it's a little bit scary that they are going to center this offense around him. I think it makes sense.

I don't think it's a bad idea, but at the same time, I do think it's a little bit scary. However, the flip side of that is when you've upgraded so much at the receiver position and those types of things, I think that if we get the old Derrick Henry or, you know, the one that was inconsistent before, I think they can pivot and go to more of a pass-happy offense. They've got the weapons to do that now, which I don't think they had last and go to more of a pass-happy offense. They've got the weapons to do that now, which I don't think they had last year, to be honest. So, I don't know.

I mean, you feel pretty good about that part of it. Like I said, I think something did click with Derrick Henry, and I think we're going to see – I mean, he's not going to run for 200 yards every game, obviously. But I think we're going to see the guy that we saw down the stretch last year, the guy that you can lean on in your offense and you can kind of start everything with him so yeah i think he's absolutely very important and then the other part of that is that they don't have much behind him um you know if he's not if he can't get it going uh we saw dan lewis struggle

in in that role last year like i said before so there is a So there is a lot on Derrick Henry's shoulders, but hopefully he's ready to shoulder that load, and we'll just kind of see how it goes. All right, so that'll do it for today's show. Thanks so much for calling in and leaving voicemails. Again, that really helps, especially this time of year when there's not as much going on as there is during the season or draft season or whatever.

Again, 615-787-8762. That's the number you call to leave a voicemail. You can follow us on Twitter. I'm at jmorrismcm. Terry's at tlamberttn. So for Terry, this is Jimmy saying thanks for listening to Locked on Titans, and we'll talk to you again next week.