Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Make Front Office Changes, Tight End Market & Upgrade Options

Episode Date: June 2, 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, this Wednesday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is presented by the Peacock and Williamson podcast. NFL analyst Brian Peacock and former NFL scout Matt Williamson host Locked On's Peacock and Williamson Podcast. NFL analyst Brian Peacock and former NFL scout Matt Williamson host Locked On's Peacock and Williamson every Monday through Friday.

Brian and Matt give you a national perspective on all of the latest NFL news. Make sure you check out the Peacock and Williamson Podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, wherever you get your podcasts. But as for this Wednesday edition of the Locked On Podcast Network wherever you get your podcast. But as for this Wednesday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast, we are going to kick things off with a little woman crush Wednesday. And I'm going to tell you why the latest Tennessee Titans news is just another example of why Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk is one of the best in the business and is an absolute blessing to not only Tennessee Titans fans, but the community as well.

So excited to dive into a lot of Tennessee Titans front office changes, but of course through that put a spotlight on Amy Adams Strunk. But then we have talked a lot about the wide receiver position over the last few weeks, of course, around Julio Jones and his potential trade to the Tennessee Titans. But we have neglected the tight end position, which I believe is still unfinished. So we got some tight end related news on multiple fronts on Tuesday. I'm going to tell you what those two news items were. And we are going to take a look at two news items were, and we are going to take a look at the Titans' tight end market and how they could improve that position before the start of the regular season. And then to round out today's show, I'm going to give you just a

mini Rollins rant on one particular player who's been absent from Titans team activities here over the last few weeks. And also, we'll finish off the show having a little bit of a laugh at the division rival Houston Texans. So a big Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it! We are going to kick off this Wednesday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast talking about some updates to the Titans front office staff and how they highlight just how blessed the Titans fan base and community is to have Amy Adams Strunk as the controlling owner.

Before we dive into those updates, though, do want to remind you I'm going to be putting out daily Monday through Friday Tennessee Titans content here on the Locked on Titans podcast. Make sure you never miss an episode by subscribing or following on whatever platform you do stream. Also, check me out on social media on Twitter at TicTacTitans and on Facebook at Locked on Titans pod. on Twitter at TicTacTitans, and on Facebook at LockedOnTitansPod. But first, we are going to talk about some changes in the Titans personnel department. Number one, we have Blaze Taylor, who will be a pro scout for the Tennessee Titans.

Taylor's focus is going to be on advanced scouting for the Titans opponents. He's going to help evaluate potential free agents in the spring as well. Also, we see Matt Miller as a new college scout. Both of them previously were scouting assistants. Now, Matt Miller, you may hear that name and think, wait a minute, Matt Miller. But no, this is not the Matt Miller that formerly worked for Bleacher Report and does work for ESPN now. It is a different Matt Miller, just a very, very common common name but Miller will be going to different regions of colleges to evaluate you know players he's going to be a college scout for the Titans as mentioned before so everything that that pertains to that role going around the

country evaluating different players talking to coaching staffs, all of those things. Also, and this is really where we get into the Woman Crush Wednesday portion of the show. Mikel Johnson is now going to serve as a full-time scout for the Titans. And that's important because last year, she served as the Amy Adams-str woman in football intern so first and foremost if you weren't aware of this basically what happened was John Robinson and Mike Vrabel attended the woman's careers in football program and after that they basically decided to create an off-season internship program to have a female added to the staff in some capacity to try to advance the potential for females to work within football. And they called that the Amy Adams Strunk Women in Sports Program. So gotta love that.

Now, Johnson, as I mentioned, was last year's intern, and now she's accepted a full-time role with the Titans. She'll work both in college and pro scouting. She'll evaluate players, college and pro scouting. She'll evaluate players, monitor the daily waiver wire. She's going to help with draft and free agency preparation. She was a woman's tennis player at Belmont from 2015 to 2019. And last year as part of her internship, she helped put together some advanced scouting reports for the coaches for weekly opponents that were ahead in the season. Now, you may be wondering, with Johnson leaving the internship

and turning into a full-time member of the staff, that leaves the internship open. And this year, it will be Kiara Mayo. She will step in as the Amy Adamstrunk Woman in Football Training Camp Internship. She's going to help in the Scouting and Operations Department. She's currently a graduate student at Belmont. So she's going to help in a similar role that Johnson helped in last year. And more than anything, I really just want to mention that Amy Adams Strunk continues to make a major impact on the community, not just the Tennessee community as well. But remember,

she donated a million dollars to the relief funds in Houston when J.J. Watt was getting all that together after the hurricanes down there. So I just think I wanted to take some time and during this off-season time here, want to put a spotlight on one of the best owners in sports. I've been a champion of Amy Adams' trunks for the entire time I've been on the podcast and I will continue to be so. Also, one last thing, you have Kylan Butler, who was hired as the Bill Walsh Offensive Fellowship Coach

for this upcoming 2021 season. He served as an offensive coordinator at Moorhead State in Kentucky for a while as well, but basically, Kylan Butler is going to work with the skill positions on offense and of course that includes the quarterback group so the titans just trying to get some young talent into the pipelines we see them do a lot of this lately and i i love it i love it the titans are trying to advance women in football they're also trying to advance some young up-and-coming minds as well and that's going to pay off for the titans That's a good reputation they'll get with young talent around the league,

so you like to see that. We are going to move into a conversation about the tight end position. Two big pieces of news that came out on Tuesday and what the Titans' options are to upgrade that spot before the regular season. Before we get into that, I do want to tell you about the best-tasting protein bars ever, and those are over at BuiltBar.com. Built Bar has nine delicious flavors on the site right now, plus they're always rotating in some occasional limited time flavors.

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One thing I find very interesting is Titans in-house beat writer Jim Wyatt has continuously said he thinks the Titans will add another person to that group before the end of the offseason. So with that in mind, it leads me to believe that he's right. He would know. He hears the whispers. He's in the building. But who would the Titans add?

Well, one name that is most certainly on the market is Eagles tight end Zach Ertz. And we got an update on Zach Ertz's situation. It has been very public that the Eagles are looking to trade him. They've been looking to trade him since the offseason began, since before the draft, but haven't had any takers. They've been looking to trade him since the offseason began, since before the draft, but haven't had any takers. And it's probably for a few different reasons that we will get into. But we finally got some sort of update on Zach Ertz's situation from ESPN's Jeremy Fowler

on Tuesday. And Fowler tweeted this, quote, talks on a potential Zach Ertz trade have been ongoing for quite some time, but fairly quiet of late. At least three tight end needy teams have looked into this. Eagles have made clear they won't part for nothing in return, making a release unlikely. Things could pick back up this week, end tweet. Well, from there, it makes sense. Zach Ertz is set to make about $8.5 million this year. Not a lot of people have cap space to be able to absorb that, and not a lot of people, including myself, think Zach Ertz is worth $8.5 million this year.

I think he's still a very solid player, but he's certainly not a game-breaking tight end anymore, and he's had a ton of injuries, and there are reasons to be concerned here. And I think that with the Eagles playing hardball and trying to get something out of Zach Ertz, I think it's very unlikely that the Titans would go after him. Now, I posed the question on Twitter to you guys on Tuesday at Tic Tac Titans. Would you give up a sixth-round pick for Zach Ertz if you knew that the Titans were using a second-round pick on Julio Jones?

Would you make both of those trades? And I personally would give up a sixth round pick for Zach Ertz, but not at the current rate that he's going, not at the eight and a half million dollars. What I would do, I would look to maybe do some sort of slick cap maneuver where you extend Zach Ertz for a year, you lower his cap hit and spread out his money. Now, if he's unwilling to do that, he just wants his eight and a half million dollars no matter where he plays. Well then, quite frankly, I'm not willing to do it. The Titans are going to be able to clear up enough space for Julio with a Ryan Tannehill restructure. But to get Zach Ertz on board at his current rate, they would have to make some more

maneuver moves, including maybe restructuring Taylor LeJuan, maybe an extension and a restructure for Derrick Henry. All things that I don't think the Titans are willing to do. To get Julio Jones, they'd be willing to push money out into the future and restructure Ryan Tannehill, but I wouldn't be willing to do that with anybody else at this moment in time, and definitely not for Zach Ertz. So that leads us to the question, what would the Titans do at tight end if they do, in fact, add someone as Jim Wyatt is intimating in any time that he is asked? Well, what I want to do first before we get into the list is bring up two players who were also in the news on Tuesday. Two tight ends.

Number one, you have tight end Michael Pruitt. Yes, the former Tennessee Titan. He visited with the Baltimore on Tuesday. Two tight ends. Number one, you have tight end Michael Pruitt. Yes, the former Tennessee Titan. He visited with the Baltimore Ravens. He is set to work out with the 49ers as well. I know that it doesn't necessarily fill the huge need that all of us see at tight end, but Pruitt would make me feel better about the position. Having somebody who knows what he's doing, who can block and catch if needed, added in there. Then, finally, including the 49ers, speaking of the 49ers, I mean, Delaney Walker is set to work out for the 49ers on Wednesday. Delaney's going to turn 37 in August. Didn't play last year as he was trying to rehab his broken leg and get right from a few years

before that. Now obviously there's nostalgia with Titans fans. Titans fans would love to see Delaney Walker back. But quite frankly, I just don't think that he can fill the role. If the Titans didn't have Anthony Ferkser, I think Delaney Walker might be able to fill some sort of

situational pass catching tight end role. But I just don't think he's going to have the physicality required at 37 to fill the blocking role necessary for the Titans. I simply don't think that he's going to be in the NFL this year. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong on that. But for my money, I just don't see Delaney Walker coming back into the NFL. Like I said, if I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

I'll accept that. But if he does come back, I just don't think it'll be for the Titans either. So that's something to keep in mind. So I would like to see Pruitt back, but who else could be available for the Titans? Well, you start to look at some tight ends who could be out there on the trade market

because there really is not much on the free agency market at this time. So as a trade option, you look at a guy like Cam Brate or a guy like O.J. Howard from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers behind Rob Gronkowski. They could probably afford to give up one of those. Now, O.J. Howard is coming off a significant injury. I do believe it was an Achilles tear, so that's something you have to make sure he's healthy. And even then, I don't think the Titans would be willing to take a risk on that.

Cam Brate, yes, I think he's a good enough player to trade some assets for at least a late round draft pick, but the problem with that is he has two more years of money over $6 million on his deal, and I don't think that that would be worth it either. You look at a guy like Evan Ingram from New York, he's on the last year of his contract. They brought in Kyle Rudolph as a

veteran who can take his spot. There's a lot of receiving options in New York right now, so maybe they don't need Evan Ingram as much. He's about $6 million on the last year of his deal. That's somebody I'd be interested in kicking the tires on, but he simply doesn't block enough to fill that versatile role the Titans need. You look at a guy like David Ninjoku, who requested a trade from Cleveland last offseason, wasn't fulfilled because he definitely doesn't have the cachet as a player to make that kind of demand. But if that still persists and he still wants out, that could make some sense for the Titans

for a late round pick. Ninjoku would be in the last year of his deal as well. On the free agent market, you have a guy like Trey Burton, who could make some sense for the Titans. Obviously, I mentioned Michael Pruitt, who's a free agent. Tyler Eifert could also make a little bit of sense. But again, the Titans need a versatile tight end who can block and catch. And Tyler Eifert and Trey Burton are both pretty much pass catching tight ends. So I don't know how that would fit, but it would improve the talent at least of the tight end group right now as it stands so that's really what the Titans options are at tight end that's the most recent

news with tight ends and we are going to move forward into I guess our miscellaneous news section of the show we're going to talk about a Tennessee Titan that did not show up to minicamp or OTAs that has me scratching my head and we are going to laugh at the Houston Texans. So that is going to be fun. Before we do that, I want to remind you guys about betonline.ag. BetOnline is the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. No, football season isn't in session, but baseball is in full swing. NHL and MLB are in the playoffs. You have some excellent stuff to bet on this summer in combat sports, boxing, UFC, MMA. So make sure before the next pitch, you head over to betonline.ag, sign up for free, use

the promo code LOCKEDON, that's one word, LOCKEDON, and you'll receive a 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. BetOnline, your online sportsbook experts. We are going to cap off this Wednesday show with a little mini Rollins rant and then a nice hearty chuckle at the Houston Texans. Before we do that, I want to remind you guys about the Locked On Today podcast. All of the biggest sports stories from every major sport in under 20 minutes every single weekday. Check out the Locked On Today podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

So I have been teasing all show that I wanted to go on a little Rollins rant on a player who was absent from Titans rookie minicamp and from Titans OTAs so far. And it's a name that just doesn't make any sense. So, of course, I spoke my piece about the fact I wish all of the Titans players were at these OTAs, no matter how insignificant some people think they are. But this name that I'm going to rant about goes far past just wanting the guys there. This is someone who has no excuse, no reason, no logic to not be at these events. It doesn't make any sense. And it's a guy that a lot of you guys out there, I know, really have high hopes for this year.

And it's at the tight end position again we've had a big focus on tight end today and a lot of people were excited about a name that the Titans brought in at tight end thinking he could maybe be the third piece to the tight end puzzle and that is Jared Pinkney a guy out of Vanderbilt so a local guy for a lot of Titans fans. He's very productive during his time at Vanderbilt. Had 114 catches, 1,560 yards, had 14 touchdowns, including a great junior year with 50 catches, 774 yards, and 7 touchdowns. A lot of people had hopes. Jared Pinney was an undrafted free agent last year.

He had some time with the Atlanta Falcons, but got picked up with the Titans earlier this offseason. And I admittedly was excited to see what he could do. But Pinckney hasn't been at rookie minicamp. Pinckney hasn't been at OTAs. And no, he's not a rookie, but he qualified for both of those because of his lack of experience in the NFL,

and then he didn't go? Rumors are that the Titans organization is wondering what the heck is going on because they expected him to be at these events. I mean, there's just no way around it. If Anthony Ferkser is at these OTAs, then sure as heck Jared Pinckney needs to be there. And for a guy who is literally fighting for his NFL life to not come to these activities,

I mean, it's concerning. I mean, you have to be concerned if you're a fan of his, if you had high hopes for Pinckney. It does not seem like he's taken this opportunity seriously enough, and quite possibly, maybe that's why he's in the situation he's in despite being a productive college player I certainly expected Jared Pinckney to get drafted last year and he didn't so maybe this is why this could have something to do with it especially oh man it makes such little sense when you know the opportunity not only that you have in front of you to stay in the NFL but with the Titans tight position, there's a great chance for an undrafted free agent or a low end of the roster guy to stick with the Titans outside of Swayman Ferkser. Tommy Hudson has been getting raid reviews as a big physical guy.

You think about Briley Moore from Kansas State. You think about Forrest, uh, uh, Forrest Morris, uh, Morris Stahl, yes. Forrest Morrisristall, undrafted free agents this year. Who are there working out? So, I'm just shocked by this. I'm sure the Titans coaching staff isn't happy about it either. And I hope that Jared Pinckney wakes up and realizes that this is not going to help him make the Titans, make the roster, stay in the NFL doing things like this. So just something I wanted to speak my piece on there that didn't make a lot of sense to me.

Yes, I want all of the Titans players at minicamp. But this Pinckney absence is a lot more frustrating than a Ryan Tannehill absence. Obviously, I'm sure you guys understand that. So that's just where I'm at right now. The Titans need as much young opportunity as they can get at tight end to have Pinckney skip out on these. Just very confusing, and it's something that I won't ever understand. But to cap off this Wednesday edition of the show,

I wanted to have a nice, hearty laugh at the Houston Texans. One, seems like every other day the Texans are adding an old player, or they're adding another player at a position that they don't have needs at, and they did it again. The Texans added Rex Burkhead, Bill Belichick's son, as I like to joke. It's the only thing that justifies the amount of carries

and the amount of work that Rex Burkhead got while he was in New England. He had to be Bill Belichick's illegitimate son. That's my theory, and I'm sticking with it. But they signed Rex Burkhead, the running back, and it prompted Warren Sharp. If you don't follow Warren Sharp on Twitter, at Sharp Football, you have to. One of the smartest minds covering football. I enjoy most of his content.

But he had to say the Houston Texans officially have both the NFL's oldest roster and the NFL's worst roster. And he chronicled this here, where the Texans ranked in age of their 53-man roster at cutdown day. In 2017, they were the fourth youngest roster. In 2018, they were the seventh oldest roster. In 2019, they were the 19th oldest roster. In 2020, they were the 22nd oldest roster. And then as of June 1st this year, they are the 32nd oldest roster in the NFL. Yikes. Yikes. They're old and bad. Nothing about that is good. The only good thing they have on the entire team is a franchise quarterback whose playing situation and legal

situation is completely in flux. Oh man, I can't help. It's time to get a nice belly aching, hearty chuckle out of the Houston Texans clown show. Oh Houston, you have a problem. Oh man. Oh, Houston. You have a problem. Oh, man. Oh, okay. All right. Oh, okay, guys. Well, I got my breath back in time just enough to close out today's show.

But I'll be back with you guys tomorrow. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.