Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans News Updates, Sounds of the Titans & Friday Mailbag

Episode Date: June 5, 2020

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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. And often when we have certain weeks where we are busy, or as in this week when we're on a three episode per week schedule, we don't necessarily have the time to get into all of the different news items that pop up throughout the week. And on Thursday, we got two big news items surrounding the Titans or the NFL in general

that I want to go over with you guys in our first segment. One, the NFL did give an update on the return to facilities procedure that they are implementing. And then also, a specific Titans tight end got an award that's voted on by his teammates. So we will talk about both of those news items to start our show and a little bit of a Friday news dump. And then if you recall, earlier in the week, I played you the highlights of the Zoom conference from Titans new defensive back coach Anthony Midgett. Well, the other defensive assistants that did do Zoom conferences on that day were new inside linebacker coach Jim Haslett and outside linebacker coach Shane Bowen.

So I will bring you the highlights of their conversations from TennesseeTitans.com in our second and third segment. And of course, no Friday edition could be complete without a little bit of a Friday mailbag. And I only have a couple of questions for reasons that I will get into later in the episode in our third segment, but I could not let these questions that I got sent go unanswered. So I will send us off into the weekend answering your guys' questions and hopefully you guys can have a safe weekend out there. But of course, I got those mailbag questions by you guys tagging me on Twitter at TicTacTitans, sending me DMs or just tagging me in a post. So if you do have a question for me for next week's mailbag,

make sure that you tag me on Twitter at TicTacTitans. Follow me there and send me whatever question you would like me to answer. Also, while we're doing a little housecleaning, make sure that you subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform that you do stream. We cover the 2016 free agent class on Wednesday's show. And next week, we are going to continue that series going through the other years of free agency that John Robinson has been the general manager for and take a deeper look at those.

So make sure you don't miss out on that content. But with all of that out of the way, we have to talk about some news. We have to hear from Titans coaches, and I have to answer your Friday mailbag questions. Let's get it. It is a Friday news dump, so let's go ahead and get into some of the biggest news that we weren't able to get to earlier in the week. Mostly because both of these news items did come out on Thursday. So let's talk about those, and of course the first one that I want to get to has to do with different team personnel returning to team facilities. So first, let's go back when the NFL first allowed different teams to have employees return to team facilities. So first, let's go back when the NFL first allowed different teams to have

employees return to team headquarters. And at the time, it was just, you know, different random team employees. I don't mean random in a certain way. I just mean that it's not the NFL head coaches. It's not the coaching staffs. It's not the players. We're talking about business personnel and, you know, different, you know, janitorial services and all kinds of different jobs and different employees that are required to make a building run not just the football related operation and the NFL allowed teams to have those type of employees come back to the facility on May the 19th now of course the Titans did not have their employees return on that day they waited a week and had people come back on May the 26th.

But of course, at that time, we're talking about no coaches, generally no players. And there was a limit that only 75 employees could be at the facility at that time. Well, we got some updates on where the NFL stands right now in terms of getting coaches back in, getting players back in. And of course, the first thing that I want to mention is that number 75, 75 employees has been bumped up to 100. So now the NFL can have up to 100 team employees in the facility. And that includes allowing coaching staffs to return on June the 8th.

So that'll be next Monday. And that's a big development here, obviously, because of the pandemic. The Titans and all teams around the NFL are currently in the midst of a virtual offseason. We're seeing teams do Zoom meetings with their position groups, with the team in general, and coaches have been conducting those meetings via their home offices. Now, of course, I don't see much of a difference here between doing the meetings from your office in the team facility and doing the meetings in your office at your house in terms of it's not going to be as big of a difference as doing a meeting

compared to having players actually in the facility. But one thing that it will benefit the Titans coaches is they can actually use the tools that they're used to using the facilities and the items that they have in the resources that they have in their office at the team building are going to be more valuable and more helpful than the things that they have at home and they're going to be in a more comfortable environment which should allow them to coach better. Right now, the Titans coaches and all coaches in not only the NFL, but in all professional sports are really at a disadvantage because coaches like to be hands-on.

They like to get in front of guys. They like to talk to them, use their hands, actually make them demonstrate the techniques that they're talking about, make the players get up on the board and do different things to show that they're retaining knowledge. Right now, all those things that come with teaching someone and coaching someone in person are lost so at least this way they do have those different things that they're used to having that can only make it feel more normal for them to coach their players obviously there is going to be a gap in the coaching because they are not in the same room and it's not just a normal procedure, but this makes things, I guess, closer to normal than they were when the coaches were sitting at home and trying to have those meetings and coach the players from that location. Players have not been allowed to return to team facilities, with the exception of those players who are still getting treatment,

who are dealing with rehab. So we've heard during this offseason that defensive lineman Jeffrey Simmons, who's still rehabbing from the ACL tear in February of 2019, he has been in the facility working with the strength and conditioning people and the director of sports medicine. And then, of course, we heard from A from AJ Brown and in one of his zoom conferences from earlier in the offseason that he has also been to the facility to rehab an undisclosed injury and right now AJ Brown and the Titans organization don't owe us an explanation of what AJ Brown is rehabbing but it has allowed him to

go back to the facility now me personally just being a curious guy who likes to think off the wall a little bit, it makes you wonder if teams could use that excuse, hey, he's rehabbing, he's got to do some sort of rehab work, to get players in the building and actually have some conversation with them one-on-one and have some work done with them one-on-one. Now, I don't want to get too far into conspiracy. I'll take my tinfoil hat off. But you have to wonder if any teams are using that loophole to get certain players in the

building so that they can work with them. I'm not saying that the Titans are doing that by any means. And it's probably just them taking care of players who need to be taken care of and need to be looked at. But hey, just makes you wonder, you know, just makes you wonder. Now, when it comes to getting all the players back in the facility we don't have an actual set in stone date a tangible date from the NFL yet but multiple NFL insiders who report on the NFL are saying that they're expecting teams and players to only fully report back to facilities when training camps open the last week of July.

Now, different teams open up at different dates, but the Titans training camp right now is set to open up on July the 28th. So at this point in time, based on the rumors and the speculation that we are hearing, and of course it is rumors and speculation, but at the same time it's notable, and it's from reliable sources. The Titans will probably have their players return on July the 28th. Let's get into our second piece of news in this Friday News Dump. And I teased at the beginning of the show that a certain Titans tight end won an award and that tight end is Jonu Smith. So Johnnie Smith was voted by his teammates as the Titans recipient

for the 2019 Ed Block Courage Award. So every NFL team, one player on their team is awarded the Ed Block Courage Award. Of course, like I mentioned, it's voted on by their actual teammates. And the Ed Block Courage Award is given to a player who represents a commitment to sportsmanship, courage, professionalism, and is considered to be a role model in their community and the award itself is named after Ed Block who was a humanitarian and an athletic trainer for the Baltimore Colts. It's awarded by the Ed Block Courage Award Foundation. John U. Smith, if you recall, if you recall, let's get in the time machine a little bit. Back on December the 6th, 2018, the Titans faced off against the Jacksonville Jaguars

and Derrick Henry had his famous 99-yard touchdown run. And everybody really remembers that as a very positive moment, a very positive experience. It's one of the greatest plays in NFL history and Titans history but Johnnie Smith has a different perspective and saw that play from a different angle because on that play he tore his ACL now Smith was able to rehab and was able to get back for the time that the 2019 season started and he had his best season of his career once he was finally given a real opportunity to be tight end one he had 35 catches 439 yards and three touchdowns and how could we forget that catch against Baltimore in the playoffs one of the best catches in Titans history and

certainly one of the best catches of the entire 2019 season Johnnie Smith had come back from a difficult rehab and had his best season ever, so you take that into account and you can see why his teammates would have voted him to be the Titans recipient for this award, but it goes a little bit deeper than just his production and his rehab and him in the community. Think about the way that head coach Mike Vrabel talks about Jonu Smith. If we flash back to a quote that Vrabel had during the 2019 season, it pretty much tells you everything you need to know about Jonu Smith's character and work ethic. Vrabel had this to say, quote, Jonu is one of my favorite players on this team.

I don't have favorites, but he is one of my favorite players on this team. I just love him to death. I love the way he works. I love his attitude, end quote. Now, Mike Vrabel will give credit when credit's due. He's a very player-friendly coach when it comes to talking in the media. He'll be honest, and he'll really give guys praise when they deserve it, but talking about favorites and going out of his way to say, you know, I love him to death. Mike Vrabel doesn't come out that effusive in his praise for his players because he doesn't want it to seem like he is playing favorites. So the fact that he's willing to go

out and say this kind of quote about John U. Smith, I think we should all take note and it definitely has tremendous value. Also, earlier in the offseason, John U. Smith talked to Titans reporters and they asked him about where he stood heading into the offseason and how he's doing and what he expects from himself and of course Johnnie Smith has been working one on one with Ryan Tannehill down in South Florida so that gives you hope that with an increased role and coming out of the gate as tight end one that he'll be able to to do even more and take another leap in his career but Johnnie had this to say earlier in the all-season quote as a professional you just want to continue to improve and continue to build off any momentum that you had from the previous season just to get better I am focused on getting better and better

and improving and improving because if you are not in it to maximize your abilities then I feel like you are in the wrong business so I'm just trying to improve and get better and work on my craft and I'm having fun doing it and I'm trying to be the best player I can be to help this team win as many games and win championships. For me, I'm tight end one now and I'm just going to take advantage of the opportunity I have in front of me and continue to be a workhorse and do what is expected of me. End quote. So you love hearing those quotes from Johnnie Smith. You love hearing the quotes from head coach Mike Vrabel and obviously all of that is backed up by the fact that Johnnie Smith was awarded the Ed Block Courage Award from his teammates.

So that is going to conclude the news items that I wanted to get to before we jump into sounds of the Titans and hear from the other Titans assistant defensive coaches. I do want to tell you guys about Bilt Bar. I've been talking about Bilt Bar quite a bit. Some of my favorite flavors like the salted caramel chocolate and the raspberry chocolate mousse is a new favorite of mine. The banana nut bread, those are some of my new favorites. But Bilt Bars are absolutely delicious.

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is how he's been dealing with starting off his Titans career in the middle of this pandemic. Well, it has been difficult because I haven't met the players in person yet. I've been on Zoom with them every day, which is, it was much better, you know, than I thought it would be. It's been, I think it's been really good the way the players have been receptive and the coaches, you know, I think they're most enthusiastic about it, you know, just to get the football. So it's a strange year, you know, I think they're most enthusiastic about it, you know, just to get the football.

So, it's a strange year, you know, but I think over the years you kind of see it all. You know, if you've been around long enough, you've seen 9-1-1. You know, you've kind of seen everything. Katrina, you know, it's kind of endless. But this is one of the weirder ones, that's for sure. Why did he feel like the Titans were a good fit after not coaching last season? Yeah, more because of the coaching staff.

You know, I was involved in drafting Mike when we coached him in Pittsburgh. And I coached him for a few years. And then I worked with Todd Donning on the staff. So there's some – you get to know the head coach, and you kind of know what he stands for, and you watch tape, and you watch how the players play, and that kind of won me over. They do a great job. The players play hard.

They love football. They like being around one another. I think it's more the atmosphere than it is anything. After coaching Mike Vrabel as a player in Pittsburgh, what was he like during his playing days? Yeah, I mean, I don't know how many times that comes up, but as a player, it's kind of how he is now. He was really smart, played a lot of different positions, tough as nails,

you know, played, loved the game. You could tell his love for the game and still is today. And that's the kind of guys I'm going to work with and work for. How much can you actually get to know your players with current restrictions? Well, I think it's hard on everybody in the whole league. You know, you don't really get a chance to be around your players. I have a son that's coaching at Dallas now, and you know, he's in Frisco, and there's nobody else there. You know, it's hard on everybody, but I think we've done a good job on the Zoom. I got a group chat with the players, and they get one of those from me from every other day, giving them schedules

and make sure we're all on the same page. So it's been good. It's been nice to see them in person. You can talk better. You have better conversations, and you get a little walkthrough in. That obviously helps, but I thought we've made the most of it. It's been awesome. I've been enjoying it.

I don't really like staring at a computer from 7 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon, but under the circumstances, I think it's been awesome. What's it like taking over the mantle for Dean Pease as the most experienced defensive coach? Well, you know, I kind of give them different – I mean, I've seen probably everything, so I kind of give them, like, different perspective

on how things are played and why they're played and whether I'm right or wrong. And then I'll do anything I can to help win, so it's good that they'll listen to me. I'm glad that some guys listen and hopefully I can interact enough that I can give them something that can help us win games. And that's the number one thing. That's really all I care about. As a former defensive play caller, what is the defensive play calling process like? Well, I always think it's a collaborative process because everybody's involved in some things of defense, whether it's red zone, short yardage,

goal line, third down. And you've got to trust the coaches that you're with because as a coordinator, you don't have time to sit there and study everything during the week, especially a short week. So you have to have good coaches around. You've got to trust them. And when things don't work, you got to make some adjustments and then move on. But so far, from the short time that I've been here, it's been awesome that all the coaches, the DB coaches to the D-line coach and Mike, you know, it's been awesome.

With the limited offseason, how do you get to know your player skill sets? Well, I've done a couple things. Obviously, watching tape gives me a good indication. I've watched every game and I got write-ups on all those guys, all the players here. Things I think they need to improve on, things they do well, you know, all that. And then, like right now, I get tapes from them every week, workout tapes. They do drills. I give them a list of drills to do each week, and they'll send me by phone. So it keeps me occupied on Saturday and Sunday because I look at the drill tapes that they send, and then I'll critique them.

I'll tell them I want them to do this, I want them that they send, and then I'll critique them. I'll tell them I wanted to do this, I wanted to do that, and it's been pretty good. And finally, Haslett gives his thoughts on starting inside linebackers Jayon Brown and Rashawn Evans. Yeah, well, Rashawn was an outside linebacker at Alabama who's moved inside, so obviously he's got pass rush ability. He can cover a lot of ground. He's strong. He's got power lot of ground. He's strong.

He's got power in his play. He plays hard. I mean, he plays like his hair is on fire. Jayon has got really good cover skills. He's tough. He's really smart. He plays a number of different positions. He does a lot for the team.

I think there's some areas that he can improve in, like the other guys. But I see nothing but upside on both of them. I think we got a lot of interesting answers from Hazlitt there. I really love his evaluation of Jayon Brown and Rashawn Evans there at the end. I do like the angle that now he's the experienced coach on the staff to take over for Dean Pease, and I can kind of see why Mike Vrabel decided to bring on an older coach who's been through so many different things to kind of fill that void. I think there is

something to say for having experience and wisdom on your side, but we are going to hear from outside linebacker coach Shane Bowen next. Before we do, I want to tell you guys a little bit about rockauto.com. Chain stores have different price tiers for professional mechanics and do-it-yourselfers. rockauto.com's prices are the same for everybody and are reliably low. rockauto.com always offers the lowest prices possible rather than changing prices based on what the market will bear like airlines do. rockauto.com is for everybody and does not require a membership or an account login. RockAuto.com is a family business, and they've been serving auto parts customers online for 20 years.

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RockAuto.com Let's continue our sounds of the Titans and hear from Titans outside linebacker coach Shane Bowen. And I have to say, I was really impressed with the details of his answers here. Gave some very insightful information on some of the prospects at outside linebacker. Talked about the difference in the positions between inside linebacker and outside linebacker. I just really enjoyed his candor in this interview. I hope you guys enjoy it as well. He started off talking about certain players, and the first one that he mentioned was Kamalei Correa and and obviously Correa has been doing some boxing style workouts this all season to and try to improve some things in his game and Bowen just talks about that yeah I think uh

we've always talked about coordinated movements like when you try to rush the passer you got to be able to have your hands your hips your, your feet, all kind of in sync. And that's been an area for him that we've kind of been working on, trying to get those a little bit more in sync where everything's a little bit more natural to him in terms of rushing to give himself a chance to kind of get on edges and capture and do some of those things. But I've been pleased with him in these meetings, too. I think he's taken on a little bit of a leadership role, which we need in our room. I mean, he had a great year last year,

but obviously last year is over trying to build on it. And he's trying to carve out his role again, whatever that might be, whatever's asked of him. But I'm pleased with kind of his approach right now, leadership wise in our room. Next, Bowen talks about Titans new free agent signing Vic Beasley and what he's been like in this offseason. Yeah, I'm excited about him.

Obviously, with his history, he's led the league in sacks. He's had success doing it. I think our goal is to get him back to that level, to where he's impacting the game on third down for us, and then ultimately he's got to do some stuff on first, second down. That's the one thing Wake didn't really provide as much for us last year where I think bringing in a guy like Vic who's younger, who's played some first, second down, obviously,

that's a big aspect to his kind of development there, learning what we do, how he's going to fit in that role. But I'm excited about him. I'm excited what he brings. I think he, much like Harold in terms of third down rushing, he's got his fastball off the edge and then just trying to figure out ways to help ourselves defensively with him and Harold out there

and whoever else kind of emerges. That's kind of where we're at right now. But I'm excited to have him here. He's been good. He's been engaged. Been really had some time to meet with him one-on-one to get to know him a little bit and kind of go in a little bit more detail

because he's the one guy that hasn't been here. So everything's kind of new to him, the terminology, all these other guys. We're 300 level, 400 level where him, it's kind of new to him terminology all these other guys were were 300 level 400 level where him it's kind of starting from ground zero and it's more just equating terminology right now then Bowen speaks about working with new coach Jim Haslett and this is where he gives that answer on how the outside linebacker group is is more paired to the D-line than the inside linebacker group. Yeah, it's been great getting to know Haas.

Much like Dean, in my experience, just working with him, soaking up everything I can from him. He's been in the league a long time. He played in the league. He's seen it all. So very similar to how it was with Dean. Like nothing really surprises him. He's got different perspectives on things um and that's really been beneficial I think to us as a defensive staff and it's been really beneficial for me um just in terms of how I can relate it to my guys

uh in terms of us working together like I, I mean, there's things, but ultimately we're two different positions. Almost, to be honest, I think my group correlates more with the D-line than does the inside linebackers, you know? So, I mean, there's times we've got to do things together. But in terms of tied at him, like, I mean, we're kind of our own position group anyway. Bowen then goes back to talking about individual players and gives us an update on Derek Roberson and I thought this answer was very insightful about what Roberson needs to do to improve as a player so really enjoyed this answer here yeah I mean Roby's from the gate flash ability to rush the passer. I think the main thing with him right now is almost like what I just went into,

but consistency and ultimately his development being a first, second-down player. Like the run game, some of that type of stuff, taking the next step there really has been what's held him back a little bit in terms of that play time. But he definitely adds value in terms of that play time. But he definitely adds value in third down in passing situations. But I think the first second down stuff in terms of scheme, understanding, and the technique, which he's come a long way. He really has, and he's bought in, and he's dialed in this offseason.

But that's kind of one of the more disappointing things about not having this offseason. Like, year one to year two, like you saw with Harold, some of these other guys, like that offseason is huge for development. And that's where we're going to have to strive to hopefully get caught back up. Hopefully these guys are doing what they say they're doing in terms of working out and all the drills and all that type of stuff. But that's going to be a challenge for us, and that's something we're going to have to continue to stress,

probably more so even going into the season than what we normally do in terms of time allotment just because of this, not being able to do this offseason. Bowen then talked about how the position meetings are going right now since they are going on on Zoom, is it all football? Is there a little bit of yucking it up in there? What are those like? Yeah, as much as I want to be all football and technique,

these guys, I think they like to take 15, 20 minutes off of a meeting just talking. So, I mean, it's all good. We do all that stuff. We try to do different things, play games, have competitions, be creative with how we're teaching, how these guys are learning. But it's funny, like whenever we get them in a group setting between position groups, whether it's DBs, ILBs or D-line, OLBs, like usually the first 10 or 15 minutes of them just catching up and hounding one another. So, I mean, there is that point, that part of it. Obviously, it's not the same as if you're in the facility,

which we're going to do some different things next week to see if we can try to get these guys a little bit more engaged together just across these meetings. But that is a challenge with it. But they're enjoying each other's company on here. It's almost no different than a meeting room. Once we kind of get into it and get going, like I'm hounding them, they're hounding me, they're joking back and forth.

And then when it's time to learn, they're focused and locked in. So I think that's all kind of part of the teaching and learning environment. And then lastly, Bowen talks about the Titans' most prominent edge rusher, and that's Harold Landry. And he gives a really insightful answer again here where he talks about how it's possibly, I guess I should say, we all know that Harold Landry had that stretch of five straight sacks, and then he kind of tailed off at the end of the year.

And Bowen speaks to that and speaks to why that might be his fault and not Landry's. Yeah, I think that's a good question. I think it's all those factors that you kind of mentioned, whether he was a little more noticed and then obviously we're down. He played a lot of plays for us, man. He did probably too much, and that's on me. But we got to find ways to get some other guys that can take some stuff off of them too.

And I got to get those guys developed where we are willing and trusting them, putting them in the game, where we feel like they can make plays for us. But I think it was a combination of things. I think he is still adamant about developing his body, his strength, his stamina, all of those things. But in my mind, he played too many plays. I got to do a better job of not putting so much on him in terms of play

counting. Hopefully we get him at his best when we need him at his best down the stretch i hope you guys enjoyed bowen's answers as much as i did and i know this may be a little bit of a reach or a little bit of a stretch but based on how insightful he was there and how knowledgeable he seemed to be and how i guess well spoken he was about all of all his different players and and how, I guess, well-spoken he was about all of his different players and how he's coaching them. If he ended up calling plays, I really don't think I would be upset. I think it might be another Arthur Smith situation in the making.

So interesting to see right now if I had to pick somebody to call plays other than Mike Vrabel, I definitely would go with Shane Bowen. So we are going to jump into the few quick questions I have from the Friday mailbag so I didn't really advertise the Friday mailbag this week because I knew it would only be three shows and with everything going on right now in in this country in America and and around the world didn't necessarily feel like it was the right time to have people you know send me in a bunch of football questions or to talk non-stop football for five straight days and I've explained you know exactly why on earlier podcasts this week but I did get two questions from you guys and I want to make sure I get those answers so the first one came from Stephen Smith and his

question here basically was what can the Titans do to prevent another decline like 2009 after coming off a hot season when Cary Collins took over for Vince Young? Similar situation here with Ryan taking over for Mariota. My answer to that, Steven, is twofold. So one, Cary Collins was 36 years old during that season in which he led the Titans to a 12-3 record in his starts. So I think that Kerry Collins' age being so much different from Ryan Tannehill at 31, and it's not just a five-year gap from 31 to 36, either with the advances in technology and medicine over the past 12 years, quarterbacks and NFL players are playing longer than ever. If they choose to, of course they can.

So I think that's a big factor as Ryan Tannehill is still in the prime of his career and not at the end of his career. And then another aspect here, I think that the Titans offense was built around Chris Johnson at the time. And this offense is built around Derrick Henry and why we could debate back and forth who's the actual better player at their peak. I think that Derrick Henry's work ethic and how he'll respond if he does get a big contract

or get some money will be a little bit different than how Chris Johnson responded to getting his money. I think those two factors. Kerry Collins' age and where he was at in his career. And then the other focal point of the offense at the running back position being more reliable. In this case with Derrick Henry. I think those two reasons are why you should feel optimistic that we're not going to see a decline. Like we saw from 2008 to 2009.

And then Steven had another question another follow-up here uh he said for the Friday mailbag do you think Henry uh will resign with our record of not signing players after a hot season um I'm not quite certain of of the history there I mean I don't think that's fair necessarily to say that the Titans don't sign people after a hot season I mean look at Ryan Tannehill they just gave him three years 91 million dollars guaranteed after a hot you know 10 regular season games and then three playoff games so which he wasn't really hot for the playoff games he played well but he wasn't you know performing the way that he was in in the regular season because that's not what the Titans were trying to do but either way Steven I

don't think it's fair to say that the Titans don't sign people after hot seasons after you know they just brought back Ryan Tannehill after the hottest season of his career so that that's what I would say about that the next question that I have here comes from my guy rex green rex how are you doing his question here is is about a power back compliment to derrick henry he you know picked out a specific player here damian harris who is a member of the patriots he's basically asking what a trade would what kind of trade would be needed to get Damian Harris point out that he had a 4-5 combine 40 was a third round pick doesn't fumble has decent hands uh Rex I understand where you're coming from they're looking to get a player with a similar skill set to Derrick Henry uh Darrington

Evans does not offer that power uh he's more of a speed back he's not somebody who's gonna break through a bunch of tackles and everything like that. He gets a hole. He's going to burst through it and use his speed to take it to the house as a home run threat. So I understand what you're saying, but here's what I have to say about any kind of trade. The Titans are not making a trade for a running back and they sure aren't giving up a third round pick. We are having a discussion about whether the Titans will re-sign Derrick Henry because of the devaluation of the running back position. Running backs are simply not as important as other positions on the field.

And the Titans may have the most important running back in the NFL, but even the most important running back in the NFL is still a running back. And unfortunately unfortunately that position is currently devalued with the way that football is played in the NFL right now and with that in mind that devaluation of the position there's just no way that the Titans just spent a third round pick on a running back to compliment Derrick Henry franchise tag Derrick Henry and then are going to trade their next year's third round pick to bring another running back into the fold there's not enough snaps available at the position for that

now if Derrick Henry goes down for the year for some unforeseen reason he gets injured early on in the season then of course I could see the Titans going out and trying to get more of a power back to compliment Darrington Evans as they try to, you know, deal with that injury. But let's just be honest. If Derrick Henry gets hurt, like significantly hurt, one, the Titans are screwed anyway because the offense is built on the threat of Derrick Henry. And two, he's probably not going to be with the Titans after the season

at that point anyways. So, I mean, I guess at that point they would maybe look to trade and get somebody, but at that point, like I said, I don't think there's any running back that you could feasibly trade for that can replace Derrick Henry and keep this team at the level that it needs to be at. So, I just don't foresee the Titans doing anything like that. They most certainly aren't going to trade for a running back. But I will say that if none of the guys past Darrington Evans on the depth chart impress in camp and in the preseason, then the Titans certainly could look to get a cheap veteran later in the offseason closer to the regular season at a pretty good rate.

They could maybe give them a little bit more power back snaps. then they're going to be able to get out of Evans. So that's what I have to say about that. But that's the only two questions that I had. I will, you know, obviously let you guys know early on next week when to get those mail back questions in. Feel free to send them now. Eventually, you know, they're going to get read. I'm going to get to them just like I did today.

So we went over all of the news drops that we had from Thursday. We heard from the Titans defensive assistant coaches and Jim Haslett and Shane Bowen. And then we went over a few mailbag questions. I definitely do appreciate you guys. A lot of you guys have been very vocal with me on Twitter, supporting, you know, the end of Monday's podcast and everything like that. I really do appreciate that. Not all the responses that I have gotten have been positive. I understand that it is what it is.

I don't think I said anything offensive or anything too crazy, but we live in a crazy time. So anybody who's been positive and supported me, you know, putting my views out there, I really do appreciate that because it's, you know, it's a tough thing to do when you're speaking to a national audience like this, to put yourself out there. So not that I'm some, you know, victim or did something any, you know, anything special, but just saying the well wishes and the nice words definitely do mean a lot. And I appreciate all of you guys. And I'm happy to be a part of this family that we're

creating here on the Locked on Titans podcast. But now that you are done with this Friday edition, make sure you go check out the Locked on NFL Draft podcast. Never too early to start paying attention to the 2021 NFL Draft, and they're still breaking things down from the 2020 draft as well. But I hope you guys really do have a safe weekend. Take care of each other out there.

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