Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Offseason Syllabus - Key Offseason Dates, Vrabel's Year-End Presser & Final Goodbyes From Players

Episode Date: January 23, 2020

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans. I look at the offseason as almost like a college course. There are many tests along the way, and at the end of the course, you're going to get a grade based on a bunch of different individual battles. There's a bunch of pop quizzes that show up all of a sudden. A player goes down to injury, or someone you thought you were going to re-sign doesn't come back or someone doesn't pick up a certain option. You have a free agent lined up. Someone takes him.

The draft doesn't fall the way you planned. A bunch of different pop quizzes, but there are also some big tests that you know ahead from looking at the syllabus. You can look ahead and you know on this date you have a big test. So we know that there are a couple individual dates out there that will mean a lot to this Tennessee Titans team based on the situation they are in. So look at this as a little bit of a syllabus Thursday for the Tennessee Titans offseason.

We are going to go over the offseason schedule and let you guys know all of those little important dates that we need to pay attention to and why. So that's what we will focus on first. And then just to keep this school analogy going, once we have all of our work done and we've gone over our entire syllabus and the entire schedule, we're going to have just a little bit of fun to round things out. I am going to play you the season ending press conferences from head coach Mike Vrabel and a couple of the players in our final segment, just so you guys can take in everything they had to say before we let go of this season, this magical season that the Titans had one last time.

As soon as the season ends for most teams, it is time to dive into draft mode. The evaluation process begins. Tons of scouts, regional, pro, and college scouts from all organizations start diving into tape of prospects all over the country. And that all comes to a head with our first important date, and that is the beginning of the NFL Scouting Combine. It'll be February 24th through March 2nd. The Titans, of course, will be there. John Robinson, Mike Vrabel always make sure to make an appearance.

A lot of conversations go on at the Combine between some of the top executives in the NFL, trades, different transactions. Some of the groundwork is laid for those at the Combine. It is one of those moments where all the important people in the NFL are all in one place. So obviously there is a lot of information being traded and a lot of work being done behind the scenes. The next date is possibly the most important date of the offseason for the Tennessee Titans, and that is February 25th. On that date, it is the first day that you can franchise tag or transition tag an unrestricted free agent on your team.

So that would include Ryan Tannehill and Derrick Henry. What will be done with their contract situations? The Titans will have until March the 10th at 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time to make a decision on who they will use the franchise or transition tag on, or if they will use it at all. So that is a very important window for this Tennessee team to see what they want to do going forward. The next big date would be free agency and the legal tampering window where agents and players are allowed to legally have conversations about contracts starts on March the 16th and goes until free agency opens on March the 18th. Then the league meetings take place from March 29th to April 1st,

where all the owners get together, talk about different changes that will go on with the league. Obviously, a CBA negotiation is coming up, so this will be a very, very important meeting for the NFL. Then the highlight of the NFL offseason, April 23rd through April 25th, the NFL draft in Las Vegas. The Titans have a lot of work to do in restocking this roster with young talent. This will be one of the most important drafts of John Robinson's tenure so far. From May 1st to May 11th, teams have the opportunity to open up their rookie minicamp. So whoever the Titans do select, that's the first time they will start to get to work with them. And then a very important date, an interesting date, May the 4th.

May the 4th be with you for Star Wars fans out there. That is the deadline for the Titans to decide whether they are going to pick up the fifth year option for their 2017 first round picks, Corey Davis and Adoree Jackson. A big decision coming from John Robinson on those two. Then July 15th, this will be the deadline for the Titans to work out a multi-year extension with whoever they decided to put the franchise tag on. After July 15th, the Titans do not have the opportunity to sign that player to a multi-year extension.

They have to let them play on the franchise tag for that one season. And then they're an unrestricted free agent again. In mid-July, training camp will start for the Titans. August the 6th, the Hall of Fame game will happen in the preseason, is officially kicked off. And then September 5th, all rosters must be cut down to 53 for September the 10th, when the NFL regular season will kick off again. And as we make our way through the NFL offseason, I will be here with you Monday through Friday on the Locked on Titans podcast, breaking down every free agent signing, looking at

every possible draft pick, and giving you guys all the news and notes out of Nashville while having a focus on the X's and O's. So make sure that you subscribe to the show on whatever platform you listen to podcasts. Up next, we are going to hear from head coach Mike Vrabel and his season-ending press conference. Are you the type of fan that knows football so well

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Dot a G today. You play, you win, you get paid. Yeah, you know, there's change every year. You know, it's going to be the players, there's going to be turnover in the roster, there's going to be turnover like there is every year in the coaching staff. You know, I have to take some time and, some time and be able to do what's best for

the team, to be able to identify who's the best person and what's the best situation for our players. You always want to try to do that. You always want to do what's best for the players and the team and hopefully there'll be continuity and

again, that's a process that we've begun and will continue to do. You know, I never want to be the coach that keeps people from doing things that they want to do. I've had that happen to me. So, happy for Kerry. And, again, he's on his way to Columbus. There's a lot of options as far as being able to bring guys in to interview. Again, I want to take my time. I want to make sure that you've heard me talk about things with the staff.

It's important that I'm comfortable with the person that's going to be in that role. So, again, this is not something that's going to be done overnight. And then we'll make sure that we do what's best for the team. Well, I mean, I didn't – same way I didn't prepare the speech in the locker room after the game. I would rather have stood in front of them and talked to them about keys to winning the Super Bowl. That didn't happen. I thanked them. I'm thankful for

their effort. I'm proud to say that I coach them. Talked to them about what they represent away from here. Their family, this organization, their careers. Just reminders to always put the team first, to celebrate this season, that this isn't, you know, as disappointed as we are, this isn't a funeral. This should be a celebration of a team that battled, that competed, and we have a long way to go. You know, we have to host some of those games. You know, We have to get to the point where we host them,

but I think that we improved. I think we're a better team now than we were at any point in the season. I think we're better than we were last year. Those are the things that I talk to them. I ask them to thank everybody in the building that helped them do their job. That's important to me. I think when things get hard, those are the only things that you can grasp onto. You know, the harder it gets, you have to, you know, to make

sure that your circle's as tight as it can be and that, you know, the players were the ones that ultimately got us out of that. I think the leadership from those players did that. There's going to be ups and downs through the course of every season, and hopefully our staff and myself and everybody involved can be able to get it corrected as quickly as possible. But the credit all goes to the players.

Every time we win and every time that we do things well on the field, the credit goes to the players. Well, I think Ryan did a fantastic job. I'm happy and proud for him that he was able to come in in the seventh game and lead us to the AFC Championship game. He also was today selected into the Pro Bowl, which is a huge honor for someone that came into the seventh week. You know, now John and I, you know, we'll meet and we'll talk about the roster, about the free

agents, about contracts. You know, our focus has always been about beating the Chiefs. That didn't happen. So now our focus is on, you know, the offseason. Yeah, I thought there was good production. I think that, you know, Jeffrey, you know, worked his way back. He worked hard to get his self back. Told him, you know, it would have been easy for him to not do that, to kind of tap out and just kind of punt this year, and he didn't do that. He battled through and battled through a lot of soreness like a lot of players. And, you know, he cares and I'm excited to continue to work with him.

You know, A.J. blossomed. Love his attitude. It's fun to coach. Just this is the worst day of coaching, you know, now until the players come back because there's no players. You know, that's, you know, now until the players come back because there's no players. You know, that's – you don't coach – I never got into coaching to evaluate players or to watch tape. I got into coaching because I wanted to make players better,

just like the coaches that made me better. And so this is the worst time of really my year. And for them, that's probably their best time of the year. They're getting the hell out of here. You know? And, you know, so again, I can't wait for these guys to get back already to try to help them. You know, Monty Hooker played a lot for us, special teams,

safety, did a lot of different roles. He's, you know, learned a lot of different schemes and positions for a rookie. David Long really showed the ability to find a football. He's an instinctive player. So, again, we'll have to keep developing them, the ones that didn't help us as much as others or maybe that were injured and not available. Those guys need to take a big jump

from their first year to their second year. You know, John and I are going to put together the most competitive 90-man roster that we possibly can. We talk about it. And then at that point in time, then we move the roster around and get it down to 53 and get 10 guys on a practice squad that we feel like, you know, we want to continue to work with. That's how the roster goes.

Again, I love coaching our football team. These guys played. They embraced the effort and finish. And, you know, we'll get better like we have to each and every year. Mike, you guys – Something like we need to be faster on the back end to keep up with their receivers. We need to be able to hit somebody like Mahomes more. Do you make comparisons like that?

You know, that's all part of the evaluation process is trying to find the best players at each position. And if they're fast and they can do their job, great. If they're, you know, whatever their skill set may be. they can do their job, great, if they're, you know, whatever their skill set may be. But, you know, we just didn't play well enough yesterday and, you know, to win. Again, the thing that I'm probably most proud of Derek is his leadership ability improved. I think he went from a good running back to a very good running back. And that all will work itself out. But he became a leader. I think he helped lead this football team.

I think he helped carry my message and our staff's message into the locker room. I think his durability, his effort, his toughness allowed him to be a leader. I think that when he was excited and he talked to guys on the field or in the locker room, they listened and I just wanted to make him aware of that, that you know he was starting to become that and he needs to understand what his potential is in that regard. I think everybody just got to continue to improve. As the quarterback play and Marcus' play or Ryan's play, as one unit gets better, the other one starts to get better.

I think everybody feeds off each other. As we run the ball better, the blocking gets better. As we get open quicker, the blocking gets better. As we get open quicker, the blocking gets better. As we block better, you know, the quarterback completes more passes. I mean, that's how it's going to go. You know, Nate improved. We played with a rookie, you know, and he got better, you know, and Jack got better.

You know, we got Taylor back from, you know, his time away. And, you know, Ben was a mainstay. And Roger continued to improve. But it all goes hand in hand. It's not just some magic potion that they started to improve. I think it gradually increased. And as one unit started to play better, the other one started to obviously improve. And they feed off each other.

It'd be great. It'd be great for our fans, the way they supported us. The other one started to obviously improve, and they feed off each other. It would be great. It would be great for our fans, the way they supported us all year. Very appreciative of it. The excitement. We wish we would have come home winners last night and find ways to get all those people to the Super Bowl. It's unfortunate that that didn't happen. So we can continue to try to build the momentum from the season

and get back to that in the offseason. And hopefully we can carry the confidence over from this year to next year. That was head coach Mike Vrabel, audio courtesy of titansonline.com. Next, I'm going to let you guys hear some of the player reaction from the day after the season ended. We will hear from Logan Ryan, and then A.J. Brown, Kevin Byard, Taylor LeJuan, and finish off with Kenny Vaccaro. You feel great.

You feel great about the year. You know, super thankful for the people in this building. Took it really far this year and made a lot of people believe. So many people reached out about the joy that we brought to the city and kind of got the franchise believing again and kind of got that Eddie George era back in the air of the Titans are for real. The Titans are contenders. The Titans have guys that know what they're doing up top and players that care and got the right players in the building that play the right way and play as physical and hardcore

as you can play with these modern day rules and bring a smash mouth brand of football to the South, which I think is a great reflection of the area that we live in. I mean if I could if I could foresee the future then I would just start betting on games like they did in Back to the Future you know but I can't I don't think anybody knows that so you know I think spoke with John and stuff and he doesn't even know that I think everybody right now was so locked in and trying to win games. And I kid you not, all I wanted to do was pour my heart and soul into this franchise. I wanted to make it a better place.

If I were to leave, I wanted to make it a better place when I came in, and I felt like I did that. And I signed up for three years, and that's what the Titans offered me. I took it. I moved my family down here. I gave them three years, played in every game I possibly could, played every snap with my heart and soul. And right now I'm looking for a job.

So hopefully, you know, if they can extend it and work something out, that would be great. But as of right now, that's what my contract was, and I fulfilled my end of the bargain, and they did as well. And we were able to have a great run this year. I don't want to live with anxiety. There's uncertainty in life with everything. So no, I mean, like I said, I signed up for that and I fulfilled that.

I'm happy to play over 1200 snaps this year, to have the year I had, the year we had as a team, to just be so happy to be here. And that's all I could have asked for. When this day was going to come, regardless, and I'm happy it came after the AFC championship I wish it would have came after the Super Bowl but I mean it wasn't for a lack of trying so this day was going to come these questions are going to come and I think it was a great marriage for both sides for me coming here and I told them I was happy that they believed in me and allowed me to expand my role leaving New England and allowed me to grow as a player and a leader and I feel like I was able to do that here.

Just all around, honestly. Just try to make the things I do good now even better and the things I need to work on, you know, and just try to really just handle those things. Tom Brady told me, Tom Brady told me, work on the things you need to work on. So, like, so you won't really have those flaws. You know, everybody works hard, but if you work hard at the things you need to work hard on, you know, those are the people that are successful. And that really stuck with me.

I fell short on my goals, you know, but that's the good thing about it. I'm blessed to come back next year and get to try again and say how it goes. I don't like to share them, but I share them. 1,500 yards, 15 tubs. I'm going to say how it goes with myself. It's just going to go back into the work I put in all season.

In college, I could still go talk to my friends and everything, but it's different now. Everybody's going their separate ways. Some guys I probably won't play with again. I'd be lined up against. But it's definitely different. It's definitely a blessing.

I definitely came a long way. Times are really hard at certain times. I fought my way through that. I'm really blessed to be in this situation, even making it to the AFC Championship game, you know. So we're a family first, anything. You know, we really care about each other. You know, that's one thing I can't say about this team.

We are a family. We look out for each other. You know, I'm looking forward to that and just trying to, like, keep that going, you know, for years to come. I think anybody that comes to this locker room is going to understand how hard we play as a team, and that's our calling card. So I think that's always going to be the foundation. That's always going to be the first thing that we're going to preach

and that very big is going to preach is this team is playing hard, playing super fast and aggressive. You know, the coaches, they figure out the scheme stuff, but as players, that's one thing that we were always going to hold ourselves to and that standard is playing super hard and aggressive. So I think that foundation has took us always to the AFC Championship game. So, you know, it's a couple things here and there that we feel like we could have done better to make it to the Super Bowl.

But, you know, that's neither here or there. But at the end of the day, the foundation is definitely there. No, most definitely, man. I mean, that's always the first goal going into the football season is winning our division. I haven't been able to do that since I've been here with the Titans. So that has to be the number one goal next year to win a division because we all know, we all understand that hosting these playoff games is, you know, it's kind of making a little

bit easier to win the games, but the things we was able to accomplish to go to Houston on the road to get into the playoffs, to go beat the Patriots at their home stadium, and to go beat the Ravens, and you know, all those are hostile environments, so I'm proud that we was able to do the things we was able to accomplish against I mean being underdogs and all those games so I mean it's just a special year but most definitely being able to host a playoff game is next on my list for sure. I think just guys really had to reflect and understand what got us here you know we have a talent group of men very talented group of men. We all know everybody's

not going to be here next year, but we'll lead up to John and be able to retool us and find different guys. Hopefully, we can retain a lot of our free agents as well, bring some guys back. I think the main thing is just to understand that when we do come back here next year in April, we're building again and building up for the next year, build the momentum, understand that what got us here, the hard work, the amount of work that we put in, the amount of hours that we put in watching film, that's the foundation. That's how you give yourself a chance. You know, of course, you need a lot of other things to happen in the season.

You know, we battle some injuries. We battle different things like that. But the work always comes first. And that's one thing I know for a fact about this team and this group of men that the work was put in and it got us to where we're at. So it's no point of changing. I was always told by my coach in college that when you have success one year, you know, you have to come back and do the same exact thing the next year, if not better. So I think that has to be a blueprint.

Whatever guys did in the offseason as far as their own training regimen, do the same thing, but do it a little bit more. Do an extra rep, do an extra sprint and those things. And maybe that'll be the extra push, the extra inch that we can get to make it to the Super Bowl. I still think we have a great nucleus of leadership, even young leadership. A lot of young players that played in this system that are going to be here next year. They had a taste of success. They had a taste of what playoff football is like. So we had to take that into next year. Regardless of who's going to be in this locker room,

I think guys are going to understand who the Tennessee Titans are and what we're all about and what we stand for. And then, you know, coming in, I think those guys will understand and they'll fall in the line just like everybody else has done, just like the free agents that we had come in this year. So, again, just really thankful and blessed to be able to be in this organization and play with this group of men because I really built a bond of brotherhood with a lot of these different guys. So I really hope and wish that everybody can come back. You know, like in college, everybody just come back for the next semester and be together. But I'm going to try to make sure I'm reaching out to all my guys in the offseason because,

like I said, it's just tough the way the season ends. It kind of ends abruptly. You don't really get to say your goodbyes and stuff like that. So, no, it's just tough. You know, I wish it worked out playing one more game two weeks from now, but we'll learn from this. We'll grow from this. I think we're a better team than people give us credit for.

Going into next year, I don't think people are going to sleep on us. I think we need to go in and play. Tannehill did a great job. He did a great job moving the pocket, getting the ball out. We have keys every game and in the huddle he'd get in and you know kind of remind each guy like hey these are our keys make sure we do this make sure we do that then give us the play before the

drive started and you know he did a great job. I think he's done a great job of the energy and you know just the offense as a whole has worked very well the second half of the season. Just try to grow each and every day personally, physically, mentally and you know make sure that you go into next year knowing that you're capable of doing what we did this offseason or this postseason and so you know just to be a part of this team is I'm proud to be a part of it And I'm proud to keep moving forward And keep taking care of those building blocks Moving forward to where we can get that prize at the end

You'll never get to share this moment With certain teammates You just don't know what's going to happen It's a crazy league I went through it like two years ago You just never know what's going to happen A little bit of both for me There's a lot of guys I think in this locker room

When we were 2-4, they didn't know that we had AFC Championship in our hearts. They didn't know that we had the ability to do that. And I think we gained that. I think the majority of the people, obviously the whole roster is not going to flip upside down, so some of the younger players, some of the

30-40, however many players come back, they now know we can do it. And that's big to me because the belief, that's the first step. If you don't believe it, you're never going to make it. And just having that in their minds when we go through OTAs and we go through training camp, I think that can be a huge stepping stone for the next step in our program.

But it's tough, though, because you want to make it to the Super Bowl, you want to win the Super Bowl. But I was listening to what Ray Lewis had a little speech I saw on Twitter today. He was just saying there's only one team that's going to be happy, whether it's next week or it's San Fran or it's Kansas City. So 31 other teams have the same taste in the round, whether you went 3-13 or you won the AFC Championship, you have the same taste in your mouth at the end of the year.

I'm sad we didn't make it to the Super Bowl at the same time though. I just got so much joy out of how far we made it, how far guys strived to be better, believed in everything Vrabel was preaching, everything our defense was preaching. For me, the sky's up for me. I don't know. I'm sure some guys are down in the dumps, but I'm not that way. I think we took a step in that direction.

I mean, unless great means winning the Super Bowl, I don't know. I think when you're one of the final four teams out of 32, I think that can be considered great. But I don't think that's where our story ends, though. I think we have much more left. I mean, that just goes back to the belief thing. If we can beat the Ravens, the Patriots. We had a game in Houston that was all or nothing.

And then we go to Kansas City. We can do that. We can handle a lot of situations. Those are two top offense in the league. Patrick Mahomes doesn't get hurt. I'd argue that they probably would have been the number one offense in the league too. There's a lot of good we can grab from this season. You have to love hearing from all of

the titans players about the brotherhood that they've built and about how everyone works hard they're always studying film they're always doing the right things and they have a bond together and feel like they've set the foundation for something special in the future just have to love all of those comments even after a loss so that is going to do it for today's show. I'm going to be back with you guys tomorrow talking a little bit of Senior Bowl this weekend as we transition into talking free agents, drafts, player reviews, and everything. So make sure that you are locked in here

on the Locked on Titans podcast as I break everything down for you throughout the offseason. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.