Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Post-Draft Depth Chart Review & 53-man Roster Projection: Defense/Special Teams

Episode Date: May 19, 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 Podcast every Monday through Friday.

Brian and Matt give you a national perspective on all of the latest NFL news, so make sure that you check out the Peacock and Williamson Podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, every weekday by subscribing on whatever platform you do stream. On today's Locked On Titans podcast, we are going to get into step two of our two-day event looking at the Titans' current depth chart on offense and defense and my early 53-man roster projection.

Of course, yesterday, we took a look at the offensive side of the ball. We went through the backfield. We went through the offensive line. We went through the pass catchers. Make sure that if you missed that, you go ahead and check out that edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. And to make sure you never miss a future episode of the Monday through Friday Daily Tennessee Titans content, I will be putting out.

Follow the Locked on Titans podcast or subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. But today we are getting into the defensive side of the ball. We are going to look at the front seven. We are also going to look at the secondary. But of course, any football roster includes the special teams unit. So we're also going to talk the Titans special teamers and how they fit in to the 53-man picture. So going over everything on the defensive side and in the special teams on today's Locked on Titans podcast.

Let's get it. We will be talking Tennessee Titans defense on today's show. And we all know that the defense will be new, but we all certainly hope that it is improved as well. Well, I'm going to talk about who the defensive starters are going to be today. But also, we're going to go through the entire depth chart on defense, and I'll tell you about who I see filling out the backup roles as well as we continue to move our way to an entire 53-man roster projection. So at the end of today's show, I'm not only going to recap the defense, but I'll recap the offense for you as well so you can hear all 53 names

that I think will be on the Titans roster when it's time to play some football. But we got to start with the front seven on defense. And that includes the defensive line. And of course, you have your three starters up front in the Titans base defense. Now remember, I always say that a lot of the game is played in sub package. Now remember, I always say that a lot of the game is played in sub-package. That means four defensive linemen, two linebackers, five defensive backs, or maybe one linebacker and six defensive backs.

Either way, it typically includes four down linemen. So we'll discuss things from that aspect as well. But in the Titans' base 3-4 defense with three down linemen, I see Jeffrey Simmons and Danico Autry as the five techniques, and then Tyre Tartt as the starting nose tackle. That's right, the incredibly performing undrafted free agent from the 2020 season. Yeah, he wasn't an all-pro or a Pro Bowl-level player, but for an undrafted free agent, I thought he definitely went above and beyond the expectations.

So those are my three starters on the D-line. Behind them, I have Daylon Mack. I do think that Daylon Mack in his second year will be able to make this roster just because there's a thin defensive line. Naquan Jones, the undrafted free agent that's in Titans rookie minicamp right now. I'm high on him. Maybe I'm just drinking the Naquan Jones Kool-Aid

a little too early, but I think he has a real chance to make this team. And then, of course, Larell Murchison, the fifth-round pick from the Titans draft class last year, I think does make this roster. So that's six defensive linemen there. Then, continuing in the front seven, looking at the linebacker group. At inside linebacker, I see Rashawn Evans and Jayon Brown getting those starting spots, but then Monte Rice, the Titans' new draft pick,

Brown getting those starting spots, but then Monty Rice, the Titans' new draft pick, and then David Long making up the backups at inside linebacker. Now, you take a look at the outside linebacker group. I have Harold Landry and Bud Dupree as the starters, Titans draft pick Rashad Weaver, hopefully, and then Derek Roberson as the backup outside linebackers. But of course, I have Ola Adeney as a special teamer who is also an outside linebackers, but of course, I have Ola Adani as a special teamer who is also an outside linebacker, making the roster as well. But of course, from a sub-package perspective, I see Jeffrey Simmons, Danico Autry rushing from the inside, Harold Landry, and Bud Dupree rushing from the outside with Jayon Brown

and Rashawn Evans on the field. Now, one thing I do want to point out here is I think that the Titans only really need five outside linebackers going into the season. The four that I mentioned, Landry, Dupree, Roberson, and Weaver. Of course, a fifth outside linebacker and Ola Adani, but I don't think Adani is really going to help in the way of pass rush. So that additional pass rush depth, in my opinion, comes from Rashawn Evans. We need to look at Rashawn Evans as a tweener this year. I've discussed the philosophy

for why the Titans should do that going into Rashawn Evans last season with the Titans most likely. But also when you use Rashawn Evans as a depth piece at outside linebacker, and I think that Rashawn Evans should get the third outside linebacker role for the Titans. That will allow you to get David Long and Jayon Brown on the field, and also allow you to get Monte Rice out on the field, so you can make a decision going forward in the future. The Titans have big choices to make at inside linebacker, with Rashawn Evans looking like he's going to leave the team after this year, and Jayon Brown on a one-year below market deal for him that he'll certainly get a promotion and below market deal for him that he'll

certainly get a promotion and get a raise for next offseason so it is possible the Titans lose both those guys they need to know if Monty Rice and David Long can man the inside linebacker spots as starters they need to answer that question and what would allow them to do that is answering another question can Rashawn Evans play outside linebacker and edge rush full-time? Well, if you give Rashawn Evans the third string edge rusher position and sub package, and you allow Monte Rice and David Long

to take turns playing that inside linebacker spot next to Jayon Brown, you get a multitude of different answers and try guys at different spots. So that's what I would like to see them do. But of course, the defensive line, Jeffrey Simmons, Tyre Tart, Danico Autry, and then their backups,

Daylon Mack, Naquan Jones, Larell Murchison, outside linebacker, Harold Landry, Bud Dupree, Derek Roberson, Rashad Weaver, Ola Adani,

inside linebacker, Rashawn Evans, Jayon Brown, Monty Rice, and David Long. So that's how I see the front seven of the Titans depth chart currently and who I also think is my projection for making the 53-man roster in the front seven as well. But we are going to move to the secondary in our next segment. Before we do that, I want to

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Text DRAFT to 231231. That's DRAFT, D-R-A-F-T, to 231-231. Message and data rates may apply. Titans fans, let's continue my depth chart review and my 53-man roster projection by jumping into the Titans secondary. And boy, did the secondary get a major facelift. If you look at the projected starters for the 2020 season compared to the projected

starters for the 2021 season, it is almost an entirely new group. So let's dive right in, of course, starting with the cornerback position. And quite frankly, things were looking pretty bleak before the draft. And I said all along before the draft, the Titans had to add a cornerback in the first two rounds. It was absolutely essential. And they took care of it very early on, taking Caleb Farley with the 21st pick in the draft so very excited to see the Titans make that move or the 22nd pick in the draft very excited

to see them make that move and add that sort of talent even if it comes with a little bit of risk with the back injury but I do see Caleb Farley as one of the Titans starters. You don't take a guy that high with that kind of talent and not intend to start him. So from my perspective, the starting cornerbacks for the Titans will be Janoris Jenkins and Caleb Farley. And when the Titans go to three cornerbacks, it will be Janoris Jenkins, Caleb Farley, and then Christian Fulton. That's who I think the top three cornerbacks will be. Now, right underneath them, I have Elijah Molden. I do think Elijah Molden will be able to make an impact on the Titans from day one. He's an older prospect. He's an intelligent prospect. His basketball IQ, his feel for the position are two of the biggest pluses on his scouting reports.

So for me, I think Elijah Molden will get a lot of work, but I've been talking a lot about versatility, not only in the offensive side of the ball, but in our last segment when I was talking about Rashawn Evans. And that theme continues here because Elijah Molden is a guy who I think not only can get snaps at cornerback, but also can play a little bit of safety as the Titans' third safety in their diamond packages as well, which if you've been listening to this show for any time, I bemoan and talk all the time about the diamond package and how important it is and how I'm kind of worried about how the roles break down.

I am much less worried now because of Elijah Molden as the Titans' fourth cornerback who can help with depth issues, with injuries as a cornerback, but also can help you at safety. But we'll talk more about that in just a second. After the top four cornerbacks, I have Kevin Johnson as cornerback number five. Remember when everybody was losing their freaking minds about Kevin Johnson being on this team? And I told you, guys, he's a fifth or sixth cornerback, a fourth cornerback. He's a depth piece.

It's not that big a deal. Well, Oprah shrugged Giff. I mean, duh. I freaking told you guys. Whatever. I know that everybody gets on me lately because I wasn't happy about the Titans draft. It says I'm being too negative and panicking. But remember the complete meltdown on Twitter when the Titans got Kevin Johnson and signed

him and how I said all along that that's ridiculous. And I was the optimistic Titans voice. So just remember these things when you disagree with me or get mad about how I feel. I'm preaching positivity and optimism more than I'm preaching negativity and panic. So anyways, KJ as the fifth corner. And then finally, I want Breon Borders on this team. You know, maybe I am just a prisoner of his performance in two games last year. But he's worth developing. He has actual talent.

He started for the Titans and had decent moments. I mean, that's more than Chris Jackson can say, who I have getting cut going to the Titans practice squad as a seventh round pick from last year. I don't see him making this roster over any of those six guys. So to me, the three obvious top tier starters are Jenkins, Farley, Fulton, Kevin Johnson, Elijah Molden, and Breon Borders. But the top three guys are Jenkins, Farley, and Fulton. But of course, I think depth pieces of Molden, Kevin Johnson, and Breon Borders would be excellent for the Titans secondary, completely remodeled from last year.

But let's talk about the safety position as well. So looking at safety, obviously Kenny Vaccaro is out of the picture, and you have Kevin Byard still remaining. Amani Hooker is going to step up into that role. I really like the signing of Matthias Farley for the Titans at safety. He's had plenty of snaps in his career actually playing defense, but also is considered one of the better special teams players in the league. So you get that versatility with Farley.

But you also have the name Dane Cruikshank. And Cruikshank showed some real promise at the end of the 2019 season on defense. He had been an excellent special teams player for that year, but he really showed promise at the end of the year against Baltimore in the playoffs on defense. He had been an excellent special teams player for that year, but he really showed promise at the end of the year against Baltimore in the playoffs on defense. But admittedly, if you've listened to the show again, I've been skeptical of Dane Crookshank as an actual defensive safety. I love what he can do as a defensive back, and I think he has real value as a special teamer, and I think he has real value there.

But quite frankly, I don't see the value on defense. And when you consider that Dane Croikshank played one play last year, it did happen to be an interception, but was hurt for the majority of the season. I don't see how the Titans can count on him going forward. Now, I think ultimately he does make this roster. This Titans brass and this Titans front office will want one more look at Dan Cruikshank

before they ultimately cut bait. But in my mind, he's going to have his safety position on defense taken away by Elijah Molden. That's what I've been talking about. So a lot of the time last year, the Titans had Kenny Vaccaro, Kevin Byard, and Amani Hooker all on the field at the same time. A lot of the time, they would allow Kenny Vaccaro to come up closer to the line of scrimmage because quite frankly, Kenny Vaccaro's pass coverage and man coverage ability has deteriorated as he's gotten later in his career.

He was never a very bursty, change of direction, specific type safety anyways. He was more of a come downhill, read the offense physical guy, so that was always more of his wheelhouse anyway. So the Titans didn't want him playing in the back end, playing deep free safety, single high safety, covering everybody in the distance. He didn't want that. They wanted back end, playing deep free safety, single high safety, covering everybody in the distance. He didn't want that. They wanted Kenny Vaccaro almost playing like a linebacker by the end of the year, coming up towards the line of scrimmage.

So they would have Kenny Vaccaro come up, play a sub-linebacker role, be out on the field, and then they would have Amani Hooker and Kevin Byard as the actual safeties out on the field. And what that would allow is the Titans to just have more versatility. They're better at covering tight ends, better at covering running backs because you have a safety at a linebacker spot, and then two true safeties out there covering the back end as well. Are the Titans going to be able to keep that up? Well, they're only going to be able to keep that up, in my opinion, if Elijah Molden is

able to play that third safety role. And in my opinion, Elijah Molden should fill the Kenny Vaccaro role, or Kevin Byard should fill the Kenny Vaccaro role, playing up in the linebacker spot. Have Elijah Molden in the Kevin Byard or Kenny Vaccaro role, where he's more closer to the line of scrimmage, and continue to allow Imani Hooker, who is currently the Titans' best deep free safety, continue to allow him to play that role in diamond package of course I want Kevin Byard to move to the Kenny Vaccaro strong safety role I want Imani Hooker to move to the free safety role that we associate with Kevin Byard but here's why I don't understand why people freak out when I say that the Titans defensive system requires versatility from the safety position Imani Hooker and Kevin Byard both are going to be asked to cover deep they're going to be asked to cover

short underneath they're going to be asked to do deep. They're going to be asked to cover short underneath. They're going to be asked to do cover two, where both of them are split in the back half of the field. The Titans don't play that Seattle Seahawks style of defense, where you constantly have Earl Thomas deep, and you constantly have Cam Chancellor up towards the box. They don't do that. That tips your hand.

They want safeties who can do everything at all times, so the defense never truly knows what's about to happen. And I believe that Elijah Molden, Kevin Byard, and Imani Hooker can all do that. I do not believe that Matthias Starley or Dane Cruikshank can do that. So in my mind, you get Elijah Molden in as that third safety, allow Elijah Molden, Kevin Byard, and Imani Hooker to rotate in all those positions, and it makes a lot more sense for the Titans to continue doing what they obviously like to do schematically on defense.

But that's going to do it for the purely defensive side of the ball. We talked the defensive line, Simmons, Tartt, Autry, Dalen Mack, Naquan Jones, Laurel Murchison. We talked outside linebacker, the edge position, Harold Landry, Bud Dupree, Derek Roberson, Rashad Weaver, Ola Adani. We talked inside linebacker Rashad Evans, Jayon Brown, Monty Rice, David Long. We talked cornerback Janoris Jenkins, Caleb Farley, Christian Fulton, Kevin Johnson, Elijah Moulton, Breon Borders.

We talked safety, Kevin Byard, Amani Hooker, Matthias Farley, Dan Cruikshank. We are going to get into special teams next, and I'm also going to recap the entire 53-man roster projection for the Tennessee Titans. Before we get into that, though, I do want to tell you guys about our sponsor, BetOnline.ag, the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. Baseball is in full swing. NHL playoffs are here. NBA playoffs are here. You have UFC and MMA action as well. Before the next event, make sure you head over to betonline.ag. Use your laptop or mobile device

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Use promo code LOCKED15 for 15% off at BuiltBar.com We have gone through the offensive side of the ball. We have gone through the defensive side of the ball. But you cannot forget about the third phase of any football team and that is special teams. So I'm going to talk about the purely phase of any football team, and that is special teams. So I'm going to talk about the purely special teamers here to round out the 53-man roster projections as well as giving you a little bit of a recap of the total project. But before we do, I want to remind you guys about the Locked On Today podcast hosted by the great Peter Bukowski.

It's all of the biggest sports stories in every major sport in under 20 minutes every single weekday. Make sure that you check out the Locked On Today podcast wherever you get your podcast. But we are going to dive into the special teams here. And of course, no real surprises at punter. At punter, Brett Kern, the weapon, the longtime Tennessee Titan, the all pro. Brett Kern, the weapon, the longtime Tennessee Titan, the all-pro. Now, outside of punter, which is no real surprise,

and Brett Kern is the only punter that's going to make this roster, we have the kicker position, and right now, the Titans have Tucker McCann starting at the top of the depth chart. They also got Josh Heibel from Ohio State as an undrafted free agent that they're going to be taking a look at. But in my opinion, ultimately, at the end of the offseason, when the Titans have to play games, Steven Gostkowski will be back on this roster. So I'm going to go ahead and pencil him in as the Titans kicker,

the only kicker that they will keep on the roster, and, of course, the starter. And then finally, you have the Titans' long snapper, and they went out, they had some trouble with long snapper last year. Bo Brinkley basically had a space jam moment and lost his talent, unfortunately, after he was put on the COVID list. Ended up in Gostkowski, missing a bunch of kicks early. Ended up in Brett Kern getting hurt against the Bengals because of a bad snap.

The Titans went ahead. They got Matt Overton, I believe, and then Ostrich, who both have been let go. And ultimately, the Titans went out and signed last year's all-pro long snapper, Morgan Cox, who had spent the previous every season of his career with the Baltimore Ravens. So the Titans really dedicated themselves to having a good special teams unit this year with some of the pieces that they added, none more than Morgan Cox, the long snapper. So Brett Kern at punter, Gostkowski at kicker, Morgan Cox at long snapper.

That's the final three guys we got to talk about. So that concludes my 53-man roster projection. Let's summarize it one more time in totality. At the quarterback position, I think Ryan Tannehill and Logan Woodside are the only quarterbacks on the roster. At running back, I have Derrick Henry, I have Brian Hill, I have Darrington Evans, and I have Jeremy McNichols with Kari Blossom game at fullback making the roster as well. Then at wide receiver, I have six guys making it. AJ.J. Brown, Josh Reynolds, Cam Batson, Nick Westbrook-Akina, Dez Fitzpatrick, and Racey McMath.

Tight end, I have three guys making it. Jeff Swaim, Anthony Ferkser, and Jared Pinkney. And the reason I only picked three tight ends is because I think one of the Titans tackles, Kendall Lamb, can add value at tight end to help them save a roster spot there, which moves us to offensive tackle where I have Taylor LeJuan, Dylan Radins, Ty Cimbrillo, Kendall Lamb, and David Questenberry who I think at five offensive tackles for the Titans a lot of that has to do with the fact

that Ty Cimbrillo can double as a guard and speaking of guard I have Roger Saffold, Nate Davis, and then Aaron Brewer the undrafted free agent from last year Ben Jones starting at center so Brewer can double as a guard and a center then you have Sam Brillo who also can double as a guard versatility with the nine guys up front for the Titans on the defensive side of the ball at defensive line Jeffrey Simmons, Tyer Tart, Danico Autry, Daylon Mack, Naquan Jones, and Laurel Murchison. Outside linebacker, you have Harold Landry, Bud Dupree, Derek Roberson, Rashad Weaver, Ola Adani.

And I'm not going to put six outside linebackers in because I believe that an inside linebacker, Rashawn Evans, can help out as a third or fourth edge rusher for the Titans in a way that will keep them from having to use six roster spots on edge rushers but that does bring me to inside linebacker where I have the Titans having four Rashawn Evans, Jayon Brown, Monty Rice, and David Long then to the secondary cornerback Janoris Jackrabbit Jenkins, Caleb Farley, Christian Fulton, Kevin Johnson, Elijah Molden, Breon Borders at safety, Kevin Byard, Imani Hooker, Matthias Farley, Dane Cruikshank, special teams, Brett Kern, Steven Gostkowski, and Morgan Cox.

So that's going to do it for my 53-man roster projection, my depth chart review for tomorrow's show. We're going to do a little bit of a roundup of some of the fun things that we like to talk about. I'm going to go over a roundup of the latest power rankings after the NFL draft. I'm going to take a look at the Titans' way-too-early mock drafts for 2022 that came out after the draft. Also going to give you a little bit of a Roland's rant on the Titans analytics department and also a veteran free agent that was signed recently who I think the Titans should have taken a look at.

But that's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host Tyler Rowland and this was locked on Titans