Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Pursuing Clowney, Robinson Comments on Casey Trade, Mock Draft Round-Up & Friday Mailbag

Episode Date: March 20, 2020

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, the sting of the Jarrell Casey trade still sits in my gut and it leaves me wondering will the Titans get the clown or be the clown after free agency falls into place? We are going to talk today about where the Titans currently sit within the Jadavian Clowny race, who are their competitors, and where the Titans currently sit within the Jadavian Clowney race, who are their competitors, and where the Titans could possibly have a leg up when stacking their offer up against

the competition. We also will talk about John Robinson's first comments about that Jarrell Casey trade and talk about what he had to say. Also, there have recently been some running back transactions in the NFL that can give us some pretty valuable lessons about how the Titans should handle Derrick Henry's contract going forward after placing the franchise tag on him early Monday morning. Then we have some other things to get to as we head off into the weekend. I owe you guys a mock draft roundup so now that some free agent parts have moved around the mock drafts and the general idea and the general flow of the draft can take more shape and we can get a clearer vision of exactly what could happen or a more likely path to what could

happen for the Titans in the draft so we will take a look at a few of the draft communities projections from around the different sites as we like to do. And then, of course, we will get back to a Friday mailbag. Got a bunch of questions from you guys on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans. So make sure you send those in throughout all of next week as well. Get ahead of the game. But we will answer all of those as we head off into a weekend.

Hope you guys are staying safe out there. We are only five days into free agency. So much has happened that we head off into a weekend. Hope you guys are staying safe out there. We are only five days into free agency. So much has happened that we need to pay attention to, but there are also a ton of possibilities of what could happen over the weekend. So we're going to talk about all of those today. Let's get it. We got a report on Thursday from Greg Bell from the Seattle News Tribune just reporting on the most recent status of Jadavia and Clowney, and it appears that there are only three teams in the race for his services right now. The incumbent, the Seattle Seahawks, of course,

and then the Tennessee Titans. As we know, it's very public at this moment in time that the Titans are pursuing Jadavion Clowney. And then the New York Jets, who also have the ability to pay Clowney what he wants and also have a need on the edge. Here is the kicker. We have also got multiple reports throughout the week that Clowney is not yet receiving the asking price that he wants, and it makes sense with the risks that come with Clowney in terms of his health, his production, and things of that nature that we have talked about throughout the week. Clowney at this moment in time is looking at a deal for $20 million in that range, wants to be paid around the Aaron Donald, Khalil

Mack mark, but it appears that most teams are only willing to go to about the $16-17 million range for Clowney. And when you look at which teams have the ability to actually pay that, it gives you a little bit more optimism that the Titans may be able to make a play. So when you consider where the Titans currently stand with their cap space, they were at around, and of course these are projections, but they are pretty knowledgeable projections. The Titans were about $36-37 million before you add in Vic Beasley's $9.5 million. And at this moment in time, we don't know exactly what his exact cap hit will be out of that $9.5 million.

But if we say that it's at $9.5 million, but if we say that it's at $9.5 million and we found out late on Wednesday night that Dennis Kelly's cap hit is going to be at about $3 million, then that would bring the Titans down to about $25, $24.5 million. Maybe if the projections and Vic Beasley's deal is a little bit more team-friendly than expected, they could be at about $26-27 million in cap room as we stand right now. The Jets are the only team out of the three that could possibly compete, and they are in a similar situation, looking to be around $26-27 million in cap room after their signings. This is where the optimism comes in.

The Seattle Seahawks are in a different situation with their cap. Right now, based on the projections on SpotTrack.com and OverTheCap, some of the more reliable salary cap related websites, they have the Seahawks at about $20 million in cap space. And that's without the signings that they have made recently, Bruce Irvin, the signings that they have made recently, Bruce Irvin, Cedric Aboye, Brandon Schell, and Luke Wilson. So it appears that the Titans and the Jets would actually be able to pay Clowney that $16 to $17 million route, and the Seahawks may be able to do so, but they would have to do a little bit more maneuvering to make that happen.

There is also this to point out, a very good point made by Two Tone Blue Nation on Twitter about the state income tax rates in the three destinations. New York is obviously the highest at 8.82% and then Seattle is at 2.25% but there are also multiple games that get played in California who has a much higher tax rate for the Seattle Seahawks since they have a California team in their division. Two California teams in their division. So that's two road games every year at a higher tax rate. If you are unaware, the players in the NFL pay the tax on that game check of where they played the game. So if you played in Tennessee, you pay the state tax rate in Tennessee on that game check.

And for most of you who live in Tennessee and those who don't, probably know the tax rate for state income tax in Tennessee is zero. Very similar to Florida and Texas. So what that does also, Nevada. So what that does is it gives the Titans a money advantage. They can give Jadavion Clowney the same exact money, but it'll be more actual cash in his pocket because he does not have to pay the state tax on those games in Tennessee.

Also, most believe that the Seahawks are the favorite to re-sign Clowney at this moment in time because he's very comfortable with living in Seattle, being in Seattle in that scheme. But when you consider Jadavion Clowney has called head coach Mike Vrabel the smartest coach he's ever played for. He's very comfortable in that scheme and being coached by Mike Vrabel. He knows the terminology, and it seems, based on Vrabel's quotes throughout the offseason, that he has borrowed a lot of his terminology and the way he wants to run his defense from how the Texans ran their defense, and that's where Clowney made his name in the NFL so a lot of those things do line up for a familiarity factor

with Clowney and we will go into the weekend with that being the Titans real pursuit and if the Titans want to make the most of the Jarrell Casey trade they need to utilize that cap saving for an impact player and speaking of that Jarrell Casey trade, we finally got the first quotes and first statements from Titans General Manager John Robinson and from Jarrell Casey himself. Robinson had this to say, when I first arrived in Tennessee as the Titans General Manager, Jarrell was the first Titan I met. He welcomed me to the team and said he was ready to get back to winning. It's been an honor to work with him the last four seasons. He has been a consummate professional in our building,

a captain, a leader in our community, and a fearless, productive competitor on game days. The list of awards and honors he has won both on and off the field are numerous. I wish him nothing but the best moving forward. Your legacy here will never be forgotten. Thank you, Jarrell, a great Titan. Casey had this to say. It made me super motivated.

You're always surprised when it happens. It was definitely a shocker, but you know, it is part of the business. Would I say I expected it? No. But did I know it possibly could come? It's just how the business works. I'm not a stranger to it. I've seen it happen to plenty of guys around the building.

I knew it was possibly coming soon. I didn't think it would come this fast, but it's all business and business has to be done. And speaking of that business, it's pretty obvious what the smart business move is when it comes to paying superstar running backs in the NFL. And obviously the Titans are in a unique situation right now where they have Derrick Henry on the franchise tag

with the ability to work out a long-term extension with him until July the 15th. But should they work out a long-term extension? If the Titans take any lessons whatsoever from what has taken place here in the last few days to the running back market and free agency, then they would know paying running backs is never a good idea. Start taking a look at some of the highest paid running backs in the NFL in recent years. And first, let's start with Todd Gurley, who was released on Thursday by the Los Angeles Rams after a monster deal that he signed two years ago, leaving one of

the highest dead cap numbers in NFL history on the books for the Rams this year, but they wanted to get out from under Gurley's salary. They paid him around $14 million a year on a five-year extension just a few years ago, and as with most of these running back contracts, it turned out as a bad deal for the Rams. Gurley broke down due to his knee issues, and just general wear and tear from a running back. Wasn't the same player that he was in 2017 and 2018, but the Rams made the decision to pay a running back in his rookie contract when they didn't have to. They could have let him play out his fifth year option, but they decided to give him an extension and it turned into a very bad deal for them.

You look at David Johnson signed a $12.5 million deal with the Cardinals. And they couldn't wait to get out from under their contract. Under his contract. Now it turned into DeAndre Hopkins somehow. Because Bill O'Brien is a terrible general manager. But the point was the Cardinals signed a running back to a big deal. And then wanted to get rid of him. Look at Le'Veon Bell.

Already being told by his coach that they wish they wouldn't have signed him to that deal. Look at Ezekiel Elliott had one of his worst years of his NFL career and the Cowboys didn't make the playoffs and now they have to franchise tag their quarterback, Dec Prescott, who quite frankly is probably the better investment. And then you look at the next running back that got paid, Devontae Freeman. He was just cut this week by the Falcons because he's making too much money. Jarek McKinnon got his deal restructured by the 49ers because they were paying too much for a guy who was always hurt because running backs break down. And then the next highest paid running back is Deion Lewis. And look how that deal turned out for the Titans.

Lamar Miller, another running back who got a decent deal and the Texans aren't resigning him. So, and he tore his ACO. So, running backs break down. Their contracts never turn out. Paying a running back big time money plus $8 million a year, it just doesn't turn out. And that's based on recent history. Now, you're going to see a running back market of guys like Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey, Alvin Kamara, Aaron Jones coming up here soon. And it'll be curious to see how teams handle their negotiations, considering what a lot of those guys can do out of the backfield as a receiver.

It may change the dynamic a little bit. But at this moment in time, the Titans have to learn from the rest of the NFL that it appears paying a running back big time money will only set your franchise back so it's something very interesting to watch what happens to Todd Gurley and what happens to Melvin Gordon who is also a free agent running back right now that is getting nowhere near the type of money that the Chargers offered him last season before his holdout, and now he's kind of left holding the bag with no valuable options to recoup that money that was on the table. So be paying attention, Titans, and I'm sure John Robinson is paying attention,

and that's why the franchise tag was given to Derrick Henry in the first place. Cautious, cautious, cautious about paying running backs big money. But that is going to wrap up our conversation on just recapping free agency so far for the Titans. Obviously, they're in pursuit of Clowney. The Jarrell Casey trade still stings unless they make a move like getting Clowney and then don't pay running backs big money just appears to be the easy lesson to take from this free agency transaction window. So that is going to take us into our mock draft round up. So we are going to

jump into that next. If you've been a listener of this podcast, I'm sure you've heard all the great advertisers working with Locked On to reach sports fans. But you may not know that Locked On is a great way for your local business to reach passionate fans just like you. Unlike any other podcast, Locked On gives your local company the unique ability to reach local podcast listeners. And not just any podcast listener, a Locked On podcast listener. a way to connect with Titans fans and a predominantly male audience that is well-educated with disposable income, then let's put your company right here on this Locked On podcast. Local fans love to support local businesses.

Text the word ADVERTISING to 33777 or visit lockedonpodcast.com slash advertising and let us know who you are. We'll get a team to help your team achieve Locked OnPodcast.com slash advertising and let us know who you are. We'll get a team to help your team achieve Locked On advertising success. Once again, text the word advertising to 33777 or visit LockedOnPodcast.com slash advertising. We look forward to hearing from you. it is time for our weekly mock draft roundup so let's take a look around the draft community around the football sphere here and see what some of the draft pundits around the league are projecting for the titans and what i wanted to do was get the most up-to-date mock drafts possible that take into account all of the free agency moves

that have already taken place because obviously that has a lot to do with how these teams are going to attack the draft what they did in free agency what holes they still have left and what they're looking to fill and I found that all four of the mock drafts that I'm going to go over with you guys I think they did a really good job of doing so and take into account what the Titans actual needs are and where they could go I think all of the players that were selected in these projections for the Titans make a lot of sense if they are available on the board so let's jump into our first mock draft and that comes from Jason McIntyre from Fox. We've used quite a bit of his mock draft so I like checking back in and going back to similar sources and he has the Titans taking Austin Jackson offensive tackle out of USC. Now

in this mock draft that he put together Jackson is the sixth offensive tackle off the board in the first round. And it could even be seven. I could foresee it being seven. If the Titans decide to go offensive tackle, you could see six offensive tackles getting taken before the Titans here. So they may not have a choice and they may be looking into the second round. If the high end tackles are all taken off the board, but somebody like Jackson is right on that line for me of being a first rounder. He's incredibly raw. Now he has all of the gifts and all the tools available he could sit behind Dennis Kelly for a season maybe a season and a half before he's ready to take over on that rookie deal and and be an impact player for the Titans so it does make sense and it would

line up now when you consider some of the players that went after Jackson in this particular mock draft, there is one Christian Fulton, the cornerback out of LSU. At that stage in the draft with the value that I think Jackson has, I would rather the Titans go with a cornerback like Fulton and fill that spot as they haven't really done anything with that spot at this moment in time in free agency. And course that could change but right now the Titans biggest need in my opinion is at the cornerback position and when you have a guy like Christian Fulton available there I would rather go that route and then in the second round look for a Lucas Niang or an Ezra Cleveland go in that second tier of offensive tackle if you're planning on Kelly being the starter anyway then you have time to develop one of these tackles therefore if the board shakes out the way that it did in this mock draft I don't think that I would look for tackle there I would

look at the cornerback position with a player like Fulton still available moving into our next mock draft Michael Middlehurst Swartz from the USA today. This was one I couldn't wait to talk about. So there were two guys taken after the Titans pick that I think they should be interested in, and that's Josh Jones, offensive tackle from Houston. I think he's a step above Austin Jackson and would be worth it there at the end of the first round. And also Jeff Gladney, slot cornerback out of TCU. Now, Gladney is also on that line of first, second round player.

I could see him going second round, but where the Titans are, you know, and what he gives as a slot corner, it would make sense. But with the way that the board fell in Middlehurst Schwartz's mock draft, I really love this pick. And it's the Titans taking AJ Espinosa out of Iowa. this pick and it's the Titans taking AJ Espinosa out of Iowa and originally when we talked about guys like Espinosa or Yoturgros Matos or a Marlon Davidson a guy who was an edge rusher in college but in the NFL could profile as more of an interior disruptor in a sub package maybe a five technique which is a defensive end in a 3-4 the Titans didn't need that when we talked about a lot of these mock drafts.

But with the development of the Jarrell Casey trade, it does leave a massive hole on the Titans' defensive line opposite of Jeffrey Simmons at the other 5 technique, at the other interior rush spot on the defensive line. And now the Titans will have to consider filling that. Let's say the Titans do get Jadavion Clowney. Imagine having AJ Espinosa, Jeffrey Simmons, Vic Beasley, and Jadavion Clowney. I mean that is a very formidable rush line and I just think that group right there could be incredibly disruptive and and terrify other offensive lines. So I would love that and now

that the Titans don't have Jarrell Casey, they do have to start looking at some of these players, like I mentioned, Ross Blacklock, Marlon Davidson, Yotur Grosmatos, AJ Espinosa. So it starts to make sense that they would look at those guys who can add value as a five technique and also shift inside when they go into sub package. So I love that pick.

If he drops there somebody like Blacklock as well someone like Marlon Davidson they have instantly become great candidates for the Titans to take at the back end of the first round in the draft moving into a bleacher report mock draft and no it is not our guy Christopher Knox I haven't seen anything new from him in a while hopefully when he comes back done a little bit more research on the Titans roster and team needs overall. But this comes from his colleague, Alex Ballantyne, and he has the Titans going to the cornerback position, which I would totally understand at this moment in time, and getting Trevon

Diggs from Alabama. Diggs, of course, the brother of Stephon Diggs, who was just traded to the Buffalo Bills. Incredible ball skills, spent so much time as a wide receiver growing up he does a great job getting his hands to the football so I always love guys who are able to force turnovers and get to the ball and be a little bit of a ball hawk there's something instinctual about that that you can't really coach and I appreciate guys who bring that to the team could fill in in the slot could fill in outside so any cornerback that's worth a first round pick there I think the Titans absolutely have to take a look fill in in the slot could fill in outside so any cornerback that's worth a first round pick there I think the Titans absolutely have to take a look at and then the final mock

draft that we are going to talk about comes from Vinny Iyer from Sporting News and as we talked about with the first run from Jason McIntyre he does have the Titans going with offensive tackle Josh Jones out of Houston talked about Jones already he's a little bit more ready to go than somebody like Jackson and actually contribute right away now as I mentioned here the Titans want Dennis Kelly to be the starting right tackle and I don't know if they're going to devote I think that move in that contract was so that they didn't have to devote their first round pick to an offensive tackle when as I mentioned a lot of tackles could come off the board very quickly in the first round. And the Titans, if they are so zoned in on taking a tackle, it could lead them to overdrafting somebody who's not necessarily worth a first round pick. So the

Titans could go tackle somebody like Jones, drops to them, one of the big four drops to them. But I think that the Dennis Kelly move is a precursor to them avoiding going after a tackle in the first round and looking more into the second or third round for that developmental tackle but that is going to wrap up our mock draft roundup for the week I'll probably come back with you guys on Monday with another one because I would imagine over the weekend a lot of the big name pundits will be releasing some mock drafts based on what we saw in the first week of free agency so we'll be back on that next week of course we are going to move into the weekend mailbag let's head

into the weekend here and cap off the show answering some of your guys's questions that i got from you on twitter at tic tac titans remember follow me there feel free to send your questions at any time during the week you You can leave your questions in the reviews and iTunes, and I will get to those as well. But just feel free to get a hold of me at any time during the week to get your question in so that you know you'll get yours on that week's podcast. But I'm going to come back with you let's open up the mailbag answering your guys's questions here most of the questions coming from twitter follow me at ticTacTitan. Send me those questions whenever you would like. First question comes from LoveYaBlue77 on Twitter. He said, do you think we look to pick up a free

agent running back to spell Henry and if so, who? That answer is pretty simple for me and the answer is no. We're paying Derrick Henry $10 million this season. We are cap strapped. There is no way that the Titans are going to be out spending money on another running back. Think of what they just did with Deion Lewis and how poorly that turned out. I think the Titans are going to draft a running back, pay him very cheap, and that'll be the right move, and it should have been the right move before Deion Lewis as well. Next, from Alberto Tenorio, he asked, who do you think will step up as a locker room leaders now that Walker, Casey, and Woodyard are gone? Well, that's pretty simple.

To me, it is Kevin Bayard on the defense. He is a leader already. He has learned from Logan Ryan exactly what it takes to be a successful player in this league and what it takes to lead a locker room on defense and then on the offensive side of the ball. You have to look at someone like Derrick Henry. I think, and this is something that Mike Vrabel has intimated as well, Derrick Henry became such a valuable leader in the locker room at the end of last season. Some of his speeches, I mean, I even used one of his speeches

as the open on the show and it's my favorite open in the show's history I just thought Derrick Henry who naturally doesn't seem like a very outgoing outspoken guy he's not a loud personality who's going to be yelling all the time and things like that just everything we saw from him in the locker room and some of the videos that the Titans released and things like that. Some of his interviews, the way he spoke to the guys. I just think Derrick Henry is the leader of this football team. They obviously trust Ryan Tannehill as well. Ben Jones on the offensive line is considered quite the leader. You look at somebody on the defensive side of the ball, like I said, someone like Kevin Byard, but also Malcolm Butler has played in Super Bowls he's

made one of the biggest plays in NFL history Rashawn Evans and Jayon Brown called the defense I mean I have full faith and all the guys remaining on the team that some leaders and they already have leaders who are stepping up and will continue to step up Colin Light asked with the roster cuts and free agent signings are the Titansans moving to be a legit super bowl contender i think right now it's obvious that the titans are the favorite in the afc south based on what's happened and they are improving on everything that they did last year they're bringing back the key pieces that they need from last year and trying to improve upon some of their deficiencies from last year and we'll see if they get clowny in here we'll see what they do at the

cornerback position. Those are my two biggest questions for the team right now. Will they be able to fill Jarrell Casey's spot on the defensive line? How will they plan to do that? A lot is up in the air, but yes. Right now, I would say that the Titans do have a legit shot at making the Super Bowl. How can you say that they don't when they got to the AFC Championship game last year and are basically bringing back a pretty similar ball club? Next question comes from Adam

Cairns. He asked, was Casey overpaid as a D lineman for the production? Sorry to see him go, but nearly 12 million. Yes, that's the reality of the situation is that Jarrell Casey holds a place in all of our hearts because of how great of a player he was for the Titans. But at his age, with the production that he gave the Titans last year, the injuries that he dealt with, no, he's simply not worth the $12 million. And in my opinion, based on the trade, and I've said this before on the show this week,

the Titans were in a situation like we saw with Todd Gurley today. Hey, we're trying to trade him, but if not, we're going to release him because we can't pay that money. And the reality is the Titans couldn't pay the money that Jarrell Casey was owed for the production he was giving them. So, yes, he was overpaid for a defensive lineman and nearly $12 million a year. Then a question from Dustin Scholl.

Does Tennessee play it safe and use Henry like they've done in recent years by easing him into his late- season dominance that he's been known for? Or do they go full force and run the offense through him week one? Well, my answer to that is I don't think that the Titans are intentionally trying to ease Derrick Henry into the season. I think last year the offense was hindered by Mariota and I think it didn't allow Derrick Henry to really get into a rhythm. The Titans weren't up in a lot of ballgames and able to establish the run in the second half and let Derrick Henry pound on opposing defenses. So there's a lot to go into it, but all I can say is I don't think the coaching staff intentionally

is saving Derrick Henry for the back half of the regular season, because if you do that enough, there's not going to be an important game in the back half of the regular season because if you do that enough there's not going to be an important game in the back half of the season which is something the Titans almost ran into before the switch to Tannehill so I don't think they were doing that and I think yeah straight off the jump this year the Titans will have an offense that looks more similar to what we saw at the back half of the season going forward. And then the last question that I have here is from Jock Tillman, and he asked, should the Titans pursue Chris Jones rather than spend the money on Jadavion Clowney? Where we sit right now, if I had a choice between getting Chris Jones

and paying him the money that we could give Jadavion Clowney and giving it to Clowney, I'd take Chris Jones. I think Chris Jones is a better player. He would fill that Jarrell Casey spot, go along with Jeffrey Simmons to make one of the nastier interior defensive lines in the NFL. But the reality is the Kansas City Chiefs franchise tag Chris Jones. They're not going to give him up unless they probably get a first round pick based on what DeForest Buckner went for. If DeForest Buckner went to the Colts for the 13th overall pick, well, that means that the Chiefs are going to want a lot more for Chris Jones.

And while I would be okay with paying Chris Jones the money, I have no problem whatsoever paying Chris Jones the money. The price that the Titans would have to pay in a trade to get him, that's really where it's going to be tough. So that is going to wrap up our mailbag for this week. Got a lot of good questions from you guys. Really appreciate it. Like I've been saying, feel free to get those questions in early now. Send them to me whenever you would like. But we went over where the Titans sit in free agency right now.

John Robinson and Jarrell Casey's comments about the trade. Talked about that clowny pursuit, of course, that has to do with where the Titans sit in terms of cap room. We also talked about what the Titans need to learn from Todd Gurley and Melvin Gordon and David Johnson and all these other running back situations that didn't turn out too well for the teams. So that is going to take us into the weekend. If something crazy happens with Clowney or there's another big signing for the Titans

or another big transaction, I will jump on during the weekend and give you guys a little bit of an emergency pod. If nothing happens through the weekend, then I will be back with you guys on Monday morning. The anticipation of the next Titans move is killing me. So I hope you guys can keep your stress level down throughout the weekend when there's a lot to be stressed about. But I appreciate you hanging out with me this week on the Locked on Titans podcast. Like I always say, if you aren't already, subscribe to the show. What are you doing?

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