Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Reduced Preseason, Greg Joseph Analysis & More #ClowneyWatch

Episode Date: July 2, 2020

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, we got some official news from the NFL about the preseason schedule. So we are going to talk about what was announced, how it affects the Titans, and why those decisions are made. And then, of course, what could still come down the pike. So we'll talk about that first. Next, we will jump into a little bit of article analysis. So one of the most examined positions on the Titans roster during this offseason, and secretly maybe low-key as the kids would say, has been the kicker position. Greg Joseph is a hot name. Is he going to be somebody the Titans can rely on? Will they have to bring in

a veteran kicker for competition? He's a hot button topic right now at the kicker position. So we are going to talk about an article written by Jim Wyatt from TennesseeTitans.com. Hear a little bit from Greg Joseph and his thoughts on his current position where he sits. He's one of those guys like Isaiah Mack that we talked about on Monday we just haven't really talked enough about this all season so I want to put a spotlight on him with some article analysis and then I will finish off the show we can't avoid it another update in Clowney Watch so Clowney posted some videos, gave some quotes to Josina Anderson as he has want to do. So we will talk about what his updated comments mean and what the Titans should think

about his comments in his current position. So excited to break that all down with you guys as some general housekeeping, a little bit of a schedule update. So this week, obviously, we are on three shows a week. Next week, we are going to do three shows next week. But after that, on the 20th, we are going to kick off our Ultimate Division Crossover Training Camp Preview Series, and we will be back to five days a week for the rest of the year. So I'm really excited to ramp things back up. Training camp is right around the corner, and I could not be more excited to get back to doing shows every single day

with you guys and having some Titans football to talk about. So speaking of that, we need to talk about the preseason. We need to talk about Greg Joseph, and we need to update Clowney Watch. Let's get it The NFL has officially announced this week that it will cancel the first and fourth Preseason game for all NFL teams. And looking at the Titans' preseason schedule, that means that their week one matchup on the road against the Washington Redskins set for August 15th will no longer be played,

as well as the preseason finale against the Chicago Bears in Nashville on September 3rd. So what games does that leave for the Titans in the preseason? That will leave a week two home matchup against the New York Giants and then a week three matchup on the road against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which if this NFL preseason, although limited, is anything like a traditional NFL preseason, we will see the starters and the most amount of action that we will see them at all during the preseason in that week three matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which is interesting to see the Titans starters, but also see the new look Tampa Bay Buccaneers led by Tom Brady,

whose last game was a loss to the Tennessee Titans in the playoffs. But how John Robinson and Mike Vrabel will handle the minutes and how they will divvy them up to the lower end of the roster and then use them to try to get the starters ready to go for the season will be something very interesting to watch. Now, the NFL cutting the first preseason game does make a lot of sense. The offseason so far has been incredibly limited due to COVID-19 restrictions. It hasn't allowed players any on-field work whatsoever unless they were rehabbing from an injury which just is a limited amount of players in general.

So cutting out that first preseason game will give teams an additional week or so to actually get ready to play football games and try to make up for some of the lost time that they had when some of these offseason programs have been entirely virtual. And then on the back end of things, you look at them canceling the last preseason game, and that's for a multitude of different reasons but number one would be it'll allow players additional rest so it may be a shock to the player system and not just COVID-19 infections are a concern health-wise but the players haven't had their normal ramp up to a season and athletes in nature are creatures of habit. So not having that ramp up to

the season in April, in May, in June, and then coming straight into training camp at the end of July for about a couple of weeks and then trying to get into playing a football game in mid-August doesn't make a lot of sense. So that's why there's additional preparation. But then all of the sudden, they're going to jump into two straight weeks of football games after that limited offseason and that expedited training camp. So what's going to happen then is the players' bodies may not respond incredibly well. So it makes sense to give them that additional rest week and cut out that fourth preseason game because you don't know how players' bodies are going to respond to this altered timeline that they're on this season. And then also one thing to consider, if players do get a surge of COVID-19 infections due to playing those games, the first team-to-team contact that we will see during this season, then the cancellation of the week four preseason game

gives teams 10 to 14 days before the kickoff to the regular season. And if players do get infected with COVID-19 during that time, it may allow them enough time in isolation to be ready for week one. So there's a multitude of different reasons, of course, that the NFL has done this. And one thing to consider here is the NFL Players Association isto-hand combat that is NFL football. Players traveling on the road like the Titans going to Tampa Bay in week three of the preseason, there are going to be an entire laundry list of questions, concerns, and new issues that arise from taking your football team on the road during this restricted time due to COVID-19. So it will be interesting to watch going forward. But at this time, there will only be two preseason games for all NFL teams, including the Tennessee Titans,

and that is week two and week three. The effects that the shortened preseason will have on the Titans don't stop there, quite frankly. But when it comes to those type of effects, the other ones I haven't talked about yet, the secret effects, some things that John Robinson has mentioned earlier in the offseason as they prepared for all of the different outcomes here, there are some additional effects we need to talk about, but I'm going to save that for Friday's weekend episode. We will open the show talking about what this really means on the football field for the Titans outside of the concerns about COVID-19, of course. So we will talk about that in tomorrow's show. But today, next, we have to talk about Greg Joseph at the kicker position and what his chances are of really holding down this job and if the Titans

need to maybe bring in a veteran. So Jim Wyatt of TennesseeTitans.com, talk to Greg Joseph. He's somebody we haven't heard a lot from this offseason. I'm going to break down that article and some article analysis next. before we talk about Greg Joseph and the great article written by Jim Wyatt at TennesseeTitans.com let's just refresh our memory here about the kicking situation from last year. So, of course, Greg Joseph was the fifth kicker that the Titans ended up using throughout the year after going through quite a bit of different names, including Ryan Suckup and Cody Parkey and Kyro Santos and Ryan Santoso. So, basically what happened was Greg Joseph came in last two games of the year and was incredibly successful, actually didn't miss a kick whatsoever during his time with the

Titans. He was 9-9 on extra points in the regular season, 9-9 on extra points in the playoffs, had quite a bit of touchbacks in his opportunities, even made his only field goal with the Titans in the game against the Chiefs to put them on the board three to nothing. It was a 30-yard field goal, so at this point in time, Joseph is the Titans kicker. Now, as I've mentioned on the show, it's possible that we may see some veteran competition depending on how Greg Joseph actually does. We saw an undrafted free agent kicker brought in who is expected to compete a little bit but right now

Joseph appears to be pretty comfortable and everything that he has to say would makes it seem like he's incredibly confident in his ability to win the job but do the Titans want him to win the job this is what Joseph had to say about the end of the season last year and his conversation with the team quote it was a heck of a ride. When the season ended, they just conveyed the message. We love what you did here. And I told them, I want to be the guy. This is where I want to be. And I'm going to bust my butt all season to make that happen. So Joseph clearly has been working on things. And one thing that I found very interesting in this article than just Joseph wanting to be the Titans kicker and keep his job is his background. Joseph was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, came over to America

when he was seven, played soccer, obviously for a lot of the time started playing regular American football when he got into high school in Florida, had four years in college at Florida Atlantic where he was 97% accurate on extra points and about 70% accurate on his field goals. So I found that pretty interesting. Joseph, of course, played for the Cleveland Browns for 14 games in 2018 and then finally got another opportunity with the Titans at the end. And it's a very interesting, intriguing part of the story is that when Joseph came to the Titans he initially stayed in a hotel room but eventually bunked up with punter Brett Kern the weapon he was actually staying in Brett Kern's basement for the last few

several weeks of the season just trying to get acclimated to Nashville, a city that he said he had never been to prior. And Brett Kern obviously has taken Greg Joseph under his wing based on this quote here from Jim Wyatt's story. Quote, Greg definitely has the demeanor of a great kicker in the NFL. Brett Kern had to say about Joseph. He's very level-headed. If he makes a kick, it is kind of the same reaction as if he misses one. He never

really gets too high or too low or too hard on himself. I'm excited for the opportunity that he has. He did great for us last year, especially coming in at the end of when it was cold and not the easiest to kick the football and did great in our playoff games. He is a great guy and I'm excited to be able to continue to work with him end quote there so Brett Kern clearly is invested in having Greg Joseph on the Titans and Joseph actually had this to say about the experience a very wholesome quote here from Greg Joseph quote that definitely made me feel more at home and more comfortable on a new team Brett and the entire Kern family they were amazing to me and I'll never forget it his family is awesome his kids to me and I'll never forget it. His family is awesome.

His kids are awesome. And I got to know Brett a lot better. I was the entertainment for the kids. I was throwing a football with his son, reading books and doing puzzles with his daughters. We played ping pong, foosball. We played in the snow. It really did make me feel like I was a part of the family and I'll always appreciate it. End quote.

Joseph also had this to say about his connection with the special teams unit. Not only punter Brett Kern, but long snapper Bo Brinkley. He said, quote, I loved being there at the end of last season. Brett and Bo were amazing to me throughout the year. They made me feel at home right away. The entire team, coaches, and my teammates were great to me. Hopefully we can build on that in the future. And then Joseph followed up that by talking about his outlook going into this season. Quote,

the way I look at it, I am in competition every year and I just have to focus on myself to become the best kicker I can be. I want to put them in between the uprights on every kick and do everything I can to help the team. I want to be with the Titans and I'm going to work and do everything I possibly can to do to make it happen. I'm excited about what's ahead and looking forward to the season. End quote. So I really enjoyed learning a little bit about Greg Joseph, his background, his upbringing, how he feels about his time in Nashville, his relationship with the other players on the team. It's a really good article by Jim Wyatt. I encourage you guys to check it out.

Now, what comes next is the interesting part. Tucker McCann, the undrafted free agent, kicker out of Missouri. You look at another former Titan, Ryan Suckup, who may be healthy and ready to go. A great kicker, one of the best kickers in NFL history. And Steven Gostkowski who has let go from the Patriots I mean there are a few veteran options and then the undrafted free agent who are going to push Greg Joseph here and make him really work for that starting kicker job and to be the kicker for the Titans in 2020 it will be interesting to watch what happens during the limited training

camp and limited preseason and just to give you guys a little bit of a preview, I do plan on previewing training camp by going through some of the most interesting positions to watch and spoiler alert, Kicker will be on that list. So we will see how Greg Joseph responds to the competition and what takes place as we get closer and closer to the regular season. But that is going to do it for this article analysis. I am going to come back with you guys and give you the most recent update on Clowny Watch 2020.

And here we are again Titans fans another edition of Clowny Watch 2020 time for a little bit of an update which we got from as we always seem to do Josina Anderson who actually is not with ESPN anymore seems to be doing some freelance reporting on her own. But she clearly has ties with a lot of players around the NFL, including Jadavion Clowney. And she says that she talked to him on the phone. I will read the tweet for you guys verbatim. And then we will analyze the quotes from Clowney directly. But she said, just got off the phone with free agent defensive end Jadavion Clowney. He told me at this time he intends to sign with a team, quote,

before the season starts if everything still goes on time with the season. No, Clowney also added, no, I have not narrowed down a final team. I'm still open. So, clearly Clowney is negotiating through the media with teams. We know that there are a couple of teams who are still in on Clowney, like the Titans, probably the Browns, probably the Seahawks still, maybe a couple of dark horse teams that could make some additional cap space and make some plays.

But Clowney also, in another update to Clowney Watch 2020, Clowney also posted a video of him working out. I mean, he looks explosive. He looks good to go. But I don't think that that video is going to change the mind of any executive like John Robinson or anything like that. You don't watch a video. Well, I guess John Robinson did watch videos of Corey Davis doing routes without being able to work him out and took him fifth overall. So maybe John Robinson is more susceptible to social media workout videos than other general managers. Or maybe he learned from his lesson with Corey Davis and won't make that same mistake.

But either way, I wouldn't take what Clowney posted, the video of him working out. I wouldn't take that as any sort of definitive evidence that he's healthy still need the Titans doctors to take a look at him still need the Titans organization to work him out and that's still not allowed right now due to the COVID-19 restrictions so that's not going to change anything on that front I think Clowney is trying to position himself in a way well if you give me a certain amount of money, you know, I'll just come play anyways. But teams aren't going to do that without knowing the risk that they're taking. So that's where Clowney is at right now. He's, you know, negotiating openly in the media saying that, you know, he's open.

He hasn't picked a team yet. And by all means, that's a smart thing for him to say. I wouldn't expect him to come out and say, yeah, I'm going to sign with the Titans eventually. I mean, it just wouldn't make any sense for him to do that from a negotiation standpoint, and that would already be announced if that were the case. So Clowney continues to work out in Houston, and hopefully the Titans will be able to work him out individually soon. You got to hope that that is the case. Josina Anderson followed up her original tweet with this tweet. work him out individually soon you gotta hope that that is the case uh jocena anderson followed

up her original tweet with this tweet it's my opinion from my phone conversation with clowny just now that he remains confident about his value and worth and that interested teams have the ability to still pay regardless of the upcoming pandemic impacted season i sent zero shift in that belief and there should be zero shift from Clowney's perspective. It's already been reported that he's looking for a one-year big money deal so he can get back into the free agent market next year. Regardless of the pandemic impacted season, I don't think any team would be looking to do anything different. They're going to give him a one-year big money deal with the remaining cap space that they have and see how he plays. And the reason that is beneficial is it gives you a

leg up. There's really no risk if he plays bad. It's a one-year deal. And if he plays well, it gives you a leg up on negotiations. He's already in your building. You already know his agent. You've already negotiated with them. You can start can start you know making moves and kind of start laying the groundwork for maybe a long-term extension if he earns it so uh it makes sense from all different levels what Clowney is saying what the Titans are doing Josina Anderson's reporting all of it really makes sense and I just wanted to make sure that you guys were up to date uh on Clowney Watch 2020 but we're getting closer and closer to training camp and Clowney like other players who we're getting closer and closer to training camp. And Clowney, like other players who haven't been able to work out properly for the last few months,

are going to want to get on the field and do actual football-related activities, not just workouts at facilities around the country. So I would expect to see Clowney signed at least by the beginning of August. And in a crazy shock to me, that's one month away. We are already in to early July. It's insane how the time goes and we are getting closer and closer to football season by the second. But that is going to do it for this edition of the Locked on Titans podcast today.

I will be back with you guys tomorrow to round out this week's worth of episodes. Make sure that you're subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform you stream your podcast. Make sure that you are following me on Twitter at TicTacTitans. We will have our Friday mailbag at the end of tomorrow's episode, so get your questions in to me at TicTacTitans right now, and I will get to those on tomorrow's show. Make sure that you tell your smart device to check out the Locked On NFL Draft podcast. They are starting to get into 2021 draft prospects to get you ready for the college football season, and at the minimum, the 2021 NFL Draft. If you're a draft junkie like me, never a bad time to get started on that draft preparation.

But that is going to do it for me. I'll be back with you guys tomorrow. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.