Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Rookie Numbers, Logan Ryan Announcement & Division Crossover w/ Locked On Lions

Episode Date: May 6, 2020

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host Tyler Rowland Titans fans today We are going to continue our division Crossover series and talk to the host of the locked on Lions podcast and preview that upcoming matchup in the 2020 regular season when the Lions do come To Nashville to take on the Titans. Before we jump into everything today, I want to remind you guys that today's episode of the Locked on Titans podcast is brought to you by Built Bar. Had one of their peanut butter bars last night covered in 100% real chocolate. It was delicious.

I have been eating them as not just a morning protein bar, but as like an actual candy bar. So make sure that you use promo code LOCKEDON and get $10 off your first box of Bilt Bars at BiltBar.com. But like I said, we are going to do our division crossover series today with the host of the Locked On Lions, Matt Derry. It's a very good conversation. I look forward to bringing that to you guys. But before we jump into that conversation, look forward to bringing that to you guys. But

before we jump into that conversation, we have some Titans news to talk about. The draft class, the new rookies for the Titans got their official jersey numbers. And while that's not the most groundbreaking event on the offseason calendar, it did not come without a tad bit of controversy on two different player numbers so we will talk about those and we will finish off our first segment with part of the controversy with one of those numbers and that is a high profile free agent on the market officially announcing that he will not be coming back to the titans and is officially a former titan so we will discuss how all of that is kind of baked together in the same cake, and that will be our first discussion.

So very interesting and controversial stuff to get into on today's Locked On Titans podcast. Let's get it. The Tennessee Titans organization took to social media to announce the new jersey numbers for their 2020 draft class. And while the jersey number of each individual player doesn't necessarily affect the play on the field and wins and losses. It is a very fun moment in the fandom and very interesting to see what numbers these guys select. And with the Titans announcement of the jersey numbers for their rookies on Tuesday, there was a tad bit of controversy involved as well.

So let's talk about these numbers. First round pick offensive tackle Isaiah Wilson will be taking number 79, which is the number that he had when he played at Georgia in college. So it makes sense that he would carry that over. Third round pick Darrington Evans, who obviously will be taking the Deion Lewis role within the offense, at least to start, who some people forecasted maybe he would just take over that number 33, but he went with number 32. And then fifth round defensive lineman Larell Murchison will take over the number 92 jersey. Seventh round defensive back Chris Jackson will be taking number 35, which for someone who watches the Titans on tape quite a bit, having two Jacksons, 125 and 135, may make

it difficult on the eyes, but it's a very logical number for a defensive back there with Chris Jackson. Now, here is where some of the controversy came in with these jersey number announcements, and the first one we will discuss is 7th round quarterback Cole McDonald. And he took jersey number 2. And obviously the late kicker for the Titans, Rob Baronis, wore number 2 and faced an untimely death for circumstances that we won't necessarily get into. But based on that untimely death and his place within the franchise

history being one of the more productive kickers this franchise has ever seen whether that be in Houston or in Tennessee Rob Rones has a special place in a lot of people's heart because of that combination so there was a little bit of backlash online to McDonald taking the number two and while it's understandable that the organization has to divvy out the numbers and not block off every number in the list it's also understandable that the fans maybe were a little hurt by by that decision but of course the team and the fan base moves on and we will move on to the more impactful controversy in regard to the jersey number selection. And that was second round cornerback Christian Fulton taking the number 26.

And obviously that raised a lot of eyebrows across the Titans landscape because that was Logan Ryan's old number from the previous three seasons. And Logan Ryan is still a free agent so it made a lot of people question whether or not this was the official end of his time in Tennessee but it did not take long before Titans fans got their answer and Logan Ryan came out on his own Instagram and confirmed that he would no longer be a Tennessee Titan, that he would not be coming back. And Logan Ryan had this to say on Instagram, quote,

My chapter in Tennessee has come to a close. To the Titans fans, thank you for all the love, the energy, and support this past season is what led to an epic run. To my Titans teammates, I love all y'all. Being a leader and earning y'all respect is what meant most to me. Win or lose, we stuck together and backed down from no one. Hyenas.

To the animal welfare community, my foundation was founded and blossomed in Tennessee. All of those working hard to support our four-legged friends, I'm forever grateful. I'm looking forward to continue to play at an elite level for an organization that's a great fit for my family and me. Everybody stay safe and positive during these crazy times. 26 out. Hashtag my man catch no balls. Hashtag pay Derek. So some interesting notes from that.

Obviously, you have to wonder the connection between announcing Christian Fulton's jersey number and Logan Ryan officially announcing he won't be coming back is that a chicken and the egg situation did the Titans give the jersey to Fulton and that in Logan Ryan's mind was the official end or was this something that the Titans knew in advance and Logan Ryan just officially announced it today and it happened to coincidentally be just a few short hours after the jersey number announcement so we'll never know exactly which came first but it did add a touch of interest and controversy to the jersey number announcements but that was not the only tad bit of controversy here let's look a little bit more closely at what logan ryan had

to say at the end of his official announcement. The last hashtag there, and I don't mean to get too crazy analyzing hashtags, a little hashtag investigation here, but hashtag pay Derek. I'm telling you, that says a lot about how the locker room feels about his contract situation. If the Titans want to have credibility in the locker room, they have to give him his money. They have to. I mean, I'm not saying pay him more than Christian McCaffrey or more than Zeke or anything like that,

because we also know realistically you can't spend too much money at the running back position. But if we can get Henry on a $13, $14 million deal that's front loaded and that they could get out of in year four, I think they have to do it because of what he means in the locker room and what the other players see. That's a big component of how this all works, and that's the locker room chemistry.

And one of the big reasons that the Titans did so well last year is because of how they believed in each other and how the guys actually do fit the puzzle pieces do fit together in that locker room so just one thing to consider there I think that that's a big tell from Logan Ryan about what these guys in the locker room feel about Derrick Henry and what he should get paid so if you if you, just follow me down that path. I do think the Titans are going to need to keep things kosher in the locker room. They're going to need to get Derrick Henry his money. It seems to be a universal sentiment coming out of the locker room.

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to have a good conversation about the offseason so far and how we see these teams moving forward into the regular season. Matt, how are you doing today? And how are you handling everything that's going on out there? Hanging in, Tyler. Everything's pretty good here in Detroit and obviously, you know, the whole quarantine thing and certainly COVID's been rough on everybody, but people want to talk football. People, of course, in Detroit want to talk Lions. I'm sure down in Tennessee, it's the same thing with the Titans making the title game last year. So all is good with me. How about you?

Yeah, yeah, I am doing well here. And, you know, just trying to take advantage of the positive parts of the situation, hanging out with, you know, close family and friends electronically and, you know, spending time doing work, watching a lot of football, especially with the draft just taking place, you know, obviously getting to know all of the prospects that the Titans have brought in. And that kind of will kick off the discussion for me here, asking you a quick question about the improvement that the Lions have made over the off season. Obviously last year, not the best season in Detroit, three and12-1 with that tie, but dealing with a lot of injuries.

So do you think that the improvement on this team will go beyond just getting healthy? Do you think some of the off-season additions will help this team get back to a more competitive state in 2020? Well, Tyler, first things first, they've got to have a healthy Matthew Stafford. It's amazing to think he's been in Detroit for 11 seasons, but he has. He's the mainstay of the organization. He's the rock. He's the glue. Once he went down last year, the team failed to win a single football game. But again, they were off to a lousy start with Matthew Stafford at three and six. So yes, part of it is health for sure. It's been a weird culture change and culture shock for many veterans over the last few years because this football team was winning games back-to-back

nine win seasons under jim caldwell bob quinn though the general manager electing to let jim caldwell go and bring in his own guy bring his own furniture into his own house go in that patriot route with matt patricia and over the last two, the team's won nine games total in two seasons. Darius Slay is now gone. Snacks Harrison now gone. Arguably the two best defensive players on the team. So they're saying it's not a rebuild. They're saying it's time to win.

Yet you look at the defense and you say, who's going to step up? How good can they get any stops? I think offensively, they're going to be pretty darn good. Kenny Galladay is an emerging star. and with a healthy Matthew Stafford they they can gunsling it with anybody the issue is going to be stopping people I I know uh you know it's got to be what a what a whirlwind uh this offseason has probably been for the Titans and and building off what what happened last year and boy that must have been so much fun. Yeah, it was a blast. I especially, you know, the team hasn't been an offensive minded team or an offensive led team in, I mean, since forever,

they, it seems like since the franchise came to Tennessee, they'd been playing the same style of football stylistically throughout the organization. So to see the offense take off there and be scoring 30 points every game. And Ryan Tannehill is one of the best passers in the league. Derrick Henry leads the league in rushing. You have a rookie wide receiver who's absolutely dominating the competition late in the season and AJ Brown. It was almost everything that we haven't gotten in so long. Amazing quarterback play,

a leading rusher, and a phenomenal wide receiver, especially a young wide receiver. I couldn't tell you the last time all three of those things happened at the same time, probably 2008 with Kerry Collins and Chris Johnson and that crew. I'll say this too, Ty, that there's going to be this year when the Lions go to Tennessee, there's going to be those questions asked both of Matt Patricia and Mike Vrabel about switching roles and what would have happened years ago if Bob Quinn would have hired Mike Vrabel, who he had connections with with the Patriots and not Matt Patricia. It seems like Patricia was always his first choice. Vrabel did get an interview in Detroit, and obviously Patricia was still going with the Super Bowl of Patriots at that time,

but there's still a lot of people in Detroit to talk about that, and that will happen this year when these two teams play. Let's say the Titans get off to a 21-0 start or something. Everybody's going to be going, oh man, that guy across the way should have been our coach. How lucky are Titan fans to have a guy like Vrabel running the show? Well, I honestly think that the Titans are very lucky, and I know that even myself on my own show, Vrabel makes some questionable in-game decisions going forward on fourth down, kick and field goals, when to fake, different field position plays. He has had some questionable moments throughout the

season but I think all of the positives that Mike Vrabel gives you it kind of outweigh that his on his hands-on style of coaching his experience at every level in the NFL from a young guy to a vet all the way in between his His knowledge of the game, a lot of players and a lot of former teammates say that he's the smartest football guy that they've ever talked to. His connections to different players and could still pay off, obviously hint, hint, Jadavion Clowney. His connection to the players in his locker room, his connection to his former players, even bringing,

he's been able to take some guys off some really good staffs, like early on with Kerry Coombs, taking him off an Ohio State team that's going to the playoffs every year, it seems, in college football, and then taking Anthony Midgett from the Houston Texans and bringing guys over in the same role. It appears that he just has really good relationships throughout the league, and you combine that with his real world NFL football experience. I think Titans fans and the fan base in general should be blessed to have him connected to John Robinson. I think while it's good to have Mike Grable, John Robinson has shown that he's one of the better GMs in the NFL. And it's my opinion, at least in terms of team building, that a general manager is honestly the most important part you

can have other than maybe a superstar quarterback. So from the Lions perspective, you're mentioning maybe the concern you have with Matt Patricia there. Do you think that he's on the hot seat now and that it could be a potential change of the guard if the Lions maybe have another subpar season? Well, 9-22-1, he should be on the hot seat. Things are differently run here in Detroit when it comes to the Lions. If you recall, for many, many years, the ownership led by William Clay Ford Sr. was extremely loyal to his people. You know, Wayne Fonce got a very, very, very long leash. Matt Millen, arguably the worst general manager in professional sports history in any sport, got a very, very, very long leash. Matt Millen, arguably the worst general manager

in professional sports history in any sport, got a second contract. It was a disaster. They had won one playoff game. The Lions had won one playoff game in 63 years. You guys won a couple last year in one year. So people say, well, Patricia should go. What if they go 6-10?

What if they go 5-11, 7-9? Goodbye, get rid of them. But it's not how it works here. Ownership now with Mr. Ford passed away is his wife, Martha, who's 92, and her daughter, Sheila. They like Bob Quinn, who's entering year five of his general manager stewardship here. And Matt Patricia, too, they like. So while the Lions have said publicly we want to be playing meaningful games in December and be in the playoff chase, now that you've added a third playoff team in each conference, what does that mean? It's still a little bit foggy. And to me, Patricia's run out some good veterans, a Quinn, too, and now it's time to win. They have to.

And in a very good division where everybody's going to pick them to finish fourth this year, they now it's time to win. They have to, and in a very good division where everybody's going to pick them to finish fourth this year, they've got to surprise some people. Yeah, I think that they could though. I mean, in the NFL, it's the number one professional sports league where you can go from, from worst to first in one year. But if the Lions are going to do that, then obviously they have to make improvements on the defensive side of the football. So the big move that we saw from the Lions over the course of the offseason was obviously getting rid of Darius Slay, bringing in Desmond Trufant. And then, of course, they made their addition in the draft with Jeff Okuda. But do you think that this 32nd ranked pass defense from last season has improved enough to give the Lions a chance to flip the record and

maybe play those meaningful games in December? I don't know yet. I still think they need an edge rusher and another defensive tackle. Linebacker is a very, very questionable spot, although the signing of Jamie Collins for $10 million a year is definitely an upgrade. But like you said, have they replaced properly a Snacks Harrison, a Sean Robinson, and a Darius Slay? Have they upgraded at those spots? Well, we're going to find out. I mean, Okuda should be a beast. Desmond Trufant, like you mentioned, should be a solid number two. If Okuda can be that number one, I like some of the safeties they've added. two, if Okuda can be that number one, I like some of the safeties they've added.

Daron Harmon's a good player. Tracy Walker's an improved player, but they just, from a fundamental standpoint, and Patricia talks about it all the time, they just weren't good enough. I watched the Titans play. You guys are physical, and you win at the line of scrimmage, and you got some ball hawks back there. I know you're going to tell me a little bit about what you're going to do to replace guys like Logan Ryan and others, but there's some good up-and-coming young defensive players on that team. And then Vrabel is the coach. That's kind of what the Lions want to become, you know? Yeah, and it's an understandable model because if you don't have –

I talked about this earlier this week. If you don't have one of those star stud quarterbacks, like a Mahomes, a Jackson, a Wilson, a Watson, then you've got to build a physical team that wins on the ground, that wins in defense, controls the line of scrimmage, and build out of that. I think the Titans are doing a pretty good job of that. Obviously, the Lions are going for a similar model,

but you would think that Matthew Stafford would be the stud quarterback or maybe an age could progress into a high level game manager to help that system take place but it seems like there's always some questioning about whether they want him around long term so I guess do you think that this Lions organization in the brass in place right now do want Matthew Stafford to be their actual quarterback or do you think that this Lions organization in the brass in place right now do want Matthew Stafford to be their actual quarterback, or do you think that they might be secretly looking to move on at some point after this season? And then secondly, your opinion of the matter.

What do you think about Matt Stafford at this stage in his career, and do you think he could be the guy to get the Lions back to competitive football? Oh, yeah. No, he's not going anywhere. Ownership loves him. It appears the coaches and general manager love him. He's under contract for three more years. Just got a pretty big deal a few years back. And this year is really the year where, let's say he has a bad year,

they probably could move him and not destroy themselves from a cap standpoint. If they were trying to trade. If they would have even entertained any trade offers this offseason, they would have had a massive cap hit, and they weren't going to do that. But I always concur and I always believe that as long as the Fords own this team, he's not going anywhere. Beloved in the community, he and his wife do a ton in the community. This team has drafted two, two backup quarterbacks,

two developmental guys since Stafford's been drafted here in 11 years. And those guys were Jake Ruddock and Brad Kaya. They haven't gone anywhere near other quarterbacks. This year they had a chance to take two at three. They didn't do it. They had a chance to take Justin Herbert at three. Not even close. So I think he's a good, solid guy, but I think this

year he's got to really, really step it up. And it's just, but it's time. It's time for him to do what Ryan Tannehill did last year. I'm not saying Ryan Tannehill is better than Stafford from a talent standpoint, but look at what your guy did to elevate his team. And that's what Lions fans have been waiting for. You know, is that, I know Tannehill got the new contract. He won't probably pull that off again next year like he did this past season, right? Well, I think it's fair to expect regression. He played at a historic – I mean, he basically played like Joe Montana for the last 10 games of the season.

If you look at the stats, his yards per attempt and his completion percentage, his passer rating. So, I mean, 22 touchdowns, six interceptions. He basically played at a Joe Montana level and you can't expect Brian Tannehill to keep that up. But even at 75 to 80% regression level, maybe he could probably still play good enough football for the Titans to win the division and maybe get a home playoff game and I think that has to be the goal this year with what they've been through the last four years of nine and seven but definitely that will depend on if Tannehill can come close if he regresses and play 60 65 percent of what he did last year it's not going to be good enough and the Titans are going to have some egg on their face from the contract. But I think with, with everything, the Titans are building the system that they run with

their outside zone run scheme combined with the bootlegs that take advantage of his athleticism and his mobility and his ability to get out of the pocket and make plays, not just with his arm, but with his legs. I think that what the Titans are building and the structure that they have and the stability they have as an organization right now will put him in a very similar situation and allow him to deliver similar results. So I'm optimistic about his ability to maybe not perform exactly the same as last year, because that's a historic level in certain statistical cases. But I do think that he can regress not so much that it hurts the Titans'

potential as a team. So I'm pretty excited about what this offense is going to be able to do in terms of their duplication of last year's results. Tyler, I know you have a read for us and then a break, and then when we come back, let's talk a little draft and how the two teams did, okay? Yeah, absolutely. Guys and gals, start the competition today with the people important in your mom's life mother's day is

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It is a division crossover. Lions will be going to Tennessee this year. We're talking about the two teams and where they stand right now on this division crossover show. And Tyler, we mentioned the draft earlier, and you talked about Tannehill. Give me a grade, how you think the Titans did in the draft. And certainly, you know, look, they the Titans did in the draft and and certainly you know look they were picking late in the first and and every and everywhere else so it's not like they could get into the top five like the Lions did but how do you think they did and who did you like that they took

well I think that overall for the all season I would give the Titans a B plus uh I think for the draft I would probably settle in similarly at a B+. I kind of think they did a B-plus job in free agency. They did a B-plus job in the draft. I can't call it a complete home run at this moment in time, but I am optimistic about how they're kind of – the Titans are in a changing of the guard situation. I know that from the outside looking in, that may not make a lot

of sense because they just had their most successful season in quite some time. So why would they change the guard over? But it was just a natural progression of the team in terms of the age of the leaders and the more productive players on the team. So it's a bit of a changing of the guard, like I said, from the younger guys that John Robinson drafted away from some of the vets that were already here when he got here, like Delaney Walker, Jarrell Casey, Wesley Woodyard, Marcus Mariota. Now it's Tannehill's team. It's Derek Henry's team, AJ Brown, Kevin Byard, Jeffrey Simmons, Rashawn Evans, and Jayon Brown. So a little bit of a changing of the guard, but adding to that core with some more young role players,

especially in the draft, someone like a Darrington Evans, who I'm very high on, a running back in the third round, who is a great compliment to Derrick Henry. Someone like Isaiah Wilson to replace Jack Conklin and continue that nasty physical style on the offensive line for the Titans. And then on the defense adding a press man corner like Christian Fulton last year the Titans had injuries in the secondary they kind of got away from their disguise zone blitzes and zone coverages and

moving everybody around and started going to man coverage so it was simpler for the guys that were in the lineup that that weren't expected to be as much and I think that that changed the mind of head coach Mike Grable in terms of what he really wants to rely on on defense instead of being that disguise zone blitz heavy team he wants to be a press man coverage team because that's someone like the Baltimore Ravens they did that at a phenomenal level at the end of the season and when you can bring pressure and you got guys in the back end who can play man coverage and press at the line of scrimmage and lock you down, it's just, it's hard to deal with. And you have to have a quarterback like a Lamar Jackson or someone with incredible mobility

to be able to even have a chance. So I think that's where the Titans are going to. And adding to that with a, a edge rusher like Vic Beasley and free agency and some potential more moves that could be coming down the pike. Like I said, a B plus, but I like what they did in the draft in terms of adding young role players who are fitting the new wave in terms of team philosophy. On the flip side of that, for your Lions, you add someone like Jeffrey Okuda,

who we talked about earlier. What else? You know, DeAndre Swift also. That kind of surprised me as well. I didn't think that the Lions would be going with a running back, but it does make sense to pair him with Kerryon Johnson. What do you think that the Lions did in the draft, and how can it kind of help them get to the level that you expect this organization to go to?

Oh, well, I think it was the right move getting Swift. I wasn't crazy about a running back that early, but the more I've been thinking about it, the more tape I've watched of this kid. If you get Okuda in the first round, you get Swift in the second round, and you take Julian Okwara in the third round from Notre Dame, you've hit some home runs there. And I would have loved to have seen Bob Quinn trade back out of three to five or six, accumulated more picks.

And I didn't love it on the first night. But as I look at the entire body of work, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, I like what the Lions did. I did give it an A-. Okwara is a big-time need as an edge rusher. And if he comes back from the broken leg, he can get to the quarterback and actually push his brother, who's on the team as an edge rusher as well, and Romeo Okwara. So maybe that would motivate Romeo, who's on the team as an edge rusher as well, and Romeo Laquara.

So maybe that would motivate Romeo, who really had a good year two years ago and a lousy year last year. Swift can be special. And with Kerryon Johnson, and you know this, in SEC country down there, Tyler, never healthy, never. So, you know, Swift could be a guy that with the ball in his hands be very, very dangerous. Then you throw in the mix the good receiving core that they have.

The addition of two guards in the draft in the middle of the third and fourth rounds trading up to get Jonah Jackson from Ohio State, who I think could be a guy that could play guard and step right in at right guard. And then Logan Stenberg could be your left guard from Kentucky. They needed interior linemen. The Lions offensive line is notorious. It's been lousy in run blocking. Pretty good pass blocking group.

But if you add a couple of road graders in there at guard, I think that's pretty good. And then the D linemen that they needed to add late, they did in the sixth and seventh rounds. So I thought all in all, the Lions did pretty well. The free agency was okay. I'm not a huge Jamie Collins fan. I thought the Daron Harmon pickup was pretty good. Danny Shelton as well. They seem to always go after these former Patriots and guys that they're familiar with. And they're, like I said, brooming out guys that they don't think fit that locker room and that Patriot way, but there's still a ways to go. They've got about 30 million still to play with. I would expect them to get some more defensive linemen in here,

but I thought their off season has been, been okay. You know, not, not, not bad, not great. And they need to look, they need to win. They need to get better. They got a veteran backup quarterback in Chase Daniel, which they had to do and, and they filled that spot as well. Yeah, well, two things coming out of your answer that come immediately to my mind.

One, on DeAndre Swift, I understand what you mean, how the more you look into him, the more excited you get. I just got done over the weekend just absolutely diving into everything. Isaiah Wilson, I watched a lot of georgia tape and my number one takeaway from watching georgia's offense is man deandre swift is special he just makes some plays break some tackles some spin moves um i was looking at him thinking man the lions have to be excited with his potential because he was excited but number two is your comment about chase daniel that's

something that at least from the titans perspective i wish that they would go out and maybe get more of a veteran than than what they have right now because of how important that could be do you think that chase daniel would give you guys a better opportunity to win a couple of games if matthew stafford went down as compared to the backup quarterbacks that they had last year. I believe David Blau played some games. Jeff Driscoll played some games, if I'm correct. So do you think Chase Daniel gives you a better chance if Stafford does sustain some sort of injury, whether long or short? Yeah, no, he has to. I mean, look, Chase Daniel's beaten the Lions before a couple of times, actually, including with the Bears. So anything is better than what they had last year.

They went through this rotation of backup quarterbacks of about six or seven guys throughout the season if you go back to training camp. It was a disaster. And Josh Johnson at one point who then went and played in that other league, the AAF, they just couldn't get it right. And Driscoll did all he could. He's athletic as heck, but can't throw the football. And David Blau is very, very, very young and developmental

and probably wasn't ready for the beating that he took, unfortunately. He showed a lot of guts, and he made some big throws, but probably more of a number three right now. And with Matthew Stafford with two separate broken bones in his back the last two years you've got to have a veteran behind him and to give chase daniel a three uh three-year deal for 13 million was was was the right move um well you know we'll see if that has to pay dividends for them this year but uh it certainly last year was a a complete disaster uh that's for sure. I want to wrap this

up. We got to wrap this up, Tyler. Give me a minute on Derek Henry. What's the latest with that situation down there? Well, I think that both sides are negotiating in good faith to get an extension done by the franchise tag deadline of July 15th. I don't know if the Titans are going to be willing to do it. Like I said, I'm very high on general manager, John Robinson. He's a smart guy. And right now paying running backs long-term money just isn't the smart move. I think Derrick Henry is a little bit of a different case with his durability, his work ethic, his personality, and what he means to the offense from an emotional standpoint. So I think that this may be a special circumstance where they do need to pay this running back a decent long-term deal,

but it is up in flux and it's obviously a contentious point among the fan base, but I am hoping that they do find a way to get them somewhere in the 13 to $14 million range for three to four seasons with the upcoming cap increase in the next couple of seasons. Hopefully it doesn't look as bad as maybe some of the other deals looked. A lot of fun, man. Appreciate the time.

Glad we could get this done today. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for joining us and good luck in your season. And we will talk to you later in the year when the Titans and the lions actually face off. Okay, guys,

that was our conversation with Matt Gary from from the Locked On Lions podcast. Look forward to playing them later on this year. Tomorrow we will be back to cap off our division crossover series and talk with the host of the Locked On Packers. And then

on Friday, of course, we have the release of the NFL schedule to talk about, which is taking place on Thursday night at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. So make sure that you are subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast on Apple podcast. You are following us on Spotify or whatever platform you use to stream your podcast. You can find the Locked on Titans podcast there. Follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans as well as I am giving you guys content there at all

times, of course, as most of my followers already know. But now that you are done with this episode of the Locked on Titans podcast, go check out the most recent episode of the Draft Dudes podcast. Obviously still breaking down things from the 2020 NFL Draft, but also taking a look forward at the 2021 NFL Draft. It is never a bad time to start your draft preparation for next year's event. Either way, as always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.