Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Roster Rules Rollover, Titans Talk: Hear from Todd Downing and Shane Bowen

Episode Date: June 3, 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 Thursday 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 every Monday through Friday.

Brian and Matt give you a national perspective on all of the latest NFL news, so make sure you check out the Peacock and Williamson podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, wherever you get your podcast. But as for the Locked On Titans podcast, on today's show, we have a lot to get into. First, last year, because of COVID-19, we saw the NFL make adjustments and add new rules to a lot of the roster requirements and roster rules the NFL teams had to live by. So we got some updates from the NFL about whether or not those changes that were made last year are things that are going to be kept around long term.

So I'll explain what rules I'm talking about and how that can positively impact not only the Titans, but all teams in the NFL. And then we are going to dive into some Titans audio. That's right. We're going to have some Titans talk on today's show. We had a press conference with Titans offensive coordinator Todd Downing and Titans defensive coordinator Shane Bowen. I'm going to go through all the highlights of those press conferences and talk about

what some of my more interesting answers that I found were, kind of dice those up and let you guys know exactly what the Titans two coordinators are thinking right now early in season preparation. So excited to dive into a Thursday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it. The 2020 NFL season, not only for the Tennessee Titans, but for the entire league, had to be the strangest on record. And there's the obvious answer. They were trying to play football through a pandemic. Of course, it's going to be strange, but there's more depth to that answer as well.

You've got to look at all the changes that were made to protocols, procedures, how coaches were able to work, the virtual off seasons, the virtual practices, all of those different things had a crazy impact on the season. But we saw other changes that were maybe for the better that were implemented due to COVID-19 last year and a lot of those have to do with rules pertaining to how rosters work and also how transactions work and a lot of those things that were introduced actually turned out to be very well liked by a lot of NFL front offices and it looks like some of those COVID-19 spawned rules are going to be moved forward into the future. So I'm going to talk about some of those

rules, a lot of them, most of them about how rosters work or transactions back and forth from practice squad to the full roster, the regular roster. So going to break down some of the rules that were introduced last year but are going to be kept around and why I think they're actually a good thing for the NFL. Number one, last season, the NFL intended to raise the practice squad roster from 10 to 12. But with the COVID-19 situation, they actually bumped the practice squad roster up all the way from 10 to 12 and then to 16. And that's something that's going to stick around. So it makes a lot of sense for NFL teams to want that. Number one, you have more guys in your building that know your system and practice with your

team every day. So obviously during the COVID season, when there was a lot of uncertainty as to how many guys you would actually have, it was imperative to have more people who knew your system and were ready to go because you could lose a whole group of players at a certain position without knowing it due to contract tracing and things like that. So that was the reason why it was elevated, but that's going to stick around.

And hey, that's just more jobs in the NFL. That's more guys that the Titans can consistently evaluate. So I think that's a fantastic rule. There are also some other rules, like with that 16-man practice squad, the NFL allowed teams to protect four players, because if you didn't know this, previous to the COVID-impacted 2020 season, if you had a player on your practice squad and an NFL team wanted to bring him onto their real 53-man roster, you got to poach that player and steal him away and sign him to a contract with no questions asked about the team who had him on the practice squad.

So with the 16-man practice squad, the NFL made four players available to be protected week to week so that a team can't steal them. Now, we don't have exact word on the protections, but we do know the 16-man practice squad is going to be available, and the NFL is looking to allow unlimited movement back and forth between the practice squad and the 53-man roster. In previous years, they had limited the amount of times you can pull a guy up from the practice squad onto your roster, and if you had done it enough, the guy wasn't allowed to go back to your practice squad anymore.

So the NFL is looking to get rid of things like that, and that's something that happened first last year. So that gives more ease for the Titans. Like I said, more people on the practice squad, more chances to evaluate, more freedom in moving those players back and forth between the practice squad and the roster in the event of injury or anything like that.

It just makes things a lot easier for teams, and it makes sense why they clamored to have some of these things stick around. Now another big one is about the injured reserve and how it works. So prior to the 2020 season basically you were allowed two players who could return from IR after eight weeks. So you put a guy on injured reserve they can come back after eight weeks. Well the NFL has now basically made that unlimited and they also have allowed three-week returns when you get put on injured reserve. And that's a good thing for this reason. If you're a guy who's going to be out two weeks, let's say three weeks, all right,

and the team can't put you on IR because you're not going to be out for the minimum eight weeks. Well, now because you're taking up a roster spot, but you're not able to be out for the minimum eight weeks. Well, now, because you're taking up a roster spot, but you're not able to play for multiple weeks and the team knows it, now you might feel pressure as a player to come back early when you're not 100% or you're not healthy enough to play because you know that the team is wasting a roster spot. From the coach's perspective, now, if you know you're going to have a guy out for a couple of weeks, you don't have to burn a hole in your roster and not get any help because he's not going to be out

long enough. You're not going to want to rush that player back. You're going to be able to have freedom of movement. Bring somebody up from the practice squad. Put that player on IR for three weeks. You're not going to lose him for the full season. You're not going to have to wait eight weeks to bring him back. So that really, really helps.

It's like I said, it's going to give extra rest for guys who are hurt and allow them not to have pressure on them to come back too early. And it's also going to create more opportunities for guys on the practice squad, which if you notice, 16-man practice squad, unlimited movement, IR three weeks for guys, pulling guys up. This is just going to create a lot more opportunity for a lot more players in the NFL, and that's something I'm always on board for. So a lot of roster rules and transaction rules the NFL is going to keep around that popped up during the COVID-impacted season. But we are going to dive into some Titans talk. It is time to hear the highlights from the press conferences of the Titans coordinators. Number one, offensive coordinator Todd Downing. Number two, defensive coordinator Shane Bowen.

We're going to dive into those. Before we do, I want to remind you that Credit Karma has always been there to help you make better financial decisions, and now they want to help even more. With a Credit Karma money spend account, you can be rewarded for good money habits. Credit Karma money is a brand new checking account where you win cash reimbursements for making purchases.

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course audio is courtesy of TennesseeTitans.com. We are going to start with offensive coordinator Todd Downing. And the first question here is, what is going to be some differences between the scheme that the Titans were running for the last two years and what you may be running going forward? Yeah, you know, I think there is a good balance there. Obviously, the continuity of

being here helps me uh with the language and the transition of getting everybody on the same page from a communication standpoint we're really in the in the phase of laying our foundation right now and seeing what guys can do for us and cultivating some of those competitions and so i think we'll get more into the differences in scheme down the road. Todd I gotta be honest I mean I hope that you add in some new wrinkles but I hope there aren't too many differences in scheme this team's got a winning formula and that winning formula is giving the ball to Derrick Henry so how much easier does it make it schematically when you know you got a beast like Derrick Henry? It's certainly an easier job having Derrick Henry back there than not having him back there.

But we're always looking for ways to get our playmakers the ball and to be efficient. And certainly we know that Derrick's one of our playmakers. Our offensive line works extremely hard to open up holes for him. And I think that it's no secret that that's you know part of the identity of this offense so I'm looking forward to finding ways to make sure that Derrick's utilized. Yeah I think it would be a smart move to utilize Derrick Henry that's just that's just me though just spitballing over here and speaking of utilization it'll be interesting how Downing

utilizes the tight ends because it seems like right now Swaim is the blocking tight end Ferkser is the pass catching tight end how do you not tip your hand to the defense depending on which tight end you have out on the field that was a question that was asked of Todd Downing actually a great question and this guy takes a lot of crap but a great question from Paul Kaharski there how do you not tip your hand with those tight ends in the game? Yeah, it's a good question. You know, when I was the tight end coach, we really had kind of a battle cry of versatility in that room.

And I think that that's something that is required of NFL tight ends these days is to have some versatility to you. And I agree. I think Anthony's been working very hard in his run game techniques and fundamentals. And I know Jeff and his pass catching prowess, if you will. But we're going to ask those guys to do it all. And we're going to try to do our best to not tip any hands based on who you have on the field. You know, I can appreciate that answer, quite frankly.

But, man, the reality is Anthony Ferkser is never going to be a great blocker in the NFL, and Jeff Swain is never going to be an explosive pass catcher, so I mean, that all sounds good, hey, we want guys to be able to do everything and be versatile, but man, these guys have skill sets, and if you try too hard to make them what they're not, I just don't know if that's going to work out, so we'll see what happens with the tight end position. I just don't know if that's going to work out. So we'll see what happens with the tight end position.

What are the Titans working on right now in these OTAs, these mini camps and things like that? Donnie gives a pretty good answer. I think we're in the phase right now of just laying the foundation of the scheme, you know, what our bread and butter concepts are and some of the techniques that we ask the guys to use within those concepts. You know, and also it's a great time of competition. There's, you know, a lot of guys out here fighting for spots, and it's been fun to see those guys grow each and every day

and just the energy and kind of the sense of urgency that some of those guys have shown. So, you know, there's some personnel competition and there's some schematic, you know, laying the foundations, but it's been fun to be around all the energy out there the next question for downing kind of gets back into what the first question was asking how much is todd downing going to change the offense in little ways in big ways going forward to put his stamp on things you know i think there's some some tweaks

and adjustments that go on in a system even when the coordinator doesn You know, I think there's some tweaks and adjustments that go on in a system even when the coordinator doesn't change. And I think that's a natural progression at this point in the offseason to take a look in February and even in March at what we did last year and maybe some things schematically that we want to adjust or you have some changes in personnel and so you lean a little further away from one thing or a little closer to another. And so I'm not as caught up in putting Todd Downing's stamp on the offense as I am coming up with what the right recipe for the ingredients we have is

and making sure that we're as competitive and consistent as we can be. competitive, and consistent as we can be. Some obvious ingredients that Todd Downing will have to use are the folks over at Wide Receiver, the much-maligned Wide Receiver group. What are Todd Downing's thoughts on the group as it sits right now? I'm very comfortable with the level of competition we have going on there. I think we have a wide variety of skill sets. I'm excited to see these guys kind of take opportunities to step in and, you know, get some extended reps and fired up to see where it goes.

And like I said, the energy has been great. The attention and detail and the focus, you know, is improving every day and excited to see where those guys finish up. All I heard right there personally was please trade for Julio Jones but either way speaking of those wide receivers Todd Downing talks about the two top receivers on the team right now what are his thoughts on Josh Reynolds? Yeah I think he's hungry I think he knows the game has a pretty good savviness to him and football IQ and excited to see where he can increase and I think there are a lot of guys that are in a similar boat that we're going to find out what they can do with their opportunity I always think there's

room for growth wherever you're at in your career and I think Josh is is excited to try to make some strides one guy who will go a long way to helping Josh Reynolds make some strides is one Arthur Juan Brown and Todd Downing talked about AJ Brown as well. Yeah. I think, you know, AJ fits into that playmaker category that we were discussing earlier with Derek.

And, you know, those are guys that you look for ways to get them the ball and, you know, rely on their strengths and, and, you know, hope that they can continue to ascend just like everybody else.

You know, I don't think there's a guy on offense that we feel like has arrived or is a complete product. And AJ is going to continue to work very hard to improve in every area he can and excited to see the production he can have for us. Between, you know, our run game and, you know, AJ's, you know, success in the past, you're going to see some different looks. We'll look for ways to get him singled up. We'll look for ways to help him with different coverage indicators and things like that.

But I think that'll be fun to watch progress and see where we can move him around or expand his route tree a little bit. we can move him around or expand his route tree a little bit. Watch him have successes as we expand it. I really love hearing those answers. Getting AJ matched up with certain people. Getting him good advantages against coverage. Expanding his route tree. AJ Brown is about to take a leap into pure bonafide superstar status. I'm excited about it. The guy

who's going to be tossing him the rock is one Ryan Tannehill. And here Todd Downing talks about his relationship with Ryan Tannehill and I think that might be possibly the most important thing he said during the entire press conference. I think there's a natural communication that has to occur

with the starting quarterback and coordinator, and that's been fun to have that relationship develop even further here in the last few months than it has in the last couple of years. You know, fortunately, I felt like I had a pretty good relationship with Ryan prior to being elevated, and so that's been a smooth and easy transition. It hasn't taken too much effort for us to get on the same page uh ryan's a tireless worker and he's a guy that you know

is going to look for every way that he can gain a competitive advantage and so it'll be fun to kind of leave no stone unturned with him in this process and try to get things refined down to the best best system for our talents. All good stuff right there. That's what you like to hear from your offensive coordinator. But as I've said throughout the offseason, I am less worried about Todd Downing, offensive coordinator. I am more worried about Shane Bowen and Mike Vrabel running a defense. So heard everything I needed to hear from Todd Downing there.

I will admit I do wish one of the media members would have asked about how much he will go back to relying on RPOs, something that he used a lot in Oakland. Didn't get any questions about how much he'll use RPOs or whether he'll try to incorporate that more into the Titans offense. Would have liked that specific question, but hey, maybe I'll be able to ask myself one day. But before we get into hearing from defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, I want to remind you guys that bet online is the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. No, there isn't any football, but baseball is in full swing. NHL and MLB or NHL and NBA are in the playoffs. I'm trying to just completely remove the NBA from my mind after my Lakers got destroyed in Game 5

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Before we do, I want to remind you about the Locked On Today podcast. Get all the biggest sports stories from every major sport in under 20 minutes every day with the Locked On Today podcast. Also, make sure that you subscribe or follow the Locked On Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream so you never miss any of the Monday through Friday content that I will be putting out all year long. But the first thing with Shane Bowen is how does his approach on defense change now that the Titans have so many new players on the defensive side of the ball? Yeah, I think as this thing goes and we get these guys back, get them in here, get working,

I think ultimately we got to see what they do well, what they understand, what they can As this thing goes and we get these guys back, get them in here, get working. I think ultimately we got to see what they do well, what they understand, what they can execute, what their skill sets are. And it's across the board. I mean, from up front, the four guys rushing to the guys we could be bringing from the second level, from the third level. And then obviously the coverage piece, who's able to play a man coverage who's good in zone the different skill sets that these guys have and figuring out what they do well and putting all the pieces together as a unit to maximize all the guys abilities that

are out there and then a very very interesting question for Bowen. What changes now that he has the title of defensive coordinator? Because we were told that he just didn't have the title last year, but he was the defensive coordinator. So from Bowen's mouth, what has changed for him? And spoiler alert, the answer isn't nothing. Yeah, it's been good. I mean, it's changed. It's definitely changed. Just the, the position, the title, the stuff that comes with it, having control over the whole unit, my perspective on everything,

making sure we're all on the same page, seeing things the same way. And ultimately being the final voice, right? So it has changed in that regard. It's been great. Players have been great. We're doing a lot of new things, a lot of different things,

just in how we go about our day, how we go about our business, and then obviously schematically some things change as we go with all the new personnel and everything else. So it's been good up to this point. One thing that has changed for Bowen was last year due to COVID-19 restrictions, he could only work with the outside linebacker group. And this year with the relaxed restrictions, he has the ability to walk around the field

and kind of touch on every single position group from the defense. That's pretty important, and Bowen talks about that here. Yeah, it helps a bunch. I mean, I think first and foremost, it helps just with the relationship with all the players across the board, getting there, seeing them work, seeing how they work, being able to, we always talk about take stuff from the meeting room to individual, to group, to team,

and seeing all those different techniques we talk about that we show on film and being able to talk through that we show on film and being able to talk through that stuff with them on the field as well. Honestly, if you can correct things in the moment, it's always better than doing it after the fact. But I think it's been great for me to do just in terms of building these relationships with these guys and kind of continuing forward to taking that leadership role on the whole unit. Then we get a little bit of a schematic question here. We have heard all season and seen from the Titans' moves that they have placed a premium

on man-to-man coverage. And here Bowen talks about how much of a priority press man ability will be for this defense. Talks about how much of a priority press man ability will be for this defense. Yeah, I think we got some good play. Obviously, Janoris has done it a long time. We still got to wait and see with Caleb. He's obviously not doing anything right now for us. So we'll kind of wait and see. But, I mean, Janoris has played a long time.

He's had a lot of success in this league. So I think as we get him here, we get our hands on him. Again, like it's always evolving with what we see these guys can do, what they can't do, but finding ways to be more aggressive in coverage, to challenge receivers more. I think that's all part of it as we progress on, whether it's those two or any of these other DBs, linebackers that are playing in coverage.

Then Bowen talks about how the defensive additions can fit in. So earlier he talked about how his personal approach will change with the new players, but what are his thoughts on the new defensive additions early on? Yeah, I think the one thing that has stood out to me with all these guys, they've all been engaged. I think they all love ball. They're involved in what we're doing. They ask good questions.

They're learning whether they're here or not. They're taking the time to learn and understand what we're doing defensively and positionally. I've been pleased with all of them up to this point. I do. I think they're really engaged. I think they're excited about the opportunity here as we all are, even myself, the coaches and the returning guys. We're looking forward to the opportunity and we're excited to have some new pieces and we're kind of starting from square one all over again, trying to rebuild this thing with the new guys that we got. Um, but I've been encouraged by all of them.

The Titans defense was putrid last year. So what changes is Bowen making to the process to try to change that outcome? is Bowen making to the process to try to change that outcome? Yeah, I think last year, just the weekend and week out, understanding the personnel, our personnel, how things are changing throughout the year, some of that stuff, working with our coaching staff, working with these players,

and I think diving in to truly who these guys are, what they do well, what they don't do well, and finding ways to put them in positions to succeed. Like, ultimately, we want all these players to find success within the system as we play good defensively as a unit. And we're trying new things. Like, there's a lot of the same scheme stuff, don't get me wrong, but, like, there's a lot of ways to skin a cat, right? Like, you can do things a lot of there's a lot of the same scheme stuff don't get me wrong but like there's a lot of ways to skin a cat right like you can do things a lot of different ways just trying to find what fits

with these players what they most relate to that's the beauty of bringing guys into from other teams like how they've done things obviously with Schwartz coming here I mean everybody kind of has their schemes what they they do, their systems, but everybody does them a little bit differently. So just trying to find that niche with what works with our guys, ultimately. Well, one thing that Bowen needs to make sure works with his guys is their ability to pass rush, to get to the quarterback.

The Titans had a historically bad pass rush unit last year. So what are Bowen's thoughts on changing that this season? Yeah, I mean, I got confidence in these guys. As it goes, I think in training camp, like it's hard right now, man. Like just we're not really doing a whole lot with these OTAs. We're working individual. We're working techniques. But truly lining up and rushing against the O-line,

like it's a non-contact camp right now. So we're not really going to get a good gauge for what that's going to become. But I think we're excited about what Bud has done, what Danico has done, where Jeff's at, what Harold has done at times for us. And then we obviously got to develop a few more guys here to be able to go in there and execute and find ways to affect the quarterback. But I think that's something built over time.

I hope all these guys have tremendous confidence in themselves and being able to get to the quarterback. I think that's a vital step to being a good player is being able to play with confidence and know who you are and that you're going to get your job done and excel at your job. So I hope all of them individually have confidence. I can't speak for anybody outside of this building, but I got confidence in them. I do. I can't wait until we get to the fall and we get to kind of put this thing together and see what it looks like. and we get to kind of put this thing together and see what it looks like.

Well, I'm glad that Shane Bowen has faith because he has more than I have that the pass rush will be dramatically improved. But the last thing here, and I found it the most compelling quote of the entire press conference, was about the communication issues that were expressed last year by the players. So how does Shane Bowen intend to fix those communication problems that obviously plagued the Titans defense in 2020? Yeah, I think we work on that constantly. I think that's a daily thing with any defense,

with any offense is making sure you got all 11 on the same page. It's been a point of emphasis for us throughout this off season. I think building these relationships with these guys, It's been a point of emphasis for us throughout this offseason. I think building these relationships with these guys, making sure it goes beyond just I'm the first string guy, I'm the second string guy, I'm the third string guy. Who knows who's going to be out there? But I think the guys understanding each other, building relationships with each other, building trust with one another,

and then ultimately making sure they understand, hey, I should be expecting this call in this play or this call in that play. Like there's a million things that can be communicated on any given snap, but it's kind of narrow in that focus, maybe becoming more conceptual in our understanding, hey, I'm doing this because this guy's doing this, right? So everybody's a little bit more coordinated, more on the same page. And it's been a big emphasis for us this offseason, making sure we're communicating, making sure these guys see things through the same set of eyes,

see things the same way, and talking through stuff as it comes up. Honestly, it better be something that Bowen and the Titans are working on constantly. And he talks about how he wants guys to have more of a conceptual idea of what they're doing on defense. That's just why. Why am I doing this? When these guys understand why they're executing a certain technique or why they're being asked to do a certain thing, then they have a better understanding of what the entire goal is and that can help them better understand

what their role is, transparency. And to me, why weren't you guys doing that last year? Are you just telling the linebackers, hey, this is your job, go do this, without explaining how that works tied together with the coverage? Well, it's no wonder that the Titans' coverage and their pass rush seem to be off kilter with each other all year long because the guys up front and the guys in the back didn't understand what either hand was doing. So it just seems like obvious improvements need to be made there,

and at least Bowen is saying all the right things early on. 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.