Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans See Another Major Deadline, Power Rankings Round-Up & Friday Mailbag!!

Episode Date: May 1, 2020

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, welcome to another Friday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. And we have quite a bit to discuss today. The Titans did make another signing, so I will talk about that briefly and explain why we need to discuss the roster reality as I have come to coin it. So we will discuss that at the back end of the first segment, but we will start off our show with the most pressing matter on the Titans calendar, something that we discussed

earlier in the week, and that is the deadline to exercise a fifth year option on the 2017 first round rookie. So Corey Davis, the fifth overall pick, and then Adoree Jackson, the 18th overall pick in the draft. So we will talk about the Titans' decision to be made on both of those players. We've discussed it relatively throughout the offseason, but we will really dive in to what those salary cap numbers would look like, what some other comparable salaries are at that rate.

So we'll dive into everything there on Corey and Adoree and what the Titans should do with those decisions. Then we will talk about the minuscule signing that the Titans did make on Thursday. But then we will jump into our monthly review of the NFL power rankings. So a little bit of a power rankings roundup from a couple of different outlets for you guys. What are people around the league saying about the Titans now that the draft is complete? Where are they ranking the Titans after free agency and the drafts?

We will dive into that just a little bit. And hey, it's Friday. We've had a few really busy Fridays with the draft, but we are back with our Friday mailbag segment, so we will jump into that. I am going to throw you guys a little bit of a loop here to start out our show. I want you guys to check out the intro music.

I am laying down here. Coming from Seth Gilliam. And the fake news. The song is called Lizard People. Some really talented musicians. Their music is available on Apple. Spotify. Any of the major streaming services.

So check them out. And while you're doing that. Feel free to subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast as well. Next week, guys, I'm going to be coming at you with draft breakdowns. We are going to go in-depth, day-by-day, with some of the draft selections from the past week's draft, so it's going to be a very good week to break down and go deep into these new Titans players.

And then the week after that, I am going to be coming at you guys with draft class reviews. So John Robinson has been on the job for five NFL drafts now. So it's probably best that we go back and look at some of his past drafts and see how they have worked out now that we have a little bit of hindsight and can go back and judge things a little bit more fairly. So a lot of good content coming up on the Locked on Titans podcast. If you guys want to get in on next week's mailbag, follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans,

and you can submit your questions to me at any time throughout the week. But once again, we have the fifth-year options to talk about. We have another Titans signing to talk about. We have another Titans signing to talk about. We have a Power Rankings Roundup. We have a mailbag. And I am going to be getting it all started with a little bit of Seth Gilliam and the fake news. Lizard People is the song.

So let's get it. I'm a little fuzzy but I'm on the run I feel like a shooter on a grassy road Nobody knows me, my intentions are whole I guess you could say I'm the grassy nose. Nobody knows me. My intentions are whole. I guess you could say I'm a sinner in a troll. I'm always up to something I don't understand. I'm a standing ovation without a plan. I'm seeking attention as I search the land. Pleased to meet me, baby.

Won't you be my biggest fan I'm so special, I'm the best, the one with temper and heat And best of me baby, I'll try to set you free With wide receiver Corey Davis and cornerback Adoree Jackson entering into their fourth season in the NFL in 2020, it is time for the Titans to decide whether or not they want to lock in their contracts for 2021. And obviously there are two different parts to this discussion. The first part is the production you are going to get from those players out on the field. But the other aspect of the conversation is how much their fifth year option is going

to be for. So let's talk about how much Adoree Jackson and Corey Davis would actually make in 2021 if the Titans decided to exercise and accept both of their fifth year options. So as a top 10 pick at the wide receiver position, Corey Davis would be making $15.6 million in 2021. Just to give you an idea of the salary range that he would be in at that time, $15.6 million would make Corey Davis a higher paid receiver than T.Y. Hilton, than Odell Beckham Jr., than Adam Thielen, than DeAndre Hopkins, than Keenan

Allen. At this moment in time in his career, Corey Davis has 142 catches, 1,867 yards, and six touchdowns in his three seasons. That type of production does not warrant $15.6 million on his contract in 2021. It just simply does not. And there are a ton of reasons why Corey Davis hasn't been more productive. The limitations of the Titans offense for the majority of his career. Marcus Mariota's own limitations with throwing the ball. Often at times last year, Corey Davis was open, but just did not get the ball as Ryan

Tannehill seemed to have a better relationship and better chemistry with rookie star receiver A.J. Brown. So while you could give Corey Davis a slight pass on the production, the reality is he has not lived up to a fifth overall pick. That's just the baseline for this discussion. And at $15.6 million with the type of production that we have seen from Corey Davis, it does not justify paying him that amount and locking in his salary for 2021. I would forecast and expect that general manager John Robinson would decline Corey Davis' fifth-year option. Now, that may give some Titans fans some Jack Conklin PTSD. What did just take place with Jack Conklin is this exact situation.

Due to his good rookie year, but then two down years with injury, the Titans decided to decline Jack Conklin's fifth-year option, and then he came out and had a stellar 2019 resulting in a big payday from the Cleveland Browns so it is possible that Corey Davis could have a monster breakout season based on the talent that he does have and that he has shown flashes of but right now the risk reward of that decision would lean towards the Titans declining the option. But on the other hand, you have Adoree Jackson. And at the cornerback position, being drafted between pick 11 and pick 32,

the rate for Adoree Jackson's 2021 contract would be $10.2 million. So again, for comparison, that means that he would be paid right around guys like Trey Waynes, who just signed a deal with the Bengals, James Bradbury, who just signed a deal with the Giants, and Casey Hayward, who plays for the Los Angeles Chargers. At $10.2 million, based on the way that Adoree Jackson has played throughout his first three years, it only makes sense that the Titans would accept his fifth-year option. Cornerbacks are a premium in the NFL, especially athletic cornerbacks that can play man coverage.

And Adoree Jackson is an Olympic-level athlete who has shown the ability to hang with some of the fastest receivers in the NFL. And at this time, it would be a mistake for the Titans to let him walk. Despite only having two interceptions in his career, 188 tackles, and three this time, it would be a mistake for the Titans to let him walk. Despite only having two interceptions in his career, 188 tackles, and three forced fumbles, the coverage is what really sticks out for Adoree Jackson, and while he has needed to improve throughout his career, he showed in 2019 that he can be a solid cornerback, and that is solid cornerback pay. The Titans have a decision to make, and we will know by sunday

what exactly they decide to do and obviously i will be breaking down those decisions on monday show after we know exactly what takes place do want to let you guys know about one final thing before we move into our power rankings roundup and that that is that the Titans have agreed to terms with running back Sonorize Perry, and let's be honest here, Perry is a special teams player. He's not a running back. That's just what position they have to label him at. Perry is 6'2", 210 pounds, was an undrafted free agent for the Bears in 2014, played for the Dolphins, played for the Bills,

and like I mentioned, he has been a solid special teams contributor throughout the last few years in the NFL. He did play at Louisville in college and was a productive running back there, but hasn't really shown any ability to be a running back in the NFL only having 11 carries for 33 yards in his entire career but like I said he has made a great impact on special teams everywhere that he has been so the Titans who obviously put a premium on special teams players will give him a look and see if he can contribute to that core group but that is going to wrap up our first segment here once again that was Seth Gilliam and the fake news the song is lizard people for the intro really talented artist there just wanted to put a spotlight on something that that I've been enjoying but we are going to jump into

the power rankings roundup next if you're like me you probably start thinking about what to eat for dinner while you're eating lunch. I love food, and that's why I love using Postmates. But I kind of love them even more right now because I can get food delivered without even leaving the house or even opening the door. Given what's going on in the world, they created a non-contact delivery system. So now when I order from local restaurants, everything gets left right outside my door. They also have Postmates Pickup, which I've been using to order takeout from my favorite local restaurants. There's a wing place close to me that I order every single Monday. The best

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For a limited time, Postmates is giving our listeners $100 of free delivery credit for your first seven days. To start your free deliveries, download the app and use code LOCKEDONNFL. That's code LOCKEDONNFL for $100 of free delivery credit for your first seven days when you download the Postmates app. Anything you need, anytime you need it, Postmates. I am all about keeping promises. And as I mentioned to you guys early on last month, I did say that we would stop in periodically

and take a look at the power rankings from around the league. And we are going to do that today. And after the draft is complete obviously pundits will put some teams up some teams down so it's a good time to check in and see where the titans are ranking in some of these polls so we are going to start at nfl.com and dan hanzus the old zeuser i know that he's a pretty popular figure on the internet he's got his own podcast over around the NFL it's a pretty good one indeed so his power rankings are out he's a little bit of a power rankings guru if you will but I think that you guys will be pleasantly surprised here

and he has the Titans at number five overall. They actually jumped a spot from their previous ranking because the Packers took a nosedive a tad bit with their, I guess, less than popular draft results. But of course, you got the big four in front of the Titans that typically are the Chiefs, the 49ers, the Ravens, the Saints. I guess you understand based on the talent that their roster has, and it's perfectly okay for the Titans to still be underdogs to those teams and then show up ready to bully them when the time comes. But the Titans being at number five in an

NFL power ranking, I mean, how can we complain at this moment in time? It seems like the Titans are finally getting the respect and the due that they deserve for the consistent four years of being a very respectable and competitive team. The next power rankings we are going to take a look at comes from Bleacher Report. And basically, this power ranking was done by Bleacher Report's entire staff of NFL writers. So we can't blame just one team. You know what I mean? You can't just pin it on one person. This is a collection of errors here.

And they actually have the Titans at 15. Highly unbelievable, in my opinion, that the Titans are considered only a top 15 team they have the steelers in front of the titans the the buccaneers and this one's really incredible the cardinals they have the cardinals in front of the tight they were terrible last year i mean i know they traded for deandre hopkins but give me a break and And then the Indianapolis Colts, I can't help it. It just grinds my gears to see them ranked ahead of the Titans. The Eagles, they do have some talent, but with the way that they played last year, I don't understand that. The Packers, I've already stated the Titans should be ahead of the Packers. The Cowboys, I mean the Cowboys, I mean,

puzzle me or color me puzzled. That's all I can say about that. The Minnesota Vikings, they have ahead of the Titans, the Seattle Seahawks, and then, of course, the big four that I have mentioned throughout. So, obviously, you can make arguments for certain teams. The Vikings have a good roster. The Packers have a good roster. The Bills have a good roster. The Seahawks have a pretty decent roster but the Eagles the Cardinals the Colts the Steelers I mean it's just frustrating to see that while I talked about in the NFL.com rankings the Titans are getting their respect it's very obvious with the bleacher report staff that they are not and remember when we were doing our mock draft round

ups that bleacher report often our guy Christopher Knox would have the Titans taking an off the ball linebacker in the first round in their mock draft. So at this point, I am starting to lose some faith in Bleacher Report. Our next power rankings poll comes from Sports Illustrated and it's the Monday morning quarterback staff. So once again, we can't just blame one person, but as a list of people, Albert Breer, Andrew Brandt, Gary Grambling, Mitch Goldich, Connor Orr, Jenny Ventress, some fantastic writers though, I will say. I do enjoy the work of Andrew Brandt from the business side of football. Albert Breer has been one of the best NFL reporters around the league for quite some time. Same with Jenny Ventress, a really experienced, fantastic reporter.

Connor Orr isn't new on the scene, but he's a younger writer. I really enjoy his work as well. In this pool, they have the Titans right there at number seven behind the big four that we've talked about, but they also have them behind the Eagles and the Seahawks. Now in this power rankings poll, they have the Titans at seventh, but they do have them tied with the Green Bay Packers. So top seven in the league, I can at least understand the rankings there, the Eagles, the Seahawks, the Packers, some NFC powers who have been in the

playoffs for quite a few years out of the last few. So it's understandable that maybe they would bank on the consistency of those teams a little bit more than the Titans in terms of actually getting in the playoffs and being able to win playoff games. The Titans have done that two years out of the last four, which is how you get the respect that we are seeing them get in a couple of these power rankings polls. But I guess I understand. I can't be too upset with the way that this one shook out. They have the Titans ahead of all the teams that I think they most certainly are ahead of in terms of how things are shaking out right now and how rosters are being put together.

Now, the last power rankings poll that we are going to take a look at here comes from Nate Davis at the USA Today. And Nate Davis, again, it makes sense, at least it makes sense, has the Titans at 8th overall. You got the Saints, 49ers,ers Ravens and Chiefs in the top four as they have been throughout this entire process the Vikings and the Buccaneers ahead of the Titans though which is a is a tad confusing from the Buccaneers perspective they may have added Tom Brady they may have added Gronk but they're still the Buccaneers. And I personally need to see a little bit more

from the rest of their players to be able to pop them into the top 10 already. The Colts really, like I said, it just really gets me fired up, gets my blood boiling. Phillip Rivers threw 20 interceptions last year. That's really their only big addition other than rookies in the draft, and of course DeForest Buckner, but Buckner and Phillip Rivers is all of a sudden going to make them a top 10 team in the NFL? I mean, give me a break. Slow the train down. I'm going to look forward very much to knocking the Colts back down to where they deserve to be. The Vikings are in the top five in this one ahead of the Titans. And I mean, the Vikings have won some playoff games in recent years. They are consistently contending for the playoffs. They do have a pretty good roster in general. They have good depth as well and had a

pretty decent draft. So I can understand the Vikings at least, but the Titans at number eight, once again, getting their just due. A top 10 ranked NFL team, NFL roster, coming off of a good free agency and a good draft. So that's where the Titans should be, anywhere from fifth to eighth. I'm okay with that. But 15th is just blasphemous. And it continues the trend of bleacher report, basically completely disrespecting the Titans. So that in itself is frustrating, but it's nice to see three out of four giving the Titans the credit that they deserve. But once again, we got to point out, power rankings has never gotten anybody a trophy.

So while it's nice to be respected nationally and nice to see the Titans ranking high, at the end of the day, the play on the field is what matters, and I'm going to trust the Titans to handle that part of the business. But that is going to do it for our Power Rankings Roundup. We are going to jump into our Friday Mailbag. And as I mentioned throughout the week, follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans. Make sure you are sending your mailbag questions to me there or putting them in the Apple podcast reviews. I will catch them there as well, but we are going to dive into the Friday welcome to the friday mailbag ladies and gentlemen let's jump into your questions here and see

what you had to ask of me this week and the first question comes from kieran shaker and kieran says you mentioned all of these potential backups coming in but isn't the best way for woodside mcdonald to improve is to actually be the backup and have opportunities and kieran that's a great question because you you have to play a balancing act at that point in time you have to kind of decide are you going to weigh their development or are you going to weigh needing a reliable backup and winning so if Ryan Tannehill goes down and you have to play one of Woodside or McDonald and they aren't necessarily ready to take over that mantle and they aren't ready to step in and actually win games well now

you're prioritizing their development as a backup over winning games as a team. So you kind of have to weigh that out. You definitely want to develop backup quarterbacks, and you want to try to create value there. If you can trade a backup quarterback after developing them into something worthwhile, that's going to be fantastic for the team. And you also want to develop a backup so that you have a competent backup, but you've got to be careful at risking putting their development over winning ball games.

I think for the Titans and where they're at right now in the window that they are in, it is much more important to have a backup that can come out there and actually win you a couple ball games if needed than it is to prioritize developing a younger guy at this time which would make sense to me when I talk about bringing in a veteran quarterback letting Woodside and McDonald battle it out and then keeping three quarterbacks on the roster one that you can count on to get the job done when needed and then another one that you can work on developing so that's kind of how I would approach that I would bring in a veteran that you can count

on like a Trevor Simeon and then cut one of Woodside or McDonald at this time I would lead to Woodside lean to Woodside over McDonald because McDonald still can you know maybe develop much more quickly and and much more growth than Woodside being this far along in his career and then Chad Haynes asked well it was more of a statement but I'll basically answer he said now he's afraid that the Jonathan Joseph signing definitely means no Logan Ryan and Chad I'm gonna go out of my way and confirm for you there that the Titans are not gonna be bringing back Logan Ryan at this moment in time it's just it's just not going to happen unfortunately depending on how you feel about Logan Ryan.

I am learning every day that there is a big set of this fan base that was not satisfied with Logan Ryan's play and everything that he brought to the table for the Titans. So maybe you're one of those people listening who doesn't want Logan Ryan back. But for me personally, I think it would have been great to want Logan Ryan back but for me personally um I think it would have been great to have Logan Ryan back but the Jonathan Joseph signing along with the Ty Smith signing along with drafting Chris Jackson I mean at some point in time there's just no room for another cornerback especially at the rate that Logan Ryan is going to expect to be paid to even play football in 2020 next we got a question from Mike Will.

He said, with the Titans finally having some continuity on offense, do you think there might be a shift in offensive production where you see possibly A.J. Brown and Corey Davis have 1,000-yard seasons and Derrick Henry with 1,100 to 1,200 rushing? The answer is yes. I do think that Corey Davis is going to have a much more productive season. I think A.J. Brown has already produced a thousand yard season as a rookie, so there's no reason to expect that to not continue, but I do think that Corey Davis being more comfortable with Ryan Tannehill having another year in this scheme and not playing his first six games of the season

with a quarterback who simply was not NFL starter quality in 2019. I think that Corey Davis is set to have a much better season. Now going back to the beginning of the show, I don't think that means that the Titans should pick up his option. $15.6 million is still not what I think Corey Davis is going to be worth even after a decent season, but Derek Henry, in my opinion, is going to get that 1 that 1200 yard mark for at least a couple more years until he starts to wear down as a running back so I do think that the continuity on offense will help the Titans produce more statistically not just AJ Brown not just Derrick Henry but the entire group now one thing to consider is Tannehill does a great job of spreading it around so maybe that limits the statistical um you know reach that the

titans can have the statistical output that the titans could have the ceiling on that production is maybe limited because of how tannahill will spread it out but i do think cory davis has a much more productive season this year the next question comes from my guy kenn, TexasSports1015 on Twitter. He is always in here throwing some great questions, so I do appreciate that. Kenneth asked, How high would you power rank the Titans in the AFC with Clowney? How far would you drop them without Clowney?

Well, in my opinion, that's not going to be too much of a difference just because of the way that the AFC shakes out right now. I honestly think either way the Titans have to slot in at third behind the Chiefs and the Ravens. I think that's only fair. I trust the Titans roster. The way that I'm seeing Clowney, I guess, is right now I think the Titans roster. The way that I'm seeing Clowney, I guess, is right now I think the Titans roster

is just as good as it was last year in terms of what they could accomplish. I think the Titans would make the playoffs. I think they could win the AFC South. I think that they could win a playoff game, maybe a couple playoff games. I think they could do that with the roster the way it is right now. If you put Clowney on this team, I think it just raises the ceiling of the Titans and it makes them a true Super Bowl contender. Having somebody like Clowney who can get after Patrick Mahomes, who can get after Lamar Jackson. So I don't think the Titans power rank changes that much because I think the roster is very strong right now. But Clowney is essentially a cherry on top of a sundae. The sundae is really good without the cherry, but you put that

cherry on top, it just adds to the presentation, it adds to the taste, it adds to the entire package, and it makes a sundae the special thing that it is. And I think Clowney would put the Titans over the top in that way. Tyler Williams asked, what is the impact that you expect to see in year one from Darrington Evans and Christian Fulton? Well, I think Christian Fulton, I know some of you are, well, at least one of you are a little tweaked by the way that I pronounce his name. So Christian Fulton, I think, could have a tremendous impact year one. I think he could play up to 60% of the snaps, be a boundary corner that allows Adoree Jackson to go into the slot. I think that the Titans did struggle last year having Logan Ryan play in the slot.

He's not a quick guy, not a fast guy, not great in man coverage, and I think it kind of limited what they were able to do. And while he was very special in the run game and blitzing from the slot cornerback position, it kind of just opens your options more to have somebody like a dory be able to slide in there so i think having fulton on the outside and letting the dory move into the middle could really help out the titans and their scheme and allow them to be a little bit more versatile and not kind of tip their hand sometimes and have to do so much the titans had to disguise a lot. They had to rotate their safeties around, rotate

their DBs, give different looks because they had to try to minimize the amount of man coverage that they played because they had a couple defensive backs like Logan Ryan, like Kenny Vaccaro, who don't necessarily excel in man coverage. I think this will allow them to play a little bit more man next year. I think Evans is going to have an even bigger impact. I think Evans could have the biggest impact of any of the rookies because he just gives the Titans exactly what they need on offense that they don't have. I mean, the Titans paid Deion Lewis decent money because they needed what Deion Lewis brought to the table. They needed a receiving back who can run streaks out of the backfield, who can run angle routes, who can get out in the flat and can be split out as a wide receiver, can return kicks. I mean, the Titans need that so

bad. They need that speed so bad on offense, and Evans can add that. So I think Evans will actually have the biggest impact of any of the rookies so far. And then A.J AJ Brown's blonde dot, it's at tighten up 2020. Sorry, man, I don't know your actual name, but he had a fantastic question here. And I, you know, I really enjoy the non football questions, I guess, movies, TV, cooking, music, anything outside of football, drink, beverage, anything like that. So I do enjoy those questions quite a bit. And his question here about Gatorade flavors, which Gatorade flavor is my favorite? That is a real, real tough one. And here's what I will say.

Growing up as a kid throughout playing sports all my life, I played like five, six sports at all times throughout my entire life. Basketball, football, baseball, track, powerlifting, whatever you want, ultimate frisbee. I mean, I'll go play if we can, hockey, soccer, whatever, I'll play it all. So when I was a kid, I'd be drinking red Gatorade, fruit punch. That's my favorite kind of Kool-Aid. That was my favorite kind of Gatorade, fruit punch, red. But the reality is there's something about my system. I don't get along with red food dye very well. It had a tendency to make me sick. So my dad would always be very upset when I would pick the red Gatorade knowing that it would probably just make me not feel good later dad would always be very upset when I would pick the red Gatorade knowing

that it would probably just make me not feel good later. As I've gotten older, obviously my tastes have changed. I really like cool blue, whether it's the light blue, the dark blue, I really like blue flavor in my Gatorade. And I really like purple G too. Honestly, I don't drink a lot of Gatorade anymore because it's too much sugar for me, especially if I'm exercising, working out, playing ball, anything like that. It's just too much sugar for me in my old age now. Um, and it's hard for me to drink at times. So I like the G2 that's, I mean, it's basically just watered down Gatorade, if we're being honest. But sometimes that watered down flavor and a little bit less sugar taste is exactly what I need. But quite frankly, nowadays, I just drink water all the time. But if I had to pick a Gatorade, I'm definitely going with a cool blue or some sort of blue flavor.

So that is going to answer that question. I really enjoyed the mailbag this week. Like I said, follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans. Get in those mailbag questions early on, and we will have another fun mailbag next week. So before I let you guys go, I do want to let you know that now that you're done with this edition of the Locked on Titans podcast,

you should tell your smart device to play the most recent episode of Locked on NFL. Never a bad time to check out the Motherships National Show. But other than that, that is going to wrap up this week's shows. I hope you guys enjoyed the intro music at the beginning. We are going to be back to our regular intro music, of course, going forward. But I just wanted to highlight that right there. Once again, that is Seth Gilliam and the fake news song is called Lizard People.

Check that out on wherever you stream podcasts. Subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast wherever you stream your podcast or your music, what have you. So that is going to do it for me, though. I hope you guys really do enjoy your weekend. A lot of states around the country are starting to kind of open things back up and start a path towards normal. I just want to implore you guys, make sure that you're still taking precautions

and being as safe as possible. I only wish the best for you and your families. But as always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.