Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Select Isaiah Wilson, Remaining Needs/Options & First Round Highlights

Episode Date: April 24, 2020

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, we have a first round pick. The Titans selected offensive tackle out of Georgia, Isaiah Wilson, with their first selection of the 2020 NFL Draft. And of course, we are going to talk about that first and all that that means for the Titans going forward. We got a lot of great information about what the Titans see next, how they feel about the draft going forward, about certain positions.

We have quotes from Isaiah Wilson. We have quotes from head coach Mike Vrabel. We have quotes from general manager John Robinson about the selection and what comes next So a lot to talk about in our first segment when we break down the pick talk about Wilson as a player What he needs to improve on what he's good at right now, and how he can impact the team going forward We also need to talk about what comes next so who are some players still on the board? Where do the Titans pick the rest of the weekend? And what could we see them doing going forward as well? So which

positions do they still need to draft someone at and which players are still available at the top of those positions? So we will talk about that in our second segment. And then we will round out the show just talking about the NFL drafts first round in general, the surprises, some of the crazy things that took place, the trade, some different figures that we got coming out of the night. So it was an excellent first round. I had a great time watching the draft and seeing all of the madness. And ultimately, the Titans ended up picking the player that not only did I expect, but that's who I mocked to the Titans in this year's mock draft as well.

So, completely understandable. I do realize, based on the interactions on Twitter, follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans, but a lot of the fan base is not very happy. Titans, but a lot of the fan base is not very happy. So we will also talk about perspective that we should have on this draft pick and why anyone who's upset or disappointed maybe just needs to reframe the way that they are looking at the pick. So I will be talking about that throughout the episode as well.

And then we got to talk about Mike Vrabel's background situation seems to be making a little bit of national news Vrabel is quite the character so we will discuss that a little bit at the end of the show as well but an absolutely fantastic night it's about two o'clock in the morning right now and I am still pumped up from all of the draft action and ready to break it all down with you guys. Let's get it. Isaiah Wilson is still a young man having just turned 21 years old in February, but he is an absolute giant. 6'7", 340-350 pounds, and his size is matched by his physicality on the field. He is nasty and ferocious and does everything possible to not only win his matchup,

and does everything possible to not only win his matchup, but dominate his opposition, oftentimes on film, driving his opponent into the ground for a pancake block. It's something that if you watch him on tape, comes up quite a bit. And he will bring that tenacity to a Titans offense that already shares that personality trait. The Titans offense doesn't just try to win. They try to beat you into submission and grind you down to a pulp. So Isaiah Wilson does fit in very well. Also schematically speaking Georgia did run a lot of zone concepts in their offense. So Isaiah Wilson should be very familiar with his assignments in the Titans scheme. Going forward, Wilson will

have to work on improving his pad level with being the mountain of a man that he is. He does have a tendency to get too high coming off of the line of scrimmage, so the Titans will work with him on that. And he also could stand to improve his hand technique fighting with defenders on the edge. But for the most part, you have to be incredibly happy with what the Titans have done in this first round after losing Jack Conklin. One thing to point out is Isaiah Wilson's reaction to being drafted. He broke down in tears and was very emotional after he received the call from the Titans about the pick.

And I personally love that. For some reason, it seems to be a tell to me about emotional intelligence and awareness. And hearing Isaiah Wilson talk after the draft pick, you get a sense that that's exactly the type of guy that he is. The Cerebral Wilson had this to say about his game. Quote, I think the best part of my game is I am physical. And I enjoy beating am physical and I enjoy beating people up. I enjoy running the ball. I enjoy trying to essentially break another man's will. I would say that as my strong suit. I just want to beat people up on the football field and

I look forward to it. I am ready to work to be the best Titan I can be. End quote. When you hear things like that as a Tennessee Titans fan, how could you be anything other than as excited as possible? Wilson has the exact type of mentality that you want from your offensive lineman and has the physicality and the body to match that type of personality as well. Tennessee Titans general manager John Robinson also spoke very highly of Wilson after the pick. It was clear that the Titans had been targeting him for quite some time. Robinson said, and quote, he's a big man and he's a tough guy to get out of the way. He has excellent power to move the line of scrimmage in the run game and he is

tough to get around in the pass game. He'll compete at right tackle. We'll plug him in there and him and Dennis will battle that out. He has some things he has to work on, but we really, really like the upside of this guy. End quote. That leads us into the next part of this conversation and why offensive tackle is a little bit of a polarizing topic in the Titans fan base in the first round is because the Titans did just give a three-year $21 million deal to Dennis Kelly, but that deal only really has one year guaranteed and Dennis Kelly while being a reliable member of the Titans for the last few years is not necessarily a long-term option to start at right tackle so it makes sense for the Titans to get a prospect like Wilson with immense upside who needs a little bit of refinement and let Kelly maybe handle the

starting tackle duty for the beginning of the 2020 season and then maybe Wilson takes over late in the season or at the minimum at the beginning of the 2021 season. Either way, this definitely puts Dennis Kelly in a situation where he needs to bring his A game into training camp. And if you're being realistic and you're being honest, Dennis Kelly probably isn't very excited after signing a contract and essentially expecting to have the right tackle spot sewed up for him. So major competition coming from Wilson here. So the Titans do have five remaining picks in the draft and a lot of good prospects at positions of need still on

the board and speaking of the guys still on the board in our next segment we are going to look at what positions the Titans still need to add some players at and what are the top names at those positions that are still remaining that could be targets for the Titans on Friday night. So we will talk about that next. Before we dive into what positions the Titans still need to address, and the players, the best possible prospects that are still available at those different positions. I just want to talk about the Isaiah Wilson pick one more time, and how it relates to those other positions. So I know there were a lot of people in the Titans fan base that were upset by the pick of Isaiah Wilson, and it does make

sense why people would be upset I get it an offensive tackle if Dennis Kelly is going to start then an offensive tackle isn't really set to impact the team in 2019 and after being one game away from the Super Bowl you would hope that the Titans would take a player in the first round who's actually going to make an impact on the team's title chances the very next season. And we don't really know right now that Isaiah Wilson won't if the Titans were willing to take an offensive tackle in the first round. It's probably because they think that player is going to be ready to go a little bit sooner. So Isaiah Wilson, in all honesty, could beat out Dennis Kelly for the starting right tackle position, and that would reframe his value to the team a little bit. So

let's pump the brakes, basically. If you're one of the people who's upset with the pick, just pump the brakes for a moment and think to yourself, what if Dennis Kelly beats out, or what, sorry, what if Isaiah Wilson beats out Dennis Kelly well now how do you feel about the pick that that is the Titans starting right tackle for this season and while throughout this process I've been generally comfortable with Dennis Kelly starting at right tackle if we're all honest with ourselves at the end of the day we know that Dennis Kelly isn't a long-term option at right tackle as a starting player in the NFL. There's a reason that he has been the Titans backup for the last three, four seasons. There's a reason

for that. So just keep that in mind. Even if we all had confidence in Dennis Kelly, this is a sign. John Robinson is telling us, hey, we can't have Dennis Kelly be our starter for very long. He's still at the end of the day, just a very good third tackle. So, if you look at it that way, it makes sense. And then also, let's talk about John Robinson and his history in the draft. So, first round pick in 2016, Jack Conklin. All pro his rookie season, and Conklin's been great the last, you know, overall, generally, as a player. He had the two down years because of injury, but that was injury, not just poor play. The two years that he was healthy, he was phenomenal, and he just got a big contract, so clearly other people around the

NFL think he's a very valuable player, so that's a good first round draft pick. Then you look, of course, Corey Davis at number five in 2017. Corey Davis may not have been worth the fifth overall pick and be that kind of player, but he's a starting caliber wide receiver in the NFL. He's not a complete bum out there, a complete bust. Adoree has been great, and it looks like the Titans are going to pick up his fifth year option. Rashawn Evans has been fantastic. And then Jeffrey Simmons came out last year and was great after he finally got on the field, and that segues me into my next point.

Last year, how many people were upset about Jeffrey Simmons? No, you know, he's not going to be able to make an impact. He might not even play the first year. But Jeffrey Simmons made an incredible impact on the football team last year. So just another reason that we maybe need to take a step back and pump the brakes if you're one of the people who is not happy about the offensive tackle. I'm just trying to talk you off the ledge. And then the last thing I want to say is have faith in John Robinson and his ability

to hit in the second round. So if you go back to his very first draft that was a a rough second round in terms of value Kevin Dodd clearly his biggest mistake biggest bust of his tenure here in Tennessee a terrible pick at pick 33 I think it was but Derrick Henry I mean it started out a little rocky but that's proven to be a fantastic pick in the second round I think it was was 45, didn't quote me on the exact number, but right in the 40s, I do believe. And then Austin Johnson, while he didn't really live up to the value of a second round pick, he was a productive rotational player on the Titans for the last four seasons. So you can't say that that's bad. And then in 2017, the Titans didn't have a second round pick. But in 2018, Harold Landry. I mean, that's a pretty good second round pick.

2019, A.J. Brown. Pretty good second round pick. So, just saying, a lot of the time, John Robinson has hit in the second round. And if you want to criticize him for a kind of a strange second round in 2016, which was his worst draft performance there, probably Austin Johnson and Kevin Dodd, he still was able to get Kevin Byard and Tajay Sharp in that draft. And then the next year, in the fifth round, got Jayon Brown. So, all I'm saying is, all I'm saying is, take it easy, take it slow. Got Amani Hooker in in the fourth Nate Davis in the

third I think John Robinson has proven and taken us from a dumpster fire into a 9 and 17 four years in a row and two playoff appearances and AFC championship appearance I mean at this moment in time how can you doubt what John Robinson's plan is, especially scouting offensive linemen. Another reason to have faith and have optimism with this pick. John Robinson has proven he can scout offensive linemen. We're talking about Dennis Kelly. Well, where did Dennis Kelly come from? John Robinson traded him for DGB and got Dennis Kelly. He saw Dennis Kelly's potential and brought him over.

Jack Conklin, Nate Davis, giving Taylor LeJuan a big deal, signing Roger Saffold, getting Ben Jones. I mean, it appears that John Robinson has a good handle on how to draft offensive line and how to scout offensive line. So how many more reasons do you need to be optimistic about the pick? We should be very excited. And if you need any more, just go listen to Isaiah Wilson talk, man. He's going to be one of those guys. He gets it. He understands that he needs to improve. He has a good head on his shoulders.

And I have incredible faith after hearing him speak and seeing some of his pre-draft interviews that he is going to be a stud for this football team. And remember, Jack Conklin just got a lot of money. We might get a player who's just as good for a fraction of the cost for the next five seasons. So with that sort of impromptu Rollins rant out of the way, let's get into what positions the Titans still need and who are the top names still remaining at those positions. So obviously everybody's losing their dang mind over cornerback, cornerback, cornerback,

cornerback. And I agree with you at this point, the Titans got to take a cornerback in the second round. I would not be shocked to see the Titans trade up to get the cornerback that they prefer out of this group because there's a lot of cornerbacks here. There are two cornerbacks left that I projected to be first round picks and three cornerbacks left that a lot of pundits projected to be first round picks. So let's jump into the cornerback group here first. Trevon Diggs out of Alabama, 6'2", long rangy athlete. Jalen Johnson out of Utah, similar there. 6'1", good press man cover with long arms.

Christian Fulton, another guy out of LSU who has good length and can press you at the line of scrimmage and is very, very fluid. And if I have to be honest with you, that's who I want. The perfect combination of second and third round pick for me coming out of Friday night for the Titans will include Christian Fulton no matter what with the second round pick that's I would love to see the Titans trade up go get Fulton I think I think he's a great get right now and could make a huge impact on the Titans next season and then another draft crush of mine and some of you guys have reached out to me saying

I've basically convinced you that he's going to be a stud at the next level, and that is Amik Robertson. Robertson's 5'9", a smaller guy, but he's a feisty slot corner, very physical, has great ball production, which we know John Robinson pays attention to when looking at defensive backs. It's something that was a big sell for him on Kevin Bayard. So if the Titans came out of the second and third round with Christian Fulton and Amik Robertson, I would be pretty ecstatic, no lie.

And I think it would be a great idea. Because remember, everyone's thinking we need one slot corner right now. One slot corner because we got Malcolm and Adoree. Malcolm Butler might not be on this team in 2021 because of how much he's set to get paid and his general play Malcolm Butler has been underrated by fans in his time in Tennessee he's been a much better player when healthy than given credit for just because he started out pretty rough and his bad plays are really bad like he gets burnt on his bad play so it makes him look worse than he is.

But the Titans defense in the secondary completely fell off after he got hurt last year. So Malcolm Butler's been a much better player than he gets credit for, but at his age, his production, and his cost, the Titans are probably gonna have to replace him next year. So if you get somebody like Fulton to replace Butler on the outside,

and then Amik Robertson to step in and be a slot cornerback, I think that's a fantastic idea. Now, if the Titans don't double down on corner in the second and third round, which I admit is a tad bit of a stretch to think that they would do that, then I would like to see them go with an offensive position of some kind to balance. I think cornerback needs to be round two, no matter what, in my opinion. I don't think the Titans can wait until 93 to get a cornerback with how big of a need it is for them, but if they get that cornerback in the second round, I think in the third round, I would like

to see an offensive player, like I said, wide receivers that are still on the board that could potentially be there in the second or third round for the Titans. T. Higgins out of Clemson. 6'4". Big guy. Like basketball player style. Will go up and get it down the field. Just really, really thin. Narrow body. And not incredible athletic ability or speed.

So kind of just a big body deep threat. Michael Pittman out of USC. I think is a very interesting option for the Titans. A physical guy. 6'3". Can play on the boundary, has improved as a route runner, but is just, like I said, kind of like a power forward in basketball, will just box you out and go get the ball. And I think the Titans need a red zone, big physical threat

to complement Adam Humphreys and A.J. Brown going forward with Corey Davis most likely playing elsewhere next season. You also see Denzel Mims, who I thought was going to be a first-rounder. Another guy, 6'3", will go get it down the field, a boundary receiver. I think Mims would be a great pick, but I don't expect him to make it past the first 10 picks of the second round. So I would doubt the Titans would be able to get there. LaVishka Chennault has some injury concerns in the pre-draft that has caused him to slide, but he's about 6'1", 6'2", and has great run after the catch ability, so that would

be an option for the Titans. And then, I said this on Twitter, KJ Hamler, he's a smaller guy, 5'9", slot receiver, but he has excellent run after the catch ability, can return kicks, very bursty, needs to work on his route running, and isn't very physical, admittedly, but if the Titans were to get him to return kicks, maybe take over for Adam Humphreys in the slot here, used as a gadget player early on to get value out of him. If they got Hamler in the third round and Fulton in the second round, I would be a very happy guy. So the last guy I want to mention

is Brian Edwards out of South Carolina, another big wide receiver who could be a boundary guy and ex-wide receiver for the Titans. At the running back position, like I said, I'd like to see the Titans go the offensive side of the ball at running back. We still have DeAndre Swift on the board,

J.K. Dobbins on the board Jonathan Taylor Cam Akers Antonio Gibson is a big one for me he's probably more of a fourth or fifth rounder but because he showed versatility to play wide receiver testing with wide receivers at the combine while also playing running back in college and also being an asset in the return game. He could be exactly what the Titans are looking for. And based on the quotes from Mike Vrabel in his pre-draft Zoom conference, where he talked about a running back that can play all three downs, help in the passing game and also help in the return game, Gibson does fit that mold.

Similarly, Darrington Evans out of Appalachian State at the running back position, he would make sense in the third round and probably be there. Eno Benjamin out of Arizona State. Anthony McFarlane out of Maryland. All kind of fit that description. If the Titans don't go offense and they look to go defense, they could potentially go with an edge rusher or an interior defensive lineman. Some of the top names still on the board on the defensive line. Ross Blacklock, who played nose tackle in college but profiles is more of a penetrating one gap three technique the Titans kind of alluded to playing Jeffrey Simmons in that role so they might be looking for more of a natural nose tackle run stuffing rotational defensive lineman but you

never know Blacklock's a great player and John Robinson is going to take the best player available it does seem so also you got AJ Espinosa and Yotur Grosmatos, who are similar players who could play inside and outside. Both of those are kind of surprised that neither one of them went in the first round. Justin Matabuke from Texas A&M is an option. Jordan Elliott out of Missouri. Neville Gallimore out of Oklahoma. And Marlon Davidson, who has had a lot of links to the Titans pre-draft,

could all be available in the second round or maybe early third round as well if the Titans decide to move. So that's a lot of the options that we see for the Titans out on the board. I personally think that Jadavion Clowney is going to be signed to the Titans. I know I'm kind of like going off on a side tangent there from saying that out of nowhere, but basically my point of saying that is I think the Titans will push down the need for edge rusher or defensive line. They'll push that down a little bit further than maybe we're expecting because they know that they have Clowney in their back pocket.

Maybe I'm just being optimistic, but that's what I think is the situation that we're dealing with right now. So that kind of covers the preview for Friday's portion of the NFL draft and what players we need to keep our eye on in the second and third round. Once again, I would expect some movement from the Titans on Friday night, whether that's going up to get the cornerback out of the group that we have here, the cornerback that they really like going up to get them or dropping back because they don't really like any of them and would rather take one of those guys. I would like to see the Titans maybe trade back and get an early third and a fourth round pick, something like that, but we will see what happens. Trader John obviously

is always trying to make moves, and he did mention that the Titans were getting a little bit of buzz for the 29th pick, but it eventually fell through. I saw similar reports coming from Seattle Seahawks beat writers that they had some fizzle for a trade, but it ultimately fell through. And I think that that was probably the Packers trying to get up at all to get Jordan Love, which is a crazy, crazy development in this draft. So I think once the Packers found someone to go up and get their quarterback of the future, that kind of ruined any opportunity for the Titans or teams like the Seahawks

to get a trade down partner there. But speaking of the Jordan Love pick, which was one of the crazier moments of the draft, let's just talk about the NFL draft in general from a, you know, kind of a macro view here. Take a step back and look at the broad picture of what took place on Thursday night in a very entertaining first round. And we will do that next. What a wild first round and I think the craziest part about the first round is how long it took for the draft to kind of give us something unexpected. I mean, you look at the first few picks.

Burrow, Chase Young, Okuda, an offensive tackle to the Giants, Andrew Thomas. And then Tua went to the Dolphins. Justin Herbert went to the Chargers. Derek Brown to the Panthers. Isaiah Simmons to the Cardinals. C.J. Henderson, an offensive tackle, Jedrick Wills, to the Browns, an offensive tackle, Makai Becton, to the Jets, a wide receiver to the Raiders. Basically no surprises.

I mean, maybe a surprise that Henry Ruggs went, maybe a surprise in the order of the tackles. If you didn't expect quarterback that early with Herbert and Tua, then maybe that's a surprise. But there was enough pundits out there that had that as just like an obvious or likely option that it kind of seemed like the draft was really going chalk for the most point. And if you're not familiar with that term, chalk is just like what is expected.

You know, if all the high seeds won the NFL playoffs it would be chalk so I you know that's just a common term for that um we gotta trade up the Buccaneers one spot to ensure that they got an offensive tackle when I saw a lot of people asking why would they trade up one spot clearly if San Francisco is willing to trade then they're not going to take the guy that they want, and you never know what other teams were calling the 49ers to get up to take an offensive tackle. So, I thought that the Buccaneers would trade up in my mock draft. I had them trading up a little bit further than just one spot, but they get Tristan Wirfs out of Iowa, but offensive tackle for the Bucs, that was expected. Javon Kinlaw

for the 49ers. A lot of people had wide receiver, but if you didn't have wide receiver, you had Javon Kinlaw. So that makes a lot of sense. Jerry Judy for the Broncos. Everyone's been saying the Broncos want a wide receiver. AJ Terrell to the Falcons. That was a little bit of a surprise a little early, but I had AJ Terrell going 19. So three picks. How big of a difference is that? Everybody knew the Falcons wanted a cornerback. So no surprise there. This one was a little bit of a loop. And when the Cowboys took CeeDee Lamb at 17 and CeeDee Lamb had an interesting situation with the female that was sitting next to him in his cell phone. I encourage you to look up that video on the internet. Very entertaining and makes you wonder what was going on with that.

And then next you have the Dolphins taking an offensive tackle with their second pick. I had them taking an offensive tackle with their second pick. I had Josh Jones and it ended up being Austin Jackson, but I had Austin Jackson as the fifth tackle off the board, not Josh Jones. So to me, that was expected. The craziest pick that we saw to this point came at 19 with the Raiders. Everybody knew that they were looking to get a wide receiver and a cornerback in the first round, but Damon Arnett out of Ohio State, I mean, most people had him going in the second round at the max third round sometimes some people had him ranked you know past the top 60 players in the draft so to see Arnett go that

high it just proves again it's like when the Raiders took Clevel and Farrell out of Clemson last year with the fourth pick nobody had Farrell going until like 15 or later and they took him with the fourth pick so the Raiders organization clearly if they got a guy that later, and they took him with the fourth pick. So the Raiders organization, clearly, if they got a guy that they like and they don't think that that guy's going to be there by the next time they pick, they don't care what the general rankings are or how they'll be viewed. They go get their guy. I mean, there's something commendable about that, I guess, but Damon Arnett, that was a pretty big surprise to me at least.

Cavalon Chase on going to the Jaguars. Speaking of the Jaguars, David Caldwell, their general manager, came out after the draft and basically said, you've got to come back. Basically, they were only going to trade Yannick Ngakwe for a first-round pick. And the first round's over, and they didn't get a first-round pick. And he basically said they're not trading him. so they'll welcome him back with open arms because they're not going to trade Yannick Ngakwe so they'll probably let him walk after his franchise

tag this year and then Chase Onn and Josh Allen will be their edges so that's where the Jaguars went nothing too crazy there Jalen Rager going at wide receiver to the Eagles ahead of Justin Jefferson I think Rager going ahead of Jefferson is a little bit of a surprise, but I'm not surprised that the Eagles wanted a more speed threat at wide receiver than a possession threat like Jefferson. That's not really too big of a surprise there. Jefferson went the very next pick to the Minnesota Vikings. He's a very similar guy to Adam Thielen, so they have a few possession receivers there now but fills a big hole for the Vikings that made sense as well a lot of people had them taking receiver

another big surprise here the Chargers traded up I had the Chargers trading up into the back half of the first round but to get a quarterback obviously they took Herbert so that's not an option for them but they took Kenneth Murray the lineback out of Oklahoma. The next pick was the Saints. And this was a bit interesting because last year in the first round, the Saints took Eric Reid, and he plays center interior offensive line. Ruiz is obviously a center interior offensive lineman. So interesting to see how they shake out the depth chart there in New Orleans. Next, Brandon Ayuk for the 49ers from Arizona State. The 49ers traded up from 31

with the Vikings and went to get their wide receiver. They had been rumored to want a wide receiver. Obviously, like I said at the beginning in the middle rounds, if they didn't take a wide receiver, they were going to go with Javon Kinlaw. That was expected. So the fact that they didn't go with a wide receiver makes sense that they would follow up with their second first round pick to do that. Iyuk is a speed threat and we thought that the 49ers might take Henry Ruggs because Shanahan wants a speed threat in his offense, but he gets a speed threat guy. It's not Ruggs, but Iyuk definitely gives them that. The next pick was the biggest bombshell pick of the entire draft, and it's what we talked about to finish off the second segment of our show,

and that's the Packers trading up to 26 with the Dolphins and selecting Jordan Love out of Utah State. It is pretty wild that when Brett Favre was 35, the Packers took Aaron Rodgers. And Aaron Rodgers turned 35, and the Packers take Jordan Love. I got a lot of Packer fans in my family, including my father, who's been a Packers fan since the 1960s. And let's just say the Packer faithful is not happy about this pick. They wanted somebody to help Rodgers, kind of like the Titans are thinking. You want somebody who can come in and make an immediate impact.

A lot of Green Bay Packers people wanted Denzel Mims and to have him still on the board and for them to trade up and take a quarterback. When Rodgers was even on national radio the last few days talking about how it would be nice to have an offensive weapon. The Packers haven't drafted an offensive weapon in like 15 years. So pretty interesting situation seeing that. That's probably the biggest story coming out of the draft. Next, you have Jordan Brooks from Texas Tech at linebacker going to the Seahawks.

And the Seahawks just, if they don't trade out of the first round, they have a head-scratching pick every year. Rashad Penny, LJ Collier, now Jordan Brooks going ahead of Patrick Queen. And Brooks is mostly considered a second-round pick. Could end up being a great player, but Penny hasn't and Collier hasn't. I think at this point it's fair to question the Seahawks and their late first-round draft picks, at least recently. Next, Patrick Queen to the Baltimore Ravens,

and the Ravens have been looking for a linebacker throughout the process. It's one of their only real needs on their team. And then, of course, we have the Titans pick. We've talked about that quite a bit. Next, we have Noah Igbenogedin from Auburn going to the Dolphins with the 30th pick and I have comped uh Igben-Naganeen to Adory Jackson not quite as developed as Adory was actually playing cornerback but both of them are Olympic level athletes so Igben-Naganeen has two Olympic level Olympic athlete parents and if you can coach him up and you know kind of teach

him the intricacies of the cornerback position and add to that athletic ability and athletic profile he could be a fantastic player like how we're seeing a dory jackson blossom into a pretty solid player now the real question i have for the dolphins there is if you're going to take a cornerback this high in the draft, why do you have the highest paid cornerback in the NFL, Byron Jones, and the fourth highest paid cornerback in the NFL, Xavier Howard? That is a lot of resources to the cornerback position. I guess the Dolphins really are going all in on their secondary, like the head coach, Brian Flores, did for the Patriots in New England.

Next, our guy. A lot of Titans fans really love this guy, Jeff Gladney, goes to the Vikings at pick 31. And clearly the Titans just weren't that interested in Jeff Gladney. Maybe they liked him, but, you know, if they liked him as much as the fan base did, he would have been the pick over Isaiah Wilson. So I don't think the Titans were quite as high on Gladney as the rest of the NFL. And then at 32, Clyde Edwards-Hilaire from LSU. That was a surprise that he's the first running back off the board

over Jonathan Taylor, over DeAndre Swift, over J.K. Dobbins. So that's a bit of surprise. So I would say overall throughout the night, the big storylines here is that things kind of went according to plan for so long. There were 15 SEC players selected in the first round. That is a record for the NFL draft. Tua did end up with the Miami Dolphins after all the hoopla throughout the pre-draft process. Henry Ruggs being the first wide receiver off the board.

And got to mention, the fastest wide receiver in the draft going to the Raiders. It just makes too much sense. You know, that's an Al Davis pick. And you got to like seeing that when things make sense like that. CeeDee Lamb going to the Cowboys was a bit of a shock. Like I said, Damon arnett and noah igben noggin going so early six wide receivers in the first round three quarterbacks jordan love to the packers is crazy there were four trades jordan brooks going over patrick queen and then edwards

hilaire being the first running back i would say that is kind of a compilation of the biggest stories. Also, I would say Josh Jones from Houston, the offensive tackle that was widely considered to be a first-round pick, him not going in the first round is definitely a surprise as well. But that pretty much is going to wrap up our show, a recap of the first night of the NFL draft. This is our Friday show, so I will be back with you guys on Monday to recap everything else that takes place.

We are going to have an excellent week of podcasts next week talking about draft-related content, breaking down different players. I plan to do some film reviews on the players that the Titans select and just having good conversations about what these different players. I plan to do some film reviews on the players that the Titans select and just having good conversations about what these different players can do for the Titans, not just next year, but for the next few years on their rookie contract and what these selections tell us about how John Robinson and Mike Vrabel feel about the Titans' current roster and what they think they need.

I think that's the most interesting part of all of this is kind of getting a window into how Robinson and Vrabel are thinking about this roster and its future but what an excellent episode it is literally three o'clock in the morning right now and I'm still hyped up I don't know how I'm gonna go to sleep oh before we get out of here as well for you guys that enjoyed my mock draft uh the extra content I put on the feed yesterday for you guys, I ended up based on the huddle report. The huddle report, as I mentioned, has been grading mock drafts since 2003. It's basically the best national grading site that you can find. They keep records, have five-year averages, have champions, and keep all the records since

2003. On their grading scale, I got a 38 this year, up three points from last year. I had seven exact player-to-team matches. I had 24 out of the 32 players correct in the first round. I would have been tied for 13th place overall in the world at this moment in time. If you just count the actual score of a 38, that would be tied for 13th. If you do tiebreakers, which is player to team match, then I'm about top 50. I think like 48.

So not a bad mock draft either. I think it was a pretty crazy year. There wasn't as many rumors and as much information out on the block as with normal years. So I'm pretty proud of my mock. And at the end of the day, I called the Titans pick. I said it was going to be Isaiah Wilson. And like I said, at the end of the day, I host the Locked on Titans pick. I said it was going to be Isaiah Wilson. And you know, you know, like I said, at the end of the day, I host the locked on Titans podcast. So I guess if I'm going to get anything right, it's best to get the Titans pick, right? So I hope you guys enjoyed that inside information

that I brought you a day early about the Titans pick, but that is going to do it for me guys. Now that you are done with the locked on Titans podcast, tell your smart device to play the Locked on NFL podcast. We obviously ended our show with a lot of national stories coming out of Thursday night. So if you want to hear more about all of that, then check out the Locked on

NFL podcast. It is a good one as well, but that will do it for me. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland and this was locked on titans you