Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - TITANS SQUAD SHOW: Chim Dike EXCEEDS expectations, MIDSEASON GRADES for rookie class & trade talks

Episode Date: November 4, 2025

The Tennessee Titans are 1-8 entering the bye week. We take a look at the rookie draft class and evaluate each player's performance at this point in the season. With the trade deadline just hours away, we analyze the moves the Titans have made as they look to rebuild the roster.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BILTTurn your rent into rewards and start earning points around your neighborhood by going to https://joinbilt.com/lockedonnfl.Supply HouseJoin the free TradeMaster program today and score serious perks like priority shipping, lower prices, and a dedicated support line. Visit https://SupplyHouse.com to sign up for free and use promo code SHNFL5 for 5% off your first order.PelotonLet yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use codeLOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFLfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'm Julian Minnensohn, and it's kind of the midway season, part of the season for the Titans will give you the rookie report card, and we'll talk about it as well as some trades. I'm Tyler Rowland, and the trades are rolling in, and at the end of the day, call me crazy, but I still believe in Chad Brinker and Mike Borgonzie. Tighten up. It's the Titans squad. Everything Tennessee Titans every week. Covering all the big hits and game-changing plays from the heart of Music City, the way only the locked-on podcast network can. Squad up, the Titan Squad Show starts now.

And welcome to the Titan Squad Show. I'm Julian Minutesone, joined by Tyler Rowland. Brad Hopkins is out today, but just like the Titans going into game short-handed, we can too with some of the best players out. And we'll talk about it coming up here. thank you for joining us this morning if you're live with us on youtube make sure to like comment subscribe all that fun stuff and check out locked on titans with tyler roland every single day um titans are in their by week but we are going to break down the rookie class to this point

in the season uh what we like so far who's exceeded expectations and what we need to see more from we're going to of course talk about the deadline deals and play tighten up versus tighten down we wanted to remind you that today's episode is brought to you by fan duel right now new customers can bet just $5, and if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Now, the Titans have been somewhat busy during this trade deadline. Of course, the big news yesterday, the Titans trading Draymont Jones to the Baltimore Ravens for a conditional fifth round pick that could become a fourth round pick. And that's where I want to start, Tyler.

I mean, to be honest, man, for a lot of these expiring deals, I didn't think they'd get more than a sixth round pick straight up. and maybe if you had to pick swap like they did in the Roger McCreary trade to get a fifth round conditional pick when trading away a sixth round conditional pick. But to get it from Draymont Jones straight up, I think that's pretty good value. What do you think about that trade? No, I think that's an excellent move. It's just an absolutely excellent trade for the Titans.

Now, it's unfortunate that the Titans are in a position to where they have to do this kind of stuff. And I understand that there are people out there who are just going to be angry about the situation, no matter what. We talk about it every week now. you can't, you know, say, hey, Peter Skronsky's playing great football. Well, they're 1 and 8. He sucks. Everyone sucks. That's like just how some people are going to be. But the reality is all you can do is manage the situation that you're in.

And with where the Titans are at at 1 and 8, the season is what the season is and we know what to expect from this team at this point. It makes all the sense in the world to start dumping off assets. And to get a guy like Draymont Jones who is on a one-year contract, this isn't a guy that's a player that you want to have around, for the future long term. Like, he's a good player. He's a solid player like a Sebastian Joseph Day on the defensive line.

You know, these are solid veteran players for good values on their contract, but they aren't long-term building blocks for the franchise or anything like that. You can find another Draymont Jones, another SJD, in free agency every year if you want to pay for it. It's not that hard to do. The term, Julian, I know you have heard of it, but maybe some of our listeners haven't. It's a JAG, just another guy. and 60% of the NFL is just another guy. They're all interchangeable and replaceable and about the same level.

And Draymont Jones is that and, you know, we talk tighten ups, tighten down, seems kind of minuscule, you know, based on the big picture trade deadline time of the year. You know what I mean? Like we're talking ramifications long term. But for Draymond Jones to go on that heater that he just went on, four and a half sacks and four games, like that absolutely mattered to this trade and now we're getting the conditions back. If he has two sacks with the Baltimore Ravens

and then they make the playoffs, it becomes a fourth round pick, a fourth round pick. And even if it doesn't, it's a high fifth round pick because it's the Jets' fifth round pick. So like to get a high fifth round pick, really, really good chance to get a fourth round pick out of a guy on a one-year contract who isn't a long-term building block,

like that is an excellent move by Mike Morgonzi to send him to the Ravens, sucks that we got to root for the Ravens to make the playoffs now. I hate that in every fiber of my body. I truly do. But at the end of the day, looking at this trade, the Titans' team wasn't going anywhere.

The pass rush being a little less good or a little more bad, however you want to put it, doesn't really bother me at all for the Titans to get, you know, a pick. People, what are we going to do with the Chim D.K., Elykeyeo Manor, Gunner, Helm, all fourth-round pick. So don't tell me that and everybody's, you know, pissed off that Jarvis Brownley Jr. got traded.

He was a fifth round pick. Well, you just got a fifth round pick back. And Mike Borganzi's had a lot of success in his tenure and in Kansas City with fine and defensive backs in the late rounds and things like that. So, you know, you can't be pissed off that Jarvis Brownley got moved and be like, oh, he was such a good player. And then when the Titans get a fifth round pick back, be like, oh, fifth round picks don't matter. We don't need those. Those aren't important.

Well, why are you so mad about Jarvis Brownley, you're getting traded then because he was a fifth round pick and apparently those don't matter. You know, so like, I think Titans fans can't have it both ways. You've got to be excited about this one. This is a good trade, different than Roger McCreary or Jarvis Brownlee Jr. Young players, this is an obvious one. And I'm surprised that, like you said, I'm surprised they got the value that they got for this.

Yeah, they have Draymont Jones to thank because of the way he's been playing over the last few weeks, like you mentioned, right, for a sack in each of the last four games. I don't know if this value comes in if he doesn't start showing out. He was basically the best defensive player on the field for the Titans this past week against the Chargers. You mentioned the other trades. I just wanted to give our viewers and our listeners a rundown of the moves that the Titans have made so far. Of course, the Draymont Jones trade, like we mentioned, a conditional fifth round pick that could become a fourth round pick as he sent him to the Ravens. Roger McCrary was traded to the Rams about a week, a week and a half ago, along with a six round pick to the Rams for a fifth round pick.

And then, of course, a couple weeks ago earlier at the start of the season, they traded away Jarvis Brownlee and a seventh round pick for a six round pick. So my next question is, while we're recording this show, those are the trades that have been made. But there is a good chance that by the time we post this and you guys listen to it, that more trades could be coming in for the Titans. If there is one player that you think gets dealt the rest of the day, I got to say it's Chigaconkwo, probably.

but what do you say about that in the way you're assessing what the Titans have to give? Well, I would say that less than the player itself, to me, it's positional. And for me, it's Arden Key. And I know that Key's been banged up lately, and that may prevent a deal that that's certainly possible. But I think that the demand for pass rushers, the demand for edge players, I think tight end is a position where every single week, it seems like we see random tight ends who we don't even know or recognize or whatever that pop off and have good games.

Tight end is just a weird position where you don't necessarily need to go out and pay a sixth round pick for a Chigaconquo and I'll be honest. Chigacanquo is a devastatingly terrible blocker. Like I am, I don't want to, you know, go overly negative with my film stuff. Film is too hard and it takes too much time

and everything for me to focus on negatives. It just drains my soul to make negative film reviews all the time. I would prefer to focus on the positives and we'll talk about the rookie report cards and those are the positives for me. But look at the trends in the NFL right now schematically. Teams are going like the Titans have done with Corey Levin and some of their tackles.

Teams are going six offensive linemen. They're going multiple tight ends. Teams are going extra heavy this season because the blocking at the tight end position is so poor right now because all these tight ends coming out of college are pure pass catchers. The blocking is so bad. The teams are like, screw it.

We're just throwing an extra offensive lineman in there. We don't care if you know. You know what I mean? Like, it's that bad with the blocking at the tight end position. So I don't think that Chigakonkwo is going to have a ton of value out there, in my opinion. I don't think teams are going to be willing to pay anything for him. And I think Arden Key, while not being a great player, he is at a position that is in great demand.

You need depth on your defensive line. You need a heavy rotation of pass rushers. and Arden Key has been miscast the last couple of years for the Titans as a primary alpha pass rusher, and he's just not that. And I also think that Arden Key is kind of a, you know, I don't mean to insult him, but he's a follower. He's not a leader in the locker room, and if he is one of your leaders, it's not a good thing.

He's a goofball, he's an off-the-wall guy. He can be a fun personality mix to a locker room, but he can't be one of your guys that you rely on the most and all of that. So I think Arden Key, who this has been proven out throughout his career, he has his best moments when he's a tertiary rusher in a great environment. And I think get him to the Patriots, get him to San Francisco, for example, back to San Francisco, I should say.

I think there are a ton of areas where you get Arden Key back in a better environment. He's going to have some value to a team, and he doesn't have really any value to the Titans right now. So if I have to pick or I have to guess I would go with Arden Key but my second guess would be Tony Pollard because I think the price would be cheap and he's a proven guy who you can get in right away

and he's just going to run. You know, he's just going to run it's not going to be hard to acclimate him. So those are the two that I would actually go with if we see another deal but I am not convinced right now I would say I am less than 50%

that the Titans make another deal today because again, Key has been hurt, how much value you're going to get out of Chig or Pollard? Jihad Ward is a scrap heap guy. He's not going to get you anything of tremendous value. I think Calvin Ridley's contract make things a little difficult

and you'd have to pay a little bit more for Calvin Ridley. So I think the other players that could be potentially on the move in, Tavondre Sweat. I guess we'll talk about that at some point. The conversation around Tavondre Sweat, which has been popping up over the weekend, but I don't think the Titans make more trades today. I hope I'm wrong about that,

but if they do, I think it'd be Arden Keith. Yeah, there's some people in our comments right now. Shotby Buddha says, trade Pollard, and I sleep like a baby tonight. Chicken Wang, 0.087 says, I don't think Pollard gets traded. There's no value in him. He hasn't done anything significant this year and isn't getting any younger. And that goes back to the, you're not going to get a ton maybe for a lot of these guys. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that's the reality is the the people with value for the Titans are going to be people that fans are going to be pissed about trading.

Like, trading Calvin Ridley, which I don't know how mad the fans would be at this point with trading Calvin Ridley. I think if they're this willing to trade him, they're probably going to cut him in the offseason. You know, they probably won't want to pay him. So maybe fans won't be as upset if they don't get anything good from Calvin Ridley. But I think Tavondre Sweat is a guy you could get value.

If you actually want to get a top 100 pick back, you might be able to get a late third, ground pick from a contending team, which would be in the top 100, but fans are going to be irate if they trade to Von Drey Sweat. So it's like anything that's going to bring a trade, bring a pick back that fans would be happy about is going to be sending a player out that fans won't be happy about. So it's like impossible to thread the needle and make people happy after this Draymont Jones trade. You know, I want to go back to something you said earlier in the show. You talk about how fans maybe get upset or, you know, the, oh, Peter Scrantz, he's playing well,

but they're one and eight. You know what I mean? You have to look at this season, I think if you're the fans. You can't look at it from a win-loss perspective. You have to look at it more like a preseason game, right? Are there moments where this team is getting better? Are there moments where the young players? I know we'll talk about the rookie report card in a little bit,

but are these young players showing consistency in getting better week after week? You have to look at it more granularly than that, I think. Mike Organzi talked about it. The ultimate form of currency in the NFL is draft capital. And as a new GM, he is going to build this roster how he wants. It doesn't matter. Like everyone goes back to the Jarvis Brownlee thing and how much of a surprise that was. The fact of the matter is Jarvis wasn't one of Mike Burgonzi's picks.

You know what I mean? It's no different than when you get a new boss in a workplace. It doesn't matter what the employee has done before. If you're not one of his guys, he doesn't have any right to keep you. You know what I mean? So I think that's how fans have to look at the remainder of this season. And especially if they do trade away guys that maybe the fans want to keep. You have to look at it as a preseason

and we're building this team out for the long term rather than just the immediate on the field results. And I think the reality here is too, like with Jarvis Brownlee Jr. And what my takeaway has been from the Devandre Sweat conversation, which we can get more into is these are guys

who they don't want in the locker room. They're building a brand new culture. Mike Borgonzi and Chad Brinker are looking at this as year one. And sometimes what you have to do to get healthy is you got to cut out the cancer. Sometimes you've got to lose some fat before you can build the muscle. You know what I mean? You got to, you got to, if you want to get, if you want to get jacked, you got to cut your fat off as much as you got to build muscle. And I know that some fans don't want to hear it and don't want to accept it and don't like it. And maybe they're

wrong. Maybe the Titans are wrong about how they're going to approach this. But at the end of the day, if sweat gets traded, Jarvis Brownlee, like the Jarvis Brownlee Jr. trade wasn't the same is Roger McCreery. Roger McCreery was on an expiring deal. He was playing himself out of Nashville. Yeah. Yes, exactly. He was going to leave the team after the year. So the Titans are just flipping him to get some value back. Jarvis Brownlee Jr. was in year two of his rookie contract. That was not the same as the motivations of the Roger McCreary trade and the Jarvis Brownley Jr. trade are different. Roger McCreary was, hey, let's get an asset

because this guy's contract is expiring and he's a decent player. The Jarvis Brownlee junior trade was, we want this dude away from our culture. If we're building our culture with this rookie class from the ground up and we're starting over here, we do not want this guy around. Like, you know, you heard all the, he's late to meetings, he's not locked in, he's disagreeing with the coaching staff when they're talking about the penalties. He's just a cantankerous personality in the locker room. That's what we would see if we got a Tavondre sweat trade. And the fact that he's even available and there's all these reports, he's being shopped And so they are telling you, hey, we don't think Tevondre Sweat is the type of guy

that we want to build our culture around in our locker room. And that is totally different than the Draymont Jones trade or what an Arden Key trade would be. So I think whether fans agree or disagree with that thought process, that is what they are telling you is we don't like these guys in our locker room with some of these trades. Not all of them are just, hey, we're dumping assets because they're leaving the team after a year to get draft picks.

back but I don't think that sweat ultimately gets traded but I think it makes it much more likely that it gets traded in the off season because they are telling you we don't really want this guy around indeed well on the other side of the break we're going to play one of our favorite segments tighten up and tighten down what we're up about this week when it comes to the Titans and what we're down about this week when it comes to the two-tone blue don't go anywhere all right nobody likes paying rent but if you must you might as well get something for it that's where built comes in built is changing the game by turning your rent payments into real rewards you can actually use now when you pay rent through built you earn flexible points that can be

redeemed toward hundreds of hotels and airlines a future rent payment your next lift ride and more but built isn't just about rent it's about rewarding you around your entire neighborhood Billet has made everyday life feel more rewarding from your neighborhood to your travel plans. It's all good stuff. Now turn your rent into rewards and start earning points around your neighborhood by going to joinbilt.com slash locked on NFL. That's J-O-I-N-B-L-T dot com slash locked on NFL. Make sure to use that link so they know we sent you guys. All right, we wanted to play our favorite segment, tighten up versus tight and

down, Tyler, what do you tighten up about this week? We'll start with some positivity on this Tuesday. Well, Chim Dike, where else could we go? I mean, Jim Dike, not only is he a Pro Bowl returner in the AFC, he'll probably be the all pro returner for the entire NFL at this stage. I mean, he leads the NFL in return yards, should have two touchdowns on the year after the one got called back. What was it against the Rams on the terrible penalty by Cedric Gray, five yards behind? I'll never forget that one throughout the season. But at the end of the the day, Jim D.K. has been absolutely fantastic. I never expected him to come in and be a, you know, Brian Thomas Jr., A.J. Brown, rookie wide receiver dominating. Like, to me, he is,

you know, baseball, the World Series just finished. And to keep it baseball, Jim D.K. is a utility infielder to me. He is a guy who could play second. He can play shortstop. He might be able to kick out the third just a little bit in a pinch. He's a guy who can kind of do a little bit of everything for the wide receiver group. I don't think he's ever going to turn into a star wide receiver, he's always going to be kind of a role player on the Titans offense, but he is a star kick returner and punt returner, and the Titans have desperately needed that since Mark Mariani. You know what I mean? Like, it's been a long time since they've had somebody who's a weapon in that regard. So I think, like you were talking about

earlier, Julian, if you measure your happiness, you measure your success, you measure good or bad only by wins and losses this year, then you're going to think everybody sucks. Jim Dike sucks, Peter Skoronsky sucks, and I see it all the time and it's frustrating to me. I am known Julian for being a pessimistic person. I am a pessimist when it comes to the team. Everybody cries that I'm too negative all the time, blah, blah, blah, blah,

until I'm right and the team's terrible, and then people aren't crying as much about my negativity because it's like, oh, I guess Tyler was right. This team is bad. But, but I saw somebody say the other day, you know, the Titans need to trade this and that. And someone replied to him and they said, why would anybody want the Titans, they're garbage?

And it's just like some people, and the casual fan, I think, has a hard time separating, that there can be, football is a complicated game with 11 players out on the field for each team at a ton. Just because the team is bad doesn't mean that everybody is playing bad. And it's like this with coaching too when the Titans interview a coach off a team

who didn't have a great record. It's, oh, why would they want that guy? His team went 5 and 12. Well, just because the team went 5 and 12 doesn't mean that every coach on the coaching staff is a terrible coach. Like, you can't just throw the baby out with the bathwater in that way. Football is more complicated than that. And I think that people don't want it to be more complicated than that. Because it's easier when you could just say, 1 and 8, everyone sucks.

I win the argument. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, like, it's more nuanced than that. And Chim D.K., even though the team is bad, has checked every box that I expected and if you remember Julian because I sure remember people were more excited

about Gunner Helm and Elicayo Manor than they were Chim Dikey. Chim Dike was kind of the forgotten son in that three pick span like people were not excited about him and thought he was overdrafted and were mad they missed out on Cam Scataboo and all these different stuff

and look Scadaboo's nasty I know he's hurt now but that would have been a good pick nonetheless but either way I'm just saying not everybody is bad because the team is bad and not only is Chim Dike not bad Chim Dike has been freaking excellent he'll probably be the all pro returner as things stand right now

and should be halfway through the season so that's my number one tighten up we got to acknowledge the greatness the only thing about this football team that has been great great not good great is Chim DK and he deserves a major tighten up for that

The NFL's all-purpose yards leader as it stands right now My tighten up is kind of a bigger picture to that point. Defense and special teams scored some points this past weekend. And I know it's unfair, but they are going to have to do that if they want to compete and stay in these games. Cody Barton with the pick six. You mentioned the Chim D.K. punt return. First one for the Titans since 2012.

It's crazy that it's been that long. So they're going to have to get points on the board if the Titans, if we are looking at some of the on-field results like the fans want, they are going to have to do that because the offense is just in a play. place right now where they're not consistent enough to get points. And I think that leads right into my Titan down was offensively, you only get two field goals out there. You have two opportunities to get one yard at the goal line. You can't do it. You go one of nine on third down. That's not going to get it done when you talk about sustaining long drives and keeping your defense off the field. So the offensive missed opportunities in a game where they only lost by seven points and

the Titans are sitting there thinking, man, like, what could have been in this game? Because they played well enough to win that game. Yeah, they did. I mean, they had a chance, you know, and it's just, I think that's what's most frustrating is, I don't think that this team is good. You know what I mean? Like, I don't, I don't think the Titans are secretly a good team, but it is so clear to me, multiple examples, whether it be Denver, whether it be L.A., whether it be the Colts game in week three, like, so many examples this year where the Titans would have even, you know, even, you know, either had a chance to win

or literally would have won if they had better coaching. Like, less conservative decisions, more logical decisions, knowing the rules better, all that different stuff. Like, last year, you know, I know everybody wants to romanticize everything

and be like, oh, Will Levis, I guess Will Levis was terrible last year. And he threw away games. And being like, oh, well, turns out Brian Callahan is one of the worst head coaches that we've ever seen in NFL history doesn't change the fact that Will Levis has fallen down

and throwing underhanded lollipops and throw in pick sixes to the sideline that get intercepted and run back like the bad coaching doesn't change those stupid decisions but last year he was so bad that it kind of mass how bad the coaching was you know and then this year it's fully on display and I guess like I could accept more

if it was just hey the roster is bad we're getting smoked every week there's nothing you can do but watching the coaching staff literally make these silly decisions these silly calls every single week like I'm sorry I don't know how you watch that game

and don't think that there is at least a small a smidgin you know tin foil hat but at least a less or a more than zero percent chance that they are actively tanking that Mike McCoy is getting paid to literally lose games on purpose because calling the wild

cat three times like that, not quarterback sneaking. Some of the, you know, the conservative play calling from last week that we talked about, like, it's hard for me. I guess I have a hard time rationalizing that a coach could be that poor and that silly with what they're doing and that outrageous with the calls. Like, it's just hard for me to believe that a coach can be this bad. I just can't believe it. I can't believe the ineptitude.

My brain can't wrap my head around it. So the only logical explanation my brain can come up with is you're purposefully trying to lose because there is no logical way that Mike McCoy is this bat, right? Like there's no way that he's this illogical to call those wildcat plays three times and to keep going those screens. Julian, I said it during the game. The Titans would run normal run plays, normal pass plays, just your standard what we're used to seeing.

And then immediately after having success with those, they'd run like a schemed up play. You know, something fancy. like, I'm sorry, but my brain can not wrap my head around the ineptitude of those calls and decisions. So the only thing that can make sense to me is you're purposefully trying to lose because there's no way that you're, you're just making that dumb a decision. I cannot believe it. I simply can't. You basically had the same point as one of our viewers here, chicken wang zero zero eight seven right there on the screen for our viewers. I know we lost,

but my titan level are the players. You know, obviously the players played well enough to win, but the tighten down was shackled by bad coaching. And I wanted to talk about some of those trick plays. I mean, there was the one where Pollard took the direct snap and Ward moved to the outside and they couldn't get a first down. And the entire press box were sitting there and we're like, what the heck are we doing? There was collective, what the heck are they doing out there?

The flea flicker, there was another one that just Uberly failed. I mean, like if the whole idea is to get Cam Ward, board as many as many good reps as possible. Why not run normal plays? You know what I mean? And listen, I think that trick plays have their place. You can't just not run screens. You know what I mean? But it's the timing of those things. Like as soon as they get some momentum and here's the way that I see it. This is how I view it. And I know that every coach has this. But to me, when Mike McCoy said when he got the interim job, it's players not plays. Exactly. Everybody applauded.

everybody cheer and this is why I tell you that press conferences are useless they don't say anything of value like it you know one of the big things one of the reasons I wanted to stop writing when I wrote for Sports Illustrated is

I got so sick and tired of spending you know 30 minutes writing up something with quotes and transcribing a press conference where they literally say nothing he says oh it's players not plays all right well then how come every time the players

execute normal football plays and do something good, you go, okay, now we're going to trick them. You know, I'm a mad scientist. Let's run the flea flicker now. Oh, now we're going to run the orbit motion into the swing screen. But it's like every time the players get rolling just by out executing the other players on the field, the coaches go, all right, now we have a special play

that's going to outsmart Jesse Mentor. You know, now we got it's just like, it's so annoying to me that it feels like we hear Jimmy, and Joe's, not X's and those, players over plays, all these things that the coaches say that minimize the coach's impact. And then as soon as the coaches have the opportunity, they're like, Cam, give me the wheel back, I'm driving. I got a schemed up play that's going to trick them, you know what I mean? It's just like madden out there. Yeah, every single time they tried to run one of their quote unquote, what I'm calling, schemed up plays where they're

trying to outsmart the defense with some trickery or something. It failed miserably. Every time that they were running something normal, they had some success and it's just like, how do you not notice that you're the problem and that the plays that you think are smart are actually really dumb? You know, like, it's just super frustrating that I think, you know, I always say, Julian, I'm going to be honest. Mike McCoy has forgot more about football than I will ever know. Bo Hardegree has forgot more about football than I will ever know.

They are at a totally different stratosphere of football knowledge. You know what I mean? I always say, like, I have like a high school diploma in football and film and stuff like that. These guys are like mastery level. So I'm not going to act like I know more about football than Mike McCoy or Beau Hartagree, but sometimes you overcomplicate things. And I could be holding a controller playing Madden and make more feasible decisions for this football team just by keeping it simple

and they just refuse to do it. Yeah. We have a couple of comments in the chat. They're giving us their tighten up and tighten down. One of them is something we've talked about this entire season. Chicken Wayne is coming in with the good takes here today. Chicken Wayne 0-087. Amani Hooker with a tightened down, in my opinion.

He seems lost sometimes. And you've even mentioned it on this show, Tyler. This is probably some of the worst football he's played in his career. Yeah, he's been awful. I've never, I will admit, the last couple of years, and the Jaguars have traded Jacobi, Myers to the, or the Raiders have traded Jacobi Myers to the Jaguars. So there's a

little bit of movement in the wide receiver market. Let's see if that helps Calvin Ridley get something back. It was a fourth and a sixth. So I think Ridley could get something close to that. But I think that over the last couple of years, especially last year, Amani Hooker's run

defense had fallen off a cliff. Like he took bad angles, bad tackle attempts, diving at guys. He has been awful. and run defense for two seasons now, quite honestly. But him and past coverage, I think he's lost a step as a player. I think he's just a little bit slower. He was never a speed demon.

He was a guy who lived off instincts and understanding and his awareness and all of that. And he's lost a little bit of a step and he's got less help around him as well. But Ammoni Hooker's run defense had fallen off a cliff before this season. So I was a bit surprised by the extension in that regard. But his past coverage and his speed taking a dip this year. year has really heard him and I think after giving him that extension I mean we got to look into the contract numbers to know how feasible it is but the titans might be considering letting him go after this year because he has just fallen off a cliff entirely i mean quandre digs has been

better than amani hooker this year and Xavier woods has been better than amani hooker for most of this year even though woods got a lot worse after the first couple of weeks but yeah i don't blame anybody for being frustrated with the money hooker especially after they give him the extension the run defense was already falling off a cliff, but now the past coverage is gone with it. It's just hard to explain. Hard to explain, but one thing we will try to explain

on the other side of the break is the rookie class, Mike Borganzi's first rookie class. What we've seen from them so far, what we've liked, and what we need to see more of. That's when the Titan Squad Show returns. Stay with us.

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Right now, Fanduel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with Fandul, the official special betting partner of the NBA. All right, wanted to play a little rookie report card. We'll put our teacher hat on in a second, maybe give some grades out to whether you want to do the rookie class as a whole, Tyler or go player by player. What have you made as a big picture?

Let's start with the big picture of this rookie class under Mike Borganzi. Because personally, I think I've been pretty happy with what I've seen so far. The results are the results on the field. You know, they're 1 and 8, but there have been flashes of some really good things. by some of the guys. No, I agree with you. And I think from a big picture standpoint, what my takeaway here is,

is I believe in Chad Brinker and Mike Borgonzi. I still do. Like, I know after the JBJ trade and the team not performing well, everybody wants to throw darts at Brinker and Borgonzi, but just hear me out on this. And you don't have to agree with me. You know, people in the chat, whoever,

you know, you don't have to agree with this. It's at the end of the day, it is up to your personal opinion of what really happened because we're never going to know there's NDA agreements that get signed and people don't want to go into those kind of details behind the scenes but I think that while everybody says well Chad Brinker was involved in a lot of these moves that have gone bad

you know he was an assistant GM for Rann and then he got promoted the second year of RAN and you know Chad Brinker is just as guilty as Rancarton and call me naive call me whatever you want I don't agree. I think the reason that Chad Brinker got promoted, I think the reason that Chad Brinker is the liaison for Amy Adam Strunk right now.

I think the reason for that is Chad Brinker hated all these moves that Rancarthon was making. He did not want to make them. And he went to Amy Adam Strunk and he said, I don't really like this move. I don't think this move makes sense. I don't want to trade for Legerious Sneed. I don't think that we should sign Ridley to this big deal.

I don't think that we should draft Jarvis Brownley Jr. and Tavandre Sweat, these character concerns. But I don't think that Chad Brinker liked a lot of these moves that Rancarthon made, and he went to Amy Adam Strunk, and he said, I don't like these moves, Amy. I don't agree with what Rancart Thon is doing. And then the Titans get the number one overall pick. Legerius Sneed gets hurt. Calvin Ridley's just okay. You come into this year, things aren't going well.

I think a lot of the moves that Rancarthon made Chad Brinker didn't like. He went to Amy Adams Strunk and said, I don't like these moves. And then the moves didn't look out, didn't work out and look stupid. And Amy Adam Strunk is going, oh, well, Chad Brinker was right about everything all along. I wish he would have been in charge. That is why Chad Brinker is in charge right now. So to blame Chad Brinker and give him, you know, dirt on his shirt for the moves that Rancar Thon made because he was employed by the organization at the time,

I just don't agree with that philosophy that Brinker is just as guilty as Rancarthon for everything. So with what the Titans have done so far, hiring Mike Borgonzi, who's put a pretty good rookie class together that we're going to give grades to here in a second, the Dremont Jones signing. You know, like they got Dremont Jones because Mike Morgonzi. I think Dan Moore had his struggles in this game.

This is not a great time to make this point. But Dan Moore has been about what was expected. He's been an average starting offensive tackle. He's had bad games, but he's had some really good games as well. He's just been average, which is what they were paying for, all along. Like, I just think that Borgonzi has done a pretty good job, and as we get into the draft class individually,

the draft class is one of the only redeeming parts about this team. So my big overall take about, you know, the draft class, like, I still believe in Mike Borgonzi and Chad Brinker, and I have no reason at this time. And a lot of people don't like Chad Brinker because they think he's snake, Rand Carthon, he's a backstabber, you know, backstabbing Brinker, all that stuff. Well, good, because Ranc Arthon sucked.

You know what I mean? Like, I'm glad that he backstabed him. I'm glad that he snaked him. Why are we going to act like that's a bad thing? Like, I... He went to Amy Adam Strunk and said, this guy's doing a terrible job. Like, what are we doing here?

This is a terrible GM. And Rancartan hasn't even been hired into a front office. He works for CBS now. If he was this incredible personnel guy, he would have got picked up by somebody else. But how he acted on the job for the Titans got around to the rest of the NFL. Like, God.

that you could call Brinker a backstabber, but good. He probably should have done that. So my overall big picture take is I love what the draft class is doing, one of the only redeeming parts of this team. And I think that people being out on Chad Brinker, out on Mike Borgonzi already, is just misplace angst for the season going the way that the season's going. But I mean, with the rookie report card, Julian,

you've got to start with Cam Ward, right? Correct. Let's start with him. And to me, he's a B. I'll give Cam Ward a B You know Terrible environment around him Terrible coaching

Bad wide receiver group Offensive line up and down No run game whatsoever One of the worst run games in the NFL So there's a lot going on That has prevented Cam Ward From being the best version of himself And getting that A grade

But also Cam Ward's had ball control issues He's had too many fumbles He's missed open guys He missed checkdowns that turns into sacks. He has just had some wonky plays like that throw that he got out of the pocket to the left and tried to throw to an open Van Jefferson

down the field on a third and long and the ball just kind of rattled in his hand and then came out 10 yards short. Like he's just had some issues that aren't to blame on all the other stuff that we talked about. So to me at this time, I think given Cam Ward a grade any higher than a B is being a little too flowery,

but giving him anything lower than a B, I guess B minus, but you get down in the C range, and I think you're not being fair considering the F grades of everything around him. Yeah, I was going to say around a B minus. I mean, the completion percentage is about 51 or 57% right now. You want that a little higher. However, prior to this past week against the Chargers, where the numbers looked a little bit like the numbers he had earlier in the year,

those four games, you know, he had a completion percentage average of about 63%. And he was consistent. getting over 200 yards prior to this game against the Chargers. So there are some good things. Obviously, turnovers are certainly an issue, five touchdowns to six picks, hanging on to the football was an issue this season. But when you think about him going in with a Brian Callahan as a head coach, and it seemed like consistently, Tyler, I don't know if you think, if you agree,

but week after week under Callahan, they were getting progressively worse. Now, it's not a night and day difference with Mike McCoy, so to speak, but I don't think they're getting progressively any worse. I just don't think they're getting a whole tons of a lot better. And so because of dealing with the coaching change and then a new interim coach who may do things a little bit differently, for a rookie quarterback, that's pretty tough. So I'm going to cut him some slack and maybe grade them on a curve with the B

minus B range there. As far as the receivers, we can go to ELEC and Chim here. And you can go on, you know, you can do it all as a whole or individually. Let's start with Chim Dake. We talked about it earlier, but real quickly on Chim. I mean, how can you give them anything but an A? I mean, Chim DK has been, I would venture to say an A plus. Again, like we talked about and tighten up,

Chim DK is probably the all pro returner in the NFL, the best kick returner in the entire NFL this year. I mean, that is 100% an A plus. And then the fact that he has added to the offensive side of the ball and made plays and been a leading receiver in certain games and, you know, maybe the second most exciting touchdown that the Titans have had all season came from a nasty post corner or corner post route

from Chim DK across the field. Like, Chim DK is a clear A plus to me. Yeah, I agree. And you know, earlier in the season, it felt like they weren't doing anything vertically with Chim. It felt like everything with Chim was horizontal. Side by side by, it was frustrating. The guy has 4-3 speed, send them down the field.

And, you know, with Lockett, ultimately, getting waived and going to the Raiders, it opened up the spot for Chim to get more opportunities. And he's kind of been the quasi receiver one. I know he had only one catch this past weekend. But prior to that, he's, he led the team in receiving yards for those previous two games. So, yeah, I agree with the A plus on top of the fact that you think of where the special teams was last year with Jaquan Jackson, two returning kicks. Oh my gosh, what a night and day difference that they finally broke through on a punt return touchdown too. So I'm A on Chim D.K. as well. What about Ellick Ile Manners? Obviously has some

dropping the ball issues he is a big combative catch guy you know and that was what i you know the highlights and the tape of of of him against colorado and Travis hunter him mossing Travis hunter that's why everybody got so excited about him but it's kind of been a mixed bag with alec in in my opinion i'm going kind of with a sea on that yeah he's had trouble getting separation because he's not a great route runner right now which is something a lot of people said coming out of the canadian football system that is something that's typical because they don't really stress the nuances of route running in Canada, like they do in the American football system, which makes sense. You know what I mean? Like American soccer players are nowhere near to

skilled and as technical as European soccer players because the coaching is just at a different level, you know what I mean? So that's totally understandable. But, you know, that makes it hard for him to be ahead of the curve as a route runner. And the drops, man, the drops were a problem in college. That's why he dropped as far in the draft as he did. No pun intended, drop, drop, drop, but like that's a problem and I used to say this in the 2022 season for the Titans

and in the 2023 season as well the offense struggles so much and the offense has, I compare it to poker again, I just have a lot of poker comparisons this week, but it's like you can't afford Yeah, I know right, geez,

you can't afford to, when you're a short stack and you don't have a lot of chips and you have a good hand and you go all in and you lose that hand to a better hand even though you had a good hand you know you just can't afford that you're dead you know you're already a short stack

so it's like the Titans have a short stack they don't have a lot of chips to play with they need to win a couple of hands to even get back to even and then you have a drop it's like on other offenses where it's not so bleak and it's not so dire all the time you can have a drop and keep moving forward but a drop on the Titans feels like 10 drop

You know, it just kills you. It's way more punitive than it is for other better offenses that will have more opportunities. So a drop for the Titans offense is almost as bad as three drops for a different offense that's a little bit better. So that makes it harder for I.O. Manor because all his drops are super magnified. But at the end of the day, they are still drops.

His route running isn't very great. And just, it reminds me of Cam Ward saying he's going to be a top five route runner in the NFL. It's like, you could never find a more unreasonable. reliable narrator than Cam Ward back again press conferences mean nothing like we have a top five receiver group this and now all the dumb stuff yeah that Camas said all year like I get that you want to hype your guys but you just look like a moron in my opinion when when you're that facetious and you can't really it makes everything you say not worth listening to two when you just lie

you know what I mean like I know it sounds good to your guys in the locker room but there's no reason for anybody to take anything Cam Ward says seriously ever again you know Like, it's just silly, you know? So I would give I.O. Manor a C. I would just give him a C. He's made some plays. He's been putting a role that was probably too much to ask for him as a rookie early on. But nonetheless, he has too many drops.

He's got to improve the route running. I'd give it a C or a C plus at best. I don't want to be unfair to Femiola Dejo because obviously he's been on the injured reserve. And I will say, like, when you're in the locker room and you're looking at the most physically opposing guys. I mean, Femi is one of them. The guy has a superhero type build.

But of course, with the injury is missed time. He was starting to come on much better just before the injury occurred. So that's kind of my takeaway from Femmy. I don't know if you want to actually give him a grade. But the one thing I will say is, out of all the picks, it was kind of tough to use a second round pick on a project. And that would be my takeaway from Femi. How do you analyze what Femio gave before the injury?

I would probably get Femi a B minus or a C plus as well. I think that people are too hard on Femi. And I've been big, you know, on Twitter at Tick-Tac Titans showing that all of the rookie edge rushers are struggling. Like Femi had just as many pressures as like Mike Green, who everybody said that the titan should have picked, who has all these all-field problems. and guys like

Mikel Williams who is a first round pick for Samar Stewart who was a first round pick for the Bengals I mean Femi had as many pressures or more pressures than these first round picks and everybody's acting like Femi is such a bust such a terrible pick

blah blah blah blah and it's like Femey's numbers in production are equal or better to guys who were picked higher than him guys who have been playing edge and pass rusher since they were in high school and Femmy's playing it for the first time in his career

for a full-time season and again he started coming along so I just think like I talked about misplace angst people are so angry that the Titans are bad and how horrible the product is that they're just lashing out at anybody who's around him

and Femi is going to get the ire of that too but when you compare him to other edge rushers who were drafted around where he was drafted he's not having some abysmal awful unreasonable season. You know what I mean? And everybody only worries about the pass rush. Femmy was really good against the run. He was really good

at setting the edge, turning guys back in, and we saw it, like you said, he started making some splash plays in that last game. He started getting into the backfield. I saw him have balance issues on tape early. He just didn't look like, it's like, you know, a baby deer.

They're just bigger. They're longer than they realize, so they're a little stumbling around. Femi was a little uncertain. He's got so much juice, so much athleticism that he would, you know, maybe be a little over his skis. The balance wasn't quite there, all of that. So it took him a little bit to find his balance, literally and figuratively.

And he did, and he started making plays. He started getting more pressures. He had really started increasing his production right before the injury. And then he gets injured. And it's just like that's going to delay your progress even more. Hopefully he's able to get back on the field. But I think people are way too hard on Femi. I'm not going to act like he's been incredible.

but I would give him a C plus B minus at worst with what he showed during the season and again comparison if you just watch Femi and a lot of people Julian just watch Titans games they just watch the Titans game for three weeks or for three hours every week they might check out a primetime game

but they aren't comparing to the rest of the rookie edge rushers to see how Femiola Dejo is actually stacking up and when you look at that and you have a little bit of nuance and you look around the NFL, it's obvious that rookie edge rushers are struggling as a whole, and Femmy is going to be just fine. When we talk about Kevin Winston, Jr., obviously, he's only been playing for a month because they were working him back in from his injury. You know, there are flashes of him

showing that he could be a violent player, right? They picked him in the third round, but everybody in the drafts, you know, around the draft was saying he had first round potential, first round talent. What do you make of what Kevin Winston has done? Because, you know, it's hard to grade somebody like him now because I think by the end of the season, he's going to be a lot better than he is right now. And that's the hope that there's ascension there. Yeah, it's kind of I would give him an incomplete. I don't think it's fair to give him a grade at all. I mean, he played like 20 snaps last week, played a little bit more than that this week. He'll get more opportunities. But Winston is a guy who hasn't had a lot of reps in the defense. Off his college

tape, he kind of struggled a little bit with coverage awareness and diagnosing route concepts on the fly. all of that. So I don't think you can give a real grade to Kevin Winston right now. He hasn't played enough football. But I do want to go to a comment that has just popped up from Garrett Michael. He says the whole class sucks. He barely sucks

a little less. So excuses not taking an immediate contributor, not only our second round pick but our third round pick as well. Why would a rebuilding team need to take immediate contributors? Like I just don't... Good teams that are competing right now that are going for the playoffs, that are going for

playoff wins, that are trying to win their division and do think that's who needs to take immediate contributors. The Titans are perfectly suited. The Titans are the exact type of team that needs to focus on down the road. Who is going to be the like the thought process right here is do you take someone who's going to be better in year one or do you take someone who you think is going to be better in year three? The Tennessee Titans are the perfect example of a team that should take the guy they think's going to be better in year three. They're not the team that should take the guy who should be better in year one. The Titans should not be focused on immediate contributors.

If they think a guy is going to be better two years from now, then the guy that's available, take the guy who's going to be better two years from now because they're a bad football team that's not fighting for the playoffs and they can afford to develop some of these project guys who can boom for them. And the Titans need high-level players. The Titans need stars. So if you take a guy like Kevin Winston who may not be an immediate contributor

but could be a star for you in year two or year three that's the type of draft picks that the Titans should be taking right now not guys who maybe have low ceilings but can contribute immediately that's totally backwards I totally disagree with that thought process I think that's just nonsense right there that's a nonsense way of looking at the Titans draft process Real quick, I wanted to get to some of the other rookie class as well. Gunner Helm, I do believe he is going to be the tight end of this team's future, obviously. I mean, the catch radius is there, the size is there. He's got a chance to be a better blocker than Chig. We talked about Chig's obviously struggles blocking as well. And Gunner put up the numbers in that last season at Texas. I know that was one of the big concerns coming in is, well, he only did it one year with the Longhorn. So I think that, that kid is going to be really good.

I'd give Gunner probably a round of B right now. Yeah, I would say he's a B, and honestly, I think he should be a B plus or an A minus if they would just give him more opportunities. You talk about the catch radius and what he brings to the table. He is already significantly better than Chigaconkwo. He is a better football player than Chigua right now.

He can block better. It's not just a body-sized thing. That's obviously a major advantage for Gunner Helm that he's just a bigger person than Chigacanquo, and that's going to allow him to hold up in better matchups. But he's going to gain weight. He's going to get stronger in an NFL program. He's going to become a better blocker.

And I said this and some people said, oh, it's kind of a backhanded compliment. And yeah, I guess you're right. It is. But Cam Ward is a gunslinger in the sense that he's not going to be pinpoint accurate like Tom Brady or Joe Burrow. That's not the kind of player he is. So you need players with long arms, big bodies, big catch radiuses,

good body control and body adjustment potential. Like, you need guys who can jump to the inaccurate passes that Cam Ward is going to throw. Like, you need guys who can catch those. And I think Gunner Helm not only is a way better blocker, positional player, all of that, but he's way better suited to fit with Cam Ward long term. I think Gunner Helm has a chance to be better than Chimdeka, better than Ellicayomayor. I think Gunner Helm could be the best offensive player of those three fourth round picks. They just got to give him opportunities to do so.

I mean, one target last week doesn't make any sense at all. They got to get this guy more involved. Yeah, I mean, you mentioned the way he's, the body control. I just think of that touchdown he had in the preseason, right, that Cam dialed it over to, was it Cam, or was it Brandon Allen, whoever dial it over the top and Gunner was able to make that big catch in the end zone over a couple defenders there. So that's what I think.

All right, wanted to get to Marcus. Harris. Obviously, he's going to be getting some more opportunities because you trade Jarvis Brownlee, you trade Roger McCrary, Legerius Sneeds on IR and he may never, you know, see him in a Titan uniform ever again. So you get Marcus Harris in there and it's kind of trial by fire. You know what I mean? What do you make of what you've seen from Harris and maybe where he can go the rest of the way? Well, I think he's been a disaster on special teams. I know they, they praised they praised Mason Kinsey last week too, and he was a disaster on special teams as well. So I'm just not certain what they're seeing.

I mean, Bones Fossil is a legendary special teams coach. He must know more about what he's seeing than me, because I saw Mason Kinsey get demolished on special teams last week. I've seen Marcus Harris commit a ton of bad penalties and do a bad job on special teams. So maybe there's something I'm not seeing. I don't know. But, you know, the coaches say they're practicing the quarterback sneak in practice,

and then we don't see that in the game either. So who really knows what's going on again, press conferences. What can you glean from it? But I thought Marcus Harris had some pretty good reps against the Chargers. I mean, we haven't seen him a ton on defense. We're going to see more of him throughout the year. He's got good speed. He's tenacious at the line of scrimmage, long arms.

I think Marcus Harris will be fine. I thought he did all right last week. But again, he's another guy, like with Kevin Winston. Obviously, Kelle Mullings, who's been on IR. We just haven't seen enough of these guys to even give them a reasonable grade, quite frankly. But what I saw from Kevin Winston on the tape this week, I was pretty encouraged. Let's see what he does the rest of the year. Yeah. Yeah, I think I agree. He's rangy.

You know, I think there's athleticism there. He played football at a lot of different places, Idaho, Cal, and obviously now the NFL level. So he's been able to do pretty well everywhere he's been. So we'll see what he could do the rest of the way. And like you mentioned, Kelle Mulling's not enough to give him anything there. Jackson Slater, not enough really to get anything there. I'd like to see Jackson Slater more. But, you know, why not throw him out there? but the offensive line already with the five guys that you have there has been such an issue that you need to keep Cam healthy too, you know?

Yeah, that's far too detrimental to Cam Ward. You know, like what we talk about the balance here of like the Titans need to move on and see young players and do that, but you can't get Cam Ward absolutely wrecked. And listen, I know that Kevin Zitler hasn't been playing great football, but Jackson Slater is not as good as Kevin Zitler right now. I'm sorry, I know that for a fact.

So this isn't one of those scenarios where let's play the young guy. Let's keep Kevin Zitler. in there and give Cam Ward a chance at least. So if you can give the rookie class so far from what you've seen midway through the season, an overall grade, what are you giving it? Because I'm going with a B, B, B, plus right now. I think B B plus is fair. I think you want to be a little more optimistic about everything around Cam Ward and how that's

hurt him. You go with a B plus. If you want to just be straight down and what I would say is more bluntly honest, I think you go with a B right now. That's all we can take. All right. Well, on the other side of the break, we are going to take your comments, questions for the final few minutes of the show. We'll hope to answer them to the best of our ability, because I know Titans Therapy is much needed when you are one and eight.

All right, on the other side of the break, we'll talk about it. Stay with us. All right, so we wanted to talk to you guys. Make sure you keep the comments and questions coming in our chat if you're live with us on YouTube. And make sure to like, comment, subscribe wherever. you may be to listen to the Titan Squad Show or locked on Titans with my friend here, Tyler Rowland. We got something from Jamal Driver.

This one just came in. Chim Dike in the slot on crossing routes and on punts and kickoffs should be good for years to come. Maybe wide receiver two. That's the one I wanted to get to that part of the comment. Wide receiver number two because he's been kind of quasi one out of necessity because he's done pretty well. But is he good enough to be maybe one of the top two options

on this team down the line? I'm going to say no. You know, I think that the Titans need a true alpha number one wide receiver. They don't have that right now. Calvin Ridley was supposed to be that. He's not that. I think that Chim Dike is a number three wide receiver. I think he's a good speed slot guy.

And I think Elyke I'm going to see him progress, but right now I'd kind of pitch. I think both Chim D.K. and Ehrlich Io Manor are like wide receiver. receiver 3-4 level guys. Like, I'm not comparing them directly, but think about like an Alec Pierce. Okay. Indianapolis.

Like, Alec Pierce, him and Adonai Mitchell are like the 3-4 wide receiver there. You have, you know, Michael Pittman, who's their number one. You have Josh Downs in the slot. Tyler Warren has emerged. I think if you're the Titans and you're looking at that as an example, I think Gunner Helm needs to be one of your top targets. I know we're talking wide receivers. but one of your top targets

I think you need a number one dominant wide receiver I think their number two wide receiver could be one of these guys but I don't think it's a slam dunk right now so if I had to be honest with you and give you where I'm at right now I don't think Jim DK can be good enough to be a number two wide receiver

I think he's a number three wide receiver who's more of a utility guy a speed vertical guy in the slot I think what we're seeing from Jim DK in the role that he's in right now is about what his role should be going forward. He should just be a better player, and when the offense is healthier,

he's going to put up better numbers and do better. So I actually don't think that D.K. or I.O. Manor are wide receiver 2 material. They shouldn't be your second best wide receiver, in my opinion. Based on what I'm seeing right now, maybe there's massive improvements. I think Io Manor still has more potential to be a number two wide receiver than Chim D.K. but the drops and everything and the route running that's up in the air. We can't know that for certain. But I don't think if you had to make me answer,

I don't think the Chim DK is good enough to be your number two wide receiver on a good football team. If the Titans are a playoff team, I don't think that DK is your second best wide receiver. Yeah, yeah, I agree with you in the Gunner Helm thing. It felt like during the preseason and training camp, Cam Ward was kind of living over the middle there, short intermediate passing game.

And it was living to the Titans. I just don't, I want to see more. of that whether they keep chig or not and whether it's gunner out there or not like that's kind of what i want to see there what about this titans fans hustling uh didn't see how bad the roster was and how long a rebuild would take it was two years not a reload and we talked about at the start of the season tyler when you looked at the depth chart from kind of an aerial view how many young players were going to need to make an impact and that's why we go back to the original point from our first segment you don't look at this as wins and losses you look at this as

you know, minuscule kind of more detailed stuff, are these guys getting better in these specific areas? Are they shrinking the margins in these certain areas? Yeah, we wanted to see the team get better and shot by Buddha. I don't think Buddha is going to shoot anybody. I don't, you might need to reevaluate the name there, unless there's a different Buddha who is a little different than the one that I'm thinking of. But yeah, Julian, I'll tell you, you know, I think I'm a little tainted because I am so heavily in my comment sections. And like, you know, there were people mad at me before the season. Like the Titans are winning 10 games. The Titans might win 12 games. And I'm just like, how could you ever possibly think that? I had the Titans

winning five games and I'm going to be wrong. They're not even going to get close to five games. So 100% right. This was never a reload. It always needed to be a rebuild. And I think Rancarthon tried to reload with the Jerry of Sneed and Lloyd Cushingberry and Calvin Ridley. And it just simply didn't work and it often doesn't work in the NFL. When you try to do it that way you got to draft your own guys and develop them that's just how consistent winning is built so I agree that it was going to take some years and there are Titans fans out there who maybe did not realize uh how bad the team was and how much work it needed and I get it we're all undefeated in the off season and hope springs eternal and you never know what could

happen but yeah I think anybody who was a realistic Titans fan uh knew that this team would not be great this year and that uh it would take a couple of years to get this team back to playoff contention. But nonetheless, they should be better than they are right now. We didn't see, we have not checked the boxes of what we were hoping to see this season, even with my low expectations. It hasn't been good enough. So it's fair to still be frustrated, even if you had low expectations. We'll take one more question and we'll go to Chicken Wang 0-087 because he's given us a lot of a lot of takes today and comments. And I think he deserves the final question of the day. What mistakes do you want to see the Titans clear up the most

moving forward coaching drops penalties for me it's the drops nothing makes my skin boil more and and they are on a by week so a lot of time for reflection and improvement right now so what after the by week as we go to this final stretch of the season if there's one area where you're like hey they are better at the end of the season than they were a few weeks ago what would you hope that is uh i just hope coaching gets out of the way of the offense that that's the big thing for me is i think the titans offense would have been better on sunday if not for the mistakes of the coaching staff and I'm just so sick this season I'm just so sick of the coaching staff coming out of a game and being like the coaching staff hurt the team

that should not happen if the team is too bad to win because the players aren't good enough we all will understand that at this point we know that but for the coaching staff to be one of the primary reasons if not the primary reason that the Tennessee Titans offense can't have more success that is unacceptable to me that is something that I'm always going to be pissed off about. The Titans could play, you know, Heaven's team and be expected to lose a million to nothing. And I'm still going to be pissed off

if the coaching is the primary reason why I think the offense didn't hit their potential. And that has been the case far too many times this year that the coaches have got in the way of the players. And when the players aren't that good anyway, that is just unacceptable to me. We all want to see improvement. We all want to see the team get better

And again, like we talked about in the first segment It feels like to me that the coaching staff is purposefully tanking the offense to make sure that they can't score with some of the decisions, some of the plays that they call. So to me, the end of the season, penalties can't expect that to get too much better although that has gotten better.

The Titans have not been penalized the way that they were early in the year. That has been a drastic improvement from Brian Callahan. Like that is obvious. But to me, I just want to see the offense play better. I don't care about the defense anymore.

I know Chim DK is good on special teams. I want to see the offense play better. And to me, that's all about the coaching staff getting out of their players' way. You can lose in a lot of ways, but coaching should not be one of them. And I think if this thing, if this season gave us any clarity, it was just how important that next coaching hire is going to be.

Because we saw, like you mentioned, Brian Callahan lose this team games, some questionable decision making from Mike McCoy over these last couple weeks. So that coaching hire is going to be really important. And Mike Borgonzi, the new GM, is going to be tied to Cam Ward, and he's going to be tied to whoever that next head coach will be. Okay, we'll keep it, we'll keep you guys updated.

I'm sure Tyler will on his show every single day on Locked on Titans, especially with some of the moves that the Titans could make before the trade deadline once you hear this show. And afterwards, as the Titans get set for a bye week, and then we'll return to action. Titans are one and eight. But we're keeping the optimism that this thing can get turned around at some point. May not be now, but maybe years down the line.

And so we could get more positivity too from Tyler because we love that. We love Tyler smiling every single week. All right. Well, thank you for joining us on the Titan Squad Show. Make sure to like, comment, subscribe, all of that fun stuff. And check us out live on YouTube a couple times a week for Tyler Rowland. I'm Julian Minnensohn. We'll see you guys next time.

Thank you.