Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - TITANS SQUAD SHOW: Titans CAN make the playoffs in 2026, Calvin Ridley EXPECTATIONS

Episode Date: March 17, 2026

In this episode, we dive deep into the buzz surrounding Good Morning Football analyst Kyle Brandt’s recent declaration: the Tennessee Titans are making the playoffs in 2026. Plus, following a fractured fibula that ended his 2025 season, Calvin Ridley has officially restructured his contract to stay in Tennessee for 2026. We discuss what Ridley can provide after a year plagued by drops and injury. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!   TurboTax This year you’re getting a major upgrade — Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. Robinhood You’re no longer just a spectator. Play by play. You decide. Trade Every Play with Robinhood. Now available across the U.S. Download the Robinhood app now to begin. Futures and cleared swaps trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC., a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. FanDuel FanDuel is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a College Basketball Parlay Profit Boost. Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started — Play Your Game. 5-Hour ENERGY Have your cake & drink it too. Birthday cake-flavor is back, no fork needed. Vanilla-y cakey flavor, caffeinated kick, and no sugar. It's party time. Order Now at 5-hourENERGY.com or Amazon. 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. Calvin Ridley is back with the Titans, but what can we realistically expect from the 31-year-old receiver? I'm Tyler Rowland, and I'm excited about the Titans, but playoffs? Playoffs? And I'm Brad Hopkins. We're getting deeper and deeper into the off-season. What is it off-season anymore?

There's such a thing. Titan 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. As you heard off the top right there, I'm Julian Minnisone, joined by Tyler Rowland and Brad Hopkins. We got a jam-pack show for you guys today. We're going to be talking about who we think the Titans should take it number four overall, have our opinions changed, and maybe open to trading down. based on some of the recent reports that are out there of who's coming in for top 30 visits. We're also going to talk about Calvin Ridley, realistic expectations for him.

But first, fellas, I wanted to start with this. Last week, the Titans had their uniform and rebrand reveal. Very own Brad Hopkins was in attendance for that as a Titan and Euler alumni. And Kyle Brand from Good Morning Football was the MC. And he made a pretty major declaration that there's a team that's picking in the top five of the draft this year that is going to make the playoffs. And he said that team is the Tennessee Titans. So to me, the defense is the path.

If we look up and this team did make the playoffs, it's because the Titans have a top five defense that looks like the Texans, that looks like the Jags defense did last year, that looks like the Patriots defense did, the Broncos, you know what I mean? The Titans get that level of defense from Robert Sala and his crew. That is the quickest way to make that playoff dream a reality.

Yeah, the defense. The defensive line was the strongest part of this team last year. They still only won three games. I'm not poo-pooing your idea there, Tyler. But what I'm saying is that if they were getting some playoffs fellas is because they completely bought in. And they did it week after week after week. I was on a team that was 2 and 14 the year that we made Jeff Fisher, the interim head coach.

When Jeff got the job the next season, of course we did draft, but we didn't see Steve McNair on the field for a couple of seasons. Why were we competitive? Because it was buy-in. because we started winning because we started having confidence in ourselves. At the end of the day, that's what it's about because these guys all put their pants on the same way,

but your mentality is what is the difference. When they go into work, do you want to be there? How does it feel when Brian Callahan was the original head coach, was the first head coach before, obviously, we have Robert Sala. I don't feel that the sentiment was the same then as it is now about the change that's coming. So I think that this might even be already a stage where all the guys have to do really is understand the process, understanding exactly what their goals are, believe in that together collectively,

and then this team becomes competitive. And then from one week to the next, when you start beating team that you shouldn't beat, when people start the buzz starts about, man, you know, this is Robert Sal and Brian Dayball's first tenure together, and they are doing some things in Nashville because they're already talking about us. and that in itself creates a buzz, okay? Kyle Brandt was here for a reason because he does see the potential here for this team to be a team that people want to watch.

At the end of the day, that's what it is. I do serious X-Sem on Sunday mornings, and I've been hosting with Bill Lekis for about 12 years now. Bill's daughter, Effie, she turned 15 this past week. And we were talking about their fandom of the different teams that are in New York. The Mets are her favorite team. And I said, how are the Mets her favorite team?

Why are the Jets not her favorite team? Because they're your favorite team, Bill. He said, because the Jets have never given her anything to be to root for. In 15 years, they've never been to playoffs. They've never given her an exciting season, right? So at the end of the day, when you give people a reason to come fill the stands, that's the buzz and the energies to create it just like a beehive. And they buy into it and they just, they can't get enough of it to consume it.

That's why when we opened up a Deltaia Coliseum in 1999, when we started winning games, people started filling that stand, and the buzz became even more and more apparent about what we were doing, it wasn't hard for them to create that energy that's necessary to win. So it's about buying fellas. That's why I can't stand those nerds that say momentum isn't real. You have never played sports in your life if you think momentum isn't real. Human energy, the confidence that you have, the feeling in the building when the crowd starts

get going. I mean, I played high school football, and you can feel that stuff out there. I do high school football on Friday nights. I do the PA announcements for my alma mater. You can feel when the buzz starts going, the fans get excited, a couple of big runs, they're rumbling and stumbling and tumbling and going. Like all of that is so real and that is not just a game is a microcosm of that. You can feel that in life.

Like what just happened with the uniform reveal, the new brand, the thing at the pinnacle, Kyle Brand, all of that. Like that really does create momentum and a vibe. You know what I mean? that people want to latch onto, and it's not just the fans, it's the players. And with the new coaching staff that, let's just call it what it is, we're not here to, you know, Brian Callahan's a professional.

And fans can say whatever they want, but he's a professional football coach. He wasn't ready for the opportunity. It was his first time. He didn't do a good job. I'm sure he would do things a lot differently if he got another opportunity. But Robert Salas already had those failures and already learned those lessons and already moved forward.

And Mike Borganzi even said it. Robert Sala has a plan for everything. Strength and conditioning. Practice, ramp up, OTAs, how he's going to install, how he's going to teach, you know, everything, everything, because he has learned from those failures and learning from failure moving forward is key.

So the players are going to feel that. They're going to feel this coach is more prepared. This coach knows what he wants to do. Like, you can tell when the person leading you, when the person driving the car isn't confident and where they're going, you can feel it because we're human beings. We just have instinct. We can feel that kind of stuff.

And it goes the other way too. The players are going to be able to feel that Robert Sala has confidence in his plan. And when you fail and you learn and you come back, you're way more confident in what you're doing. And that's just natural. The first day you ever did a job, you were not as confident as you are five years into it, two years into it. Like that's just life. That's just normal.

So the players are going to feel more confidence and more. assurance from the coaching staff. The fan base is more positive right now and more uplifted right now than it's been the last couple of years. The players are going to feel that. The building is going to feel that. And all of that human momentum and emotion is going to matter. And when they go out on the field and the New Jersey's and all that, I do believe it's going

to make a difference. And as we saw and we discussed at the show last week, it feels like with that pinnacle event and the players have passed and present and the celebrities that were there and the hype that was there. Something feels different about this next chapter of Titans football. And that goes back to the momentum thing that y'all were talking about for sure. Tyler, you mentioned direction. Is there anything more annoying than getting in the car and someone going, where are we going? Why are you driving? Hey, hey, get in the car, we're going to go to the store. And get in the car, we're going to go eat. And getting the car, we don't get a beer. See, that's direction.

And that actually makes a trip even more fun. When you sit there, go back and forth about what you should do, where you should go, how long what route you should take to get there. If you don't have a plan it's just an it's an annoying trip right and it lends lends to arguments he also talked about momentum particularly in high school i watched a video where um this coach of a basketball team um he put his artistic ball boy in the basketball because he'd never played basketball and for all the years that he'd been in that high school and he'd been tending to the varsity the coach felt it was time to give him his shine yeah the kid got in shot the first shot air balled he shot the seven second shot, it was a three. The crowd went crazy. He got his second, third shot. It went in. The fourth

shot, it went in. The fifth shot, it went in. He scored 20 points. He hit five threes, six three, something like that. That's momentum. But he wouldn't have had the chance to do that had he not got in the game. So I applaud that coach for giving an opportunity. But just to the example of momentum, a kid got in and missed his first shot and then made the next five or six shots. That's momentum. That's the confidence that was starting to build in him every time he got the ball in his hands. And you know what? The team started expecting him to do it. They stopped looking for their star players and kicked the ball to him in the corner because he was hot. He had the momentum and he came through. They won the game. And that's leadership. That's leadership too. Someone who believes in you,

someone who, hey, if I make a mistake, I'm not worried that this is going to happen because I have a good leader. And I feel like, you know, one thing we have to acknowledge here is the majority of people, you know, and nobody wants to admit that it's them, but, you know, majority of people are followers. Not everyone can be a purebred leader. Like, leaders are different and there's a reason that there are leaders and there are followers. And it doesn't mean that the followers are lesser or anything like that. It just means that it's natural for the leaders to lead.

And when you don't feel like you have a leader, you don't feel like the person driving the car knows what they're doing or you don't feel safe or whatever. It's going to create confrontation and you're more willing to pipe up and say, hey, what are you doing? take the exit right there, slow down, blah, blah, stuff like that. But when you have confidence that the person driving the car is doing the right things and knows where they're going, you're more willing to just worry about what you're doing and doing what you're doing to the best of your ability. And you don't have to worry about, hey, the cornerback didn't do this.

And I'm a de-lineman. And is the head coach going to do the tape on film Friday for us? And just everything falls into place properly when you have great leadership at the top. and, you know, call me a fool if you want. But from what we've learned about Robert Sala, what I've known about Robert Sala before he was ever the head coach of the Titans, I feel like the Titans players, the Titans fan base, the Titans organization knows they have a true leader right now.

And once you have that leadership in place, you can build that confidence and then gain that momentum and it all goes together. Yes, Zooks and our jet. That was the only thing that Jefferson is asked, right? We just need a leader. Yep. Zooks in the chat says, I feel like we're getting a lot of momentum with this off season.

I hope it'll translate. They're going to have to win their first few games because that'll certainly get that momentum rolling. All right, guys. Well, on the other side of the break, we're going to talk about somebody who maybe can help on the field and Calvin Ridley. What can we realistically expect from the vet wide receiver this season?

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status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed.com on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast. terms and conditions apply need a hire this is a job for indeed sponsored jobs indeed indeed and uh tell you somebody who still has a job with the tennessee titans is calvin ridley the titans work through a restructured deal keeping calvin with the titans for 26 uh it's a restructured deal that saves the titans about 11 million bucks in cap space so guys

let me ask you this calvin is going to be 32 in december coming off of injure multiple entries this past year, I might add. What can we realistically expect from Calvin Ridley in 2026? Tyler. I mean, I think that we need to have our expectations in a proper place. He's obviously not a number one wide receiver in the NFL at this stage. In my opinion, he is probably a mid-level two at best, probably a low-level two, high-level three wide receiver at this time. But listen, the Titans need an alpha wide receiver. The Titans need a number one wide receiver, we all know that. But in the absence of that, you might as well have as many good two and three wide receivers as you can. And if Calvin Ridley can be a mid-level two wide receiver,

we know Wondell Robinson is kind of a mid-to-low level two wide receiver. If Chimdeka can take a step forward and be a low-to-mid number two wide receiver level talent, Elik Iyo Manor could stop dropping the freaking football and catch the ball and be a high level three, low-level two, then, you know, you don't have your dominant number one, but you have depth and you have to consistency and you have quantity over maybe the high level quality that some of other teams have. And that can make you a threat because now you don't know who to shade the coverage to. You don't know who you got a key on each week. And when you have a bunch of guys that can beat you, even if they're not killers out there,

it still makes it difficult to stop an offense. And I think that Calvin Ridley, I've seen some people way too down on Calvin Ridley. I know that he had some drops last year, but he had four drops. That's like 40th in the NFL. It's not like he was just dropping everything. And there at the end, think about that Cardinals game. He caught the deep ball down the middle of the field, really good pluck catch out in the middle.

He caught the pass on the sideline to set up the final touchdown, down the field and beat his guy one-on-one. He's not quite as spry and as fast as maybe he was three or four years ago. But this guy's still a speed demon at the end of the day. And without the pressure of being a number one wide receiver, I think it could open him up in Brian Dable's offense to still do things. keep mentioning it, Brian Dable and Calvin Ridley worked together in Alabama, 2017. They know each other. And Brian Dable shouted out Calvin Ridley at his opening press conference that he was excited to work with him once again.

So like, is Calvin Ridley the thousand yard receiver he was two years ago? Maybe not, but, you know, 600, 700 yards, 50 to 60 catches, two or three touchdowns. The Titans desperately need that sort of production and the reality is cutting Calvin Ridley to, save $13 million when you have 80 million still in salary cap space or whatever. It just didn't make a ton of cent. So lowering that cap hit from 26 down to 15, that's a brilliant move by the Titans. And I am really impressed that Calvin Ridley would take a pay cut. And we could talk about the reasons why he may be more willing to do that future implications

after we talk about the expectations for right now. But I think that's really strong from Calvin. and it's a good sign of the Titans organization and where they're at that he would be willing to take a pay cut to stay here when he might be willing to take a pay cut to go play for a contender. Just cut me. Yeah, I may not make as much money as I would make from you guys this year, but I'll go play for a contender.

No, he wanted to be here with Cam, with Daible, part of this new momentum that we're talking about. So I am overly impressed that Calvin Ridley would be willing to take a pay cut and move guaranteed salary into incentives to bet on himself like that? Because to me it shows that he's bought into where the Titans are going and he wants to be around and he doesn't want to leave. And I think that's pretty cool. So to answer the question,

I think you have to be able to see how many games Cam Ridley will actually play in 2026 because that is the biggest difference. In 2018, he played 16 games, 821 yards. 2019, 13 games, 866 yards. In 2020, 15 games, 1,374 yards. 2017, 1,016 yards. 2,024, 1,017 yards. So in other words, if he's healthy, you can expect the 1,000 yard receiver, okay?

But when he's not healthy, obviously you've got to be on the field to have those kind of numbers, right? But that has been the difficulty, especially in 2025. He wasn't healthy. So you didn't see the Calvin Ridley that we've seen in one, two, three, almost four different seasons where he actually caught a thousand yards. Now, Wondell Robinson might have an effect on those numbers, but like I said, if Calvin is healthy, I expect him to do, to ball out basically, because that's the proven record that we've seen. When he's on the field, when he's giving you 15, 16, 17 games, you can count him giving you a thousand yards. When he's not on the field, well, hell, I ain't anybody going to make a place if they're not on the field. And, you know, for most of Titans fans want a number one receiver guys,

you weren't going to get that this offseason. Wondell Robinson is not a number one. John Jennings is not a number one. Maybe you end up drafting somebody who becomes that number one receiver down the line. We could obviously talk about that as the offseason goes on and we get closer and closer to the draft. But given the fact that Cam had so much chemistry in that previous offseason with Calvin Ridley, talked about him as one of the best route runners he's ever seen.

We saw it in that preseason game. I think it was against Tampa where they connected for multiple receptions. And then, of course, the game in Arizona, which was the big moment, Calvin's best game of the year before getting hurt, of course. So let me ask you this. When he comes to Calvin Ridley and Cam Ward, how much more comfortable is a second year QB with a guy that he knows is going to be out there and going to at least be in the spots where he wants to throw. the football. I mean, when Calvin was out there, they made plays together. You know, Calvin had some drops, but he was open in those situations.

And Cam threw him the ball, right? So they clearly were on the same page of where to be. Calvin just has to be more consistent with catching the football. And let's be honest, he's always had, you know, less than reliable hands. That's been a thing for his entire career that, you know, it's not like it's a big shock or anything. But it's not like it's so detrimental. I mean, you know, people talk about Calvin Ridley. he can't catch the ball.

Well, Elykeyo Manor drops the ball at a way higher rate than Calvin Ridley does and nobody gets on him. Now, I know he was a rookie and Calvin's a veteran, so the expectations are different, but at the end of the day, Calvin Ridley will get open, he'll make plays,

and Cam was looking for him at all time. So there was definitely chemistry there, whether there were drops and injuries or not. So like Brad's saying, if Calvin Ridley is going to be healthy, then we know that him and Cam have good chemistry together. And when you have other guys to look to like a Wondale Robinson.

Chim takes a step forward at the end of the year. Elek hopefully takes a step forward. You draft a guy in the draft who's a decent player and can contribute right away. Like if there's more options out there, then Calvin's only going to be more open. And they can take advantage of that chemistry even more. So it's like, I know that last year didn't go well,

but this guy had a thousand yards with Will Levis and Mason Rudolph and not a better wide receiver group around him. You know, I mean, so to me it's like he's fully capable of still being a very productive player and a big help to the offense. And I think that Calvin is going to get back and make it back to fans after a bad 20, 25. I think you set up to have a really good year. Is he going to get to 1,000 yards? I am skeptical there.

But if we woke up a year from now and Calvin Ridley had 800 yards on 60 catches or something, I wouldn't be shocked. Cam likes him. Cam found him when they were on the field together. So why would that stop? Yeah. I think there's two factors. One, Calvin and his agent probably got together and said, hey, look, you're coming off of an injury riddled season.

Your market's not going to be near what it can be if you were to go out there and ball out. Okay. Number two, the chemistry is what kept him in Nashville. The wanting to play with Cam Ward, the wanting to be in Brian Davao's offense. And what he wasn't going to do was struggle with this team for the years that he's been here and then leave this franchise and then watch them become good. he said hey i had a stake in that place over there right there i had invested in that place right there i pulled all my money out and now boom the stock went through the roof i'm ticked off so that's what he's not going to do i think he's going to come back he's going to try and have one of those thousand yards

seasons that we just mentioned right and then that's when his value will increase i mean he didn't have to be a number one to make some really good money but all he has to do is show them that he is a reliable receiver that somebody who will put on the roster just like we got wandael robinson he wants to be in that kind of the category. Indeed. And when Jacob Webb 8794 puts in the chat when we're talking about potential number ones, you know, looking past Calvin Ridley or even this year if the Titans want to take one, he said, Chris Bell will be a number one and is electric with the ball on his hands. Chris Bell is better than Chris Brazel 100%. Brad, I know you had Chris Bell in your mock drafts at 35 overall. Let me just say this real quick too before we move on, Julian, because I know it's

that time. I mentioned the future implications. One thing we have to keep. keep in mind here is Calvin Ridley lessened his salary, which makes him infall when teams have already spent all their cash, you could potentially get flipped to a real contender who need your help in October, in November. So I know that's not the way that we want things to go, but it gives Calvin Ridley and the Titans more optionality, more flexibility to send him to a place where he would maybe want to be later. I know that. that's not the way that we hope it goes, but that had to be a factor when they talked to his agent because, hey, candidate, how open are we to that or are we still on the love or the

edge train? We're going to talk about that next on the Titan Squad show. Don't go on. What if sports were traded like markets? Now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robin Hood prediction markets. It's not you against the house. It's you participating in a live market. You can buy or sell your positions live all game long. Use your sports knowledge in the moments that matter. Robin Hood prediction markets changes the game. It's people moving the action. So when the momentum shifts, you can move with it.

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Trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for ever. everyone event contracts are offered by robin hood derivatives LLC a registered futures commission merchant and swap earn all right guys so it's been reported that the titans are going to host lSU defensive back mansword delay for a top 30 visit um now i guess anything is possible but he to me wouldn't be a realistic target at number four overall which has me thinking how open are you guys to the possibility of trading down in the draft i think there's a thing that i'd be surprised not disappointed because that means we got one of the best pass rushes in the draft, but surprised. I mean, there aren't as many puns to make from Bailey and Reese as there are for love, right?

So just show Cam to love by getting him the best running back in draft. Now, hold on a sudden. Now, let's take that step further, though, if they do draft love. I've grown very fond of Taji Spears. He's worked his ball up here. Tony Pollard rushed for 1,000 yards, the last four seasons, and he did it last year on a team that only won three games. So what happens to them, especially Tony? Good thing is, you know, love is on his rookie cap, you know,

so it won't be too expensive, but that definitely affects the rotation. And I'm not sure they can keep everybody. You know, I got to tell you, Brad, I think one of the reasons that Tony Pollard's still on this team is because they don't know if they're going to take love or not. And if they do, this is not a great running back draft. Everybody has their favorite little running back at the end, Emmett Johnson, Mike Washington, Jonah Coleman, Judarian Price, all that.

But generally speaking, the NFL does not. think this is a very good running back class. And I think that there will be teams who would be willing to give up a fifth or a sixth or a fourth round pick for Tony Pollard on a cost-controlled contract for one year. If they, you know, don't like what the running back group is going to give them. I think that that could be a possibility. So I think holding on to Tony Pollard does make sense for that reason because, like you said, you know, he may not be Jeremiah Love talent, but Tony Pollard's still a good running back.

Like you said, he went for a thing. He's not a bad running back. These are league average running back. And if teams don't like this class, that could be a good trade avenue. But as for trading down at the top, Julian, I am more than open to it. And I think the number one reason is, again, this is consensus. Maybe there are, you know, I don't talk to these GMs directly to confirm this. It's just what you hear from the draft gurus, the draft nicks, the media, you know what I mean?

But you hear it from everybody. This is not a great top of the first round. There aren't as many blue chip talents as you would typically see at the top of the first. round of the NFL draft this year. That is the general consensus that this draft is good in terms of depth like in the mid-round's, but it's not great the first 10 to 15 picks. There isn't the high level of talent that you, the clean prospects that you would typically see at the top of the first. Well, if that's the case, if we all can just for a second say that that is true, then that is the perfect draft to trade back. If you're telling me that the players picked at 15, 16, 17, 17,

18 or 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, aren't that much worse than the guys being picked at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, then I would rather drop back to 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, get one of these guys that's just as good as the top 5 and get additional draft capital. Like, that would be absolutely fantastic and you're right, keep bringing up the Monsor Delane draft visit. The Titans are telling you right there, are they going to take Monsor Delane at number 4? I would truly be shocked by that. But hey, if we drop back and we're from 10 to 15,

I would absolutely take a Bonsword delay in the number one corner in the draft. And I would be wide open to the possibilities at that point. So I think that the Titans should be, would be open to trading back. I would applaud that move for them. And I think, again, the 30 visits that we're seeing may indicate that that is something that they aren't just open to that they are hoping to do, quite honestly. I think this draft is the perfect time to do that. The thing is, I think that Bailey, Reese, Delane, whoever else are need picks, right?

Yeah. We don't need a running back per se. The only reason why you can consider a running back is because it's Jeremiah Love. Yeah. Jeremiah Love is the only factor here. He's a novelty. It's not like he's, you know, like, oh, my God, the Titans really need a run back. No, they don't need a running back at all.

But when you look at the possibility of grabbing this type of player, this caliber of player, a player that can have this kind of effect, not only in the backfield, but split out all kinds of things that he can do. I think that that's one of the reasons why we're even in this, having this discussion. Yeah, I just want to, sorry, Julian. Bodine just said in the chat, we already have nine picks. Well, six of those picks are on day three of the draft.

They only have three top 100 picks. And if you listen to Chad Brinker and Mike Borganzi, they said recently, we hope to have 12 picks in the top 100 in the next three years. The top 100 picks are the picks that matter most. So if you're trading back in the first round, it's because you're picking up additional draft capital in the top 100, not day three dart throws past the top 100 picks.

So they have six picks on day three. They only have three picks on day one and two combined. That is where you would want to add additional draft capital. So saying they already have nine picks like they shouldn't trade back, that totally misunderstands, where the valuable picks are and what the Titans want. So they would be trading back to gain additional draft capital in the top 100, which would be critical.

Yeah, and that was what I was going to say. If you're going to trade back and you're able to get an extra second or third and you still are able to drop back not far. Or first next year. Yeah, there's next year's less. Yeah, and maybe you can still trade back and get an edge that you want. There have been many mock drafts out there that Ruben Bain, you know, David Bailey, fall to 7, 8, 9, 10, like you were talking about, Tyler,

and then you get an extra pick on top of that. As much as the Titans need stars, they also just need impact, immediate impact type of players, and you're getting multiple starters in those top 100 kind of spots. Now, let me ask you guys this. As far as when it goes Jeremiah Love or defense, where are you guys leaning right now? Because Jeremiah Love is the,

feels like the surefire bet, no questions about him. He is the star. arguably best player of the draft. The edges, and while it is in need, like Bhop said, there are questions about all three of them. Bailey with his run stopping, Bain with the short arms, Reese with the ceiling, like he's going to maybe be a project and you have to find a place for him. Where are you guys leaning right now? I don't need Bailey to stop the run. That's why I brought in John Franklin Meyer. That's why I got the baddest boy in the jungle in Jeffrey Simmons. What I need him to do is

I need him to be knocking a crap out of C.J. Stroud. I need him to cut, Trevor Lawrence's hair. I need him to do all those things that quarterbacks don't want to happen to them at the end of the day. So I'm not having any question about David Bailey. Dale Bailey had 14 and a half sacks last year. Okay, I know that was in college, but he still has the tools to be able to do it. I think that as he develops as a pro, he'll be even better. So I think when you look at David Bailey being the best pass rushing option in this draft, that's why you get that guy. I'm not worried about him stopping the run from the outside. I want him making sure that the running back doesn't get to the edge, right?

I'm going to make sure I placed at least my part of the field. But at the end of the day, I don't need him to be this run-stopping guy. I've got some big bodies in the middle that can do just that. And from a roster standpoint, they don't need him to do that either. Jermaine Johnson is a 6-5-265-pound power edge. Femi Oladajio is a 6-3-265-pound power edge. Have Femmy and Jermaine Johnson out there on rundowns. Like they're going to set the edge and stop the run.

And then when it's time to come in on third down, second down, and get to the passer, David Bailey can do that. I like Ruben Bain better than David Bailey. I'm going to have Ruben Bain and R. Val Riesa head. But in my opinion, and people really have a hard time understanding the difference between my favorite and who I think is the best. Like I gave the example, Drake is my favorite rapper of all time. But I think JZ is the best rapper of all time.

And Jay-Z isn't in my favorites. I like Jay-Z, but he's not in my top-10 favorite rappers for me personally. But I think he is the greatest rapper of all time. You have to be able to separate what your favorite thing is and what the consensus best thing is. And in my opinion, I like Rvel Reese. I like Ruben Bain. But I think for the reasons that Brad just mentioned,

I think David Bailey would be the Tennessee Titans pick if they could pick anybody right now. David Bailey, and people talk about the run. And I'm going to be the first. to criticize David Bailey as a run defender. But as I just mentioned, you have Femmy, you have Jermaine Johnson to be those big physical edges. Jeff and John Franklin Myers can even line up

as a heavy defensive end on early downs. David Bailey is a good backside chaser. He's not good at setting the edge, getting his hands in the offensive tackles chest, holding it, creating the wall there. But if he's coming from the backside, using that get-off and that speed and that length that he has to take down ball carriers from the behind.

He can do that. So let Jermaine Johnson and Femiole-Oledizio set an edge on one side. Let David Bailey rush from the opposite side and take down these ball carriers in the backfield for tackles for loss. That works. And again, 14 and a half sacks, the most pressures, like, I think that David Bailey would be the pick at number four for the Tennessee Titans because what they don't have right now

is a pure speed rusher. They have their power rushers, which I just mentioned in Femmy and Jermaine. They bring in Jacob Martin, but no disrespect to Jacob Martin, but we're talking about Jacob Martin, man. You know, like that's not a starting pass rusher on the outside. Like, let's be real. No disrespect. I'm sorry, but he has to know that too because he took the contract that he took. He is a depth player who needs to be a low-level rotation guy.

Like David Bailey as the starting speed rusher, and go look at Robert Salah. I've come around on this from looking at his defenses. He had Bryce Huff. He had Will McDonald. He has always had that speed rusher. And Gus Bradley told us this as well at the opening press conference. We have the power rusher and we have the speed rusher. That's how we look at this thing.

And they have power rushers right now. And I'm sorry, but they ain't looking at Jacob Bailey and saying, or Jacob Martin and saying, oh, that's our number one speed rusher. We got that job filled now. We're good to go. No, if you had David Bailey as the number one speed rusher with Jacob Martin as the backup speed rusher and then Jermaine Johnson as your starting power rusher

with Femey developing as your backup power rusher and then Jermaine Johnson contract expires at the end of the year Femi is now ready to be that number one guy as the power rusher. You have David Bailey now your edge position is solved for five to six years to come. I still think regardless of my rankings I would love to have Jeremiah Love as well no disappointment in my soul at all

they pick Jeremiah Love I'll be celebrating with everybody else. But I think the Tennessee Titans want David Bailey, and that's the best explanation that I can give what? Hey, no disrespect, Dick Martin. Yeah, I just love him. He's a good value player, but he's not a starting pass rusher. I just love with somebody says no disrespect,

then says something mad disrespectful. Hey, no one says no disrespect unless they're going to say that. That's not how nice. With all due respect, that ain't worth the velvet picture of the Wednesday. or don't hope I'm getting it on. Oh, man. All right.

Well, we have a bunch of questions in the chat. Whoa. Jalen Waddle traded to the Denver Broncos, though. That's crazy. Akeep Taleb was right. Wow. Interesting. A first round pick, a third round pick,

and a fourth round pick. See, when all these Titans fans are talking about, we need a number one wide receiver. We need an alpha. The Titans can't afford to give them. up a first round, a third round, and a fourth round pick, and only have it like, the Broncos can afford to do something like that. The Titans have not earned the right to be able to make a move like that.

But anyway, crazy, NFL news there. Yes. The cost of doing business packages are not. They'll be a b-hop. Yeah. Get the wattle on. Oh, man. All right, so we have some questions in the chat,

and we're going to answer them in our Titans talk segment on the other side of the break. Don't go anymore. All right. We actually had a first question earlier, and it was directed towards Tyler, but I'll open it up the floor for you as well, Bhop. Jeff Seid says, why haven't we signed Kevin Zitler yet? What's the rush? There have been multiple people in the media who have talked to Kevin

Zitler, been around Kevin Zitler. I've heard it from multiple different places. He wants to be in Nashville. His kids don't want to move. His wife doesn't want to move. They like it here. He's 36. He's not going to get a multi-year, big-time contract, things like that. So they probably already know that's in the back pocket and they're working on other things. And when everything is settled and when they have their final cap number and Kevin Zitler's heard everything that his agent has to present to him, then they can just say, hey, what's the best offer you got? 9 million. All right, we'll give you 10, come back. I just don't think there's any rush because he isn't in a hurry to leave and there isn't a massive

market for a 36 year old right guard. So what's the point in rushing? I would be purely shocked at this point if Kevin Zitler isn't back. If they replace right guard and center with what's out there right now other than Brad's guy Wyatt Teller who I would pound the table for. I love Wyatt Teller. I've been talking I signed Wyatt Teller and Madden on my franchise because I love him so much. I'm like we got to make this a reality right. Everybody loves when their Madden moves come to real life. But I think Wyatt Teller or Kevin Zitler are bust at right guard for me. So I think Zitler comes back and I think the reason it hasn't happened yet is because both sides feel comfortable and know that it's going to happen.

And there's no reason to rush, you know? Yeah, well, first off, year 15, 36 years old, the last thing I want to do is a 36-year-old is move. Now, in the pantheon of things, we move around all the time. I'm talking about professionally playing football from one side of the country to the other. That's the last thing I want to do. You got kids in school, right?

You know, tired of pulling them out and doing that whole regular run. And guess what? Mama fell in love with Nashville. She's probably like, Kevin, if you go someplace else, you're going to go there and come back here when you're done playing. So Kevin's got to look at the reality. Do I want to go playing in Los Angeles by myself? You know what I mean? While my kids are in Nashville with my wife and whatever else and then rejoin them when I'm done?

He's like, well, let's see. If the Titans don't give me any cash, I totally would expect them to retire. Period. Rice School then says, love is the best offensive player in the draft period. Bailey, Bain, Reese are all arguably in the same tier of players and are marginally better than the edge guys in the late first or early second. And that's another argument that's been brought up, fellas,

is that you take love, you could still get a quality pass rusher, like a Zion Young or Cassius Howl has been mentioned in the chat here too, at 35. Would you guys be down for that? or is it, hey, Bailey, like you guys mentioned earlier. Well, I don't agree that they're marginally better. Yeah. I said, yeah, right.

David Bailey, first off, he's a little different category. But when you talk about Jeremiah Love, Jeremiah Love is the reason why you take him, not because he's a running back. Yeah, I mean, and it might be debatable between him, Fernando Mendoza. I mean, especially if you're looking at the quarterback and how pivotal that position is,

you know, to say he's the best offensive option. I mean, I'm not going to part. debate that with you because I think that there's an argument to be made there. At the end of the day, like I said in the very first segment, you don't grab Jeremiah Love because he's a running back filling his subsequent need. You grab Jeremiah Love because that boy is bad. What was a Harry Styles thing? That boy, bad.

That's exactly what Jeremiah Love is. And that's why you can consider it. Yeah, I don't think that it's a marginal difference. I think the top of the first round edge rushers are in a different. tier than the second tier edge rushers. But the question becomes value. Would it be better? Because the second tier edge rushers at the late first,

early second are not bad players, right? Cassius Howe, Zion Young, Malachi Lawrence is a guy who I really like. Maybe a Joshua Joseph's from Tennessee, Ramello Hyte, you know what I mean? Like there are guys who I think make a ton of sense. The question is value. Are you better off?

Are you going to help your team as much? if you go Jeremiah Love and then one of those second round edge rushers versus going David Bailey, Rubin Bain, and then whoever you get in the second, are those two guys going to make as big of an impact as the Love plus second round edge combo? And that's why I'm okay with taking Jeremiah Love because there are some edge rushers in the early second round

who should be there who make a ton of sense. And when you look at just impact on the football team, it's hard to argue that anybody will have as good of an immediate impact. impact is Jeremiah Love. Like, I just have a hard time believing that that'll be the case. Even though I think other positions are more valuable long term, Jeremiah Love's going to come in right away and help the football team score points and win games.

And it's hard to pass that up. Yeah. You like, do your touchdowns? Jeremiah Love. Yeah. And you talk about marketing opportunities, you know, the love you blue in Jeremiah. I love. I mean, all it's fair and love and more.

Right? Yeah. The puns, I mean, seriously. Heartbreaker. Oh, man. Everybody in the stand going to be doing this. Everybody. Yeah.

Tennessee throwing gang signs. And I think he'll live up to that, really. Yeah. And as K pushed to start, says, with a less mobile QB, let's get love. I don't believe in drafting a running back that high, but then he adds, but the aura. I want to ask him, why do you have a Shador Sanders and a Tennessee tightness? jersey is your profile picture like yeah look at it's it's time to update that i'm going to send a question back to the chat in this titans talk segment you got to clean that up k push too start all right

you got to you got to switch that out at some point in time but yeah i'm with you there the the jeremiah love aura and what it would do to raise the profile the titan let's just say this there's a new stadium opening yeah they got to put butts and seats they got to sell tickets they got to get the fan base back energized and whether it's a value play, positional, premium pick, need, blah, blah, blah. Jeremiah Love's going to have fans excited to buy his jersey to go watch and play

and it's just always been the Titans have had good running backs. It's just always been a thing. So why stop now? Maybe they got Steve and then they got Eddie. They get Cam, then they get love. There is romance to it. I can't deny the feeling.

Yeah. And again, I know we talk about. We've talked about this saying earlier, no disrespect to Chim DK, right. But if you take the photos in the New Jersey's and you have Jeff, Cam, and Jeremiah, I love there. Yep. That looks pretty cool. I'm not going to lie to you guys. All right. Zook says, Max Crosby went in the fourth round.

David Bailey and Ruben Bain could always become Max Crosby. Of course, don't bank on that. But why do people always say they'll never be a Max Crosby? Because it's just an outlier. I mean, how many elite edge rushers that have been in defensive player of the year talks and multi-time all pros, how many of those guys come in the fourth round?

It's just way less likely now. Go look at all the top pass rushers in the NFL and outside of Max Crosby, pretty much all of them were taken in the first round. Like, it's just, you just got to look around the NFL at the trends and it's hard for pass rushers with that sort of ability to go that low and that. the draft. So it's not like it's impossible.

It'll never happen again. But like that's like saying why not take a quarterback in the sixth round? They could be Tom Brady. Like yeah, I guess. But I mean, it's not likely. And you don't win championships betting on outliers consistently. So that's kind of my thought

there. Yeah, I think that Max Crosby fell in the fourth because of all the other stuff that was surrounding him. Remember, he went to some He liked a party. Yeah. Alcohol is all and not all this stuff. What did you say? Six years? Six years, which let me just say this.

He said sobriety, but he smokes weed all the time. I don't know where I came from. Smoking weed means you aren't sober. So congratulations on him not drinking or doing hard drugs, but like you're smoking weed. Are you sober? I don't know. That's a semantical argument.

I probably be higher than drunk. They call it California sober. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, I don't do anything else. But I, you know, but good. We saw the video. Hey, listen. What happened when you smoke a blunt?

The only thing you fight is the bag of Doritos. You ain't getting in those, John. You ain't doing none of that, you know? Oh, man. Battle of I never won. Yeah, the world would be better with people smoking rather than drinking. Ain't nobody ever got in a bite after smoking a bun. All love.

All love. All right. The CRA1 says, this one's to you, Brad. From 1992, one thing we could always count on is an O-line, consistency, professionalism, durability. O-line being automatic is Titans football. Brad, please have a talking to with J.C. Latham and Dan Moore. Help them. Yeah, actually, J.C. and I have had a few conversations. I really like that kid.

And as attentive as a listener as he was, I really thought that he was listening to what we were talking about, you know. And it was a back and forth. It wasn't just like me telling him and, you know, and that stuff. It's just, you know, I think that when you look at his physical ability, he's got a high football IQ. He just needs the reps. you know what I mean especially after moving positions it's not easy to do that as some people might think especially when you just got to shift things in your brain but you know I think that we have at least an investment up front with Peter and with J.C. Dan yeah it is what it is I mean so we'll see what happens in this draft and I'm actually calling for them to pick up

a Caden Proctor or somebody like that with that 35th pick. Yeah, you mentioned you know, it's speaking somebody to get Dan kind of the wheels turning a little bit.

Hey, Dan's good enough to be out of rookie and it keeps his job. If you can't be out of rookie, proofs in the footing. I found it really funny that there was a report out there that teams were not

as interested in paying Rashid Walker, the top offensive tackle and free agency because they saw what happened with Dan Moore last year. Like Dan Moore's contract was so bad and his play

didn't warrant the number that he got. The teams were scared off of paying Rashid Walker enough. So poor Rashid Walker, man, getting secondhand embarrassment from Dan Moore. I feel bad for him. We'll knock on Dan's door. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He is.

Lessing up the money. Yep, there you go. And like Bihav said, good offensive lineman, it's rare that they become available because teams usually keep them. It's too important. Yeah, too important. All right, guys, that's going to do it for us today here on the Titan Squad show. We want to thank you guys for joining us if you're listening to us live on YouTube. That's twice a week here on the Titans Squad show. You could always be in every day or to the Lockdown Titans podcast with Tyler Rowland.

Make sure you like, comment, subscribe, all that fun stuff, wherever you get your podcast. But for now, I'm Julian Minnesone. That's Brad Hopkins and Tyler Rowland. See you guys next time.