Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Trade News: Julio or Juli-NO?? Latest News, Titans Recruiting & Trade Competition

Episode Date: May 26, 2021

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You are Locked On Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked On Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, this Wednesday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is presented by the Peacock and Williamson podcast. NFL analyst Brian Peacock and former NFL scout Matt Williamson host Locked On's Peacock and Williamson podcast. NFL analyst Brian Peacock and former NFL scout Matt Williamson host Locked On's Peacock and Williamson every Monday through Friday.

Brian and Matt give you a national perspective on all of the latest NFL news. Make sure you check out the Peacock and Williamson podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, wherever you get your podcasts. So yesterday's show, I started out with pure excitement. Some may describe it as an assault on your eardrums. And today, I am just as excited as yesterday, but there is a wave of emotion that has overcome me as I sit down to record today's podcast.

Seeing my two favorite Tennessee Titans on social media on Tuesday openly recruiting Julio Jones, well, it brought a tear to my eye. So very excited to tell you guys exactly which Titans those are and let you know what their recruiting pitch consisted of. But that wasn't the only Julio Jones news on Tuesday. The Julio Jones news seems to be coming rapidly, coming quickly every second as we approach that June 1st pseudo-deadline day. But we got another big report that says that Julio Jones has identified the two top teams that he is most interested in. And I'm going to tell you who those teams are and whether the Tennessee Titans made that cut.

But then we are just going to continue the Julio Jones conversation, guys. It's obviously the hottest topic for the Titans right now and has a chance to fundamentally change what I think the ceiling of the season is. So we're just going to dive into both sides of the debate. of the season is. So we're just going to dive into both sides of the debate. I'm going to say why the Titans should go after Julio Jones and then play devil's advocate and say why the Titans should not go after Julio Jones. So we'll have that discussion. But then I want to take a look at that discussion, but from the other teams that are in this race. So I'm going to talk about four different teams I think have a really good shot at Julio

as well, why they should be interested, and also why maybe Julio Jones should not be interested in those other contenders for his services. So we are going to call today's Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast, Julio or Juli-no. Let's get it. Obviously, the Julio Jones train took off at full speed yesterday when Shannon Sharp called him live on national television and Julio said that he was out of Atlanta. But it crescendoed in a very good way for the Tennessee Titans on Tuesday as well because Chris Sims from Pro Football Talk came out and said live on their morning TV show that Julio Jones has his eyes on the Patriots

and the Titans, which makes sense because what he said to Shannon Sharp on Monday was that he's really only interested in playing for a winner. And of course, as I mentioned at the beginning of the show, June 1st is kind of a pseudo deadline. That's when the money changes. That's when Atlanta should look to go ahead and trade Julio Jones. It's when they will get the biggest impact financially. Remember, this move for the Falcons is all about carving out as much cap space as possible as they only have about $600,000 in cap space currently with a $13 million draft class waiting to be signed.

So trading Julio saves them $15 million. It makes sense that they would do that where things got interesting is some of the public comments we've seen from certain people over the last 12 hours depending on when you're listening to the show first things first they asked new Falcons coach and former Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith in a press conference on Tuesday about the Julio Jones comments. And basically, Arthur Smith, as he should do, as we expect him to do, takes the high road, takes the mature approach, and just said he's not going to comment on what Julio Jones had to say.

That's the smartest thing for Arthur Smith to do as that head coach. thing for Arthur Smith to do as that head coach. But outside of Arthur Smith, Chris Johnson, the Tennessee Titans legend, came out and said, Titans, let's go get Julio. So he's fully on board, but it's not just former Titans players that are on board. Of course, we saw Derrick Henry working out directly with Julio Jones for much of the all season,, we saw Derrick Henry working out directly with Julio Jones for much of the all season, but not just Derrick Henry. Now, my personal two favorite Tennessee Titans players have come into the recruiting pitch. Number one, we got A.J. Brown, who had an audio message for Julio Jones

along with a tweet. He said, come on home, big bruh, and sent Julio Jones along with a tweet he said come on home big bro and sent Julio Jones this audio message in his DMs on Twitter again directly from AJ Brown himself yo yo Julio hey man check this out man hey you see the message above right here bro come on bro come vibe with me bro hey you know I'm good for it you know all them talks'll be having you know what i'm saying bro you know i'm good for it bro you know i got your back bro like trust me bro if you want to carry the load you can carry it but if you get tired you know definitely you know how i carry it bro and nothing you know i'm not giving my number up i said i would i tried to get number one they said i can't so you're gonna have to rock number

eight you already know all of this but hey just come mess with your boy man hey real talk man hey we waiting on you over here you say you want to win right we just need a couple more pieces hey trust me hey come vibe with me man so i i try to analyze and be level-headed and but man whoa i mean if that doesn't get you excited we just need a couple more pieces. Come vibe with me, big bro. I love all of that, man. AJ's right on point, too. He's right.

The Titans just need a couple more pieces. He would be a perfect fit. And not to mention, Kevin Byard retweeted that message and said, I 100% support this message. Guys, the whole team's on board. It just feels right, doesn't it? It just feels right, guys. Woo!

I'm excited. Can't wait to watch how everything develops. Of course, the Patriots were also somebody that Julio is interested in. He has a good relationship with Cam Newton, so we're going to talk about the Patriots, why they would or wouldn't be interested in Julio, or yes or no, why it would or wouldn't work. We're also going to look at some other AFC teams I think could be contending for

his services. But first, let's dive into why the Titans should trade for Julio Jones, and then of course play devil's advocate, why should the Titans not trade for Julio Jones? I'm going to break down both those arguments in our next segment. Before we hop into that, do want to remind you guys about the best tasting protein bar ever, and that is our friends over at Built Bar. They have nine delicious flavors available right now with a few occasional limited time flavors popping up. All of their bars, regardless of the flavor, are covered in 100% chocolate. I'm not on a diet or anything like that. And I eat the Bilt Bars just as a candy bar because they're so tasty. But it's not just the taste.

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Make sure that you go to BiltBar.com right now and use promo code LOCKED15. That's LOCKED15 and you'll get 15% off your first order. Once again, use promo code LOCKED15 for 15% off at BiltBar.com. Titans fans, this is the point of the show where we ask ourselves, Julio or Juli-no? So we're going to go through why the Titans should trade for Julio, and then the flip side, why the Titans should not trade for Julio Jones. Before we do that, I want to remind you guys, not only am I going to be covering this Julio

Jones saga throughout its entirety, but I'm going to bring you Tennessee Titans content Monday through Friday all year long. You're not going to find that with any other Titans content creator. So make sure that you follow or subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream. Any viable podcast platform,

you're going to find the show there. Also, make sure that you follow me on social media at TicTacTitans on Twitter, at LockedOnTitansPod on Facebook, so you never miss the video breakdowns that I do, the film analysis that I do, and just my incredibly hilarious Twitter timeline. But with that being said, let's dive into these arguments.

And the prosecution will go first. Why the Titans should go out and get Julio Jones. Well, number one, the biggest factor for me for taking a risky move like this is the Titans are in a Super Bowl window now. Now, I've seen some people say, Super Bowl window, a window, that's what losing teams think. That's what losing fans think. I want the Titans to be a successful contender for forever. That's unrealistic, man. It's just unrealistic. You're not just going to replace Ryan Tannehill easily.

You're not just going to replace Derrick Henry easily and do this assembly line roster situation. That's not how it works. You have studs right now. You have A.J. Brown. You have Derrick Henry. You have Ryan Tannehill. You have Taylor LeJuan. Hopefully, you have a Bud Dupree. You have Jeffrey Simmons.

You have Kevin Byard. Hopefully, Caleb Farley can be something. Jayon Brown is a solid player. Harold Landry is a solid player. The Titans have the talent right now, and they're not just going to have this consistent talent for the next decade. That's not how it works. It's simply not, okay? So you don't just constantly replace people and keep it at a high level. It's very rare that you see something like that, and it usually takes like an all-pro, all-world level quarterback

at the beginning of his rookie contract, and then you hold on to him for a decade, and that's how that happens. But it's very rare. So these moments are swift. Think about the Falcons. The Falcons went to the Super Bowl not long ago, and now they're in a situation they're in right now, picking top five in the NFL draft. Think about that.

The Eagles won a Super Bowl. They're garbage now. Guys, success in the NFL is fleeting, and we can't be so blinded by the consistent nine and seven consistent playoff success the Titans have had to think that they're just going to keep sustaining this forever you got to go for it right now and Julio Jones is the only thing that you can add to this offense to really elevate what the long-term prospects of this team are at least least for the 2021 season, you're going to elevate the ceiling of this team in a way that you can't any other possible move you could make

right now. So you do that. You have, like I said, Derrick Henry, Ryan Tannehill, A.J. Brown, all those other players I named, not to mention the Titans' offensive line is one of the strengths of their team, but the offensive line is old. Taylor LeJuan, Roger Saffold, Ben Jones. All getting older. So the iron is hot right now.

You strike. And then you look at the Titans from a pass catcher standpoint. A.J. Brown's stud. I'm happy about the Josh Reynolds situation. But outside of that, there isn't a Titans pass catcher who a regular casual NFL fan could even name. And no, you know, you don't want to judge your roster by what the casuals think, but I would agree with them in that sense.

The Titans aren't going to win a Super Bowl with their current set of pass catchers. If you add Julio Jones to it, I think they could. It makes that big of a difference. The Titans may have the worst pass catching core in the NFL right now. You look at maybe the Colts, the Lions. But outside of that, pass catchers total with tight ends and wide receivers, the Titans are up there. So that has to be a big reason for why they should go out and do this.

Julio fits the offense. He can be that compliment. He can fill that Corey Davis role and be even better than that. Henry works out with him. A.J. Brown's going to get doubled all over the place, even with Julio. So and be even better than that. Henry works out with him. A.J. Brown's going to get doubled all over the place, even with Julio, so that's even better. He can give you that deep speed threat because he's faster than Corey Davis, even in his early 30s.

I mean, it just makes all the sense in the world to bring in a Hall of Famer. Now you look at Julio Jones, we've looked at the Titans situation. Now you look at Julio Jones as a player. look at Julio Jones as we've looked at the Titans situation. Now you look at Julio Jones as a player. Last year, he only played nine games, still had 51 catches, 770 yards and three touchdowns. The year before that, he had 99 catches, 1400 yards, six touchdowns. The year before that, 113 catches, 1700 yards and eight touchdowns. This guy isn't some declining player who's a bum. He got hurt last year in a weird COVID-affected season and was still incredibly productive. If Julio Jones played 12 out of the

17 games for the Titans, gave them 800 yards, seven touchdowns, and 80 catches, it would be worth it. It would be worth it because then you get to the playoffs and now you have a stud. He's ready to go. Those games when he does play, he's going to help you out big time. So I think it's just worth it. Yes, you know, he played nine games last year, but he's only played less than 13 games twice in his whole entire career. And one was 2013. The other was last year. The guy doesn't miss games, guys. He just doesn't. He's been one of the healthiest, most reliable wide receivers in the NFL his whole career. This isn't some injury-prone dude. That's not the case. It's simply not the case.

The money, only $15 million this year. Cap starts going back up again. Two years from now, he's going to be $11.5 million on the last year of his contract, and the cap's going to be $220 million. $40 million more than it was this year, so who cares? The money is not a big deal, in my opinion, if you want to get him on. You only have to give up a second round pick and probably a fourth round pick. The Titans are going to get a fourth round pick back as a compensatory pick because of John U.

Smith. So really, it's just a second round pick for Julio Jones. Give me a break, guys. Gotta do that. Got to. So that's the argument for. Now the argument against. He's 32 years old. Yeah, maybe he had two good years before. But with 32 years old, the injuries last year, it's not insane to say that he could be on the decline. That's just, you know, Father Time rarely loses. Usually you say undefeated, but Tom Brady and Phil Mickelson's had enough of that. So rarely beat Father Time.

What if a first round pick is needed to get Julio Jones because the competition is so steep? Now we're getting into a territory where that may be too much for the Titans to give up. And I could understand someone who's scared of that. I said the money is okay, but hey, we're looking at about $36-37 million for a 32-year-old. I could understand an argument from that side that the money is still a downside, not an upside. I could see that. Does the Titans offensive scheme need a stud wide receiver? I spent

a lot of this offseason saying allocating resources away from wide receiver was the move. Is this an overcorrection to that? That would be interesting. Would the Titans be better off signing a golden tape for a really cheap deal, not a long-term commitment,

not giving up draft picks? What about waiting for Jamison Crowder to potentially be cut by the New York Jets? Could they wait on that? A cheaper trade for Anthony Miller or Tim Patrick? Would that make sense? Or do the Titans just have enough confidence in Josh Reynolds where they don't think this move is necessary either?

All answers that could make sense if the Titans choose not to make this move. So I guess I want it to be fair. I want it to be balanced. It's obvious, I'm sure to you guys, that I personally think the Titans have to go out and make this happen. But I want it to be fair and reasonable. There are logical arguments to why the Titans should not do this. So the defense rests

its case on that. Julio or Julio? How do you feel? Let me know on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans. But we're going to move into a conversation about the competition that the Titans could have for Julio Jones services. Look at some other teams out there. What they

have to offer. What their downfalls are when it comes to bringing Julio Jones on board. Before we get into that, I want to tell you about a place you can go and put some money on Julio Jones's next team, and that's betonline.ag, the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. Baseball is in full swing. NHL and NBA are in the playoffs. You have a ton of UFC and MMA action. You have a ton

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the Titans should trade for Julio Jones. But now let's cap off the show looking at some other teams who are competing with the Titans for Julio's services. Why they do make sense for Julio and why they don't make sense for Julio. And we are going to start with the number one team that seems to be competing with the Titans and that's the New England Patriots. According to Chris Sims, the report that we started off today's show with, he is currently eyeing the Tennessee Titans and the New England Patriots. So from the Patriots perspective, they're a winning organization. That makes sense for Julio. He wants to go to a winner and while New England isn't the same New England they were when they had Tom Brady, they still aren't a garbage organization who bottomed out last

year. That's not the case. So from a winning perspective, you could say, well, the Patriots aren't winners anymore, but that culture, that winning that they've done over the last 20 years, that has merit, that has credibility with NFL players, so Julio's not going to think of the Patriots organization as not a winning franchise. So that's a checkbox for them as well. Also, they still need more weapons.

Yeah, they brought in Hunter Henry and Jonu Smith. Yeah, they brought in Nelson Aguilar and Kendrick Bourne, but Nelson Aguilar and Kendrick Bourne, I know the Patriots overpaid for those guys, but if you're looking at your roster, you can't say that your questions are answered there, and nobody believes in Nikhil Harry at this point, so the Patriots definitely need more weapons if they're trying to make a push. They don't have a stud quarterback. They have Cam Newton, and then they have rookie quarterback Mac Jones, and if you're going to win with either of those guys on a high level, you're going to need a stud roster around them, so Julio would definitely go a long way to making that a reality for the Patriots.

And unlike the Titans, which I guess I could have mentioned this in the downfall side of our Julio argument, but the Titans would have to restructure a Ryan Tannehill contract to make room for Julio Jones because they only have about $3.5 million of salary cap space. But that's not a factor for the Patriots. Who have $16.4 million in cap space. And can absorb Julio Jones outright. So that seems like a pretty easy place for him to go. Also he's expressed that he's very good friends with Cam Newton.

And obviously relationships I'm hoping will help the Titans get Julio Jones. So I can't ignore that a relationship like that. Could also help the Patriots get Julio Jones as well. The downside is, you're friends with Cam Newton, and you want to play with Cam Newton. Well, the Patriots just drafted a quarterback in the first round in Mac Jones. There's a good chance that halfway through the year, Mac Jones is the guy throwing you passes. And did you sign up for that, Julio? Who knows? year Mac Jones is the guy throwing you passes and did you sign up for that Julio who knows uh last year like I mentioned they still get a lot of credit for the organization they are but they're

simply not the same without Tom Brady could that affect how Julio Jones sees them probably not a ton but it could have a little bit of an effect and then also we talk about how the New England culture is you know keeping them in a good light but we've seen players talk about the downside of the culture. Bill Belichick is very, very hard on his players. The coaching staff is very hard, very demanding on their players. Maybe Julio just doesn't want to go up to New England in that terrible weather and get yelled at all the time by Bill Belichick after he's been a 10-year Hall of Famer and then end up having Mac Jones throw passes to him.

So I see the good for the Patriots, but I also see a lot of concern if you're Julio Jones as well. Next, the Baltimore Ravens are somebody that people always mention. They're a winning organization for sure. Can't take that away from them. Lamar Jackson is one year removed from winning MVP,

so a solid quarterback who I'm sure is cool with Julio Jones just as a person. Also, a ton of targets to go around. Yes, they added Tylan Wallace and Rashad Bateman in the draft. Yes, they have Hollywood Brown. They have Mark Andrews. They have the running game still there. But if Julio Jones goes to the Ravens, he's going to be the number one target getter automatically,

or at least he should be. But on the flip side, maybe he's not. That's a run-first offense. Is there enough targets to go around? Would Julio Jones be happy with his role? Lamar Jackson, I said, is a plus, but I see the downside. He's not the most accurate QB.

He's a running quarterback as well. People have their opinions there. Maybe Julio doesn't want to deal with that kind of offense. A ton of different free agent-wide receivers spurn the Ravens this year because they don't want to deal with that kind of offense. A ton of different free agent wide receivers spurn the Ravens this year because they don't want to go to that offense. That could be death for your career, statistically speaking. And it's also a very tough division.

The Bengals are going to be better this year with Joe Burrow back. The Browns are obviously a very good roster. The Steelers always are going to be competitive as Mike Tomlin is coach. It's the last hurrah for Ben Roethlisberger. It's going to be tough to win that division and get a home playoff game, even if you go to the Ravens. So the Ravens didn't get a home playoff game last year. They were third in their division.

So, hey, that's something to consider if you want to go to a quote-unquote winner. Next, a team that gets mentioned a lot, but I don't necessarily see it. It's the Las Vegas Raiders. Yeah, it would be cool to live in Las Vegas. He'd get a ton of targets playing for the Raiders as they have second year player Henry Ruggs as their second wide receiver right now. He could potentially get a big money extension if he goes to Las Vegas because, you know, they'll want to keep him around long term. They'll have to pay that tax since they aren't a winner. But Derek Carr is your quarterback. I wouldn't be comfortable with that as Julio in my final years. That's a very good division that includes Patrick Mahomes

and Justin Herbert. You have John Gruden who can be cantankerous historically. Maybe Julio doesn't want to deal with his personality. Also, they only have about five million dollars in cap space, so they would have to do some maneuvering to make this work just like the Titans would. Would it be worth it for a team like the Raiders who I don't personally think are a Julio Jones away from a Super Bowl like I think the Titans are? So that would be interesting. And then finally, who I think is the real dark horse in all this, the Patriots are the favorite outside of Tennessee, but I think my dark horse is the Los Angeles Chargers.

You have an up-and-coming quarterback in Justin Herbert who we can play with and revitalize his career. You have a new head coach in Brandon Staley who's highly regarded around the league. You have Keenan Allen there who could take pressure away from Julio. With Mike Williams, Mike Williams, Julio Jones, and Keenan Allen, that's a studly wide receiver core. They improved their offensive line this year. I really love that. The Chargers could be an up-and-coming team that makes a ton of sense. Fantastic weather in Southern California and San Diego as well.

Maybe the best weather in the country. So that's going to be a factor for a guy who's getting older, thinking about retiring in a couple of years. But again, tough division. You're going to have to go through Patrick Mahomes. There's a new coach there. So while I think Brandon Staley is highly regarded, who knows what Julio Jones thinks about him.

And then, of course, California has some horrendous taxes. And when you compare that to a place like Tennessee, who has no state taxes, that makes a big difference for a guy who's probably on the last big contract he's ever going to get in the NFL. So I think that the Patriots make a lot of sense. I think the Chargers make even more sense than the Patriots, but I think ultimately the Tennessee Titans make the most sense and we need to will it into existence. Manifest Julio Jones to the Titans. The Titans players are trying, so why shouldn't we? But that's going to do it for this Julio or Julio edition of the Locked on Titans podcast.

Make sure you guys check out the Locked on Today podcast as well. It's basically like having the sports section read to you all the biggest sports stories of the previous day in under 20 minutes. Check out the Locked On Today podcast wherever you get your podcasts. But that's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.