Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Trade Target, 7-Round Mock Draft & Free Agent Quickie

Episode Date: March 15, 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 Monday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is presented by Built Bar. Go to BuiltBar.com, use promo code LOCKED15, and you'll get 15% off your next order. Number one, hope all you guys had a safe and enjoyable weekend, but we are back here on the Locked on Titans podcast, and I got a lot to dive into with you guys today.

Number one, there was a divisional trade made over the weekend. The Houston Texans and the Miami Dolphins agreed to a deal now it wasn't the biggest name trade of all time but what's most interesting is according to reports the Titans were battling it out with the Dolphins trying to trade for this Houston Texans player so I will tell you who that player is why the Titans would have been looking to trade for him, and what the Titans could be looking to do with a certain player at that position who is currently on the team.

So really excited to kind of give you guys my thoughts on what this potential move that the Titans were trying to make could actually mean. And then it is a mock draft Monday and I could not leave you without a mock draft to step to so I am gonna bust out my own personal seven round mock draft for the Titans and it does include one trade which in my opinion is incredibly realistic for the Titans this year. So excited to dive into all seven rounds of my personal mock draft for the Titans today. And then I know we usually do our mailbag Monday, but free agency, the legal tampering

period starts on Monday. So I have to take one last moment to prep you guys and preview free agency in the legal tampering period as deals and the rumors of the deals should start to roll in hot and heavy on Monday afternoon. So a big Monday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it. I started off today's show teasing a trade that the Titans tried to get involved with and that tease is going to last just a little bit longer because I have to remind you guys, it's going to be a crazy week with all of the free agency deals and all of the

rumors swirling around. Make sure that you never miss a second of the Locked on Titans podcast and the Monday through Friday Tennessee Titans content that I will be putting out all year long. Subscribe on whatever platform you do stream, whether that be Apple iTunes, on Spotify, the Radio.com app, Google Podcasts, wherever you find podcasts, you can find the Locked on Titans podcast there. Also, follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans and follow the new Facebook page at Locked on Titans Pod.

I would really appreciate it all. So let's dive into this trade. The Miami Dolphins and the Houston Texans finally agreed to the big time deal for Bernardrick McKinney, not Deshaun Watson. That's right. So the Pro Bowl linebacker for the Texans, Bernardrick McKinney, will be traded to the Miami Dolphins for edge rusher Shaq Lawson and a pick swap. Now, the picks aren't really important here.

What matters is Bernardrick McKinney is being moved to the Dolphins. The Texans are changing their defensive identity. They're moving away from the 3-4. They're going into more of a traditional 4-3. That means they need a traditional 4-3 defensive end in Shaq Lawson, and they no longer have a need for Bernardrick McKinney. Remember, the Texans over the weekend also signed linebacker Christian Kirksey, who will, I'm assuming, be taking over that role that Bernardrick McKinney will be vacating.

But what's most interesting about that is we got reports that the trade was between the Dolphins and the Titans. So the Titans were going out and trying to get Bernardrick McKinney. Of course, there's that connection with Mike Vrabel and Anthony Midgett from their time together in Houston. Bernardrick McKinney, of course, was there. McKinney is a Pro Bowl linebacker. He's more of a run stuffing type guy though. And when you consider that the Titans were trying to go after McKinney, who contract wise has no more dead cap left on his deal, he would have cost the Titans $7 million. So it's not like

any type of huge financial investment. And based on what the Texans got back, it's not like the Titans were looking to give up a big trade offer or anything like that. This would have been a peripheral move for the Titans as they try to get their roster set. But it does tell us that the Titans have interest in a veteran inside linebacker, which I've talked about during our free agency previews and the segments where we've talked about free agency needs for the Titans. I do think that they need a veteran inside linebacker. You can't roll into the season with just Rashawn Evans and David Long there as your set starters. You got to have a veteran who you can count on if one of those guys gets hurt or, you

know, they just aren't performing up to abilities. David Long and Rashawn Evans, while I would like to see them together, both have their own downfalls that the Titans can't just rely on them going into 2021 now probably losing Jayon Brown. So to me, what's most interesting about this is it does confirm the Titans are looking for a veteran inside linebacker who has the ability to start. And that would tell me that they may have interest in trying something that another NFL team had success with last year.

that another NFL team had success with last year. So, Rashawn Evans played some edge outside linebacker at Alabama. Rashawn Evans at times has rushed the passer and been used in certain packages by the Titans as a pass rusher. So, it's my opinion that the Titans will not be picking up Rashawn Evans' fifth-year option. They're not going to pick that up later this offseason. Basically, Corey Davis, Jack Conklin, the same thing. Rashawn Evans is going to be a free agent after the year.

Well, Arizona took a former first-round pick in Hassan Redick, who had played off-ball linebacker unsuccessfully for three years, and they finally let him be a full-time edge rusher in his fourth season, and he blew up. He had 11 sacks and now he's one of those targets for the Titans that I've been discussing as an edge option for them in free agency. So what if the Titans did something similar with Rashawn Evans? What if one of the answers that the Titans had to the edge rusher problem that they have is Rashawn Evans? What if

instead of asking him to be an off-ball linebacker, the Titans transition him full-time this year into an edge rusher and see what he can provide them there. Maybe he blows up and then the Titans have a gem at a different position that they never fully utilized, or he gives the Titans a trade option midway through the year, a team looking for edge rusher help, and you have Rashawn Evans who's kind of fighting for playing time there. So if the Titans do go out in free agency or via trade

and get a quality starting mid-level veteran inside linebacker, then they can take Rashawn Evans, transition him to edge full-time, and see if they can find some value there because you know that you're not going to keep him around long-term as an off-ball inside linebacker. So just something to consider, just something that kind of floated into my mind. Maybe that's something that the Titans would like to possibly do. Give Rashawn Evans the Hassan Riddick treatment.

See what happens there as you kind of know the answers that you need to know for what we're seeing from Rashawn so far in his career. But that interest in Bernardrick McKinneyney who certainly would be a starting level inside linebacker makes the future of Rashawn Evans obvious in my opinion the Titans don't want him around long term so why not try him at edge and get a veteran inside linebacker who you can trust to start going forward but that's the that's the trade that's the rumors very interesting like I have said we are going to move into the mock draft Monday portion of our show where I have a personal, all by me, seven round mock draft for the Titans that includes

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Sign up for free. Use promo code LOCKEDON, and you'll receive a 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. BetOnline, your online sportsbook experts. it may not be our traditional Monday setup here on the Locked on Titans podcast but I could not leave you guys without some mock draft Monday content

before we moved our way through the first day of the legal tampering period of free agency. I know tomorrow we won't have any time to get into any kind of mock draft, so I had to make sure that we checked the box for you guys. I wanted to do something fun. I wanted to change things up. I told you guys two weeks ago that we were going to do some different mock draft Mondays than we're used to doing where we go over other people's Mock Drafts, take a look at the first round. Last week, we took a look at non-edge rusher first round options for the Titans. This week, I'm giving you my own personal seven-round Mock Draft.

And as I've been teasing, getting better at the old classic sports radio tease here. You know, I'm working on my craft, working on my tools in my toolbox. I am going to dive into this. And there is a big trade that I make that I've been theorizing that the Titans will make in real life. So let's dive into this seven round mock draft for the Titans with pick number 22. What has become in my mind, my favorite first round option for the Titans with pick number 22. What has become in my mind my favorite first round option for the Titans if they stay put? Wide receiver Rashad Bateman from Minnesota. We

talked about Bateman a lot in the last few weeks. He's a guy who could play inside, guy who could play outside. He's a smooth athlete. He's not a big speed threat. He's not a burner, but like I said, he's very smooth on his releases at the line of scrimmage against press coverage, smooth in and out of his breaks. He's a guy who's better at breaking inside into the middle of the field rather than breaking outside, but with the Titans, you know, they love those glance routes like we see with A.J. Brown, the quick play action fake, and then the five yard in, the six yard in, the slant right across the middle. Titans like to call that a glance, so he would fit perfectly in that kind of scheme. He can

obviously develop other parts of his game to get more comfortable without breaking routes, but I think that fits perfectly into the Titans system. He does have the ability to go win at the catch point high above defenders, which is something that the Titans don't necessarily have in the arsenal right now at wide receiver. Well, outside of A.J. Brown, the Titans don't necessarily have in the arsenal right now at wide receiver. Well, outside of A.J. Brown, the Titans don't have much at receiver right now anyway. So I think Bateman, along with a veteran and free agency, could really solve the wide receiver problem for the Titans and get them ready to go into the 2021 season without dropping off on offense. So Rashad Bateman is an excellent option for me.

Whether he makes it to 22, it gets more dicey each and every day. And half of the mock drafts that I do on my mock draft simulator have the Colts taking Rashad Bateman a pick before the Titans anyway. So if that happens, I'll prepare for a heartbreak, but hopefully he can slide through to the Titans. Next, this is where the trade comes in, guys. So as we know, the Titans have four picks in the top 100 22 53 85 and then 100 itself so that allows the Titans to have a little bit more ammo to move up

and down the board and if they take Bateman or somebody like a JC Horn at cornerback in the first round they're going to need to come up and make sure that they don't miss out on the edge rusher market. I think the edge rushers are going to go hot and heavy from about pick 20, pick 18, all the way until about pick 40. Right in between there, we're going to see about six or seven edge rushers go. All of the big names that you're used to hearing, Russo, Phillips, Pei, Osai, Owe, Basham. There's more in there and other people have other flavors. Ujolari is another big name. Obviously can't miss out on him.

So there are going to be a lot of options for the Titans, but I think they're going to go quickly. And I think if the Titans don't go edge rusher at 22, they're not going to have all of those edge rushers last down to number 53. So I propose that the Titans take pick number 53, their second round pick, and pick number 85, their first third round pick, and they trade up to pick number 39 with the Carolina Panthers. If you look at any kind of draft trade calculator,

think back to the old Cowboys coach, Jerry Jones, Jimmy Johnson. Jimmy Johnson had that famous draft calculator where he basically assigned a number value to each draft pick and that allowed him to make smart trades and accurate trades. Well, if you look at anything like that, pick 53 is 370 points. Pick 85 is 165 points. That's about 535 points overall. Pick number 39 is 510 points.

So the Titans give up a little more in the trade calculator, but they move up and they end up getting Joseph Asai, the speed edge rusher from Texas. Incredible motor. The guy's never going to stop working. He's explosive. He's got great athleticism, explosive off the line of scrimmage. He's versatile.

He got used as an off-ball linebacker a lot in his career, but transitioned to a full-time edge in his last season with Texas. You know that the Titans are enticed by that sort of versatility. I fully expect the Titans to go with a big-name, big-money edge rusher in free agency. But you have Harold Landry. You have Joseph Asai. You have the big fish in free agency. I think that goes a long way to fixing the edge

rusher problem Asai is six foot three 250 pounds has good length as well now he's a little bit raw in terms of his pass rush moves and there is some skepticism as to whether the Titans coaching staff can develop technique for pass rushers it's still yet to be seen with a lot of guys but I think Asai is a speed rusher makes a lot of sense for the Titans there. And I do think that the Titans will take some sort of playmaker, whether it be on the defensive line, the cornerback position, the wide receiver position with their first pick, and then utilize this trade up method that I've outlined here and go get the edge rusher of choice in the

high 30s, in the early 30s somewhere in there so I do see that happening for the Titans next that leaves us with pick 100 and this is kind of a an off the beaten path pick but I could see the Titans going with linebacker out of Alabama Dylan Moses so Moses is six foot three he's a big-bodied guy and Moses tore his ACL before the 2019 season with Alabama and he didn't play the entire year. He came back in 2020 and he even admitted back in January that he played hurt. He wasn't recovered. He didn't feel himself and his play showed that quite a bit. He wasn't quite the athlete, quite the physical playmaker that he had been prior to the injury. But if you give Dylan Moses time to get to 100%, I think that you're going to have a

complete steal on your hands at pick 100. He's got sideline to sideline range, very physical, not going to shy away from any hit, going to wrap up with great form tackles. He's everything you want athletically in a linebacker. He's not ideal in coverage. That's understandable, but he's going to work on that. To me, he can be an even better version of what the Titans thought they were going to get with Rashawn Evans and at pick 100, a great value. The Titans get that veteran linebacker

in free agency. They got Rashawn Evans. They got David Long. They can give Dylan Moses time to get healthy. I think that'd be a luxury pick, but a value pick for the Titans there at 100. healthy. I think that'd be a luxury pick, but a value pick for the Titans there at 100. Pick 126, going to go through these last few picks pretty quickly. Pick 126, I had Rodarius Williams, the cornerback out of Oklahoma State, six foot, 200 pound cornerback. He's the older brother of Greedy Williams, the high pick for the Cleveland Browns, who's already in the league. He's a guy who's not going to do super well on vertical routes going backwards, but he can play downhill. guy who's not going to do super well on vertical routes going backwards, but he can play downhill. He's going to press you. He's got decent length. He's not the most reactive guy, not the most quick decision maker, but you can get him comfortable in the scheme and help out. I

think he could be kind of a young Malcolm Butler type and you can groom him in that way. Next, pick 166. So we're into the fifth round now. I have Jalen Moore, the offensive tackle out of Western Michigan. I do think late in the draft, the Titans should be looking for a project offensive tackle. The need that caused the pick for Isaiah Wilson is still there. So you get a guy like Jalen Moore, 6'5". He's an incredibly athletic guy. He's going to fit perfectly in a zone-blocking scheme. He's a little bit top-heavy.

He can be a lunger when he's pushing with his hands, which gets him a little bit off-balance. He can hold his blocks a little bit longer. That off-balance nature doesn't allow him to hold his blocks as long as you want. But with his athletic build, with his big body, with all the raw potential that he has and the type of fit he would be in the Titans scheme. I think Jalen Moore out of Western Michigan as an offensive tackle would be a great project pick for the Titans late in the draft. Next pick 184. Although we went with Rashad Bateman

at the beginning of the draft and I think the Titans also need to sign a mid-tier free agent. Think of the Titans got a Rashad Bateman and then went out and got a Marvin Jones. I think that would make a lot of sense but I would follow up with another wide receiver. I of the Titans got a Rashad Bateman and then went out and got a Marvin Jones. I think that would make a lot of sense, but I would follow up with another wide receiver. I think the Titans need to get two wide receivers in this draft. And I like Cornell Powell out of Clemson, a guy who had to wait his turn behind a really talented wide receiver core, but he's a physical guy, big bodied. He's a workout wonder. He needs to work on his on his you know his his refined skills his route running he's more of a physical talent at this moment in time who never really developed into a great route runner but that physicality you give him a little bit of time at the end of

the titans depth chart he's got a great personality too he's a guy who wanted to wait in school get his opportunity he's gonna block he's gonna do everything you need so guys like that could probably help on special teams as well you want a guy like that late in the game especially in the sixth round next pick 213 Drake Jackson I am all over Drake Jackson he is one of my late round locks for the Titans they have to go out and get him Drake Jackson is an interior offensive lineman out of Kentucky gonna profile as a center. I think he could be a Ben Jones immediate stand-in when it's time for him to go. He's got great hands, good mobility for a center, great smarts, nasty physicality.

His presence on the field, you can feel it. Now, he's not a big-time athlete. He doesn't have incredible athletic traits. He's not overly dominant and powerful, but he's just one of those late-round offensive linemen who you know are going to have a 10-year career in the NFL. Drake Jackson is a late-round lock for me. The Titans have to go get him as a depth piece on the interior offensive line. And then lastly, pick 254, Lorenzo Neal Jr.,

defensive tackle out of Purdue. That's right, the son of former fullback Lorenzo Neal. He's a gap penetrator, a guy who's going to shoot through, try to get into the backfield as quick as possible. He's not somebody who's going to hold up against blocks. He's not like a traditional nose tackle who's going to try to keep bodies off the second level defenders. He's a guy who's penetrating through at six foot two. That fits what the Titans are trying to do schematically on the defensive line. And the seventh round, the Titans always have good luck with these late round defensive tackles, undrafted free agent defensive tackles. So I don't think the Titans would steer away from

that with the luxury picks that they have here. So Lorenzo Neal for nostalgia as well makes a lot of sense. But that's going to do it for this mock draft Monday that's my personal seventh round mock draft for the Titans with a trade included we are going to move into the last little free agency preview information I have for you as Monday opens up the legal tampering period before we do got to tell you guys about the join our Bracket Challenge. March Madness is here, and that means it's time for bracket challenges. Join our Locked On Listeners Bracket Challenge group on ESPN. Submit your March Madness picks. Beat your favorite hosts, including me, but you're not going to beat me because I always win.

And if you win, you will get a guest appearance on Locked On Today, our daily news podcast. Hey, that's what I did with my fantasy league. The link to join is in the show notes of my episode. So get your picks in today. Also, speaking of brackets, we've been telling you about Bilt Bar for quite some time. The best tasting protein bar on the market. Bilt Bar is an amazing low-calorie, low-sugar, high-protein, high-fiber, great-tasting protein bar on the market. Built Bar is an amazing low-calorie, low-sugar, high-protein, high-fiber, great-tasting protein bar with 100% real chocolate on every bar.

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use promo code locked 15 to get 15 off your next order at builtbar.com that's locked15 to get 15% off your next order at BuiltBar.com. That's LOCKED15 to get 15% off your next order at BuiltBar.com. And check back to see who's won today's matchup and who will become the best tasting protein bar of them all. Well, I will end things here, guys. Free agency is knocking on our door. I would imagine a lot of you guys are going to listen to this early on Monday morning. And this is probably the most calm part we will have of this week from a football

perspective I expect the deals to start coming in like I said earlier hot and heavy on Monday so the way that this works is Monday is the 15th it opens a two-day legal tampering period which basically means free agency isn't open but agents and teams are allowed to start working on deals the reason that the NFL put this in the NBA put this into is because these deals were coming out and getting reported on before free agency and it just made a mockery of the tampering rules in these leagues there's just I mean if we're honest about it these deals they start getting worked on as early as the combine in February when agents are at these pro days obviously in the COVID impacted NFL world it's not as much like this but

you know the communication between agents and teams and feelers and interest levels engaging things all that starts happening way before any of this takes place. But either way, we'll start getting word of some deals on Monday. And actually, while I'm recording the podcast, the number one free agent running back, Aaron Jones, went back to the Packers. The overall deal is four years, $48 million, so about $12 million per year. It's about a half a million dollars less than what Derrick Henry got. But I would imagine that Aaron Jones' deal is similarly positioned as Derrick Henry's. Probably only a couple years of guaranteed money.

And that's basically how running back contracts have to work now in the NFL. But either way, I wanted to take one last opportunity to give you guys an expectation of what you're going to see. You're either going to see guys take one year deals that seem like less than what they should get paid. And you're going to see that because the cap is way down right now than it normally is going to be. It's going to explode back up to normal next year.

And players don't want to get locked in on these cheap deals. The players know that teams aren't trying to stiff them right now. The cap is way down. Teams are in a very, very difficult position. So players know that too. Agents know that too. They're not going to try to get a ton of money or get as much possible cash as they can on a long-term investment, lock themselves in to a long-term deal right now.

I would suspect a lot of guys do take one-year deals so they can get back out on the open market next year when the cap goes way up and things are closer to normal and then they can lock in their long-term deal with the big-time guaranteed money. Now the guys who are going to get big-time long-term guaranteed money no matter what's going on right now those deals are going to be structured in a strange way. You're going to see two to three years on the deal. You're going to see a couple of what they call void years at the end. So let's do just a quick explanation here with the void years. Say you get a $25 million contract for five years. You're going to give $15 million of it to the player up front as a signing bonus.

Well, as for the cap structure of that, the signing bonus is then spread out over the life of the contract. So you gave them a $15 million signing bonus. That's $3 million per year for five years. And then you got $10 million of salary left to make up the $25 million for the player. That's going to be spread out over the five years as well, so $2 million of salary left to make up the $25 million for the player. That's going to be spread out over the five years as well. So $2 million. So basically the player's cap hit is going to be about $5 million per season. And then the last two years are void deals. So the team could basically cut the player then or let the player go. They're not going to have the salary hit on there the two million for salary just going to have the dead money of three million so basically the big time players who are going to get big time contracts they're going to get a ton of guaranteed money

up front and then have the rest of their money spread out over the life of the contract it's going to cost teams more money in the future than they would typically pay, but it's going to save them a lot of money for this one year when the cap is down. So one-year deals or the void year contracts that we're seeing J.J. Watt sign. There's another example out there I forgot on Friday too, but either way, we're seeing that from a lot of different teams now. We're hearing that's going to be the case. So one-year deals or the long deals with high signing bonus and void years at the end that's what you're going to see and then lastly just want a quick reminder for you guys on my ideal targets here of what I think are actual needs for the Titans I think they need a wide receiver in free agency they're going to

need a tight end in free agency maybe two offensive line depth in some way defensive line depth in some way a big ticket edge rusher a veteran off-ball linebacker and a veteran cornerback for me the wide receiver is a Marvin Jones or a Nelson Aguilar or Rashad Higgins I don't think John Smokey Brown's going to be coming to the Titans he himself said that he was interested in the Steelers were a name and then there was an NFC team that he was interested in the Steelers were a name and then there was an NFC team that he was interested in. So it doesn't look like John Brown coming to the Titans. Marvin Jones, Nelson Aguilar, Rashad Higgins, three tiers for you there.

At tight end, I would like to see Kyle Rudolph or Jared Cook Jr. Offensive line depth, would like to see the Titans bring back Ty Sambrillo, maybe a Ben Garland on the interior. Defensive line, I want the Titans to re-sign Daquan Jones. I don't see why Daquan wouldn't want to come back to the Titans on a smart deal. Edge rusher, looking for Carl Lawson, Yannick Ngakwe, Hassan Redick, or Ryan Kerrigan at the low end. Veteran linebacker, a Kevin Pierre-Lewis.

A Devondre Campbell makes a lot of sense. And then a veteran cornerback. I talked about Janoris Jenkins. We also talked about a Terrence Mitchell, a Rasul Douglas. But we also got another report on Sunday that the Titans were interested in recently released Chargers cornerback Casey Hayward. The Titans are interested in Casey Hayward. If they could get Hayward around $7-8 million,

I think that would make a lot of sense as well. So that's kind of my quick early Monday morning free agency preview. That's going to do it for me today though, folks. That's going to do it for our Monday edition here of the Locked on Titans podcast. Now that you are done with the Locked on Titans podcast though, go check out the Locked on NFL show. You got your local Titans news, now get your national NFL news and it's going to be a crazy day in free agency.

So a national free agency preview would probably be a smart move for you on this Monday morning as well. But like I said, that's going to do it for me today. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.