Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Training Camp Recap - Day 2: Standouts, Sloppy Team Period & Dupree on COVID List

Episode Date: July 30, 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 Friday 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 every Monday through Friday. Brian and Matt give you a national perspective on all of the latest NFL news, so make sure

you check out the Peacock and Williamson podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, wherever you get your podcast. It is Friday and we are going to finish out the week strong with a recap of day two of Titans training camp practice. I have a ton of excellent updates for you, individuals that are standing out. Also, one guy who had a rough day out there on Thursday, and I got to be honest, I'm quite sad to tell you who that player is. But also, we got another piece of unfortunate roster news with one of the Titans' most highly coveted players going on the COVID-19

list. So we're going to break down everything that took place on Thursday, including highlights from the Titans practice and some roster moves. It's an awesome Friday here on the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it. We are going to kick off this Friday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast by going over the highlights from day two of Titans training camp practice. Before we do that, got to remind you guys, I'm going to be putting out Monday through Friday daily Tennessee Titans content here on the Locked on Titans podcast. No other Titans content creator can say that.

So make sure that you never miss an episode by subscribing to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream. Also, follow me on social media on Twitter at TicTacTitans, on Facebook at Locked on Titans pod, and keep an eye out for that LockedOnTitans YouTube page, which should be springing up within the next few weeks. Let's dive into these highlights, and what I want to do is talk about some general team stuff that popped up on Thursday to begin here.

Number one, it was kind of a sloppy practice for the Titans during the first team period of the day. Ryan Tannehill botched two snaps with center Ben Jones. Mike Vrabel even cut team period short the first team period of the day because he was so displeased with the effort and with the focus. And to me, I have a little bit of analogy that I want to give to you guys that all of you should be able to understand. You remember the first day of school. You had your best outfit picked out that you got from over the summer.

You were all jazzed up, ready to go back, see your friends, flirt with the girls, flirt with the guys if you're a girl, flirt with whoever you wanted. Either way, going back to school the very first day was fun and exciting and something to look forward to. Well, the reality sets in for you on day two. You wake up. You don't have that same energy. You're a little more tired.

It's not as fun. You realize, man, this was cool, but summer's over. And you have to understand, even though these guys play football, and we would love to have the opportunity to have their job, it's still a job. And they probably had that second day issue in training camp as we all have had during our first days of school. So to me, just a little bit of sloppiness.

They're a little bit tired. They're not ready to be back in the swing of things. That early energy and that excitement carried them through day one. But today in that summer, he got the best of them. So that's one thing we do got to mention, but that's why you have training camp. That's why you have practice. You got to get all the mistakes out early and get through that and get into football shape.

So I thought that was really the number one takeaway from this practice. The Titans weren't entirely sharp, and especially Ryan Tannehill, especially early on, but they got things together for the end of the practice. Now, the next piece that I want to go over with you is an individual player who really stood out on day two, and it's a guy who didn't get a lot of pub on day one, so I want to focus on him here. It is Titans cornerback Breon Borders. Borders was excellent on the day, especially in one-on-one drills against wide receivers. There was a point in time during those one-on-one red zone drills where he

went three for three, three straight reps where he was able to win against the wide receiver. And one-on-one red zone reps, wide receiver versus cornerback, it's very much in the favor of the wide receiver. So to see Breon Borders play so well, such physical defense, physicality at the line of scrimmage, sticking to the wide receiver in a drill that's set up for the offense to win, that was very impressive. Breon Borders is set to be about the fifth or sixth cornerback for the Titans, and you got to feel very, very comfortable having a guy who started close to a third of the season last year being your fourth or fifth cornerback on the depth chart.

So you love to see that. Also, do want to mention here that some veterans are still limited. Like we talked about yesterday, Taylor LeJuan still limited, not participating in the team portions of practice. Same thing with Derrick Henry and Julio Jones as well. But one thing to note here, with Derrick Henry and Julio Jones as well. But one thing to note here with Derrick Henry being limited every day that the coaches don't want to put a bunch of reps on him. It makes sense. There's no need to do that. It gives a much better opportunity to a guy like Darrington Evans, who has been running back one for the Titans during team period and given him

that experience, especially after he missed so much time last year as a rookie, very, very valuable. So not only are you keeping Derrick Henry fresh, but you're giving opportunities to Darrington Evans. I think that is a perfect storm for the Titans in this training camp scenario. Another guy who really stood out. I talked about a guy on defense with Breon Borders. Now I'm going to talk about a guy on offense,

and it was wide receiver Marcus Johnson. And Johnson is one of those roster bubble guys. He's a veteran who's been in the NFL for quite some time, scrapping and clawing for his NFL life. And Marcus Johnson, along with Rayce McMath yesterday, brings us to the conversation. How many wide receivers are the Titans going to keep? I think there's a really good chance that they end up keeping seven players.

The four guys who I think are locks, A.J., Julio, Reynolds, and Des Fitzpatrick. Then you would have Nick Westbrook-Akina, Rayce McMath, and there's only really one other spot. Is it going to be a Cam Batson? Is it going to be a Marcus Johnson? Will only one of Westbrook and McMath get that spot as a big physical wide receiver who can play as a gunner on special teams? It's going to be very interesting to see how the back end of the Titans wide receiver depth chart shakes out.

But Marcus Johnson, really impressed in day two. He was very impressive during OTAs and mandatory minicamp. He has been downright impressive throughout the entire offseason process. So very curious to see if he's able to get that spot on the roster. I think a guy who maybe he's not much help on special teams, but he's definitely a more polished wide receiver than the Titans have on the back end of the depth chart right now with the younger guys like Batson, like Westbrook, like Fitzpatrick and McMath. So that may give him an advantage there. But we are going to move forward. I have many more updates for you. Going to give you guys an update on A.J. Brown. Going

to give you guys an update on the kicker battle. And Lord, it was not a great day for the Titans kickers. Also going to give you an update on the quarterback battle and another standout on the defensive side of the ball. So a lot still to get into as we break down day two of the Titans training camp practices. Before we get into the rest of the highlights, do want to remind you guys about the best tasting protein bars in the galaxy, and they come from our friends over at Built Bar. Built Bar is celebrating freedom of choice,

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pretty sweet as well. Make sure you go to BuiltBar.com. Use promo code LOCKED15. That's one word, LOCKED15, and you'll get 15% off your order. Once again, use promo code LOCKED15 for 15% off at Built.com. Titans fans, let's continue breaking down day two of Titans training camp practice. I have some more individual notes for you guys, but I want to start with the team-centric notes. And it's about two very specific battles going on on the roster right now. Two that we've talked about quite a bit. First, kicker, and then second, backup quarterback. And I'm going to talk about the kickers really fast. I'm not going to belabor the point that I've been making for what seems like months now

that I made yesterday as well. So, both kickers on Thursday went three for five. It was a struggle. The trajectories, that's a weird word, trajectories looked very poor. Also, the leg strength not quite there. There's not a lot of confidence in the kicking situation right

now and once again, I'm just gonna say, as I've said, Steven Gostkowski will be the Tennessee Titans kicker in 2021. So I'm not gonna get worked up about the poor performance of the kickers, about the Titans' lack of, seems like, motivation

to solve this problem right now. I think the Titans, Brass, Mike Vrabel, John Robinson know that Gostkowski is going to come right back when the season's there and they're just doing what they got to do to get to that time. There's no need for Gostkowski to be in camp right now. He's a Hall of Famer. He's a veteran.

He lives in Nashville. Everything will be fine. The next battle we gotta talk about though Sadness. Just sadness. So I have been very vocal in my lack of belief in Logan Woodside.

Now, I'm not some huge Deshaun Kizer fan, but if I had to put one guy out there for a half a football and I had to have confidence that that guy would be able to get the job done and win a game, I'd rather have Kizer out there than Woodside. I'm not very confident either, but I'd much rather have Kaiser. Well, can't deny the realities here that Deshaun Kaiser was terrible on Thursday.

He was terrible. He threw two interceptions. He sailed the ball. He was inaccurate. Held the ball long. Just didn't look great. And gotta take my L on that right now and see what happens but based on what we're seeing it does look like Logan Woodside is the leader in the

clubhouse for QB2 and maybe that was the case all along but what I will say is before we move on Logan Woodside may be the clubhouse leader and he may make the team as the backup quarterback but the only reason that either of those guys are fighting for the backup quarterback spot right now is because they're both not very good at football and they're both really, really cheap. The Titans have decided that one place where they can go cheap on this roster is backup quarterback. So, if you're one of these guys that loves Logan Woodside

for some reason, there's really no reason to but if you do just remember the Titans are going cheap at backup quarterback and that's the only reason that either of them are an option so just throwing that out there before we move on I do want to say this

Mike Vrabel said after practice that he's going to alternate days Deshaun Kizer will get the bulk of the reps as QB2 working with the second team I do want to say this. Mike Vrabel said after practice that he's going to alternate days. Deshaun Kaiser will get the bulk of the reps as QB2 working with the second team one day. He'll flip that. The next day, Logan Woodside will get the bulk of the reps and work with the second team. And then Kaiser will work with the third team.

So they're going to alternate the quarterbacks nonstop all season to get the best look at them possible. So the battle is not set in stone by any means, but just a very rough day for my boy, Deshaun Kizer. Moving forward. Big updates on the defensive line. Tyre Tart continues to impress. He talked after practice about improving his footwork

and how he trusts his footwork because of a basketball career he had early at age seven. He was a basketball player early on. Obviously, there's some fluid athleticism required to play basketball, so that helps Tyeir Tartt. No wonder he's so explosive. But him and Jeffrey Simmons just made tons of plays against the run in team period, and they continue to show that they could be a formidable duo going forward. Maybe the Titans have struck gold with Tyre Tart.

I don't want to get too excited too early on, but it's two days in a row now where Tyre Tart has been pretty impressive. So you've got to be happy about that, especially looking at the Titans' backup defensive line. That was a big area of concern going into the season. If Tart can find a way to be super impressive and be one of those guys you can count on when the Titans bring Jeffrey Simmons and Danico Autry off the field, hopefully we don't see the results that we got last year from Tyier Tartt and Larell Murchison, and hopefully the two

offseason winners can play a little bit better this year. I also do want to mention another individual that's been impressive and was impressive on Thursday, and it's a guy who I've been pumping up on the roster for quite some time. And it's safety, Matthias Farley. He had two interceptions. I talked about an interception Deshaun Kaiser threw. That was Matthias Farley. Got him against the second team defense.

So Farley's been playing very well. I'm going out and saying it. Farley is a lock to make this roster. He will be the third safety for the Titans. I don't see I don't see a scenario where he is not on this football team I just don't understand why that would

be the case do want to give you guys another AJ Brown update here wore a little bit of a band on his right knee so not completely braceless but he was still insane I mean every, every report, every video, every

piece of information you hear, A.J. Brown's a stud. He looks like a totally different class of player out here compared to everybody else, and that's exactly what you want to hear. He looks healthy, he looks spry, he looks energized, he looks better than ever, and I don't know how you could not be super

excited hearing that about A. about AJ Brown. Next, got to give some love to another one of my boys, man. I don't know if you guys are starting to notice. I love Brian Hill. I love Matthias Farley. I love my boy, Elijah Molden. I mean, I'm in here on these guys. These are my guys. You know, they're not the starters, but my role players who I want to see make this team. Brian Hill. I mean, these are my dudes, okay? So Molden showing out again. Had some great reps in one-on-one.

I really do think that Elijah Molden is going to be the biggest impactful rookie that the Titans have this year. And again, even if Dylan Radin starts, I think that can be the case. Some more player updates here. Do got to tell you, the inside linebackers had a very good day on Thursday. Rashawn Evans, Jayon Brown, both popping during team. Rashawn Evans had a good play in pass coverage. Jayon Brown had a good play in run defense. They're known for the opposites of that. So that's another thing that you love to hear. Now, going forward in the episode, we have some unfortunate news to discuss.

We're going to talk about injuries. We're going to talk about a roster move with the Titans' highest price free agent signing from this all season. Not a lot of great news, but important news nonetheless. We're going to get into that next. Titans fans, we are going to wrap up today's show and wrap up this week of the Locked On Titans podcast, talking about some injury news,

talking about some roster news, talking about some roster transactions. But before we get into that, do want to remind you guys about the Locked On Bets podcast hosted by your boy Q and handicapping expert Lee Sterling. Get daily picks, blowout specials, wrong team favorite picks, and Lee Sterling's lock of the day. wrong team favorite picks, and Lee Sterling's lock of the day. Follow the Locked on Bets podcast brought to you by betonline.ag,

wherever you get your podcasts. So unfortunately, with training camp comes injuries. There are going to be guys who leave practice, don't return. There are going to be guys who get banged up. In football, the injury percentage is 100. Everyone gets injured in football. It's a reality here. It's just about how severe, how quickly they can bounce back, all that.

And the Titans are not going to be able to completely avoid injury. And there were a few guys who did get hurt on Thursday that did not come back to practice. Let's dive into those names. Backup tackles, Brandon Kemp and Paul Adams, both got hurt on Thursday, left the practice, did not return. Defensive lineman, Elijah Nakansa, also got hurt on Thursday and did not return. Now, those guys' health is just as important as anybody's. But there are also long shots to make this roster.

A guy who got hurt, who is projected to be a starter in the Titans' offense if you consider them an 11 personnel, is Josh Reynolds. It's crazy because I talked about Josh Reynolds playing pretty well yesterday, and I talked about how he was banged up earlier in the offseason. It was good to see him out on the field and healthy. Well, I don't know if this is related or unrelated, but either way, Josh Reynolds did leave the field and did not return. That is going to be something the Titans have to monitor.

With the tight end situation being what it is and the Titans' lack of talent there, they're going to need those big-bodied physical receivers to act as tight ends for them within the scheme of the offense and it's going to be very important that the Titans have all three of their starting wide receivers and that's why I know there's a lot of competition at the back end of the roster but I wouldn't even be opposed to having another veteran wide receiver signed as a free agent for low money like a vet minimum for Golden Tate. Just more. There will be injuries throughout the year. I don't know if I want to count on Ray C. McMath, Des Fitzpatrick, Nick Westbrook, Cam Batson, Marcus Johnson. I don't know if I want to count on those guys when the chips

are on the line. So that'll be something to watch going forward, but I hope Reynolds can get back out there very soon. Being on a new team, being a new acquisition, I think it's important that he gets the chemistry and learns the playbook and learns different positions on the offense. So, hopefully, they're all able to recover soon and get back to practice today on Friday at 9.30 Central Standard Time. Now,

I saved the worst news for last. Titans free agent signing edge rusher Bud Dupree was placed on the COVID reserve list on Thursday. Now you can look at this a couple different ways. One, he was already on PUP. He wasn't going to be out there practicing anyways.

But Bud Dupree was able to be in the building, establish chemistry with his teammates, bond with his teammates. He was also able to be in the meeting rooms. He was also able to watch film with the coaching staff, to go into the facility and get treatment on his knee and work on his rehab. He may have to quarantine for 10 days now. If he's unvaccinated, we don't know. If he's vaccinated, he needs two negative tests,

24 hours apart. But that could be three or four days. So it's just valuable time for Bud Dupree to be in the facility working on his rehab. And of course, you could look at it a more optimistic way and say, hey, he wasn't going to be out on the field anyway. But anytime, it's like Josh Reynolds, anytime in the facility, anytime with your teammates, anytime to gain cohesion and chemistry is valuable right now. All of it matters.

Every little detail matters. One other aspect is 10 players from around the NFL were placed on the COVID-19 reserve list on Thursday. Tom Pelissero from NFL Network did report that only only six of those ten were close contacts.

The other four were positive tests. And there were six players from the Arizona Cardinals out of the ten too. That's pretty crazy. But the point here is right now it's 50-50. Did Bud Dupree test positive was it a close contact and he's unvaccinated I mean there's a lot of questions to ask here that we simply don't know

the answers to all I know is whenever he is returned from off the COVID list whenever it looks like he might be able to get back out on the field, obviously. I will update that for you. But again, I was lukewarm on this signing. And nothing that has happened since Bud Dupree was signed has taken me off that feeling. I got anxiety about this. Maybe John Robinson

just really sucks at finding edge rushers. I mean, I don't know what else to say. It's been a bane on the Titans as a football team since he took over. I mean, you had some older players like Arakbo and Derek Morgan, but they weren't John Robinson guys.

He didn't pick them. They were here. So I can't give him credit for their production. Harold Landry looked to be blossoming in his second year, getting nine sacks, but then he gets dropped back into coverage over 125 times in 2020. So what are they looking for here? Very confusing to me how John Robinson has struggled to get a quality pass rush in here. And this Bud Dupree signing, not off to a great start, not quite as

bad as Vic Beasley, but just not off to a great start. Clown signing not off to a great start not quite as bad as Vic Beasley but just not off to a great start Clowney was off to a better start than this quite frankly so hopefully it comes around the Titans have signed two years basically essentially the deal is a two-year deal for Bud Dupree but so a concerning start to his tenure here as a Tennessee Titan hopefully things do turn around quickly the Titans will be practicing today. I know a lot of you guys listen to this in the morning. So the Titans will have practice at 9.30 Central Standard Time on Friday. I'll be back with you guys on Monday to break everything down that takes place over the weekend.

Hope you guys all have a safe and enjoyable one out there. That is going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.