Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans WR Wednesday: Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Sammy Watkins Rumors & Sosa on Josh Reynolds

Episode Date: March 24, 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. It is a wide receiver Wednesday here on the Locked On Titans podcast. All three of our segments today are going to focus on the wide receiver position for the Titans, but in different ways. First, we are going to start off talking about why, according to a recent article, the Tennessee

Titans were never interested in any of the top tier wide receivers on the free agent market. So I will explain to you why that is. And then we are going to talk about some of the wide receiver rumors that I have been hearing in recent days. I've had a lot of you guys reach out to me with these different kinds of rumors about who the Titans could or could not be interested in. I'm going to talk about one that keeps coming up

and how I feel about some of these reports. And then at the end of today's show, we are going to have my boy Sosa on from the Locked on Rams podcast to give us a little boots on the ground scouting report of Titans newly acquired wide receiver Josh Reynolds. So a wide receiver Wednesday here on the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it! The wide receiver position for the Tennessee Titans has been a hot topic of discussion throughout the offseason.

The Titans started out cutting Adam Humphreys, and then, of course, Corey Davis was allowed to walk to the New York Jets, and that had a lot of people up in arms, quite frankly, and the panic button was being pressed. Now, if you're somebody who was ready to panic about the wide receiver room, the market like a Will Fuller, like a Kenny Galladay, like a Juju Smith-Schuster, something like that. Curtis Samuel was another hot name for Titans fans. So why did the Titans not go out and do more at the wide receiver position, opting to go with a bargain bin deal with Josh Reynolds, which I personally had been beating the drum for. I fully support.

I feel very happy with where the Titans wide receiver room is now, but I understand concerns. I understand the concerns that I hear, but I wanted to point to an article on The Athletic by Joe Rexrode that gives us a window into why the Titans didn't go out and make a bigger move at wide receiver. And it had to do with a wide receiver that was already on the roster. And that player is undrafted free agent from 2020, Nick Westbrook-Akina. And this is what Rex Road had to say in his article.

Quote, Reynolds helped some, more help is needed. But a source said the Titans were never into the top guys on the market and here's why. Nick Westbrook Aquino. That's not a complete answer either. Money obviously deserves a mention. The Titans invested big at outside linebacker Bud Dupree and defensive lineman Danico Autry. They had to cut starting corners of Dory Jackson and Malcolm Butler, plus starting right tackle Dennis Kelly just to get there. And they had to let tight end Jonu Smith go to sign his monster four-year $50 million deal with New England. Re-signing Davis or going after a Curtis Samuel or Juju Smith-Schuster or someone else on

the higher end would have meant another tough decision or perhaps one fewer move on a defense that badly needs transformation, end quote. So there you have it. And these are the whispers that we're getting here now. And Rex Rhodes' article kind of confirms it. They're high on Nick Westbrook-Akina. And my thoughts on that. You look at his season last year.

Yes, he was able to help the Titans a ton on special teams. He put in a ton of snaps on special teams playing 157. That's 35% of the special team snaps for the Titans in the 14 games that he was on the active roster. He had eight targets last year, three catches for 33 yards, and that's where we get into my issue with this thought process from the Titans. So Westbrook Aquino, one, yes, very helpful player on special teams, but is he a top end special teams player? No. Yes, he's a good run blocker, which is important in the Titan system, an 84.3 run blocking

grade per pro football focus last year. So that obviously matters as well, but in his time out on the field, and that's really what the Titans need, is wide receivers. I appreciate the value of special teams. You guys know me. I appreciate special teams fully. But he was out on the field with the offense for 157 snaps. Three catches, 33 yards. I mean, it's tough to say that we don't want to do more

at the wide receiver position because of Nick Westbrook-Keenan. I mean, for me, if the answer was, hey, we like what's in the draft, and in my opinion, that's probably the real answer here. If you ask John Robinson on Truth Serum, he would tell you, hey, the draft is loaded with wide receivers of different kinds and different flavors that we have interest in so we're not going to go out and spend at wide receiver basically the argument that I have been making on this podcast for two months now of why we didn't want to bring back Corey Davis and why if you're gonna pass on bringing back Corey Davis you're certainly not going to turn around and go pay a bunch of money

for Will Fuller or Juju or Kenny Galladay. That didn't make any sense. Or Chris Godwin before he got the tag. That didn't make any sense at all. If the Titans were going to spend money on a wide receiver, they would bring back Corey Davis. So to me, it never made sense to do that. And in my opinion, it's because the draft is so loaded.

You can go get a bargain bin option like a Josh Reynolds. I think it's silly to say that the backing behind the philosophy, the origin for the philosophy at wide receiver is Nick Westbrook. I think that's kind of silly, but Joe's just reporting what he said. So I'm not saying he's making it up or anything. I'm sure they're high on him inside the building, but I ultimately think that that's not going to pay off anyway. I'm not incredibly

high on Nick Westbrook myself, but I did want to bring up a tweet here from my buddy Nick Lombardi on Twitter, and he had a pretty good observation about Titans fans and the way that fans have acted about, you know, undrafted wide receivers in the past, which is something that we all have a lot of experience with, here being the wide receiver-deprived fan base that we truly are. But Nick said this on Twitter, Frankly, I'm very disappointed in all you Titans fans dogging on Nick Westbrook-Akina.

One of the hallmarks of Titans fandom is falling head over heels for late-round undrafted wide receivers. Where is the unwarranted love for NWI? I'm just glad Trey McBride isn't here to see this. Shaking my head. Absolutely, that is hilarious. And it's just a good astute observation as well. Titans fans, the fan base has been dying for wide receiver help for so long

that we've given unnecessary love to a lot of undeserving wide receivers. And it's funny that Nick Westbrook, probably because of the drop issues that he had during training camps and during the preseason in recent, or not in recent years, but last year, we got all those rumors of him dropping passes and camp and stuff. I think that probably tainted our initial love, but just a funny observation there that I felt was worthy to put into the podcast. But we are going to continue Wide Receiver Wednesday next by talking about some of these rumors about wide receivers

that the Titans could be interested in. One in particular. Before we get into that, I want to tell you guys about the best tasting protein bar on the market, and that is Bilt Bar. We've been running with Bilt Bar for quite some time. It's an amazing low-calorie, low-sugar, high-protein, high-fiber protein bar covered in 100% real chocolate. They truly are absolutely delicious. And right now, we're trying to figure out which is the most delicious bar of them all.

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We got things kicked off by talking about Nick Westbrookok Akina's place within the Tennessee Titans wide receiver philosophy we are going to continue talking about wide receivers as we discuss a free agent that has been linked to the Titans quite a bit in the rumor mill over the past few days before we dive into that though do want to remind you guys I'm going to be pumping out Monday through Friday Tennessee Titans content not only during the season but all year long. There's not another Titans content creator that can say that. Make sure that you never miss an episode of the Locked on Titans podcast by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. Also, follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans and check out the new Facebook page at Locked

on Titans pod. And check out the new Facebook page at LockedOnTitansPod. But the wide receiver that I am discussing is Sammy Watkins. So we saw from one of the check marks that the Titans had some interest in Sammy Watkins. And that tweet came after the Titans signed Josh Reynolds. Now, from my perspective, it seemed obvious that once that report came out that the Titans were in on Sammy Watkins before they signed Josh Reynolds. They were trying to get Sammy Watkins. They either couldn't, well, obviously the thing that breaks down any free agent deal most of the time is going to be the money. They couldn't get the money right,

so the Titans said, all right, if we're not going to sign Sammy Watkins, then we're going to turn our attention elsewhere, and we're going to sign Josh Reynolds for a cheaper, more of a bargain deal. It was obvious to me that that's what happened. Now, because Sammy Watkins-Titans connection was tweeted out after the Reynolds signing, that led some folks online to believe that the Titans were looking to add Sammy Watkins in addition to Josh Reynolds. And I could be wrong about this. Of course, we could get a bombshell signing at any moment. But to me, that just doesn't make any sense at all. And if you're one of the people who wanted the Titans to sign a Curtis Samuel, you wanted them to sign a Juju, you wanted them to sign a Kenny Galladay,

you wanted them to go spend a lot of money, or if you're somebody who wanted them to bring back Corey Davis, even at the rate that he got paid, then you're probably saying, wait a minute, why aren't we going to get Sammy Watkins too? But again, I'm just telling you guys, and it seems that the way that I feel about the roster is kind of linked up with the way John Robinson sees the roster. You're not going to divvy out a bunch of money at wide receiver too. This offense does not require it. I certainly believe that a guy like Josh Reynolds or a rookie like a Kadarius Toney or a Rashad

Bateman, even some of you guys who are high on Terrence Marshall Jr., one of those guys I think could give you pretty close to what Corey Davis gave you last year. Maybe not 900, but 700. You know, so to me, I always felt like wide receiver two was a great place where the Titans could save some money. You have AJ, you have Derrick Henry, you have Ryan Tannehill, you have four-fifths of the offensive line coming back. There's no reason that I saw to tell the Titans to spend big money

at wide receiver two when the defense was looking like it looked last year. So never made any sense to me that the Titans would go after Sammy Watkins after Josh Reynolds was signed. And obviously the article from Joe Rexrode that we talked about earlier today leads us even further down that path that the Titans are no longer interested in Sammy Watkins after going to get Josh Reynolds. They were vying for the same spot on the roster. But that leads me into kind of a bigger conversation. Think about the Sammy Watkins rumors. Think about Jadavion Clowney rumors. Think about Stephon Gilmore trade rumors

to the Titans. A lot of you guys send me these rumor pages, these Twitter accounts, you know, football 4-1-1 and NFL throwdowns and NFL lockdown count. And I'm just making up stuff at this point. But the point is, you guys know the Twitter accounts that I'm talking about. They act like they have breaking news. They go, they read beat reporter stories. They repurpose the information within the articles or within the tweets and they make it look like they're reporting something. Quite frankly, some of these people do get things

right every now and then, but in my opinion, it's just a guess. They hear rumors just like we do from the check marks, from the beat writers, from the people who are actually on the scene getting information from inside the building. They take that information. They expand upon it. All you do is, let's say you see an article. You see a tweet from Peter King. And this is a real tweet. You know, well, not a real tweet. Someone tweeted out a caption basically saying, Jadavian Clowney is a $5 million player this year at max.

Wouldn't pay him anything more than that. You know, blah, blah, blah. Well, they'll take that and say, Jadavian Clowney is reportedly receiving offers of $5 million or less. And act like it's a report that they found out through sources or information.

When really, they just repackage something that someone who's actually doing the work said. So, to me, whenever I get sent these, oh, you know, this guy is saying this this account is saying this blah blah blah I'm sorry guys but I'm always going to respond to that with I don't believe it I'm never going to take it serious I understand that we are thirsty for content and thirsty for information and any kind of insight that we can get to what's going on but for me I never believe

any of those fake accounts. I'm never going to. And until I see it from a reputable source that I believe, my response to you is going to be, I don't believe it. And a lot of it is stuff that just makes sense a lot of the time based on reports. So to me, it's just obvious what the game is with those kind of accounts. And I never really believe anything that they have to say. So with the Gilmore trade, with the Sammy Watkins rumors, with the Jadavian Clowney rumors, again, I'm not going

to believe it until somebody that I trust reports on it. And I don't trust any of those accounts and I never will. But that's going to do it for that conversation. We are going to move into an interview or a conversation, if you want to say it didn't want to say conversation twice in a row like that but hey here we are with Sosa from the Locked on Rams podcast so I will be back with you guys with that conversation about new Titans wide receiver Josh Reynolds before we get into that though want to remind you about our friends over at BetOnline.ag. BetOnline is the fastest and easiest way to place your bets on all the sports action. Football is over, but there's NBA, college basketball is in the middle of March Madness,

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Had Chris Carter on for Bud Dupree. Had Ross Jackson on to talk about Janoris Jackrabbit Jenkins. Got to throw the Jackrabbit in or you get fined by the SEC. So had to get that in there. But now, like I said, I'm bringing on Sosa to talk. Some Josh Reynolds. And before we dive into the football, Sosa, how are you doing today, my man? I'm doing good.

You know, the Rams haven't been all that active when it comes to free agency, which is no surprise because they didn't have much money. So I'm a little, you know, on the outside looking in, everyone seems to have a lot more fun and had a lot more news to work on the past week. But, you know, things are good and I appreciate you having me on. Yeah, it reminds me of that meme where the guy is in the corner at the party and it's all like stick figures and black and white and the people are dancing and that's like the people enjoying free agency and you're in the corner like, but they don't know that the Rams still have the best defense in the league. You know what I mean? Just reminds me of that. But

we will dive into a free agent signing that the Titans did make. Not a big one, not one that I'm certain Rams fans are super jealous of in any way, but do want to get some on the ground information. So I'll give you a blank canvas to start here. Just what are your thoughts on Josh Reynolds as a player? What do you think that he did well during his time in Los Angeles? You know, I think he's a very well-rounded receiver. That's probably his calling card is the fact that he doesn't have any one elite trait to necessarily, you know, lean his game on. But he does a lot of different things well. And I think over the course of the last four seasons, we've seen, you know, some flashes of his ability to do pretty much everything.

He worked vertical, you know, got behind the defense there, took the top off the defense a little bit. We've seen some contested catch stuff. We've seen him, you know, run in that kind of Titans offense where they're going to get under center, run some play action, run a lot of those dig routes, things like that. That's probably where he thrived the most. And so, you know, I really think he was underappreciated as a whole, really for, you know, Rams fans and all that stuff.

Because when you look at the course of his career, you know, in 2017, Robert Woods gets hurt. I think he broke a collarbone or it was a shoulder injury. I can't recall which. And Reynolds steps in. Then 2018, Cooper Cup tears his ACL. Reynolds steps in. They don't skip much of a beat.

And then he goes all the way through the playoffs and into the Super Bowl. 2019, Brandon Cooks has the concussion issues. Once again, Josh Reynolds steps up. And then, you know, this past season, his first time as a starter. So I think that's a guy you got to take your hat off for, you know, a guy that's been always prepared for his opportunity. Hasn't gotten all that many in LA and, you know, deservedly so. They had a really good trio of receivers prior to his starting, but a guy that I think was genuinely underappreciated. And I think he's got a lot

of game to him. I think he's a very well-rounded player. Yeah, yeah, and that's kind of the vibe that I was getting doing my research once he was signed. He's actually somebody I was kind of, I wouldn't say banging the drum for, but I did identify Josh Reynolds as a perfect fit for the Titans in the kind of tier that his class of wide receiver would be in money-wise. But one thing that I do want to talk about is exactly what you kind of touched on right there at the end of your answer, and that's how he sat behind a good trio of wide receivers.

So getting that opportunity to start finally. Got 13 starts in 2020. Had a career high in catches with 52. Career high in yards, 618. Didn't match his career high in touchdowns which was five in 2018 as you mentioned before another good year for him with 400 yards but did have two of those my real question for you is what do you think the ceiling for somebody like Josh Reynolds is in a system like the Titan system that really focuses on two wide receivers. So basically you put Josh Reynolds in that Corey Davis role.

We know Corey Davis had 900 yards. Do you think that a guy like Josh Reynolds who had 618 yards, if he got more targets and more opportunity and the Titans offense not sitting behind other receivers could maybe not be a Corey Davis, but could improve upon the 600 yards and 52 catches that he had. Is that a ceiling or do you think there's more there? You know, I think there's more there. I'm a guy who was really high on Corey Davis coming out, you know, four years ago,

they came out in the same draft class, I believe it was, or maybe Corey Davis is a year after I can't remember. Okay. Yeah. There you go. Davis was my wide receiver one, a guy that I think has all the talent in the world, right? So I don't think Reynolds has that natural talent, that same, I guess you could call it ceiling, if everything works out perfectly. But like you mentioned, if he's that wide receiver two and they don't go out and add someone else in the draft or whatever the case may be, I definitely think he could replicate that 900 yards, specifically if he gets that similar style of usage to a guy like Corey Davis if they utilize him a little bit more down the field a little bit more vertical because I felt like that was an area of his game that you know

coming out of Texas A&M four years ago was probably the best thing that he had to bet on for himself at least was he was a guy that worked vertical and he was going to stretch the field not necessarily that he was a burner but you know guys don't necessarily have to be fast to be able to get vertical. And so that was something I felt like the Rams didn't utilize all that well, you know, from Josh Reynolds over the last few years and specifically this past season. And I'm not really sure whether that was, you know, due to Jared Goff or the offensive line or whatever the case may be. But I think that he could definitely improve on the 600 yards.

And, you know, if he's the starting wide receiver you know across from AJ Brown I'm gonna be shocked if he doesn't top at least that 618 yards he had last year for the Rams yeah yeah that's kind of how I view it as well a lot of Titans fans have been upset with the wide receiver position how it's been handled it's actually this entire episode today the the two segments prior to this, we've been talking about wide receiver, and I actually feel very comfortable with what the Titans have done so far, if they do go out and get a rookie wide receiver pretty early in the draft. But everything that you said about Josh Reynolds kind of matched up to what I was seeing and what I was thinking, and then providing some extra context as well is definitely appreciated about his ability to get vertical

without being a burner, which I think is something that the Titans offense desperately needs as well is definitely appreciated about, you know, his, his ability to get vertical without being a burner, which I think is something that the Titans offense desperately needs as well. But thank you very much Sosa for coming on. I appreciate it. And I look forward to talking to you during the season. Actually, we'll have a, a division crossover in the off season because our divisions play in entirety this year. So excited to talk to you again a few more times this year. Absolutely. It should be fun and I can't wait. Best of luck for the rest of the offseason. Well, folks, that is going to do it for me today. I hope you guys enjoyed that conversation between me and Sosa about Josh Reynolds.

Going to get out of here on that. We are past the hump day, ladies and gentlemen. We are on the downslope of the week and I will be back with you guys on Thursday. Make sure you check out the Locked On NFL Draft podcast. They're going over all of these pro days that are taking place, updating you with daily mock drafts. So it's a great way to get ready for the NFL Draft, the Locked On NFL Draft podcast.

As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.