Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Top 3 Titans Facing "Most Pressure" in 2023 on Offense & Defense, Breakdown of Titans Preseason Schedule

Episode Date: May 16, 2023

The Tennessee Titans are leaving the primary player acquisition phases of the 2023 offseason and heading into the player development portion. Certain Titans players on offense and defense will be facing a ton of pressure to perform as we move into the summer including Treylon Burks, Malik Willis and Rashad Weaver. Also, Tyler breaks down the Titans' preseason schedule including dates and times and how it messes with the Titans typical joint practices.Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videosSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist who can take you on that journey of self-discovery from wherever you are. Visit BetterHelp.com/lockedon today to get 10% off your first month.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There are some young Tennessee Titans who are under a ton of pressure as we move into the summer. I'm going to tell you who they are on today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it. You are Locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. 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, we're going to be talking about three young Tennessee Titans on offense and three young Tennessee Titans on defense who are under the most pressure going into summer workouts. We're also going to talk about the Titans preseason schedule, which was finalized earlier this week. Before we get into it, I do want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, daily Tennessee Titans content all year round on YouTube, on your favorite podcast app,

and always for free. Make sure that you get subscribed and stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, where it's your team every day. And shout out to my everydayers listening to the show all week long. Couldn't do it without you guys, but welcome in.

Anybody new as well. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Nearly 25 years as a Tennessee Titans fanatic, a staff writer for Sports Illustrated at alltitans.com, and a certified film junkie breaking down the X's and O's with you guys every single day. But with that being said, we're going to move into the three players on the offensive side of the ball with the most pressure heading in to summer workouts. And I have to start with Traylon Burks, the second year wide receiver. And look guys, whether it's fair or not is irrelevant. What is reality is Traylon Burks was brought in here to replace AJ Brown.

He was traded. AJ Brown was traded away for the pick that ended up being Traylon Burks. There is no way to detach him from that expectation. Now, will he be AJ Brown? Odds are probably not. But that doesn't mean that he still, that he can't be a number one wide receiver in the NFL and a perfect wide receiver for the Tennessee Titans. Burks had some incredible moments last year.

I mean, I will never forget that catch that he had over Jair Alexander in Green Bay and he gave him the two small symbol. I mean, that was incredible. Only in 11 games, still caught 33 passes, 444 yards, had that touchdown in Philadelphia before he was knocked out of the game with a concussion. Still don't understand how that wasn't a penalty. But here's the reality.

Not only is there the A.J. Brown connection, not only is there the importance that he's going to have in the Titans offense because of what they lack at wide receiver, and he's a first-round wide receiver. He needs to play like one. But also, you remember back to this time last year, rookie minicamp, Burks was going in and out of practice, in and out of drills, conditioning issues, concerns about his asthma, all of that.

Well, Burks just did a press conference earlier this week and said that he can breathe now. He is in shape. He's in condition. He's used to the environment. He's ready to go. And he thinks that'll make a big difference for him. And it needs to, because Burks is under a ton of pressure, not only to live up to where he was drafted, but to live up to what the Titans offense needs him to be going forward. The player that, I guess the second player that we're going to talk about that also has a ton of pressure is quarterback Malik Willis. Now, everydayers who listen to the show all week long

will know we've talked about Willis quite a bit so far this week. And the truth is, this is a big pressure moment for Malik Willis, not just for what it means for the Titans, but what it means for Malik Willis, not just for what it means for the Titans, but what it means for Malik Willis' future in the NFL in general. All right, everybody said Malik Willis needed a redshirt year. He's had it. He needs to come out. He needs to know the offense. He should look better operating the offense early on than Will Levis. If he doesn't, then that's not a great sign for Malik Willis, not only for his future with the Titans, but again, his future with the NFL.

His ability to stay in the NFL and get another opportunity with another team. Because you guys know the way I feel. Unless Ryan Tannehill is traded or cut and somehow they keep Malik Willis as the backup to Will Levis, the odds are Malik Willis is going to be cut eventually. Probably come after the last preseason game when roster trim downs happen. But when that happens, if Malik Willis wants to get an opportunity with another NFL team,

then he needs to perform and he needs to be ready to go early in the summer and understand the operational aspects of the offense so that a team will trust him to be able to get that stuff down to even give him another opportunity after he leaves Tennessee. So a lot of pressure for Malik Willis for his future with the Titans and beyond. Finally, I want to talk about Aaron Brewer. Aaron Brewer played left guard last year because Ben Jones was still with the Titans. Aaron Brewer gave up four sacks and 36 pressures, and he routinely got pushed back into the pocket

by bigger, stronger defensive linemen. He is not a guard. Brewer is like 6'1", 280 pounds. He says 290, but... Anyways, he is one of the smallest offensive linemen in the NFL. Maybe the smallest starting offensive lineman in the NFL, period. He's going to move to center this year. He's much more equipped at that size to play center.

But if Aaron Brewer doesn't come out and show, I know all the calls, I know all the checks, I can be the leader on the offensive line and tell people where to go and understand what matchups we have and do all the things that you have to do mentally and then also perform physically and show that he can be the starter at center for the Titans. If he doesn't do that, Aaron Brewer likely will never get a chance to start in the NFL again.

He'll be pigeonholed as a backup guy, and that'll be the end of it. Hey, you played left guard. You didn't play that well. It's probably because you're meant to be a center. Well, now you're getting a chance to play center. So a lot of pressure on Aaron Brewer to go out and prove well, it's probably because you're meant to be a center. Well, now you're getting a chance to play center. So a lot, a lot, a lot of pressure on Aaron Brewer to go out and prove that all the faith the Titans have had in them organizationally was worth it by being in his natural position and performing up the snuff.

So that's my three most pressured offensive players for the Titans going into the summer. Traylon Burks, Malik Willis, and Aaron Brewer. But we're going to get to the defensive side of the ball next. And at the end of the show, we're going to talk about the Titans' preseason schedule, which has been finalized. When are they playing? Who are they playing? What are the dates?

What are the times? I'm going to go over all of that with you guys. Before we get into it, do want to let you know that today's episode is brought to you by Built Bars, the best tasting protein bars in the galaxy. Look, you get the best of both worlds with Built Bar. You need health benefits. It's a protein bar after all. Well, you get all of them with Built Bar because they're low calorie, low sugar, high protein, high fiber, but you get all of the taste benefits of a candy bar. They have a ton of great flavors. Churro, peanut butter brownie, white chocolate cheesecake, coconut almond.

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We talked about the three offensive players under the most pressure heading into the summer workout schedule. We're now going to transition to the defensive players, of course, at the end of the show. I'm going to be talking about the Titans' preseason schedule. Before we get into the defensive picks that I have for you guys, I do want to thank you again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content on all platforms, all year long and always for free.

Make sure that you get subscribed and stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast where it's your team every day. Shout out to my everydayers, and I'm excited to tell my everydayers that Tajay Spears' deep dive is coming. I have it locked on the schedule for you guys. Been very excited about that episode. I've been teasing it all week.

I know you guys are really going to enjoy the interview that I did with Maddie Hawk, who is the sideline reporter for Tulane. Great breakdown into Tajay Spears that she gave us. Excited to show that to you guys. So that'll be coming later in the week. Just wanted to remind you there to make sure that you're on the lookout for that. But with that being said, let's get into my top three

most pressured defensive players for the Titans. And I'm going to start at cornerback with Elijah Molden. And there are going to be some things in common with all three of these selections that you guys may pick up as we continue. Let me know who you think is under the most pressure on offense and defense down below. But number one, Elijah Molden. Comes in his rookie year. Has an immediate role in the Titans defense.

He is the early down slot cornerback. He'll play on first down. He'll play on second and medium, second and short. Downs where you're expecting run. Elijah Molden's best at playing coming forward. He's a physical guy. Good tackler. Good blitzer.

Good instincts. So, he comes in and he essentially functions as an outside linebacker in some ways as well. Because of the physical nature of his play and the fact that he's willing to put his nose in there. So Moulton comes out, makes a couple turnover plays. That interception in Indianapolis will forever be awesome. Makes some plays. Plays his role well.

Comes off the field on passing downs. The Titans put in Buster Screen to be their pass coverage slot cornerback on third downs. But Moulton really carves out a good role as that early down slot cornerback that plays with physicality. Coming into a second season, injuries, which is a common theme for a lot of Titans over the last few years. But injury strikes.

Groin injury misses a lot of the early portions of the season, comes back for two games, gets hurts again, re-aggravation, out for the rest of the season again. So, essentially, Elijah Moulton has played one year, and he had a defined role in that one year, but outside

of that, nothing really to go on. Not only that, but Sean Murphy Bunting, who was signed as a free agent, has played in the slot as a physical guy. Roger McCreary, who was drafted in the second round. Remember, everybody's high on Elijah Molden. Great, but he was a fourth-round pick.

I think it was 100. I'm going to get 96. I'm going to get... I think it was 100. I'm looking at 96. So, you add Molden, or you add McCreary, you add Sean Murphy Bunting, who both have the ability to play slot cornerback.

Elijah Molden is on shaky ground here. He wasn't like a super high draft pick where the Titans have to stay committed to him or anything like that. If Molden doesn't come back ready to play healthy and ready to take that role back again, he could definitely be passed on the depth chart and be an odd man out in terms of the slot rotation. So he better come ready to play and hopefully he's healthy. So he's able to do that because I do believe that Elijah Molden can be a factor for the Titans defense if healthy. The second player I want to mention is a player I've been talking about quite a bit throughout this offseason. It's Rashad Weaver.

So, is Rashad Weaver somebody the Titans want to put a lot of their development into? Is Rashad Weaver somebody who could potentially be a starter for the Titans down the line? Here's where I'm at. Weaver basically missed all of his rookie year that he played in a couple games before Titans down the line. Here's where I'm at. Weaver basically missed all of his rookie year that he played in a couple games before he broke his leg. So like Elijah Molden, basically an entire year of his two years was gone. So Weaver was basically a rookie last year. He put up five and a half sacks. So I think Weaver does have some capability as a rotational pass rusher right away. But Weaver was undisciplined at times last year.

Rushing too far past the quarterback and open up lanes for quarterbacks to scramble out of. Getting beat to the edge in run defense. Can Weaver come in and take that second year leap? I know it's his third year, but based on playing time, it's basically his second year. Take that second year leap and get more consistent and be more reliable. And if he can do those things,

then he can potentially be a starter for the Titans. And can he come in and not only play his role, but start to learn that Danico Autry role of being able to play on the outside on early downs as an edge and then transition inside to be a rusher on passing downs can he do that because we are Danico Autry is long in the tooth folks Danico Autry is in the end years of his career. If Weaver could learn from Autry, start to play that role a little bit,

fill in for Autry at times in that Autry role as an interior rusher on passing downs while being an edge guy on early downs, that would give him even more value to the Titans going forward. And then they could feel like they could move on from Danico Autry after the

season and still be in a good place and do what they want to do on defense. So Weaver has a chance to be a key, key call in the Titans defense if he's ready to go out and take it. But the Titans signed Arden Key and there was a lot of smoke that the Titans were looking at pass rusher early in the draft. If like Skowronski didn't fall to them. They would have taken a Lucas Van Ness, a Nolan Smith, guys like that. So, I don't think Weaver is in any kind of certified role right now,

but he can develop one for himself if he puts together a more consistent third year in the NFL. The last guy is another guy I've talked about quite a bit throughout the offseason. It's Monty Rice. Is Monty Rice going to be a starter for the Titans? Is he somebody that they want to keep around for a long time? It's funny.

Molden, Weaver, Rice, all guys from that same class. All guys who, you know, Rice was able to play 10 games and then play 13 games, but there was an Achilles injury in between that took away a lot of his development time. So although he didn't miss as many games as Molden and Weaver, he still missed a lot of development time during those first two years. So can Rice come in and not just be the guy that gets the spot

next to Aziz Alshier, can Rice come in and be the Titans' number one linebacker? Can he vault himself into that role? That's what I'll be watching for as we continue into the summer. And I think all three of these guys on defense have a lot of pressure to come in and be their best selves early on in the process, not just training camp. They need to come with it in OTAs, mandatory minicamp in June.

They need to be ready to go early on and establish themselves as important players on this team. Because none of them were high enough draft picks to where they're going to get more rope than maybe you would expect them to get. So those guys, Elijah Moulton, Rashad Weaver, Monty Rice, that goes with Malik Willis, Traylon Burks, and Aaron Brewer on offense.

With that being said, we're going to talk about the Titans' preseason schedule. It is finally solidified, certified, set in stone. So I'll give you all the details on that in just a moment. Titans fans, let's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We talked about the guys who I think are under the most pressure on offense, Malik Willis, Traylon Burks, and Aaron Brewer. The guys that are under the most pressure on defense, Elijah Molden, Rashad Weaver, and Monty Rice.

Now I want to talk about the Titans preseason schedule. Before we get into it, I want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, daily Tennessee Titans content all year round on YouTube, on your favorite podcast

app, always for free. Make sure that you get subscribed. Stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast where it's your team every day. Shout out to my everydayers as well. Got a special treat for you guys later on in the week. Tajay Spears, deep dive. Been teasing it for a few days now. It's going to be excellent.

Make sure that you guys don't miss it. Going over this preseason schedule, which has been confirmed, the first game of the preseason for the Titans will come on August the 12th, which is a Saturday, at 1 Eastern, noon

Central. Normally these Saturday preseason games are later at night, but whatever, for whatever reason, this one is, is normal time for a football game. Um, and it's going to be at the Chicago bears. Um, a lot of former Titans on the bears, which means they may have a decent understanding of what the Titans are going to look to do now in the preseason. you don't really scout and, you know, scheme for the team that you're playing.

You just kind of run your stuff and see how guys do with it. So probably won't matter all that much, but it'll be interesting to get a couple of looks at some guys on the Titans who, you know, or some guys on the Bears who used to play for the Titans. There's a ton of them out there. So I think it'll be an interesting matchup. Probably won't see much of the starters for the Titans. There's a ton of them out there. So, I think it'll be an interesting matchup. Probably won't see much of the starters for the Titans,

but on the road in the first action that a lot of these guys will see in the NFL with the undrafted free agents and the rookies and all that, on the road in Chicago, a big city, I think that'll be a good test for them. But anyway,

August the 12th, which is less than three months. Less than three months, baby. Let's go. Football right around the corner, folks. It's coming. It's coming. We do got to get through like the longest dead periods

of all eternity here at the end of June and early July, but we'll get there. Play some golf. Week two, back up to the North Midwest at the Minnesota Vikings a week later, Saturday, August the 19th,

and this one is going to be at 8 Eastern, 7 Central. So that's more common for a preseason game. But again, on the road against a teamseason game. But again, on the road, against a team you don't normally play, a long trip up to the north of the country,

I think that'll be a good test for the Titans. My question is with joint practices, because the Titans have had joint practices recently with the teams that they're playing in the preseason. Like last year, it was Tampa Bay and Atlanta. Well, both those teams are close

to Nashville. It's not that far of a trip. Are the Titans going to go up and have joint practices in Minnesota? In Chicago? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. That's an interesting question. I wonder what Mike Fray will have to say about it.

And then finally, the last preseason game has to be a home game because they've been on the road for the first two. It's home against the New England Patriots on August 25th, which is a Friday at 8.15 Eastern, 7.15 Central. This will be, you know, the dress rehearsal game. And I'm glad that it's against New England,

a team that will be prepared, will probably do a little scouting, will do a little scheming, solid defense in New England, good front in New England. I want that to be a nice little challenge for the Titans as they get ready to go. Not only that, but that would probably be a good week

to do a joint practice. I know the Titans don't typically want to do a joint practice with their last preseason game because they want their starters to play in the game a little bit. And normally when you do joint practice, you don't care as much to get your starters reps in the game because they got such valuable good reps in practice with the joint practices, which are essentially scrimmages at times.

So, it'd be interesting to see if the Titans do a joint practice with New England, an organization they're more familiar with, but since it's the last week of the preseason games. And then, of course, you have the bye week that every team gets before the regular season starts, but there it is. Three games, preseason, 8-12, 8-19, 8-25, Bears, Vikings, Patriots. I can't wait to see some actual real football out there, even if it's just preseason.

I'm one of these junkies who watches the entire time preseason game and rewatches the entire time with a preseason game. Can't wait. Cannot wait. But with that in mind, that is going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.