Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Vrabel Gets Rejected, Henry Clarifies & Mock Draft Galore

Episode Date: February 5, 2020

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Welcome to the Locked On Titans podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans. It is a mock draft Wednesday. That's right. If you recall, the Locked On Podcast Network is teaming up with the Draft Network to bring you Mock Draft Monday each week. However, there was so much Titans specific news that came out of the weekend. Derrick Henry on the Rich Eisen show

Mike Vrabel's comments about the offseason so far could not pass up another day waiting to bring that information to you guys and break that down so we did that on Monday if you recall I also did tell you guys that we are going to be doing the Ultimate Division crossover all next week. So Monday through Friday, we are going to be bringing you a podcast with all of the members of the Locked On Podcast Network's AFC South team. We are going to be breaking down each team from the division day by day. So that'll be next week. So when are we going to get another opportunity to go over the most recent mock drafts and who some of the national experts are forecasting

the Titans will be looking at. What better time than now? So I'm going to break that down for you guys today. Of course, we are going to lead off with some news. Mike Vrabel got rejected. Derrick Henry walked back those contract comments we mentioned earlier just a tad bit. So we are going to talk about that to start things off. And then we will dive into the most recent draft network mock draft going to talk about that to start things off and then we will dive into the most

recent draft network mock draft Monday talk about who they selected for the Titans then we are going to finish off the show by going around the draft community and taking a look at a few other mock drafts from various outlets and see who they forecasted the Titans taking so trying to get a general idea of what some of the national pundits feel the Titans needs are and kind of line that up with what we talked about in yesterday's episode. So excited to jump into all of that with you guys. Let's get it. Albert Breer from the MMQB had a report on Tuesday night that Mike Grable tried to fill the linebacker coaching position but was unable to. Apparently, he offered the job to defensive coordinator from the University of Cincinnati, Marcus Freeman, but Freeman turned it down. Now,

one would question why a defensive coordinator in college wouldn't want an NFL job to maybe take a leap up but if you look behind the scenes it does make sense other than generally maybe Freeman just enjoys the college game like being a defensive coordinator as opposed to a position coach who knows if Rabel may be offered the play-calling responsibilities to Freeman. But what we do know is Freeman may be holding out for a better opportunity. Some interesting developments happened in the college football world on Tuesday. Mike D'Antoni, the head coach of the Michigan State Spartans, stepped down from his position. There's a lot of speculation at this time that the current head coach of the University of Cincinnati, Luke Fickle, who is friends with

Mike Vrabel, would possibly be a suitable candidate for that job. And if for some reason Fickle were to take the Michigan State job, well that would give Freeman a potential opportunity to become the head coach at Cincinnati, which could be what he's looking for all along. It's also worth noting that previous defensive backs coach, Kerry Coombs, took a defensive coordinator position at Ohio State, and rumors were that he was going to pursue a head coaching position at the University of Cincinnati when the inevitable happened and a great young college coach like Luke Fickle found a better head coaching opportunity than the Mac school

that is Cincinnati. Although Cincinnati is a great school for college football, it's clearly not the opportunity that a Big Ten school like Michigan State would be. So it all makes sense that Freeman would turn down this opportunity at this time and maybe take his chance on getting that head coaching position at Cincinnati. Either way, this leaves Mike Vrabel still searching for a replacement for Tyrone McKenzie. Whether that person is going to be given the play calling duties will be another important factor in the story as it unfolds and it's also interesting that Mike Vrabel said on Friday with his comments that he would be looking to fill that position with a veteran well Freeman is only 34 years old so while he's had plenty of experience in college football coaching since 2010 I wouldn't categorize him as a veteran either. So we will monitor that as more reports come out and ultimately a hire is made. As for Derrick Henry, he went on the Rich Eisen show last week and pointed out Ezekiel Elliott running back for the Cowboys as someone to point to as the floor for his contract

negotiations. Zeke Elliott got six years, $90 million with $50 million guaranteed. So about $15 million per season there that is the highest paid running back in the NFL well Tuesday Derrick Henry went to Instagram and explained that his comments were misinterpreted he said misinterpreted what he said thought he was saying Zeke is the floor meaning he holds the floor as him being the highest paid at our position so I was replying yes oh well so Derrick Henry clearly didn't mean that Zeke Elliott's contract figures and contract numbers were the absolute floor for his negotiations that is a good sign for Tennessee Titans fans as devoting that much money to the running back position has proved to be not very fruitful in recent NFL history

with Devontae Freeman, David Johnson, Le'Veon Bell, Ezekiel Elliott, and Todd Gurley so that's something the Titans will have to watch out for. This should make for more peaceful negotiations between John Robinson and Derrick Henry's agent. Hopefully the Titans are able to work out a decent figure and get him back on this football team. But at least we know that Derrick Henry is not going into the negotiating table expecting $15 million at the minimum.

We are going to have a lot more on today's Locked on Titans podcast, so make sure you check out the rest of today's show on whatever platform you stream your podcast. Fellas, let's talk about the bedroom. Remember the days when you were always ready to go? Now you can increase your performance and get that extra confidence in bed. Listen up. BlueChew.com. That's blue like the color blue. BlueChew brings you the first chewable with the same FDA approved active ingredients as Viagra and Cialis so you know that they work. You can take them anytime, day or night, even on a full stomach and since they're chewable,

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Make sure you guys go over to thedraftnetwork.com. Check out everything they have to offer. They have a really cool tool over there where you can actually make the mock draft yourself. They have a bunch of different people covering the draft with a wealth of knowledge, tons of mock drafts. They have all kinds of prospect breakdowns. You have multiple different profiles, multiple different reports on each of the prospects. It's a great resource if you love the draft, if you love the combine, if you love the entire evaluation process.

I implore you to check that out. This Mock Draft Monday came from Kyle Krabs of the Draft Network. He went for a position that doesn't really jump out at you. When we talked on Team Needs Tuesday, I mentioned it. I said that the Titans are going to have to draft somebody at this position, but how high that is will depend on who they choose to keep at that position. So he drafted a tackle to the Titans, Lucas Niang from TCU at the 29th pick in the first round. Now this could make sense if the Titans don't re-sign Jack Conklin, and that's basically what Krabs is hinting at in his evaluation. He doesn't expect Conklin to be back for the Titans.

They would probably re-sign Dennis Kelly in that situation, and while you feel comfortable with Dennis Kelly as a little below or at best average NFL starter at right tackle, you would love to get somebody like Niang in there who can take over midseason or take over the season after, who's a cheap option, a talented option at right tackle. He played right tackle for TCU, so it would be an easy situation to

slide him into the role. He's a huge, huge mammoth of a man, a senior, like I said, out of TCU, 6'7", 328 pounds. We'll obviously confirm all of that with the combine numbers, but he's incredibly long. He has great hands in the run game. He's a mauler. He's physical. He likes to hit. He needs a little bit of work on his hips when he drops into pass protection. He did have a hip injury in 2019, so you got to make sure that his medicals are clear, but he would be a great pick for the Titans if they don't bring back Jack Conklin. Now, one thing to mention here is there are a lot of offensive tackles that are expected to go in the first round. In this mock draft, Krabs has some trades, and he actually had the Arizona Cardinals

trading up ahead of the Titans to get Josh Jones an offensive tackle from Houston. So there's about five to six, possibly seven if you count, you know, Austin Jackson from USC. There's a lot of offensive tackles that could go in the first round, and I would expect a big run on offensive tackles at the beginning of the draft into the middle, and then there will probably be another run on offensive tackles late in the first round going into the beginning of the second round. And that's one of the reasons he had the Cardinals trading up is because you look at all the teams

at the beginning of the draft, the Bengals, you look at a team like the Browns, a team like the Cardinals, the Giants, a lot of these teams could use offensive line help. You know, look at the Panthers even. There's a lot of teams up top that although they may have a starter at that position who's still coming back from last season, they could use an upgrade there. That's why some of these teams are picking so high in the draft because offensive line play is so poor in the NFL for these bad teams. So it's going to be a run right there. I would expect to see like Krabs projected some team, maybe one or two come up to try to get an offensive tackle at the beginning of that secondary run. The Titans may be in a perfect position where they could take advantage of that by trading

back if they think they can get someone later on, or by just being smack dab in the middle of it and being able to get an offensive tackle to take over for Jack Conklin if they let him walk. So not a bad pick there, in my opinion. Niang is a senior as I mentioned so he's more of a polished guy can come in and help right away not as much of a developmental project as you would think of like Josh Jones who went right ahead of the Titans in Krabs mock draft the offensive tackle from Houston while he played left tackle and maybe has a little bit more

potential as a blindside specialist he is a little bit more potential as a blindside specialist. He is a little bit more of a project than Niang is. We'll talk a little bit more about Jones in our final segment, but wanted to cap this conversation off there by giving Niang some love and explaining how he would be probably the best possible fit for the Titans at offensive tackle late in the draft. Obviously, if there's a top-tier tackle like Wirfs or Wills or Becton, someone like that who drops late, then of course they'll be the pick, but taking a look at some of the back-end prospects like Jones, Niang, and Jackson, I would like Niang in this spot, so a good pick from Kyle Krabs for the Titans there at 29. We are going to be back

not this Monday. Remember I mentioned at the beginning of the show we will be doing our ultimate division crossover but we will be back the Monday after that to get into another mock draft Monday conversation from the draft network. So I really look forward to breaking that down for you guys. Like I said a fantastic resource resource, thedraftnetwork.com. Check it out. A lot of great content there in regards to these prospects. Also, got to shout out Locked On Bills host Joe Marino, who is an integral part over there at the Draft Network.

Now we are going to get in some other mock drafts from around the draft community, as I mentioned earlier. We'll take a look at some of the bigger names in the mock drafts from around the draft community as I mentioned earlier we'll take a look at some of the bigger names in the mock draft sphere see who they are projecting to the Titans and they're starting to become some some themes here of some positions that really make sense and it's funny because those were some of the positions we spoke the most about in our team needs Tuesday so it's all starting to line up and we can start to kind of hone in on which positions the Titans will realistically be considering in the first round. So we will get to those mock drafts next. Let's close out today's show with a little mock draft roundup so i got four different mock drafts

from four different outlets for you guys from four different qualified national draft analysts just to show you where everyone's head is at in regards to the tennessee titans outlook for the 29th pick and none of the picks that I found are outlandish. Through the past few years, we've had some really off-the-mark picks for the Titans. Last year, you saw cornerbacks and safeties and tight ends at times, so it's pretty wild how off the path some of these national analysts were. But this year, it seems like with the Titans' relevance throughout the season and the performance that they put on throughout the year, they're getting a little bit more

attention. Some of these draft pundits are paying much more attention to the roster that the Titans have. Therefore, we're getting a little bit more intelligent draft analysis. So let's jump into that. First, let's check out Todd McShea from ESPN. In his most recent mock draft, he had the Titans with the 29th pick, selecting cornerback out of Auburn, Noah Igben-Ogne. He was a wide

receiver originally, turned into a cornerback, one of the fastest guys on the field anytime you watch him play. He's very instinctive going for the football due to that background as a wide receiver. McShay had him ranked as the 19th overall prospect on his board, and he was there for the football due to that background as a wide receiver. McShea had him ranked as the 19th overall prospect on his board, and he was there for the Titans at 29. Igben Ogni was a junior. He is 5'11", 200 pounds, just an athletic freak. Now, obviously, he needs a little bit of work with the technical skills of being a cornerback, pressing, his footwork and zone coverage,

how to read quarterback's eyes, things like that. But this is almost very similar to the Adoree Jackson pick where the Titans took somebody who had supreme athleticism and was gifted with the ball in their hand as a returner and tried to refine their cornerback skills through coaching. So very similar there with Igben Ogni. Now, I have to admit personally I hope that he is not drafted by the Titans because I don't want to say his name over and over again lord I put so

much effort into making sure I could get his name pronounced correctly you guys would not believe so I certainly hope that he goes to a different team hope that he has success and if he does come to the Titans just know I'm calling him Iggy and there's no chance that I'm going to say Igben Ogney over and over again during podcast. Definitely not. So good luck to him. Moving forward, Chad Reuter from the NFL.com had the Titans selecting a tackle that we talked about earlier, Josh Jones, 6'5", redshirt senior, 311 pounds, out of Houston. He's got a long, athletic frame, very quick feet. He's almost like a big tight end in that sense. He's very athletic, can pull, can seal, can get up to the second level.

Now, he has bad hands. He doesn't do very well with keeping his arms extended. He lets defenders get into his chest, which can knock him off balance. He doesn't have great instincts when passing off stunts and just making reads in the pocket and kind of doing things on the fly. Not his general strength. strength so he has all of the clay that you would want to be able to mold for an NFL offensive tackle but he needs great coaching and if I'm honest with you guys I'm not very high on Keith Carter the offensive line coach for the Tennessee Titans so that's why I was mentioning earlier in our previous segment that I liked Niang a little bit better in this position late in the draft compared to someone like Jones even though Jones has a higher ceiling and can play some left tackle as well. But Jones needs better coaching. And quite frankly, even though the Titans allowed Derrick Henry to rush for 1,500-plus yards,

the sacks are still a major concern. And one thing that kept showing up on tape was the Titans' inability to deal with stunts and pass those off. And in my opinion, that can be traced back to coaching and getting your guys in the right position and teaching them how to do these things so I don't know if Jones would be the ideal pick for the Titans that late from Walter football Kevlon Chasen the edge rusher from LSU six foot four 250 pound junior he is a freak who we've talked about before but we will need some coaching. One thing about Chasen that's really enticing for NFL general managers right now is obviously we talk about

him being an edge and getting pressure on the quarterback from the outside, but he's also shown a pretty good ability to drop into coverage. Now, you've got to be careful with LSU edge rushers. You look at somebody like Barkevious Mingo, Arden Key. They just don't seem to produce strong edge rushers. It's one position that LSU can't seem to really get good NFL prospects or get guys transitioned into the NFL. So you have to be a little careful. But a lot of people are mocking Chasen a lot higher in the draft, all the way up to like 11 to the Jets. You see him go to the Falcons in the middle of the round quite a bit as well. So I would be shocked if Chasen dropped to the Jets. You see him go to the Falcons in the middle of the round quite a bit as well,

so I would be shocked if Chasen dropped to the Titans, but one thing I will say is, as we talked about in our Team Needs Tuesday episode, I think the Titans need to go after a twitchy defensive end, not someone like a Gross Matos who's a power rusher who can play inside out. I think they need that super athletic, off-the-charts athlete on the outside. That's really what the Titans need to take this defense to the next level. So if Chasen is available there, I would imagine the Titans would scoop him up. Finally, Matt Miller from Bleacher Report, who I think does excellent work, had the Titans taking Jeff Gladney, cornerback out of TCU. I really like Gladney for the Titans if he's available. He does remind me of Logan Ryan, not 100%,

but he has the ability to play outside corner. He can excel in the slot. He's physical. He's not afraid to tackle. He'll come up and make a play. He's tough, and he's very instinctive. He's smart. He can read quarterback's eyes.

He can play in zone. He can tough and he's very instinctive. He's smart. He can read quarterback's eyes. He can play in zone. He can play in man. So I really like Gladney as a six foot corner out of TCU. I think he would be a great fit for the Titans if for some reason Logan Ryan has to go. He can be a younger version. He can fill that role. Maybe not as well. He's not going to give you 100% of the production. But if he can give you 60% to 75% of the production at a much, much reduced cost than what Logan Ryan is going to get paid this offseason, then the Titans may be able to keep rolling with the cornerbacks that they have. That is going to do it for today's show, though. We went over some more news with the coaching search, went over Derrick Henry's comments

about his contract situation, his commentsry's comments about his contract situation his comments about his comments about his contract situation to be more precise went over some of the different mock drafts around the draft community and see what people are thinking about the titans and and where they might go obviously a lot of it just depends on how free agency shakes out so we are going to be awaiting some more news on that. But with the contract demands that Conklin and Logan Ryan could have, Derrick Henry, you never know where the Titans may be looking. But we will make sure we stay on top of it every step of the way here

at the Locked on Titans podcast. So make sure you are subscribed on whatever platform that you do stream your podcast. Follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans for more as well. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.