Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Will Tennessee Titans Play Ryan Tannehill, Justin Murray on Starting OL & How Many Sacks for Caleb Murphy?

Starting point is 00:00:00 What should the quarterback rotation look like in the Tennessee Titans final preseason game of the year? I'm going to break it all down 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.

Starting point is 00:00:43 I am your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans. Today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast is brought to you by Underdog Fantasy. Visit underdogfantasy.com or find them in the app store and sign up with promo code LOCKEDON to get your first deposit doubled up to $100. And football season is about to kick off for real. It's a perfect time to check out Underdog Fantasy. But we got a lot to talk about on today's show. The Tennessee Titans do take on the New England Patriots in their final preseason game of the year on Friday night in Nissan Stadium. I'm going to give you guys a preview of what to watch for in that game. And

Starting point is 00:01:22 we're going to start with a conversation about the quarterbacks and how many snaps, how many drives each of the quarterbacks should play. Before I dive into it, I want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. Make sure that you get subscribed. Stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast where it's your team every day.

Starting point is 00:01:50 Shout out to my everydayers out there. Tune in Monday through Friday. It's been a great week of shows, and I'm going to cap it off with a sixth episode live after the Tennessee Titans complete their game against the New England Patriots on Friday night. I will be here on the YouTube channel breaking it all down. Make sure that you tune in. Again, get subscribed, stay subscribed. Hit that thumbs up button as well.

Starting point is 00:02:11 The show's always free. All I ask for in return is the press of a button. But with that being said, the Titans have a tough decision to make here at quarterback. Mike Vrabel talked about the possibility that Ryan Tannehill would get some snaps, and he mentioned the new offensive line. And look, I totally understand. And if you would have asked me a couple of months ago, I probably would have told you, yeah, Ryan Tannehill needs to play a little bit in this game, get comfortable behind that starting

Starting point is 00:02:35 offensive line. But the more I've thought about it and the more injuries that we've seen around the NFL, I simply don't think it's worth the risk to put Tannehill out there because the reality here is the offensive line might not be very good. And if that is the case and you see the New England Patriots starting defense in this game, I don't want Tannehill getting hit like he might get hit in a preseason game. I don't. And there's a reason that we haven't seen Ryan Tannehill in previous preseasons. I know that he's been more comfortable with his offensive line. It wasn't a new offense, all that. But I think you're just playing with fire there at this point. I've changed my mind from, you know, a month and a half ago if you would have asked me that question.

Starting point is 00:03:14 Plus, it's not just about keeping Tannehill Henry. The backup quarterback battle is much more important, and it's much more important to get reps for Will Levis and Malik Willis, and that is why I continue to say I think that Will Levis needs to get a real opportunity behind the starting offensive line like Malik Willis had. Will Levis needs to get a large chunk of snaps. I think if I had my way and I could design the quarterback battle or the quarterback snap rotation the way that I would want,

Starting point is 00:03:42 the quarterback battle or the quarterback snap rotation the way that I would want. What I would do is I would go with Will Levis for the entire first half. Just play Will Levis the entire first half and then in the second half, him and Malik Willis can go back and forth a little bit and see what they can do

Starting point is 00:03:58 there. Then you get a full half of Levis with the better offensive lines, with the better wide receiving options, the better tight ends, with the better wide receiving options, the better tight ends, against better defenses as well to see what he can do. Now, a lot of you guys are saying, hey, he didn't earn that like Malik did, but don't you want to see Will Levis against the same caliber of defenses and behind the same caliber of offensive line as Malik Willis has had to this point?

Starting point is 00:04:22 Because if Will Levis does worse, then it's obvious that you people who are hashtag Team Malik were right. The only way to get a fair evaluation is to create the same scenarios and to create similar conditions. All right? So similar variables as well. That's the word that I was looking for all along. I was fighting my way through. You guys didn't even know, but peek behind the curtain there.

Starting point is 00:04:47 I was searching for the right word, the variables here. So I would like to see Will Levis get the entire first half and then have Malik start the second half and have Will Levis and Malik kind of bounce off back and forth of each other. And if Malik Willis is firmly in the backup quarterback position, like a lot of you think that he is, then he shouldn't be playing a ton in the final preseason game either.

Starting point is 00:05:07 It should be your third string quarterback, right? Right? So anyway, that's what I want to see. What I think might actually happen, I'm starting to think that Ryan Tannehill will play in the game, just based on Vrabel's analysis there. If Ryan Tannehill does play,

Starting point is 00:05:21 what I would like to see happen is two drives of Tannehill, and then the rest of the first half go to Levis, If Ryan Tannehill does play, what I would like to see happen is two drives of Tannehill, and then the rest of the first half go to Levis, and then Malik Willis and Levis alternate throughout the second half. I just think that at this time, and I think one of the reasons that the Titans were so cautious with Will Levis is so that he could have his opportunity. You know, I talked about on yesterday's show, I put my tinfoil hat on and said, maybe Levis could have played all along

Starting point is 00:05:47 and Mike Vrabel just wanted a reason to sit him out so he could play Malik an entire game. And then when he gave the majority of snaps to Will Levis in week three of the preseason, people wouldn't freak out because he's just making up for lost time. Here's the theory that I threw against the wall on yesterday's show,

Starting point is 00:06:03 but let me know down below, how do you guys want to see the quarterback snaps divvied out? Just a theory that I threw against the wall on yesterday's show, but let me know down below. How do you guys want to see the quarterback snaps divvied out? Do you think that Malik Willis should start? Do you think that Will Levis should start? Do you think Tannehill should start and get some snaps? Let me know what you guys would do with the quarterbacks in this final preseason game, but that's obviously the number one thing to watch.

Starting point is 00:06:21 And of course, as I said, I would like to see no Ryan Tannehill, Will Levis the entire first half, and then Malik Willis and Will Levis alternate in the second half. That would be my perfect rotation for this game to get a good idea of what the Titans are working with at backup quarterback going forward. So that's what I would do.

Starting point is 00:06:40 Again, let me know down below what you guys would do. We do got to talk about that offensive line though. We talk about quarterbacks. How long should the starting offensive line play? And then we got to talk about the wide receiver battle that's taking place right now that's gotten even more interesting with some of the injuries that have popped up recently.

Starting point is 00:06:57 So we're going to dive into that and then finish the show talking about some stuff on defense. Caleb Murphy, more sacks, the battle at cornerback, all that. So much to dive into on this final preseason preview edition of the Locked on Titans podcast.

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Starting point is 00:08:36 slash NFL for a $3 starter set. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked On Titans podcast. It's a preview of the Titans preseason finale against the New England Patriots. We just talked about the quarterback rotation, how much each guy should play, who we expect to see. I'm going to spin that forward to the other positions on the offense.

Starting point is 00:09:16 What do we expect to see from the starting offensive line? What about the depth battle going on at wide receiver? I'm going to dive into all that. Before I do, I want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all

Starting point is 00:09:34 year round, always for free. Make sure you get subscribed. Stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast where it's your team every day. Again, I'm going to be going live on the Locked on Titans YouTube channel immediately after the Titans game against the New England Patriots every day. Again, I'm going to be going live on the Locked on Titans YouTube channel immediately after the Titans game

Starting point is 00:09:48 against the New England Patriots to break down everything that happened in that matchup. So make sure that you catch me there. Hit the notification bell if you want to make sure that you don't forget when I'm going live. But diving into the offense, the rest of the offense, I should say, on the offensive line,

Starting point is 00:10:04 how much will the first team offensive line play in the game last week they got about the first quarter you could say that the Titans should ratchet that up to maybe the first half here I just don't think that's necessary I think one quarter get them about three or four drives

Starting point is 00:10:20 really what I think the Titans should do is go with the approach of I want to see the first team offensive line until I'm satisfied with their performance. If that means the first half, then I guess that means the first half. If that means two drives, I guess that means two drives, but that would be my max and my min. Maximum one half, minimum two drives. But we need to see the Titans offensive line play well. And if that takes five or six drives, then so be it.

Starting point is 00:10:51 They need to play. You know what I mean? And to be honest with you, I would just like to see, like I talked about in the first segment to bring it all together, I would like to see Will Levis get an opportunity to play

Starting point is 00:11:01 behind that first team offensive line. We saw Malik Willis do it. I would like to see Will Levis do it as well. That's only fair, right? How could that not be fair? So I hope that the offensive line, the starting offensive line, plays a decent amount. And honestly, this is a great segue into the next point

Starting point is 00:11:20 that I want to talk about with the offensive line. Let's see. Two or three drives with Chris Hubbard. Let's see two or three drives with Justin Murray. Will Justin Murray get any first team right tackle snaps after really having a fantastic performance in both the first week of the preseason and the second week of the preseason. Played guard first week, tackle last week.

Starting point is 00:11:48 I mean, the Titans are on that path. Let's see Justin Murray with the rest of the starters. Is that crazy? I don't think that's crazy. Let me know down below if you would want to see Justin Murray get some snaps with the starting offensive line in this game. In my opinion, they have to at least look at it. And the only way you're going

Starting point is 00:12:10 to get a real evaluation is if you do it in the game. So I want to see a couple of drives with Justin Murray at starting right tackle. I think that would be interesting to see. Chris Hubbard's been fine, but he hasn't been so good that he can't be replaced. That someone else shouldn't at least get a look.

Starting point is 00:12:26 You know what I mean? I'm not asking for change, but I want to see it before the regular season. So I don't think that's a lot to ask personally. So I think that starting offensive line needs to play as much as Mike Rabel needs to see, but I wouldn't go past a half and I would expect more than two drives.

Starting point is 00:12:42 But moving to wide receiver. Because this is going to be a very interesting one to watch. I think that with Kyle Phillips being injured, probably going on injured reserve to start the season for four weeks minimum. I think that Mason Kinsey deserves the opportunity. Now, when you have a guy like Kiaris Jackson, and look, Kiaris Jackson is banged up right now.

Starting point is 00:13:09 We don't know if he's going to play in the game. We don't know what his status is. If Kiaris Jackson were healthy and we knew that he was playing, I would say it probably would go to him over Mason Kinsey. Kiaris Jackson can return. He'll play on special teams coverage units. He can play in the slot at wide receiver. But with Kiaris being can return. He'll play on special teams coverage units. He can play in the slot at wide receiver. But with Kiaris being banged up,

Starting point is 00:13:28 I think it's just obvious that Mason Kinsey needs to get that spot. Now, if the Titans keep six wide receivers, because you're going to have Hopkins, Burks, Chris Moore, NWI, Kyle Phillips is going to be on IR, PUP,

Starting point is 00:13:45 something like that for sure. So don't count him as on the roster. So that's four. Burts, Hopkins, NWI, Moore. Let's say you add Mason Kinsey to that. I think the Titans need another wide receiver. They're probably going to have to keep another wide receiver at that point.

Starting point is 00:14:00 I thought that the Titans would only keep five wide receivers, but with Phillips out, might as well go ahead and add Kinsey to have him. And they keep some other depth as well, because Traylon Burks is still banged up. So, with that being said, let's go ahead and go with six. But who would get the sixth spot? That's what I'm so excited to see what these guys do.

Starting point is 00:14:23 Not only on offense, but guys, you have to watch special teams coverage units. Who's the one running down there making the plays? Who's being physical? Who is blowing up their man? Who is winning their rep? That's what you have to watch on special teams. Oh, wow. That Anthony Kendall on the defensive backfield popped up last week as a guy who had a really strong performance in special teams. Now people think there's a chance he might make the roster. And we're going to talk about Anthony Kendall when we talk about the defensive backs at the end of the show. But the point is you have to pay attention to the special teams and see what guys are doing there.

Starting point is 00:14:52 Because whether it be Colton Dowell, Tashaun Harrison, Reggie Roberson, Racey McMath, whether it be one of those guys, special teams is going to be the difference maker. Okay? So I think they keep Kinsey around to have that pure slot,

Starting point is 00:15:13 punt returner, kick returner type guy. And then after that, personally for me, I would keep Roberson. We've seen enough of Racey McMath. I just don't think he's a good enough receiver. Colton Dowell hasn't impressed enough to make it even as a draft pick. I hope that they keep Dowell on the practice squad, get Kiaris Jackson back on the practice squad,

Starting point is 00:15:33 and maybe bring Jackson up throughout the season, but he's just banged up right now. Treshawn Harrison, to me, is the new Reggie Roberson. It may take him a year before he's a serious contender to make the roster, but I would like to see Kinsey make it, of course, as I've said, but Roberson be the other guy and go from there. And as Kyle Phillips gets healthy, Traylon Burks gets more healthy, you can adjust the roster from there, but just on the initial 53. But they will be battling it out on Friday night. And that's

Starting point is 00:15:58 obviously one of the number one things that we should be looking for. But I'm going to move forward, talk about the defensive side of the ball. We've got to talk about the battle going on with the defensive back, specifically at cornerback is really where we need to discuss it. Also, Caleb Murphy, more sacks on the way. Can't wait to dive into that. And how do we think Michael Badgley is going to kick? We're going to dive into all that in just a moment.

Starting point is 00:16:25 Before we do, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by Underdog Fantasy. August is here, and you know what that means. The official start of Fantasy Football Drafting Month. You guys can get championship ready for your home leagues by trying out Best Ball on Underdog Fantasy. All you do is one live snake draft. That's it. Just one draft. No waivers. No trades. Underdog sets your best lineup every week for you. So try out

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Starting point is 00:17:28 It's easy to do. Sign up and use the promo code LOCKEDON to get your first deposit doubled up to $100. That's Underdog Fantasy. Promo code LOCKEDON. Locked on. Titans fans, let's cap off our preview of the Tennessee Titans' final preseason game of the year against the New England Patriots. We talked about the quarterback rotation. We talked about some of the depth battles and lineup conversations on offense.

Starting point is 00:18:11 Now I want to transition to the defensive side of the ball. Before I get into it, though, I do want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. Make sure you get subscribed. Stay subscribed to through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. Make sure you get subscribed. Stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast where it's your

Starting point is 00:18:29 team every day. Shout out to my everydayers out there tuning in Monday through Friday. Can't wait to talk to you guys all on Friday night after the game when I go live here on the Locked on Titans YouTube channel. But at defensive back, we have a battle here.

Starting point is 00:18:46 Eric Garrow. I'm trying. I'm trying the Locked on Titans YouTube channel, but at Defensive Back, we have a battle here. Eric Geroer. I'm trying. I'm trying here. Get Geroer. Get Geroer. Why do people do this, you know? Why do people make their names sound like something it doesn't look like? I'll never understand. But Eric Geroer,

Starting point is 00:19:02 Armani Marsh, see, now I'm all messed up. My lord, here we go. Armani Marsh and Anthony Kendall. Anthony Kendall. Such a simple name, right? Okay. Anyways, it's going to be one of those three

Starting point is 00:19:15 that I think get that final defense cornerback spot. You're going to have the three starters, Fulton, Bunting, McCreary, Trey Avery behind him. Elijah Moulton's a full-time safety now, so I'm not counting that, but that's four cornerbacks. And I think the Titans keep five, because I think they keep five safeties

Starting point is 00:19:35 instead of six and four. So, for that fifth safety spot, what do you need? What do you want? I personally don't like any of the outside options. Anthony Kendall or Stephen Jones. I'm just not enamored by any of that. And I think with Trey Avery, Roger McCreary,

Starting point is 00:19:59 Christian Fulton, and Sean Murphy bunting, you have four guys who can play on the outside. What you don't have out of that group of four is anyone that can play the slot consistently outside of Roger McCreary. You could say Elijah Moulton, and I think part of the reason I think the Titans should go five and five is because you do have Elijah Moulton. You can kind of do both if you need.

Starting point is 00:20:23 Guys, we know that Elijah Molden cannot play man coverage. Okay? You cannot have Elijah Molden out there one-on-one with a slot-wide receiver. You can let him play man on a linebacker, or on a tight end, you can let him play man on a running back, but you cannot let Elijah Molden play man coverage against a slot-wide receiver on third downs. I'm sorry, it's just not his skill set.

Starting point is 00:20:46 It's simply not. So the Titans, in my opinion, need someone else behind Roger McCreary who can play the slot so they can keep Elijah Molden doing what he does best, which is going to be at safety and as a dime cornerback who can play as a linebacker, basically. And again, man coverage on tight ends and running backs.

Starting point is 00:21:04 So sub-package linebacker. If you guys play Mad coverage on tight ends and running backs. So, sub-package linebacker. If you guys play Madden, you know what I'm talking about. Sub-package linebacker, you'll have one linebacker there and then you use a safety for the other position because it's passing alignment, all that stuff. You guys know what I'm talking about. That's what I think the Titans should

Starting point is 00:21:20 do is look for that extra slot guy. And for me, that's Gerrard. Gerrard's been incredibly physical. He's been consistent. He'll play on special teams. Look, I like Anthony Kendall. I think he did a great job on special teams last year. I like Garrow as a cornerback more. Same thing with Marsh. Even since the very first preseason game, I was like, hey, Garrow is better than Marsh. I want to see Garrow with the first team. Like, hey, Guerrero is better than Marsh. I want to see Guerrero with the first team.

Starting point is 00:21:49 So hopefully, hopefully that continues. And hopefully that continues into the season and Guerrero can be the backup slot and the fifth cornerback on the team. I think that makes the most sense, personally. Moving forward, though, how many sacks are we going to see from Caleb Murphy? How many sacks does Caleb Murphy need to solidify himself on this roster? I don't

Starting point is 00:22:08 really know. All I know is Murphy needs to be on the team, whether it's edge four, edge five, I don't care. Just make sure he stays on the roster. Can't have a repeat of David and Nini from last year. And I certainly hope he gets a couple more sacks in this game because it'd be very interesting to watch. But with that being said,

Starting point is 00:22:23 the last question that I have is how is Michael Badgley going to look? I'm not going to project. I'm not going to forecast. I'm just asking the question because he was pretty rough on Tuesday. Was a lot better

Starting point is 00:22:40 on Wednesday. Is he more comfortable now? There's a lot that goes into it. The snap, the hold, all of that. We'll see. It would be nice if a Titans kicker would come out and just do their job and make some kicks and them not be like hold your breath moments every single

Starting point is 00:22:55 time. But anyways, with that being said, that is going to do it for me. Again, to remind you guys, I am going to be live on the Locked on Titans YouTube channel immediately after the game, breaking down everything that happened. But that's going to do it for me today, folks.

Starting point is 00:23:12 As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.

Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Will Tennessee Titans Play Ryan Tannehill, Justin Murray on Starting OL & How Many Sacks for Caleb Murphy?

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