Ep. 169: Trench Guys on the Trench King

In case you missed the live broadcast, check out Ryan Watson's appearance on The Unofficial Titans Podcast taking a deep dive into the drafting of JC Latham, T'Vondre Sweat, and much more! 

Episode Transcript

(00:05):
Thank you from Sobros HQ and Nashville, Tennessee to wherever you're cheering on your
Tennessee Titans, The Sobrosnetwork presents theUnofficial Titans Podcast. For a special bonus

(00:31):
episode of the Unofficial Titans Podcast thisweek, I'm your host for the show
the E I c at Sobrosnetwork dotcom, Big Natural, Stony Keeley,
NFL Draft Tennessee Titans analysts for Stackingthe Inbox at Stacking thee Inbox dot com,
uh at Stony Keeley on Twitter,at Sobros Network on all major social

(00:51):
media platforms, joined a very specialtreat on today's show. We had to
make it happen. I'm not evenknowing if there's going to be a show
this week at all. I don'tknow if my schedule is going to allow
for it. I'm freaking out,but I want to have some material ready
just in case. So I putout the call for listener questions, and

(01:12):
just like Batman answering the bat signal, I get a text message from Ryan
Watson saying, hey, I'm I'mgood to jump in if you need me,
and then you know what, Owencame through. I didn't end up
needing Ryan after all, But I'mlike, I can't. I can't let
this opportunity go to waste. IfRyan's up for talking Titans football, we

(01:34):
got to make it happen. SoI didn't know if you guys were going
to get any episodes of the UnofficialTitans Podcast this week, and now here
you are, if you're watching withus live on YouTube, it's your second
episode this week. Just you knowwhat We're just Why stop working? Why
stop working? It's what the peoplewant. We got to give the people
what they want. Ryan, Whatare you working on these days? Man?

(01:55):
How you doing? I'm doing good? Before I get into me about
what I'm doing, And it's it'sgreat to hear that you allowed me to
join. I hope I can.I can live up to the expectations that
you and Zach and everybody else.I'd be remiss if I said the two
justices, Justin Mellow, Justin Graver, Easton JT. Have have been doing
a phenomenal job covering the Titans draft. I've really enjoyed a lot of the

(02:16):
coverage that that so bros Stacking theinbox Broadway of course, is putting out.
You know, and really what I'vebeen working on is just kind of
relaxing youth youth sports, my daughter'stravel sports taking up the majority of my
time these days. But I reallygot to dig into the O line scouting
a lot of old linemen and hada couple that I really liked. And

(02:37):
I'm glad that the Titans took mytop tackle. And the draft will get
tell a little later, but Iwanted to my kudos out for y'all.
You'all have done a fantastic job coveringeverything with Titans, and then it's good
to see this not stopping from whatall I've been seeing on Twitter and all
the socials here recently. Man,I appreciate the kind words. Yeah,
I just got uh. I justgot a new notebook on Thursday and I

(02:58):
wrote twenty twenty five draft notes onthe front of it. So Foster as
well shout out him. Sorry,I know I was forgetting. So I've
got a lot of people. Jamesas It killed it with his draft stuff
too. Sorry. Man, man, there are a lot of people that
in this market specifically like I.I know I probably sound a little arrogant
talking to Titans fans like this,but I'm I'm just not sure that every

(03:21):
other market has as good of acore of writers and podcasters and YouTubers as
the Titan Circle has right now,it just kind of feels like this particular
draft cycle, everybody brought their agame and it was really cool to be
even a small part of that.But to hear hear it appreciated like that,
man, that means a lot tome. I'm thankful for that.

(03:44):
Thanks for the kind words. Ido have some brid of news. There's
different opinions about it. It's agood mix of people. But the only
thing that I can stand as peopleand I don't think you're talking down to
anybody right there. The only thingthat I can't stand is when people say
that the things like, oh,you must never played football. Some of
the best football minds I've talked toyou've never played it down their life and
they just studied their whole life.So you don't need to play football to
understand it. You could have studiedit as well. So anyway, I

(04:09):
just throw that out there. Justthe people that are condescending and think they're
holier than that, those are theones I usually tune out. You're not
one of those. Want to throwthat out there. Since you mentioned it
so well, you know, it'sfunny like that argument. To me,
the natural progression from that is like, oh, so you've you know,
you've never called a movie that you'veseen bad, or you've never gone to
a restaurant and set a meal thatyou've had as bad because you're not a

(04:31):
cook or you're not a filmmaker.That sort of thing. I think the
same logic applies with football. Thereare resources out there that you can familiarize
yourself with the game if you haven'tplayed it. And yeah, to me,
it's just kind of like you startgetting into that kind of discussion,
it's like, well, you're justtrying to like debunk the credibility of whoever,

(04:53):
and you're not really addressing the point. But you know what, let's
just sit here and talk shit aboutTitan Twitter all day? Ryan, How
do you how does that? No? No, No, I'm I'm a
fall I try to follow move myselffor these days. In fact, I
I type, I type things intoa notepad and then delete them just from
my therapy, so I don't Idon't have to say them out loud.
I really trying not to call anybodydumb or or do anything even though I

(05:15):
think they are whatever, I tryto stay out of it. I've been
doing really, really good with alot of personalities that have had subtweeted not
me, but my group, andI want to defend people so bad.
I'm like, you know, Idon't need to do that anymore. It's
it's I'm too old for that.Good call. Good call. Well,
before we dig into the Titans draftclass, I do have a bit of

(05:36):
news to break today. So manypeople since I wore this hat, I
think for the first time on Draftnight. I think it might have been
when Zach and Braden and I wentlive from the four to forty Sports Draft
party, and then I've worn iton football and other f words a couple
of times. Anytime this hat showsup on my social media feed, I

(05:57):
get people asking me about it,like that hat's dope. Where do you
get it? I need to know? And I finally I keep saying,
like my family got it for mefor Christmas. I don't know where it
came from. So I finally gavein and reached out to my cousin and
asked her, like, hey,do you remember where you guys got this
hat? Because people won't stop buggingme about it, and it turns out
it they got it at Lidds.So there you go. If you want

(06:18):
one of these hats, go Peru's, Peru's the market at lids And that
is your Yep, that is youryour Titans fashion update for today. So
we got two O line dudes onthe show today. This is this is
gonna be fun. I'm I'm reallyexcited because I feel like, I don't

(06:40):
know, man. I feel likea lot of the discussion about j C.
Latham this past week has not particularlybeen about the ins and outs of
how he plays and the tape itself. It's been a lot of value talk.
There's been a lot of talk aboutmoving from right tackle to left tackle,
all that kind of stuff. ButI feel like you are the right
guy to break this pick down frommore of a technique standpoint, from more

(07:05):
of a tape standpoint, and Iwant to start there getting your thoughts overall,
your initial reaction to when he wasdrafted, and whether or not your
your opinion has changed since then.I actually got worried during the draft because
I was like, because there's enoughout there saying there's I think a quote

(07:26):
from Calahan that was something about hintedto they may go receiver first round.
They wanted, you know, becausethey were saying something about that some more
exciting people who can extally score touchdowns. I don't remember the quote off the
top of my head. So Iwas like, oh, gosh, you
understand. I get it. It'snot your fault that the offensive line is
in the shape it is before yougot here. I get it. It's
not you, But come on,we got to start. We got to
start fixing to some point in time. And it's also not your fault that

(07:48):
they look. I love Scorantsky,I absolutely do, but it's not your
fault that they and I and listen, if he turns out to be a
pro bowler, multiple year guard,it's a look you look back on.
It's a good pick, but likeyou gotta started getting tackles at some point.
And as I kind of leaked orhinted at earlier, is that Latham
was my overall number one tackle inthe draft. And I don't hate Alt.
I thought Alt was right there withhim. I thought Alt was also

(08:11):
a great tackle. I think hewas probably the more safe pick of the
two. But as far as whata tackle I look for a couple of
things. I look, can theytechnically do everything that you're going to ask
an NFL tackle to do? ThenI get did I look at that?
Are they just are they throwing peoplearound? Are they going to be able
to physically stand up to the NFL? And then are they a little bit

(08:33):
of an asshole? Yeah? Thoseare things I look for. And so
when I go back and look atJAYC. Latham, of course, and
if you couldn't tell from my pointthe right way might have blankets back.
We had our third child and Igot kicked out of my office, so
I'm out and like so I haveto hide some of my stuff from moving
around. So apologies about that.But so jac Latham, he was I
was excited. I was like,they did it. I cannot believe they

(08:56):
did it. I thought they mighttrade down and then you still got great
tackles fashion and there are still somegood tackles out there to be had.
But when they actually did it andgot Latham, I was like, they
got the guy. So now wetalk about a question left tackle VERSU right
tackle? Right, because what didhe talk about college right tackle? So
I get the concerns, trust me, I do, and they're valid concerns
because until you see someone do somethingat a certain level, you don't know.

(09:20):
But I would argue all these tackleshave that same question mark because have
you seen any of them play anyposition in an A fail yet? No,
No, you haven't, So youkind of have to chill out just
a little bit. And and again, no, go back to what I
just talked about, can they dowhat you're gonna ask them to do?
Are they physically able to match up? And then do they have a little
attitude to them? Let's talk aboutcan they do what you're gonna ask him

(09:41):
to do. Everything that pops outwhen you watch jac Latham on film is
how physically bruising he is. Iused to go back and I would watch.
I would tell when I recruited,I would tell people, you really
want to stand out, you betterdominate whatever level you want. You cannot
sit there and say at your highschool film that I do deserve to be
on this D one team. Ifyou just kind of got lost in film,

(10:03):
you better pop man, because highschool sports is a mixed bag and
upond I get it. You're playingat IMG or you were lath and play.
You played a lot of places they'regonna be they're gonna play better talent.
But a lot of the high schoolfilm I saw is like, I
gotta see this guy offensive lineman,take that one hundred and sixty pound defensive
tackle and move him level. Mypoint being is is Latham did that with

(10:24):
guys that were D one level players. I don't I don't care if they're
going to go NFL or not.They were D one college athletes and he
was just manhandling people, clip afterclip after clip. Then you go,
can't he move left and right?The one thing I didn't see it is
just because of how it was setup there. There's no not a whole
lot of wide nine that Albama wentagainst because they wanted to try to contain
the pocket. You wanted to playa little safer. You didn't want to

(10:45):
have mill row Uh just absolutely dancearound and go around people, so you
wouldn't play contain a little bit thereand play a little safe. So I
get all that, But on stunt, go back and watch him when against
stunts, his footwork is balanced itis, there's no tripping over himself.
He's just like a machine moving leftand right, picking up and as soon
as He saw the intelligence too,because we always look for in a tackle

(11:07):
or an offensive lineman, is thatyou see, Okay, my guide's doing
something funny. He's backing up.Oh and his head would snap immediately inside
and go to pick up. Youdidn't see that at a Dillard. Dillard
was awful at that. Those kindof things got killed. The last tackle
I saw that would do some ofthat for the Titans was, of course
lawn. So you see, youlook for that kind of stuff. Are

(11:28):
they Are they gonna be able topick things up? Read, move left
and right? But then when theman gets his hands on anyone, they
are going nowhere and he's holding Listenin the framework, and I get it.
By definition of physics, that's holdinga person, but within the roles
of the NFL, that is notholding. They're looking you. You just
can't wrap your arms around, youcan't grab from behind, you can't do

(11:52):
anything abnormal. But if you gethere, really, what the rest are
saying is don't let him get inthere, Like I mean, as simple
as that, Latham can do allthat right tackle, left tackle. Last
thing I'll say, I know I'mgoing I told you I was excited to
know. I look at I loveit. This is what this is what
I brought you on for, buddy. So now we go from right to
left tackle. Okay. I wastalking to my curtain and about this,

(12:15):
and he's been doing a lot ofresearch on this trend of he's fighting the
good fight on Twitter about all that. I think he was. I think
he was just as excited about Lathamas I was, because he saw the
film and he goes, my gosh, it's like watching a college person go
against high school and it really was. I agree with him, but there's
a not the value you're singing.Contracts between right left tackle is getting more

(12:35):
even than it ever was because they'rerealizing we just need guys that can block
the edges. So if Latham endsup moving to right and that's where his
home is, but he's an AllPro or Pro Bowl caliber tackle or right
tackle, I mean, it's notthe it's not horrible. No, I
get a question at left tackle atthat point, but try him out left
tackle first, see if he cando it. If he can't, great,

(12:56):
he could be an outstanding right tacklefor you. So but again I
get the whole left tackle thing whenyou have a right handed quarterback, because
you want to protect the blind side. The movie is ruined a whole lot
of things. I love Singer Bowl. It's a good movie. Just anyway,
this story is not exactly there's athere's a rabbit hole there that we
can either choose to go down ornot time in my past too, to

(13:22):
be honest with you, So we'regoing to leave that where it is fair.
So anyway on Or hates that movie, that movie does, I'm sorry,
but I get all that. Butin this, in this NFL,
you can do so much to helpwith that blind side, to slow things
down. You can give looks atyou can run chips, which I've already
said the bad word of ships.Then why are you if you're chipping?

(13:43):
Why is the left tackle? No, it's called using everything at your disposal,
Wholki. It's a tool kid exactly. You could use quick passing.
And what I've seen out of Callaghan, he's gonna turn this from a run
first, boring offense that if youdon't have a fourteen point lead. I
was worried about the Titans. Ifthey ever, if anyone's ever scored got
out to ten point lead on them, I was like, oh crap,

(14:03):
this is over. Ball games,ball game, they're not coming back.
They don't. They're not they're notexplosive enough, they're not exciting enough,
they don't have enough creativity. Andif they did, it was in small
enough doses that you were like,all right, come on, two minute
offense or something, get out ofyour funk. Uh So I think Callahan's
gonna do that from the jump,and I think that he's going to find
ways to make everyone successful, whichincludes his offensive lineman. And listen,

(14:26):
as much as when we talked aboutlast year's draft and other drafts, if
Will Levis hits from the third roundand he's your he's your multiple year starter,
franchise quarterback last year, I don'tcare about any other draft pick.
Last year's draft pick draft was successfultoo. And if you find your left
tackle out of it the next year, that's that's two good drafts in a
row. Man. I and Itell you what from the outside end,
J. C. Latham, PeterSkeronsky, and Lloyd cushion Berry, I

(14:50):
mean, that's just that sounds likean upgrade, an ungrade upgrade. And
I know that we just said thatthey're not gonna be run first boring,
But if they choose to run it. That's a heck of a side to
run behind. Well, yeah,and that's the thing, Like they even
mentioned after he was drafted, likehe's going to help us run the ball,
and the signing of Tony Pollard factorsin, Like you think about this

(15:13):
and I'm kind of like reading thetea leaves like, man, does this
team think that it needs to bea little more physical in the in the
run game here? But again,that might be an entirely another episode,
just because real quick on that.On that point, just because someone says
they're going to be more of afluid, explosive offense doesn't mean you abandoned

(15:33):
the run. Run is still veryimportant because you still have to be able
to mix it up. You stillhave to have play action, which can
still be very valuable. But toseat of play action, you have to
have successful running and this year Ithink also you have to. You have
to really as a franchise, you'velost your face in Derrick Henry. Yeah,
it was there years. It wasknown for a power running back,
so now you're reinventing everything about it. But you don't want to abandon the

(15:56):
run. That'd be a mistake,and you go out and you do invest
a little bit into running back.You pick up an undrafted free agent special
teams. Who knows, You've gotother things that are there already. Uh
Pot Pollard, Spears, Haskins isstill there as of now. Uh Dylan
Johnson which spoiler again talking about hima little later, was picked up da.

(16:18):
So but you've got some running backsthere. You've got Pollard and Spears
which are a little different from eachother. You don't want to abandon the
run and to have this kind ofa line you can run behind. And
let's let's you know, brun Skillwasn't awful last year. No, I
thought he was a nice piece.And the only things I worried about was
Brewer, you know, and theneverybody else. So you've you've plugged a

(16:40):
lot of that out with just this. But you know with obviously I have
no clue were going to do itright tackle. I hope it's not Raidings,
And if it is raid Ands,I hope he surprises the heck out
of it. I think they've saidthat Raidens is a guard. If I'm
not mistaken. They said point blankthey see Raidens as a guard, and
I do too. I'm just I'mjust hoping they don't try to him out
there because he's he's he's he's hegot fired from being the ticket concession person

(17:00):
or whatever. He's been doing thismajority of times time. Now, Now,
how do you We are kind ofstraying off topic here, but I
don't want to forget to ask youthis. How do you feel about the
right tackle spot if it does endup being some competition between Jalen Duncan NPF
and and maybe one of the freeagent guys or Lee Roy Watson that they
traded for this Hodgepodge group, thatthey're going to have to find a right

(17:23):
tackle out of. I joked onTwitter as soon as they got Leroy Washington,
he was like, oh, tackleSolve, don't need to draft one
for good boys. Now it's joking. I don't feel great about it at
all. I'm really hoping that there'ssome another body that can try to go
find. I don't I honestly don'tknow who they'd go find, but I'm
really hoping that they'll go try tofind something that can be at least depth
and they can at least run throughpeople and get them chances and create competition.

(17:45):
I'm hoping that maybe if that allhappens, then they'll they'll figure something
out. But I don't feel greatabout what they've got. You know,
we forget about NPF because of everything, but I think that he doesn't need
to be forgotten. Honestly, Ihope that they just find someone that's not
going to get him killed like Dillardedlast year. I think that they can't
do that. They can piecemeal somethingtogether. I don't love it, so

(18:06):
I think I'm probably very sick tomy stomach about it. Fair enough,
fair enough, Well back to JCLatham. A lot of criticism about his
not running the athletic testing and allthat. I feel like there was a
report out there that that was dueto some sort of injury concern, maybe
aggravating something, or they might havefound something that prevented him from doing it.
I don't know if it was actuallya decision, if he was running

(18:30):
scared from the drills or what.But I watched the tape and I can
kind of see how if you watchhim, he doesn't move. He doesn't
appear to move as well as someof the other tackles in this class.
But I I mean from a functionalitystandpoint, he gets the job done.
I just think he's one of thoseguys that is so thick and girthy,

(18:52):
fat in the ass, fat inthe thighs, that he looks like he's
moving slower than he actually is.What do you think about the athletic testing
concern? Where did you weigh inon that debate? So one thing I
loved about his past pro when youwatch him is that he's got a very
patient ability about him. Yes,he lets things develop and he lets things,

(19:15):
He lets things get to him quick. He's not afraid to let someone
get to him because he knows he'sabout to create his own separation with his
punch, and he doesn't over punch. What I mean by that is that
when offensive I saw a lot oftimes with Dillard. I'm Andre Dillar.
I know you're a long time listenerto the podcast, But a lot of
times I thought his problem was anda lot of tackles who struggle is that

(19:37):
they try to create this fake power. They try to say, oh I
need to, I need to I'mgetting bull rushed in and crate. So
they will they will start their punchand they'll dip their head. Yes,
well, if you're looking at thegrass. You're not seeing what's going on
around you, very simply. SoI moved back to Latham so far watching
him and pass pro that head staysback and he's ready. He's in a
good position, and I see themovement side to side. As some people
could say slower, I thought hewas actually more hatient than anything. And

(20:00):
I thought that he had he hadnice little quick bursts. Quick for a
six five, three hundred and fiftypounds man. Whatever he is, I
just think he's a but he doesn'tlook like he's sloppy. When you look
at this big guy, he lookslike he's very well put together as far
as his body type. And he'sbroad, like you were just saying,
I don't think they're going to askhim to go go run out and block

(20:23):
the lead blocker and a lot ofscreens. He's not the same tackle want
is, which is what I thoughtmade Lawan specials. He'd go out and
run and do those kinds of things. He could run out the places,
he'd get things in a hurry becausehe was essentially a tight end in an
aligneman's body. But you know physicalas well, so Latham, I just
think that within his constructs of likeI always laughed when they said, well

(20:44):
offensive line mean to be running thesehundred yard sprints, Like, why we're
on five yards? Max, leaveme alone, we don't need to do
this. Yeah, I think he'llbe fine. I'm not as concerned about
it. Plus, if you lookat anything de Bor was so Hope was
saying, not mix things up.The Sabin fourth quarter program, with the

(21:06):
conditioning everything that all Alabama. Yeah, it's on the tops of the nation.
It was so good that the newhead coach comes in and goes,
well, changing it. Sorry,run it. So the concerns with Alabama's
always are they beat up and everything. I don't think that's necessarily concern I
think that, but you don't everreally question a whole lot of their conditioning.
Now, what he's done since then, since he's been on his own,

(21:27):
that's that's what's going to lead toif he's going to be in good
shape coming in with some of hisathletic stuff. One of the things that
I noticed, and again this isjust a nitpick. I I had Latham
as tackle three in this class,but I I really I really had trouble
finding things on his tape that Ididn't like and there were it felt like

(21:48):
maybe once or twice a game,something with his pass sets would be a
little wonky, whether it was notgetting deep enough to match the edge rusher
core to core, or maybe goingtoo deep and giving up the inside and
having to end up chasing the guy. I just wanted to ask you,

(22:08):
like, first of all, didyou notice any instances of that or or
AMBI nitpicking here? Okay, SoI noticed that, especially against the Michigan
I thought he had a I don'tthink he had a game versus Michigan.
I don't think he was awful either. Like people like said, oh he
got abused by Michigan. I don'tthink he got abused. I just think
that he did. I didn't thinkthe offensive line for Alabama had there there.
I don't think any one of themhad a great game versus Michigan.

(22:30):
I thought that they all kind ofI don't know if they their scouting report
was off or if they just werethinking, oh, big ten, we're
going to push them over. Theydefinitely didn't didn't look like the abbe of
the line that I had seen allyear, for sure, But I would
I would say that if you gogo and watch any tackles film, they're
going to have minstances. Were like, whoops, I got got Yeah,
that's the thing we're going against peoplethat are similar skill is like, and

(22:52):
that's why people always want to goand say, well, I saw a
pass pro drill and I stopped listening. I do not care. I do
not care what happens. And widereceiver corner one on ones yeah, unlust
the corner is shutting down everything.Then I'm like, okay, that's a
guy because it's so it's so slantedto the receiver to be successful. It's
the same thing with pass pro drillson one O one. It's it's so

(23:15):
working against offensive line. First ofall, the defensive line's not reading anything.
There's no there. They've got afree go on left and right,
there's no there's no thing, there'sno blockers to go around, there's nothing,
just one on one. So ifI see an offensive lineman that then
holds his own I'm like, allright, I'm impressed now, And like
defensive lineman, yeah, you kindof should win this rep. To be
honest with you, but I wouldsay that on film, you're still gonna

(23:37):
get situations where people guess wrong.You're still going to situations where people got
themselves in a bad situation because theywere just thinking too much. So and
that's the one The one negative Ihad about Latham was his ability to go
go block that wide nine, justbecause I didn't really see him try to
do it in college. There wasn'ta whole lot asked of him, so
I didn't know what his kickside wasgoing to look like and how quick he

(23:59):
was gonna be able to But Isay he gets out of his stands pretty
quickly for what he did get askedto do. So I just kind of
translated over, well, I thinkhe can be taught. I mean,
the kids pretty strong. And that'spart of that kickslide is getting that left
leg to kick back or excuse me, right leg if it's on the left,
I'm sorry, get my left onmy rights mixed up here? Yeah,
that's my one concern is how's hegoing to handle that? And I
think that as a as an offense. That's when we caught talked about that

(24:22):
that toolkit of does do we needto help Chip until he can get where
he's rounding out with that? SoI think he can do it. I
just don't know if he can.I don't know if he will because we
haven't seen it yet. So yeah, and and ultimately my question, the
reason I brought that up was becauseI wanted to ask you because you've been
the coaching perspective from this thing,Like, is is that issue something that

(24:47):
is coached like he's just supposed toget to a certain spot or is it
a read and react feel sort ofthing. Is it something that can be
corrected at the next level. Itcan be. It's all about the person
though. Okay, I'm going tobring up a very bad name here,
Isaiah Wilson. Okay, here wego. All right, So if Isaiah

(25:08):
Wilson had not been had been moremature and had actually taken things seriously,
he'd still be a starting tackle forthe Titans right now. I think he
had all the tools in the world. He'd at least be their starting right
tackle right now. Yeah, Buthe came in with the first All he
was worried about was getting money.He never really loved football. There was
just there's things there that you can'treally tell. And I think there was

(25:30):
red flags, just things maybe theyshould have picked up on. They took
a chance on the ceiling of thatathlete, and it was it was a
good ceiling. I mean, sothere's a lot of things could happen there,
so a lot of that. Towhere I'm going with that is that
you can either have the Isaiah Wilsonswho just didn't give a shit. Yeah,
you can say whatever you want onthis show, did not give a
shit. And I think you goback and you look at some of those

(25:52):
posts that Lawan did when they werein the pool and Isaiah Wall Wilson has
just passed out, I'm like,oh, that's funny. And then wait,
wait, now you know the wholestory, like, oh oh,
so like light bulbs going off,right, he is not. He was
not willing to work, so itdidn't matter any type of coaching was going
to get through to him. Somy answer there is it's fifty to fifty.

(26:15):
You have to be able to havethe ability and willingness to learn,
which I think Latham has, andthen the coaching after that, which he's
got a good one. Yeah,he can go out there and teach him
the angles and go through all thatkind of stuff, And that is going
to be the first thing they're goingto evaluate when they get Latham lined up
is how quickly can we be sureyou can handle this? And they're going

(26:36):
to I guarantee they're going to throwas much as they can at him to
make sure and go from there.And at that point in time, it's
up to Lath them whether he handlesit or not. And I don't expect
him to handle it right away.And if he does, oh boys,
we got him. We're good.We're good. But if he doesn't,
you got to give it a littletime. And I mean even Neo and
the Matrix didn't get to jump thefirst time. That's right, That's right.
Yeah. So I'm curious of howyou scouted these these offensive tackles because

(27:03):
like at the draft party, we'relive on on YouTube and everywhere, and
in the moment, Braiden asked like, what are your choices here? I
I wanted Roma Dunza, I wantedOlu Fashu, and then I wanted JC
Latham. Jac Latham was my thirdchoice. And then once we got to
drinking, Zach and I were talkingabout it and I just sat there and

(27:25):
I was like, no, youknow what, like if they feel they
can take the tape that we sawat right Tackle and just imported at left
tackle. I think there is thatthat power, that that mean streak in
JC Latham that makes him the choice, and I I came around thinking about
it in in that fashion. ButI'm curious what you think about Olu Fashanu

(27:48):
and and why it didn't feel likehe was ever really an option for this
team. It felt like they likedJ. C. Latham, they liked
Joe Walt, and who knows whatwould have happened if both of those guys
were gone. So here's you wantto know what I thought. When Jim
Wyatt reached out to me to askme who I thought the Tides were drafted,
I told him, fash you becauseI didn't think. I didn't think

(28:11):
they'd pulled the trigger on Latham.I didn't think they'd have the I didn't
think that they would see you know, because just because I liked him didn't
mean that an NFL team would agreewith me, and I kind of figured
would be gone. So I didn'teven consider all, to be honest with
you. But but for me,where I had my tackles ranked, where
those three were the top, andthen you start having some gaps down down

(28:33):
the list a little bit as faras the tackle concerned. Uh. The
other tackle I wanted later in thedraft was Patrick Paul as a project.
Patrick Paul loved Patrick Paul, soI was really like, and I was
telling the Twitter show, was like, can they get Patrick Paul? Like,
you know, like I knew thirtyeight was a little too high.
Maybe I don't know. I justwas like for me because like, I
think that in a year or twothat guy was gonna be really good.

(28:55):
And I think that's your that wasyour if Latham works out of left,
I thought that he could fill inat right tackle or surprise everybody and they
switch, you know. But Ithink that he was a bit of more
of a project than the other tacklesthat we're talking about. So just I
wanted to throw Patrick Paul out there. I watched some Paul film and I
liked him, but I was like, oh, he's a little rough around
the corner sometimes. I man,there's some stuff that really a lot of

(29:17):
stuff like that. So I toldhim that and I get it. Everybody.
Once the big receivers were starting tofall off the board and you're thinking,
oh man, we really need somethingflashy with I'm going to go back
to Callahan's gonna find ways to getguys open, and you've got d Hope
got ridly. I really think you'vegot two good one and two receivers there.
It gets a little murky after that. I do agree from there,

(29:37):
but I think that he can findways to get the tight ends more involved
in the past game, which youknow you got Wiley, You've got which
I don't know why I'm saying Wileyfirst, But a conclue can line up
in different positions to help you out. And I'm not as worried about the
receivers as I this year as Iwas last year before Hopkins was picked up,
I was like, screwed up,EDG Brown and there's nothing in the

(30:02):
cupboard, what are we doing?But this year I feel a little better
about it because I think they're goingto find ways to get people involved.
Spears is gonna be able to beinvolved in the past game as well,
uh a heavy dose. I believePollard's a really good receiving running back.
In my opinion, I think thatthey're going to be fine with a lot
of that stuff. So but Iwas just for me as the draft,
I'm like, just get a tackle, please get one. Get one.

(30:23):
Next round, Get one in yournext pick, and the pick like I
think that you uh was a Jonathanand I were on with you before last
year's draft, and I said,and I told I think I told you
you were like, what what doyou want the Titans to dress? I
said, tackle? Tackle? Now? Tackle next year, tackle the year
after that. Keep drafting tackle tillsomebody works out, because right now I

(30:45):
I was scared to death of you. And yes, you need to get
your your next quarterback out of Tannehill, which I hope they've done. Still
have my doubts a little bit,but I hope. I hope levis Uh.
He's got all the tools, I'lltell you that, but I wanted
stuff around there to protect him becausehe's not going to last long if you
keep getting you hit ten to fifteentimes again. Sure. Yeah, And

(31:07):
that was the thing I was thinkingdraft wise. So yeah, And the
thing for me was like, lookhow competitive this team was for the for
the most part in twenty twenty three. With the tackle situation that they had.
It's like, man, if youcan just get reasonably better there,
it's going to unlock so much morefor the offense. So it was the

(31:30):
one thing we did a preview show, football and other f words before the
draft, and Zach asked us,like, what's the one thing that they've
got to come away with in thisdraft? And I'm like, it's a
tackle, left tackle, right tackle. I don't care. They've got to
get tackle help. So finally addressingthat position. Ultimately, I had no
qualms with it. I'm happy withthe pick now. I'm I'm really happy

(31:52):
to see more of JC Latham's personalitycoming out. And I think that was
part of what had so many peoplethat were down on the on the drafting
from the jump. So many peoplestarted coming around with the whole like the
trench king stuff. And then hegoes in this presser and says, I'm
willing to die for my team.Like you can't just say it, You've

(32:13):
got to be about it. AndI'm like, yes, this is what
we need. Isn't an amazing whathappens when your personal bias is kind of
get out of the way and youstart listening to other people who are excited
about a pick. Yes, oh, maybe maybe I might be wrong with
some of this. And here's thething, Okay, look back on this
this media later on and go,oh, Ryan, you like Latham.
How could you do that? You'restupid? Well, yeah, I'm excited

(32:35):
now. Oh I didn't know whatwas going to happen. But I really,
I really think that you have alot of people talk about talking to
him as a as a prospect,not only just his his the program,
he was in his knowledge everything.He just wanted to say. When I
said intelligent, I really mean Ithink that that he's a football guy and
he gets it. And then youget there with the power he has and
the comments of I'm gonna die forthis. You know, I'm gonna throw

(32:57):
myself in the woodship er for thisteam. Like they I think they found
their tackle. I found. Ithink they found the perfect guy. I
think he's the anti Isay Wilson.I hope please don't prove me wrong.
I'm right there with you. Soif you're going down, I'm going down
with you on this. Pick thirtyeight another controversial pick that I don't think
was universally well received. Right offthe bat, the Titans go with Texas

(33:21):
defensive linement to Andre Sweat Ryan youryour gut reaction off the bat when they
announced the pick, what did youthink? I think that it had been
talked about that this was going tobe the pick for so long, and
I was like, oh the tracks, this is what they're going to do
the whole time. It was ahuge moment of truth. We were at
the four to forty party that nightand Zach and I were sitting there when
the Titans were on the clock,were just like, man, we have

(33:42):
talked so much shit about dev AndreSweat going to the Titans, like this
is the moment of the moment oftrue thing. And the victory laugh that
Zach did when they called his namewas just awesome. I wish people could
have seen it. And my handstill hurts from the high five we gave
each other fterter they announced the pick, but I was I was ecstatic about
it. Yeah, so you know, I was not surprised, like,

(34:07):
oh, it's gonna be that pick. In fact, I think I was
out with Jonathan Boren and he goes, so, what's the pick? And
I was like, yeah, whatwhat? You would we think it was
going to be Like everybody, everybodyand their grandmother and their grandmother's uh uh
ukre tournament players were talking that itwas going to be to and Andre Sweat.
I mean, everybody had this penciledin. I mean, the Titans
probably could have gone up to theNFL Draft Board official board and written in

(34:30):
black sharpie to and Andre Sweat,We're done. I like, there's there's
a small part of me, andthis is only half of a joke,
but there's a small part of methat wonders, like, if Latham and
Alt were gone, would they havepulled the trigger on Sweat? If Latham
and Alt were both gone? Ithink that. I think that, you

(34:51):
know, the trade back, they'relooking a little more desperately to trade back
at that point in time. ButI think that they I think they go
after fashion at that at that point. Yeah, I think that's what they
do in the first round, ormaybe they go Rome and say, well,
I guess we can't get our tackles, let's go with so don't.
I don't know how their boarders facedout. I would hope they would still
dress tackle at some point in thatfirst either seventh or eleventh or twelfth pick

(35:14):
or whatever they could have picked upthere. No, I don't think they
would have gotten Sweat in the firstround. But they do apparently like him.
They liked him a lot. I'mjust saying I'm just saying, let's
talk about the concerns. Okay,I've heard a lot of conditioning concerns.
It looks like he played his fairshare on the Texas line. I do
not have those stats in front ofme. Go check out Zach's tweets,

(35:36):
Zach's posts, and he did agreat job getting out there. It's been
on it. I think I thinkhe averaged I think thirty five plays a
game, if I'm not miss quotingsomewhere right, Yeah, Murphy, Yeah,
you know so like and then youlook back at some of the top
at their rookie seasons. The othertweet he put out about the top guys

(35:59):
in the in the league right nowSimmons, including in that that they were
hovering between thirty and forty five picksor plays right there, but later on
as they increased from their rookie season, they got bigger. So to me,
I think that you draft him knowingwe're addressing a huge gap on this
defense last year, which was teams, especially towards end of the season,

(36:20):
just ran right over the Titans throughthe middle of that defense and linebacker d
line And it wasn't simmons fault.But if you're an offensive coordinator going against
the Titans. You knows there's oneguy. It's just to get him away
and we're good. So now whatyou do, especially in the early downs,
you put something out there that canbe a stop gap. And I
mean that literally. Yeah, theycan control one to one and a half,

(36:46):
maybe even two gaps depending on howhe can move. Because this is
you talked about Latham being a physicallyimposing They essentially got a heavier, less
mobile maybe, but a guy thatLatham or light them on that on the
defensive line, they can match upnext to Simmons and really free up Simmons.
And I'm sitting here thinking, asa defensive strategy, if you just

(37:07):
made Jeffrey Simmons job easier for him, I don't know. That sounds like
a good thing to me. Well, and and conversely, if you're an
offensive coordinator, I mean, howdo you how do you game plan for
having two guys like that right nextto each other? Right, That's what
I'm saying, Like, now you'vegone to where we have to double,
we have to we have to gofor for for Simmons. Now it's like,

(37:30):
well shit, yeah, so youget you tag more outside now because
one of the weaknesses right now isgonna be the titan's edge. But you're
hoping that that is plugged up.So now that you can throw blitzes,
you can throw, you can throwstunts, you can you can create pressure
off of those edges in a waythat now you're really causing some people because
if you could, if you canplug up the middle of that those three

(37:50):
uh B two B gaps there orreally c to see in a way inside
c to see see negative, tosee to see negative through the left and
the right sides, then you're reallygoing to be able to make a lot
of take a lot of pressure offthe rest of the guys, make it
easier for defense coordinators to call whatthey want to. They don't necessarily have
to say, Okay, that's takencare of. We can we can we
can be a little more experiment experimentalout here with some of the things that

(38:15):
we're doing. So I think it'sa good thing, and I think that's
what was a good pick. Now. I would be curious that people who
hate this pick if he weighed threefifty three forty five, three fifty,
if he did get a DWI inApril, which listen. I don't condone
anything like that. I hope henever has one again. I hope no

(38:36):
one ever does them that The trophof the matter is is people have gotten
them. They could, they canturn awful. It's why you don't risk
it, and you don't do thatbecause you don't know what your ind result
is going. To be sure.I don't want to dig too much into
that because he made a mistake.I hope he learns from it. But
I think a lot of the reportsof him trying to be a party guy,
not concerned were more from his AndI'll trust Mike Currentent on this,

(38:57):
who is a Texas fan and followedthe situation very quickly or closely over the
years, said that that was moreconcerns from his early years at Texas that
he really recommitted himself. And yousaw that when the weight dropped off from
him from from his last year tothis year for college, uh and then
leading up and he seems like he'smaintained that and kept it off, So
it seems like he recommitted himself.And then then then the naysay thing that

(39:20):
said there would be like well Apriltwelfth, literally this year, I get
it that that whole situation seems likeit was awful. Someone rearended him,
flipped his car. He was giventhe DWIB because I think he probably was
right there over the limit. Idon't I don't know all the details.
I just know that there's some stufflike that around there. It's not it's
not as cut and dry, andI'm not trying to defend it at all.
It's awful. Don't do that,don't drink and drive kids. So

(39:43):
I think it's the point there.But I'm hoping that this last year and
then here we go back to everyonestill scorn from the margaritas and the donuts
in the middle of an intersection,not bring him up talking about Isaiah Wilson,
way too much for a podcast.It's you know what, that's been
the chatter this week. It's stillfresh in everyone's mind. It hurts that
you can't put everybody in the samebox as human beings. We're all going

(40:05):
to react to things differently. We'reall going to walk our own path in
life, and I really hope that. So if you take all that out,
and I know you can't, butif you do, this looks like
a really good pick for the Titans. In fact, he may go earlier
than where he did on day two. He may go a little earlier than
thirty eight. Maybe you have totrade up to get at this point if
you like ran GM speak. Maybehe was saying that other guys were called

(40:27):
dad gum you you took our guy, like the people were like calling him,
texting him mad at him. Solike from an NFL thing, which
is what honestly, these guys atthe end of the day, unless there's
just major, major, major majorred flags from like there's some unforgivable things
out there, obviously murder and thingslike that. But you evaluate people on
like just a football basis first,and the Titans feel like they got their

(40:49):
guy. I'm off my seallbox now, but that's kind of where I am
with it. Give the young mana chance. If he messes up again,
then we can crucify the pick andcrucify him if he misses up,
bat give him a chance, becauseit's human nature. You kind of have
to give people a second chance inlife. Sure, So I want to
preface what I'm about to say bysaying, James Foster did not like the

(41:13):
pick of Devandre Sweat, but heput together the one of the it's the
best argument from the camp that doesn'tlike the Sweat pick. It's the best
argument that I've heard as for whyyou wouldn't like the pick all week.
He was on the Hot Read podcastwith Easton and JT. Yesterday's show.
I'd say, go go check thatout. A very reasonable, respectful,

(41:36):
thoughtful critique of the pick. Butin it he said something that I really
liked that I hadn't thought of before. But you know, the the rosy
ten and glasses version of this,to and Andre Sweat kind of takes up
space along the defensive line, eatsgaps, whatever, and makes it easier
on the linebackers at the second levelto defend the run because there's not as

(41:59):
much space to defend, there's notas much to diagnose that sort of thing.
So I want it like, froma schematic standpoint, x's and o's,
what do you think the exponential,potentially exponential impact of to and Andre
Sweat's addition could be for this defense. It's that right there, that what
you're hoping for when you have whenyou have someone is that you're you're really

(42:20):
hoping it his size, that he'snot gonna be one making the plays that
he's he's allowing others to make theplays around him. And I think,
and that's why I say that youcan't really you can't really go off of
stats a lot of times NFL forcertain positions because if you're going to get
caught up like tight end for example, if you if you just go off
receptions and touchdowns, you're missing out. You're missing out on half of what
they're doing for an offense, andthey're blocking game and what makes them the

(42:43):
really special ones who can block andthen go out and still produce for a
defensive tackle. You've got the unicornsout there like Chris Jones, Jeffer Simmons
that can do a little bit ofeverything, and you kind of expect that
out of those kind of players withtheir makeup. But sometimes it's okay to
pick the guy that can just literallymake four or five other guys shine and
he's really at that point time you'regoing, Okay, well this is working
because we're all working together because we'rea team. Yeah, but if that

(43:07):
guy is also going to be lazy, he's going to take plays off that
he can, he's going to makeit harder in everybody because now you're having
unexpected things, which is which iswhere the downside of this is. We
didn't get to a lot of thenegatives yet. And that's actually what I
was going to say was if he'sif he's not motivated, if he hasn't
turned it around, and he's noteating up space, then he's really worthless.
Yeah, could be sorry, notnot that he is. He could

(43:29):
be yeah. And and that's atough spot, like that's I don't know,
that's where you do have to kindof roll the dice a little bit
and take a leap of faith thatyou know you've you've done your homework on
a guy. You feel confident thatyou can get that out of him.
But in the end, man,this draft process, I mean, do
you think it's is this a longenough time to really get to know somebody?

(43:50):
Do you do you really get thechance to get to that level of
comfort with the guy? Let meask you this when you're when you were
in the dating year, I knowyou and I both have been and move
from that for a while, butwere you always showing your your your your
real self immediately off the bat,or were you hiding some of your weird
well? I don't know. I'vealways been pretty comfortable in my own skin.
I did back in the day.That's why you're a lovely, lovely

(44:15):
man. I had a tendency tokind of get some of that stuff out
on the first date and just belike, cause I don't like, don't
waste my time. You know,like, here's here's what you're getting with
me. And if that's a problemfor you, it's cool, no hard
feelings, but I'm gonna I'm gonnamove on with my life. I think
that's what works out later on inlife because I got there eventually when I
met my wife. As I gotto where, I was like, oh,

(44:35):
you know what, you might aswell know this now because it's gonna
we're gonna find out. I likeStar Wars. I collect the Legos and
Funko pops and all kinds of stuff, and now I'm into shoes. I
like Nike dunks, so like,yeah, just let's go ahead and get
this out there. I'm gonna spendsome stupid money on stupid things that I'm
gonna say, I'm gonna sell thatI never do. Uh. But my
point there is that it's human nature. For the majority, it's not really

(44:59):
high to hide some things or maybenot, because like, why would I
say Wilson have ever gotten drafted ifhe didn't hide some things? You know?
Yeah, four mentions if I'd say, well, anyway, so about
obsessed. So I think that whenyou say is that enough time? I
think it can be if you aretrying to rule out a couple of things,

(45:22):
if you just have a short listthat you want to rule out personality
wise. And here's the thing.As terrible as this movie can be in
certain parts, I do think thatthe draft Day with Kevin Costner did get
some things right that they do goand ask they go down the line,
they can go back and ask alot of people that were involved in a
lot of situations that questions, especiallyif you're talking about going after our high
draft. So I the Titans didn'tdo that. I got questions. So

(45:44):
I think that that they at leastgot their answers. They had like probably
a list of red no go.If it wasn't correct, then they had
a maybe we'll live with it,and they said, you know what,
we can live with those answers.And I think they had enough of the
ones over in the column of nogo answered that they were like, Okay,
let's let's move forward, because Ithink the risk is kind of worth
worth the reward. Yeah, youcould get out of that, I just

(46:07):
think. And again, if itdoesn't hit, at least you got a
big body in there in the middlethat can eat up some space. I
mean, hopefully he doesn't turn outto be a Mount Cody. Yeah,
ain't that's truth? So how muchlike do you have any sort of maybe
patience isn't the right word. Areyou a little more willing to accept this

(46:28):
risk if you know this is goingto be like a multi year rebuild,
if it's like, hey, we'retrying to get cornerstone pieces. It might
not happen. We still have sometime to rebuild if it doesn't work out.
I mean, does that factor intothe conversation at all? I wouldn't
think so. But I'm just spitballinghere as to why, reasons why there's

(46:50):
there's so much comfort with the massof red flags out there, if you
will, so that the Titans havenever stroked, I've never been my takeaways
there, and that they're completely likedoing an all and out rebound, because
then why are some of the playersthat are here still here? Yeah?
If they're doing an all out rebuild, they would have had a fire cell
over the last couple of years,but they still felt like they could be

(47:12):
competitive, and maybe it's to adetriment. Maybe they should have pulled the
plug two years ago and said,everybody, see you, we're gonna start
all over this scratch or we're gonnasuck for three years. We're gonna get
three number one picks back to backto back, and we're going to roll
out. Maybe that's what they shouldhave done, but they didn't. So
they don't strike me this year thatthey're trying to rebuild either. But there
definitely is some grace with a completelynew regime. You've got you've had the

(47:35):
new GM starting a second year.You've got the new head coach, you've
got the new coaching staff. Everybody'skind of got a little bit new of
a clean slate that's coming back thatwas involved in the organization in somewhere or
another. I think you have toextend that same grace to the draft picks
as well as far as you haveto be able to be a little more
patient where and again, if you'rejudging somebody out there, I'm gonna judge
someone a little harder off of wherethey finish on plays on season games than

(48:00):
where they started. So like there'sa there's the basketball program my daughter's involved
with. They said, just getone percent better. Every day we're working,
We're gonna the hardest playing team.We're gonna get one percent better today.
Did you get one percent better?I think that that's that's the end
goal for everybody. So and there'sgonna be unfortunately with that one percent,
sometimes there's a two percent backstep,but then you have to step up three

(48:21):
percent the next day to make surethat you you accounted for that. So
I think that with this, I'mgoing a long way to where I say,
yes, I think there is alittle bit more of a leash there.
But I think that you doesn't meanyou get lazy or or or allow
a guy to just to fail.You have to you have to do what
you can. Like, if Lathamis just not the guy at left tackle
after four after four games, thendon't hurt the guy any further. Let's
get him to right tackle and lethim eat. You know, but it

(48:44):
was sweat. I mean it's kindof a little No, I'm not gonna
say it's an easier position to play, but he's relying more on his physical
traits to block things up and toto to do what he needs to be
there. And you just have totell him a little bit more to go
be you and and and do itwell, don't be lazy. So let's
talk about the rest of the draftpicks. Cedric Gray, Jarvis Brownley Junior,
Jakwan Jackson, James Williams, JalenHarrell, this class. Any any

(49:07):
guys from the back end that reallystand out that you want to talk about.
H Man, I really think CedricGray is the other one from this
draft that I could think could havealong with Latham. I think Cedric Gray
could end up having a really bigimpact for this for this defense because they
were solely lacking some linebacker depth forthe most part. But I think that

(49:28):
what he could be, I meanhe is he. I don't think he
is what I would ever accuse himof being elite in any one area,
but I think he was pretty dag. I'm good at covering, being a
coverge linebacker, which in this thisday and age in the NFL, you
really need you gotta be. SoI think a lot of kind of stuff.
I think overall, I think thathe was one of the I think
he was one of the best picksthey could have made in the fourth round

(49:51):
in one oh six. I thinkhe could be He can improve a lot
of things for the Titans to makethings again that that that theme we're talking
about, make things easier for guysaround you again. I think you have
to be a little let him getinto it a little bit. But I
like him, and of course Ilike Brownly as well. I think he's
I don't think I've seen a lot. Uh what was the lineback of Cincinnati
that I really liked on the podcastpace that I thought, I think you

(50:14):
want a guy that's gonna absolutely bea mall or go get that guy that
you asked me, who do youwho's a who's a variable guy? You
want to go get him? AndI wish they would have, because,
uh, he's pretty good. Heis undrafted free agent too, didn't even
didn't even get cold. I wouldhave loved for that one because, like
god so, but Brownly, Ithink is that that version of of a
corner. I think that he's notas elite his mobile mobility. I think

(50:37):
he's probably going to end up maybebeing a safety at some point in time
in his in his career, we'llsee, but I think that his physical
ed he has is gonna is goingto allow him some some playing time somewhere
on the field, uh with howphysically could be. So I'm excited to
see what those two can do forthe defense. And you know, obviously,
now when you get into the you'retalking about getting into the back end

(50:58):
of the draft for five, six, seven, you're you're you're you're hoping
these guys are special teams contributors.Yeah, that's why you're drafting them.
You're like, if if they're goingto make this team, that's I mean,
that's what it is. But ifyou're drafting the seventh round, not
everybody's a rock party. I'm sorry, you're really hoping that they're going to
be a contributor on special teams.And guess what if they do end up
cracking your starting lineup within the firstthree years in NFL? Yatzi, Yeah,

(51:21):
fantastic. You you you struck absolutegold. But it's it's not doesn't
happen that often. That party isdefinitely not. Going from mister irrelevant to
a top flight quarterback doesn't happen.Yeah, it's it's why it's so rare,
It's why it's so special what he'sdoing. So I think it's the
same thing with some of these backend picks. I think the only head

(51:42):
scratcher for me is, oh,I can't think of the receiver's name.
I'll talking about Jackson. Well,yeah, Jackson's what I'm talking about.
But the one I wanted them tohave at that pick. The rest of
us were Team Malik Washington. That'swho we really, we really are.
I kept I kept saying, uh, another Malik in my hands. I
was like, that, wasn't itsome leak washing? Yes, I was
That's what I was hoping they wouldgo for at that point, And maybe

(52:05):
that's because I was listening to y'alltoo much. I was like, yeah,
I like him, Yeah, lookwhat Stony's saying about him. Yeah,
he's great. But well, JaconJackson, it kind of just screams,
you know, did you can Jacksonjust kind of screams, Oh,
we kind of got the inside.We kind of had some inside knowledge about
this guy, you know too.For sure, for sure led into this

(52:25):
a little bit. I think though, that you're trying your your dangis to
know what's something else the Titans havestruggled with over the past. I don't
know, decade, Uh is isreturns? You know? Uh, maybe
not decade I mean a little tooharsh, But they've struggled little in the
return game, so I think they'rejust trying to throw bodies at it and
see what sticks. That's not anot a bad strategy. I like our

(52:46):
buddy Jake in the comments adding aboutthe the risk on taking to and Andre
sweat. It's like risking a fartafter a night of drinking. Could soil
could soil your pants. But evenif it's if it's bad, you get
new underwear. That's a plus gaineither way. I like that, Jake,
that's a good that's a good takeon the risk of drafting to Andrew

(53:08):
Ryan, have you gotten a chanceto to kind of catch up on the
squad of undrafted free agents that theTitans have added? Are there? Do
you need a moment or Yeah?I just I mean, that's I don't
think I've ever I don't think I'veever heard anything related. It was all
so awful yet so perfect at thesame time. Like, that's so positive,

(53:29):
man, you get new pants.I mean it is. Yeah,
I'm sorry, well done. Thisthis class of undrafted free agents, any
any of these guys that stick outto you that you think have a real
shot at making this roster? Ireally you know the one I like?
Uh uh? The Oliver kid isOliver out of Youngstown State. I'm excited.

(53:51):
I'm kind of curious to see,uh, I said the name with
Oliver, the receiver out of Youngstown. I don't know. How about the
Oliver that's it. Yeah, I'mexcited just to see if he can do
the thing. I think. I'malso just looking for a receiver at some
point in time to be the thegolden gem which out of everything, Like,
I'm looking for one of these guysto be what I thought Kyle Phillips

(54:13):
was gonna be before he realized he'sa he's a paper mache, can't stay
on the field. Uh, youknow, just just someone to come in
and and press burks, to actuallyhit, be motivated to be good.
Like if that's if that's what thatguy does, and that's that's that is
all great. But again, Ithink a lot of these guys, if
they make the team, their specialteams fodder. Yeah. However, Dylan
Johnson, I love Dylan Johnson watchinghim run the ball the power. So

(54:38):
what do we talk about earlier aboutyour losing your identical identity A little bit
of from power power running back fromDerrick Henry. Derick Henry is not your
typical power running back because he hadthe elite speed to go with it,
which is a unicorn. Don't tryto replace that. You're not going to
find it. It doesn't exist.It was a it was a one time
shot. There's not going to beanymore Derick Henry's at least for a little
bit. And when they tried toreplace him with all the guy's name escape

(55:00):
the Albama running back, they thoughtwas the next Derek Henry after him that
played for the Cowboys for a littlebit, but they didn't end up panning
out we line anyway. Both Scarborough, Yeah, Scarborough. So it doesn't
there's a reason why these guys areunicorns because they don't come around that often
and they're pretty spent the boat.It took years to get from Bo Jackson
to someone else that could be anelite unicorn back. So but Dylan Johnson,

(55:23):
I think can replace a little bitof that power if he can crack
the lineup. So I'm excited tosee what he can do. He had
a very successful twenty twenty three.I know it's the Pac twelve, but
he he at least was someone yousaw run with power, hit the he
hit the hole with some some feverunder you. Man, he really ran
the ball well averaged. I thinkI do have a stats in front of

(55:43):
metal one to act like, Iknow this off top of my head.
Five point one yards per carry,sixteen touchdowns, and eleven one hundred and
eighty five yards. So he playedall fourteen games. He played eleven,
thirteen, eleven and fourteen over hisgrace. So a healthy guy played the
majority of his games, played inthe SEC for a long time, has
some success there well, varying successas well, but I have some receiving

(56:04):
as well. I mean, Ijust I'm really excited to see his name
that pops out for me. Pickan offensive lineman. I hope that they
can crack onto the team and getto the depth chart because we need it.
Man. I like this Cole Spencerkid out of Texas Tech. That
was a guy late in our draftprocess that Zach hit me up and was
like, hey, this kid.I think he was at their local day
and he's like, I ran hisnumbers into the Titans fit ratings that he's

(56:27):
come up with, because Zach's agenius, and he's like, he looks
like a pretty good match for whatthis team wants. You might want to
add him. So it's like eleveno'clock on a Friday night and I'm like,
hang on, babe, i gottawatch Cole Spencer out of Texas Tech.
But I fired up a couple ofhis games and I'm like, this
kid's got some good tape. He'san athlete, tested well, fits well.
And then lo and behold, Zach'sratings look pretty accurate. They end

(56:53):
up with Cole Spencer in camp,and I think he's a guy that I
don't think he's got a shot atplaying tackle, but I think he's a
guy that could could push some ofthe interior guys. I don't know the
prospects of him moving to center toback up at that spot, but I
think he can push some of theseguys. And I'm not gonna be surprised
if he ends up on the finalroster. No, and if he does,

(57:15):
you're you're looking for these guys.Like I hinted that earlier, that
you're looking for, at the veryleast, someone that can push the starters
to be better, to not tonot be complacent. And that's my problem
with law of the offensive line isthey just don't seem to have anybody that
can say, well, like Imean, if they did, then why
did Dylan start as much as hedid for the Tights. I mean,
just they need someone that can pushthat goes, oh, you know,

(57:36):
if you don't, then we're goingto replace you with this. They've got
to have a little bit of thatin the back of their head h to
be able to produce. In myopinion, competition is never a bad thing.
So you look at those guys,That's what I'm hoping out of any
of the offensive line when they pickup and and and the undrafted guys like
just come in to surprise us.Be the old story of Brandon Bolesworth for
Arkansas, walk on and then becomea All American. Yeah, it's just

(58:00):
happened in But still, I mean, like, like, surprise everybody,
that's what you're hoping for. Butlike, if you're asking me what I
think realistically, I think it's DylanJohnson can catch on special teams. I
think that after that, I thinkthat he could potentially be what they thought
Askins was. Yeah, I wouldagree that. The thing that I particularly
like about Dylan Johnson is just kindof how smooth he is through traffic.

(58:21):
I mean, it's just it's easyfor him, whether he's lowering his shoulder
to take on a guy or whetherhe's like sinking his hip to get low
and get through the hole squirting outon the other side, there's a fluid
quality. I'm talking about fluid andsquirt and all kinds of stuff. It's
three o'clock, Eli, so justwe're in the muck man play around and

(58:43):
it's fine. It's three o'clock ona Friday. The weekend hadn't even started
him. We're talking about squirt andfluid. But the way Dylan Johnson sinks
his hips and squirts through the holeis just it's awesome. And I think
when I try to like why itwas that he didn't get drafted, I
don't know if it's just the injuryconcern. I don't know if it's just

(59:06):
like he didn't test to be thiselite athlete. But I don't know how
you watch his tape and think he'snot deserving of a draft pick. Maybe
it's just a testament to how crowdedthis year's running back class was. I
don't think there were too many realelite guys, but it felt like this
class was like twenty deep at Daythree, guys that are going to contribute
in a rotation. Well, andyou see how the NFL treats the running

(59:28):
back position. It's it's not ahigh value position across the board. It's
not going to be a whole lotof multi year contracts anymore. It's just
not where they are these days.And without that ankle injury, was it
It was in a Sugar Bowl,right yeah? I remember, yeah,
because he feel like he was doubtfulfor the National Championship and then he still
went out there and I don't thinkhe played the whole game, but he

(59:49):
gutted it out for a little bitin any way. So that's the worst
time of the year to get afor someone who's trying to go get drafted,
to get injuries right there. Lastthing this fresh people's mind. But
you know, it's an ankle injury. It didn't end his season, like
not obviously, not all the wayit hampered it, But as far as
I can remember he was fairly healthyevery everywhere else, like like I get
the ankle injury, but again,it's not like we're talking about seventeen breaks

(01:00:14):
in the leg or had to haveall his ligaments replaced, or was it
the spears even have any ligaments inhis knees, you know, So you
know, I just I maybe Ithink it's a little bit of it's a
depth thing. It's it's running backsaren't thought is highly of And again but
if you can crack the right spot, we Jonathan and I would have this
discussion all the time, Born andI when we used to do our podcast.

(01:00:37):
Is like some guys, you know, just as Tom Brady, if
he doesn't land with the Patriots wherehe was, he eventually became pretty you
know, obviously elite. But ifhe doesn't start off with the Patriots,
is he more likely a owner ofa local Denny's or a quarterback? Well,
one of the point there is ismaybe if he goes to the nine
or somebody's just successful. But likeas Derrick Henry is successful, if he
doesn't go to the Titans, runfirst or the Cowboys, you know,

(01:00:59):
something like that, the Seahawks maybe, you know, is he not is
he? So a lot of timesthat these perfect spots for these guys has
to be accounted for as well.And maybe sometimes a running back who's filling
a need and doing these kind ofthings can really take hold of that opportunity.
And I just when you look throughthose names, Dylan Johnson was the

(01:01:19):
one that that was like, allright, here's here was a quality starter.
That's an undrafted guy on the Titansroster who are still going to run
the ball. Yeah, and andsomething for power at some point in time.
So this maybe this isn't a horribleuh thing to keep an eye on.
Yeah, And I mean with thesenew returning rules, I kind of
feel like it's going to benefit arunning back more than a wide receiver because

(01:01:43):
it's essentially like a run play.Now, why did the Titans target guys
that returned because the returns are back? Baby? Yeah, yeah, it's
it's there's they're they're making it.I really am excited to see that.
By the way, Like, Ithink that's going to be a little better
than people are thinking it's going tobe. I'm not out there, I'm
with you. I think it's gonnaend up being a pretty valuable position.
Once the everybody's acclimated to the rules, I think you're gonna be able to

(01:02:07):
really make a play and maybe breaka game on a on a return in
this format. So I'm I'm stokedto see it play out. Tyler Boyd
has been has visited the Titans.I don't know, maybe by the time
we're done recording here, he's actuallya Tennessee Titan. Did you say you're
pulling up pretty Ricky. Yeah,there's still a bit of an enigma to

(01:02:35):
solve with Traylon Burke's you know,the impression that that I get, that
that I've said is I kind offeel like they are going to try and
move him around and give him somelooks to to try and salvage what he's
he's capable of. There. There'sthere's a lot of bodies at wide receiver,
and I'm curious to get your takeon on the receiving core, uh,

(01:03:00):
with or without Tyler Boyd. SoI think I you know, I
did a whole lot of like leakingthings, you know, like fluids,
leaking, squirting. Are we it'sFriday? Happy Friday? T G.
I you're a gin guy, Sosorry, Yeah, I don't know a

(01:03:20):
whole lot of gin drinks. I'msorry, it's I've never what you need.
Yeah, I'll tell you there wego. Maybe I'll be a ginger
No, uh no. The receivingwe kind of I kind of went into
it a little earlier about I thinkthat you're in a much better shape now
than you were last year. BeforeHopkins was signed. I was like,
or before Hopkins was at and youwere like, I don't know what we're

(01:03:44):
gonna do. But now you're lookingat Calvin Ridley and Hopkins as yours your
main two. And then, likeI stated earlier, these two tight ends
that the Titans have at the top, I think can be really good past
receiving tight ends. They can filterinto that third spot in some of the
sets. So me, I thinkthey've got a little more flexible ability they
did last year. Now once youget past those four, for me,

(01:04:05):
yeah, there's you better hope noone gets hurt long time, and that's
a real concern Burke's I think thatthey're going to give him shots. I
think that that there's a little bitof the some of the coach speak here
is coming in as you want totry to build up a guy's a guy's
confidence who maybe hasn't been able tobe given the shot that he has.

(01:04:26):
He's he's been injured. You wanthim to to not be down. You
want to Why wouldn't he's on yourroster, on stelling a rookie contract.
Why wouldn't you try to build himup? He's hey, he has talent,
he had the film college. Imean, and what they said is
they may try to use him atslot, move him around. Let's fine,
what works for him. Maybe hewasn't used correctly. Maybe we can
find a home for him. Andhere's the deal. If Burks turns out

(01:04:46):
to be a pretty good slot receiverin the NFL, I mean, so
I'll take him years. I mean, so be it. And if he's
not, I think that, youknow, we keep thinking about n W
I here who he's like, Iguess I got to go out and produce
again. He hasn't been putred.You just know, like, Okay,
I guess we got to rely oninto bi again, which I mean again,

(01:05:08):
it's like, okay, I guess. Well. I think that particular
problem is that you're asking a guywho's probably best cast as wide receiver five,
wide receiver six in a deep passingoffense. You're asking him to be
wide receiver two the last two seasons, it feels like, right, and
where he's not a wide receiver,two, he at least has produced in

(01:05:30):
some way at an NFL level.Yeah, for sure. Maybe under Callahan
even he can throw a little more, Oh, that would be yeah.
And hopefully Phillips is healthy and hecan show he's so on his film from
college, because with his quickness andwhat he can do, he could be
a real asset to this team.So there's a lot of things there.

(01:05:50):
Obviously, if you can find Boyd, he's I think Boyd's twenty nine and
I'm not sure when he turns thirty. I think he's twenty nine. Yeah,
I don't I don't know. Soyou're approaching that like danger Will Robinson
area for a wide receiver, Buthe's coming off of the season I think
he had sixty plus receptions, sixhundred plus yards, and he's familiar with

(01:06:14):
the terminology and the offense is aboutto come in. So it would be
someone who could be plug and playfor me. And as long as they're
not signing him to like a fouryear deal, you know, I think
it's a no brainer. To tryto at least have some consistency for your
young quarterback, for your your newhead coach, for the offensive coordinators there
everything. I think it's just asafety blanket that can go. But I

(01:06:35):
think that you can get around thatlittle bit. Am I thrilled with the
receiver depth? No, But likeI would challenge you to go around outside
of you know, the teams likeMiami and some others, they're just absolutely
studs at you know depth. Buteven like the Chiefs, I don't think
are one hundred percent. Now theygot a lot faster this offseason. They
got a lot of weapons there.But last year I don't think that.

(01:06:55):
I don't think the Chiefs were everhappy with their receiving corps, and they
found ways to win. They gotPatrick Holmes. I get, I'm going
down a I'm going I don't needto be going down because I'm comparing apples
to mango trees. So but butI think that when you look at the
depth chart, they are better thanthey were last year. And I still
think you have options for a creativeoffensive mind. Fair enough, so we

(01:07:19):
this was one I didn't list toyou. I'm just realizing as I'm reviewing
the text to make sure we don'tleave anything out, but I'm just gonna
spring it on you. Just justsee areas of need that remain on this
team after the draft. Was thereanything that surprised you that they didn't really
address? And do you think thereare quality options still out there that they
can fill some of the holes youthink they have? Well, I think

(01:07:42):
the need to address edge and safetyprimarily. I think that also tackle depth.
We talked about. The easy thingto there for safety is just go
spend some of your money on JustinSimmons. Go just do it and makes
so much sense. He's right there, Go get him. I think that
if you've got a lot of maybeyou want to link back up with the
Dori Jackson. I'm kidding, butI think that I think Odell Beckham was

(01:08:08):
taken, so we receiver. Idon't think, you know, Boyd.
Maybe there's some other things out there, but it's just the real one.
I think that they need to goafter the tackle depth as well, and
I just don't know what's out therefor them to go. Maybe man I
really liked a but I who rusherwho? I'm sorry? Well, Manu

(01:08:36):
Ogba, there we go. Okay, all right, Yeah, I like
him. I like Carl Lawson,but I see, I have to be
honest with people about Carl Lawson.I haven't really watched Carl Lawson since he's
been with the Jets, but Idid my homework on him when he was
a free agent after his run withthe Bengals, and I'm like, man,
this dude, pay this man likehe's he's gonna be fantastic. And

(01:08:59):
they didn't, and I don't rememberwho they went with instead of him,
but I'm I see that name popup, and I'm like, oh,
yeah, damn, Carlawson still outthere, go get him? Why not?
Yeah? I mean at this pointin time and chasing names, you
got to find someone who's gonna bea fit and go from there. I
mean, but just from what's actuallyout there as far as the free agent
class, I just I don't knowwho you go on give, but you

(01:09:24):
need to dress somebody, bring itbody, see what can roll through.
What's your your confidence level? Likein this new regime with Rand Carthon,
Chad Brinker. Chad Brinker, who, by the way, I don't know
if you've if you've seen this onTwitter, who's apparently the uh the the
shadow king of the Titans organization.Chad Brinker is the one that's secretly running
the whole thing. But Chad Brinker, Ran Carthon, Brian Callahan the way

(01:09:47):
they've gone about beginning to retool thisroster and try and field a competitive squad.
What do you think about the jobthey've done so far? What's your
confidence level like in this group?What is what is the tenfoil hat thing
out there? That Ran is justa mouthpiece and he's just the front center
and everybody else running behind him.So it was Rabele running everything before and

(01:10:10):
now it's so I don't necessarily thinkthat that's one hundred percent untrue because I
think that anytime a new new GMcomes in, there's going to be some
collaborative and he has preached collaboration fromday one, and I think that would
have became kind of a little apparentthat some of the metrics they wanted to
focus on we're going to be collaboratedon. In the Rabel regime, they
said, well, time to moveon, yep. And that's tough to

(01:10:32):
do with Rabel having the success thathe the level of success he had and
what he was able to do withhonestly some really crappy rosters and able to
produce anything what he did. So, I you know, I think as
far as that, there's skepticism therewhere you're going from a quote unquote successful
NFL coach for your team to someoneelse. But I think with where they're

(01:10:53):
heading, you kind of have towhat was it that we got burned the
old saying we got burned on inJay Robb? We trust? Well,
we shouldn't have trusted that, man, Yeah, we shouldn't have. But
that's but that's my point. Fora while there we thought, dude,
ship's gold, I can't do anythingwrong and what was hilarious about that?
And I'm gonna give him this prop. I don't even know if he's listening,
but Jonathan Born, I think likeit was after the twenty twenty season,

(01:11:16):
he started going, Man, hesaid, I'm not saying they're gonna
be but if this this doesn't go, and this doesn't go based on decisions
they've made, John Robinson and Vailableare gonna be on the hot seat.
He said that a good year anda half before it actually happened. I
was like, what what crystal balldo you have? He was right on
I mean like everything he was talkingabout, like the tackle situation flowed out,

(01:11:39):
the how they handled quarterback, flailedout, the receiver. I mean
just and that this was before A. J. Brown that he said this,
So like, wow, that's someforesight. Yeah, well, well
he's a he's a very smart,smart, smart human being. I think
that you do have a level oftrust in leash with people who are starting
things out. I think though,if Latham fails, if Sweat fails,

(01:12:03):
there's your top two picks from thisyear. If they're just absolutely horrible,
then you start to go all rightnow. But I think that the direction
they're going, they're they're addressing theneeds over flash, which I'm appreciative of.
They're at least trying to say,well, we need help in these
areas. Desperately offensive line was adesperate need at the tackle position. So

(01:12:26):
they did that. They're sticking withtheir young quarterback and they didn't try to
upset that or do anything. Theythink they have enough there. The Titans
themselves going and saying, you knowwhat, Rabable, we love you,
and we're going to go on tosomethings a little more exciting. We're gonna
try to get in a little more. This century football to me, shows
the direction of the organization at leastpointed somewhere, because I've been I've been
saying, I don't care what theTitans do, just be exciting, and

(01:12:46):
they have been exciting. Uh it'sin a while, it's been a minute,
So I think that at least thatright there tells me they're trying to
go in that direction. And I'mwilling to hear them out, you know,
at this point in time. Nowtalk to me in a y or
we'll see, but right now,I'm willing to hear them out. All
right, my man, Well wehave, we have made it through my
show notes. So I thank youagain for taking the time to hop on

(01:13:10):
time and really dig into the JCLatham discussion. I I personally think that
was pretty good. Like I don'tknow, I haven't caught every Titans podcast
or show since the draft, butI gotta figure that was some some really
detailed stuff that you're you're not gonnaget everywhere. So I appreciate your time
today. Uh, let our letour listeners, let our viewers know where
they can find you on social mediathese days. Yeah, I'm still on

(01:13:33):
Twitter. Ryan on Broadway I stilllove to repost anything that that that anybody's
doing. Like I said earlier,a lot of props, a lot of
guys doing a lot of good thingsout there for the so Bros, for
for Broadway. Uh, there's alot of stuff like and I'll be remiss
to say. I know that noteverybody's I know soccer is not everybody's bag,
but Ben Right and the Speedway creware just absolutely soccer was a more

(01:13:57):
popular sport in America, those wouldbe the best soccer writers in America and
they would be thought of. Theywould You wouldn't even be able to talk
to those guys. They're doing sucha job they are, really Their coverage
of that team in Nashville soccer isjust top notch if you're into soccer,
So make sure that you're covering thoseguys. The Broadway crew, Justin Mellow
is getting his scoop, so he'sdoing a lot of good stuff. So

(01:14:18):
just I want to plug Broadway morethan anything than myself. Those guys are
still doing bang up job. Easton'sreally doing a lot of good things with
the Hot Read podcast and everything he'sdoing out there. Of course, you
know Mike Herndon's one of the bestout there. I know he's writing for
Paul and he does the Efforts podcast. It's just a lot of good talent.
I think I mentioned Zach earlier.I hope if I didn't, my

(01:14:38):
bad, Zach. I think I'vebeen You're doing a great job through James
Foster. And if I forgot anybody, I'm sorry. My memory is not
what it used to be at fortythree years old. I took a lot
of hits in college and it happensto the best of us. But really,
some good stuff out there. Butbe you find me Ryan on Broadway,
on Twitter and everything else is mypersonal social so you're not gonna I'm
not gonna give it out there.You go there, you go, let

(01:14:59):
us no, let them know.I'm at Stony Keeley on Twitter, collectively
at Sobros Network on all major socialmedia platforms. Rate Review. Subscribe to
the Unofficial Titans podcast wherever you takein your shows, go to Stacking the
Inbox Stacking the Inbox dot com andyou get all of mine and Zach's coverage
of the Tennessee Titans trays up theretoo. Writing a weekly column fantastic stuff.

(01:15:23):
You get Sobro Saturday on the Sobrosubstack now as well. Tomorrow we've
got a new episode of the moviereview rewind podcast. Brandon and I dig
into a hidden gym from two thousandand three called the Cooler that yielded an
Oscar nom for Alec Baldwin. Soif you're into that kind of stuff,
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(01:15:45):
a month is all you got topay. That's stacking the inbox dot com
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Titans fans. Steph