July 19, 2024 • 41 mins
After a break for the offseason, Stoney is back to break down the Jamal Adams signing and preview training camp, which kicks off next week for the Tennessee Titans!
The Unofficial Titans Podcast is powered by Memo's Mexican Kitchen out in Mount Juliet - check 'em out today: https://www.memosmexicankitchen.com/
The Unofficial Titans Podcast is powered by Memo's Mexican Kitchen out in Mount Juliet - check 'em out today: https://www.memosmexicankitchen.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:08):
From so Bros HQ in Nashville,Tennessee to wherever you're cheering on your Tennessee
Titans. The Sobers Network brents theUnofficial Titans Podcast. Welcome back for another
(00:31):
episode of the Unofficial Titans Podcast righthere on so Bros Network, powered by
Memos Mexican Kitchen, the best Mexicanfood in the Nashville area, right here
in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, justa mile north of I forty off the
Mount Juliet exit. It's your boy, Big Natural Stony Keeley flying solo for
(00:52):
today's episode. You guys know howit gets. Things run a little hot.
It gets late in the week andwe don't have an episode. I
don't know if one's free right now. I don't know if I'll be free
by the time he is free.So we just got to do the episode.
We just got to talk into thismicrophone whenever we get the chance to
do so. We do have ourminds right and our asses tight, and
(01:15):
we are going to be kicking offthe campaign March towards the twenty twenty four
season. We were supposed to havelike a training camp preview episode before training
camp actually gets started next week.But with everything that's happened this week,
I'm just gonna I'm gonna weigh inon a couple of things. We had
a nice little break there for afew weeks. It's been a minute since
(01:37):
you've heard from me on the UnofficialTitans Podcast because we had our offseason content
going on. I've been on footballand other f words. I've been on
Stacking the Inbox, doing some filmstudies, doing some writing, written a
couple of pieces for Sobros. Network, But just tried to kind of lay
low for a little bit and tryto rest and rejuvenate for the twenty twenty
four season. Didn't happen at all, but nevertheless, we carry on.
(02:01):
I want to talk about the JamalAdams signing a little bit today. I'd
said it in my Film Friday piecefor Stacking the Inbox, but I know
my Twitter account, it's I tryto make it for everyone out there,
right, Like, I don't wantto just tweet about Titans football all the
time, because I have people thatfollow me for other reasons and all that
(02:22):
stuff, and I tweet a lotof nonsense and for people that don't want
to put up with that shit anddon't follow me on Twitter. It's fine,
no hard feelings, but I gotto kind of cross over a little
bit. And that's what I'm doinghere too. Because you've heard a lot
about Jamal Adams over the week orso. I haven't tweeted a whole lot.
(02:43):
If you don't follow me, ifyou don't feel like putting up with
the bullshit, just listen to thepodcast and I'll double down. I'll make
sure that you get that coverage hereas well. And I want to talk
about Jeffrey Simmons comments about bookmarking shitpeople getting blocked. I think it's kind
kind of kind of an interesting discussion. And I do have a few training
(03:04):
camp battles that I want to getthrough today. Probably a quick episode,
just kind of resetting. We'll reallyget into the weeds on training camp in
the twenty twenty four iteration of thisTitans team next week, hoping to get
Owen sitting down and catching up withhim. We haven't done an episode together
in over a month at this point, since the last time we actually recorded
(03:28):
one of the offseason content episodes.So the break is over and we are
back to talking Titans on a weeklybasis, and we are going to focus
on the twenty twenty four campaign trainingcamp around the corner. The preseason will
be here before you know it thenand we'll have some real, real football
to break down. I love thistime of year myself. I know a
(03:49):
lot of people are starting to gettired of summer, and that's what I
think makes July and February the twoworst months of the year, because in
Lie you start getting to that pointwhere you're like, man, this is
just there's the sports calendar is dead. There's no games to watch. I
mean, I'm watching tape from thetwenty three season, kind of getting ready
(04:12):
for the next year's draft, soon and so forth, but there's no
sports on The NBA season's over,the NHL season's over, the Euros have
concluded, and there's nothing to watch. Same way in February, the season's
over. I'm tired of the coldweather. I'm ready for it to warm
(04:32):
off, just like in July,I'm ready for it to cool off.
It's a tough stretch to get through, but luckily we only have a couple
more weeks left. Hall of Famegame is going to be here before you
know it, and then we gotpreseason action to break down. I'm stoked
for training camp to start. Let'sstart with the Jamal Adams signing. Because
I was being a bit of anass on Twitter when it happened, you
(04:55):
know, I mean, you knowmy style. I'm pretty sarcastic. I
can be a bit of a troll, be a bit passive aggressive. I
made a comment about let Rand cookwith an asterisk that said let Ran and
his boys cook. That's just accountabilityon my part, you know, because
if we're going to be critical aboutMike Rabel hiring all his friends, we
(05:16):
have to keep that same energy forRand Carthon when he signs players through connections.
He talked about using his relationships.I just want to keep the same
energy out there. Okay, wesaid it was a problem for Mike Vrabel.
Let's acknowledge that Rand Carthon has madea few hires, made a few
signings through his network. That's allI'm saying. I said, if y'all
(05:44):
don't like the Jamal Adams signing,or no, I said, y'all better
like the Jamal Adams signing, orhe's going to call your wives fugly,
which is referring to him calling outa writer's will, not calling out a
writer's wife. A writer posts afilm clip not too kind to Jamal Adams,
and Jamal Adam retweets it with aphoto of the guy's wife and just
(06:08):
says yikes, and then doubles downwhen he's asked about it, says something
along the lines of when people golow, I go lower. You see
the headlines like the former teams areexcited to get this guy out of the
building, the fans don't want himanymore, the fans don't like him,
quote unquote, he's an asshole.And I'm thinking, like, why the
(06:30):
fuck would you try to solve yoursafety problem with a guy like that?
Just kind of rubbed me the wrongway. Then I do the tape study
and I can't fathom a scenario.Ran Carthon and Denard Wilson are watching the
Jamal Adams tape and saying, yes, you know what, this guy can
(06:51):
be our Swiss Army knife safety.We're gonna drop him. He's still got
the range to cover, he cando it all. That's not what he
is. And then the money comesout, it's like one point one two
five million. You're like, okay, well they're not paying him to be
the do it all safety, andyou watch the tape and you realize the
(07:13):
Seattle Seahawks used him in a waythat was very careful, meticulous. They
tried their best to scheme him upin ways where he wouldn't be one on
one at a disadvantageous position, andI think it worked for the most part.
I mean, I watched five gamesand Film Friday is up on stacking
(07:33):
the inbox now as I record this. I watched five games against the Browns,
against the Bengals, against the Ravens, the forty nine ers, and
the Dallas Cowboys. I think that'sa good sample size. I mean,
shit, I think he only playedin nine games last year. I watched
the bulk of a season, andthere weren't too many times in games that
(07:57):
I felt like he ended up onan island and a coverage situation that he
couldn't manage. For the most part, he's a pretty sound, sturdy player.
So I cooled off on the signing. I'm still interested to see,
like, who's gonna be the firstmedia member to draw his eyre to cross
(08:18):
paths with the guy and bow upon him a little bit? How's that
going to go? And the moreI thought about it. The more I
thought, now, you know what, like if people come after me,
I am the same level of petty. Like if you go low, I'm
going to go lower. So canI really hate on the guy all that
much? I don't know. Idon't know. The injury history does concern
(08:43):
me. You get to a pointin your career and he's only twenty eight
years old, but to get intohis seventh season and now it's not just
like one thing that's slowing him down, but you're starting to get that injury
bug where multiple different issues that areunrelated seemingly start popping up, and that
(09:03):
worries me a little bit. Butseeing the contract dollars, seeing the tape
made me cool off and say,Okay, you know what, I don't
know that the Titans are done atthe safety position. And as a sidebar,
if they could go ahead and signQuandary Diggs, I think that would
be that would be pretty good.He still plays some good ball. You're
(09:24):
watching Jamal Adams and several times I'mlike, damn, number six is popping.
Diggs is out there playing ball.So I cooled off on the signing
a little bit, and then whenI the further I got into the tape.
Specifically, I thought the Browns gameand the Bengals game, we're both
(09:45):
pretty pretty good games for Adams,and I start to see a role for
Adams in this defense. And Ithink it's defending the flat. I think
it's clogging up throwing lanes in thered zone. I think it's blitzing,
and not just not just the firezone blitzes, where you know, you
(10:07):
line up a safety at the endof the line of scrimmage and then you
overload the other side so that ityou know, you're thinking it's coming from
one direction, but then they mayblitz the safety and drop everybody else,
or they may drop the safety andblitz somebody from the other side. No,
they lined him up as a asa big nickel at times and send
(10:28):
him from there with the linebacker orthe edge dropping out into that zone.
And they got kind of creative withhow they sent him. And I think
for a defense that probably will bepredicated on a lot of pressure winning the
defensive front, I think they'll usehim as a piece there. I don't
(10:50):
know that he is. It's weirdbecause you watch the tape and I'll give
credit to my buddy Jake Robertson ofthe Morning Glory Show every Tuesday or shit
every Thursday morning at Glory Day Sportson YouTube. He brought it up like
it looked like he was trying toavoid contact, and there were times in
(11:11):
run support that I thought he tooksome bad angles and it did kind of
look like he was a little hesitantto really dive in there. There's other
games where he's feisty, he's fighting, and so I landed on a spot
where I give him a bit ofa pass for some of that. I
(11:31):
think there's some inconsistency in his openfield tackling, and part of me just
wondered if he's just trying to protecthimself. Now, I don't know how
you guys feel about that, anddo you fall to a player for trying
to protect themselves on the field.I don't know. There are times where
(11:52):
I can at least understand it.Probably not the best thing, but you
get it. And there were timeson his tape where I thought he had
a chance to make a tackle andhe didn't. And that's where you have
to decide for yourself, like asan evaluator, if you ran Karthon,
if you're Denard Wilson, Are youokay with it? If he's you root
(12:16):
it out and you say, well, are you protecting yourself or is something
else going on? You're just yourAIM's off. And if you're comfortable with
a player protecting themselves, you finewith the signing. But I did think
that was an issue. I don'tthink he supports the run in the way
that most people think. When youhear support the run right, you're thinking
(12:37):
like, meet me in the holeand duke it out right, crash the
gap and blow up the running backkind of deal. Where I think Adams
excels and run support is being thecleanup artist, where maybe if a defensive
lineman an edge, a linebacker canget a hand on the shoe string kind
of deal, slow him down justthe slightest bit Adams can and still close
(13:01):
on a ball carrier. I dothink he's a plus in run support.
And you hear people say like,Okay, well, why was this a
priority? Why was a player likethis a priority? And I would say
two things. One, this Titansdefense is pretty fucking young. They've invested
(13:24):
heavily in it in the draft,and there has been a bit of an
overhaul in the leadership. I thinkyou have like Jeffrey Simmons clearly a vocal
leader, and then you go gettwo corners and Cheeto and Snead and you
have a Moni hooker. But like, outside of that man, they're kind
(13:46):
of doing a little bit of rebuilding, retooling, reshuffling, not only from
a personnel standpoint, but from avibe standpoint. And so adding a Jamal
Adams type one you get the experience, you get the leadership qualities, and
I do think there are still leadershipqualities that show up on the tape in
(14:09):
how effective he is at communicating motion. When something happens on offense, Jamal
Adams is signaling, he's adjusting,he's getting into the right spot. He
recognizes a lot of stuff and situationswhere he did end up one on one
with a tight end. I thinkabout the Dallas game against Jake Ferguson,
(14:31):
specifically Jake Ferguson trying to throw alittle like flares at him, like sell
out but break in. Jamal Adamsdidn't bite on it, recognizing the looks
understanding like the Numbers game in realtime when a guy comes through his zone
understanding that the other guys are guardedand now this is my guy, this
(14:54):
is my responsibility, and carrying himthrough the zone either onto the next zone
for the next guy to cover,or to go down the field with him.
I think you see those things,but I also think you still need
depth. You still need depth becausewhere they're at in the safety room,
(15:16):
you don't have a lot of NFLexperience beyond Amani Hooker and Elijah Molden.
So if you need somebody to comeout and fill this role, and specifically
where I think he lands as likea big nickel that can match up against
tight ends. Maybe not the moredynamic ones like you're Travis Kelcey's, you're
(15:37):
George Kittles, but you're Jake Ferguson's. Yeah, he can lock him down
as a big nickel dime linebacker thathas the range to patrol the middle of
the field for the crossing stuff,can still clamp down on the short to
mid range stuff, but also feistyand physical enough to get in there a
(16:00):
tackle when he needs to. Soyou start doing the numbers game, he
said, well, why was thissuch a priority. It's the question I've
spent like five minutes blabbering about.Instead of answering, and well, if
you need to put two nickels outthere, you got Roger McCreery on one
side, who do you have onthe other. I mean, are you
(16:22):
gonna thrust Jarvis Brownley Junior into thatrole? Right now? You can put
James Williams out there. I mean, the the offseason has not been met
with glowing reviews of James Williams sofar. I like James william I'm kind
of interested to see how the projectplays out, but I think he's a
special teams player in year one?Do you put Elijah Molden out there?
(16:45):
And if you do put Elijah Moldenout there as the big nickel, well
then who are you playing at safety? We're putting the puzzle pieces down and
we're realizing we're only a formation,a personnel grouping away from the Titans having
to field a player that doesn't havea lot of NFL experience. And I'm
(17:10):
not gonna name him by names.Okay, why because there was a burial
of Matthew Jackson. Poor Matthew Jacksondidn't just catch astray. He caught about
ten strees on football and other fwords. I'm trying to give the kid
a break. I want to bringhim up. He's a fine player for
his level. Developmental guy, seewhat he turns into. But I don't
(17:33):
think it's ideal for guys like himto be on the field in meaningful games.
And then you look at the linebackerspot and you say, okay,
well you have guys that can bethe heat seeking missile in Kenneth Murray,
Jack Gibbons really gap sound run defender. But who of those guys has the
real range to get out there andrun with a tight end. There's crossing
(18:00):
the formation if they need to,or you know, a bigger slot receiver.
You know, you're guys like TylerBoyd for example, that might not
have the quickness they used to have, but they're still shifty and they need
a guy that can get up intheir fucking grill and disrupt the pass.
I don't know that the Titans havethem. So again, you're like a
personnel grouping away from having to putJack Gibbons in a situation where like he's
(18:25):
got to get out there and tryto run with Sam Laporta or something like
that, you know, And that'swhere I think you see the value of
the depth because Ultimately, I dothink this was a depth signing and I'm
on board with it now. Imade my jokes, I got my little
bullshit troll jobs out of the wayday one, and then I dug into
(18:47):
the tape and I said, youknow what, I think this is actually
gonna be really fucking awesome for theTitans. And I've got a full piece,
a nine minute video on stacking theinbox dot Com Jamal Adams tape supporting
my claim and highlighting exactly why Ilike him, highlighting the limitations that he
(19:07):
still has, and showing some prettyfun plays too. I think he can
be a fun player. You hopelike he's just he's not the asshole that
some of the media has painted himout to be. You hope that he's
not going to be taking shots atpeople's wives on Twitter, and you hope
that he can stay healthy. Andif all of those things come true,
(19:30):
then I think the Titans will havea pretty valuable depth piece in Jamal Adams.
I think where I shunned the ideathat he wasn't washed before, I
think he's not washed. I thinkhe still has some good ball ahead of
him, so I'm looking forward tothat. But that was a banner day
on Titans Twitter. To be honestwith you, guys, I mean,
(19:52):
we were having a field day withit. There were people panicking, the
sky was falling. There were peoplesaying, hold up that bad. People
were saying this makes up the Titansa fucking super Bowl contender. That's crazy.
You all need to calm down withthat, unless you're trolling like me,
in which case I'm I vibe withit. Good job, keep up
(20:14):
the good work. But it didcause Jeffrey Simmons to tweet something along the
lines of I'm just seeing a lotof tweets out there that I bookmark.
And then Mike Herndon was blocked byJeffrey Simmons. Jared Stillman blocked by Jeffrey
Simmons, which I think the prevailingtheory is that Stillman was blocked before this
(20:36):
incident, but Mike and Zach coveredhis blocking in depth on football and other
f words this week, along withthe preview of the safety position. So
I'd recommend going and getting a chanceto listen to that. They got in
and out of there in an hour, and it's because I wasn't there to
take us down a Sam Howe rabbithole. How he's one of the more
underrated quarterbacks in the league, andI think he's the future of the Seahawks
(20:59):
franchise. I didn't get to derailus that much with my one more thing.
So it's a nice concise show,a preview of the safety position.
They talk a little bit about JamalAdams and Jeffrey Simmons blocking him. A
lot of people have called it soft, and you know, there is something
in the back of my head thatdoes kind of feel like, oh man,
(21:23):
it's just I mean, if you'rethat rattled by people on Twitter,
what's going on in the locker room. And to Simmons defense, he does
have to play with the pressure.He does have to hear all the criticism.
You know, I get one personevery few months that's just like Stony
(21:48):
sucks. Can't listen to his podcast. He cusses too much, he talks
about he makes sexual innuindo too much, despite the fact that football is a
pretty raw, sensual, guttural sport. You know, it's like saying like,
there's not that much difference between there'snot that much difference between a hard
(22:15):
hitting football game and fucking in aroom with no air conditioning. I'll just
leave it at that. Okay,they don't like my personality and I can
shrug it off. I can sayfuck that person and go on about my
day. Don't have the magnifying glasson me the way a stud NFL player
does, where it's just a NonStopbarrage. If you're logging into Twitter and
(22:38):
you see the negative stuff over andover and it's a regular occurrence, and
you're under this pressure from coaching staffsand people. I get that football players
are paid handsomely, but the factis you're still thrusting young guys in.
Man, there's another I didn't forthat in the window to happen. You're
(23:02):
thrusting young guys into high pressure situationsthat might not be particularly well adjusted to
the world. As a principle.I'm not talking about Jeffrey Simmons specifically in
this case. I can understand whereif you're under pressure from coaching staff and
you only get like seventeen days outof the year to prove your merit,
that's pressure. And if you're constantlyseeing the negative stuff, if you're not
(23:27):
used to that, you got tocut it out so that you can focus
on ball. So in a sensethat in that case, with that understanding
of it, I say, yeah, you know what, I get why
Jeffrey Simmons would want to block people, to cut the negativity out, plain
(23:47):
and simple. I get it.The issue with Mike, though, I
don't fucking get it because it's notlike Mike. Mike went a little hard,
Okay, but I eat stuff thatgoes a little hard sometimes and it's
partly tongue in cheek. We're justhaving fun. We're caught up in the
moment. It's part of being afan. But I think like what Simmons
(24:11):
took issue with wasn't really all thatbad. And that's where you know,
I can say if if he's blockingme, no no harm, no foul,
like do what you gotta do,big man, I'm still gonna be
rooting for you on Sundays, thatkind of deal. But I'm also in
the back of my head like you'reblocking me over this, blocking me over
(24:32):
this. I don't know, man, I'm curious to see. I kind
of hope. I hope somebody askshim about it in a press conference.
My hopes aren't high that it getsdone, and maybe I should take up
some of my friends on their offerto get me in the building. Maybe
I could ask myself, They're notgonna let me in the building. They're
(24:55):
not Titans. Pr is gonna takeone look at my Twitter feed and say
this guy is unserious. They're goingto be like, oh, he's trolling.
He's not really a member of thePFWA paid my dues. They either
didn't check my Twitter or they checkedit and said it was okay. So
I don't know. My point isI would be curious to hear more of
(25:18):
an explanation. And I know JeffreySimmons was on ramon Kayla and Will this
week kind of defending it, saidhe was protecting the locker room. I
get it, but just I don'tknow, man, I don't know.
I it makes me feel a certainway. And Zach pointed out on f
(25:40):
Wards this week that you're just talkingabout a younger generation of players that maybe
you know it's it's different handling thissort of stuff than in years past.
But I don't know, what doyou guys think? That's what I'm curious.
Would you rather a player respond tocriticism by blocking you or would you
(26:03):
rather a player respond by quote tweetinga picture of your significant other and saying,
yikes, like we got we gotboth ends of the character spectrum going
here in the Titans locker room,and I hope it works out for him
training camp battles that I'm stoked towatch this summer. I think we've got
(26:26):
We've got quite a few starting spots. I'm gonna say, let's see one,
two, three, four, five, six. I'm gonna say six
because I think the right guard Ithink the right guard spot is locked up.
After doing my film study on BillCallahan's run scheme in Cleveland, which
(26:48):
is up on Stacking the Inbox dotcom. It's a great video, Zach
and I really get into the weedsand some of the film there. I
feel like Sadiq Charles is the rightguard. I think he's got the right
combination of power and speed that theylike from their guards. I think it's
an important position for guys to beable to not only get out in space
(27:12):
when they're pulling and moving around alittle bit, but to hit like hell
when they get to the spot,blow those fucking gaps open. And I
think Sadiq Charles is capable of thatmore than any other guard in the running
for it. I think Daniel Brunskillis going to move over to center,
and I think they're going to feelpretty good about Cush brun Skill at center.
(27:33):
But then Brunskill also being a swingguy that can play pretty much anywhere
if an injury arrives. I likethat. I love Brunskill as a depth
piece there. I think he couldbe a pretty good six man. So
I'm not including right guard. Iam including right tackle because I am fascinated
by the summer we have had atthe right tackle spot. Nicholas petti Frere.
(27:56):
Probably you'd consider the incumbent has someexperience, played well in the past
at right tackle. I think he'smore of an athletic guy zone blocking.
I think Jalen Duncan man the hourglassesrunning out on my boy, it sounds
like I was a big advocate forJalen Duncan. I still think he has
(28:21):
the athleticism to develop into a niceplayer. I think maybe maybe moving to
a more gap heavy scheme could helphim in a way. I think there's
less reading and reacting involved in alot of these plays running with a gap
(28:41):
scheme, and maybe that was thebiggest issue with Duncan making the reads following
the assignments understanding what's happening in frontof him. But I still think he's
a really talented guy. And whilehe may end up being the odd man
out, I think he's a primecandidate for a practice squad spot. I'm
not ready to give up on himjust yet. I'm still not I'm still
(29:03):
not giving up on him. Butthe guy that has really made this race
interesting is John Adjuku. Because JohnAdjuku is the one guy of the three
that seemed to be in the runningfor this job that really has an element
of power to his game to gowith the athleticism. John Ajuku's a big,
(29:26):
long guy. John Ajuku had somegreat tape at Boise Boise State and
was my favorite undrafted signing last year. Didn't know if the staff would have
the patience with him along with JalenDuncan, so I kind of felt like
(29:47):
a Juku would would be the oddman out. But with Duncan and NPF
both being injured to start Ota S, Adjuku was the guy that they plugged
in at right tackle and from thesounds of reports coming out of those OTAs,
he's done pretty well. And youhear Brian Callahan talk about him in
(30:08):
media availability sounds like, yeah,he's done everything we've asked him to do,
a little bit higher on him thanI think we were before the season
started. I've been a big fanof his for a long time, but
now comes the part where the rubbermeets the road. Training camp starting up,
(30:29):
It's going to be a competition.Let's see how he holds up with
a guy like NPF there coming backgetting the reps, Jalen Duncan getting healthier,
he missed some time this spring withan injury, getting healthier, making
this a race for that spot.I think it's a three horse race,
and I'm fascinated to see how it'sgoing to play out on defense, looking
(30:52):
at the inside linebacker spot because Ikeep joking and safety too, Safety two
two, A Moni hooker is gonnaget one one spot. Who's going to
be that second one? I stillthink it's gonna be Elijah Moulden or a
guy that they sign is yet tobe named, Quandary Diggs maybe, though
(31:15):
I still think he's closer to JamalAdams than he is prime Kevin Byerd.
So I don't know, I don'tknow what the answer is there, but
I like Elijah Moulden. So youfactor in these safeties and linebackers, and
I think those are two of thepositions we talk about here, and across
linebacker and safety. I kind offeel like this organization is trying to like
(31:37):
recreate Kyle Hamilton in the aggregate,like they've got a player on the roster
that can do something that Kyle Hamiltondid well for the Baltimore Ravens last year.
I don't know that that's the goal. Part of it is like just
the funny joke. It's nice,nice little catchphrase, let's create Kyle Hamilton
in the aggregate. But then alsowhen you look at the player's skill sets,
it's like, Okay, well theyneed this situation covered and for the
(32:01):
Baltimore Ravens Kyle Hamilton, Hamilton coulddo all of that. We don't have
a Kyle Hamilton, So how canwe replicate that for this defense? So
I don't know, I don't knowwhat they're gonna do. I mean,
ideally I want Cedric Gray to riseup and claim one of these linebacking spots
(32:24):
and be the guy that I thinkhe can be. But we have to
read the writing on the wall.It doesn't sound like they're in any hurry
to get Gray into that spot.And it's the same with James Williams.
I want him to grow into thatspot. Joking like tired Jack Gibbons and
(32:45):
Kenneth Murray wired James Williams and CedricGray. It's a funny tweet, but
I kind of like that's the vision. I want that to be what these
guys can grow into. I justthink that I might be being a little
over eager to make that happen.It sounds like the Titans are gonna play
it patiently and instead Jack Gibbons willbe lined up to do this, Kenneth
(33:07):
Murray will be lined up to dothat. When they need something else,
They're gonna bring Jamal Adams in.They're gonna pull Elijah Molden up. Like
I think, it's just gonna bea bunch of different moving parts in the
middle of the defense. To quoteour buddy Easton Freeze of the Hot Reed
(33:28):
podcast, you worry about the spineof this defense, and I think the
solution is going to be to justfill guys in in certain situations, and
instead of having one guy that cando it all, they're gonna have role
players that can do specific things,is what I feel like the approach is
going to be. So I don'tknow who the starters are going to be.
There might not be clearcut starters atinside linebacker. I mean, there
(33:52):
might just be personnel groupings where ifthey're in dime a lot more, maybe
Jack Gibbons isn't even seeing the field, maybe Kenneth Murray is lined up at
edge, and maybe Jamal Adams isthe dime linebacker. And then there may
be other cases where Jamal Adams isoff the field and they've got Kenneth Murray,
(34:13):
they've got Jack Gibbons, and they'vegot Cedric Gray out there defending the
run. It's fascinating because it's theone position. You know, we talk
about right tackle. I think that'sa very important job that's up for grabs.
But you have three guys in therace. It's a clear competition for
inside linebacker. We can say theseare the two best inside linebackers on the
(34:37):
team, but there's a myriad ofguys with different skill sets. It looks
like the multiple personnel groupings are goingto they're going to use them much differently.
So I'm fascinated by that because notonly do I not know who is
actually in the inside linebacker race,but I don't even know how the inside
linebackers are going to be used inthis defense. Get your popcorn, folks,
(35:00):
it's going to be a show.And then I look at what else
do I have here? Punt returnerand kick returner. Like everybody else covering
the Titans this spring, I too, am fascinated by how teams approach kick
returns with the new special teams rules. I tend to think this is a
(35:27):
space where Treylon Burks can still makea clear impact. Would love to see
him returning kicks. I acknowledge blockingand running might be more important in tighter
quarters for this kick play, Soit could be a running back that gets
that spot. Still like Dylan Johnson, Julius Chestnut is still in the fold.
(35:47):
Sounds like Hassan Haskins has had actuallya pretty good OTA session. Seen
a couple of people at practices sayJabari Small is making plays interesting decision to
be made at running back, ButI ultimately don't think running back three is
going to have major play on offense. So how do they approach that?
(36:10):
Do they put a running back outthere or do they maybe give a shot
to Traylon Burks, who is bigas fuck, gotten ripped, maybe a
bit of renewed vigor in this gamewith a new coaching staff and the chance
for a fresh start. It's awide receiver. I don't think Henna he's
(36:36):
gonna be a factor. I thinkthey're gonna look to DeAndre Hopkins, to
Calvin Ridley, you're big two.I think Tyler Boyd's gonna be that security
blanket. And I said on theHot Read podcast last week, I think
they're gonna be throwing the ball tothe tight ends and the running backs more
than people think. Opens the doorfor trailing Burks to be a sneaky,
big play machine, you know,drawing up like three or four plays his
(37:00):
way where he's catching the ball thirtyyards down the field kind of deal.
But I think his biggest impact,I think he could be the kick returner
for this team. What his specialtyis his strength and physicality, his shiftiness
in the open field with the ballin his hands, navigating traffic. You're
not asking him to get out thereand run precision routes. You're not asking
(37:22):
him to understand complex you know,route concepts or anything like that. It's
just get the ball run through traffic, and I think he could be a
player. Still, I'm not readyto give up on trailing Burke's either punt
returner. I don't know. Imean, it sounds an awful lot like
they want Jakwan Jackson to be theguy. But this idea that Kieras Jackson
(37:44):
is still hanging on to the rosterhas been floating around. I don't think
anybody's outright set it yet, butI've heard a couple of people are seen
I should should say, I don'thear tweets. I see tweets, you
read them this. Let's be belogical here, folks. I'm a champion
of that. Let's I've seen peoplesuggest that Kiarris Jackson could be a surprise
(38:07):
addition to the roster. I likedKiarris Jackson gadget kind of player, untapped
potential at Georgia, But I don'tknow. I'm not ready to put him
ahead of Jaquan Jackson just yet.I feel like Jackson, Jaquan Jackson is
going to be the punt returner andthen kick returner you're looking at. Is
(38:28):
it going to be Traylan Burks,Is it going to be Dylan Johnson,
Julius Chestnut or Hassan Haskins. There'sfour guys that I could realistically and maybe
even like I don't know, maybeyou do throw Jaquan Jackson into that mix
and Kiaris Jackson into that mix aswell. It's wide open position, battles
up for grabs. I can't waitto break this down even more once we
(38:52):
get more football to dissect starting nextweek, man, And like I said,
we're gonna try and get Owen backon the line. And it's been
a minute since you guys have heardfrom him. I'm excited to hear how
he's feeling about training camp, whathe's looking for, all that good stuff.
It starts up next week, baby, and then the season will be
here for you know it. Butthat's gonna do it for me on this
(39:15):
fine Friday morning. Hope you allguys have some some fun weekend plans.
I've got the house to myself.Wife's out of town on business, so
I'm gonna, like I said,I'm gonna pull up the coach Dan Casey
YouTube channel and just drink beer onthe couch and I want to smoke my
pipe in the living room, butI'm afraid she's gonna smell it when she
gets back, so I might haveto wait until she's gone for a longer
(39:37):
period of time. Maybe I cando it in my office and open up
a window get some air circulation.I don't know. I could use tips
from smokers how to not get caughtsmoking my pipe in the house. That's
gonna do it for me. Thankyou, guys for continuing to listen to
the Unofficial Titans Podcast, the flagshipshow of Sobros Network. Remember to go
(39:59):
out to Mount Juliet. Check outMemo's Mexican Kitchen mile north of I forty
off the Mount Juliet Exit the bestMexican food in the Nashville area. Listen,
I have the palette of a raccoon. I've told you guys that before
I eat anything, I love anything. It's I'm not too I'm not too
hard to please. I took Zachout there. Zach's a bit of a
(40:21):
foodie, and Zach agrees, prettydamn good, pretty damn good Mexican food.
So everybody I take out there,as a matter of fact, chimes
in, yeah, this is delicious. Check out the menu at memos Mexican
Kitchen dot com. Got even gotan ad going on sobros Networks. If
you go to Sobrosnetwork dot com,you can click the banner and go right
(40:43):
to the website. Check him out, Let him know that Stony sent you,
and enjoy one of the best mealsyou'll have in this city. Check
out all of my work covering theTitans, film studies, NFL draft coverage,
Stackingtheinbox dot com. All of myother works is up at Sobrosnetwork dot
com, merches up at sobroshop dotcom. Of course, rate review and
(41:05):
subscribe to the Unofficial Titans Podcast.Tell a friend, Hey, if you're
one of the people that does likemy sense of humor, that does get
that I'm kind of a sarcastic,passive, aggressive troll sometimes, but also
knows that I'm willing to chop itup in the dms and I talk to
everybody, and I try to beas down to earth and grateful as possible
for this platform. If you're oneof those people and you know somebody that
(41:29):
you think might be into it,let them know about the Unofficial Titans Podcast.
I'm here because you guys keep tuningin, and I'm grateful for that.
So rate reviews subscribe wherever you takein your shows, and that's going
to do it. Yeah, I'mbig natural Stony Keeley And until next time,
you stay classy Italians fans
From so Bros HQ in Nashville,Tennessee to wherever you're cheering on your Tennessee
Titans. The Sobers Network brents theUnofficial Titans Podcast. Welcome back for another
(00:31):
episode of the Unofficial Titans Podcast righthere on so Bros Network, powered by
Memos Mexican Kitchen, the best Mexicanfood in the Nashville area, right here
in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, justa mile north of I forty off the
Mount Juliet exit. It's your boy, Big Natural Stony Keeley flying solo for
(00:52):
today's episode. You guys know howit gets. Things run a little hot.
It gets late in the week andwe don't have an episode. I
don't know if one's free right now. I don't know if I'll be free
by the time he is free.So we just got to do the episode.
We just got to talk into thismicrophone whenever we get the chance to
do so. We do have ourminds right and our asses tight, and
(01:15):
we are going to be kicking offthe campaign March towards the twenty twenty four
season. We were supposed to havelike a training camp preview episode before training
camp actually gets started next week.But with everything that's happened this week,
I'm just gonna I'm gonna weigh inon a couple of things. We had
a nice little break there for afew weeks. It's been a minute since
(01:37):
you've heard from me on the UnofficialTitans Podcast because we had our offseason content
going on. I've been on footballand other f words. I've been on
Stacking the Inbox, doing some filmstudies, doing some writing, written a
couple of pieces for Sobros. Network, But just tried to kind of lay
low for a little bit and tryto rest and rejuvenate for the twenty twenty
four season. Didn't happen at all, but nevertheless, we carry on.
(02:01):
I want to talk about the JamalAdams signing a little bit today. I'd
said it in my Film Friday piecefor Stacking the Inbox, but I know
my Twitter account, it's I tryto make it for everyone out there,
right, Like, I don't wantto just tweet about Titans football all the
time, because I have people thatfollow me for other reasons and all that
(02:22):
stuff, and I tweet a lotof nonsense and for people that don't want
to put up with that shit anddon't follow me on Twitter. It's fine,
no hard feelings, but I gotto kind of cross over a little
bit. And that's what I'm doinghere too. Because you've heard a lot
about Jamal Adams over the week orso. I haven't tweeted a whole lot.
(02:43):
If you don't follow me, ifyou don't feel like putting up with
the bullshit, just listen to thepodcast and I'll double down. I'll make
sure that you get that coverage hereas well. And I want to talk
about Jeffrey Simmons comments about bookmarking shitpeople getting blocked. I think it's kind
kind of kind of an interesting discussion. And I do have a few training
(03:04):
camp battles that I want to getthrough today. Probably a quick episode,
just kind of resetting. We'll reallyget into the weeds on training camp in
the twenty twenty four iteration of thisTitans team next week, hoping to get
Owen sitting down and catching up withhim. We haven't done an episode together
in over a month at this point, since the last time we actually recorded
(03:28):
one of the offseason content episodes.So the break is over and we are
back to talking Titans on a weeklybasis, and we are going to focus
on the twenty twenty four campaign trainingcamp around the corner. The preseason will
be here before you know it thenand we'll have some real, real football
to break down. I love thistime of year myself. I know a
(03:49):
lot of people are starting to gettired of summer, and that's what I
think makes July and February the twoworst months of the year, because in
Lie you start getting to that pointwhere you're like, man, this is
just there's the sports calendar is dead. There's no games to watch. I
mean, I'm watching tape from thetwenty three season, kind of getting ready
(04:12):
for the next year's draft, soon and so forth, but there's no
sports on The NBA season's over,the NHL season's over, the Euros have
concluded, and there's nothing to watch. Same way in February, the season's
over. I'm tired of the coldweather. I'm ready for it to warm
(04:32):
off, just like in July,I'm ready for it to cool off.
It's a tough stretch to get through, but luckily we only have a couple
more weeks left. Hall of Famegame is going to be here before you
know it, and then we gotpreseason action to break down. I'm stoked
for training camp to start. Let'sstart with the Jamal Adams signing. Because
I was being a bit of anass on Twitter when it happened, you
(04:55):
know, I mean, you knowmy style. I'm pretty sarcastic. I
can be a bit of a troll, be a bit passive aggressive. I
made a comment about let Rand cookwith an asterisk that said let Ran and
his boys cook. That's just accountabilityon my part, you know, because
if we're going to be critical aboutMike Rabel hiring all his friends, we
(05:16):
have to keep that same energy forRand Carthon when he signs players through connections.
He talked about using his relationships.I just want to keep the same
energy out there. Okay, wesaid it was a problem for Mike Vrabel.
Let's acknowledge that Rand Carthon has madea few hires, made a few
signings through his network. That's allI'm saying. I said, if y'all
(05:44):
don't like the Jamal Adams signing,or no, I said, y'all better
like the Jamal Adams signing, orhe's going to call your wives fugly,
which is referring to him calling outa writer's will, not calling out a
writer's wife. A writer posts afilm clip not too kind to Jamal Adams,
and Jamal Adam retweets it with aphoto of the guy's wife and just
(06:08):
says yikes, and then doubles downwhen he's asked about it, says something
along the lines of when people golow, I go lower. You see
the headlines like the former teams areexcited to get this guy out of the
building, the fans don't want himanymore, the fans don't like him,
quote unquote, he's an asshole.And I'm thinking, like, why the
(06:30):
fuck would you try to solve yoursafety problem with a guy like that?
Just kind of rubbed me the wrongway. Then I do the tape study
and I can't fathom a scenario.Ran Carthon and Denard Wilson are watching the
Jamal Adams tape and saying, yes, you know what, this guy can
(06:51):
be our Swiss Army knife safety.We're gonna drop him. He's still got
the range to cover, he cando it all. That's not what he
is. And then the money comesout, it's like one point one two
five million. You're like, okay, well they're not paying him to be
the do it all safety, andyou watch the tape and you realize the
(07:13):
Seattle Seahawks used him in a waythat was very careful, meticulous. They
tried their best to scheme him upin ways where he wouldn't be one on
one at a disadvantageous position, andI think it worked for the most part.
I mean, I watched five gamesand Film Friday is up on stacking
(07:33):
the inbox now as I record this. I watched five games against the Browns,
against the Bengals, against the Ravens, the forty nine ers, and
the Dallas Cowboys. I think that'sa good sample size. I mean,
shit, I think he only playedin nine games last year. I watched
the bulk of a season, andthere weren't too many times in games that
(07:57):
I felt like he ended up onan island and a coverage situation that he
couldn't manage. For the most part, he's a pretty sound, sturdy player.
So I cooled off on the signing. I'm still interested to see,
like, who's gonna be the firstmedia member to draw his eyre to cross
(08:18):
paths with the guy and bow upon him a little bit? How's that
going to go? And the moreI thought about it. The more I
thought, now, you know what, like if people come after me,
I am the same level of petty. Like if you go low, I'm
going to go lower. So canI really hate on the guy all that
much? I don't know. Idon't know. The injury history does concern
(08:43):
me. You get to a pointin your career and he's only twenty eight
years old, but to get intohis seventh season and now it's not just
like one thing that's slowing him down, but you're starting to get that injury
bug where multiple different issues that areunrelated seemingly start popping up, and that
(09:03):
worries me a little bit. Butseeing the contract dollars, seeing the tape
made me cool off and say,Okay, you know what, I don't
know that the Titans are done atthe safety position. And as a sidebar,
if they could go ahead and signQuandary Diggs, I think that would
be that would be pretty good.He still plays some good ball. You're
(09:24):
watching Jamal Adams and several times I'mlike, damn, number six is popping.
Diggs is out there playing ball.So I cooled off on the signing
a little bit, and then whenI the further I got into the tape.
Specifically, I thought the Browns gameand the Bengals game, we're both
(09:45):
pretty pretty good games for Adams,and I start to see a role for
Adams in this defense. And Ithink it's defending the flat. I think
it's clogging up throwing lanes in thered zone. I think it's blitzing,
and not just not just the firezone blitzes, where you know, you
(10:07):
line up a safety at the endof the line of scrimmage and then you
overload the other side so that ityou know, you're thinking it's coming from
one direction, but then they mayblitz the safety and drop everybody else,
or they may drop the safety andblitz somebody from the other side. No,
they lined him up as a asa big nickel at times and send
(10:28):
him from there with the linebacker orthe edge dropping out into that zone.
And they got kind of creative withhow they sent him. And I think
for a defense that probably will bepredicated on a lot of pressure winning the
defensive front, I think they'll usehim as a piece there. I don't
(10:50):
know that he is. It's weirdbecause you watch the tape and I'll give
credit to my buddy Jake Robertson ofthe Morning Glory Show every Tuesday or shit
every Thursday morning at Glory Day Sportson YouTube. He brought it up like
it looked like he was trying toavoid contact, and there were times in
(11:11):
run support that I thought he tooksome bad angles and it did kind of
look like he was a little hesitantto really dive in there. There's other
games where he's feisty, he's fighting, and so I landed on a spot
where I give him a bit ofa pass for some of that. I
(11:31):
think there's some inconsistency in his openfield tackling, and part of me just
wondered if he's just trying to protecthimself. Now, I don't know how
you guys feel about that, anddo you fall to a player for trying
to protect themselves on the field.I don't know. There are times where
(11:52):
I can at least understand it.Probably not the best thing, but you
get it. And there were timeson his tape where I thought he had
a chance to make a tackle andhe didn't. And that's where you have
to decide for yourself, like asan evaluator, if you ran Karthon,
if you're Denard Wilson, Are youokay with it? If he's you root
(12:16):
it out and you say, well, are you protecting yourself or is something
else going on? You're just yourAIM's off. And if you're comfortable with
a player protecting themselves, you finewith the signing. But I did think
that was an issue. I don'tthink he supports the run in the way
that most people think. When youhear support the run right, you're thinking
(12:37):
like, meet me in the holeand duke it out right, crash the
gap and blow up the running backkind of deal. Where I think Adams
excels and run support is being thecleanup artist, where maybe if a defensive
lineman an edge, a linebacker canget a hand on the shoe string kind
of deal, slow him down justthe slightest bit Adams can and still close
(13:01):
on a ball carrier. I dothink he's a plus in run support.
And you hear people say like,Okay, well, why was this a
priority? Why was a player likethis a priority? And I would say
two things. One, this Titansdefense is pretty fucking young. They've invested
(13:24):
heavily in it in the draft,and there has been a bit of an
overhaul in the leadership. I thinkyou have like Jeffrey Simmons clearly a vocal
leader, and then you go gettwo corners and Cheeto and Snead and you
have a Moni hooker. But like, outside of that man, they're kind
(13:46):
of doing a little bit of rebuilding, retooling, reshuffling, not only from
a personnel standpoint, but from avibe standpoint. And so adding a Jamal
Adams type one you get the experience, you get the leadership qualities, and
I do think there are still leadershipqualities that show up on the tape in
(14:09):
how effective he is at communicating motion. When something happens on offense, Jamal
Adams is signaling, he's adjusting,he's getting into the right spot. He
recognizes a lot of stuff and situationswhere he did end up one on one
with a tight end. I thinkabout the Dallas game against Jake Ferguson,
(14:31):
specifically Jake Ferguson trying to throw alittle like flares at him, like sell
out but break in. Jamal Adamsdidn't bite on it, recognizing the looks
understanding like the Numbers game in realtime when a guy comes through his zone
understanding that the other guys are guardedand now this is my guy, this
(14:54):
is my responsibility, and carrying himthrough the zone either onto the next zone
for the next guy to cover,or to go down the field with him.
I think you see those things,but I also think you still need
depth. You still need depth becausewhere they're at in the safety room,
(15:16):
you don't have a lot of NFLexperience beyond Amani Hooker and Elijah Molden.
So if you need somebody to comeout and fill this role, and specifically
where I think he lands as likea big nickel that can match up against
tight ends. Maybe not the moredynamic ones like you're Travis Kelcey's, you're
(15:37):
George Kittles, but you're Jake Ferguson's. Yeah, he can lock him down
as a big nickel dime linebacker thathas the range to patrol the middle of
the field for the crossing stuff,can still clamp down on the short to
mid range stuff, but also feistyand physical enough to get in there a
(16:00):
tackle when he needs to. Soyou start doing the numbers game, he
said, well, why was thissuch a priority. It's the question I've
spent like five minutes blabbering about.Instead of answering, and well, if
you need to put two nickels outthere, you got Roger McCreery on one
side, who do you have onthe other. I mean, are you
(16:22):
gonna thrust Jarvis Brownley Junior into thatrole? Right now? You can put
James Williams out there. I mean, the the offseason has not been met
with glowing reviews of James Williams sofar. I like James william I'm kind
of interested to see how the projectplays out, but I think he's a
special teams player in year one?Do you put Elijah Molden out there?
(16:45):
And if you do put Elijah Moldenout there as the big nickel, well
then who are you playing at safety? We're putting the puzzle pieces down and
we're realizing we're only a formation,a personnel grouping away from the Titans having
to field a player that doesn't havea lot of NFL experience. And I'm
(17:10):
not gonna name him by names.Okay, why because there was a burial
of Matthew Jackson. Poor Matthew Jacksondidn't just catch astray. He caught about
ten strees on football and other fwords. I'm trying to give the kid
a break. I want to bringhim up. He's a fine player for
his level. Developmental guy, seewhat he turns into. But I don't
(17:33):
think it's ideal for guys like himto be on the field in meaningful games.
And then you look at the linebackerspot and you say, okay,
well you have guys that can bethe heat seeking missile in Kenneth Murray,
Jack Gibbons really gap sound run defender. But who of those guys has the
real range to get out there andrun with a tight end. There's crossing
(18:00):
the formation if they need to,or you know, a bigger slot receiver.
You know, you're guys like TylerBoyd for example, that might not
have the quickness they used to have, but they're still shifty and they need
a guy that can get up intheir fucking grill and disrupt the pass.
I don't know that the Titans havethem. So again, you're like a
personnel grouping away from having to putJack Gibbons in a situation where like he's
(18:25):
got to get out there and tryto run with Sam Laporta or something like
that, you know, And that'swhere I think you see the value of
the depth because Ultimately, I dothink this was a depth signing and I'm
on board with it now. Imade my jokes, I got my little
bullshit troll jobs out of the wayday one, and then I dug into
(18:47):
the tape and I said, youknow what, I think this is actually
gonna be really fucking awesome for theTitans. And I've got a full piece,
a nine minute video on stacking theinbox dot Com Jamal Adams tape supporting
my claim and highlighting exactly why Ilike him, highlighting the limitations that he
(19:07):
still has, and showing some prettyfun plays too. I think he can
be a fun player. You hopelike he's just he's not the asshole that
some of the media has painted himout to be. You hope that he's
not going to be taking shots atpeople's wives on Twitter, and you hope
that he can stay healthy. Andif all of those things come true,
(19:30):
then I think the Titans will havea pretty valuable depth piece in Jamal Adams.
I think where I shunned the ideathat he wasn't washed before, I
think he's not washed. I thinkhe still has some good ball ahead of
him, so I'm looking forward tothat. But that was a banner day
on Titans Twitter. To be honestwith you, guys, I mean,
(19:52):
we were having a field day withit. There were people panicking, the
sky was falling. There were peoplesaying, hold up that bad. People
were saying this makes up the Titansa fucking super Bowl contender. That's crazy.
You all need to calm down withthat, unless you're trolling like me,
in which case I'm I vibe withit. Good job, keep up
(20:14):
the good work. But it didcause Jeffrey Simmons to tweet something along the
lines of I'm just seeing a lotof tweets out there that I bookmark.
And then Mike Herndon was blocked byJeffrey Simmons. Jared Stillman blocked by Jeffrey
Simmons, which I think the prevailingtheory is that Stillman was blocked before this
(20:36):
incident, but Mike and Zach coveredhis blocking in depth on football and other
f words this week, along withthe preview of the safety position. So
I'd recommend going and getting a chanceto listen to that. They got in
and out of there in an hour, and it's because I wasn't there to
take us down a Sam Howe rabbithole. How he's one of the more
underrated quarterbacks in the league, andI think he's the future of the Seahawks
(20:59):
franchise. I didn't get to derailus that much with my one more thing.
So it's a nice concise show,a preview of the safety position.
They talk a little bit about JamalAdams and Jeffrey Simmons blocking him. A
lot of people have called it soft, and you know, there is something
in the back of my head thatdoes kind of feel like, oh man,
(21:23):
it's just I mean, if you'rethat rattled by people on Twitter,
what's going on in the locker room. And to Simmons defense, he does
have to play with the pressure.He does have to hear all the criticism.
You know, I get one personevery few months that's just like Stony
(21:48):
sucks. Can't listen to his podcast. He cusses too much, he talks
about he makes sexual innuindo too much, despite the fact that football is a
pretty raw, sensual, guttural sport. You know, it's like saying like,
there's not that much difference between there'snot that much difference between a hard
(22:15):
hitting football game and fucking in aroom with no air conditioning. I'll just
leave it at that. Okay,they don't like my personality and I can
shrug it off. I can sayfuck that person and go on about my
day. Don't have the magnifying glasson me the way a stud NFL player
does, where it's just a NonStopbarrage. If you're logging into Twitter and
(22:38):
you see the negative stuff over andover and it's a regular occurrence, and
you're under this pressure from coaching staffsand people. I get that football players
are paid handsomely, but the factis you're still thrusting young guys in.
Man, there's another I didn't forthat in the window to happen. You're
(23:02):
thrusting young guys into high pressure situationsthat might not be particularly well adjusted to
the world. As a principle.I'm not talking about Jeffrey Simmons specifically in
this case. I can understand whereif you're under pressure from coaching staff and
you only get like seventeen days outof the year to prove your merit,
that's pressure. And if you're constantlyseeing the negative stuff, if you're not
(23:27):
used to that, you got tocut it out so that you can focus
on ball. So in a sensethat in that case, with that understanding
of it, I say, yeah, you know what, I get why
Jeffrey Simmons would want to block people, to cut the negativity out, plain
(23:47):
and simple. I get it.The issue with Mike, though, I
don't fucking get it because it's notlike Mike. Mike went a little hard,
Okay, but I eat stuff thatgoes a little hard sometimes and it's
partly tongue in cheek. We're justhaving fun. We're caught up in the
moment. It's part of being afan. But I think like what Simmons
(24:11):
took issue with wasn't really all thatbad. And that's where you know,
I can say if if he's blockingme, no no harm, no foul,
like do what you gotta do,big man, I'm still gonna be
rooting for you on Sundays, thatkind of deal. But I'm also in
the back of my head like you'reblocking me over this, blocking me over
(24:32):
this. I don't know, man, I'm curious to see. I kind
of hope. I hope somebody askshim about it in a press conference.
My hopes aren't high that it getsdone, and maybe I should take up
some of my friends on their offerto get me in the building. Maybe
I could ask myself, They're notgonna let me in the building. They're
(24:55):
not Titans. Pr is gonna takeone look at my Twitter feed and say
this guy is unserious. They're goingto be like, oh, he's trolling.
He's not really a member of thePFWA paid my dues. They either
didn't check my Twitter or they checkedit and said it was okay. So
I don't know. My point isI would be curious to hear more of
(25:18):
an explanation. And I know JeffreySimmons was on ramon Kayla and Will this
week kind of defending it, saidhe was protecting the locker room. I
get it, but just I don'tknow, man, I don't know.
I it makes me feel a certainway. And Zach pointed out on f
(25:40):
Wards this week that you're just talkingabout a younger generation of players that maybe
you know it's it's different handling thissort of stuff than in years past.
But I don't know, what doyou guys think? That's what I'm curious.
Would you rather a player respond tocriticism by blocking you or would you
(26:03):
rather a player respond by quote tweetinga picture of your significant other and saying,
yikes, like we got we gotboth ends of the character spectrum going
here in the Titans locker room,and I hope it works out for him
training camp battles that I'm stoked towatch this summer. I think we've got
(26:26):
We've got quite a few starting spots. I'm gonna say, let's see one,
two, three, four, five, six. I'm gonna say six
because I think the right guard Ithink the right guard spot is locked up.
After doing my film study on BillCallahan's run scheme in Cleveland, which
(26:48):
is up on Stacking the Inbox dotcom. It's a great video, Zach
and I really get into the weedsand some of the film there. I
feel like Sadiq Charles is the rightguard. I think he's got the right
combination of power and speed that theylike from their guards. I think it's
an important position for guys to beable to not only get out in space
(27:12):
when they're pulling and moving around alittle bit, but to hit like hell
when they get to the spot,blow those fucking gaps open. And I
think Sadiq Charles is capable of thatmore than any other guard in the running
for it. I think Daniel Brunskillis going to move over to center,
and I think they're going to feelpretty good about Cush brun Skill at center.
(27:33):
But then Brunskill also being a swingguy that can play pretty much anywhere
if an injury arrives. I likethat. I love Brunskill as a depth
piece there. I think he couldbe a pretty good six man. So
I'm not including right guard. Iam including right tackle because I am fascinated
by the summer we have had atthe right tackle spot. Nicholas petti Frere.
(27:56):
Probably you'd consider the incumbent has someexperience, played well in the past
at right tackle. I think he'smore of an athletic guy zone blocking.
I think Jalen Duncan man the hourglassesrunning out on my boy, it sounds
like I was a big advocate forJalen Duncan. I still think he has
(28:21):
the athleticism to develop into a niceplayer. I think maybe maybe moving to
a more gap heavy scheme could helphim in a way. I think there's
less reading and reacting involved in alot of these plays running with a gap
(28:41):
scheme, and maybe that was thebiggest issue with Duncan making the reads following
the assignments understanding what's happening in frontof him. But I still think he's
a really talented guy. And whilehe may end up being the odd man
out, I think he's a primecandidate for a practice squad spot. I'm
not ready to give up on himjust yet. I'm still not I'm still
(29:03):
not giving up on him. Butthe guy that has really made this race
interesting is John Adjuku. Because JohnAdjuku is the one guy of the three
that seemed to be in the runningfor this job that really has an element
of power to his game to gowith the athleticism. John Ajuku's a big,
(29:26):
long guy. John Ajuku had somegreat tape at Boise Boise State and
was my favorite undrafted signing last year. Didn't know if the staff would have
the patience with him along with JalenDuncan, so I kind of felt like
(29:47):
a Juku would would be the oddman out. But with Duncan and NPF
both being injured to start Ota S, Adjuku was the guy that they plugged
in at right tackle and from thesounds of reports coming out of those OTAs,
he's done pretty well. And youhear Brian Callahan talk about him in
(30:08):
media availability sounds like, yeah,he's done everything we've asked him to do,
a little bit higher on him thanI think we were before the season
started. I've been a big fanof his for a long time, but
now comes the part where the rubbermeets the road. Training camp starting up,
(30:29):
It's going to be a competition.Let's see how he holds up with
a guy like NPF there coming backgetting the reps, Jalen Duncan getting healthier,
he missed some time this spring withan injury, getting healthier, making
this a race for that spot.I think it's a three horse race,
and I'm fascinated to see how it'sgoing to play out on defense, looking
(30:52):
at the inside linebacker spot because Ikeep joking and safety too, Safety two
two, A Moni hooker is gonnaget one one spot. Who's going to
be that second one? I stillthink it's gonna be Elijah Moulden or a
guy that they sign is yet tobe named, Quandary Diggs maybe, though
(31:15):
I still think he's closer to JamalAdams than he is prime Kevin Byerd.
So I don't know, I don'tknow what the answer is there, but
I like Elijah Moulden. So youfactor in these safeties and linebackers, and
I think those are two of thepositions we talk about here, and across
linebacker and safety. I kind offeel like this organization is trying to like
(31:37):
recreate Kyle Hamilton in the aggregate,like they've got a player on the roster
that can do something that Kyle Hamiltondid well for the Baltimore Ravens last year.
I don't know that that's the goal. Part of it is like just
the funny joke. It's nice,nice little catchphrase, let's create Kyle Hamilton
in the aggregate. But then alsowhen you look at the player's skill sets,
it's like, Okay, well theyneed this situation covered and for the
(32:01):
Baltimore Ravens Kyle Hamilton, Hamilton coulddo all of that. We don't have
a Kyle Hamilton, So how canwe replicate that for this defense? So
I don't know, I don't knowwhat they're gonna do. I mean,
ideally I want Cedric Gray to riseup and claim one of these linebacking spots
(32:24):
and be the guy that I thinkhe can be. But we have to
read the writing on the wall.It doesn't sound like they're in any hurry
to get Gray into that spot.And it's the same with James Williams.
I want him to grow into thatspot. Joking like tired Jack Gibbons and
(32:45):
Kenneth Murray wired James Williams and CedricGray. It's a funny tweet, but
I kind of like that's the vision. I want that to be what these
guys can grow into. I justthink that I might be being a little
over eager to make that happen.It sounds like the Titans are gonna play
it patiently and instead Jack Gibbons willbe lined up to do this, Kenneth
(33:07):
Murray will be lined up to dothat. When they need something else,
They're gonna bring Jamal Adams in.They're gonna pull Elijah Molden up. Like
I think, it's just gonna bea bunch of different moving parts in the
middle of the defense. To quoteour buddy Easton Freeze of the Hot Reed
(33:28):
podcast, you worry about the spineof this defense, and I think the
solution is going to be to justfill guys in in certain situations, and
instead of having one guy that cando it all, they're gonna have role
players that can do specific things,is what I feel like the approach is
going to be. So I don'tknow who the starters are going to be.
There might not be clearcut starters atinside linebacker. I mean, there
(33:52):
might just be personnel groupings where ifthey're in dime a lot more, maybe
Jack Gibbons isn't even seeing the field, maybe Kenneth Murray is lined up at
edge, and maybe Jamal Adams isthe dime linebacker. And then there may
be other cases where Jamal Adams isoff the field and they've got Kenneth Murray,
(34:13):
they've got Jack Gibbons, and they'vegot Cedric Gray out there defending the
run. It's fascinating because it's theone position. You know, we talk
about right tackle. I think that'sa very important job that's up for grabs.
But you have three guys in therace. It's a clear competition for
inside linebacker. We can say theseare the two best inside linebackers on the
(34:37):
team, but there's a myriad ofguys with different skill sets. It looks
like the multiple personnel groupings are goingto they're going to use them much differently.
So I'm fascinated by that because notonly do I not know who is
actually in the inside linebacker race,but I don't even know how the inside
linebackers are going to be used inthis defense. Get your popcorn, folks,
(35:00):
it's going to be a show.And then I look at what else
do I have here? Punt returnerand kick returner. Like everybody else covering
the Titans this spring, I too, am fascinated by how teams approach kick
returns with the new special teams rules. I tend to think this is a
(35:27):
space where Treylon Burks can still makea clear impact. Would love to see
him returning kicks. I acknowledge blockingand running might be more important in tighter
quarters for this kick play, Soit could be a running back that gets
that spot. Still like Dylan Johnson, Julius Chestnut is still in the fold.
(35:47):
Sounds like Hassan Haskins has had actuallya pretty good OTA session. Seen
a couple of people at practices sayJabari Small is making plays interesting decision to
be made at running back, ButI ultimately don't think running back three is
going to have major play on offense. So how do they approach that?
(36:10):
Do they put a running back outthere or do they maybe give a shot
to Traylon Burks, who is bigas fuck, gotten ripped, maybe a
bit of renewed vigor in this gamewith a new coaching staff and the chance
for a fresh start. It's awide receiver. I don't think Henna he's
(36:36):
gonna be a factor. I thinkthey're gonna look to DeAndre Hopkins, to
Calvin Ridley, you're big two.I think Tyler Boyd's gonna be that security
blanket. And I said on theHot Read podcast last week, I think
they're gonna be throwing the ball tothe tight ends and the running backs more
than people think. Opens the doorfor trailing Burks to be a sneaky,
big play machine, you know,drawing up like three or four plays his
(37:00):
way where he's catching the ball thirtyyards down the field kind of deal.
But I think his biggest impact,I think he could be the kick returner
for this team. What his specialtyis his strength and physicality, his shiftiness
in the open field with the ballin his hands, navigating traffic. You're
not asking him to get out thereand run precision routes. You're not asking
(37:22):
him to understand complex you know,route concepts or anything like that. It's
just get the ball run through traffic, and I think he could be a
player. Still, I'm not readyto give up on trailing Burke's either punt
returner. I don't know. Imean, it sounds an awful lot like
they want Jakwan Jackson to be theguy. But this idea that Kieras Jackson
(37:44):
is still hanging on to the rosterhas been floating around. I don't think
anybody's outright set it yet, butI've heard a couple of people are seen
I should should say, I don'thear tweets. I see tweets, you
read them this. Let's be belogical here, folks. I'm a champion
of that. Let's I've seen peoplesuggest that Kiarris Jackson could be a surprise
(38:07):
addition to the roster. I likedKiarris Jackson gadget kind of player, untapped
potential at Georgia, But I don'tknow. I'm not ready to put him
ahead of Jaquan Jackson just yet.I feel like Jackson, Jaquan Jackson is
going to be the punt returner andthen kick returner you're looking at. Is
(38:28):
it going to be Traylan Burks,Is it going to be Dylan Johnson,
Julius Chestnut or Hassan Haskins. There'sfour guys that I could realistically and maybe
even like I don't know, maybeyou do throw Jaquan Jackson into that mix
and Kiaris Jackson into that mix aswell. It's wide open position, battles
up for grabs. I can't waitto break this down even more once we
(38:52):
get more football to dissect starting nextweek, man, And like I said,
we're gonna try and get Owen backon the line. And it's been
a minute since you guys have heardfrom him. I'm excited to hear how
he's feeling about training camp, whathe's looking for, all that good stuff.
It starts up next week, baby, and then the season will be
here for you know it. Butthat's gonna do it for me on this
(39:15):
fine Friday morning. Hope you allguys have some some fun weekend plans.
I've got the house to myself.Wife's out of town on business, so
I'm gonna, like I said,I'm gonna pull up the coach Dan Casey
YouTube channel and just drink beer onthe couch and I want to smoke my
pipe in the living room, butI'm afraid she's gonna smell it when she
gets back, so I might haveto wait until she's gone for a longer
(39:37):
period of time. Maybe I cando it in my office and open up
a window get some air circulation.I don't know. I could use tips
from smokers how to not get caughtsmoking my pipe in the house. That's
gonna do it for me. Thankyou, guys for continuing to listen to
the Unofficial Titans Podcast, the flagshipshow of Sobros Network. Remember to go
(39:59):
out to Mount Juliet. Check outMemo's Mexican Kitchen mile north of I forty
off the Mount Juliet Exit the bestMexican food in the Nashville area. Listen,
I have the palette of a raccoon. I've told you guys that before
I eat anything, I love anything. It's I'm not too I'm not too
hard to please. I took Zachout there. Zach's a bit of a
(40:21):
foodie, and Zach agrees, prettydamn good, pretty damn good Mexican food.
So everybody I take out there,as a matter of fact, chimes
in, yeah, this is delicious. Check out the menu at memos Mexican
Kitchen dot com. Got even gotan ad going on sobros Networks. If
you go to Sobrosnetwork dot com,you can click the banner and go right
(40:43):
to the website. Check him out, Let him know that Stony sent you,
and enjoy one of the best mealsyou'll have in this city. Check
out all of my work covering theTitans, film studies, NFL draft coverage,
Stackingtheinbox dot com. All of myother works is up at Sobrosnetwork dot
com, merches up at sobroshop dotcom. Of course, rate review and
(41:05):
subscribe to the Unofficial Titans Podcast.Tell a friend, Hey, if you're
one of the people that does likemy sense of humor, that does get
that I'm kind of a sarcastic,passive, aggressive troll sometimes, but also
knows that I'm willing to chop itup in the dms and I talk to
everybody, and I try to beas down to earth and grateful as possible
for this platform. If you're oneof those people and you know somebody that
(41:29):
you think might be into it,let them know about the Unofficial Titans Podcast.
I'm here because you guys keep tuningin, and I'm grateful for that.
So rate reviews subscribe wherever you takein your shows, and that's going
to do it. Yeah, I'mbig natural Stony Keeley And until next time,
you stay classy Italians fans
Popular Podcasts
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com