Players Speak Out & Titans Deep Dive

You weren't living in squalor in these um establishments during COVID. You were, in fact finding a a fairly nice Airbnb home, but the initial bit was that it was a motel. Flies and flees and stains. Yeah, I mean, those feel like the good old days right now. So Mark's favorite airbnbs are the ones he gets for Simone and the kids to leave without him. A job by Mark, the most amazing things. That's not the man whose wife days.

Your Your wife leaves for like like every during the regular season, she leaves for like six weeks, don't I mean it's you know, you know that's under advertised. It's always Marks doing all this adventurous stuff. Please. Simone is a wonderful woman and I you know we share a bond being exactly the same age that will go on forever. But you are so fortunate, Mark, as I've said to you many times, both privately in publicly, you're a lucky

man to have her. That you were able to send Simone and the two boys off last weekend for a lakeside adventure while you have the house to yourself. This is Mark that you have to understand. This is unprecedented, uh, setups going on in your family that none of us are privy to. And I just want to say, like, good for you, man, Yeah, I mean good number one, Like, apparently we are privy too. I've just notified you that

someone's wife leaves for six weeks a year. So it's like, you know, it's with the children and it's a wonderful journey for them to to be part of another culture for a while. I'm sure. But uh, you know, my children were part of nature for a couple of days, which is a very nice thing for them to experience. That's nice to be by the way, I spent most of the weekend with Ali Bon Pari writing like a you know, some endless piece for him. So you know

it wasn't exactly our editor for features here at NFL Media. Hey. Um, in other news, I'm looking right now down to my phone. L A County extends its curfew for a fourth day, this time from nine pm until five am. Protests are continuing both in Los Angeles and the looting, which you know is a terrible thing in its own right. That is seems like it's has waned a little bit, which is great. Hopefully that continues to trail off and the

message of the protests is what remains in the forefront. Ricky, Hollywood. You you took to the streets yesterday, right, I did? Yeah, I went out, um and marched, marched about three miles yesterday in Hollywood. It was It was a pretty crazy sight. It was really cool though. Um. There were police on every corner. You know, they had thousands of zip ties hanging off there there, you know belt but there were

a lot of people in masks and gloves. There were side you know bystanders that were handing out water bottles. They had gatorade jugs filled with water, like fill up your water bottles here. They had hand sanitizer. People were yelling take care of each other. Um, so many different races and walks of life and and different types of people. And it was it was really it gave me goose bumps. So it was a type of setting where it didn't feel dangerous, didn't feel like there was chaos around you.

It was the type of peaceful protests that that we're all hoping to see. Yeah, the curfew is sort of you know, put in place, you know, to make sure that people are off the street. So as soon as that like four o'clock bell hit there, you know, people start to say they're starting to arrest their their cornering people to arrest people. So got out of there, um kind of quickly. But um, you know it was it was good and peaceful when when I was there, for sure.

And uh, you know, the NFL obviously America's most popular sport, and it's a league populated by a black majority on the field, and and we're hearing this week from so many players, so many players across the league, but also from coaches and owners in the aftermath of the George Floyd tragedy and these protests that continue. Uh, so that is going to be in part a large part of what our show is about. Today. We're gonna talk about what we're hearing, and um, that's not all We'll be doing.

Wells will be getting you caught up on the rest of the news around the league, however meager it may be. Uh. And also we continue our Wheel of Teams series with the Tennessee Titans and Paul Kohrskew's cover that team for years. What Greg, have you been here in this week? What's been resonating with you on the NFL front or otherwise?

So much to choose from, but I think I gotta start with Drew brees comments today because they're the freshest and they're getting, you know, the uh, most vociferous reaction I think from players, from media, from from a lot of people. Uh that he you know, he was on a Yahoo Finance show and said, um, you know that he he would not be supporting uh any teammates that you know peacefully protested, Um, you know, police brutality by

taking a knee before before games. And it's just interesting because look, he's been saying Drew Brees said this a lot. He said it in he's saying it now. Um, but I think the world has changed a little bit since then, or or reactions have changed since then. And you can see, you know, Saints fans are are kind of having gallows humor with it being just like, Okay, Jamis Winson's their quarterback now, you know, and just every everyone you know like like like it would take a lot for Drew

Brees to lose New Orleans. And I don't necessarily think that's gonna happen in the long run, but that but that the anger Adam for these these comments are are real, and he's already now talked to the ESPN reporter about it and trying to trying to explain what he's talking about. But it just I think it's fair. I think it's fair to hear what Breeze had to say and and give the context that he contexts he was set up

on by the person interviewing him. That it's expected are a lot of people now assume there will be more kneeling and what what Breeze had to say exactly. Let's listening. Well, I will I will never agree with anybody, um disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country. UM let me, let me just tell you what I see or what I feel when the national anthem is played.

And when I looked at the flag of the United States, I envisioned my two grandfathers who fought for this country during World War Two, one in the Army and one of the Marine Corps, both risking their lives to protect our country and to try to make our country in this world a better place. So every time I stand with my hand over my heart looking at that flag and singing the national anthem, that's what I think about.

He added that to him, the civil rights movement UH in the nineteen sixties, to him, that represents the flag as well. And I just I guess the one thing that listening to him speak on it, and Mark, I'm curious your thoughts on this as well. Listening to him speak on it, I think there is a line of delineation that should be drawn. And I and the social

media the way it is, that doesn't always happen. There's a there's a rush to judgment and to pull one quote and say, Okay, he's he's on the wrong side of history with this. And I'm not necessarily saying I agree with Breeze, but I also think There's a difference between what Breeze is saying there and some of the rhetoric that was connected to with our own President Trump UH and UM other people that said that Colin Kaepernick using him as obviously the most prominent example of all this, UH,

that he was wrong and was Unamerican, unpatriotic. I don't think that's a Breeze is saying. I think what he's saying is he comes from a family where the flag and patriotism is ingrained in him. UH, and when people kneel in support of or in protest of injustice, social injustice, and police brutality, he doesn't think it's the right forum. But he also doesn't think it's an act of gross um,

you know, traitorous or treasonous act. He said it was disrespecting the flag, though, I mean he was pretty clear on that, and I think Michael thomas response is is um instructive, which is just we don't care if you agree. And basically he's taking a time where I think a lot of people are saying to just just listen to what the people are saying. No one's saying you have

to do anything. No one saying that you um have to have to kneel, but we're asking you to listen to us what we're actually saying when we kneel, and he's saying, you know, no, that's that's a disrespect of the flag. And it's just it's just a moment where, you know, if you say those things, Drew Brees knows, Drew Brews knows. I think on some level what the reaction is going to be. He's smart enough to know that.

I think, you know, for me, you know, I think we're all of the age where we had grandfathers who fought UM in wars and we haven't had to do that, and so I don't take that part of it lightly. But UM, it's a disconnect because I think it's you know, how many players at this point have eloquently, eloquently described why UM, Colin Kaepernick and other players were kneeling UM and separating it from this UM. Really there's a whole

separate movement of like, don't disrespect the flag. That's I just don't see that that is at all what the heart of the matter is with Colin Kaepernick. It's it's much closer to what people are protesting about UM right now, UM and injustices that have you know, raged on in this country, UM, up to four hundred plus years. So

I I think it's it's UM. I have no problem with Drew reas Uh taking some heat for this because I just think he's missing he's missing that side of it, or he didn't to your point in if we don't, if we don't have the full wide view of what he had to say about this, UM, I don't think he seems to have connected with UM at this point, something that should be very clear to every player and most fans. And there you know, even on our last show when we brought up Colin Kaepernick, I mean, I'm

getting tweets from people saying, you guys are clowns. You don't know what you're talking about, and it's we're a very divided country to me. And it's similar to the Vic von the Vic Fangio comments, UM, which when I first I saw them literally as he you know, I saw them being tweeted out as he was saying them, and and you just knew it was gonna get some pushback, UM from players. And in those comments, do we have those queued up? Either way? They were they were about

those but basically he you know, he doesn't. Let's hear problems in the NFL along those lines. Our minimal. Um. We're a league of meritocracy. You earn what you get, you get what you learned. UM, I don't see um racism at all in the NFL. I don't see discrimination in the NFL. You know, we live in a great atmosphere. Like I alluded to earlier, we're lucky. We we all live together, joined as one for one common goal, and we all intermingle and mixed tremendously. You know, if society

reflected an NFL team, we'd all be great. And I think there's a lot we would probably agree with. Uh, there's some that we would agree with in that. But I think it is a time when you're when you're talking like this, that you're you have to be aware of the larger picture. And I think people are learning on the fly, and they're learning in on the fly

with with microphones in their faces. But it doesn't surprise me that a number of players immediately UM started tweeting about a how the league's you know, treated Kaepernick, be like putting out you know, okay, Pete Carroll's got four different carols on his staff is that is that a

mirror meritocracy. Colin kaeperni is not in league. And then more than anything, the league, you know, literally is admitting they have a massive problem at almost every level of the league that they're trying to correct, um, you know, with hiring practices. So so when when you say, when he says that, I don't think he has any malice

to it. And he probably has his own experience of how he came up through the system, but that doesn't really excuse you from seeing like the larger picture and it and it's it's probably a risk and a concern because you're gonna have players that are gonna hear that, or you're gonna have teammates and Drew Brees that are gonna hear what he says and they're gonna be turned off from that. And then and then yeah, like you said, hopefully they have a dialogue and they figure it out.

He has. Yeah, that's that's the exactly the type of thing. He needs to address that with the team in and explain where he was coming from, because he does. He definitely it comes off as a guy as a coaching life who took a long time to get a head coaching job. I think he's looking at it from through that lens in terms of meritocracy, earning the gig. But he's talking from a position as a head coach where there's four coaches of color head coaches of color at

a thirty two. So that is just not gonna go over well. UM, maybe it's different and UM on the side of the roster when it's making uh strides to find a roster spot. But it just it doesn't. It doesn't. That's not such a great sound bite when you look at the makeup of the league. Can I throw one out where I thought someone um made ground in a positive way? Yeah. I pointed to Bill O'Brien, who, um, you know on this show for Football Matters, Uh takes a lot of arrows from UM members of this podcast.

And you know, I think rightly so. But but Bill O'Brien the man, and I think that UM, you know, I think this was this was definitely made very lucid and clear during hard knocks. UM. I think his heart came through in his in his comments. And I would just say go read it for yourself, because there's a there's an interview he did. He has some he has

some other quotes out there as well. I think this is the counter of wanting to understand UM, acknowledging that you have shortcomings, and understanding what some of your players deal with as men, UM, what their families deal with, what their children deal with. But Bill O'Brien, UM, to me, Uh, I just thought, that's that's that's the best, the most heartfelt approach you can take is you want to listen and learn UM and find a way to take action

versus UM where you can. And I think a head coach has an incredible UM platform to take action and he seems UM, you know, wedded to that task. I would say also UM, and it is not the same issue. But Bill O'Brien has a special needs child and UM in a different way. And we have some of that UM in our house too. When you raise a special needs child, you UH understand someone who is starting from a different place than others UM, who in this case

probably looked just like them. So it's a different issue. But you have to foster and care for that person's journey and set expectations and UM use a lot of love. And Bill O'Brien, if you if you go back to

that Hard Knocks series. I mean I saw him as a completely different human being when you went into his house and saw what his family looked like and what the challenges were there as parents, And so I just think naturally, um, you know, for all the for all the questionable trades and all the other stuff that Bill O'Brien might do inside the team building, UM is a

good man. I think he's someone who's trying. I don't know what else you can ask of these coaches right now than to try and to find a way to take action. And he and he got like a really strong response immediately from from his players and including Michael Thomas, not not the Michael Thomas you know from New Orleans, but one who's kind of been around the league but has been a very vocal um voice on police brutality

over the years. And he said he appreciate and I've seen that in a few spots like Sean McVeigh um talked about how you know, they took Monday off and then they spoke to the team and but mostly listened and it was, you know, a hundred people on a zoom class and he says it was extremely emotional, and the and the players response from that was was really

positive that they feel like they're being heard. And I think that's that's all any you know, that's all the place you know, you you think you're looking for as an organization to move forward. It's such a unique time in it and it's dumb, and it's added unique, you know, because they're all in their houses, they're all on zoom classes like we are in separate right now. So it's

just it's it's disorienting. But I think the coaches that that have kind of need to handle it well, like like any organization needs to handle it well right now in the NFL is no different. That's Steve Weisse. She was on our show Monday. He made a comment along the lines of, if the coaches don't address this stuff and communicate with the players, they're gonna lose the team. And that's exactly what it's smart, good communicator and a good head coach like Sean McVeigh is doing. Uh. Pete

Carroll is another guy who uh. He was on a podcast, The Ringer is Flying Coach podcast with Steve Kerr and Gregg Popovich and Colin Kaepernick, who obviously is a towering figure in this conversation. Um, Carol, I thought said some really good things about Kaepernick and and where he all fits in on this. Let's let's listen to Pete Carroll. Well, I think that there was a moment in time that that a young man captured and he took a stand on something, you know, figuratively took the knee, but he

stood up for for something he believed in. And uh what a what an extraordinary moment it was that he he was willing to take it. What happened from the processes it is, it elevated an awareness from people that just took everything away from what the statement was all about, and it just got tugged and pulled and and and

ripped apart. And the whole mission of what with the statement was that was such a beautiful It's still the statement we're making right today is that that we're not we're not protecting our people, we're not looking after one another, we're not making the right choices, we're not following the right process to bring people to justice when when actions are taken, you know, and uh so I think it was a big sacrifice in the sense that you know

that that a young man makes. But that's those are the courageous moments that some guys taken and you know, we all were tremendous amount to him. You can't listen to Carol and not at least think about like how closely tied they were to Kaepernick and it and it's and it is. It's a tricky spot for the entire NFL.

I think back to uh to Tuesday because Eric read, you know, they were doing the blackout tweets, some of the teams did that where they you know, they hosted the black Square and we don't need to get into all that, but Eric read, you know, retweeted that the old forty nine er teammate of Colin Kaepernick um and just said, like, it's blackball Tuesday, it's not blackout Tuesday.

And listening to Carol, it's hard not to think about how close he said they were to signing Kaepernick a few different times and it didn't happen, and they're still, you know, employing my guy Gino Smith. And we don't need to get into all the all the reasons for that or whatever. But I think there's a lot of a big segment that's gonna listen to someone like Pete Carroll and said we'll sign him. Then you know, like then then like that's fair when you can make this fair?

Are all kidding about Geno smith aside? I mean, is there what's the upgrade there? What's the player wise? Is Colin cab I guess here's the thing we talked about that with Steve. Also, this is gonna be the third full season ka Kaepernick has been out of the league, so there's another element with him now. It used to be just like is he better than all the backups

and some of the starters? Now enough, there's been enough distance where he's been out of the league long enough and that I mean, that's another thing working against about four years. And you know John Riggins was out like four years and came back at thirty five. So that it is. It is a factor for sure, But I think at least for now, he's young enough not help his cause. That's what it says, not it does not help his cause. All right, boys, let us spin into

other NFL news kind of news as we call it. Uh. Let's start with Roger Goodell announcing that there will be no traveling for training camps or joint practices, So all camps are going to be held at their at the respective team facilities and joint practices, which are the Ravens and I don't know the Browns get together for a day or two of practices. That kind of stuff is not gonna happen this year. That's become more and more

popular in recent years, so that will be different. So uh, they are still greg kind of have an eye on training camp going on as schedule, but it will be different than past years. Yeah, it'll be It'll be really different for teams like the Steelers who have been going to the same college I think for over forty years, fifty years, so something like since the sixties. So uh, a lot of teams already practice at home. That's not gonna be a big difference, but the non joint practices

shows it's gonna be different. And and sort of as part of this, I just want to throw out that Sean McDermott today, uh Wednesday, said, you know, kind of wondered about whether the preseason's gonna really happen and and just and and let let it be public that there's been conversations about that, like whether that's gonna be justin because if you think about it, like there hasn't been

any players on the field all off season. Now we're showing up, you know, for a different sort of training camp, and are they Are they gonna feel like the players are ready to play a game within two weeks of of showing up like that. It's it's just something to keep an eye on. There's nothing to official, but it wouldn't surprise me. It just as logical that the preseason might get knocked down. They were trying to knock it

down anyway, so it kind of makes sense. I wonder if it paves the way, like how you're seeing now with certain businesses. Facebook a notable example, after they saw that, oh, our operation can still work and and thrive, uh, business as usual with everyone working from home. If it takes an event like this, a life event, to show well, not only we not need four preseason games, we don't need three, or maybe even two or maybe even one. Maybe this is something that is a catalyst for change

in a more extreme fashion. We'll have to see. And since we're talking about the schedule and everything, I just I saw that the NBA is kind of come together on a proposal for resuming their season, and under the proposal, the NBA Finals, their championship series would be in October, which is just wild. It's customarily in June, of course, which would put the NBA Playoffs in the NFL regular season head to head for the first time ever. So you want to talk about something that's different than the

past years, that is very different. Mhm, tign me up. Then what you start the next NBA season like twelve days later in November. Yeah, that's what I was one of the same thing. I don't know how that how that all works, but I think I think that they're gonna adjust. Yeah, they're obviously adjusting that too, that they or they find out Wait a minute, we can steal ratings away from the NFL. And and you talk about dan,

you know, workplace shifting. The season begins in August every year. Well, I played up against the Super Bowl in the playoff tytoons. There's been a push, I think, or a thought in the NBA that they could own the summer more in and end more in August, not to go up directly with the end with the NFL, but kind of wrap up as as the preseasons on. And this might be a way to do that that they just pushed back

the NBA season a couple of months. It makes a lot of sense, like less against football the better you start in December January, and then you know, makes sense. Everybody knows, unless you're a my heart NBA fan. Most NBA fans kind of view the Christmas latest game of games as the time where you start to plug in on the NBA. So that would make a lot of sense. The NBA season starts Christmas Day with three premier games

and then you start rolling. But hell, you know, who the hell are we to judge what's going on over in the n b A. In other news, uh Ian Rappaport has Uh has reported or saying that the salary cap in the NFL could go down in This is all tied, of course, to the um COVID nineteen and

the idea that there may not be a season. If there is a season and might not be any gate and no fans in the in the stands, there's a very good chance of that happening, and as a result of that, spending would be less than the cap would go down for the first time in a long time.

Adam Schefter over at ESPN had uh floated this a couple of weeks back as well, So that also and think that you gotta keep that in mind, Greg, with things like Patrick Mahomes contract, Jamal Adams contract, these teams have to be wary that they can't just assume the cap is gonna be two d million dollars next year because it might be far south. I think it's at

one nineties six right now. And it's it's a huge flip of what was conventional wisdom, which is that these TV deals are coming up and that the cap is going to explode. And I think kind of owners probably expect that in the long run, but you're right there in terms of the next year or two, we'll see these TV deals being up. I mean it's a you know, it's a different world and trying to predict financially how

it's gonna happen, like even the NFL can take a hit. Yeah, I mean, the most real thing is money to these leagues, all these leagues and you know, all the stuffs and flux and I and I realized that there's, um, you know, the the joke of the week is coronavirus is over and advantished away, but um, you know, we don't know that either. And I know all of this is just speculation. Uh. The one thing we do know always that it's very likely that even if Corona has suddenly vanished into the ether,

that would be magical. Um, that hands of his fans' is not not going to be happening probably two months from now. It would probably be scattered fans or or a certain amount later in the year. But um, the hit financially will be real. It's sneaking up and Camp is like seven or eight weeks away. It's really not far. It's not that far. I feel it. I feel like and in a normal world, this would be the time we're nice and loose, getting ready to go on our

vacations and get some time away. Not for you, sir, Not for you. I'm gonna read this directly from I suppose he's a pro wrestling writer for ESPN dot Com Tim Fioravante. After after his fifty eight days of holding gold, ron Rob Gronkowski's championship reign in the w w E has officially come to an end. W w E air de vignette Monday that showed Bronkowski walking into his back yard in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Our truth, that's our hyphen truth.

Who has been the most prolific holder of the w w E seven titles since its inception in May, won the belt for the how many times mark twelve thirty sixth time by disguising himself as a landscaper and blindsiding Gronk for the pin And uh, if everyone's confused right now and you're you're thinking about what how how could that be? How could that be? The primary attraction of the w w E seven Championship is that it is to be defended anywhere, at any time, without warning. Gronk

won the title at WrestleMania thirty six in April. Please, I mean it's anywhere. It's a disgrace to the legitimacy of this award, that of the belt that it can just be taken away. When I was a kid, you know, these belts meant something, and this this is really it's really sad. Where have you gone? Tito Santana with the Intercontinental eut strapped around your waist? I'm with you, guys. So if you don't have TikTok, it's over. You don't even know about ground, you know, if you're well, they

aired it, it it looks like okay, they're telecasts. Ricky, you're on TikTok, aren't you? Did you see this? I am um. I didn't see that one specifically, but yeah, I am. I am on belts. Yeah, I see ron killings when any of us thirty five other belts. Yeah, you lost me at wrestling, Like I don't care. I mean, the the hits against Ricky continue to pile up, you know, sitting here like listening to you guys like I'm being nice, I'm not live tweeting dumb thoughts. And now you lose

your title. Uh, And I'm with you, guys, the w W I f H Championship belt, the Intercontinental title, and that's it. Yes, that's it. Yep, let's calm down, yep, that's what's happen. And Gronk, by the way, you know, there's all this talk of like Gronk is gonna be a big star afterwards, like what a wacky personality. Really, I don't know. I think people are gonna get tired of Gronks acting or doing just about anything pretty quickly. It's like one of those things I say that on

this podcast two years ago. Probably probably well, you were right. The public finds Peyton Manning funny. So he was like a nine part doc about Gronk. It's like what he's uh, you know, he's like, it's like a plain bowl of cereal. Please when he was on your favorite team, I just gonna the greatest tight end of all time. But you don't need to, you know, keep he's not gonna like take over Hollywood. You were right about that, dude. That's

what's happening in the news. I've ever seen this m touchdown Patriots looks for the home run ball holds it in town, Titans Yards Triggery coryas Down, Tennessee. The Tennessee Titans are the next team up in the Wheel of teams on the Round the NFL Podcast. The Titans nine and seven last year, second in an f C South, but then one two playoff games, including knocking off the Patriots in Foxborough and shocking the Ravens on the road.

Their season ended in the a f C title game against the Chiefs, but even that was looking very good for a bit, and now the Titans are back looking to take that next step. And to join us on this conversation is Paul Kaharsky, who has been covering this team uh down in Nashville for a long time, and you could check out his writings at Paul Kaharsky dot com and he talks on Midday one eight down there. Paul, Welcome to the Around the NFL podcast. Thanks for having me, gentlemen.

How are we doing good? We're good, We're good, uh, Paul. So, this is an interesting situation right now because the Titans, they had this great run in the playoffs, they've decided to essentially bring back the core of the team. This is not a team that's had a huge amount of turnover. They get Derrick Henry on the franchise tag, they have uh Ryan Tannehill in the fold. But how how many times have we seen in the team that thinks they're one step away keeping it all together and then it

doesn't work out. It Was there any concern to you in terms of team building this offseason that they maybe were a little overconfident with last year's team, or do you think this is the right path to take basically taking another crack at it with this or yeah, I don't know what the other course was. I mean, to me, the other course was it was Tom Brady probably, um, and you know, it seems not to be a long term course if you're gonna take a run with Tom

Brady obviously, Mike Rabel very close friends with him. John Robinson the GM also with Patriot ties, uh and and knows him. But it seems like Tannehill, with what he did which was really, uh incredible, I would expect he regresses somewhat, but he was the right guy for this team, and I think he earned himself a contract. Um. You know, it's a run based, uh defense based football team in a lot of ways. Um. And I think Vrabel has proved himself to be a pretty good coach so far.

Players are developing under him and his coaching staff. Um A vision is not great, and UM, I think they've got stuff to build on. And rather than look at the Chiefs as the main obstacle and say what Denver and Oakland are saying, Hey, we're going to try to match them on offense, the Titan said, hey, we got to that a f C championship game against them. We were in it for a while. We're going to continue to try to build what we are and see if we can't hang with them and ultimately beat them like

we did in a regular season. Um, as we are with a with a ball control offense and by being better at defense trying to stop them with a different identity instead of trying to keep up with them with their identity. Well, one follow up to that, I mean, you look at Tannehill last year, and if you wanted to be a nitpicker, you could say, looking at his career from a broader sense, it was a bit of an adoration in terms of, you know, his metro, a

lot of his stats. Um, do they think in house, the way their offense is set up, that they're gonna get um Ryan Tannehill doing the same thing two years in a row. And I guess as maybe that UM Jaguars beach Lady once said, you know, take it to the limit, just as they did a year ago. Well, I don't think they're gonna come out and publicly say, listen, we're not going to get uh nine point six yards

per tempt and a completion percentage over UM. The He was only the third guy in history to to top those numbers, with Sammy BA and UH and uh Montana I think the only guy really ever to have numbers that high in those two categories. But even if you regressed a little bit and both of those those are still some some very very good numbers on a team that's based on the play action, based on Derrick Henry with an ascending a J Brown UM with an ascending

John Who Smith UM. So I think, you know, do they look at that and say, this is the most stability that we've had at quarterback in a long time, as he surrounded by the best cast of characters that he's been surrounded by UM in his career. If we can keep him healthy with this offensive line, which was also on the upswing at the end of the year, I think it's it's not unreasonable for them to expect,

uh it to be as good. I'd have the question maybe a little bit more about Derrick Henry just because he had three eighty six carries UM and we know how guys after three eighty six carries tend to do the year after UM and and so I think that's part of why UH Darrenson Evans is the third round draft pick. He's a change of pace. Dion Lewis was a big disappointment, particularly at his price tag, and they need to get more out of Um the different running back,

the third down running back. They need to get more out of the running back in the passing game, uh, than they were out of Dion Lewis. And to me, that's the one new dynamic they're getting um next year this this coming season offensively as compared to what they got last year. Yeah, you mentioned rabel being you know, you think he's been a pretty good coach, and I agree, And I think John Robinson has been a pretty good general manager if you really look at the picks he's

made since he's arrived. He's got a vision. It's like they are the we look great coming off the bus team, you know, like all of our guys are bigger than the prototypes at their position and it and it's worked. Henry kind of symbolizes that in a way, even though you know he's been there for four years. Do you think this is Henry's last year? Though? I think it's gonna be one of the big decisions of the of Robinson rabel era, and I know it's gonna depend on,

you know, what he does somewhat this year. But let's say he takes he takes a little step back, but he's still solid. You do you think they put the tag on him kind of with the idea of the Cowboys back in the day with demark O Murray, like, let's get our use out of him and let's not give him that Todd Gurley contract that the Rams got stuck in. I could see them tagging him again next year.

Uh and and milking it out that way. I could see a three year deal if you take it, where where he gets the insurance of getting the money up front, so he's not completely undone by by an injury. Um. Where you know, it would really be built on on the two franchise tags. Um. But yeah, I'm hard pressed

to see them because they're intelligent football people. Um. No matter how central he's been to the effort and maybe to the effort going forward, getting caught up in one of these long term contracts, second contracts for a running back, particularly greg one that that, um, he's not a third down guy. He's not every down guy. He's so he's notably a two thirds contract running back. He's made some plays catching passes, but he's not a natural pass catcher.

You know, it's been a surprise screen where even the catch doesn't look good, but then he finds space and he can he can take off and run away from people. He's just not a natural pass catcher. And to me, if if you are going to spend money on a running back, he better be a three down guy who can really do some things in the past game. And I can understand a Christian McCaffrey whose contract, by the way, isn't as good as it looked on on initial reporting. Right, um,

Derrick Henry has taken on a leadership mantle. He's a hell of a player, but there are limitations there, and history says a lot. And I don't think he can go against the grain on that. I really don't. And you you can understand why Derrick Henry is unhappy. You know, sure a lot of these guys, the top level guys, they don't want to get tagged for obvious reasons. But he hasn't expressed any unhappiness. By the way he signed it, he's gonna be there. Any unhappiness has been behind the scenes.

He said, I'm coming. He signed it pretty quickly. Maybe he maybe he just understands the way this operates and in his position, because he's damned if you do, Dandy Vid don't if he has another like monster two thousand yard total season and he touches the ball four hundred times, and he wins a rushing title that will be used against him because he'll be more quote unquote wearing the tires if he has a bad season, like, oh, he's already wearing down. He gets like he gets done in

there too. So it's like, where where is the the happy medium that leads to him get him the deal that he wants. I don't know if it exists. He doesn't have the tread from the earlier years you mentioned de Marco Murray. He was a backup to DeMarco Murray from for his first season, for much of his second season, then La Fleur was determined to give the ball to Dan Lewis for much of his third season. He only took off really the last quarter of his third season

and last year. So he had huge usage last year, but before that he was not getting used up. So if you look at his usage to this point, it's not like a lot of those backs we're talking about. But still we're talking second contract running back and we know how those go. You know, like I think about a year ago, as someone said who is Arthur Smith, I would have thought maybe he's a house painter. Um

a gas station attendant. I don't know just to theex fortune sure, exactly right, but it's uh, you know, I look at that offense and what how much how much of his fingerprints are on that versus you know, we just we we have a team identity, and you're just sort of gonna, you know, help finesse that team identity. I mean, is he um? I just I'd like to know more about who he is, what kind of coach

he is, how innovative you see him to be? Yeah, I mean I think he deserves a lot more credit than, uh than simply plugging in, because he got a lot more out of it than than Matt Lafleur, who's you know, the genius who got the green big job at the point after one year he and I mean I like Matt Lafleur a great deal, but Art Smith came in his only new, uh new piece really was a j

Brown who was above and beyond any reasonable expectation. And the Titans have gone something like twenty nine drafted receivers getting really limited returns. It was really funny because last year, leading into the Patriots games, one of the writers up there wrote, you know, why can't the Patriots develop a receiver like the Titans have developed a J. Brown and and for the entire existence of the Titans in Tennessee, their failure to develop a wide receiver has been an issue.

They finally developed one, and the Patriots are being writing why can't they do it like like they do it in Tennessee? And here it's because Nikil Harry in many ways is kind of a similar profile and thought that the Pats might take a J. Brown and that one could haunt them for a long time. But you're right,

Corey Davis is the top five pick. He's entering his fourth year and didn't get his And and that's a one point on on uh On Robinson, who you complimented, who has been very good, but he's got two first rounders in Conklin, who we didn't exercise the fifth round, fifth year option and didn't deserve it, and Corey Davis, who he didn't exercise the fifth round option and he didn't deserve it. So it hasn't He's gotten better Robinson, but those two early ones haven't really panned out as

they should have. And on Arthur Smith, I think he's pretty damn creative. I mean, he struggled early, but he was missing his left tackle and Taylor Lawan. He was keeping in somebody like Adam Humphrey to help out there. It was all a mess. Mariota was not delivering, and once Tannehill came in, they really found some stuff. And the Titans I've always you know, I've covered them since

the beginning, since Houston. Every time you thought it was gonna be an offensive football team, it always reverted back to a defensive football team. And here was a team that was scoring thirty damn points a week. And uh, you know something I've been waiting for forever, and Arthur Smith was the architect of that, and he deserved all the credit. We're gonna talk to him here in uh in twenty five minutes for the first time this offseason

about what's next. Nice job, Mark setting up with the question. It all connected there, Mark Sessler. Ladies and gentlemen, and damn good too. Doesn't even better. But you mentioned Jack Conklin, and that's that's kind of the one other thought thinking about this offense. Derrick Henry obviously so incredibly important to it. Some people point to Conklin leaves he was blown the holes open Isaiah Williams. Isaiah Wilson comes in as the

first round pick. Is that going to be a potential big issue for this team with Cocklin out the door? With the way you describe content makes me think maybe not well, I don't think in the run game. I mean, Dennis Kelly could start the first couple of games because of all this missed time and how long it takes to get the offensive line cohesive and all of that. But Wilson has a run blocker. I don't think is

is a big concern. He'll he'll mall people, uh, you know, maybe he's gonna miss occasionally as he grows into it. Past past protection I think would be a bigger concern there. And I think they'll help him out. But quite frankly, they helped Conklin out even in his all pro rookie season, um with tight ends and and the like. In Darrenton Evans, who I mentioned, the one thing Dian Lewis did do well was pass protect and so we'll have to see

how Evans does at that job. But I think, um, it's a similar, similar replacement, maybe potentially with more upside uh than Conklin, who I think, you know, it's going to be one of those guys like he's a he's a good player, but he goes to Cleveland on that contract and they expect the second coming. You're killing Mark here. He's a Browns fan, and when he misses a block there, everybody's gonna say, how could this guy that we paid

all this money not make every single block? I thought he was supposed to be the next greatest rect tackle in history, and and the whole context changes for him. It's the Nate Soldier corollary. You knows extreme you don't get older than the Browns are in in Deep, in Deep show. This was a very typical Titans conversation. By the way, we haven't mentioned the defense ones. The defense is always just like, okay, the Titans have a defense, and it should be I mean, I think Jeffrey Simons, uh,

you know, was brought into replace Darrell Casey. They got out of a lot of money. Darrell Casey nine great years but starting to fade a touch. You would have wanted them to get more than the seventh rounder, but they got out of under eleven million dollars. Second, everybody automatically thinks that money's Jadavian clowneyes and maybe ultimately it will be actually pursued clown I do, uh, but he's gonna have to come down in price and the physical

is gonna have to be you know, good. So those two concerns, I think we're operating entirely on Clowney's timetable, not on the fans timetable, and not maybe on I don't think the team really cares about a guy missing zoom meetings at this stage, not to the degree fans do anyway. Um, but I think Jeffrey Simmons will be good in there. I think the Titans have a pair of good inside linebackers. They've got this this quilt of pass rushers instead of one guy who's gonna go get

you ten and they just can't find that guy. So maybe Vic Beasley's uh resurrected by vrabel who's who's a good hands on coach, and it's a prove it year. Uh. If he proves it, that'll that'll be something. If he doesn't,

their patch working it again. Secondary is good. Logan Ryan was a very good player here, but Mike vrabel Is said that slot position is running vertical routes now, and Logan Ryan was very much a horizontal guy and they need to be more vertical, and that Dorry Jackson will be in there, some Christian Fulton will be in there, some Kevin Byard and Kenny Karo underrated duo, a good secondary. It's very similar to the Patriots, where it's like a

good secondary. It's smart and you're not really sure where the one on one pass rushers are because I'm because nine million dollars for Vic Beasley could look like a disaster because he's done very little most years. Yeah, they're counting on that one year where he had a big year that they could get that out of him. Um and listen, ever, you know, I want them to find the next Givon Curse, the next Kyle Vandenbosch. But where do you find those guys? You know, one was a

scrap heat guy that was a miraculous recovery. And I wrote the day when I was working at the Tennessee and that they drafted Jimon Curse. I remember my lead that day was there's one guy in this draft that could solve the Titans problem. Too bad, Jevon Curse isn't gonna be there at number sixteen. And so you know, they looked into both of those guys. Well, how often if you look into a premier pass rushing. You mentioned the Tennessee and Will will sign off with this, Paul,

and thank you for joining back in January. The Tennessee, in which I understand, has undergone a lot of changes in recent years. Wrote an article interviewing a member of the Around the NFL podcast about a derisive nickname for the Titans, Uh and Uh, you know, Paul the elephant in the room here, Paul. Paul took exception to it, and UH fired off a few slings on Twitter. I returned fire, but it wasn't all out warfare. I'd call it a little brush fire. And I would just like

to say, Paul with Uh. In this time where we strive for unity in this country and the fact that you could come on the show right now and we could talk it out and not be, you know, wanting to kill each other, that's progress. That's progress. Look, my I have a first rule of comedy, be funny, and so I don't think Tytoons is fun right, So that's my objection, Like, if you want to take shots at the Titans, come up with a funny name. I call

him a funny name. I don't think Tytoons is funny, and I guaranteed don't think the Tennessee and which has gone to hell and suck, should be writing about you calling them the Tytoons, and you making a declaration that they're now worthy of you, not calling them your dumb nick. He's still I love the Tennessee and has just done wonders covering uh the riots and the vandalism here and on that they're doing well in the sports section where tight titoons two Titans his news. Nobody should be paying

a nickel for that. Well, you know, Paul, I think I think you're right, and uh, okay, he thinks right. I think you're right, and uh, I will say that you should listen to our podcast for a little more context in the future. It was more a a way to uh rile up the Titans fans, and it certainly worked. Not not a piece of a comedic genius writing. I will say that. So I'm not saying you were wrong ultimately,

just but we are progress here. Yeah, we are in lockstep on this, all right, Paul, Thank you so much, good spirit, and I enjoyed this conversation, which obviously it was fun. You know a lot about the tycoons. And you can follow Paul Karski on Twitter at Paul Kowarski NFL and good luck in this Arthur Smith zoom call or whatever. It's Oh yeah, it's high pressure. It's high pressure to ask a question that gets a good answer. Then I then see everywhere it's a lot of fun,

tough situation on the beat. Alright, well, thank you it um. I here's my thinking on it. I wasn't initially going to I was gonna feel it out. And he seemed like a very serious guy at first, and I was like, oh, maybe I'm gonna steer clear on it. But then as we got to know Paul and talk to him, it seemed like something that would be good to bring up, and we had a nice conversation that was nice. I would not I would bring him back. Yeah, yeah, he's great.

I would have not allowed that conversation to and if you didn't bring it up. By the end, I was, I was going to its all. I was thinking about the whole time. Let's let's see these hands fireworks. You know. Just fast forward to five years where I'm living in Nashville and a big house that uh, I get pay half the money for and I own it, and me and Paul have the biggest Titans uh podcasts in the nation. That's what That's my big picture. Now you're gonna live in, well,

the Cutler household. I think it should be up for sale right now. There it is, at least I'll just slide right in there. I'll just slide right in all right. Uh, good stuff. That was fun. I I just to put a button on kind of the Titans conversation here, Greg, you're doing, of course, you're roster reset projected starters. I always get those confused. There is a difference, but projected starters as your calm when you went through each division. Any uh kind of takeaways on the study this roster

that that didn't come up in that conversation. Um, I think I think it's the past rush. But I guess I did bring that up that you know, they it's a lot of what we talked about, expecting what was together last year to just be better. And that's a little bit of a danger. But I think they're hoping that some of these young players, whether it's Harold Landry who really hasn't done that. There's another first round pick. I guess Robinson struggled a little more in the first

round than the rest of the draft. UM counting on Vic Beasley, Uh, I just they it's weird because they're a great offensive team. But and they were scoring like thirty a game. But can you outscore teams running the ball? And they did it last year because they were so efficient. Um, it's it's all on Tannehill. Though. I think if Tannehill could be a top ten quarterback again, it would that be the craziest thing in the world. I don't know,

a little bit crazy, but it's a little crazy. But he was, like, you know, he was legitimately a top five quarterback for half a season, so I don't I And he's never played outside of Miami before, so I guess I'm I'm I'm holding out hope. I think they need that though, because of wise they only won nine games. I think that got a little lost in the shuffle. Is like, yeah, it was. It was an interesting team, but they pretty much won the exact same as the

Mike Malarkey teams. You know, they they have won nine They're they're like the NW Jeff Fisher Rams. They won nine games. Every season. So I guess that takes me to my my final two questions. Guys. So, Greg, if the Titans get back to the get back to the super Bowl, and it's been over twenty years or twenty years now, it will be because of it was because of Ryan Tannehill being being a different quarterback. There has to be a chance because I think there's this weird

narrative because everyone just watched the two playoff games. It's like, well, all they did was run, and like you can't get away with that for the season. It's like, yeah, except when he threw the ball in the regular season, he was incredibly accurate, incredibly timely, threw the ball deep while he did everything really well. And that was as you know, when he talked about that Chiefs win, I mean that that games in the thirties. They had a lot of

games in the thirties. It wasn't all Henry all right, Mark, like one word to describe the Titans right now. Well, we discussed this off there and it was going to be a phrase, Dan, so I'm gonna give you a phrase. Yeah, Greg just swept poetic for like for some reason. All right, let me let me reset the whole table for Cessler here, Mark, give me one phrase, and you're not limited to one word or one phrase. You could expound after that, but to set up the conversation, give me the phrase, Okay,

I want to I'm gonna do that. This the way that I planned to do it. The phrase to describe last year, which was a special year, is deep state disruptors. They did everything in the NFL didn't really want them to do. The phrases, keep playing the hits. They're basically running back essentially the same team. They haven't had a transformative offense. You can look to the rookie third down running back, you can look to uh Vick Beasley and a few in a new right tackle. But they are

hoping that what worked last year will work again. And I don't hate that idea because of who they are, who the roster is, but that doesn't always work. Yeah, I got I got a bad vibe about it. And they're still as good as they were in those two playoff wins. Like you said, they were nine win team, and they need everything to go right and then son to take the next leap. To take a leap there, I'll set over under nine and a half wins. What do you guys got. I'm going under, and I think

that divisions a little better than people think. I'll go under, but I think you can get into the playoffs as a nine nine and seven or nine six and one type team. But if you think if you're nine and seven, if you think they're nine and seven, then how can you agree this is the right thing to do? I mean, isn't the goal to build a team that gets better? Who me? I'm saying, keep playing the thing the hits I'm seeing, keep playing the hits because they're in their mind.

You know, they've made a hit record last year. They're not making a new one. They're playing the same record again, hoping to get you know, more money off of that, and we'll see if that works. I suspect that that may not work, is what I said. They need development from their young players, because they actually have a pretty young team overall. I got Johnny Smith, the guy I think could be like an All Pro, and yet he hasn't,

you know, he didn't totally put it together. And if A J. Brown gets better, I mean, here's a guy who is one of the best rookie receivers we ever, you know, we've seen a long time. If he gets better, that that's their best hope. They're an interesting team. Yeah. Yeah, that's the problem is that the whole Taptoons thing doesn't make sense because they are more interesting now. I thought that it was always about that they weren't, right, it's retired.

It was more about that they were like kind of remember, it wasn't even like they were the worst team. They were just the least interesting. But now they're they're pretty intriguing. Titoons taking the last episode and it's not that, you know, it's going to be a protest everybody the history lesson on what the Tytoons was. Caharsky needed it, that was retired, that went away, the moment that Marcus Mariotta finally faded into the background, and then they said let's take a

look at Tannehill. And then they changed some things up on offense, got more aggressive and all of a sudden it changed everything and for that team. So he was one of the more interesting But my takeaway from that was he was much more mad at his former employer,

the Tennessee and Uh than he ever was at you personally. Yes, we actually I think went back and forth and then kind of landed at that at that juncture actually on Twitter back in January that he was kind of unhappy with the direction of what was, in his mind, one of the great papers of the region. Anyway, that was good, good show. We'll be back on Friday on Network. How about that around the NFL broadcast where we will uh uh talk to you about all the latest in the NFL,

what's going on in and around the league. So make sure you check that out, set your DVRs uh and if you want to watch it live. It is Friday, six pm Eastern, three pm Pacific, and we'll be back with another brand new episode of the podcast on Monday. The Train keeps Rolling, Stand hands de signing off four, Quiet Storm, the Old Boss all Right, Hollywood in the West, hollywel still Monday s