The OTP | NFL Scouting Combine Day 1

Dave McGinnis, I have to ask you right off the top, how many minds are changed in a draft room, whether it be scouts or coaches by what happens here. A lot of what happens here, Mike, and it's a relevant question. Make you go back to the film, because everybody's got a board of temporary boards set up. You know, they've

got their front board, their backboard temporarily set up. But some of the things that you thought you saw on film, the things that you can't discern sometimes depending on the level of play of these players, is the true speed of the players. You know, true speed, that's number one, and then you get a true measurement of the people

it'll make you go back to the tape. It doesn't change a whole lot of minds as far as football playing ability wise, but maybe some of moving people just a little bit within position groups, it might change it a little just because of the physical testing that goes on here, also the medical testing that goes on here. There are things that are found out here, you know sometimes, I mean there's several players that have come through here that have been found with congenital heart problems that were

missed you know, on collegiate exams. A lot of those things will will cause the positionals to shift a little bit.

But there's a there's been so much work done tape wise on these guys are ready to this point that there's not a you go back and recheck the tape to see if some of these things that they've done here physically, especially if you've got a guy rated lower but physically they test really high, you go back and see if maybe you can find out why Now Mac in this draft specifically, it feels like for the entirety of the offseason, we have been talking about trades that

could happen early and often it seems to be the overwhelming opinion that the draft lineup that we know today February twenty eighth will not be the same on April twenty seventh, when the draft begins. How much does that knowledge that there will be trades, that so much of this is going to look different impact the way that you ingest that all of the information that you're getting from Indianapolis. What you try to do is you try

to separate it at this time of year. You try to get these evaluations just at face value to what these evaluations are, and then the other things come into being. First of all, everybody's working are reworking their salary cap to this point, there are going to be players released, okay, And then as and you make a very good point, when free agency comes in, then all of a sudden,

some of your priorities may change. But what you try to do is you try to do this at this time of year, and your right to differentiate and separate the times because the time frames are different. But right now you are trying to look at this within the context of right now, where do they fit? And then all those other factors that are relevant factors that will figure in as we all get closer to a draft day and the draft. They will all figure in, but

not at this point. They don't. Not at this point because at this point you don't really know how everything's set yet. Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson, I believe he has the most to gain this week in money and showing his talents. Otherwise, well, Anthony Richardson, when we all know the quarterback draft is a separate draft, but Anthony Richardson is a is a very divergent ratings by everybody, very divergent. The thing that I think everyone agrees on are the

physical tools and the physical abilities are there. Then you start digging deeper into it, you know, you go into a less time played. You know, I mean, if if if you want to look at the Utah game, just put the Utah game on and watch him play, watch him play against Utah, and you go, WHOA, watch the Missouri game. You know, I've watched the Missouri game. But you I mean, but he's operating as a quarterback that you say, Okay, this is the package that we want

making on time throws. It can run is you know is and then some games it's not there at all. And so that's gonna be something that you're going to have to quantify within yourself. When you're drafting quarterbacks high in the draft, you clearly need one, but a lot of times, and especially to Amy's point, you talk about moving closer to the draft, if you need a quarterback, then your desperation meter goes up. We've been there, yeah,

I mean, your desperation meter goes up. And all of a sudden, you said, regardless of anything else that I am seen on the negative side, we believe we can get it out of him, and plus we got to have one. So he's got a lot of traits to him. And I firmly believe there are four quarterbacks that have separated themselves from the rest, and he's one of them.

So see, if you agree with this statement, someone here will fall more in love with Anthony Richardson much more likely than someone will fall in love with him for the first time. Correct. Correct. A lot of this will depend on and of course, first of all, how he isthmatically. You know, we don't know any of that yet. And then how is he going to be just sitting like

this like we're sitting right here, you know. And then just in the short amount of time that you have here, I was on the staff when we vetted Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston coming out together, they were the top. They were one two, you know when when when they were coming out here and we weren't going to take

a quarterback, but we had to vet them. Okay, you have to vet them and go in and the time that they can spend on the board in a short eighteen minute span, you know, in a room, you know, you try to ingest what they're giving to you and saying, can does this guy have it to be able to be able to do it? But your question is absolutely right, somebody's going to come out of this and say that's our guy. For sure, for sure, that's our guy, And then the other people will go, yeah, that was better

than we thought, but we're still scared to death. One hundred percent true, one percent true, and some you know, we'll come out of there saying that's exactly what I thought it would be and it's not for us. We had a chance to talk draft with the NFL Networks draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah. Here's that visit from Indianapolis a day two of the OTP. Daniel Jeremiah, I talked with someone in mobile who feels like this year's draft we'll have a class at the top with less first round

grades than in normal years. In listening to your teleconference last week, it sounds like you agree with that. Maybe fifteen first round grades instead of twenty to twenty five. Yeah, I think that's fair. That's a fair number. It's again, it's it's why it's going to be an intriguing draft because there's not that there's normally a shelf in somewhere, and I don't even know if everybody agrees on where that shelf is. Some might think it's fewer than that.

So to me, that's where you're gonna have a team. He might be. You're gonna see teams in the draft room and I've been in there when this happens and you see the thirteenth pick and you're like, he was our forty eighth guy just went with the thirteenth pick, Like that's There's gonna be a lot of variants around

the league. We've talked a lot about different position groups over the years, but it feels like it's been a while since we've really dove into tight ends, especially during combine week, But this year it seems like there's a really good group of tight ends. What stands out to you about that position group it stands out is I wish they would spread it out a little bit because there's so many years when I'm going through and watching all those guys, I'm like, you're watching one after them

that these guys aren't any good. Like there's one guy, you watch fifteen more guys and I, oh, this guy's okay. This time you're going through the tight enness, I'm like, this guy's really good, next one really good. Like they all have different strengths, so you have different styles of you know, what you're looking for, you can find it

in this draft. And one of the storylines with that position for me is gonna be did they get punished because there's so many of them and teams are gonna say, well, you know what, we have a little higher grade on this tight end in the first round, but you know what, we can get this other tight in the fourth round. So let's address the tackle need. Let's address some of these other needs where maybe the depth isn't quite there, Daniel,

Let's play Devil's advocate for a second. Though. This wide receiver group is much different this year at the top than it has been in previous draft. So do they benefit from that because there are past catching tight ends

in this draft. I think that, you know, the receiver thing is going to be really interesting because we've had such a run over the last few years and there've been you know, these high end, high end players, they've jumped right into the next level and just dominated, not not like played or been good players dominated early in

their careers. So we don't have that this year. And I think there's a there's an intriguing group of mid round wideouts, but I think the teams are gonna look at that as as weapons this year, and they're gonna they're gonna lump these tight ends and wide receivers together, and I think that you're gonna see tight ends replacing wide receivers in this draft. The Titans have the eleventh selection in the first round Daniel Jeremi. That seems to be a place they will be able to get one

of the elite players if they want to. There is discussion about the Titans potentially moving up to go grab a player that really fits them. The question I have for you, however, is since the Titans figure to get an elite player at number eleven. What would be the market for somebody wanting to come up and get eleven and maybe the Titans be able to gather some picks if they were willing to move back. Well, the name

I would tell Titan fans is Anthony Richardson. You want Anthony Richardson to be there when you pick, because you're going to I think you'll have some options. There's you know, we'll see this is a roller coaster ride with this quarterback class. The expectation is the top three guys are going to be gone, They're gonna go early, and then that leaves Richardson as the fourth and most a lot of people feel like that's the you know, the last high,

high ceiling quarterback in the draft is Richardson. Now, his rows can be, but I think teams, as we go through this process and in the spring, there's gonna be some teams they're gonna talk themselves into Anthony richards because of what he can be. And if you're a team that's picking around where the Titans are and you kind of look over history, that's been kind of a trading spot for quarterbacks. You think Deshaun Watson, Mahomes like Um, that's kind of an area where teams have looked to go.

So I think that's the name. And you want Anthony. You want to Anthony Richardson buzz to build as we go through the spring, and you want him to be there when you pick, and maybe the Titans just say forget it, We'll just take him ourselves if they keep Bryan Tannehill is the quarterback. Yeah, would Anthony richards And make a ton of sense for Tennessee at eleven. I think you'll you'll get pushed back and people will say, well, he's a similar player to Malik Willis, and aren't you

kind of is this a duplicate? I think he's got more ability than Malik Willis does, and to me, he's an intriguing option. I you know, I was doing the Charter game last year. We talked about during the game and when Willis came in there and just the threat of him as a runner, I thought, oh gosh, and a Charger team that struggled against the run, this could be problematic. And then Hill tought that out went back

in the game. But I still look at the makeup of this team in the DNA of this team with Vrabel and think, gosh, an athletic running quarterback mixed in with what they have kind of makes a lot of sense. But you know, I don't know what the evaluation of Malik Willis is in the building. I'm just saying that Anthony Richardson is a more dynamic version of Malik Willis.

You said something that's interesting to me about Anthony Richardson and how he's kind of a raw player, and we're seeing more and more of that, guys like Lucas Vanesse who have a very kind of unconventional resume. It seems like every year there's a little bit more of a premium being placed on guys with just raw ability and maybe they're not the most polished athlete. Is that maybe indicative of an evolution of philosophy across the NFL that maybe we don't need the sharpest tool, but we need

someone with a lot of potential. Maybe. Yeah, it's just traits based scouting, you know. So it's a it's a constant tugle war in the draft room. It's production versus traits. And you can look at it and say, well, look what all he's done, And then you have people in the him and say he is what he is. There's nothing left and you can look at the other guy and say, look at all the traits he possesses. He's got so much more room to grow. He can be a blue level player, an elite level player, and we

feel like we can get it out of him. But you mentioned Lucas Vaness. To me, that's a fascinating story because you're watching the video and I'm like, you, guys a really good player, he's dynamic, he's explosive. What the heck why doesn't he start? And it took me a couple months before I finally got the answer on that, and they said, look, that's that's the Iowa program. When

they have upper classman seniors leaders. Those guys start even though they know the other guys a better player, and he's gonna end up playing more snaps over the game. It's a it's an honor thing, so to speak with their with their veteran leaders. So that's kind of what this combine's about. It's about what the Spring is about is digging in and trying to learn more about these guys and you know why certain things took place, but you are seeing a trend towards teams betting on the traits.

So at eleven, the Titans obviously have a need on the offensive line. Tator to one has been released left tackle as as a subject, Yeah, well, Mike told me when I was saw him there in the fall that he was very pleased with the tackle situation going forward and he didn't have any concerns what Jeremiah in spite of his family life. Okay, so it's Paris Johnson Junior talking about. But you have already stood on the table for Peter Scronsky of Northwestern and there's been debate of

everything I've read. Is he inside better suited as a guard? Is he a tackle? Is he a tackle? I think he can be a tackle. I do. And I had this same conversation, the same discussion on Elijah Vera Tucker when he was coming out of USC a couple of years ago. So he goes to the Jets and the Jets plug him in a guard and he played at a really high level, and people said, see, we knew he was a guard, and then all of a sudden, tackle got hurt that kicked him out the tackle. Turns

out he's really good at both. So that to me is Scronsky. Now it'll be big for him this week with the arm length, just to see, you know what that looks like. I know he's not a real long arm guy. You're hoping they don't come in with somewhere in the thirty ones. As long as he's in the mid thirty two or you know, I think he's he's gonna be fine. Um, but yeah, I watched him on tape, and you watch guys. You know, it's really interesting when

you look at the Big ten in the SEC. I was talking to a scouting buddy was on my flight and I said, you know, would be interesting if a team just said, we're gonna take all of our resources. We're gonna stop scouting the whole country, We're gonna stop going to all the small schools, and we're just gonna put pour all of our resources into the SEC in the Big ten, and we're only going to draft players

from those two conferences. Because the hit rate is higher because you see him planning, it's other NFL players on a weekly basis. It's it's really interesting how it's changed. I mean when you look at the Big twelve and the number of draftable players and how low that number is especially at some certain positions. The PAC twelve has dropped way down. The ACC has kind of been a one or two team league for the last few years. That the football in the SEC and the Big Ten.

It's almost like, gosh, you just had a draft out of their Yeah. But but to get back to Scarnsky, like, I've watched Scronty go up against NFL pass rushers throughout his career, so it makes the evaluation a lot easier. All Right, speed round out with Daniel Jeremiah the NFL Network on the OTP. We're just gonna hit you with players. Oh, I'm very well aware of the all right, so talk to me about Jalen Carter, defensive tackle Georgia. Yeah, he's

a freak. He is an absolute freak, and he's a disruptor and he's dynamic, and to me, I think he's a better version of quinnin Williams coming out. What about Miles Murphy the Edge out of Clemson. He's a difficult evaluation because it's all there. He's got the body that you want. He's explosive, He's just got to get more polished as a pass rusher. The long corner. Joey Porter

junior Penn State. Yeah, long, longest corner. That's what I would say, because even looks like he's beat on film and all of a sudden, go go, gadget arms, and then he can he can still make a play. He's a He's a very intriguing player. Darnell Wright, offensive tackle, Tennessee stock Up. He's three hundred and forty plus pounds, who had was good on tape at right tackle at Tennessee. He was great at the Senior Bowl, and I think

he's moving his way up into the top twenty. What about someone like Jordan Addison, the wide receiver at he See. He's polished, Um, he's a he's a pure route runner. And those are the guys that have had success translating quickly to the next level. Staying with wide receiver Jackson Smith and Jigba didn't play a lot because of the handstring. Where is he in this? Uh, he's an enigma. Can I say that? I like, it's gonna be an easy one. You just set me up there. Yeah, he's just you

wish you would have seen more of him. But when he's out there, to me, he's a high volume slot receiver. So he's gonna catch eighty plus balls in the slot. All right, So give me a full thumbnail for the ot people on. Peter Scronsky from Northwestern convinced them why he should be the guy. When you look at offensive lineman that are tough, smart, and can anchor down against power rushers. In other words, you're not gonna be able

to collapse them. That's a quarterback's best friend. They're gonna know, they're gonna see pressure, they're gonna identify it. They're gonna be able to squad on power. Every now and then you might get somebody get up the field on him with some speed, But guess what, you can climb up and you can get away from that. You're not gonna get through him. Do the same thing for Anthony Richards In,

that quarter back out of Florida. Yeah, Well, if you look at quarterbacks's lottery tickets and they all cost the same amount of money in terms of first round picks, the payout in his lottery ticket is higher. So he's got the highest payout of anybody in this draft. If you hit on him, you win big. Not that I've ever bought a lottery ticket, because remember of the National Football like I to go nowhere near anything. He can I read to find prints in those emails. I'm not

so sure. I can't. Can't buy him while you're on a trip to the combine. Another guy we saw at the Senior Bowl that he is intriguing to be at quarterback to find Witherspoon from Illinois. He's my favorite corner in the draft. He is so instinctive, He plays with no fear um and he just makes one play after another.

He is a playmaking corner. Now, he's not gonna be the biggest guy in the world, but if you remember a Sante Samuel's career and what he was, I actually even there's some Sumari role, you know, to bring it back to the name you're familiar with. That he reminded me of Clark Phillips cornerback Utah. He's undersized, he's a He's gonna be a value pick. He'll get and he'll get punished a little bit because not the biggest guy. I don't think he's gonna just run a blazing forty.

But he is really really instinctive and just always making plays and tier your offensive line. And I feel like this guy is a center because that's what he's played John Michael Schmidt's from Minnesota, plugging play, plug and play. That's a three letter evaluation, right, plug and play John Michael Schmitt play. Yeah, that's nice. What makes him? Is it the six year part? Is it the steadiness? What do you like most about him? He's just always he's

always in a good body position. He doesn't he understands who he is and what he is. He doesn't get out of control. He plays very under control, working up to the second level. Um, it's not like he's the most dynamic or explosive player you've ever seen. But you know, it's just that, hey, block a guy, just just stay in front of him, stay attached to him, and that's what he does. You're the best, Daniel. I appreciate you guys, thank you for being with us on the OTP. I

wanted more lightning round. I feel like a lightening round here. Let's do that the whole show. Yes, thank you, brother. Daniel Jeremiah is so good to have him with his Cotchmac. A lot of respect for Daniel Jeremiah because he came up through the ranks, real live scout, real live guy. Well. I respect Daniel Jeremiah so much. He's done it for a living, He's done the draft, he's made picks. I mean he's with Ozzie Newsom. He knows how it works. I mean he's done it for a living. I mean

he's he's evaluated, he's he's been a road scout. I mean, he has come up through the ranks, as you say, so I got much respect for him because he's done it, and he's done it when his mortgage depended on it. Not just throwing out a lot of ideas rhet What jumped out to you about our conversation with Daniel Jeremiah One. He's he's very high on Peter Scronski, the offensive lineman from No. I mean he loves he loves Peters Scrony. You know. Let me just throw something in there about Scronsky.

I was just talking with Dan Pompeii, who came up here and he wrote a great piece of thank you. I was just telling and you know that he's known that family since Scronsky was four years old. And I told Dan, I said, that was as insightful a piece as you could ever read. And Dan Pompeii's he said, mac he's the real deal. And Dan POMPEII is the real deal. Daniel Jeremiah is the real deal. I mean,

this guy's a player. In talking to just various people who have pretty good knowledge, I'd say there is a sense that Scronsky might be as safe as anybody in the first round, even if he ends up a guard. I think that that sentiment is very true. Is just an overall package of a player knowing what it takes mentally and physically to play in this league at that position. I think that what you just said there is I think a very general feeling here, and it's a real

it's a real thing. Mac. I'm sitting here in your notebooks right in front of us, so I feel the need to bust it out a little bit to get

to the notebook. But also one of the things that we talked to Daniel Jeremiah about with tight ends, and he's very high on this tight end group, Mac, I want your evaluation on the group of tight ends that we have in this draft right now, and if there's anybody that really sticks out to you, he says, eleven in the first three rounds, he thinks, and Mac is feverishly flipping pages, buying him a second because I mean, Amy always gets on to me about but this is

the actual draft workbook that I go through when I'm watching take He brought that. He bought that notebook at Kroger, just like we would for seventh Great History. Yeah, I'm just worried about the durability of it. Mac. I don't make fun of it. It's full of really important information. I'm just afraid of it just looks like it's been through a fire. By the end of the draft. You know what I'm going to get next year is a big chief tablet. Michael Mayer from Notre Dame. Why tight

end fan, Yeah, big, big, big tight end. Uh you know we Uh. Dalton Kincaid from Utah, now he's got he he had a back injury that that is going to keep him from working out here. Okay, that has that has popped up, you know since But Dalton Kincaid is is Dalton Kinkaid to me in this draft is kind of the prototypical tidy end now of what's going on in this league, being able to split out, being able to you know, make you know, run routes distinct routes.

Luke Musgrave, we saw him very closely down there at you know, at the Senior Bowl. Of course, you know, very limited playing time this year because of the ACL injury. But I think that that you know, that guy's going to be up there. Darnel Washington from Georgia. You know this is a big, big dude on the edge. Uh Tucker Craft from South Dakota State. You know, is it is a guy. Uh Sam Laporta from Iowa has been a guy that has been moving up and down. I mean I talked to a lot of people and you know,

just there's some varied opinions. You talk about guys moving up and down around here. You know, I got down here early yesterday talking to a group and Samuel part is kind of moving up and down. We're talking about a tight end from Iowa and then Luke Schoonmaker from Michigan. This guy is. You know, so to me what Daniel say eleven, I wouldn't I wouldn't say no to any of that the tight end group. Here's the other thing, guys too, that I think we all know, tight end

has become a real position now in offenses. Tight End used to be and I'm not gonna say throwaway, but tight end used to be kind of an afterthought position. You know, I'm going back you know when, But now tight ends are the deal, and so that's why there's that's why they are a number of them now. Darnielle Washington from Georgia probably the biggest guy in this group in the draft, monster guy, a guy that we looked

at last year who wasn't rated as high. Jelannie Woods from Virginia, who we saw twice this year with the Indianapolis Colts. Is it benefit a guy like that who can go in jumbo packages like that as an extra offensive lineman, it also be a big red zone thread

as a big, massive, you know target to go get. Yeah, yeah, you're saying it right, red And we're seeing how many times have we seen this year during our game broadcast that opponents would be in thirteen personnel, which is three tights, one wide, one back, and not only in short yardage

situations is what Redd is saying. So absolutely yes. And Jelannie Woods was the guy that was, you know, didn't have a lot of production, new to the position, new to the position, didn't have a lot of production, But all of a sudden, you know, you get him in an NFL camp and then you get packages put together for these people. You know. I mean, we've got a guy right there at the Titans. That same thing happened

with him in Chigger Conquo. You know, found a slot for him, found a place for him, and all of a sudden he ends up having a really nice rookie season. Yes, here's what I want to ask you about. Look at college football. Georgia uses tight ends, Alabama uses tight ends. Tennessee Josh Hypel has got to have a tight end in what he does. So when all this spread stuff started, it was one more wide receiver and no tight ends.

Now the tight ends are back at an even bigger part, and we're seeing more of them come out in the draft. Who are you know? It's it's like flavors of ice cream, you can get all kinds. Why is the tight end so much back in football in this way overall? Two distinct reasons. Okay. The first is when they're split out,

it's a huge mismatch problem. Okay, huge mismatch problem. As a defensive coordinator, you've got to decide if they put a tight end out there, Okay, if they put multiple tight ends out there on first down, you're gonna have to decide immediately. Am I gonna go with my standard package whatever that is with defensive backs and the numbers of linebackers. However that intercedes? And then what am I going to do if they don't change the package, but

they change the alignments and they change the assignments. Who's going to be my walk away guy? How am I going to be able to get this guy covered? You know? And that's the difference. And here's the other thing. Even with the spread offense, you still need somebody at some point to block one edge. Whether you're running inside or outside zone, to the close side or to the open side, you need somebody that's the money block out there on

that side. Somebody to secure an edge, secure an edge if you're going towards it, or secure an edge if you're going away from it. For the cutback aspect of it. The other aspect of that is if you bring a tight end into it and you've got defensive personnel packages, then the play action game, because if you've got corners covering receivers, you pretty much know even on play action,

I'm going to cover that dude, right. But if I if my eye discipline has to be such that I have to check and see if this tight end or somebody in a tight end position is blocking first with the action away from him, and then all of a sudden, I've got a gap to feel in that run action away for a cutback, and then the tight end is out. Okay. Oh, and we've all seen it, and the bootleg game, the half bootleg game, all of those types of things come into being. That's why tight ends that are able to

do a multitude of things. And when you block on the edge for a tight end, we're not talking about somebody just massively mauling somebody every time. It's getting away, getting the way, hold account, holding edge, holding edge you don't have to. You're not talking about someone that just has to move the entire pile. So that's why it's happening,

all right. So let me ask the group this percentage chance in this draft in your opinion, knowing the Titans have a one, two, three, five, six seven as we talk right now in February twenty eighth percentage tank chance that somewhere among those picks the Titans draft a tight end sixty three and a half. Okay, I'll go higher. I think seventy percent chance at some point in those picks. Oh,

I was gonna go way higher than that. I was gonna say like ninety Yeah, I would say eighty percent chance they draft a tight end with the need and with the availability. Now, is there one of those guys you could see a scenario that they take at eleven? I think I believe the need for offensive lineman is so important right now, I don't see it. And the reason I say that there's enough of these guys with the picks that you know that we're going to be

able to get forty two even. Yes, And here's here's the other thing that I that I really that, I really think is that the picks that we have now that's not going to be the picks we have when we go to draft day. I agree with that. I think somehow they're going to add picks. And like, for example, all right, let's say just hypothetically they bumped down somebody desperately wanted to get to eleven to grab Anthony Richardson, As Daniel Jeremiah just said, let's say Tennessee bumps down

to twenty or twenty one. Would you think about would you entertain the thought knowing that you've gathered some extra picks. Would you would you maybe take a tight end there? Maybe maybe depending on who's there, they're still they're still offensive lineman that may be there at that point also, and that would go into your thinking when you're thinking about doing that. But eleven in this draft is kind of a sweet spot. It is a sweet spot. Eleven. I mean when you really start analyzing it, and I

mean we've all done it. I mean we've all looked at the draft deep enough you know that when you really start, and it'll be a sweet spot when the phone calls start, and that's on draft day. That's that's important. I mean, because people are forming ideas now. They're they're talking now amongst those suites up there during this whole week about possible trades, about possible moving in the draft.

But that, as I say, and I've been in too many draft rooms, a lot of them on the phone, the desperation quotient when the clock is running and you've got to have something done and you've got two or three people, two or three different teams on the line going yes or no, yes or no, yes or no, it's gonna it's gonna be. The leventh spot will kind of be the sweet spot in this draft, because I don't really believe that there are there's thirty one picks

in the first round right. Yes, there won't be people that have thirty one first round grades right on these people. So that's why mac. As we're here in Indianapolis, obviously, the evaluation of the players and the medicals and the workouts and everything vitally important to what is going to

happen going forward. Equally as important, perhaps some of the conversations that happen being in a city where every person in the National Football League seems to be here right now more important because you can do it because of this, everybody knows everybody in the league. Of all of us have been in the league long enough, we know a lot of people. It's the same way with the coaches and the general managers now. But to be able to do what we're doing face to face, that's when it

becomes real. I mean, I've been in those you know when we made the deal with the Titans. You know at the rams that started here. You know that that started here. Going one sweet over? So is it important that it starts here? Is an even if it's just an exploratory conversation that you're seeing face to face the person you're potentially have a trade partner with, to gauge body language, to gauge interest, throwing things against the wall, what would you take? Would if I could, would you

that kind of thing? Yeah? Well, and nobody's making a trade here, no, right, but it's where it begins. But you're laying the groundwork. Yeah, you're laying the ground work for it. And that and that's this word starts. It really does, because I mean, there's a legal tampering period, right, Mike's favorite thing. Mike's favorite thing. I love legal tampering. Yeah. So to answer your question, yes, and that's why, you know, especially for the draft decision makers here, and sometimes the

trade develops out of that, and sometimes it doesn't. Well, sure, I mean, nobody's making a trade here. Yeah, but you're you're, you're, you're, I mean, you're everybody here has been deep sea fishing. I'm sure. Do we look like a group of deep sea fishermen actually have been deep sea fish? It's really cool. Yes, So I've never even been on a less than half of it. Okay, well, but both the ones that haven't, we'll understand this you're chumming the water. Sure, Oh I

know that. Yeah, you're chumming the water. And that's that's what this is here. The question is do you need a bigger boat? Jaw's reference in nineteen seventy five. There you go, Rich, there you go. Well, that guy who knows for sure that the legal tampering period starts in thirteen days and the free agency starts in fifteen days

is here working hard. Visited with the media today and was kind enough to with US Titans due general manager Ran carthon the ot Titans general manager Ran Carthon, what's the number one question you've been getting in a month plus on the job, and my drinking water out of a fire hydrant? I've never attempted to, you know, And so now I've gotten a lot of great advice from guys, and Andrew Barry's given me the best piece of advice, which is get rest, and you have time to do

it all. You can't sign any free agents to the new league your starts, you can't draft anybody to the draft opens, so you have time to get it all. Make sure I get my rest, so any event that I have to make a tough decision is coming from a well rested place, and I'm just not just reacting, you know. And so I've with my family not being there, I really don't have much to go home to, So I stay the office as late as possible, work as

late as possible. I live very close by, and so it's I literally go to my place to sleep, I wake up, I'm back in the office, and kind of you know, the end in the middle of house shopping, I work, go meet my realtor see about three or four homes. Back in the office, you know, get a little bit of work in. So it's been great, man, But that's the number one question in my drinking water. Fire hasn't I don't know who came up with that,

but it isn't descriptive. Yeah, and literally, from the moment I got offered the job, everybody was it's going, this is what it's gonna be like. So hey, man, to each his own. It has to be hard to balance that need for rest, though, with all of the different things, because this time of year, there's so many different options, there's so many different things that can happen in scenarios that I'm sure you're playing through your mind. How do you balance all of the different things that are just

rolling through your head. Take inventory. Gotta be big on taking notes. I was went to bed after interviews last night, go straight back to the hotel, talk to my family, and I lay down, shoot Chad Brinker, couple notes, things that are on my mind. Wake up at three, three thirty in the morning, things on my mind. Shoot off a couple of texts, you know, And I let guys know, like, hey, you don't have to respond at three thirty or four o'clock. I'm just getting these thoughts off, you know. And so

you just gotta take inventory and kind of prioritize. Somebody learned from less sneed. He categorizes things in big rocks and little rocks. Right, what are the big rocks that are gonna hinder your progress going forward? Let's attack those things, and where can the little rocks wait? So that's really what I'm doing. And again, man, it's just you don't have to make hasty, quick decisions, you know. It's just just gotta take your time and make the right decisions.

So I'm just again taking my time doing everything right. I'm not doing things the way people expect or probably want me to do it. But you know, this is a process, like and I'm lucky to have Mike, you know, somebody that's here that's established that the culture is established.

So again, it's a lot of me assimilating to what's going on and me learning, you know, the way in where I can add value, and then being able to just go right next door to his office, like, hey, man, here's what I'm thinking, Like what do you you know you've experienced this, like hey, how can you how can I do this better? Or like hey, how would you

handle this? You know, And he's been beyond helpful from the job to school districts, like who would have thought that Mike Vrabel knows as much about Nashville area school districts as he does from the private schools the public schools. Like he's got it covered. You know, Jen did a really good job of coaching him up on that. But he's just been a great resource, you know, between him and Adolpho and Burke, Like, I'm surrounded by good people

who can help me in this transition. Chad Brinker, you mentioned highly thought of executive with the Green Bay Packers. Why was he the right guy to come in as assistant GM to you with the Tennessee type. So if you know Chad, Chad's one of the greatest humans, you know, God has ever created, just to genuinely person that cares about people. But if you look at Chad's background, he's played the game, he's done in pro scouting, he's done

college scouting, he's done salary coup, he's done analytics. Like he brings a broad perspective, you know, to our organization that's going to help us continue to evolve. You know. Again, I come up with the title of football guy. Right, nobody knows what you know unless you tell them. And so I've always valued having people from broad perspectives that can do a lot of different things. I don't believe in pigeonholing guys into just a college scout or just

a pro scout. Like this is player acquisition, right, we gotta find where's the where's the value? Right. You can't go in draft all these guys if the draft isn't strong in a certain areas, right, And so that portion may come from free agency. And so we're going to cross train our guys and guys will know both spaces, you know, so that allow us to build, you know,

a versatile staff. So if there is movement, and then you can take a scouting assistant that has done both and plug him in, or you might move a pro guy on the road or vice versa. Want to have versatility, and I think Chad is one of the more versatile guys into our business, much like ran Carthon was in San Francisco, Fair Fair, but he brings a lot more. I personally feel, you know, Chad won't talk about himself,

so I'll talk about him in this moment. He's a guy that Green Bay thought enough of to pay for him to get his executive NBA from Northwestern, Right, So not only does he goes and gets his executive NBA, but through the course of getting an NBA, he meets with some guys that are in the tech space and he creates his own AI model for injuries and cap studies, and so he figures out a way to create these models that he owns the IP for, and so wherever he goes, he can bring that IP, you know, with him,

and again it allows us to grow in the space that we're trying to evolve to, which is in the analytics department, you know, And so he brings that vast I have an understanding of analytics because coming from where I'm coming from, but he's on another level den I in and so that's an area where he's going to be a strength, you know, to our organization. Obviously being in Indianapolis, one of the primary goals is to evaluate all of the players that are, you know, participating in

the combine. But it's also an opportunity for you to really spend a lot of concentrated time with your staff. How are you going through that process of not only working together and kind of getting in lockstep with everybody, but also just kind of evaluating the chemistry of this group. Yeah, it's it's time spent, right. So it started for me in particular, get the job. Literally, reach out to every single area scout. I knew the pro staff fairly well.

Reach out to every single area guy, you know, just to have an opening conversation. Then Senior Bowl comes, we get to spend a week together. In the Senior Bowl, we go to dinner one night, just hang out, have fun. Then last week they were all just in for four days for meetings. So it's it's been a part of the process of spending more time together, getting to hear them in their space and actually giving them the opportunity to speak and speak how they feel about the players

as openly as possible. And again it allows me to evaluate, you know, not only our department, but our processes. And so last night, our area guys are coordinators, are in there running the meeting in terms of meeting with the players.

And again it's another good portion for me to see because these guys are the ones who've been scouting them the last five six years, right, So I can't come in pretend to be an expert on these particular players from these particular areas, knowing that I hadn't been in there. So it's good to let these guys lead take ownership of that process. And again it allows me to not only evaluate them, but our processes as a whole. Listening to you talk about that, it sounds like that's going well.

Now it's going everything's going well. Again, I'm stepping into a space that was already established, right, And again it's a little bit of a cheat code because of what Jay rob the systems that he brought from New England was how I came up right in Atlanta, and then we instituted those things in San Francisco, So the language is the same, so it makes it easier for me to step in and understand exactly what they're saying because

we speak, you know, some places speaking colors. We speak in numbers in terms of our grading scale, and I know, even though the numbers are a little different, I do know the bucket that these guys belong to because of the similarity in the systems. Last week the Titans wave Taylor to one, Robert Woods, Zach Cunningham, and kicker Randy Bullock. What went into the process of deciding that these would be the first moves that you made, and the timing of it, well a lot of it too was one

of the first of all. The timing part, you know, wanting to get through the Super Bowl. There's a little bit of a competitive advantage that those teams would have had had we made these moves prior to because those guys would have been available to those Super Bowl teams for that time. So a little bit of a competitive competitive advantage there. So we wanted to wait until after Super Bowl. But those moves were just, you know, roster moves that needed to be made to kind of allow

our program to go into the next direction. You know, they were all tough moves. All those guys have made contributions to you know, to our organization, and you're grateful for him. You know. Honestly, that was outside of Taylor. That was my first time talking to those three guys, and it was you know, it was tough. You know, your first conversation. You hear it in their voice like oh hey, and then I'm like, hey man, I'm sorry

that this is our first phone call. You know, particularly a guy Robert Woods, where I have a ton of respect for. I was in LA when we first signed him. There it was only I was in to build them with him maybe two weeks after we signed him, and then I left, and then now to come into this situation. And I even have Robert featured in my GM presentation right for signing the right guys culture builders, guys who

come in and can help establish a culture. So that one was really tough, you know, because of the amount of respect I have for him, but him being who he is, he handled it like a true pro and we actually had a really good conversation. And you know, again there's there moves that need to be made for us to take the step into a new year. As you look at the roster as it stands right now, there's a lot of different options for the ways that

the Tennessee Titans can move forward. How do you, I guess, how do you narrow in on some of the specific areas that need to be addressed as we approach not only free agency, but the draft that's coming around the corner. There's a lot of different things that can happen, and it seems like a narrowing of a focus would be beneficial. Right. So the way I look at everything is it's a puzzle, right,

There's a puzzle. There's a picture in the end of we know when you open the box and you put to all the pieces out, you know how the puzzle was supposed to look in the end. And so right now we're putting we're finding all these pieces on how we're going to make that picture come to light at the end. Right, So, in terms of narrowing in the focus, we'll have that, but we're still gathering all the pieces. We're grouping all the pieces of how to put this

puzzle together. And so we're gonna again as player acquisition, right, So we hadn't gotten a free agency yet, draft is after that, and so now we got to see where's the value. That was a part of our meetings with the pro guys. Hey give a positional overview. Where's this where's this class strong? Where's it light? And the same thing in college, where's its strong and where's it lights?

So we got to use those two things to balance, and we're gonna find the best value in whether it's the draft, whether it's free agency, to make the necessary moves to make that picture come to light at the end. Because you are a new general manager, other teams don't know what you're going to do. You have no track record in that way. I was going to the question is I think it's already been answered by the smile.

How much of an advantage is that that the Tennessee Titans are open for business and people don't really know what that business is right now? I mean, the only way you will find out is if you call it inquiry. That's right, you know. So I have friends, a lot of friends in this business who we've had intimate talks throughout the years, and so you know, you get a little Hey, I think this is who I think, I

think this is your guy? Could be I don't know, you know, so to a lot of my friends knowledge, I haven't seen any of these guys, and so we'll keep it that way. I haven't seen anybody in the draft. I haven't seen any free agents. So we'll see you when the draft opens. This obviously is not your first combine in your career, but it is your first combine as the guy. What has surprised you the most about being here in this new role? Has anything changed a

little bit? No, nothing's changed. Um, well, we're staying at one hotel and throughout my career stayed at another hotel. So that's been a little bit of an adjustment. But again, having such a vast network of friends and people, you know, you try to build in the time to see everyone, but understanding now in this position, like you're in a different light, and so I'm hosting a little bit more of Hey, come to my room and hang out instead of being out out. You know, in years past, I

could do that. No one, Oh that's the guy in San Francisco, I think, you know. And then then you get to peer down at your credential like oh yeah, okay, and so now I just you know, I'm aware of that I'm aware of my surroundings at all times, and so I'm just more so isolating myself and hanging out my room, and everyone who knows me knows where to

find me and how to find me. Last question, how different is Ran Carthon in the interview room with the prospective players than you were when you were in the different roles with Atlanta, La and San Francisco. I feel like I'm the same. I'm more in this space of

information gathering, right. I want to hear more about these guys, and so there'll be a couple questions I might interject and ask, or you know, ice breakers if I know the kids high school, I know the area he grew up, or we have someone in common, I might do that just to you know, lighten the mood a little bit.

But more so I've always just kind of sat in the back and just to listen and hear where these guys are coming from, try to read the guy, to try to see, you know, where they are, how they're feeling. And you know, again, these young men, this is a this is a this is the dream, right. This is

the last portion of seeing that dream come true. And so there's gonna be some nerves, and you know there's gonna be some guys to stumble over words or you know, just might not be at their best because of the nerves. And so I just rather sit back and like I said before, allowed the area guys, the national guys to lead, allow of coordinators and coaches to lead, and then I could sit back and listen and then make my decisions or my opinions of the guy of the people, not

the player, but the people from there. You said a coach, Ran Carthon is an impressive guy. Well, I just had five years of working with him with a team that he and I both were hired into that had been fifteen and sixty five in the previous five years. I mean, I'm not good at math, but that's three wins a year for five years. So they weren't good, and so there was a lot of personnel work to do, and he and I sat in offices pretty late at night for a long time looking at players because we just

had to get that thing rebuilt. Couldn't do it all at once. It took seven years, you know, the five that five that we were there, and then six they kind of got it going, and then seven Shan McVay wins, But the base of it was those five years of trying to get all of that mess cleaned up. And as I said, Rand and I spent with Ray Agnew you know who's now at. You know who's now at. I mean we spent a lot of time together because I was the assistant head coach then and that was

part of my deal. Is that in watching your drafts in Los Angeles with the Rams, and in also watching what they've done in San Francisco. I've looked at sort of the last ten drafts, five from the Rams and then five from San Francisco. Seems like they hit a lot of three iron off the tee and don't try to hit driver very often. In other words, they want that shot right down the middle in good position from

those draft picks. That those guys are continually giving productivity, productivity, productivity. That feels like how Mike Vrabel will view drafts. Although he's not told us, didn't tell people to day when he talked to the media, I mean, not give anything away, but it feels like he and Ran Carthon will fit in that way because that seems to be the pattern. Don't each do your thing, make sure, you get players that can help you and will be not only performers

and successful performers, but be cost effect. I like your analogy. The only driver we hit when I was with the Rams was the trade with the Titans. Right, We went after Jared Golf, but I didn't think Golf was a crazy pick, well, because we had no quarterback, right, and then we've talked this through and that was that was it. Say, hey, look we're you know, we'd already had Aaron Donald put together.

We'd already had you know, we we had some things put together defensively, but you're right that that was a big part of it. And the reason was because when we came in there and we started evaluating what the product was that was on the turf at the time there. I mean, you had Chris Long, yeah, James Lornidas was right at the end. You had Robert Quinn, you know, I mean, and then you had Roger Staffold and when you really started looking at it, you know, Stephen Jackson,

the running back was was done. He was aged out, and so he started drafted Aaron Donald too, which is

pretty smart. Number thirteen. There's a great there's a great, great draft day story on that and a pre draft story on that that I mean is it's pretty amazing really because we just drafted Michael Brocker's year before from LSU, who just now retired, who's been a wonderful, pro tremendous, pro, big force, you know, defensively, and when we were drafting Mike during that time, we were drafting to beat Seattle

because they were well they were the dudes. Everybody else you could kind of figure out with, but they were the dudes and Russell Wilson was running, they had, you know, they had the legion of boom going and they were in a hard place to play up there, and the Rams had not beaten them in one hundred thousand years or whatever it was. And so I mean that's what you were looking at. And that's where the Aaron you know,

the Michael Brockers came into it. To pair him inside with Aaron Donald and had Robert Quinn on one side edge and Chris Long on the other edge, and then you know, all of those things started to work together.

But Aaron Donald, I mean, he was the thirteenth and you know, the you know, the room wasn't let me say this, it wasn't just like just sitting there on go for everybody, there's some that really loved it, loved him, and then we're just you know, sitting there holding their breath, you know, hoping it's gone, and others were holding We're hoping he would be gone so they wouldn't have to

make that decision when it got there. But why well, there was because of his height, really and there was a real there was a real you know, I mean a lot of times you know that there's got to be give and take when you're in a draft room with twenty people reading a report. You know, you can't talk in the draft room unless you've written reports, unless you've watched at least five game tape on him, and you can verify your grades at certain points in the film.

I mean, you know you have to have. So you had you know, some people would say, you know, he's too short. You know, he's working against people. He's got to jump around moving, that's it. And he's worked this in another city. Is this one of the ray agnew He said, this is one of the strongest, one of the most physical called dynamic three techniques I've ever seen on tape, ever seen. And Ragney was a number one draft pick, right. He knows, you know, he knew, so

he was on the table for it. And then the defensive line coach, Mike Waffle is, I've told you all this story. I don't know if the OTP has ever heard it, but we were having a draft meeting. We're looking at quarterbacks, you know, because and then only your thirty visit you have people in. Well, Mike Waffle, it was Aaron Donald's day to be in. So you break it noon and then everybody has their segment of time

when they talked to, you know, Aaron Donald. But Mike Waffles given him a tour of the facility, and all of a sudden, the door just flings open, slams up against the board. He says, hey, I don't care who you're talking about. He walks Aaron in the room. Aaron's going like what the hell? And he says, I don't care who we're talking about. This is the best player on the board right here, Aaron Donald. We don't take him. We're out of our minds. Thank you. Wore helpful, walks

back out. Whoa I like Jim Washburn used to do? Oh yeah, And both defensive line coaches were two of the best I've ever been around, sure, but they knew who they wanted. They knew who they wanted, and so anyway, but Aaron Donald's there, and he's had a pretty good career, and Mike, there will be a similar story in war rooms this year because of a guy from pitt He's not Aaron Donald now, but because of the size they're

making him out to be. Who were right, because of the size and where he came from, same program, Colijah Kancy with thirty four and a half sacks in his career something crazy like that, and he's undersized like that, and so yeah, the comparisons already, and it's like eight a minute, there's only one Aaron Donald. But go ahead, mac oh no, no, you're you're right. I mean, I've got him as a fringe first round pick, you know, just watching him. And of course I've had history with

Aaron Donald. But everybody else in the league does too. But this also for Elijah Cancy, rhet and for all of us can kind of work against him too, because people will say Aaron Donald's a one off. Aaron Donald's a unicorn. He's a unicorn. We we can't we can't run that tape again, you know, and so it's going to be very very interesting to see. Uh. When I watch Klijah Cancy, I see a lot of the movement stuff.

But Aaron Donald is in human. How strong he is inhuman and it comes from when he was growing up. I mean his dad had him pushing iron. I mean when he came out of the womb. I mean, so I don't know. I don't know Elijah Cancy that well from Pitt you know, I haven't, but I dug into Aaron Donald. There's an explosion to the really special people. I mean, you think about Walter Payton's explosion. Do you think about Adrian Peterson's explosion? Aaron Donald and I'm talking

about two running backs. They're players at various positions who have that, and Aaron Donald has that same sort of explosion. It's it's God given in some ways, it's brought out by work. But there's just something different about certain people, no matter their size. You know what we call those guys. When I was still in the scouting business for a living womb to tomb guys. They came out like that. They'll go on the ground like that and then they

can develop it. As you say, but because because football is played in short burst of power and speed. It's a short burst game. I mean, you know you have it, you have between snaps. You have a snap and then you go back and you know, recover again. I mean, so these guys that have that type of thing, and then you know, the mindset comes into it too, because it's exhausting to play like that all the time and you've got to have a relentless mindset, which how do

you try to find some of that out here? You try to find some of it out on tape, but until you really get a human being with you, you don't really know. I mean, we kind of knew that Aaron Donald was relentless the first nine on seven that we had and a guard tried to cut him on the back side, and Aaron Donald grabbed him by the face mask and worked him around the field like a dog dragon a dish ray and then yanked one time and pulled the face mask completely off the helmet and

threw it at him. Oh and we went, okay, So publicly you're saying, Aaron, don't do that. Privately you're all walking in the coach's office going what did we just see? All right? Part of True Mac. You had mentioned that the comparison to Aaron Donald could be detrimental to somebody. How often do those comps, which at this time of year we're all doing, you're and I think we're trying to provide context or a touch point. This person's kind of like that person, This person reminds me of this

person's body type or skill set or whatever. How much does that help somebody? And how much does that hurt somebody? You know what you're really First of all, if you're doing this for a living, you think you're doing a disservice to both individuals, right, So you don't make comps.

You don't. You don't make comps. You're doing it, you know now when you start digging deeper into it, Okay, if you've everything's worked out and you've seen because you guys, we all know, we all know, there's so much more that goes into it other than just the how you because some guys may show up and can't take the grind. Some guys made so those guys that normally you're making comps too, have already been through the grind and proven that they can do it. But it's still it's still

human nature. You can you know, you can see it. I mean you still you look and if you've been at it a long time, which we all have, you go, wow, that really reminds me of, reminds me of and I think I think the way that you say it is important reminds you of is different than he is him. You know, that's that's the difference. He reminds me of.

You know, this person, which physical traits can be true, but you're not that person because that person has done a whole separate thing to get to this level and where you're bringing these kids in now it's just the start of it. But so comparisons aren't They're not all bad, but they're they're not the end all to be all. Mackett goes back to what ran Carthon said the first day he was introduced to the media. He said, I have a good idea about this Titan's roster. I see

the film. I don't know the people on the film. Sure, and that's and that's what's important, and that's what you try to glean a little bit here during this process. And then but that's the proper way to look at it. I mean, you have to look at it like that because you're still dealing with human beings as an evaluator and as the people you're evaluating. So you until you really work with somebody for a long That's why I say, I work with Rand for five years, I know what

he is. But until you really work with somebody day to day and go through the pressures and the highs and the lows of what this business is, which is it is, you never really know who they are. Well, one person who's going to go through the highs and lows and pressure is Tim Kelly, the Titans new offensive coordinator, who was here earlier this afternoon, and we got our first chance to meet him and to talk with him. Amy and I had had you met him before. I've

never met him. When people say Tim Kelly was retained from the previous staff or promoted from the previous stamp, I mean that's technically true, but Tim Kelly was not deeply involved in what we witnessed. It was very much Todd Downing's offense. Now it's Tim Kelly's offense. We were throwed to meet him and have a chance to ask him some questions here in Indianapolis at the combine. We'll share that with you now on the ot poot Tim Kelly, it is nice to finally get a chance to meet

you and to visit with you. You completely freaked us out in December when you shaped your beard. That's been a big talking point. I yes, And so we're so We're at practice every day and Tim Kelly stands off to the side watching the offense, doing his things rather surreptitiously, just sort of just so going about the business. And one day this guy appears out there. We don't know who he is. We're like, the Titans have hired somebody else. Who is that guy? The beard is back and grow

it back? Yeah, yeah, I'm pretty self aware as far as that. And it wasn't a good look for me. Kind of got a chubby face, and um yeah, I was looking to kind of change the mojo up a little bit at that time of the season. Um didn't work, unfortunately,

But yeah, the beard couldn't grow back fast enough. I do appreciate the commitment to the cause though, I mean, that's a major attempt to change any sort of going And I knew what I was in for with that too, So it was, you know, doing everything we couldn't try to get a win. So you're you're on the staff and you're promoted to offensive coordinator, but in essence you're coming in from the outside having been the offensive coordinator in Houston. So the Titans sort of get both in you.

How much of an advantage is it to you that you had a year to observe, to see everything, and now you get to sort of institute a lot of what you'd like. Yeah, um, you know, obviously being able to come in and no firsthand personnel wise, who does what well? Um? And then the other thing really as far as some of the carryovers being able to see what were we effected at, what was good? You know, um, what do we want to carry over? And then what needs to be adjusted? What do we need to change? Um,

you know what things just need to be different. So uh, you know, the thought the hope of that is is that hopefully that that allows the younger players, you know, especially trailing Chig you know, Nick Malique, these guys that that spend time learning the offense that it's just not

a complete overhaul just for the sake of change. Um, if it's something that fits and it's something that that we do well, and it's effective, We're going to keep it the same, which should hopefully help the learning curve for those guys. Does it also give you the ability to understand kind of the dynamics within position groups, within the offense as a whole, to really have some consistency in terms of keeping some things where you don't want

to rock the Yeah, no doubt. I think anytime you can do that while still again continuing to change, you know, whatever needs to be enhanced. Being able to do that and make those adjustments, I think that helps make that

transition smoother. When you talk to Mike Vrabel about this post about being becoming offensive coordinator, what do you think are the most important things that you told him that made him make that decision in terms of how you'll take the offense for Yeah, you know, really want to be versatile. I want to find different ways to put different players in certain positions to take advantage of their

skill set. So being able to identify what people do well and then continually put them in positions to be successful. And that that means change in formations, change of personnel groups, changing how fast we play. Those are all things that come into that. Um, you know, want to make sure that that on each snap were for forcing the defense to defend as much as much grass as possible, so

you know, vertically with the field all of it. So if if you know, by stressing the defense, you know, hopefully that gives us more opportunities to have big plays, to take advantage of bad football, um and to just be a more explosive offense altogether. As we're continuing through the off season, free agency is looming, the draft is approaching. We're here at the combine right now, so there's so

much evaluation going on. How much do you take into consideration maybe some of those strengths and weaknesses within the offense that you've seen the roster that you currently have that you're familiar with, and then some areas potentially of need or some areas where you could do some tweaking. How much is that rolling around in your brain as you're continuing through this offseason. Yeah, a lot, a lot.

I mean that's why we're here, right Everyone everyone's trying to improve and uh, you know, improve their areas of weaknesses and things along those lines. So again, having that firsthand knowledge of being able to watch development and being able to have a you know, a pretty good projection as to where you see some of the trajectories and these guys going, you know, helps with some of that.

It allows you to know what limitations are and allows you to know where hey, Okay, this guy may not have done that, but i've we've seen a skill set and we've been able to identify that that he can check this box. So, you know, the more information you can have while trying to build a roster and trying to get guys on your team, Uh, they're going to help you win. I think the better off you're going

to be. Earlier in this edition of the OTP, we talked extensively about the tight ends in this draft, which are pretty impressive, and we talked with coach Mack about, you know, the use of tight ends and the growth of tight ends, especially over the last five years. You've certainly spent a lot of time working with tight ends. You've had some good wins. What are you looking for from that particular position in your offense? Yeah, you know

that spot. Obviously you're looking for for a form of physicality, and I think that all looks different, um, you know, based upon whatever body type you may have. So just because you're not six foot six and you know, two hundred and seventy five pounds or whatever. It maybe it doesn't mean you can't be physical in your own in your own way. So finding a way to be physical

and then finding a way to be versatile. The more you can do, uh, you know, the more you're going to be able to be on the field, and you're more the more you're gonna help us win games. So being physical and being versatile, I think are two things that we really are looking for. Leads be right into a question about Chicka coquall. Were you pleased with what you saw from his development throughout the course of the year, especially from the standpoint of his availability to play more

plays because he knew more. Yeah, he knew more. And you know, chi Chick did a good job a learning when it takes to be a pro um. You know, I think oftentimes that's something that we'd take for granted. Uh, with guys coming into the NFL and learning what it means to play professional football. There's a lot that goes into it, studying, you know, being able to take care of your body, some of the different uh, just challenges

that that going on with that transition. So he did a good job handling that and then, um, you know, as far as his development throughout the year, he showed us that that when the ball would find him, he would make a play. So you know, the one that comes to mind is the ball that he caught here in Indyum. You know, the ball found him and he made the play. And so when that starts to happen, you start to feel more and more confident that, Hey, if we can get the ball in this guy's hands,

you know some some good's gonna happen. Um. And the other thing is is he never blinked like we would ask him to do some things and there was never any huh and any kick back anything. He was Okay, here we go, let's go do it. Um. So again kind of speaks to his ability to go in there and be versatile and fiel multiple roles for us. There were a lot of guys who were younger last year and were asked to contribute in big ways as the season went on trail and Burkes was contributing early. Um,

Nicholas petit Freres a guy who contributed a lot. How excited are you about that young talent and the amount of reps even though it was maybe under circumstances that were less than ideal, they were able to get a lot of reps. They were able to get a lot of that experience. So going into year two, it's almost like they had an accelerated course. Absolutely, And you know, as you go back and you watch the season succession, it's it's it's pretty cool to see the improvement that

those young players had um each week. As you kind of were talking about, the more and more reps they got, the better off they were and the more productive they were. So we're excited there and hopefully we can kind of keep them on that track and continue to keep on that trajectory. What do you hope Kyle Phillips can be in the offense? Yeah, Kyle early on definitely showed us that he was a guy who go and you know,

get open. He made some really big plays in that in that Giant's game, you think about the two minutes drive at the end of the game, had a big catch to put us in a position to keep the field goal. Um, you know, he's a tough matchup inside and a lot of times, you know, when you said that, my eyes kind of lit up because you sit here and you talk about trailing, and you talk about Jig and then all these guys, but Kyle's right up there with him. Um. You know, he's a guy that that

earned our trust early on. UM and you know, hopefully we can get him out on the grass a little bit more and see what he can do. But he's got a unique skill set for us a lot of young guys. But there's also the potential for some veteran

leadership in certain places. How big of a contributing factor could free agency be in getting some of those veterans into some places where, of course you want them to perform on the field, but also helping some of these younger guys kind of learn the way and stay on the path you want them to go down. Sure. Sure, you know obviously being able to bring some new guys in to do that, but we've gotten a lot of

good guys in the building already. Uh. You know that that are good examples for for you know, those younger players obviously. UM. So you're always looking to kind of infuse talent and making sure that if you're bringing someone into the building, you want them to be the right right type of person. Um and having guys working on different staffs that that may have had some experience with some different players and things on those lines. All the information you can gather on him is you know, it

only helps in that decision making. So yeah, we're going to continually look to bring guys in that that can not only help us on the field, but help us in the in the meeting rooms and show those younger guys what what it means to be a problem. Tim Kelly, A question we've never had a chance to ask you, and that is when you left Houston as offensive coordinator,

why did you want to join the Titans staff? Yeah. Um, obviously being familiar with with coach Frabel in his time in Houston, kind of knew what he stood for, UM,

knew how he operated. UM and then having the ability to to spend a lot of time watching crossover film and just and obviously having Dennis and just knowing what what was important to this organization and what was important to his program was always something that that I felt like aligned with my beliefs, you know, being physical, being tough, being good situationally, all those different things were you know, w what made this uh move here? You know? Pretty easy.

Let's ask you about Dennis Kelly, Well, we love your brother, and he played for us for five years and uh did an outstanding job whatever he was asked to do. But more than that, just a really good guy and and a total culture fit. Sure. I mean when they traded for him, people gasp because they were trading Dorial Green Beckham. And it turns out we got way better in the deal. Um, just just his We always wondered.

We talked to him about the relationship with you. He said, Mom hopes that Hugh, when you play Houston, Houston scores eighty points, but we scored eighty one. He would say that. But he was always my mom's favorite anyways, Is that right? Yeah, when my dad was around, I think my dad would have said that we scored anyone and he scored eighty. But no, it was always it was always, uh, it was always really neat to be able just to see

how much how much success he had had. Um that time we were able to spend on the field pregame and and you know, not a whole lot of people get to do that, and it was it was always really really unique. Um. Then even this year, being able to do it a couple of times. You know, when he was up in Indie. Um, it's just uh, you know, just speaks the type of person he is, the type

of worker he is. UM. And it was it was just always really good to be able to come and see him and see how far he's come, and and and for me to tell him I'm proud you know of him, that I am, and that he's been able to accomplish all, you know, everything that he's accomplished. What a career. Yeah, he's he's he's trunks and years together. Yeah, I made a couple of bucks. That's that's a good thing.

All right. Let's end it with this, Tim Kelly. So many people in coaching say their second time around, they are so much better. And it's not that they weren't good their first time around. I mean, you've you put up plenty of numbers against us. We know who you are. We did the figure you coached six games against us.

One was a game where you didn't play your starters, and another was a throwaway game too, because we turned the ball over five times and you just shut it down and won the game because you just didn't turn it over. But the other four games you average three ninety nine against US, and thirty one point. So we know who you are. We know who you are, but it was always fun to play against you. Guys. We we made sure that we don't want to that anyway. Thanks. Hey,

we know what you did. But where do you feel you will be better as an offensive coordinator doing it for a second time? Yeah? Um, you know I was. I was talking to my wife about this just a couple of weeks ago. Uh. More confident, more steadfast, I guess if you will in your beliefs and how you want things done. Um. And understanding that you know your values in terms of your philosophy. Is your philosophy for

a reason? Um? And making sure that that you're getting buy in from from the people that that you're working with. And um, and you know I would say, you know, I've got a clear vision as to what I you know, what we want to seem to look like. Uh. And and and not wavering from that and going in and

being steadfast in it. Um and and and making sure that we're getting every coach, every player to buy in and make sure that again when when when these games start to count, however many months way it is from now that we're out there and we're more input points on the board. Well, we expect three hundred ninety nine yards and thirty one points a game. Ever, every game,

every game is what we listen. Tim, thank you so much for the time, excited about you, Excited about this staff that you guys have put together, which is really outstanding, and looking forward to the Titans offense in twenty twenty three. I appreciate that. Well, thank you for Tim Kelly, a very very smart guy. Do you do you have an expectation from what you saw of his offenses in Houston Mac to how the Titans might look a little different offensively?

They're going to be different. Okay, it will be, I mean from you guys visit with him. I mean, he's got definitive ideas. He's also got definitive ideas of things that he did at Houston that he won't do now, you know, and that, and so to me, I think it's gonna be There's gonna be a lot to this, and I think it will be something that we will watch as because we're always at the OTAs we're practices every day, we will kind of watch it evolve. But it will be different. But to come out right now

and say and he didn't say it. You know he won't because but this is a smart guys. I Mike Devlin, who played for me as a center at Arizona, worked with them as an offensive line coach for years at Houston. You know, I hired him at for his first job there at the Cardinals when he quit playing for US. And you know, I've talked a dev just about you know, he's he just he says, makes one of the smarter

dudes I've ever been around, and gets football. And you know it's you know, some people are good at football, but people that are good at real football, there's a little bit of a separation. I'm excited to see what

he's gonna do. Interesting to see what they're gonna get for him on offense too, is I think, undoubtedly read they're gonna be more moves on the offensive side of the ball in free agency and the draft than on defense when you consider the offensive line to begin with, We've talked about tight ends, and I think wide receiver is also in that conversation for sure. Now the difference now is this wide receiver draft is different. There are not big, monster pass catching weapons at the top of

this draft. But what there is is a lot of value in the mental rounds. Mac. Yeah, this wide receiver draft is a little bit different. Different is a is a really good word, because you know, for several years prior we've had some really big dudes that are legitimate, legitimate dudes. You know, you can start just start naming them.

This year, the best probably wide receiver now when you start looking at the first big wide receiver you see is a Quentin Johnson kid from TCU, and he's six four, two hundred and fifteen pounds, but there are elements to his game that definitely need to be refined before he's a dude that's going to come in and be the number one jump right off the start. The best receiver in this draft, in my humble opinion, is Jordan Addison

from USC. You're talking about six ft one hundred ninety pound guy, played it pit and went to sc and But here's the thing. You have a lot of these slighter receivers now because of what we've talked about earlier, the way it's spread out, that have been able to thrive in the National Football League. You know. I mean there's another one that we've seen a lot of just because of where we are is Jalen Hyatt from Tennessee. I mean, it's one of the fastest guys in the

you know, you know, is he a big guy? No? Is he you know, is he a thick guy. No, he's a fast guy. You know, not a real big route tree and stuff. But he's going to be valuable, you know, in this draft. So I agree. But there as you start moving down into the draft and you start seeing it. One of my favorite guys is Jaden Reid from Michigan State that was at the Senior Bowl.

I mean, I think this is a legitimate guy somewhere down around the third round that somebody's gonna say, this is our slot receiver and we're gonna go with this. There's a name that you're gonna hear this week in this wide receiver group that is one of the bigger receivers here at the Combine from the University of Florida.

Justin Shorter ironic not shorter. He should measure around six to four in height, and so it's going to be interesting to see what his measurables are in these drills and things because he's considered to be a you know, probably a Day three prospect. But could improve his stock because people are looking for that bigger receiving. Who I thought you were going to say, Cedric Tillman from Tennessee, who was also a bit was hurt all year. Ye got hurt early in the season and was never really

able to get it back. He's got good size. He should come in six two, six three. He's got good size. I think back to the thing that you said earlier in the OTP coach the medical. What's what's his medical gonna look like? Overall? Because in twenty twenty one, in the second half of that season, he exploded. He went from zero to sixty and three point two seconds after not having done virtually anything in his career at Tennessee, and he founded He became a combat catcher. He was

a deep thread, he was a route runner. He was the guy you threw too on the tunnel screen and he could take it to the house. It's like, where did this guy come from? He just kept working and he had good coaching at Tennessee. He was in a good system. And he comes back for twenty twenty two and then it's a disappointment. Yeah, well, I've got Cedric Tillman right here, right in the top the middle of the third round. You know that's a second day guy

just right now now, because guess what he's got. He's got it on tape. He's got it on tape. And you spoke the truth here when you say it's gonna be the medical, it will be the medical. But on tape. This is a guy that is playing NFL football now because he gets the ball in his hands and he's

hard to tackle right one on one. But Mike, what this draft is rich in in the wide receiver position is as a coach, Mac would call him gidget gadget guys, small, speedy, track athlete, backgrounds, returnability, special teams value tire Scott in the third round. Yes, yeah, So maybe we see a run on receivers in the third round and then tell is, I think he's more valuable in this draft because a it's not a great receiver draft and B you said it,

it's not a great big receiver draft. You're right. So if you're looking for that guy and he and he was going to be like a third rounder, maybe Cedric Tillman is a second rounder because he fits what you need in terms of that little more prototype cool side. Sure, right,

now let me stop you. Let's stop talking about the draft for just a second and talk about the free agency part of this, because the Titans are certainly looking to retool their receiving corps, and it appears as though the free agent receivers potentially one of those guys could fit the Titans. Needs to be, you know, sort of that number two with trailing burkes and give you a little more explosion than what they were able to get out of Robert Woods. There's some of those guys, Ritt,

there are. There was one release this week for the New York Giants, Kenny Kenny Golladay, just to start with. But if you look at all right I'm looking right now, as we said here in early March, Alan Lazard, free agent, Breshad Perriman, Byron Pringle. I mean, there's plenty of names through here. I think what Mike is saying rit is

so true is they've got a for the Titans. They need a veteran presence there because your number one guy is still a young guy, right, but you also need someone that will not completely dismantle your cap right, and so that's gonna have to be a three way fit. Well, and that's The part of it is, I think with the free agent receivers that are out there, you're talking about somebody who might not be a massive cap hit,

who can come in and take that role. I mean, if I don't think you're paying seventy two over four years for Christian Kirk, I guess it's what I'm saying. And Christian Kirk did a great job for Jacksonville. But I think you can find somebody who can fit a role and play effectively for your offense at a little bit lower end than that. Is it Juju Smith Schuster

who's twenty six years old? There you go? Yeah, yeah, that to me that the whole free agency thing is so much a separate kettle of fish then what the draft is, and it's it's so important. And you said that, you know the reason Wilson went in there and they were able to get him because they had money, right, Yeah, they had they had money that they had to spend because there's a floor on the cap. There's a five year floor on the cap, a percentage wise of cash

money that you have to spend. And so if you've got it, and you're right, I think what you're looking at is a second wave right guys, Right, Mike. I mean, I think that's what you're looking at here, which is they're going to have to do because those numbers there, you need them, and you need a little bit of a veteran presence just because of what we all know is I think Trailing Burke's will be a really, really good receiver. I think Red hit it earlier in the

conversation with Daniel Jeremiah though. I think there may be a merge for the Titans of tight end and receiver. I think they may say see weapon at tight end as important as weapon at wide receiver, so that they may be looking for both. In that way, they could spend money or draft capital on both, and they you know, they they have a chance to get somebody who can go catch a pass and get down the field and be a matchup problem in you know each of these

situations well. And the other thing is is that it goes back to what you first started talking about. Starting that,

Tim Kelly, what's his offense going to exit? Well, but if there's anything we know about a mic Vrabel team just overall, one of the main things he's looking for is versatility in what you're able to contribute so especially on the offense, especially after the couple of years that the Titans have had where they need people to be able to contribute in multiple places because you just never know what's going to come down throughout the course of a season, and I think that there will be a

premium put on guys who can contribute in multiple ways. To Mike's point, what we do know is there will be an OTP tomorrow. There will there will be an OTP on Thursday, and there will be an OTP on Friday and Saturday and Sunday every day this week and Monday as the NFL combine continues in Indianapolis. Will also tell you that one of our shows, the Great Jim White, is going to stop by and we're gonna do something very special with him. You know he does his mailbags. Yep,

he does the Tuesday mailbag and the Saturday mailbag. Well, we love Jim and he does a great job, but we want to put him on the spot on the OTP. We don't want to give him five hours to plot what questions he's going to take and to plot his responses. Live mailbag from the ot people go to Tennessee Titans Dot com slash otpq otpq at submit your question for Jim White. Maybe you have a question about his visors, Maybe you have I mean, whatever you want to know.

Why two pencils to me? Whatever you want to know. We're going to put the questions to Jim Wyatt on an OTP for this weekend. But we need your questions, yep, so ot people. The call is out questions for Jim Wyatt at Tennessee Titans dot com slash op. Here's what I want. I want somebody to call in and they get call in. Well, I want who are they going to type in? Yeah, type in, type in, type in a question in Spanish so that he has to answer Spanish. There.

I love that. In the mailbags, I would agree with that. So here's what we felt that Jim Wyatt's mailbags were lacking. And that's a little danger. So we are yeah, we are adding a fun, just live component to this whole thing. And we know you all love Jim Watt and you should. You should love him. You should read every article he

writes at Tennessee Titans dot com. And he's here and he's walking around in a Vanderbilt Advisor and he's asking questions and finding angles and giving the Titans fans his very best every single day. The amount of stuff that he produces is unreal. Frankly makes us terrible. We're often compared to me, like, why don't you do more like Jim Watt. It's like having a sibling. Wonderful. Yeah, but anyway,

your questions Tennessee Titans dot com slash OTPQ. We need them, Yep, we want them because this won't if you don't submit any questions, we won't be able to harass Jim Wyatt in this fun and exciting way in Indianapolis where he will say, oh, I'm too busy, but oh, Jim, you're not the type of question that's it, thank you coach, type of question in Spanish, And then I want Mike Keith to read the question in Spanish to Jim, and I want him to answer it. This is getting better.

It's getting better, but I know, I know the wheels are spending for the ot people. Hope you've enjoyed this podcast again. We're gonna bang them out all week. This is number two of what I think will be at least eight, maybe more. We may just stay and keep going, or we may keep doing them. We get back to town. There's a lot going on and we're excited about it. We know you are. Thanks to Ritt Brian, thanks to Dave McGinnis, thanks to Amy Wells, thanks to Farm Bureau

Health Plans and Ashley Farrell. I'm Mike Keith. You're listening to the O. T. Pete. Welcome to the Big Show where the legends call. Everybody knows. It's our house. Fighting thoughts, tense making. Three. Greatness is be