The OTP | Offseason Program Begins

players are back here at Saint Thomas Sports Park. When I started, and I guess really for the entire time up until twenty eleven, the off season program was sixteen weeks. They would come back roughly at Saint Patrick's Day and then they would get out of here just before the fourth of July. Wow, that's lengthy. Now it's nine weeks and it comes in three phases. You want to run down of what the phases are? Just for fun? Yes, a lot of people don't know this. Yeah, I think

it's interesting. So Phase one is two weeks long. So it's the first two weeks. Phase one activities strength and conditioning, physical rehabilitation only. No coaches allowed on the field or to participate in or observe activities. Now, if guys want to go out and throw or kick on their own, they can do that, but that's it, right, So that's the first two weeks. So in essence, it's getting back

in the building, it's work out. That's it period. That's why a lot of guys don't return for the first two weeks because they feel like, well, I can do that on my own if I have something going, if I'm doing a kitchen remodel, or if they're kids in school where else, they may choose to stay away because then they don't have to be gone quite as long. So very rarely do you have teams with perfect attendance

for phase one. Well, and a lot of guys have their own kind of training regiment that they are in the groove right doing that they've been doing since January February, you know, So they kind of stick with their own thing until one of the phases where you can do a little more things. Okay, So this phase will go from now through the draft weekend, yes, so then we'll start another phase on made the second that is Phase two. At lasts three weeks. Coaches are allowed on the field

on field. Workouts may include individual or group instruction and drills, but the offense and the defense have to stay apart. Yes, they can't go against these They cannot go against each other, either as teams or individually. Obviously, no live contact, no team offense, team rills, none of that. So what it comes down to is from May second through May the twentieth, it's just the offenses on one side of the field and the defense is on the other side of the field,

and they work individual separate, they work team separately. Yes, all right, So then we go to Phase three. This is why it gets good. Phase three. If you're a high school or college football fan, you know about spring practice. Right most of our favorite colleges are in the process of wrapping up their spring practice right now, where they just have. Phase three is basically the NFL's spring practice.

That's a good analogy. No pads, no, but the final four weeks of the offseason program shall consist of four weeks with a total of ten OTAs. During Phase three, all coaches allowed on the field. Team offense versus team defense drills are permitted. No live contact. Again, players can wear helmets. Yes. As a matter of fact, sometimes teams want them to wear helmets all the time, players may wear jointly approved protective shirts. And so you're practicing offense

against defense, you're practicing defensive back against wide receiver. You're playing football. Yes, all three phases for the period are voluntary. Correct. You don't have to go to any of this none. Per the CBA, the three day mini camp, which is at the end of the off season program is mandatory. That is the only thing that can be mandatory in the offseason. So Phase one, which we're in now, two weeks of basically working out, hanging out with the strength

and conditioning coaches. They can go on the field and watch guys work, but the regular ball coaches cannot. Phase two offense on one side, defense on another side for practices with coaches. Phase three spring practice basically without pads, without contact, and everybody can be out there leading into the mandatory minicamp. So we have just begun Phase one. As you've probably read, heard and seen, everybody is not here, but again not a huge shocker. That's normally the way

that goes. Yeah, what people are missing right now is some in the class stuff and lifting, which not that big of a deal. All right. Five guys spoke to the media today, Yes, highlighted by pro bowler Kevin Byard, who has a new haircut which I really like. Big fan of Kevin Byard's new haircut. He doesn't care about my opinion at all. I don't really think anyone does, but I would like to publicly say I really like it. It's short, he looks nice. Guys always look nice with

short hair. Yeah. I just think short hair doesn't ever go out of style. Yeah, I just think he looks good. Long hair comes back in at different points. Yeah, And there are different looks for long hair, but short hair never goes out of style. I'm a very classic girl. That is a classic haircut. Just he looks smith standard. He looks good. But you're sitting here with a guy who could never grow his hair long. So long ish me, Yeah, I mean it's kind of it's got some movement. Yes,

your hair has movement. My hair hasn't changed since nineteen eighty six. Well, I mean that's a style issue. But when it comes to the actual length of it, it's long, is it's away. My hair is always short always. I tried to grow out long at one point and it grew in different directions. I mean, it really looked bad. Oh that's yeah, fortunate that was late eighties. That's a different story. I guess. In my mind, short is like buzzed and long is like will move when the wind blows,

and then like really long is like arrow Smith. Yeah, yeah, okay, that's like whoa mm hmm yeah, like an eighties rock band type of But if the wind blows and your hair moves, you have longest hair. I don't know what you're talking about, but anyway, Kevin Byrd has a smooth new haircut. His press conference began with folks noticing it. Here's Kevin Byard from Saint Time of Sports Park today at the beginning of Phase one. I'll first of all, why the haircut? Yeah, I don't know, man, I guess

you know some just it was on my spirit. Man said, I need to switch it up a little bit, um, you know, getting low older now, so I cut the hair down. Probably gonna keep it like this for a while. So that's gonna have to get used to it. I'm getting used to it too, so na, man, I got a little bit more time for that. I don't know, you know, my dad's like that. No, my dad's like that. So it's hereditary, So I'm trying to hold on as long as possible. That's honestly why I was growing my

hair out. Offseason after your loss to Kansas City in the AFC Championship or this one, um was tougher. I mean, obviously being one game with from the super Bowl was tough. This offseason was tough as well. More tough because you know, just dealing with all the different questions and having to talk about you know, you guys had nine sass, you lost the game. Honestly, May I was just tired of

talking about it, you know. You know, it's one of those deals would have, could have, should have, just you know, odds on the prize. I was looking forward now thinking about this year, thinking about the team that we have, think about the group in the nucleus of the guys on defense that we still have coming in this year. So I'm super excited, uh, kind of glad to be back in the build and kind of get the same

rolling again level that this defense can get to. Like, what's the next step for you guys as a human trying to be the top defense in the NFL. You know, that's the goal. Obviously, coming off of twenty twenty. The goal was kind of trying to find an identity, find out who we are as a team. And I think as the year went along, we start playing better and better and better, and we got dominant towards the end of the year. So I think it's all about taking from that from last year and on to this year

and trying to be the top defensive NFL. Loving the starters and the coordinator. I don't think so if I can remember, I don't remember that. Like I said, I thought it was big for us going through this offseason, especially keeping that front four together. That was big for me,

especially being a safety. Want to have those guys getting pressure on the quarterbacks, allowing us to do a lot of different things in the back end as far as disguising, and I'm sure Shane and all the coaches have been working hard this offseason trying to figure out different ways to affect the quarterback but also disguising and stuff like that, mixing up coverages. Harrison, when you do have to reset, what does that take to my reset in my mind?

Or just that when you do have the new coordinator when there is roster turnover, Oh yeah, I mean it's you know, you're getting to know, you know, a whole new coach. You know, you had to build trust and communication between the coaching staff and players. Obviously learning the defense new terminology. But you know, obviously when Shane, you know, Shane had been here, the defense hadn't changed that much.

But obviously the personnel was a little different. And obviously talking going back to twenty tw the execution just wasn't there. Sometimes communication with them, you know, we talked about that ad nauseam or whatever. But you know, just this year, obviously having the main group of guys is all about taking that next step and just continue trying to get better. So how do you guys take that next step? And you know it starts now. You know, obviously we're just

you know, working out, rehabbing. Some guys are rehabbing. We're just working out in conditioning, but just being in meetings. For me personally, obviously I'm here trying to continue to learn and development get better as a player, but obviously being more of a mentor kind of being in that

role a little bit more. Obviously I've always always been a leader, but mentoring guys like ka lip Elijah continue to helping David Long you know, elevated his game and that that's kind of my mentality, and that's kind of something I've been married nating on the whole offseason, just obviously being a leader, but mentoring some of these young guys who are trying to take that game to the

next level. You skip maybe the first couple, not these, I don't know if you were, these are not, but the practices and that the Union was putting a lot of word out that they wanted guys to stay away, and there was a COVID. Has a union been talking this year in the same way. I mean, I haven't really been in those talks, you know. I think obviously around this time of the year, it's a whole big thing, you know, with you know, the media obviously talking about

guys who's showing up, who hasn't shown up. You know, this is all voluntary, you know, and I kind of try to mind the business that pays me by minding my own business. But I understand that some guys feels like, you know, if they want to show up when we start practicing playing football, then that's when they choose to do. I'd already been here working out with Frank and doing different things like that. So I just say, hey, there's no point of me just not showing up just to

not show up. So I want to be able to be around the young guys, try to get better and things like that. But you know, this is a voluntary part of the offseason, and for some guys obviously been on a team like this where you know the system is kind of already set as far as you know, the culture and things like that. So you know, for guy choose to take a little bit more time out to be with their family. You know, we're not gonna

hold anything against anybody who is your stretch. Some people say no carry over from year to year because everybody starts obviously year old zero again. But in your mind, is there carry over and unfinished business from last year? Yeah, obviously it's unfinished business because we didn't win the Super Bowl.

But you know, when you're talking about carryover or momentum of whatever taken on from one year to the next, you I feel like, as a player, and it's always been my mentor that you got to start all the way over. You have to reset your mind. I went first team Pro last year. That's not gonna do anything for me. This year. I had to continue to work hard, take the same step that I took last year, being in the meeting room, studying hard, doing all those little

things over and over again. And that's how you be consistently great. You talk about guys like, you know, we're talking about the guys like Tom Brady and all those guys. Those guys do the small things, the details. You hear young guys in the building saying he's stills working like he's a rookie, And I think that's what it takes

to try to be great. So yeah, it's a little bit of carry over because obviously the system hasn't changed, the defense hasn't changed, but we still had to take all those little small steps and all those details that we took when we weren't great in twenty twenty and trying to do the same things this year. Body else's kind of going on in the AFC this off season. What kind of challenges everybody facing this conference? Yeah, I mean the a FC is loaded loaded with a lot

of talent, especially quarterback talent. Obviously, watch you know, receivers change different teams and things like that, so you know, going to every single year, there's going to be things like that as far as roster turnovers in the league.

But you know, in recent years, I don't really remember it being this much, you know, and that month of March is kind of exploded with you know, Russell Wilson coming to the AFC, So it's gonna be huge on us on defense, being able to play very well, getting pressure on these quarterbacks, trying to make these guys make mistakes.

So you know, I'm already getting the beat on trying to watch as much film on quarterbacks, not only just in my division, but just all the teams that we played, you know, starting from the NFC East to the AFC West. I'm studying film and not necessarily studying for game playing and stuff like that, but I'm just watching the quarterbacks. Like if I just keep watching, keep watching, maybe I

can pick up a little things here and there. So when we actually it's trying to play those guys in that week, I maybe you can go back into my notes, like, hey, Russell Wilson, I got some notes from this and it trying to carry over. You know, the Bank team offseason, Kevin, when you were up for a contract extension, how did you you know, did you ever think of you know,

maybe I don't show maybe that gives me leverage. What was what was sort of your approach knowing that you were up for an extension that Yeah, I mean my approach is, you know, I wanted to show up, you know. And I don't think it's nothing against anybody that doesn't show up, because, like I said, this is voluntary. I don't think that, you know, it can go either way. But me personally, I felt that I knew I was

going to get paid. You know. I just think it's just a process that you had to go to when you're talking about negotiations and agents and things like that, I kind of understand when you're looking at and that's pretty much a lot of different teams around the league, those big money contracts, especially extensions, it tend to happen right before a training camp. But you know, I was already gonna be working out anyway, so I wanted to come in here and continue to learn and continue to

try to get better as a young player. Uh So that's that's just what I did. But at the end of the day, like I said, I kind of just mind the business that pays me. You know, some players who who you know, maybe go to social media as they're you know, kind of talking about the new contract extension too. Do you think, in your opinion, is that help Does it not help in those cases? I mean,

I don't know if it does or not. You know, like I said, if somebody wanted to get on social media talk about what they want to talk about it, then that's on them. I don't think I honestly, I don't think it does any any bad. I don't think it does any good. I think it's just all about what a personal decision and what they want to talk about. You know, it's a you know, it's a free country's

free speech. So, like I said, just me personally, you know, I don't do too much talking and stuff like that on social mediaunless, like I said, I'm posting on Instagram or whatever. But like I said, man, I think these things they all worked, they all work themselves out. And obviously, if you're talking about AJJ is one of the best receivers in the league, and obviously you know Vayblee and

John Dave talking about him being here. So I have no concerns about aj not coming in, being in shape, coming in here, ready to produce, and being the same type of guy. He's always been success six or seven years. You guys have got different slogan. It's good, degrade, some finished business, things like that. As you come back right now as a leader, is there a slogan you guys have or a message you give to your teammates? Um, I wouldn't say it's a necessarily slogan. Obviously, this has

been the first day. Verybe hasn't been here today. He's asked. He has a deal that he's dealing with as far as so next tomorrow we'll have a team me and I'm pretty sure he'll have a slogan that will kind of carry on too this offseason. But just being poised and just trying to I'm just getting better. I mean that's kind of what I just preached. Everybody getting better. You know, you either either getting better you're getting worse. You never stayed the same. So just as a team,

we're just trying to get better. You've seen this place completely transformer in any excitement or desire to try to make it into a new stadium in twenty twenty six, twenty that's a long time from now. Like honestly, just me being a player, man, that's so far out. Obviously, it'll be super exciting for the city of Nashville to getting new stadium. Obviously a lot of stuff comes with that,

with the Super Bowl bids and things like that. But twenty twenty six, man, I don't think I'm under contract in twenty twenty six, So once that time gets there, then I'll be trying to get excited about playing a new stadium. See in that stadium and nah Grass, But we all know if it's a dome, it's probably not gonna happen earlier. How different or things gonna be for him all of a sudden being one of the older guys in that room, you think, Yeah, I mean it's crazy.

I'm want of the older guys in the whole locker room now, And it's funny how I've been a rookie and now I think I'm the second oldest guy in the dB room now. It's pretty crazy. But obviously, talking about David Long, David Long plays with a lot of confidence, players with a lot of passion. So I'm just excited to see his progression as a player. Obviously, you still have cunning him in the room. You have a young guy and Monti Rice who's gonna take his next step

as well. But I think just the passion that he plays with him, this type of confidence that he has. He's already a leader, you know what I'm saying, just in his own right, and I'm just excited to see him this offseason just continue to take that next step. Yeah, Kevin, given you know how little he played last year and really enjo Yeah, it's super important. I mean, I know

by coming in working out and stuff like that. Throughout this offseason, he's been here every day, so he's been here working, he's been studying with Midge and the coaches and things like that. So I'm obviously going to be excited when he's able to clear, to be able to get out on the field and kind of get those reps in because that's the main thing we're talking about a guy who's had some injury issues the past couple of years. It's just those valuable reps that you miss,

radifice and practice are in the game. So the more he gets more reps, the more comfortable he'll gets, the more his confidence to continue to build. And like I said, I'm excited for him. Talking about the AFC loading up, he said, well, you guys have been building a program steadily for years. When you have that foundation, that cultural foundation, How helpful is that no matter who's coming in and out to be able to rely on that. Yeah, I

mean I think you see it. I mean it's probably more prevalent in basketball, but in football you can't really you can't really buy championships like that. You have to have the foundation first. Then you bring piece into that foundation, and then that's when you talk about winning championships. So we have the foundation, and obviously last year we brought some pieces together. We wasn't able to put it together.

But that culture and the piece you know, as far as the things that verybody hasn't stilled in us as the team and obviously having a lot of core leaders on this team, that's what carries over. If you want to talk about things that carry that's what carry over from year to year. Just that culture that we building this up to us as leaders and the veterans to continue to harp that onto the young guys and some

new guys has come on them the team this year. So, like I said, I'm excited and excited to get this staining rolling Man. Last season, you mentioned how important it was to bring back Harold. Now that you guys have him resigned, just how how how excited are you and just you know that the defensive ability to take that next step just because you have him back. Yeah, Man, I talked about last year. Man, I feel like we

have the best front for in the league. And I was super adamant about bringing Harold back because, like I said, me being in safety, man, having those front four guys reckon having in those backfields benefits in the run game or obviously getting after the quarterback. You know, it makes my job a lot easier. So happy to have all those guys back, and looking forward to those guys you know, trying to I know they have some big, lofty goals as well, probably trying to lead the league in sacks

and all that different stuff. So super excited about working with those guys again. Can you speak about your your charity event on Thursday? Yeah, So Thursday, U. I'm actually an honorary co chair for the Rally Foundation, and this Thursday is gonna be Rally on the Runway where I think it's gonna be twelve ten to twelve kids that are either dealing with cancer right now or have beaten cancer and it's called Rally in the one way because I'm gonna get me a lot of my buddies on

the team. We'll be walking the kids down the runway. You know, they'll strut their stuff and stuff like that.

So I mean, honestly, man, it is a life changing event. Uh. The first time me going was my rookieyear and Jarell Casey was an honorary chair and he passing along to me and just hearing the stories and just seeing the parents and obviously being a parent myself now, I think one of the worst moments in a parent's life is, you know, getting that news from a doctor saying that your child has cancer and watching your child go through

chemo and all that stuff is definitely life changing. So for me personally, it's something that me and my wife obviously we do a lot of things in community, but I've been working with the Rally Foundations just my rookie year,

and like I said, it's definitely life changing. It's gonna be good to, you know, get some of my buddies out obviously there and some of the young guys to be able to see what it means to give back into the community and what it means to to like you said, to have those life changing moments and honestly, man, just give me your time and just talking to these kids. Uh, it can mean, it can mean everything to him, you know. So it's gonna be super science. Like I said, this

is Thursday, is gonna be a marathon. Music works. That is Kevin Bayer, who was here today. Austin Hooper, the new tight end't spoke. Yes, David Long, the linebacker who figures to be a starter, spoke and I thought he was good. Elijah Molden, the team's nickelback, had an opportunity to address the media, which was kind of a great thing. Just got married, he did. Yeah, that was an interesting story. He told about that his wife set up everything and he just sort of showed up and didn't know what

was gonna happen. That's how weddings work. I'm like, that's how it goes. Well, you better know you're married. Well, yeah, you're gonna happen. You have one job as a groom and you're gonna be hit there. You're gonna be hitched to this woman. Nope, just show up, walk where she tells you to turn around, look at the camera. Smile a couple of times, you touch nothing else. Wow, that's it. He's I think he did it right. Smart man, wrong sentiment. Just don't even get in her way. Let her do

her thing. Ben Jones also spoke today and he was his Ben Jones self, outstanding. Ben Jones kicked off the whole thing because he was just the picture of stability for Titans. Yeah, you can't do anything without Ben Jones. I'm so glad he's still here. Me too, And apparently some people in the mocks noticed he's still here because the great Jim Wyatt Tennessee Titans dot com. And he

is great, Yes, the legend, lovely fellow. You should follow him at sports, on Twitter and Instagram and everything else he's on. He makes the rest of us look bad. He does. I don't think Jim's on TikTok. So he ran through thirty mocks and they have narrowed in a week last week. Twenty different players in the thirty mocks. This week down to fifteen. Two guys were mocked to the Titans five times. Penn statewide receiver Jehan Dots and Tulsa offensive tackle Tyler Smith both mocked to the Titans

five times. Devin Lloyd, the linebacker from Utah, mocked to the Titans four times. Nakobe Dean linebacker Georgia. Treylan Burke's wide receiver Arkansas mocked to the Titans three times. Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett at Central Michigan offensive tackle Bernhard Ryman

both mocked to the Titans two times. The other players mocked to the Titans Christian Watson, North Dakota statewide receiver, Sam Howe quarterback North Carolina, Zion Johnson center guard Boston College, Desmond Ritter quarterback Cincinnati, Jermaine Johnson, edge rusher Florida State, Trevor Pennig offensive tackle Northern Iowa, Trent McDuffie, cornerback Washington, Kenyon green guard Texas A and m You know what this tells me, Mike Keith Amy. They still don't know,

is the first thing. Because we're still even in terms of position group, we're still pretty much all over the road. However, there is a lot of redundancy starting to be Yeah, it tells me that we're starting to zoom in. We're starting to what are we a week out from the draft, and we're starting to get a little bit closer, weakened, some change. Well, people are beginning to think they have a bead or more of a bead on the Titans

and what they're going to do at number twenty six. Yes, I like it, But Mike, I really really just like about this draft that people don't know. I'm enjoying the non quarterbackness of the whole thing. I am enjoying that people don't really know what's about to happen, and that there are so many other position groups being talked about. This is a squirrelly draft, and I really really like it.

There is talk that the first ten picks of this draft maybe guys who don't touch the football, and if that's the case, I'm told it would be the first time that had happened in over eighty years. Doesn't that excite you? I think that's so cool. Sure, yeah, I mean I don't know that it excites me necessarily, but I think it's interesting that it could be edge rushers, it could be offensive linemen, it could be corners, it could be linebackers, but it could be all guys who

don't touch the football. I mean, after years of having the same which quarterbacks going to go to number one? Year after year after year. This is great, this is great. I love it, you love it? Okay, Well, Titans fans are certainly enjoying talking about their favorite players and their favorite scenarios that are out there for the Titans at number two, twenty six, and you're pretty much hearing everything, right, anything,

anything and everything. One of the things that you're hearing the most on talk radio, social media articles that you read would be about the Titans trading back. What are your thoughts on this, Mike. So I hear fans call in and they say I would like for the Titans to trade back, and then I hear people who host the shows or whatever say, well, teams have to want to trade up. True. The thing that I'm not hearing that there's another factor in that, and that is do

the Titans get a fair offer to trade back? Because listen, if you call up, you know, because everybody's got the whole Detroit trading up for the Titans spot. Because Detroit has thirty two and they have thirty four. They have the Rams pick in the draft at thirty two in the first round the Matthew Stafford trade, and then they

have their own second round pick at thirty four. Right, So I mean if they if they want to trade from say thirty two up to twenty six, well, I mean the Titans aren't going to take a seven for that. It's like if you call up and go, yeah, I'll give you a bag of balls. I mean, that's then they're not gonna do that. So the third part of it is you've got to be willing to trade back. You've got to have somebody who wants to trade up, and you've got to have an offer that makes you

willing to go back. Right. And you know, it's funny because how you judge the offers oftentimes starts with a chart that Jimmy Johnson made when he was the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, and it's been revised several times by different people, but it's still the basic bible for how you get to a starting point. Think about buying a car or trading a car. You think about the Kelly Blue Book, right, Jimmy Johnson's Draft Trade Evaluation chart is the Kelly Blue Book of making a trade.

It basically assigns of value to each right trade that could happen. So let's have a little fun here. Hypotheticals because I've heard this so much. Let's say Detroit wants to trade up with the Titans. So let's start off with the scenario that they want to go thirty two up to the Titans spot at twenty six. So the Titans are going to end up with thirty two. But what else are they going to get. Well, according to the Jimmy Johnson Trade chart, pick twenty six is worth

seven hundred points. Pick thirty two is worth five ninety. Okay, it's a difference of one hundred and ten. So based on those numbers, what Detroit would have to give up is their compensatory number three, which is worth one hundred and twelve points. That's pick ninety seven, pick ninety seven.

So that's just if you go off the chart. Another thing that you could do, if you just go off the chart is the Titans trade twenty six and ninety for thirty two and sixty six, okay, and so they would actually be able to move up twenty four spots in the third round. The difference in those two picks is one hundred twenty points. The sixty six pick is worth two sixty, the ninetieth pick is worth one forty. So you're saying in terms of round numbers, that's how

you could do it. They could either get a late third to move back, the Titans could or they could move up in the third round. They could flip flop places twenty four spots in the third round, so then the Titans would have thirty two and sixty six instead of twenty six and nine. Right, that's just if you go on the chart. But when you trade a car, there's more than that's right, there's a blue book value, but it never just goes by that. It goes by a couple other things. First of all, do the Titans

have any other offers? Right? Well, if they don't, then maybe Detroit just says, yeah, we'll give you this three and that's it. Good luck, have a nice day. If the Titans do have other offers, and or Detroit is hot and bothered to get to twenty six to grab somebody, maybe somebody increases the offer. So if Detroit is very motivated, maybe they do multiple picks to jump around, or maybe they throw in a pick for next year, like a

three and next year's draft to sweeten the pot. Right, Yes, so however you make the deal is how you make the deal. Now, Let's say Detroit takes that second round pick. This is hypothetical, this is thirty four, and they want to go thirty four to twenty six, so they want to come back into the first round and trade a second round pick to get in the difference in the

two picks. Again, pick twenty six, according to the Jimmy Johnson chart, is seven hundred points, pick thirty four is five sixty, so a difference of one hundred forty points. So at that point, if you take the value, Detroit should have to trade thirty four. Also that early third round pick at sixty six and one seventy seven for the Titans picks at twenty six and ninety. That's what they should have to do. But that's just the numbers.

The Titans probably could get the early second round pick, the early third round pick, and the late third round pick in exchange for twenty six and ninety, so that's how the numbers work out. But again, these charts are just a starting point. They are a suggestion, and many of them have done their own, but they are still based on the same set of numbers. It's very interesting that teams have found a way to basically quantify every move to assign some sort of value to any move

that you can make. And it's kind of helped to standardize the NFL in that it gives everyone a basic idea of how much it costs to do different things. It's almost like a monetary value. So each move has a certain amount of costs. So then it's not just I'll give you two hot dogs and a piece of chicken right for your steak. Like, there's a little bit more there that you're dealing with. Well, you know who's

being serious and who's not right. I mean, because if again, if Detroit calls John Robinson and offers him a sixth round pick to move up six spots from thirty two to twenty six, that's not a serious offer right now. If John Robinson is desperate to get out of there, maybe he takes it. He's probably not, no. But the thing is, if Detroit is desperate to get to that spot, maybe they say we'll give you sixty six instead of like flip flopping, they'll give you. We've seen more flip

flopping in recent years. I wonder why that is. A lot of it is salary cap related, because people have the pool of money that you have to spend on your rookies, on your draft picks. Yes, and so you don't want to end up with It's like some of these teams have twelve or thirteen picks, it's doubtful they will make them all. They will spend them. Maybe they'll make nine of them, and they'll spend them in different ways towards getting players they want this year or towards

next year. It becomes draft capital. It's totally draft capital. And you're looking at the Titans. The Titans right now have seven picks. They have a one, three, they have two fours, They have a five and two sixes. So I mean in Detroit, for example, has two ones, They have number two and number thirty two. They have a two, which is overall number thirty four. They have two threes, sixty six, and ninety seven. Then they don't pick again till one seventy seven. They have four picks laid in

the draft. I mean, does John Robinson want their seventh round pick just to be able to grab somebody else as a throw in part of the deal, Like, for example, pick two seventeen that they have is worth four point six points on the Jimmy Johnson scale. Pick two thirty four is worth one point yeah, So do you get them to throw in two picks just so you can grab a team like the Titans. Not a bad move because the Titans are gonna need several rookies to make

this roster due to how tight their salary cap is. Right, and if it's a low cost seven yeah situation for the Detroit Lions, it's also a low cost in terms of paying the actual human move for the Tennessee Titans. So if you hit on somebody, it's pretty great. I think the Jimmy Johnson Draft trade value chart is really interesting just from the Again, I use the Kelly blue Book analogy. People say, oh, the Kelly blue Book says

you should give me this for your trade. It's like, yeah, but right now, we don't need that many sedans, right, so we're only going to give you eighty percent of it. Or as the market is right now, we need all the used cars we can get, so we'll give you one hundred and twenty percent of it because we can turn around and sell your car for more. It's about supply and demand and more importantly, desire. Yes, because if you if you see a guy and you want him, badly.

You think he fits your need. You you're afraid the team right behind is going to take him, and you're willing to throw more at it because you're desperate to get this player. Well, then maybe you make a better offer. But it's the whole thing. But I don't understand why they didn't trade back. Well, they didn't trade back in most instances because they didn't get a good offer, right, I mean, it's it's not just John Robinson saying I want to trade back. He needs someone who is a

trade partner that is willing to make a good deal. Yes, he can't just decide I want to trade this back like it's it's not a one sided decision. Well, the other part of it too is sometimes, like let's say hypothetically again, John Robinson is sitting there at twenty six,

and he has four players there he still likes. Well, if he knows he can pick up an extra three or four or whatever and still get one of his guys at thirty two, maybe he'll take face value and go ahead and deal back in order to have a little bit more capital. But if he's got two guys there he still likes, you're gonna have to make him a better deal in order to make the trade. It's all very interesting. Well, it's here's the most the most

interesting part of this thirty two picks in the first round. Correct, There is no way that an NFL team in most years has thirty two first round grades on players. So when you pick in the twenties, very rarely do you have the opportunity to pick a guy that you have a first round grade on it. Caleb Farley, Jeffrey Simmons, different, right,

different guys. They were thrilled. I mean they were running the card up in both of those situations because those were players that it was anticipated would go much more highly. So you get to that point where it's tricky and you're either gonna make a pick. And I remember seeing Floyd Reese make a pick one year and he thought he had this player. He was so excited about this player, and then Kansas City took his guy one pick in front of him. Well, then he was sitting there desperately

trying to get out. He's like, I don't want any of these guys in this pod. I don't think they're worth a first round pick. I want to move back into the second round. I'd feel comfortable taking this guy in the second round, but not in the first. He couldn't find anybody who would make a trade, ye, And I was like, yeah, sure, Floyd will give you a seven and a kicking tea, you know, I mean yeah, And so he couldn't make the deal, ended up having

to take a player that he never wanted. He came out of the draft room and I remember saying him and I said, hey, congratulations, like, thanks a lot, which is not the response. No, no, And you know, but sometimes you're buckled into these situations. Now, would you rather have had six straight winning seasons and be picking in

the twenties? Yes, yeah, I'll take that every time. The chart thing is very interesting to me, as a person who doesn't understand a lick when it comes to numbers, I can look at a chart and I can understand, which I appreciate. I like that this is this is a very understandable numbers thing. Well. The other part of this too is it's quick. Yes, And that was part

of the reason. Is because Jimmy Johnson the Cowboys would get somebody on the phone and they would say this for this, and so they would have somebody in the room who could do the quick math to say, go back and ask for a six with that right, because

these happened fast. They happened fast. You're on the clock because the first round I mean, for example, I was looking at this today and a lot of people don't don't know all of this because they know it when the draft comes around, but not the other fifty one weeks of the year. Ten minutes per selection in round one used to be fifteen. That's a long day. Round two seven minutes, rounds three through six five minutes, Round

seven four minutes, that's the pick time. Well, the other part of that too is you not only think you only have ten minutes when you're on the clock, but let's say you're getting to pick twenty two and your phone starts ringing about pick twenty six. Well, then instead of having potentially an hour with four times fifteen, you only have forty minutes, which generally becomes shorter because people

don't take as much time. So that amount of time that you have to make these decisions and get things into the league normally the trades are set up not while you're on the phone, but before you get there. And the interesting point in that is not all teams take the full ten minutes or it. Some teams take the full ten minutes regardless. Yeah, it's just to see if they will get a phone call, just to see if. Well,

it's like the whole thing. If you're in a situation where someone offers you a herschel Walker trade like what happened with the Dallas Cowboys and Jimmy Johnson, well then it okay, you're gonna consider that. If you're offered a Ricky Williams trade like what the New Orleans Saints made with Mike Ditka for Ricky Williams, while you say, well, we won't consider anything. We're doing this, We're picking this guy.

We're not trading this guy regardless. If you get a herschel Walker trade offer, if you get a Ricky Williams trade offer, maybe you take that. Maybe maybe it is something that you just can't turn down. That's also interesting because there's the whole emotional aspect of it as well. There's the motivation aspect of it. There's the need aspect of it. So while there's data and numbers and analytics and all of these things that are very concrete, there's

also such a huge human element to it. That's just what makes this also well because it's about desire, heart's desire for the player. Teams fall in love with players and just say I have to have this guy. Yep. I love his skill set, I like his makeup. I like what he brings to us. I think he puts us over the top. I think he can be this. I think he can be another Joe Montana, or another

Ronnie Latt or another Tony Dorset or you know. They see what they want to see in these guys and they have to have him, and somebody else may not see it at all. They may say that guy stanks. I would take him, And that's the human part I think.

In talking about the trades and why the Jimmy Johnson draft trade chart may be interesting in our scenario this year in terms of our Titans radio coverage, if guys are taken who don't handle the ball with the first ten picks, then once you get to eleven, twelve, thirteen, you're gonna start taking guys who handle the ball. Right, Guess what people trade for guys who handle the ball? Interesting? Interesting, Interesting,

Mike Keith, this is just the coolest draft. It's I don't know why you're not as fired up as I am. I mean about draft. I'm totally fired up. I'm fired up to see our guys. I'm fired up to see our guys. I admit that it was good to see player cars in the lot here at St. Thomas Sports Park today. Do you just feel when the parking lot's not all empty and there's movement in the building and got lee. I mean, we've been in so many different places due to COVID and construction, and now we're all

in one area again. So having people kind of filling this space, this new space that we're all still kind of moving into at Saint Thomas Sports Park, it just felt good. And now we're talking about this draft and it's this exciting draft and it's I mean a great one for the Tennessee Titans because of the amount of options that they have and there's so many crazy things that could happen. It's just an exciting time in football world. Might always well, I mean that's the NFL now, I mean,

April's the draft maze. The schedule release June, OTAs and mini camps. July is the start of training camp. August is the start of preseason. September is the start of the season. You have football in October, November, December, and now into January, mid to late January, you've got all kinds of great playoffs. February you've got the Super Bowl.

Then you go right back into the wind again with you know, all of the things that started and even some things start before the Super Bowl with Senior Bowl and Shrine Bowl and then moving towards the combine, and you know even before that Pro Bowl. The NFL never stops. Now, no,

it really doesn't. I Mean the time that you kind of call the the off season or kind of your downtime is getting smaller and smaller just because things are becoming I mean, there's more things to do, and the league is really capitalizing on more events, which makes them a bigger deal, which makes them more exciting to talk about and to cover. And what a great industry, What a great industry. I'll tell you what I'm feeling some type of way today, Mike Key. You know what's another

great industry? What health plants? With Farm Bureau health plans. That was a good one. Better it's better coverage and better service. That's why Tennessee's have been relying on farm Bureau Health Plans for their health coverage for seventy five years. Thank you to Farm Bureau Health Plans for sponsoring us. Yes, anything else you want to say. No, I'm just fired up, Mike. I'm just excited. I think I've I've given enough emotion to this podcast for the fired up Amy Wells, I'm

the somewhat belieguered Mike keieth At a little more. Thank you for listing in the middle of the road, middle of the road, trying to hang in there, trying to hang in there for the oak tea. Welcome to the big show where the legends go. Everybody knows it's our house. Fine thoughts, Tennessee making its three greatness is