Speaker 1: So this is the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans.
Speaker 1: Get the home field advantage with the healthcare coverage from
Speaker 1: Farm Bureau Health Plans. They've been protecting Tennesseeans since nineteen
Speaker 1: forty seven. Welcome to the OTP. My name is Amy Wells.
Speaker 1: We are so excited to have you here, and I
Speaker 1: am so excited to be spending some time with our
Speaker 1: good friends Rett, Brian and also Dave McGinnis. Coach Mac. Guys,
Speaker 1: thank you for being here to talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about OTAs because today we were able to watch our
Speaker 1: first OTA practice of the twenty twenty one season, but
Speaker 1: this was the third practice for the Tennessee Titans. Coach Mac,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna jump right in. I think we're done
Speaker 1: with pleasantries here. Let's just talk some football. Mac. Do
Speaker 1: you have any takeaways from being out at practice. Was
Speaker 1: there anything that's stuck out to you, anything you noticed? Well,
Speaker 1: the first thing I will tell you just how happy
Speaker 1: I was to be out there with you and read
Speaker 1: that made me very happy to be back out on
Speaker 1: the football field watching practice with you guys. Yes, this
Speaker 1: is an important time for these young players. It really is,
Speaker 1: and I understand you know, I've been in this league
Speaker 1: a long time. I understand exactly what's going on. You know,
Speaker 1: as far as with the veterans, you know, it is voluntary.
Speaker 1: There were some veterans out there today. But it's a
Speaker 1: very important time for the young players because they've got
Speaker 1: to learn how to practice professionally. And the other thing
Speaker 1: is is the coaches can really zero in on these guys.
Speaker 1: What I noticed was is they're learning how to practice
Speaker 1: like the Titans practice. You know, I saw rookie camp
Speaker 1: when the rookies were here. I was at rookie Camp,
Speaker 1: and you can just see the advancement that they've made
Speaker 1: since the rookie camp because they've had the virtual meetings,
Speaker 1: they've been in walkthroughs, and now that you can see
Speaker 1: the difference from just the rookie camp with the first
Speaker 1: year players that they've made amy to this time right here.
Speaker 1: That's what this is all about, and it's extremely important.
Speaker 1: Rhett thoughts, feelings, observations, well by my roster count fifty
Speaker 1: three guys at this particular practice. And you know, of
Speaker 1: course you're for me. It's not about who's not there,
Speaker 1: just because of where this thing is in time. As
Speaker 1: we go you know, towards phase four and all those things.
Speaker 1: But it was who was there. And for a guy
Speaker 1: like Darrington Evans who did some work at wide receiver today,
Speaker 1: who you know, missed a whole lot of time last year.
Speaker 1: The same thing with Christian Fulton of the secondary, it
Speaker 1: was good to see those guys there. Amni Hooker there
Speaker 1: today because he knows what importance that it is on
Speaker 1: him with the absence of Kenny Vaccaro, you know, being
Speaker 1: gone in free agency and where he's got to step
Speaker 1: up in this. And then a Dane Crookshank who has
Speaker 1: had his share of injury struggles himself and knows that
Speaker 1: he's got to continue to claw out, you know, a
Speaker 1: roster spot for himself and the importance of him on
Speaker 1: the special team's phase of it too. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: liked who was there, and I like the vibe that
Speaker 1: was there because who all was there, Coach Frabel, the
Speaker 1: sense of urgency. It is definitely dialing up. This OTA
Speaker 1: is interesting because it's a little bit of a hybrid
Speaker 1: in that meetings are still virtual, they are able to
Speaker 1: do in person work on the field, get that going.
Speaker 1: So maybe it's a little bit best of both worlds. Reht.
Speaker 1: They're taking some of the twenty twenty nous in the
Speaker 1: virtual aspects of it, but they're also getting some of
Speaker 1: that on field work that they weren't able to get
Speaker 1: last year. Do you think that's something that's good for
Speaker 1: the team. Absolutely, And even the coach, Mike Vrabel, in
Speaker 1: his post practice press or mentioned something to the effect of, Hey,
Speaker 1: I am coaching the guys in person who are here,
Speaker 1: I am virtually working with those who are not. And Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that is a byproduct and a good one
Speaker 1: of the pandemic is that you're able to flex and
Speaker 1: do those things. You've got enough staff, enough position, coaches
Speaker 1: and the like to be able to do those kinds
Speaker 1: of things. Still have virtual meetings, have physical practice in person,
Speaker 1: and still keep trying to, you know, keep everybody on
Speaker 1: the same page. I think it's a great thing that
Speaker 1: has come out of what was a wacky year last year. Now, Mac,
Speaker 1: you mentioned that the rookies are doing a lot in
Speaker 1: terms of learning how to practice. They had rookie Minicamp.
Speaker 1: That's kind of step one. When you're a rookie. You
Speaker 1: get in here, you figure out where the bathroom is,
Speaker 1: You figure out very much to the basics sure of
Speaker 1: being a professional football player. Now they're kind of in
Speaker 1: their second phase of the introduction to the NFL process,
Speaker 1: which is the first part of OTAs explain exactly what
Speaker 1: learning how to practice like a pro is and what
Speaker 1: these guys are trying to figure out how to navigate. Now, well,
Speaker 1: I mean, we saw an example of that today. You know,
Speaker 1: not to give away because we can't talk about, you know,
Speaker 1: everything that we see there, But there was a there's
Speaker 1: an instance, you know where one of the veteran players there,
Speaker 1: you know, with a playdown field where a young rookie
Speaker 1: receiver you know, went to went to grab a defensive
Speaker 1: back that was playing a deep ball and grabbed him
Speaker 1: by the shoulder to pull him. And the vets said,
Speaker 1: we can't do that. You've got to be able to
Speaker 1: protect each other. That's the first thing you've got to
Speaker 1: learn how to do. The other thing that you have
Speaker 1: to learn how to do, and they will, they will,
Speaker 1: This will accelerate for them. You need to learn how
Speaker 1: to practice in the National Football League full speed technique wise,
Speaker 1: without pads on. You have to do that because you
Speaker 1: can only have fourteen padded practices during the regular season.
Speaker 1: There will be padded times during training camp, but you
Speaker 1: are going to have to still be able. And not
Speaker 1: all practices during the season, I mean we stand at
Speaker 1: practice every day. Not all practices during the season are
Speaker 1: full speed, but there are certain periods that are full speed.
Speaker 1: But you need to learn how to work against one another,
Speaker 1: protect each other, but both sides of the ball being
Speaker 1: able to hone their techniques full speed without full contact,
Speaker 1: and that's that's something that you have to learn. And
Speaker 1: the other thing that you have to do is as
Speaker 1: a coach is yet to put the choke motor on
Speaker 1: some of these younger players that are trying to make
Speaker 1: the team and think if I just go a little
Speaker 1: faster and make one more play. Well, you've got to
Speaker 1: protect one another, you've got to stay off of the ground.
Speaker 1: All of those things are important and you've got to
Speaker 1: learn how to do that at a very high speed
Speaker 1: because these younger players Aimy are practicing now against athletes
Speaker 1: moving much quicker than they're ever used to at all.
Speaker 1: So that's important. And to kind of piggyback off of
Speaker 1: what coach Mack said, while we can't say everything that
Speaker 1: we saw at practice because we don't want to tip
Speaker 1: scheme or any of those things, and there's really not
Speaker 1: a ton to report. Coach Mack highlighted one of the
Speaker 1: three or four main things that are one of the
Speaker 1: key reasons why organized team activities are in place, and
Speaker 1: he's right, getting those rookies acclimated to things, installing the
Speaker 1: playbook chunk by chunk so that when they get to
Speaker 1: mini camp and then they have that break and they
Speaker 1: come back for training camp, they've got some bearings about them.
Speaker 1: But the technique is so big to hand and the eyes,
Speaker 1: the feet, all those kinds of things they're working on,
Speaker 1: and it's a culmination of those three or four main
Speaker 1: things as to why this is so huge and why
Speaker 1: I go back to saying, you know, it's great for
Speaker 1: Darnton Evans, it's great for Christian Fulton because they didn't
Speaker 1: have that this time a year ago. They went straight
Speaker 1: into training camp when they finally were able to get
Speaker 1: all that worked out. So it's important for Laurell Murchison
Speaker 1: and those guys who are in year two, and then
Speaker 1: all of these young kids, and then any of the
Speaker 1: first year guys that are learning new scheme well rhets.
Speaker 1: So many guys who are in their second year, are
Speaker 1: now able to get the one on one time to
Speaker 1: work on the technique, to work on some of the
Speaker 1: things that they didn't have the opportunity to really hone
Speaker 1: in on in the off season of their rookie year
Speaker 1: because of what the world was in twenty twenty. How
Speaker 1: beneficial do you think that is? And maybe weighing that
Speaker 1: up against the fact that veterans aren't here but they
Speaker 1: don't need that kind of work. Yeah, And I think
Speaker 1: that's where the divide is over, you know, should a
Speaker 1: guy be there or should a guy not because he's
Speaker 1: working out with his trainer or working out with a
Speaker 1: group of guys in a particular place around the country. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't think that it's necessarily for the veterans. I mean, now,
Speaker 1: we did see a Brett Kern there today who did
Speaker 1: not have to come and punt, but wanted to be
Speaker 1: a part of it one And I think it goes
Speaker 1: back to what Coach Max says that we started this
Speaker 1: OTP is. I think he was just glad to be
Speaker 1: out there and doing his thing. It's a beautiful day
Speaker 1: and you know, you want to have some again sense
Speaker 1: of normalcy. But for these young cats who are are
Speaker 1: you know, coming around the block for the second time,
Speaker 1: or you're a rookie in this thing, or you're an
Speaker 1: invite or you're an undrafted you want as many of
Speaker 1: these reps as you can possibly get. And you could
Speaker 1: see the energy with all of the position coaches, even
Speaker 1: you know coach Rabel as vocal and as hands on
Speaker 1: as he is, how excited they were to be able
Speaker 1: to get that one on one time and that hands
Speaker 1: on learning, you know, time set. Gosh, Mac, if you're
Speaker 1: a coach and you see some of these young guys,
Speaker 1: the undrafted's, the guys who really want to show what
Speaker 1: they can do and show that they can make this team,
Speaker 1: and that they're excited and have energy and all of that,
Speaker 1: how do you reign that in to keep everybody safe
Speaker 1: and teach them how to control it and be a pro,
Speaker 1: but also recognize that they're trying to show out to
Speaker 1: make this team. Well, you never want to, you never
Speaker 1: tamper their enthusiasm, but you have to you have to
Speaker 1: be able to point them in the right direction. And
Speaker 1: they've got to understand there are some things that you
Speaker 1: can do early on that are very non productive, you know,
Speaker 1: just trying to go fast they have to learn that.
Speaker 1: And here's the other thing too Amy and rhet and
Speaker 1: for the OT people, is that they're not in shape yet.
Speaker 1: They are not in NFL condition yet. Interesting they really aren't.
Speaker 1: I mean they what have they been doing? You know
Speaker 1: up to this time, they may have been working out
Speaker 1: some but they don't know what they do, not know
Speaker 1: what NFL conditioning is all about. So that The other
Speaker 1: thing that I think is important to know is there's
Speaker 1: no time limit on how long rookies can be up
Speaker 1: there and how they can be working because they're also
Speaker 1: doing walkthroughs. You know, they're being able to come out
Speaker 1: of those virtual meetings and go do walkthroughs. And I'm
Speaker 1: not talking about the time that you spend in a OTA.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about walkthroughs before where you're able to walk
Speaker 1: through things, implement things that you've gone over in the
Speaker 1: virtual meetings. All of those things are so important. But
Speaker 1: they've got to realize this. If they start too fast
Speaker 1: and through no fault of their own, tweak something and
Speaker 1: then miss all of this time, that just puts them back.
Speaker 1: And we just talked about Darrington Evans, we talked about
Speaker 1: Christian Fulton. They missed a lot of time last year
Speaker 1: because of injury, and you never make that up. You
Speaker 1: never make that up. So what Mike Vrabel and his
Speaker 1: staff are trying to do, both coaching staff and the
Speaker 1: training staff and Frank Parreinho in the weight room, is
Speaker 1: they are trying to ramp the players up. I mean
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, one of these Lamon's Downtown races
Speaker 1: we're getting ready to have here. You don't just jump
Speaker 1: in and smash on the gas. You got to know
Speaker 1: where you're going. That's what they're trying to do now
Speaker 1: is point these young players the right way to get there.
Speaker 1: So when you're talking about week one versus week two
Speaker 1: and week three, I mean, OTA's go on for a
Speaker 1: little bit. How do you manage that ramp up process?
Speaker 1: And what are you trying to accomplish in the first
Speaker 1: week that's different than maybe the third week. Well, here's
Speaker 1: what you do. The first thing you do when you
Speaker 1: bring people in and then you monitor it and then
Speaker 1: you evaluate it and you talk about it as a
Speaker 1: coaching staff. What type of attention to these guys pay?
Speaker 1: How's their attention in the meetings? All right? What's their attention?
Speaker 1: Like you know they'll come in and you know, and
Speaker 1: I would ask, I say, Rhett, the linebackers just give
Speaker 1: it to me. How fast it takes them to process it?
Speaker 1: And what is their attention span in your meetings? Let
Speaker 1: me let me hear that, Amy, Let me talk to
Speaker 1: you about your receivers. Okay, how many repeat offenders have
Speaker 1: you had? How many repeat offenders have you had where
Speaker 1: you've gone over the same thing and they continue to
Speaker 1: not get it? And so that takes you to the
Speaker 1: next phase is what's their retention? First, it's how much
Speaker 1: attention are they paying? And I mean quality attention. You
Speaker 1: can be present and not be paying attention. Okay, how
Speaker 1: much quality attention they pay? And now what's their retention?
Speaker 1: And then the next thing you go to when you
Speaker 1: get into and you talk about the graduation from week
Speaker 1: to week to week. Now, what's their execution like? What
Speaker 1: does what does your receiver him look like running that
Speaker 1: three step slant route the third week from the first week?
Speaker 1: What does he look like running that double move? What
Speaker 1: does he look like running that takeoff route? Being able
Speaker 1: to beat press coverage from a split alignment the third
Speaker 1: week as he did from the first week. Can you
Speaker 1: tell me give me where he's improved, and now has
Speaker 1: he improved in all of those other areas that will
Speaker 1: carry him up there? And if he hasn't improved, which
Speaker 1: one of those areas is lacking? And how can we
Speaker 1: help him get there? Well, rhet this sounds exactly like
Speaker 1: Mike Frabel and what he does best teach and manage
Speaker 1: his team. Yeah, because he said in a million times
Speaker 1: he said, I'm just a teacher most of the time,
Speaker 1: but when those guys come in the building is when
Speaker 1: I become a coach. And Coach Mac laid it out
Speaker 1: perfectly because the key for all of these young guys
Speaker 1: in there is by the time they're ready to get
Speaker 1: to mini camp, they will have installed the base schemes
Speaker 1: in offense and defense and what they're doing, and want
Speaker 1: them to be familiar so that they can build from
Speaker 1: there because the vets will come in and know what
Speaker 1: they're you know, they've already been there and done all that.
Speaker 1: But the strength and conditioning is huge in this. But
Speaker 1: I like the way Coach maculated out in terms of
Speaker 1: learning their their acumen, their attitude, their attention span, those
Speaker 1: things so that Coach Frabel and his assistance can coach
Speaker 1: each guy like they need to because you can't coach
Speaker 1: every person the same way. We're all different in DNA, makeup, attitude, personality, background, whatever,
Speaker 1: and so that's where the litmus tests begin so that
Speaker 1: you can gather that research, come back and go, Okay,
Speaker 1: I can coach this wide receiver a certain way, but
Speaker 1: this dB, I've got to coach a completely different way.
Speaker 1: The conditioning aspect of it is interesting because some would
Speaker 1: argue that without having this time in twenty twenty, players
Speaker 1: were still able to perform on the field. They were
Speaker 1: still able to make it through a whole season. Injuries
Speaker 1: didn't really change that much. So maybe they don't need this,
Speaker 1: But it sounds like the young guys need the experience
Speaker 1: in conditioning. They need to learn how to condition the
Speaker 1: right way. Yeah. Well, I mean your veterans, they know
Speaker 1: what NFL conditioning is. The young kids coming in last year.
Speaker 1: We just talked about two of our Titans rookies last year,
Speaker 1: you know, that were hurt through no faults of their own.
Speaker 1: They they're not They don't know how to get ready.
Speaker 1: They don't know. It's a difference. It's a different world
Speaker 1: regardless whether you come from a Power five school or
Speaker 1: you come from an FCS school, it doesn't matter. It's
Speaker 1: different being a professional. They have to learn how to
Speaker 1: get ready to be a professional. And that's what these
Speaker 1: young guys, the vets that have been here, they know,
Speaker 1: and they not only know how to do it, you know,
Speaker 1: in an overall perspective, then they know what they need individually.
Speaker 1: They know because their body and the way they get ready,
Speaker 1: that's their life, that's their livelihood. And they find out
Speaker 1: real quick that the more they understand it can get
Speaker 1: in tune with that, the better off they are. When
Speaker 1: it comes to your healthcare coverage, you should be the
Speaker 1: one to make the call. So call Farm Bureau Health Plans.
Speaker 1: They've been protecting Tennesseeans since nineteen forty seven. Guys, I
Speaker 1: want to talk about some stuff that's been going on
Speaker 1: around the league, because there were some meetings that were
Speaker 1: had and some changes were approved, and I would like
Speaker 1: to discuss what's going on in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: So to start an interesting rule change that we've been
Speaker 1: talking about a little bit, changes to the low block rule.
Speaker 1: Coach mac, I would like for you to explain what
Speaker 1: it is and how it's going to impact things on
Speaker 1: the football field. Well, what they're trying to do is
Speaker 1: they are trying to take out blocking below the waist.
Speaker 1: You know, they've taken it out in the general field
Speaker 1: of play. They've taken that out, you know, in the
Speaker 1: all the kicking situations. So basically, to explain it simply,
Speaker 1: they have taken that space in that area. Are are
Speaker 1: the the you know, you hear hear me a lot
Speaker 1: talk about that center guard triangle that works that you
Speaker 1: have to work and when you're at a second level
Speaker 1: of defense or you're on that center guard triangle. They
Speaker 1: have taken the triangle of the space that you can
Speaker 1: commit a foul below the waist. They've shrunken that. They've
Speaker 1: shrunken it now down to the tackle box. You can't
Speaker 1: do anything outside of that tackle box below the waist.
Speaker 1: And it's a player's safety rule. That's what it's for,
Speaker 1: and that's it's extremely important. You know, this is a
Speaker 1: little bit of the extension of where they've taken the
Speaker 1: cut block because you used to as an offensive lineman,
Speaker 1: you used to could cut block the man right over
Speaker 1: the top of you when the play in a way
Speaker 1: Now you have to be two players removed, you know,
Speaker 1: before you can do that. That's still within the tackle box,
Speaker 1: but this is an extension of that not being able
Speaker 1: to do it outside of the tackle box. They're just
Speaker 1: it's a player's safety rule, and I agree with it, yeah,
Speaker 1: because they started with years ago and rule changes as
Speaker 1: they you know, tweaked those every offseason, you know, chop blocks,
Speaker 1: crackback blocks, peelbacks, all of those, and so it's finally
Speaker 1: down to you can do this in that center guard
Speaker 1: triangle and nowhere else. It's probably a poor correlation, but
Speaker 1: it's like you can have contact as a dB with
Speaker 1: a receiver in that first five yards and then nowhere
Speaker 1: else unless you want a DPI. So it's not the
Speaker 1: cissification of football. It is a safety well, it's a
Speaker 1: safety rule because there again, as I say, I don't
Speaker 1: like to say how long I've been doing this, but
Speaker 1: when I first started this, there were not a lot
Speaker 1: of rules, and so there were a lot of things
Speaker 1: that you could do that weren't real good for your
Speaker 1: opponent's body. You guys are funny. I said cissification, which
Speaker 1: is for sure not a word, and nobody blinked. Everybody
Speaker 1: just and then that's because that's the amount of respect
Speaker 1: that we have for your knowledge I figured if Amy
Speaker 1: Will said it's it's good. Yeah, I made it up
Speaker 1: and Playingcary go. Nobody even looked at me sideways to
Speaker 1: make football more sissy esque cissification. There you go. You're welcome,
Speaker 1: OTI people. Here is the next thing that was announced
Speaker 1: earlier this week that we would like to discuss a
Speaker 1: little bit, and that is the dates for roster changes
Speaker 1: cuts during training camp. We are back to doing cuts
Speaker 1: in three different phases. So on Tuesday August seventeenth, the
Speaker 1: team roster will be reduced to eighty five players. On
Speaker 1: Tuesday August twenty fourth, the roster will be reduced to
Speaker 1: eighty players, and by Tuesday August thirty. First you have
Speaker 1: to have your roster to your final fifty three players.
Speaker 1: Coach Mac, how is it beneficial as an evaluator to
Speaker 1: have these cuts built in? Well, it's it's important, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, and for a while, you know, you had
Speaker 1: tears that you would take it down. If you guys
Speaker 1: can remember, and I know OTP listeners can remember, when
Speaker 1: you had four preseason games, there was a time when
Speaker 1: you took it down to seventy and then that was
Speaker 1: a hard getting people enough to play in that fourth
Speaker 1: preseason game. So this is what it's for, and you
Speaker 1: didn't mention it, but I know you meant to. Is
Speaker 1: that it starts with ninety players. Correct, You start with ninety.
Speaker 1: The max is ninety that you can take, and so
Speaker 1: you start with that. Now, as a coaching staff, during
Speaker 1: training camp, you have personnel meetings every night. Every night.
Speaker 1: You have personnel meetings every night with John Robinson and
Speaker 1: his personnel people, and and you know he has his
Speaker 1: scouts out there watching practice, and so you have you
Speaker 1: have position ranks every night. And so what you'll do
Speaker 1: in those position meetings you'll go, I'll say, Amy, your
Speaker 1: wide receivers, Uh, we're we're gonna we're gonna keep six.
Speaker 1: Draw line. Draw the first line, Okay, who's the first
Speaker 1: you know, first two out, first two out from the
Speaker 1: bottom up, First two out, okay, next three out. And
Speaker 1: so you do that periodically as you work through with
Speaker 1: in mind that at a certain point, as you said,
Speaker 1: you've given us all, you know, the quantitative dates that
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to meet that. But it's not something
Speaker 1: that you all all of a sudden come up on
Speaker 1: and said, oh here's the date, Well, who were who
Speaker 1: we're going to release. You're doing this every day, so
Speaker 1: it's important that they set that so that you have
Speaker 1: the schedule that you know you're going to work on
Speaker 1: your roster at the advantages I see in going back
Speaker 1: to this is clearly it's lined up with you have
Speaker 1: a cut after a preseason game. You only have three
Speaker 1: preseason games this year because they moved to a seventeen
Speaker 1: game regular season schedule. To coach max point, you've got
Speaker 1: enough bodies to get you through that third and final
Speaker 1: preseason game. The other thing I like out of this
Speaker 1: is getting to fifty three by August thirty first, with
Speaker 1: that seventeen game schedule, the league doesn't start until a
Speaker 1: little later. Everybody's almost gotten kind of a bye week
Speaker 1: to begin the regular season window so that you can
Speaker 1: get those practices and everything under your belt outside of
Speaker 1: churning the back into the roster. But your fifty three
Speaker 1: is getting those reps and you're getting ready for week
Speaker 1: one action several days later, like the Titans being what
Speaker 1: September the twelfth, right, let me add to that, and
Speaker 1: that's a great point. It's completely different practicing from ninety
Speaker 1: to eighty five to eighty and it's a massive difference
Speaker 1: practicing with fifty three, Yes, massive. I mean you notice it.
Speaker 1: You notice it as a player, as a coach, as
Speaker 1: when we stand out there and observe it. All of
Speaker 1: a sudden, you've been in training camp and you go
Speaker 1: where is everybody? And then you know once you once
Speaker 1: you get here. I don't know how many practice squad
Speaker 1: players were going to be able to have this year
Speaker 1: yet I can't sit here and tell you exactly, but
Speaker 1: even that number, it is so different, and then your
Speaker 1: practices are different. And so the gradual moving those numbers
Speaker 1: down that puts you, that gets you in that mode too,
Speaker 1: and so it's important. But they left him enough, and
Speaker 1: Rett brought up an important point because there was a
Speaker 1: time in my coaching career in the National Football League
Speaker 1: where you were hard pressed to find enough guys to
Speaker 1: play a fourth preseason game. Does it give a player
Speaker 1: the opportunity to earn a spot back on the roster,
Speaker 1: does not that he has been cut, but give him
Speaker 1: the chance to kind of see what's going on and
Speaker 1: maybe have a wake up call and change the way
Speaker 1: that he's performing. Well, I'll just say this, once lockers
Speaker 1: start being empty, people notice the other thing that's important too.
Speaker 1: Though you release a player early, he may possibly get
Speaker 1: a chance somewhere else. Because the wild West the free
Speaker 1: agency is after the draft. There are some players that
Speaker 1: you had your eye on that you couldn't get and
Speaker 1: they may be released in that first or second cut,
Speaker 1: and you say, you know what they might not could
Speaker 1: have gotten out of are seen in him? What we saw,
Speaker 1: I'd like to take it. I'd like to take a
Speaker 1: shot at this guy. So all of that stuff goes
Speaker 1: on too, But the human question that you ask me,
Speaker 1: do guys notice when people start leaving? Yes, the moving
Speaker 1: around of players brings up another interesting point and another
Speaker 1: thing that was approved this week, and that is the
Speaker 1: salary cap ceiling for twenty twenty two. As of now,
Speaker 1: it is set at two hundred and eight point two
Speaker 1: million dollars, which is roughly eight million dollars than what
Speaker 1: we expected that ceiling to be at. Rhett, Do you
Speaker 1: think that that will change the way that teams are
Speaker 1: approaching this offseason in twenty twenty one well to a degree.
Speaker 1: You're talking about a potential fourteen percent increase of the
Speaker 1: cat from the one eighty two point five that it
Speaker 1: is sitting at right now, And again, I go back
Speaker 1: to the strength of the national football that it took
Speaker 1: a pandemic to bring about your first retraction of a
Speaker 1: cap since its existence in nineteen ninety three. The thing
Speaker 1: I think is as big as the money part of
Speaker 1: this is what we're going to see in the effect
Speaker 1: of the twenty twenty two draft, with how many kids
Speaker 1: are going to be coming out. You may have a
Speaker 1: larger draft class. Now that's not a big, big money thing,
Speaker 1: you know, considering the grand landscape of things, but you've
Speaker 1: got so many kids. You had six hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: eight players or whatever it was that was available this year,
Speaker 1: it was very shallow where it was almost eighteen hundred.
Speaker 1: Every time, you may have a bigger draft class if
Speaker 1: you've traded enough picks around in this whole thing that
Speaker 1: you want to bring aboard. But yes, knowing where it's
Speaker 1: going there and then in twenty twenty three, no telling
Speaker 1: what it's going to be when those new television contracts
Speaker 1: hit ken, there will be some teams, depending on where
Speaker 1: they feel they are close enough to competing for a championship,
Speaker 1: that will do some different things to acquire what they need.
Speaker 1: Now in terms of John Robinson and the Titans. It's
Speaker 1: important for that increase because if you want to pay
Speaker 1: and a J. Brown what you're going to have to,
Speaker 1: if you want to pay a Jeffrey Simmons what you're
Speaker 1: going to have to, it gives you a little more
Speaker 1: caveat and money to consider those things a year early
Speaker 1: before they get to you know, street money kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: When you start looking at this, it's always important. I've
Speaker 1: cleared a couple of caps in my career, but you
Speaker 1: need to understand what you have to work with, what
Speaker 1: you're working for in the future, because when you build
Speaker 1: your cap, you're building your cap in three and four
Speaker 1: year segments. So it really helps knowing at least and
Speaker 1: Red is right coming off the first retraction that we've
Speaker 1: ever had, you know where basically you were down. You know,
Speaker 1: I know the money was down fifteen million, but it's
Speaker 1: basically down twenty five because you're expecting at least a
Speaker 1: ten million dollars increase that you never saw. And so
Speaker 1: to me that it helps. It helps, but the real
Speaker 1: boost to it is going to be twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: But it helps at least knowing where it's going to
Speaker 1: be over too, one hundred million the next one that
Speaker 1: you can work some of these extensions off of two.
Speaker 1: That's something that people need to understand when you start
Speaker 1: talking about your roster, there are extensions, and rhet talked
Speaker 1: about those, but also with extensions, then you start looking
Speaker 1: at some of your other players that are carrying big
Speaker 1: cap numbers that you might be able to redistribute a
Speaker 1: little bit. So there's more to consider than just the
Speaker 1: current free agent market. And I don't know a wide
Speaker 1: receiver who may or may not want to continue playing
Speaker 1: in a city that will call Atlanta in this case, No,
Speaker 1: but seriously, not just for the Tennessee Titans, for all
Speaker 1: of the teams in the National Football League. Does it
Speaker 1: change the way that they are approaching and looking at
Speaker 1: players who are still available right now that may come
Speaker 1: with contracts that a week ago. People are not necessarily
Speaker 1: wanting to take on a bite that big. Our general
Speaker 1: manager's more willing to take a swing at a guy
Speaker 1: like a Julio Jones or some other bigger name free agent. Well,
Speaker 1: you understand, when you trade for a player that has
Speaker 1: a contract, he's going to get that money. Now, just
Speaker 1: how he gets the money is and you know how
Speaker 1: much you are going to be responsible for that's the issue.
Speaker 1: That's the issue. So it's not it's not only the
Speaker 1: way that the acquiring team is looking at him, it's
Speaker 1: the way the team that he is leaving is looking
Speaker 1: at him too, because they could possibly be a part
Speaker 1: of his money that's he's going to get. We witnessed
Speaker 1: that here with Ryan Tanney. Right, we've already seen that
Speaker 1: it happens the National Football League. I've been involved in it.
Speaker 1: But the thing that happens is when that when that happens,
Speaker 1: then you've got to look at the length of that
Speaker 1: contract where it fits with the other people. And you've
Speaker 1: also got to keep an eye on you know, your
Speaker 1: your capologist, Vin Marino, has to keep his eye on
Speaker 1: not only now, but three years from now. And that's
Speaker 1: where it helps. Going back to what you talked about here,
Speaker 1: at least knowing what the money is going to be
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two. And in the grand scheme of things,
Speaker 1: eight million dollars is a lot of money to say
Speaker 1: me and my bank account. But in the grand scheme
Speaker 1: of things, is eight million dollars a huge raise? Yes,
Speaker 1: all right, No, it is, it's enough. Because here's the
Speaker 1: thing you always need to keep operating capital during the year,
Speaker 1: and so as the cap rises and you are able
Speaker 1: to get your salary caps stair stepped on one your
Speaker 1: salaries stair stepped on one another, you can and then
Speaker 1: it doesn't become a big problem to keep operating capital
Speaker 1: because during the year you still need money to operate on.
Speaker 1: You can't spend your cap up to zero, and then
Speaker 1: the season start. You can't say, okay, here's my credit card,
Speaker 1: max it out and the and sir, and the season
Speaker 1: starts because you need money during the season for a
Speaker 1: lot of transactions. Yeah, And I think Titans fans sometimes
Speaker 1: don't realize that. Not only Titans fans. Fans don't realize that.
Speaker 1: They just think the cap is like, okay, Amy, here
Speaker 1: you're going you're going out tonight and you've got two
Speaker 1: million dollars to spend, and spend it all and it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter what else goes on for the rest of
Speaker 1: the year. That's a salary cap has to last. You
Speaker 1: not only signing your players, your top fifty three, it's
Speaker 1: it's going to have to be. It's going to have
Speaker 1: to be practice squad injury settlements, acquisitions of players during
Speaker 1: the season, rookie draft, class. So there's the salary cap
Speaker 1: is not just your salaries? Interesting interesting point. Well, guys,
Speaker 1: so great to have you here on the OTP. Does
Speaker 1: anybody have thoughts or feelings as we get ready to
Speaker 1: face week two of the OTAs anything particular you're looking for?
Speaker 1: Rat two things I am looking forward to seeing more
Speaker 1: of is more Rashad Weaver, who has a large human being,
Speaker 1: and the same thing with Dylan Raden's. I like both
Speaker 1: of those guys early on. I just you can see
Speaker 1: what they saw in them, what John Robinson sawing them,
Speaker 1: and I'm just like, I don't want to see them
Speaker 1: develop as we go along, but I like seeing those
Speaker 1: two big dudes get around. I'm looking forward to being
Speaker 1: back on the field with you and Rhett. That's what
Speaker 1: makes me so happy. I've watched football players for thirty
Speaker 1: five years. I haven't been able. I haven't been able
Speaker 1: to be with you guys that long. But I agree
Speaker 1: with Rhet and I liked I like watching as we
Speaker 1: talked about when we started this, just the progressions these
Speaker 1: players are making. And I also when I go to practice,
Speaker 1: you know, and I listen to what the coaches are saying,
Speaker 1: and the thing I'm listening. Is what you would like
Speaker 1: to see as you watch them coach these players when
Speaker 1: they go from individual to group to team, is that
Speaker 1: they're If they're speaking to them less and less and less,
Speaker 1: it means the players are getting it, or if they're
Speaker 1: constantly saying and you heard it said some today. I
Speaker 1: told you this in rookie camp. You don't want to
Speaker 1: hear that very much. You don't. You don't want to
Speaker 1: hear two weeks into it. You know, we went over
Speaker 1: this two weeks ago. It goes back to the attention
Speaker 1: retention execution part of it. Coach Mac and Rehet Brian
Speaker 1: here eavesdropping at practice so that you the OT people
Speaker 1: do not have to. That's what we're here for, providing
Speaker 1: a service. Thank you. Thank you to both of you,
Speaker 1: Rhett and Coach Mac for being here today. Thank you
Speaker 1: to the OT people for tuning in. We're going to
Speaker 1: have so many more episodes of the Official Titans Podcast
Speaker 1: coming your way because this is just starting to get good. Guys.
Speaker 1: We are back on the football field for some workouts
Speaker 1: and it feels so good for Rhet Brian, Coach mcdave McGinnis,
Speaker 1: I'm Amy Wells. Thank you, thank you, for tuning in
Speaker 1: to this edition of the OTP. We the Legends called
Speaker 1: everybody Knows It's our house. We got sighting Burter running
Speaker 1: through a vase.