Speaker 1: Dance is the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans.
Speaker 1: Get the home field advantage with healthcare from Farm Bureau
Speaker 1: Health Plans. They've been protecting Tennesseeans for seventy five years.
Speaker 1: My name is Mike Keith. I am joined by Titans
Speaker 1: Radio's draft duo of Rhett Brian and coach Dave McGinnis.
Speaker 1: Have we recovered? I think we recovered and I think
Speaker 1: we acquitted ourselves very well. Mike really enjoyed the two
Speaker 1: days of the draft and then Rhet and I in
Speaker 1: the studio while you were handling. They're at Nissan Stadium
Speaker 1: with a lot of fans. That was great. Draft fest
Speaker 1: was outstanding. So yes, we're ready to go recharged. Let's
Speaker 1: do this. Let's do this all right. So we want
Speaker 1: to go through the story of the twenty twenty two
Speaker 1: draft for the Titans, and that story for us is
Speaker 1: on the air on Titans Radio at the Grand Hoigh
Speaker 1: watching the draft come down and everything unfolded. And so
Speaker 1: the Titans are scheduled to pick twenty sixth. After the
Speaker 1: sixteenth pick is made John Dotson, the LA Chargers are
Speaker 1: going on the clock, and then I have to gather
Speaker 1: Rhett Bryant, Dave McGinnis, and our broadcast partner Ramon fostered
Speaker 1: together along with Philip Noel and Brad Willis, who are
Speaker 1: running the show for us at the Grand Hyatt, and
Speaker 1: I have to give you some news, and that news
Speaker 1: is the Titans are trading AJ Brown to the Philadelphia
Speaker 1: Eagles in exchange for the eighteenth pick and the one
Speaker 1: hundred first pick. Coach Mack, what was your reaction when
Speaker 1: you heard this news? This is the draft. I mean,
Speaker 1: we were prepared, as anybody that even puts on a
Speaker 1: draft show. So we were prepared. But you have to
Speaker 1: be prepared for the unknown, and that was one of
Speaker 1: the unknowns. And so when you got us together, I
Speaker 1: knew you weren't just gathering us up that early in
Speaker 1: the draft to say, hey, fellas, you're really doing a
Speaker 1: good job. Halfway through, boys, we're rolling halfway. You guys
Speaker 1: are really doing a nice job. I'm really glad you're here.
Speaker 1: I knew something big was up, and clearly it was
Speaker 1: what you have to do when something like that happens
Speaker 1: in draft rooms. And then, just like we had to do,
Speaker 1: then you have to recalibrate. You have to recalibrate you
Speaker 1: have to reset. And so it's much like coaching in
Speaker 1: a game. You can have all the game plans that
Speaker 1: you want, Mike, but when you have to adjust. When
Speaker 1: once the game started, and we were adjusting right in
Speaker 1: the middle of the game. So the Chargers are on
Speaker 1: the clock, the Titans are now one pick away. Reett Brian,
Speaker 1: your thoughts when you hear the news that A. J.
Speaker 1: Brown is no longer a tight little shocked, But when
Speaker 1: you look at it in hindsight like we are right now.
Speaker 1: When you think about the craziest offseason in NFL history
Speaker 1: in free agency and how wide receiver value in dollars
Speaker 1: and guarantee money went up exponentially, even crazier than we
Speaker 1: ever thought, it kind of puts everything into contacts. It's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this makes sense because clearly the Titans are in a
Speaker 1: place financially because they've had six straight winning seasons they
Speaker 1: can't afford to pay everyone. But that's with time to
Speaker 1: think about it. While sitting there in the hey, I
Speaker 1: was like, okay. And at that point too, we're dealing
Speaker 1: with two things. We're on Titans radio, We're on one
Speaker 1: oh four or five zone in Nashville and We're on
Speaker 1: a lot of our Titans radio stations throughout the mid South,
Speaker 1: and thanks to them for carrying our Thursday night wall
Speaker 1: to wall coverage in our Friday night wall to wall coverage.
Speaker 1: So you've you've got that. But we also have several
Speaker 1: hundred people in the room with us at the Grand Hyatt. Yes,
Speaker 1: from the twenty second element. So I'm debating do I
Speaker 1: read the Adam Schefter tweet at this point, which is
Speaker 1: that AJ Brown has been traded. So it's like, well,
Speaker 1: if you're doing your job, you got to read the tweet.
Speaker 1: The crowd did not really like the tweet very and
Speaker 1: to your point, let me just say this. You always
Speaker 1: do your job, and that's being professional. And when we
Speaker 1: do this job, we have to take our personal feelings
Speaker 1: completely out of it and be professional and do it
Speaker 1: just like you do anything else in this business. It
Speaker 1: is a business. But when you said they didn't like it,
Speaker 1: that's fair. And then we were delivered a pair of socks.
Speaker 1: First of all, never been at a draft party and
Speaker 1: received a negative reaction ever, ever, and so we got that,
Speaker 1: and then we're delivered the pair of socks. Explain that red. Okay,
Speaker 1: let me back up just a second, just prior to
Speaker 1: the pick and you making the announcement. I went back
Speaker 1: and listened to the archives, and there was you could
Speaker 1: hear because people are on their phones, a gasp, a grunt,
Speaker 1: a growl, mur there was a murmur in the room.
Speaker 1: And then when you said it, then boom. Okay, So
Speaker 1: there's a gentleman that is sitting in a table almost
Speaker 1: directly in front of us. Now he spaced out plenty far.
Speaker 1: He's probably twenty yards away, and he is in all
Speaker 1: of his AJ Brown gear and a flame head that
Speaker 1: was a giveaway when you walked into a game from
Speaker 1: two three seasons ago, whatever it was. And he is
Speaker 1: very upset, very upset. And so he had proceeded to
Speaker 1: take off his AJ Brown's socks that he had purchased,
Speaker 1: probably at the pro shop at the stadium, because they
Speaker 1: have him in Derrick Henry and you know they're we're
Speaker 1: assuming he had them on. I think this question has
Speaker 1: been asked to me. I don't know the answer. Can
Speaker 1: I just say this, okay, why would you just bring
Speaker 1: a pair of socke I don't know and put him
Speaker 1: in your pocket? Totally fair question, but I don't know
Speaker 1: the specific answer. So I'm leaving open the possibility that
Speaker 1: he had them in his pocket. My guess is he
Speaker 1: had them on He is so disappointed with the news
Speaker 1: that he basically slams them down on the broadcast table
Speaker 1: right by Dave McGinnis's position. And it's at this point
Speaker 1: the Titans have made the pick of Traylan Burks from Arkansas,
Speaker 1: the first round wide receiver number eighteen. Rhett is talking
Speaker 1: about this while this is happening. He's talking about Traylan Burks,
Speaker 1: who you love. He's my favorite pick of the draft.
Speaker 1: He's your favorite. I was able to tell Traylan Burks
Speaker 1: that on Friday when I met him. I'm like, you
Speaker 1: were my favorite pick of the draft. But you're describing
Speaker 1: this while the socks are being placed on the table
Speaker 1: at the Grand Hide, and the gentleman does not seem
Speaker 1: happy with you personally. Let me just say this. He
Speaker 1: stayed at the party at the Grand Hyatt until it
Speaker 1: was announced that John Robinson had traded out of pick
Speaker 1: twenty six, which he immediately gathered his things and left.
Speaker 1: But in that another what hour, whatever that was, If
Speaker 1: looks could kill, I would not be here right now.
Speaker 1: He didn't. He stared me. As the young folks say,
Speaker 1: he mean mugged me for over an hour. I think
Speaker 1: Rhet's exact words were, while this man was put in
Speaker 1: his socks on our table, Traylan Burr is my crush
Speaker 1: in this draft. Yep, he is my draft crush. That's
Speaker 1: what triggered him. And I did not realize this, but
Speaker 1: at some point during the hour of mean mugging, he
Speaker 1: had removed his AJ brown jersey and threw it on
Speaker 1: the table he was sitting at. Okay, So so this
Speaker 1: is this is quite a moment for all of us.
Speaker 1: And if you are listening, if you are one of
Speaker 1: the ot people, you have your own story about this
Speaker 1: moment because it was shocking. But the other part of it, too,
Speaker 1: was the football key in all of this, which was
Speaker 1: John Robinson finding a way to make this stay quiet
Speaker 1: with help from the Eagles. And I would have, I
Speaker 1: would guess, with help from the agent and with everybody involved, absolutely,
Speaker 1: because that had to be part of the deal. They
Speaker 1: knew if they were going to make the trade for
Speaker 1: eighteen that they wanted Treylan Burkes, and if this had
Speaker 1: gotten out three hours earlier, somebody would have jumped him.
Speaker 1: No doubt, no doubt, And Mike, this happens quite a bit.
Speaker 1: I can go back to all the experiences I've had
Speaker 1: in draft rooms when you make deals like this, especially
Speaker 1: you know, a major deals. It happened with the deal
Speaker 1: that the Titans and the Rams made when they flipped
Speaker 1: the number one. If you remember that, John Robinson and
Speaker 1: Jeff Fisher both agreed to keep it quiet. Well, it
Speaker 1: had to on our end here. Absolutely, we were called
Speaker 1: into a meeting in John's office. I had been called
Speaker 1: back from this very studio where we are at Cumulus
Speaker 1: Media right now to come back to the office because
Speaker 1: the announcement was going to be made. And then there
Speaker 1: was the realization on the Rams part, we don't want
Speaker 1: to announce this tonight because it's Kobe Bryant's last game
Speaker 1: in LA. That's absolutely why. And the Rams have just
Speaker 1: gotten to La. And so John told eight people in
Speaker 1: his office. And John really didn't know any of us.
Speaker 1: He told us, he goes, this has to stay quiet.
Speaker 1: It's going to be released at eight o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 1: And I'll ever forget. I didn't sleep a wink that
Speaker 1: night because if this gets out, I'm thinking John Robinson's
Speaker 1: gonna blame me and I'm gonna lose my job. So
Speaker 1: you're one of the eight in the room, right, I'm
Speaker 1: one of the eight in the room. But they're gonna
Speaker 1: assume it's the broadcaster who's blabbed, who's blabbed, because broadcasters
Speaker 1: are famous for not being able to keep their mouth shut. Well,
Speaker 1: I've learned over the years to keep my mouth shut,
Speaker 1: but as a section of workers, broadcasters are the biggest
Speaker 1: gossips that you will meet anywhere. Well, and to me,
Speaker 1: I was on the other end of that, and that
Speaker 1: immediately when all of this was going on in La
Speaker 1: Jeff Fisher brought it up and said, look, and what
Speaker 1: you said, Mike, The Rads had just gotten there. It
Speaker 1: was a massive move, and we don't want to we
Speaker 1: don't want to supersede anything going on with Kobe Bryant
Speaker 1: and the Lakers at this time. Sure, the same thing
Speaker 1: was said on our end. Look, there was a real
Speaker 1: small circle of people that knew that, and it happens
Speaker 1: a lot in this league. But you're right now, basically
Speaker 1: these days with you know, with all the social media,
Speaker 1: I mean, you've just got to learn. And as I say,
Speaker 1: I've done this a long time. You know that I
Speaker 1: get a lot of intel that I never talk about
Speaker 1: except when it's time. You got to learn to keep
Speaker 1: your powder dry. And it's about trust. And once you
Speaker 1: engender that trust over a period of years, then you're
Speaker 1: going to be able to get information that you can
Speaker 1: use at the appropriate time. And this was one of them. Mike.
Speaker 1: This had an effect on the draft in the bottom
Speaker 1: half of it because think about this, of all of
Speaker 1: the Aaron Rodgers talk in the off season, if they
Speaker 1: still haven't drafted a first round wide receiver in twenty years, right,
Speaker 1: And this was one of the reasons why they didn't
Speaker 1: do it this past weekend. And if the reports are
Speaker 1: true Aaron Rodgers wanted trailing Burke. Well, if it had
Speaker 1: come out at two o'clock in the afternoon or four
Speaker 1: o'clock in the afternoon, the Packers with two ones and
Speaker 1: two twos would have had the draft capital to jump
Speaker 1: the Titan Goodacust would have jumped them in a hurry,
Speaker 1: and it wouldn't have cost him much in terms of
Speaker 1: what he had they ended up moving around anyway. So
Speaker 1: this is typical John Robinson saying, Hey, if we're gonna
Speaker 1: do this deal, this deal is not final, Mom's the
Speaker 1: word until we get in that situation. And then you know,
Speaker 1: we get advised from the team as the Chargers are
Speaker 1: putting in their card because things are happening faster than
Speaker 1: what you see on TV. Absolutely, so the Chargers have
Speaker 1: already put in their card while it's still being shown
Speaker 1: on TV that they're on the clock. And so this
Speaker 1: this all goes down and the Titans end up with
Speaker 1: Traylan Burks. And what is lost in that immediate moment
Speaker 1: that has now become apparent now is I think the
Speaker 1: Titans may have gotten a future superstar in Traylan Burks. Well. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: And of course we do a very extensive vetting of
Speaker 1: a lot of players, you know, for the reason that
Speaker 1: we want to put out a great product, but also
Speaker 1: we want to know who these people are. And when
Speaker 1: you started, I mean, Traylan Burks was talked about just
Speaker 1: among our group for quite a while. And as I said,
Speaker 1: I mean, rhet said that was his crush in the draft,
Speaker 1: and so he's got one guy that doesn't like him forever,
Speaker 1: but that's he's kind of creepy, and well that's neither here,
Speaker 1: and that's neither here nor there. And the end of
Speaker 1: that story is Rhett did not leave the building when
Speaker 1: it was over with the Socks. I will say that
Speaker 1: Rhet left the socks. That what happened to the socks
Speaker 1: not really sure. Yeah, I didn't want him. I mean
Speaker 1: I appreciated the effort. But you know, the Packers took
Speaker 1: Christian Watson from North Dakota State in rounds three and
Speaker 1: Romeo Dubs in round five. But had that gotten out
Speaker 1: to your point, might have been a whole different deal.
Speaker 1: And everything starts changing too, because you've made the trade
Speaker 1: for not only eighteen and you've gotten Treylan Burkes, but
Speaker 1: suddenly you have one oh one in your pocket, so
Speaker 1: you have another second day pick, which you didn't have
Speaker 1: at that point. Remember the Titans, we're going to go
Speaker 1: from twenty six to ninety. You've still got twenty six.
Speaker 1: And there was a lot of speculation. The majority of
Speaker 1: the mocks, I think correctly had the Titans picking an
Speaker 1: offensive linemanute twenty six. But what has happened Kenyan Greene's
Speaker 1: coming off the board at fifteen, Zion Johnson's coming off
Speaker 1: the board at seventeen, Tyler Smith has come off the
Speaker 1: board at twenty four, and then Tyler Lindenbaum has come
Speaker 1: off the board at twenty five. So those offensive linemen
Speaker 1: that fit that first group that sort of fits you,
Speaker 1: they're out the window. There's a whole group of other
Speaker 1: ones yet to come, and you're like, okay. So the
Speaker 1: Jets are hot and heavy for Jermaine Johnson. They want
Speaker 1: him badly, and they're willing to trade thirty five, the
Speaker 1: third pick of Day two, sixty nine, which is an
Speaker 1: early third round pick, and a five to you for
Speaker 1: twenty six and one oh one, And if you do
Speaker 1: the math on the chart, it's a pretty good deal
Speaker 1: for both teams. But it's certainly solid compensation at that
Speaker 1: moment and you're done on day one. You've laid that
Speaker 1: out so well. But here's the reality of it. When
Speaker 1: we went into this draft, we all sat there and
Speaker 1: looked at it, and we've been in enough drafts that
Speaker 1: we were looking the gap from twenty six to ninety.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of players. There are a lot
Speaker 1: of players. When we vetted over two hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: players for this draft for you know, for Titans Radio,
Speaker 1: you knew that there were quality players in that gap.
Speaker 1: And so to close that gap, I think we all felt,
Speaker 1: now we had no idea about the blockbuster trade, but
Speaker 1: we've felt like at some point that John Robinson, because
Speaker 1: he knows how to work a draft, and I say
Speaker 1: work a draft, work the dynamics of what it takes
Speaker 1: to be able to fill those gaps and still be
Speaker 1: able to come out. And when you make trades, nobody
Speaker 1: is trying to get over the top on somebody else
Speaker 1: in a trade that's not going to happen, but trades
Speaker 1: that are beneficial for both parties, then you can start
Speaker 1: to work with some things. That's what he did, and
Speaker 1: the Jets end up with three number one picks. Their call.
Speaker 1: At this point, the Jets greatest first round ever. They're
Speaker 1: all excited. Good for them, Good for them. We moved
Speaker 1: to day two, and one of the areas that we
Speaker 1: had been targeting on our sheets as those offensive lineman
Speaker 1: came off the board for twenty six is corner. You're
Speaker 1: gonna draft a receiver in a corner every year in
Speaker 1: today's market, you're gonna do it every year. If you
Speaker 1: want a top level corner who's left on the board, Ratte,
Speaker 1: you're probably gonna have to go early in the second round.
Speaker 1: Guess what the Titans have an early second round pick
Speaker 1: now and they take a player Roger mcquerry from Auburn,
Speaker 1: who they might have taken at twenty six, but instead
Speaker 1: they got to take it thirty five, which is huge value.
Speaker 1: And you're talking about a young man. I enjoyed your
Speaker 1: interview with him and that through the first two nights
Speaker 1: of this whole thing. But he played against SEC wide
Speaker 1: receivers and tight ends every week almost and so and listen,
Speaker 1: there's a reason why it's sixteen straight drafts. The SEC
Speaker 1: has had the most drafted players sixteen straight years. So
Speaker 1: with that in mind, and not to mention, he seems
Speaker 1: like a wonderful young man. Yes, you have to do
Speaker 1: this here. Well, Roger McCreary was kind of in the
Speaker 1: same I've seen it year after year after year. You
Speaker 1: put the tape on and you go, this is a
Speaker 1: very in phase, sticky, aggressive player that I want. And
Speaker 1: then you start going and we start going through the
Speaker 1: draft process, which is dissected in minutia now, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, his arms are an inch and a
Speaker 1: half too short for the model. All right, Well, you
Speaker 1: watch and he's sticking his hand in the basket, knocking
Speaker 1: it away, knocking it away. Knocking it away, doesn't matter
Speaker 1: how long your arms are if you're not in phase
Speaker 1: with the receiver. And so once we thought that the
Speaker 1: defensive back and especially a corner was going to be
Speaker 1: probably in that realm Mike, that was the part that
Speaker 1: was so big was being able to have the third
Speaker 1: pick the second day. Used to be you'd pick one
Speaker 1: first rounds one, two, and three on the first day,
Speaker 1: and the huge reset of everybody's boards well into the
Speaker 1: night was the top of the fourth round. And you
Speaker 1: will agree that Roger McCreary being a tight is a
Speaker 1: direct result of the AJ Brown trade. That's one hundred
Speaker 1: percent right. That's one hundred percent right. If the AJ
Speaker 1: Brown trade is not made, we're not even in position
Speaker 1: to do any of that stuff. And so once you
Speaker 1: get your board reset and you start to look, then
Speaker 1: the top of that second round becomes again just like
Speaker 1: the first day, the top of the first round with
Speaker 1: the players that are available. I really liked the way unfolded.
Speaker 1: And so McCrary is famous. He's from Mobile, and he's
Speaker 1: famous for eating two plates of beans with sugar, with
Speaker 1: sugar on Fridays before Auburn's games. On Saturdays. He says
Speaker 1: he will continue to do it in the NFL. When
Speaker 1: I visited with him at the Senior Bowl, he really
Speaker 1: wants an endorsement from Bushes Beans. Of course, Bushes is
Speaker 1: out of Knoxville. Yeah, Jay Bush, you and Duke, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Duke the Dog make it happen. You and Duke have
Speaker 1: got to make it happen. That's right with Roger McCrary.
Speaker 1: I've never had the pleasure of meeting Jay Bush. I've
Speaker 1: driven by their corporate offices five times, and I've corporate
Speaker 1: I showed you, Yeah, I showed you where it was.
Speaker 1: But you've got Roger McCrary has to become a spokesperson
Speaker 1: or at least has to get several free cases of
Speaker 1: Bush's baked bee. That's so great. Chris Parnell, who we
Speaker 1: all know very well that for years has been in
Speaker 1: charge of food services there at the Tennessee Titans. Get
Speaker 1: some bushes ready, get them, get them ready? All right,
Speaker 1: So the Titans, if they don't make the A. J.
Speaker 1: Brown trade, they probably take a We're guessing now, and
Speaker 1: this is revisionist history. If they only have twenty six
Speaker 1: and ninety, they probably take McCrary at twenty six. So instead,
Speaker 1: because they make the deal, they have trailing Burkes and
Speaker 1: Roger McCrary together. But then they're gonna pick again at
Speaker 1: six nine. Now let's flash back. You need an offensive lineman.
Speaker 1: The first group that was kind of there is gone
Speaker 1: by the time you pick at twenty six, so you
Speaker 1: trade out. Well, there's another group of talented guys. This
Speaker 1: was a deep offensive line group, Raett, would you agree? Yes,
Speaker 1: it was, and not just at tackle, I mean positions
Speaker 1: all along the line. And you knew going into round three, four, five,
Speaker 1: on and forward you'd be able to find somebody. Nicholas
Speaker 1: petit Frere and that's how you say it from Ohio State.
Speaker 1: The tackle was there at sixty nine. The Titans had
Speaker 1: had him in on a pre draft visit. He was
Speaker 1: one of the first. He's a guy that they targeted,
Speaker 1: that they spent a lot of time with, and they
Speaker 1: grabbed him with the sixty ninth pick that they got
Speaker 1: from the Jets. Another perfect fit. It's exactly a perfect fit,
Speaker 1: you know, for what they needed. I'll tell you, Mike,
Speaker 1: the sixth city tour that the OTP did prior to
Speaker 1: the draft. You know, an ort. People listened, They heard
Speaker 1: his name when it came time because we did two
Speaker 1: positions day, two positions to stop is what we did,
Speaker 1: and we talked extensively about this player being one of
Speaker 1: those top echelon after that first group came through. So
Speaker 1: when he was sitting there, we're all sitting there looking
Speaker 1: and we're not making any picks, but we're making some
Speaker 1: pretty good guesses as if they go with this, this
Speaker 1: guy is right at the top of the list. So
Speaker 1: the Titans get Nicholas petit Frere offensive tackle Ohio State
Speaker 1: at sixty nine. They're gonna go again at ninety. So
Speaker 1: we're on Titans Radio. We're broadcasting Night to Live at
Speaker 1: Nissan Stadium. The night is sort of winding down and
Speaker 1: we're kind of waiting for the Titans to get there.
Speaker 1: And then we get the word that the Titans have
Speaker 1: traded up from ninety to eighty six with the Las
Speaker 1: Vegas Raiders. With the Las Vegas Raiders the Raiders first pick,
Speaker 1: and they used the ninetieth pick to take Dylan Peram
Speaker 1: from Memphis, an offensive lineman, really good player, good pick
Speaker 1: for the Raiders. Yes, Raiders also took Matthew Butler from Tennessee.
Speaker 1: Later defensively, I'm good pick for the Raiders, good for them,
Speaker 1: But we're sitting here saying, okay, now what do they
Speaker 1: wanted eighty six? Is this one of the tight ends?
Speaker 1: Is this another of the receivers? And then Rhett it
Speaker 1: gets out with the people who tip picks that it's
Speaker 1: Malik Willis from Liberty. So we see this. Everybody in
Speaker 1: the crowd who's on their phone is seeing this. We're
Speaker 1: live on the radio, and we really aren't sure what
Speaker 1: to do at this moment. Like the night before, to
Speaker 1: the point that I said, golly well, that's all I
Speaker 1: can say was it had not been confirmed by the
Speaker 1: the The aj Brown trade had been confirmed to us
Speaker 1: through the teams before the Schefter tweet went out. Yes,
Speaker 1: so we had the two things there. We felt like
Speaker 1: we could say that in a way, but this was
Speaker 1: not confirmed at this moment. So it's out there all
Speaker 1: over the place that the Titans have selected Malik Willis.
Speaker 1: If you were listening to us on Titans Raid, we're
Speaker 1: saying something big is about to happen, and I know
Speaker 1: what you're doing. You're looking at the radio saying, Mike,
Speaker 1: you jerk. Tell us It's like I don't want to
Speaker 1: be wrong about this because that's gonna be a big deal.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, And if it sounded like we were in bewilderment,
Speaker 1: we were. We're in shock, yeah, because nobody thinks he's
Speaker 1: still there. The Titans had never really been mentioned with him.
Speaker 1: I mean, there'd been speculation he was gonna go second
Speaker 1: in the draft at one point. Desmond Ritter had been
Speaker 1: picked forty picks before that. So coach, when they hate
Speaker 1: Malik Willis, now describe the reaction, let me describe. Let
Speaker 1: me describe your narrative when you that it speaks to
Speaker 1: your professionalism because you went through so many things, and
Speaker 1: the look on your face when you said, the first
Speaker 1: thing you came out of your mouth was something big
Speaker 1: is about to happen. And then you said, I really
Speaker 1: don't quite know what to say yet about this, but
Speaker 1: believe me, this is going to be very, very impactful
Speaker 1: for everybody. So I'm sitting there looking at you, going,
Speaker 1: I don't know how he can be that professional and
Speaker 1: continue to keep his powder dry on something this big.
Speaker 1: Because what you say is true, it had not been
Speaker 1: confirmed yet, and so you can never put something out
Speaker 1: like that. Now a lot of people would because you know,
Speaker 1: anybody that wants to hot tweet anybody that anybody that
Speaker 1: wants to but you're not that, And so just want
Speaker 1: Titans fans to be able to count on Titans Radio
Speaker 1: for the truth, to give him the stuff. Yeah, the truth.
Speaker 1: And if you're driving, I mean, I know why you're
Speaker 1: listening to us on Friday nights. You're at somebody's baseball
Speaker 1: or softball game, you're at a soccer game, an graduation party,
Speaker 1: you're driving home from the mall, you're an over the
Speaker 1: road trucker, and you're listening to us, and you know
Speaker 1: this is what people are doing at that point. We
Speaker 1: gotta be right about this one because it's as shocking
Speaker 1: as what had happened to night before in my opinion,
Speaker 1: absolutely absolutely, like yeah, because it's a quarterback. It's a quarterback,
Speaker 1: and it's this guy who the Good Lord has given
Speaker 1: a lot of gifts, Brad Hopkins when we saw him
Speaker 1: on Saturday, and he says McNair too, McNair too. That's
Speaker 1: how he says. I mean, that's how he describes him. Physically, coach.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know what he does. I don't
Speaker 1: know if he ever takes a snap, but there are
Speaker 1: certainly some traits there that are awfully special. Well he was,
Speaker 1: he was had the best physical traits of any quarterback
Speaker 1: in this draft. When you talk about mobility, you talk
Speaker 1: about arm strength, you talk about escapability, all of those
Speaker 1: things are there. So now what you have is you
Speaker 1: have a really, really good athlete that I don't know
Speaker 1: the young man yet, we will get to know him.
Speaker 1: But anything that you see in those interviews and anything
Speaker 1: that you hear, this is a quality, quality person that
Speaker 1: is Look, everybody that comes into the draft that is
Speaker 1: taken low more than what the experts. And I'm making
Speaker 1: air quotes with my fingers because there's so many hot
Speaker 1: take experts surrounding this event. Today, They're gonna have a
Speaker 1: chip on their shoulder. And I'm not talking about a
Speaker 1: chip that is something that's bad. I'm talking about a
Speaker 1: beneficial chip. This guy, this is I cannot wait to
Speaker 1: be there at practice every day to watch him develop.
Speaker 1: And this is gonna be This is gonna be fun.
Speaker 1: Everybody in that room. You talk about the first night
Speaker 1: reaction in the room, everybody in that room, it was
Speaker 1: elevated to attend immediately. I'm gonna step back one step
Speaker 1: and go back to when we were waiting for the
Speaker 1: announcement to be made. You even said, if what is
Speaker 1: being reported as the pick here is the case, John
Speaker 1: Robinson is about to shock the world. And I'm like, yep, yeah,
Speaker 1: I could say that I would agree with that. The
Speaker 1: young man obviously deeply cemented in his faith seeing the
Speaker 1: reaction when he got the phone call, and look, you know, guy,
Speaker 1: you set it up when we talked about it the
Speaker 1: other night when he was selected. A lot of talent
Speaker 1: left in twenty twenty, which he had a really good year,
Speaker 1: and a lot of people thought he didn't have as
Speaker 1: good a year in twenty twenty one. And it's like, well,
Speaker 1: you know, where's the measuring stick there? Because he had
Speaker 1: some pieces around him that were gone. He's got a
Speaker 1: million dollars smile, just like Steve McNair. Sure hope he
Speaker 1: isn't Steve McNair two point though, that'd be fantastic. So
Speaker 1: we walk out of Nissan Stadium Friday night, and no
Speaker 1: socks were thrown at us, No socks were thrown at us,
Speaker 1: nothing was thrown at us. I still contend, even three
Speaker 1: days later, that the point from which all of the
Speaker 1: stuff hit about a J. Brown being traded to the
Speaker 1: point at which Malik Willis was drafted is the wildest
Speaker 1: twenty four hours I've spent in twenty four years with
Speaker 1: the club. And it was cemented by my wife the
Speaker 1: next morning, I'm getting up to leave for draft Fest
Speaker 1: and she she's got this look under faces. She reads
Speaker 1: all the social media stuff. She said, it's funny. She goes,
Speaker 1: on Thursday night, everybody was ready to jump off a bridge,
Speaker 1: and now everybody's more excited than they ever have been.
Speaker 1: She goes, what is it with football fans? And that's
Speaker 1: she's not a football person whatever, but somebody from the outside,
Speaker 1: so to speak. Looking at it in that way gives
Speaker 1: you an idea of the roller coaster that you ride
Speaker 1: when you're a fan. That is so true, and that's
Speaker 1: a hud. It is a roller coaster because you're invested emotionally,
Speaker 1: you're invested emostly. And again, all of this stuff will
Speaker 1: play itself out over the course of both of these
Speaker 1: players career. All of these players are drafted over the
Speaker 1: course of their career. But in the moment, I agree
Speaker 1: with you, Mike. We rode some highs and lows, and
Speaker 1: you can be as prepared as you want to be.
Speaker 1: But for those two instances, just to run through that
Speaker 1: and hopefully the thing that I really like about it
Speaker 1: is the fact that people that we're listening to us,
Speaker 1: which I know a lot of them were, they at
Speaker 1: least got the true essence of the magnitude of both moments.
Speaker 1: The only thing that would come as a second to
Speaker 1: this was in a much shorter span of time, when
Speaker 1: you and Pat Ryan had just called the Music City Miracle,
Speaker 1: Phil Luckett announces to the crowd that it's under review
Speaker 1: and they hush over, the crowd goes and then it's
Speaker 1: the play stands. That would be twenty four minutes were yeah,
Speaker 1: and you're talking twenty four hours about twenty four hours,
Speaker 1: and so yeah, the music it doesn't compare with the
Speaker 1: day of the Music City Miracle in terms of the
Speaker 1: end of that ball. But the roller coaster, Oh that's it.
Speaker 1: It was just I mean, you know when you could
Speaker 1: feel the emotion too, Mike, and you and I were
Speaker 1: both at Draft Fast Saturday, which was an amazing event,
Speaker 1: amazing events, so many fans there, and then you know,
Speaker 1: had had the alumni players were up on the stage.
Speaker 1: It's great. The energy of that whole group when you
Speaker 1: start walking looking in and everybody's lined up to go
Speaker 1: in the locker room, and then there the field is
Speaker 1: covered with people. Everybody is excited. They were so excited
Speaker 1: about the draft well, and what had happened at that point.
Speaker 1: Obviously the Willis thing drafting a quarterback, drafting a high
Speaker 1: profile guy. He had been the most talked about because
Speaker 1: he was the biggest story of the draft picks. Kenny
Speaker 1: Pickett was probably gonna be the first guy picked because
Speaker 1: he's the safe guy. He's this but the story is
Speaker 1: Malik Willis. So people are caught up in that moment.
Speaker 1: But what became obvious at draft Fest is the realization
Speaker 1: of who Trailing Burks issue had started to catch fire,
Speaker 1: and the common fan the draft Nick knew what a
Speaker 1: prospect Trailing Burks was. Yes, a common fan saw him
Speaker 1: come into the facility on Friday, They're like, who is
Speaker 1: this big dude who handles himself so well? And then
Speaker 1: they'd seen the highlight and they'd read the articles. By
Speaker 1: the time he came on stage with me at draft
Speaker 1: Fest and was introduced to the crowd, it was phenomenal.
Speaker 1: It was rock starish at that moment. And so you've
Speaker 1: gotten McCrary, who's an SEC guy at Auburn. You've got
Speaker 1: Petit Frere who gave an impressive interview. You've you've got
Speaker 1: the quarterback. But then the first round pick. People are
Speaker 1: starting to get amped about that, and so the initial
Speaker 1: disappointment about the trade had certainly been muted for multiple
Speaker 1: reasons at that point. Well, and that, to me is
Speaker 1: so great. And that's that's what I sensed. You could sense,
Speaker 1: you could sense the movement and the energy in the
Speaker 1: crowd on Saturday being a complete flip and being like, hey,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, right, this is really something good. This
Speaker 1: is really something good. And then, as you say, when
Speaker 1: he's on stage with you that reaction, there'll be more
Speaker 1: of those. And then while this is going on, the
Speaker 1: Titans literally, as I'm walking to the stage and I
Speaker 1: want to pole adjusted to anybody at Draft Fest who
Speaker 1: saw him beyond my phone, you know I was not
Speaker 1: I was not reading Facebook or look at can I
Speaker 1: apologize too, because I was reading your phone too. So
Speaker 1: we're watching So htt's here at the studio, we're at
Speaker 1: Nissan Stadium and coach mc and are looking at the picks.
Speaker 1: The Titans select Hassan Haskins running back Michigan at one
Speaker 1: thirty one. I immediately asked, Rhett does coach mac like
Speaker 1: Hassan Haskins, And I said yes, because we both read
Speaker 1: a description of him, and guy's a workhorse. He's a hammer. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's a tough dude. Go ahead, he's a hammer. He's
Speaker 1: a hammer. And here's the other thing is he's so dependable,
Speaker 1: and he's extremely extremely talented. And here's the other thing.
Speaker 1: Carrying the ball as many times as he did. You
Speaker 1: close your eyes and tell me what you see. That's
Speaker 1: how many fumbles he's had in his career. This guy's
Speaker 1: the legitimate deal. This is a nice, nice piece to
Speaker 1: this off. He did not miss a game in college,
Speaker 1: had a high ankle sprain at the end of the
Speaker 1: year that prohibited him from participating in the Senior Bowl
Speaker 1: in the combine, so there was no measurables in terms
Speaker 1: of that or I'm convinced he would have been taken
Speaker 1: a little higher than what he was thirteen hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty seven yards rushing in twenty twenty one and broke
Speaker 1: a fifty three year old Michigan football record with twenty
Speaker 1: rushing touchdowns. He was voted by his teammates as the
Speaker 1: toughest dude on the team, so they get him. Haskins,
Speaker 1: the running back from Michigan at one thirty one, Titans
Speaker 1: picking twelve later, I think the final pick of the
Speaker 1: fourth round. It was a compensa tour. That's correct. Correct
Speaker 1: tight ends have come off the board down where bunches
Speaker 1: of them he started on on tight ends. Chig, a
Speaker 1: con quot tight end from Maryland is the pick at
Speaker 1: one forty three. Not the biggest tight end, but the
Speaker 1: Titans like him because he will block, He shows a
Speaker 1: willingness and he has something else which is speed. The
Speaker 1: fastest tight end at the combine four or five two legit.
Speaker 1: You put the tape on at Maryland and you see
Speaker 1: it runs away from people, can separate, can get away.
Speaker 1: Look I'm not I don't want to put anything on
Speaker 1: this play, but this player is like what's coming into
Speaker 1: the league as a tight end. He's going to be
Speaker 1: a mismatch problem. And the other thing that he can
Speaker 1: do in the open spaces, especially if people want to
Speaker 1: play a lot of his own defense against this team,
Speaker 1: which people are starting to play a lot of toshell
Speaker 1: a lot of two high against it. He can run
Speaker 1: away from people. I liked this pick and especially at
Speaker 1: this point, this to me was the guy that was
Speaker 1: standing out on our board. So two a Tonkavaloa's younger
Speaker 1: brother as the quarterback in Maryland. He had a twelve
Speaker 1: catch game last year against Penn State. And when you
Speaker 1: look at his measurables, I see and I hear Delaney Walker,
Speaker 1: I see and I hear John hu Smith. He's that
Speaker 1: kind of rocked up physical ask and got that kind
Speaker 1: of speed bingo. Well, we thought that Isaiah likely from
Speaker 1: Coastal Carolina might be a target. There were other guys
Speaker 1: that were in there. Isaiah likely ended up coming off
Speaker 1: the board just before the Titans made the selection. But
Speaker 1: when you think about the group of tight end that
Speaker 1: Tennessee has, now Jeff Swain, who's kind of that just
Speaker 1: good solid tight end, and then you got Austin Hooper,
Speaker 1: who's another physical guy, better pass catcher than Swain, and
Speaker 1: so you've got him. Well, now you take a guy
Speaker 1: Tommy Hudson's on the team too, and he appears to
Speaker 1: be a blocker. This is a different guy. It's a
Speaker 1: different guy, and that's really what you want in your
Speaker 1: tight end where you want that mix because you know
Speaker 1: if you're going to play some multiple tight end sets
Speaker 1: twelve personnel, which is two tights you know in there,
Speaker 1: and you want guys to be able to be multiple.
Speaker 1: This guy can be a multiple piece for you. He
Speaker 1: can also be on the move. He can be on
Speaker 1: the move. You talk about its blocking, he can be
Speaker 1: on the move and do plenty of good blocking, especially
Speaker 1: on the edge. He's also a guy that you can
Speaker 1: move and into the backfield to do a lot of
Speaker 1: things with. This guy's a mismatch for linebackers, so you're
Speaker 1: gonna be able to do a lot of creative things
Speaker 1: with him. Off of the play action, Titans go wide
Speaker 1: receiver in the fifth round at one sixty three. Coach
Speaker 1: Mac they take Kyle Phillips, wide receiver UCLA. There were
Speaker 1: other options there. Why do you think Phillips was the
Speaker 1: right option for the Titans as the second wide out
Speaker 1: they took in this draft. He's a get open, quick
Speaker 1: catch everything that you throw him, and he's also a returner.
Speaker 1: This is it. When you read his stats, you read
Speaker 1: what you did at UCLA and also also in the
Speaker 1: Pac twelve. This is a slot player. This is a
Speaker 1: slot player, this is a movement player, and this is
Speaker 1: a tremendous move the chains guy. He's an instant accelerator.
Speaker 1: Doesn't have elite long speed, but you've got to be
Speaker 1: able to get away from people you know in close areas.
Speaker 1: He's got tremendous feet and his hands are very, very sure, Mike.
Speaker 1: He's the only receiver in the PAC twelve and twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one with double digit touchdowns, seventy plus catches, ten touchdowns,
Speaker 1: has a eighty two and a sixty nine yard punt
Speaker 1: return for a touchdown in his college career. Two picks
Speaker 1: in the sixth round. I want to start with the
Speaker 1: second one at two nineteen. Okay, Chance Campbell, who played
Speaker 1: at Maryland and then finished at Old Miss. What do
Speaker 1: we know about this two two hundred thirty two pound linebacker.
Speaker 1: He's a tackling machine, Mike. I'll tell you what I
Speaker 1: know about it. Of course, I do this coach to
Speaker 1: coach show that covers the Southeastern Conference for twenty weeks
Speaker 1: with Doug Matthews. When Kentucky was getting ready to play
Speaker 1: the balls, I put the tape on of Kentucky. He
Speaker 1: is a Maryland transfer he came in. This guy is
Speaker 1: all over the place as a tackler. This is what
Speaker 1: he is. I coach linebackers in this league for a
Speaker 1: long time. The one thing I always looked at on film.
Speaker 1: I really wasn't so concerned about the straight line speed,
Speaker 1: and what I wanted to see was what type of
Speaker 1: GPS does he have to the ball when the ball
Speaker 1: is snapped? What type of GPS? How can he get
Speaker 1: ahead of blocks? And then how sure a tackler is
Speaker 1: he on all different types of angle bases? This guy
Speaker 1: is a tackler to me. This guy is an immediate
Speaker 1: special team's contributor that will work into a role behind
Speaker 1: the line. All right, then I want to take the
Speaker 1: first sixth round pick is a backtrack at two oh
Speaker 1: four THEO Jackson John Overton High School in Nashville, Tennessee,
Speaker 1: Tennessee volunteer listed as a safety. He played the star
Speaker 1: position at Tennessee. And for anybody to understand how amazing
Speaker 1: it is that THEO Jackson is a draft pick today
Speaker 1: compared to where he was a year ago. What a
Speaker 1: job by THEO Jackson. What a job by Willie Martinez
Speaker 1: the secondary coach. What a job by Tim Banks, the
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator. They figured out how to use this guy right,
Speaker 1: how to give him confidence, and he played outstanding football
Speaker 1: for Tennessee last year as a versatile guy in the secondary.
Speaker 1: I studied every Valls game this year in my role
Speaker 1: with coach to coach with Doug Matthews. Week after week
Speaker 1: after week, we would both say on the air, THEO.
Speaker 1: Jackson's the best player on the field right now. Defensively,
Speaker 1: THEO Jackson is the guy is stirring the pot right now.
Speaker 1: THEO Jackson did this, and then you said the star position.
Speaker 1: Let me say something for our OTP listeners. The star position,
Speaker 1: which is Nick Saban's defense. Everybody in the SEC's playing it. Now.
Speaker 1: You have to be so versatile, and you have to
Speaker 1: be so mentally dialed in to so many things because
Speaker 1: there are so many adjustments pre and post snap that
Speaker 1: come with that position. Because that position is a safety,
Speaker 1: it's a slot cover guy, it's a blitzer, it's somebody
Speaker 1: that has to be able to read the center guard
Speaker 1: triangle from a slot position. Because you're involved in the
Speaker 1: run front. This has to be not only your most
Speaker 1: versatile player, but your most mentally dialed in player. THEO
Speaker 1: Jackson was all of this. I love this pick. There
Speaker 1: were two players on that team, and there were valls
Speaker 1: that were drafted this year five that made me extremely happy.
Speaker 1: But two guys that jumped out if you really studied
Speaker 1: them this year offensively, it was Vallis Jones Chicago Bear
Speaker 1: now in the third round and THEO Jackson on defense.
Speaker 1: I am so happy. It's a great story too. It's
Speaker 1: a great story that he's a local guy, but it's
Speaker 1: also even a better story that he's a really good player.
Speaker 1: He's been to the san Stadium many many times. He's
Speaker 1: a Titans fans that his uncle had a swede or
Speaker 1: something and would go and would watch since he was
Speaker 1: a little guy. And now he's gonna have a chance
Speaker 1: to walk out of that tunnel with the pads at
Speaker 1: a two tone blue on. It's awesome. Well, and there's
Speaker 1: a lot of speculation that he was specifically drafted to
Speaker 1: have a chance to take Dame Crookshank's role in the
Speaker 1: Big Nickel. The three safety package. Titans were in three
Speaker 1: safeties thirteen percent of the defensive snaps a year ago.
Speaker 1: And sometimes you read the A plus B equals see
Speaker 1: and you say, no, it's not exactly like that, but
Speaker 1: I think this is. I think THEO Jackson has a
Speaker 1: chance special teams where he has a chance to really
Speaker 1: make his living from the start. But he's got an
Speaker 1: opportunity to work himself into a package because of his physicality.
Speaker 1: Not saying it's gonna happen. The Titans signed a free
Speaker 1: agent and Aj Moore who might be that guy. But
Speaker 1: all you can ask for, and all Theo jack And
Speaker 1: has ever really asked for, is a chance to compete.
Speaker 1: And he's got some size to be able to do
Speaker 1: those things. He's six nine guy and can tackle. And
Speaker 1: I think you're right. I think this is. They brought
Speaker 1: over the more guy from the Houston Texans who is
Speaker 1: a core special teamer to do those things. But I
Speaker 1: think he has a chance to replace Dan Crookshank, Mike.
Speaker 1: I'll say it. That's what he was drafted for. This
Speaker 1: is going to be a big nickel guy. And this
Speaker 1: is what you're looking for when you're making sub packages
Speaker 1: against various offensive sets and is this and it also
Speaker 1: helps you so much, just like Dan Crookshank did at
Speaker 1: times with game specific game plans versus opponents, this is
Speaker 1: what he'll get a chance today. And that's why you
Speaker 1: draft Roger McCurry too, because week a week in the NFL,
Speaker 1: now you're using so many sub packages, you need various
Speaker 1: chess pieces in the secondary. Alon Te Taylor goes in
Speaker 1: the second round to the New Orleans Saints because he
Speaker 1: is going to be another guy to Tennessee who's gonna
Speaker 1: have a chance to be that sort of chess piece
Speaker 1: that you can use in different ways. Absolutely, you're talking
Speaker 1: about Lante Taylor. Now, they'll use him at corner, they'll
Speaker 1: use him at safety, and he'll be an immediate gunner
Speaker 1: on special teams. That's a three pronged player that you
Speaker 1: can use. THEO Jackson, I'm I'm really really looking forward
Speaker 1: to watching him develop. Here so deep breath after drafting.
Speaker 1: I was taking a deep breath when he huddled us
Speaker 1: all up on the first night. You know, again, as
Speaker 1: I said, I knew it wasn't just to say, hey guys,
Speaker 1: I really am glad I'm here with you. Anytime you
Speaker 1: huddle us up, there's something going on. I didn't know
Speaker 1: Rhet was going to get a pair of socks out
Speaker 1: of the deal, but I'm gonna get my THEO Jackson
Speaker 1: socks now they have those at the pro shop yet
Speaker 1: not yet, but yeah, but I'm sure they'll be coming.
Speaker 1: Chack a conquo, man, I like to check a conquo.
Speaker 1: I know that check a con quo socks. You know
Speaker 1: Rhet will have Taylor Burke socks. I promise you. I
Speaker 1: think John he already does. They walked in here with
Speaker 1: a hoghead on. I was very surprised he's calling the
Speaker 1: hog Hey, you're good in it. I think this is
Speaker 1: a nice draft for John Robinson. I really do what
Speaker 1: a weekend and to turn this thing from being seven
Speaker 1: picks and a sixty four pick gap between one and
Speaker 1: three into six offensive players and three defensive players, because
Speaker 1: I mean, let's face it, you've got a roster that's
Speaker 1: tight on salary cap room. You need as many of
Speaker 1: these guys to make your ball club as possible. And
Speaker 1: you're not just you don't just need to make the
Speaker 1: ball club. They need to be able to help the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two Titans. It really looks like they've got
Speaker 1: several guys that can do that. Let me say something
Speaker 1: else too. From being a lifetime coach in this league
Speaker 1: at a lot of different levels and just doing it
Speaker 1: all to be able to put together something like this
Speaker 1: when you've also won twelve games a year before, and
Speaker 1: I've had six winning seasons, when the draft process is
Speaker 1: stacked against you because of where you're picking, to be
Speaker 1: able to maneuver and manipulate a draft like this, this
Speaker 1: just shows you again that John Robinson knows exactly what
Speaker 1: he's doing. Look, it's it's hard to go from winning
Speaker 1: four games to winning twelve games. It's much harder than
Speaker 1: to navigate a twelve game win a six straight winning
Speaker 1: seasons and continue to navigate the draft process that is
Speaker 1: stacked for giving bad teams the best players on the
Speaker 1: three days stretch. Rhett Brian, Dave McGinnis, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: World history of this draft weekends of interesting stories. Can
Speaker 1: I can I say this? I'm going to for our
Speaker 1: our esteemed partner, Amy Well. I talked to Amy and
Speaker 1: she is, of course lovely. Livy Lane has got a
Speaker 1: beautiful daughter and she will be a wonderful mother. But
Speaker 1: when I started telling her everything that went on after
Speaker 1: that first night because I called her, she said, Mac,
Speaker 1: you don't know how bad I wouldn't want to be
Speaker 1: sitting at that table when that guy put those socks
Speaker 1: down on the table and everything. So shout out to
Speaker 1: Amy Wells. When we were doing the thing at the
Speaker 1: Draft Fest, they put she and Josh Corey and Livy
Speaker 1: Lane on the big board. I thought it was a
Speaker 1: great moment. It was great, beautiful picture, beautiful family were
Speaker 1: happy for them. So for Amy Wells, for Rett Bryant,
Speaker 1: for coach Dave McGinnis. I'm Mike Keith, thanking you all
Speaker 1: for being with us, for the O team. People. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the big show. Weather Matins called. Everybody knows it's
Speaker 1: our house, fighting though Tennessee. Making us three greatness is