Tennessee Titans Backup Quarterback Battle is OVER, Arden Key NOT Suspended & Kicker Job Open Mind

the Tennessee Titans still have three weeks until they kick off the regular season but the backup quarterback competition is officially over I'll explain why on today's edition of the locked on Titans [Music] podcast you are locked on Titans your daily Tennessee Titans podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day Welcome to the locked on Titans podcast I am your host Tyler Roland Titans fans today's edition of the locked on Titans podcast is brought to you by FanDuel now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get three weeks of a free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV visit fanduel.com lockon to get started on today's show we're going to talk about this backup quarterback competition and I think that it is finally over also ardan key will not be suspended but the Titans still may need some help at Edge and Brian Kahan must keep an open mind about the kicker competition or lack thereof so before I get into all of that do want to thank you guys for making the locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day remember Monday through Friday Tennessee Titans content all year round always for free you're not going to beat that anywhere else make sure that you get subscribed stay Subs subscribe it's your team every day here on the locked on Titans podcast and speaking of everyday shout out to my every dayers out there tuning in Monday through Friday if you want an everyday or well you need to be one because I'm gonna have some great content coming up this week tomorrow we're going to look at the roster battles and where that's at through two weeks of training camp three weeks of training camp really also I'm going to do a revamped 53 man roster prediction now that we've gone through two preseason games and then the Titans will have practice this week as well and covering all of that so again make sure that you get subscribed stay subscribed throw a thumbs up on the video throw a Tighten Up Down in the chat with all that being said let's talk about this backup quarterback competition because I know that some of you don't want to hear it but this thing is over it is over now I also know that a lot of people are going to say well it was always over it it was never really going to be Malik Willis is the backup quarterback inlook I would like to think that that's not the case and that if Malik Willis truly earned the backup quarterback job that he would get it but the reality is I've been talking about Mason Rudolph is one of the best backups in the NFL since the Titans signed him he's got an 84 and one record a winning record literally twice as many wins as his losses and yes it was with a Pittsburgh Steelers team that was a good team but we're talking about a backup quarterback of course they need to be supported by the rest of the team with a good run game and a good defensive performance that's going to be absolutely Ely necessary there are starting quarterbacks in the NFL that need that sort of support to be able to win games so of course a backup is but Mason Rudolph has proven that when he gets that support he can win a game and the reality is Malik hasn't necessarily proved that and if Malik Willis had proved that at all he would have gotten opportunities to do it but the Titans immediately last year when Ryan Tanana Hill got hurt once they had a week to actually set things they went straight to will Levis and then in the rookie season Malik Willis had the opportunity and they went straight to Josh dobs off the street this is a guy I said it last night on my reaction show to the game he's literally never thrown a touchdown pass in his NFL career in a game so look he made some good plays in that drive in the second half against the third stringers but the first half was a mixed bag and it's the same old same old M excuses the offensive line wasn't good enough the penalties put him have you ever noticed that when Malik Willis controls a drive there happens to be more pre- snap penalties false starts delay of games it's just something about the operation with Malik Willis in the game that is just not as smooth as other guys who I would consider NFL quarterbacks okay so Malik Willis could make the team the NFL has changed the rules up over the last few years you could keep three quarterbacks they got to be on your 53 man roster but when it's your game day active roster which is about 46 to 48 players you can have a third quarterback that doesn't count towards that 46 to 48 players so Malle could fill that emergency third quarterback role that would be perfectly fine he filled that for the Titans last year when Ryan tanah and Levis were both healthy after the byee so I think that he's done enough to make the roster I think he's done enough to make the team and be the emergency backup quarter or emergency third quarterback but look we just got to acknowledge the reality here with the second stringers Malik couldn't get anything going and then Mason Rudolph comes in drives him right down the field and scores a touchdown like again I said it last night and I'll reiterate it here the offensive line did not play well but Malik did not play well either and if you can't acknowledge both of those are true at the same time then I don't know what else to say to you like it's not just o the o line played bad anything Malik does doesn't matter oh Malik didn't play good anything that anybody else does doesn't matter two things can be congruent at once all right so we've seen enough it's been enough it's time like how many years does a player get like I made this point in previous Seasons malus can improve every single year but the amount of improvement that it would take for him to be a viable backup quarterback or a reliable backup quarterback or God forbid a starting quarterback in the NFL it's just too much he would have to to improve far it would take so long and at some point in time why would you develop Malik Willis for four or five seasons instead of just moving on to another project that's a younger player who might have more potential look I know that Malik has his fans out there I wanted Malik Willis to succeed but reality is reality this backup quarterback competition is over Mason Rudolph is the Titans backup quarterback it is not going to be Malik Willis he does not have a shot to over throw him now Saturday night was Malik Willis's opportunity to overtake Mason Rudolph if it was ever going to be a possibility which I don't think it was and he didn't take advantage that you could say the o line did this he played better in the second half he may B it's not good enough if you don't want to accept that I don't know what else I can say to you he is just not good enough now I think Malik Willis could be awesome and like the XFL or the UFL whatever they call it now the the spring football league I think he could be fantastic in that league and it would give him the chance to continue to develop and improve and he would get much more reps and it would be at a slower speed because it's not the NFL level and maybe that would allow him to you know take another big leap he can get back into the NFL all of that I think that's what's destined to happen now I will say that I think Malik is a guy who's very religious I think he's going to be very active in the church and I think he's going to make an incredibly positive impact on human beings for the rest of his life like Malik seems like a good man like he's a good person you know what I mean but just being a good person isn't enough you know that in life you could be the greatest person ever you got to have some Talent you got to have some ability and again Mason Rudolph is just a better player he's one of the better backups in the league Malik Willis is just not there yet so you guys can continue fighting over the backup quarterback spot to me it is done and honestly it probably has always been done maybe it's a tad foolish to even think that it could ever actually change but we could slam the book on it now no reason to debate Mason Rudolph is your backup quarterback Malik Willis as your third string quarterback and nothing that happened on Saturday night changed any of that so with that being said really the biggest news from Saturday was probably ardan key is not going to be suspended so let's talk about what happened there and how I still think the Titans could add an edge rusher I don't think that's out of the question just because ardan key is going to be back before we get into it do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by eBay Motors passion Drive patience the formula for winning championships is also what what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you're into speed power or style eBay Motors has you covered with over 122 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daily insights the best fantasy draft strategies so you can win your League this season check out lockon fantasy football part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day all right look honestly I was kind of shocked um I was talking to uh one of my listeners here but one of the goats in my opinion who who I've been talking to for quite some time Travis uh and we were talking on Saturday about Jeffrey Simmons who posted hey I got big news for you guys in a couple of hours well you know Travis was like hey what do you think big Jeff is is gonna say like what and I said man there's no way that Jeffrey Simmons is gonna break Tennessee Titans news like that impacts the team it's probably like a children's camp or a partnership with a sponsor or you know something like that cuz people love to oh I got a big announcement and it's just like something like that you know which is great you know I'm not trying to Sully children's football camps or deals with sponsorships for charity or anything like that but you know it's not going to be like something that impacts the Titans season well boy I was wrong because Jeffrey Simmons had news that impacts the Titan season and according to Big Jeff ardan key will not be suspended for four six games so if you guys remember just to just to recount the whole story here about 3 weeks ago Paul karski reported that ardan key was set to be suspended for six weeks now since that moment we had heard literally nothing about this they asked Brian Callahan Brian Callahan they said they expect them to miss time but they don't know anything officially so he's going to keep practicing and going to keep running with the first team defense and blah blah blah and we just went three weeks with no update I mean when Deno alry got suspended Ian Rapaport reported it you know Adam schfer all the big insiders Deno ay put out an apology letter apologizing to Texans fans like it was pretty obvious that was real and that wasn't going anywhere but this was like why has it been announced officially why hasn't any of the big National media people said anything about it what is going on and I even posted a poll on my Twitter account at tictac Titans like hey do you think that Ardon key is going to get suspended do you think that maybe PK was wrong well it was like 5050 because we just didn't know like it's so strange now my theory all along was is that Ardon key is appealing behind the scenes he's going to the NFL and he's saying this isn't right his agent is going to the NFL and saying no we're not accepting this and a battle was taking a legal battle was taking place behind the scenes and that's why nothing official had been announced that was my theory as to what was happening Well turns out that is exactly what was happening because ardan key won his appeal behind the scenes and I remember I had a few people telling me I think it was here in the YouTube comments oh uh it can't be an appeal because it wasn't announced officially it has to be announced officially for there to be an appeal well clearly not we all learned definitively that that is not true there can be an appeal behind the scenes before the suspension is officially announced so according to Jeffrey Simmons and I feel pretty good about his word on this he wouldn't be going out here and breaking news like this if it wasn't real Ardon key is not going to be suspended for six games he's not going to be suspended at all he's going to be ready for week one that is obviously great news for the Tennessee Titans okay they were already very thin at Edge and while I think that Ardon key is more of a rotational player than an actual starter I think he would be better as a third rusher right now he is the second best Edge rusher on the Titans that is a sign of how bad the group is outside of Harold Landry in my opinion but also it shows that they need Arden key he's their second best Edge rusher they need him okay so big for the Titans but let me say this I still think the Titans need a pass for rusher like the Titans need another pass rusher okay and a bunch of them went off the board Emanuel a was off the board Carl Lawson's now off the board to the cowboys that leaves sha Lawson uh Charles Harris is a guy who I'm interested in I know a lot of you guys like yanuk and G look I was on board with yanuk and gway when ardan key was going to be suspended for six games because yanak and G is just a pure pass rusher who can't really help you otherwise but now that Ardon key is isn't suspended for six games I'd rather just let Ardon key be that kind of guy the Titans need somebody with a little bit more F physicality so again a Shaq Lawson a Charles Harris or Randy Gregory is being released by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers because he just never reported to Camp just never showed up now obviously why did he not show up what's going on with him those are questions that would have to be answered but if the Titans could get him to report for a low-end contract why not like Randy Gregory is still a pretty good player okay like this isn't like the shack loss and Charles Harris yanuk and gwe like Randy Gregory is still pretty good player so if the Titans could make that move I would be all on board for that so look we're all excited about jayen harrold I get that I'm excited as well but we're talking about a rookie seventh round pick so he may have two sacks in Saturday night's game he may have been impressive in training camp so far but we should all know that you can't get too overhype on rookies all right we should know that also Rashad Weaver has been an utter I mean I don't want to say utter he's a mid- round pick if you were expecting huge things from Rashad Weaver that's probably your own fault for your expectations but you know after that five and a half sack season his second year he just has not taken steps barely notice him in the preseason games despite the fact he's getting a ton of reps like can you count on Rashad Weaver to truly be a third rusher can you count on Jaylen Herold a seventh round rookie to truly be a third rusher I don't think so so to me and Shane Ray was not impactful on Saturday night let's not get too overzealous there he could be a good depth piece shanee Ray could be a good number five Edge but I think that that Randy Gregory Randy Gregory would make some sense for the Titans as a free agent pickup again if they could vet out his personal situation and make sure that you know obviously he's in a good State of Mind to play football so great news that Aron key isn't suspended also let me say this Paul karski has been an outright jerk to me my entire time covering this show multiple occasions multiple platforms he's been incredibly rude to me but that doesn't change the fact that I think he's taken a little too much heat here he said that ardan key was set to be suspended now he should have put in his report that Ardon key could still appeal art you know but he never put that in there because he wanted to make it seem like AR key is being suspended and then you can hide behind the words of oh I said set but the reality is he did say he was set to be suspended and technically he was right he was set to be suspended but he won his appeal so you know I can't say I'm a big fan of PK just cuz he's treated me poorly but I also am an honest person and if we're going to be I know that it's fun to clown people and that's what the internet does just oh you're an idiot you got it wrong freezing cold take this guy's a blah blah but you know let's just have a touch of nuance and a touch of honesty here with that being said speaking of nuance and honesty let's talk about how Brian Callahan needs to keep more of an open mind about this kicker situation before we get into it do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook look you've heard me talk about FanDuel a lot okay it's America's number one sports book also Titans four and a half week one against the Bears love that love it anyways moving on well I have something different for you okay now through September 22nd all all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and you're going to get three free weeks of a trial of NFL Sunday Ticket a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube or YouTube TV then with a YouTube TV base plan you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of Market game all you need is a Google account and a current form of payment and you can cancel at any time just visit fanduel.com locked on to download America's number one sports [Music] book Titans fans let's cap off today's edition of the lock on Titans podcast talked about backup quarterback we talked about Edge rusher now we going to talk about this kicker situation okay because it's it's sticking in my crawl a little bit I have to admit before I get into it though do want to thank you guys again for making the locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day remember tomorrow we're going to look at some position battles I'm going to do an updated 53 man roster at some point in time during this week the Titans have practice this week and I'm going to be breaking that down and then the final pre season game of the year is on Saturday night also over on the Tic Tac Titans film Channel I'm going to do three player deep Dives Malik Willis's performance on Saturday night jaquin Jackson's performance on Saturday night and Jaylen Harold's performance on Saturday night so that's all coming on the Tic Tac Titans YouTube channel this week link for that is down in the description make sure that you check that out but as for your second listen you got to go check out locked on fantasy football okay you're going to get daily insights best fantasy draft strategies so you can win your League this season check out locked on fantasy football part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day all right listen I'm gonna make this quick I'm gonna make it nice and easy I think that Brian Callahan is making a mistake by being so bold about Nick Folk being the Titans kicker this year so Nick Folk did get about three and a half million dollars of guaranteed money from the Titans and with that Brian Callahan said after the game last night after Saturday night's win no Nick Folk is the kicker this year completely SL slam the door on any chance at all that Bradon narvon could win the kicker job I don't like that I don't I don't like that okay like this isn't like Jeffrey Simmons and TK McLendon okay this isn't like that Nick Folk is 40 years old like he's only a solution for this year and then it's done okay it just reminds me of Brett Kern and Ryan Stonehouse and Ryan stonehouse's rookie season if you would have told people that the Titans were goingon to cut Brett Kern and keep rookie undrafted free agent putter Ryan Stonehouse people would have told you that you are an idiot okay that's what the reaction was at the beginning of camp there's no way that some undrafted free agent pter is gonna take over for Brett kerna but it happened and then Ryan Stonehouse became one of the top three punters in the whole league okay we have seen over the last few years plenty of rookie kickers come in right away and be difference makers watching narvis nail that 59 y last night watching narvis nail the 46 yard game winner how can you be like no no matter what no matter what the guy does no matter how many kicks he makes no matter how far no matter how clutch no matter what we're going with the 40y old kicker because we paid him to me that is valuing the wrong things that is valuing your return on investment of the contract more than the long-term future of the team I think pretty you know there are some Titans fans out there who are just very very optimistic look the Titans aren't winning the Super Bowl this year guys and Nick Folk isn't going to be the difference between the Super Bowl and not the Super Bowl okay Braden like the fact that Brian Callahan is literally saying nope this isn't a competition he can't win it like that just sends a bad message in my opinion even if he believes that even if Brian Callahan believes in his soul and him and ran and Chad Brinker and Anthony Robinson have already said no we're keeping Nick Folk no matter what behind closed doors you don't say that like again this isn't Jeffrey Simmons and you know Quinton bohana okay Nick Folk is not a long-term option for this team and just imagine just imagine if the Titans stay with Nick Folk because they paid him three and a half million they cut Brandon uh Braden narvis because they have to cut down the roster to 53 and they aren't able to get him back on the practice squad because another team picks him up and puts him on their active roster and then narvon turns out to be a great kicker he doesn't even have to be one of the best kickers in the NFL just a a top half of the league kicker the Titans are going to be kicking themselves next off season so I recognize that Nick Folk may be more reliable and more consistent right now but what about next year and again this season I want the Titans to win as many games as possible don't get me wrong but they're not winning the Super Bowl they're not a Super Bowl Contender and there needs to be a part of this season that is looking towards the future so we're not going to sit here and debate who should win the kicker job because it's it's clearly not open like it's clearly not open according to Brian Callahan but what we can debate is whether or not that should be the case and I think that Braden is getting a raw deal by being told you're not making this team no matter what you do there's nothing you can do you won't make this team I just don't like that I just don't like like the way that that's positioned and like having a kicker who can kick those long field goals it's a weapon look at Evan mcferson for the Bengals and how important he was for their Super Bowl run like I just think it's it's under estimating the value that those long field goals because think about what that does for your offense it gives you 10 more yards where you could score points that you can't score points otherwise 10 more yards of the field that you're in scoring range I think that matters you know so there may be a little bit less consistency it may be a little bit of a gamble but just to outright slam the door shut and say that Nick Folk's the winner and nothing that narvis does can get him a spot on the team I just don't like how that works I just don't like how that sounds and I think that I'm not telling Brian Callahan he has to give the job to Braden narvon I'm not telling Brian Callahan that he must cut Nick Folk but I think that Callahan should be a little bit more open-minded in my opinion that's that's all I'm asking for is that he not just slam the door shut right now and say there's no way it could happen like you should never be that black and white it should never be that finite and I just hope that Brian Callahan maybe re-evaluates things and is willing to maybe be a little more open-minded again other than the one day at training camp where I tweeted about Braden narison other than that one day he's made every single possible kick I think Jim Wyatt reported 13 for 17 and he went 0 for four the day that I tweeted about him sure is the world unbelievable but yeah I'm just saying keep an open mind man that's it but with that being said that is going to do it for me today folks thumbs up on the Tighten Up Down in the chat as always I am your host Tyler Roland and this was locked on Titans [Music]