NASHVILLE, Tenn. – With a spectacular podcast with guests this week, there wasn’t much Q&A so it seemed time to get back to a mailbag for the first time in a while.
I’ve sorted through the best of what you’ve thrown my way on the private Facebook page (where members get priority), the public Facebook and Twitter to find these questions.
I also wanted to point you here, where you can find all the current best deals to sign up to make bets in advance of the draft when you may want to find a couple of favorable lines on what the Titans will do or what else will unfold.
David Jackson Do you think that the Titans would secretly prefer that all of the big 3 receivers are gone when they pick at 7 to make picking Alt easier? If one of those 3 receivers is available as well as Alt, seems like a tougher decision.
I get your thinking there, David. But what they should want is the highest-graded players possible to be available for them at No. 7. So if Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabers and/or Rome Odunze score higher for them than Joe Alt, I’d imagine they would want them to fall so they’d have a chance to select a higher graded player.
You don’t want the league to organize things to for you according to your most pressing need. You want it to accommodate you getting the best talent at positions where you need help. While we don’t know how they’ve graded these players, but I would hope that they get the highest graded player possible at a spot where they need help, and that ultimately it falls that they can do that at multiple positions of need throughout the draft.
Perhaps things falling that way help enable a trade. Perhaps things failing to fall that way help enable a trade.
Alex Law What trade value does Burks have?
I think very little.
Here is a draft loaded with receiver prospects. Why would a team give something up for a player who’s been in another system for two seasons, is getting more expensive and has not stayed healthy or grown in productivity? For the most part, even if you liked a guy coming out, watching that track, you’ve moved on and are now on the verge of being two player pools removed from him.
I just don’t see why he’s appealing to another team. If you’re looking for a project receiver, sure he’s got some physical traits, but his baggage is big right now and it’s not the kind of pre-draft deal you see very often. And if the Titans could get a sixth for him, is that really better than trying to resurrect him?
Not only do I think his value is incredibly low, I think the Titans are better served to take their chances with him. While I think they can’t count on him and need to plan on him being a bonus if he pans out in any fashion, they should give him a fresh start in a new system with a new coach, coordinator, position coach and strength and conditioning department. It’s akin to the fresh start he’d get if he landed somewhere else.
What percentage chance do you give Burks to be on the roster week 1?
— Shane Reynolds (@shanereynolds99) April 12, 2024
Approximately 92 percent, with a high element of the other eight percent being a chance that he’s on IR. As I just said, I don’t see him traded and there is no way I see him cut.
He only costs $1.57 million this year and carries a $3.9 million cap number. Cutting him would cost them $4.68 million in cash and $8.49 million in cap.
Say he starts off behind Calvin Ridley, DeAndre Hopkins, and a receiver drafted in the first two days. If he’s healthy he should be fourth. Kyle Philips may get some snaps ahead of him in the slot, but he carries a lot of similar questions.
Nick Westbrook-Ikhine is not as talented and many of us want to be sure he’s not higher than fourth or fifth. Colton Dowell is recovering from ACL surgery and there is no way he should outrank a healthy Burks. The other three on the roster are Kearis Jackson, also returning from injury, Tre-Shaun Harrison, and Mason Kinsey, who needs to not be close to the 53.
I’m down on Burks but let’s not go crazy with where we place him in the Titans’ pecking order. Who’s knocking him out of the fourth spot? How could he be lower than fifth?
Keith Baley With Tennessee setting up around Will Levis, is there a set amount of wins the 2024 Titans need to have for them to continue aboard the Levis train barring injury and a certain threshold where they begin the 2025 offseason in search of a QB instead?
No. There is never a hard line like that. It’s more of a feel about what he does and his progress. A quarterback has a lot to do with whether a team wins or loses, but I believe that wins are not a quarterback stat. Too many other things go into a game that determine the result.
I think it’ll be pretty obvious if they need to change course at quarterback after this season. And I suspect it will be pretty unlikely. The question with Levis, I suspect, will be is he just a middle-of-the-pack type of QB or is he showing that he can be more than that?
Are we fans developing unreal expectations in Bill Callahan? He has an impressive list of players he's coached, but I assume he's also had some clonkers.
— Fire Carthon (@sbrown1045) April 12, 2024
He’s regarded around the league as one of the very best offensive line coaches around.
So the expectations are very high, but they are based on his record of successful development. I’ll refer you to this piece by Mike Herndon on how he gives the Titans a chance to turn their biggest weakness into a strength and this one where I talked to a Hall of Famer and a relative unknown about how much he boosted them.
And I don’t know if the expectations are unreal. My sense is the right tackle will be Nicholas Petit-Frere or Jaelyn Duncan and I think the majority of fans are not excited about that no matter who their coach is.
Ralph James Williams Why don't the Titans trade back and get an extra pick. They then can draft Bowers and then Patrick Paul for the OT position
Anything is possible of course. But to me, the Titans have too many big needs at too many premium positions for them to be players for Brock Bowers. Left tackle, edge rusher and wide receiver all outrate tight end in terms of importance. If Bowers was significantly bigger I might feel differently. And while I think he will be very good, highly drafted tight ends recently don’t seem worth the price.
T.J. Hockenson is good, but he’s already been traded within the same division. Kyle Pitts went ahead of Ja’Marr Chase, Jaylen Waddle and Penei Sewell who are all far more valuable players.
A trade-back is possible. Paul is possible.
How many years years do you think it will be before Wilson becomes a head coach?
— geoffself (@geoff_self) April 12, 2024
We are going to use this as an example of overexcitement. Dennard Wilson hasn’t been a defensive coordinator for a game yet and we’re making him a head coach.
Maybe he’s great and he’s on that path. But I’m going to withhold judgment and actually want to see him in control of a defense for at least a whole season before I start to think about what his future holds.
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