 We welcome you to the official Titans podcast, the OTP, brought to you by Farm Bureau Health Plans. Healthcare coverage from Farm Bureau Health Plans is like an extra set of pads when you need them the most. They've been protecting Tennesseans since 1947. That's Farm Bureau Health Plans. April the 24th, which is Friday after Thursday, which it always is, but it's not always after the first round of the NFL Draft, and that is the case as to why you are getting a special OTP. Of course, it's always special when Amy Wells is here. Hello, Mike. I appreciate you coming in with the information about the days of the week and how they're lined up. This is what people tune in to the OTP for. At this point in time, people actually need that. That's actually true. Coach Dave McGannis, thanks for getting up early with us. We appreciate you being on. Hi, Mike Keith, hi, Amy Wells. Yes, I'm already ready. When are we drafting again? Let's go. Well, we're drafting tonight, but this is something we're going to pick your brain for just a few minutes to give people an update on what's happened so far and the process of what's to come. So let me jump right in. Why was Isaiah Wilson, offensive tackle Georgia the right pick for the Tennessee Titans last night? Well, we knew that they needed a young tackle. They really did. Everybody saw the run. Everybody saw the run on offensive tackles. We talked about the depth of offensive tackles in this draft. And once the run started, Isaiah Wilson was just really sticking out on the board as a big physical. He's already a mauler. And I've said this before, and I know Mike Vrabel and John Robinson think the same thing. When you've got an offensive tackle that has that type of attitude, I mean, he enjoys goring people. And I like that. I like my offensive tackles. Really nasty. I don't need any nice people as an offensive lineman. This guy is massive. He was impressive watching him at the combine. When you put on the tape and you watch his games, what the first thing you see is in the run game, his physical dominance. He's also a high, high effort player. And look, everybody, I mean, when people start saying, well, you know, he's a little raw in pass protection. They all are coming out of the NCAA, going into the national football league. I love the pick. It fits the mindset, the mold and the culture that John Robinson and Mike Vrabel have formed with this football team. The Tennessee Titans are a physically tough football team. This is a physically tough football player with a lot of real big to it. Coach Mack, I want to ask you a question that might seem a little counterintuitive, especially to the OT people who are familiar with the fact that I love the big guys on both sides of the ball. Isaiah Wilson is 6'6, 350 plus. He is a giant human. Is there a point where as an offensive lineman, you're almost too big because you lose some of that quickness that you have to have? You know, I like the question because it also is going to point to what he's going to do when he comes in here. Once he gets in here, Amy, with Frank Perrino and also with our nutrition program, his body will transform. He's always going to look. You can't manufacture that big. I mean, there's not that many humans walking around. Joe Green always used to tell me when we'd go out to school visits, he would say, Coach Mack, if we find a bear walking out here on two legs, let's take it, okay? Well, and so when you find those types of people, once he gets into this program, I mean, his body will completely transform. You can never be too big as long as big is in the right places. This guy has athletic ability. We won't recognize him after a year in this, in this strength and conditioning program that the Titans have and also the quality nutrition program they have to. And that's a point too. You talk about the program and this is where things are different than five years ago and even 10 years ago. When you were here with Coach Fisher, you had a program. You had a strength staff. You knew what you wanted to do. You knew your coaching staff, things like that all fit together because things had been in place for a while. Now that John Robinson is in year five, he has his scouting staff. He has his personnel staff. He's got the head coach. He likes the coaching staff. You mentioned Frank Perrino and the strength staff. What they spent on the kitchen last year in order to do proper nutrition. The Titans are one of those teams that understand in taking a player like Isaiah Wilson, they're gonna have a plan for him because they have the ability to have a plan due to stability. No, that's absolutely right. And that's very real. And let's take it another step further. I mean, John Robinson has talked to you and he has talked to our OT people about when he first came in here, how much he wanted to update and have a plan for the way they were just presenting things in the draft room, in the draft process, all the updates in technology. Well, look, a strength program and your nutrition program are all part of those updates in today's National Football League. And that goes directly to Amy Adams Strunk being willing to say, okay, because it takes an investment to get this type of thing done. Those types of things don't just happen. It takes an investment and she has allowed them to do that. And you're seeing it pay off. The stability part of it is crucial to anything that's gonna happen successfully for any NFL franchise. But you can feel the stability. We're in the building all the time. You can feel that stability. It's real. It's not just something you talk about. You see it daily. Well, and for a rookie like Isaiah Wilson, he's coming into a program that's stable and a line that's stable. He's going to be surrounded by a ton of veterans and pro bowlers at that. How is that going to help him being surrounded by the Roger Saffolds, the Ben Jones, the Taylor Lawands, the Dennis Kellys of the world, who know what it takes to make this line successful? I mean, it's really, really important for him. And here's the other thing. We all know, guys, the offensive linemen, they've got a herd mentality. They really do. Those dudes, they've got a herd mentality, unlike any other group that plays in the National Football League. And they're like elephants. As soon as a young one comes in, they surround him and embrace him and bring him into what they're going to do. And so he's coming into an ideal situation. But they've identified the types of people that have their type of personality that they want to bring into that. I mean, you already saw the players reaching out to him, saying, hey, welcome. And look, it's known out there now in the National Football League world, this is a physical, physical place. If you come here, you're going to play physical ball. I mean, as I said, that herd mentality, those elephants, they will surround this guy. You'll be a part of the pack real quick. And the thought of him playing next to young Nate Davis for at least the next three years, awfully exciting with the way Nate improved throughout the course of 2019. Yeah, and Nate came in with even less, you know, of a, I mean, a bigger learning curve than what Isaiah is going to come in with. And plus, Nate missed all of his training camp. You know what I mean? And so, yes, that's what, you knew they were going to do this. You knew they were going to do this because, and it just shows how well thought out they are. They've got a plan. And also, I will say this, Mike, and we were talking about it when we were doing the draft last night, that was the best tackle. That was the tackle right there. And people will say, well, how about the corners? How about this? The corners, the commensurate value of corners in today's draft are much better than the commensurate value right now in the tackle class. Well, to that point, Coach Mack, do you think that the amount of depth at the skill positions in this draft right now made it easier almost for John Robinson to take a tackle off the board early? Yes, I mean, that was the perfect move to make. And just exactly for the reasons you said, we saw those tackles start to come off. We knew this was a strong tackle draft to a point, to a point. But as I said, the depth and the numbers, and it's not just numbers, it's not numbers. It's their ability to play. And when you've got a cluster of defensive backs, you know, they're still in a pretty good cluster. I mean, I've got my horizontal board right here. The disparity between the cluster there and the cluster in offensive tackles, not even close. All right, so I wanna ask Amy Wells about this guy's personality because you had a chance to spend time with Isaiah Wilson last night. The three of us all have one particular New Yorker who was a Titan for many years that we love in Keith Bullock. Isaiah Wilson is for Brooklyn. Do you get a little Keith Bullock out of this guy in terms of the attitude when you talk to him, Amy? I get a little Keith Bullock out of him. You know, he definitely has his own personality. He was very confident in himself and the fact that he would be able to come in and fit in, he said that he hit it off with Coach Vrable right away and they were able to start joking and kind of giving it back and forth because, you know, Coach Vrable can dish it out a little bit. So they were able to have that connection and he just seems so excited. He seems excited about the culture of the Tennessee Titans and to be a part of this group. He loves the physicality of this team. He likes the toughness. He likes to hit people. Like he just likes to get his hands on big guys and take them down. So I think that he's going to be a really good fit for this Titans team. But yeah, there was a hint of that Keith Bullock, New York kind of sass in there. Do boys have sass? I don't know. I don't know if they do. I don't know. Autumn Wine, Coach Mack, is you have to have a little bit of an edge to play for Vrable because he does have an edge. Don't you say? Yeah, I know. Not everybody can take that. It is a different and not a bad thing. I mean, he likes to tease. He likes to joke. He likes to needle and he does it to everybody. Nobody is safe. We've seen him do it to quarterbacks and his star running back. And I mean, he doesn't care. He's an equal opportunity needler. And so for this kid to have a little bit of that about him, it should really help him in dealing with the head coach and sort of the culture. Oh, absolutely. And look, and that's the type of culture you want to establish. Because look, a national football league locker room is no place for soft feelings. It really isn't. I mean, you know, that's an alpha environment. It really is. Now, that doesn't mean you're disrespectful, but there's a certain edge you have to have. You know, you have to have an edge to play this game. I've coached a lot of players in this league. I've coached Hall of Fame players. They were good persons. But when it came time to football, I mean, they weren't real nice. I mean, but that's what you've got to have. And you've got to, and that's a constant mindset that you have to have. This is still a physical game. And people don't like to hear it sometimes, but it's an edgy game. It really is. And you always have to be able to have guys that will play to the echo of the whistle and do it consistently. That's the kind of attitude that you need. And especially, look, in the offensive line, you've got to have it. I mean, you really do have to have it because this is still a big man's game. As much as we spread this game out and everything, it still comes down to physically wearing on your opponent. The best thing that he said when I heard him talking last night is that he said, I love to impose my will on people. How many times have we talked about that during a broadcast that you can tell during a game they're imposing their will now at the line of scrimmage? I love it. Well, when it comes to professional needlers, I don't think that there is a tougher group to try and get away with something than the offensive line. Those guys are close-knit and they will go hard on anybody. Nobody is safe. Well, here's the thing about offensive linemen. They're close-knit, as you said, and then most of them are really smart people. They are smart guys, but they're smart guys that are very large humans that are very devious humans. And so I love all of that stuff, but they are a different subset within a football team. And as I said, it's a packed mentality, it's a herd mentality, and this guy will fit in. The Titans get their tackle at 29, Isaiah Wilson from Georgia. They pick 61 and 93 tonight. Dave McGuinness, what is John Robinson and the rest of the personnel staff, Mike Vrable and the coaching staff, what's going on with them today preparing for tonight? You know, they're resetting, they're... And again, as we came off the board, Mike, when we were doing the broadcast, it pretty much came, you know, it doesn't matter that people went to different places than everybody thought, but the pods where they went, there were only a couple of out-of-sync picks in that draft, you know, in my opinion. You saw the way that our horizontal board was coming off. So what they're doing, they're resetting that thing. I don't think they have to reset it much, but now they are prioritizing things, because when they first went into the draft, they didn't have the tackle they needed. They've taken care of that. Now they're gonna start concentrating, look at the board, look at the numbers, look at the disparity between the second round pick, the third round pick. They will start to figure this out now, but that's what this morning is for. You used to, you know, we would draft earlier on the second day, so you had to do it last night, okay? Now they've got all day to do that. That's what they're already awake doing right now. Do you think that the impact of all the technology and the way that there was a learning curve last night, and everyone was trying to get their feet on the ground in terms of what this new virtual draft was going to look like? Do you think that now that everyone has a round under their belts, things might be a little bit smoother, a little bit quicker, a little bit different in rounds two and three? Well, I thought last night was pretty smooth. I mean, it really was. I mean, I thought it went very, very well, but it will be quicker because their time frame's shorter. Okay, and now the time between picks is shorter. This starts to move pretty fast today. It'll start to move quicker, but in my opinion, I mean, I know with us, I mean, of course, our group, I mean, I tell you, when Titans Radio gets together, I mean, it's like we've never missed a beat. I mean, I have so much fun with this group doing that, but everybody's got their role, you know, and Mike directs it all in, but everybody has their role and we just slot right in with one another. Well, that's what they're doing right now as a scouting staff and as a coaching staff. They're sliding in. Everybody's gonna have their role and everybody's gonna have to be on point because things are going to move quicker. But I thought the technological part of it last night for the league went very well. With more confidence in the technology, do you think we will see more trades in rounds two and three tonight? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. Now, the only thing about it is to Amy's point, you've got shorter amount of time. So if you're going to do it, you've got to be thinking in your mind right now, you know, what you might want to do. And again, where the Titans are picking, we're picking there because we're a good football team, but the unknown because of so many people going off the board before you pick, it's hard to pinpoint until you're like, you're about three picks away. So that'll be a difference. Do you think that today could be the day that we start to see John Robinson start filling in some of those skill positions that everyone wants to see? Well, yes, I mean, he will. I mean, he knows exactly where the holes on his roster are. He knows exactly where they are right now. And so he will absolutely start. There's nobody that knows this football team better than John Robinson, you know, and people always say, well, why would you make that pick? Look, no general manager in the national football league nor head coach makes a pick that he thinks, you know, this is a bad one. I get, I think I'll go ahead and do this because I get a chance the next round. You don't do that. He knows exactly what he wants right now. Good chance that one of the two Titans picks tonight would be a cornerback based on your board. Yes, yes, absolutely, yes. So let me follow with the depth question. How deep are the corners in what you would plot towards the second and third round? I'm gonna look at my board right here. I'm not gonna guess, I'm gonna tell you exactly. I still got, I'll just, you want names? I'll still get your little names. Guys that have been in, you know, you still got Fulton out there. Diggs is still out there. Jalen Johnson is out there. Cameron Dantzler from Mississippi State. You know, Bryce Hall from Virginia, Troy Pride from Notre Dame. You know, then you go to a, Mick Robertson is still out there. So yes, to me, this thing goes through, I would say probably you still got five or six per people in those next two tiers that are viable options. Coach Mack, names, names. I like that. Names, names, yes. He names names. We're dealing with real people. That's what I like and I said it last night and I like the fact. I like the fact that all this mock fake stuff is over. Now we're in real life. That's what I like. Mack, is there a position that it would surprise you if the Titans went with in the second day? No, now that they feel that because this is where your horizontal board comes into play. It really does. Once you start going horizontally across it, I mean, I don't think, it would surprise me if they take a quarterback. You know, they're not gonna take a kicker, okay? But anything else to me is open game. Do you think with what you know about the running back class that it would make sense, potentially at least, to wait until tomorrow to take your running back? Yeah, there's gonna be some good running backs today, Mike. Because I mean, how many do we have go? Your favorite guy went, that's it, okay? Todd Edwards Alaire went 32 to Kansas City, yes. Broke your heart. They did. There's some good running backs right now. I mean, I would think it might be tempting to take a guy today as far as the running backs go because they're from today to tomorrow with the running back position, there is a little bit of a drop. And the reset part of it, you know, a lot of times people can't believe guys are still there. And you look at Cincinnati goes on the clock at 33 and then Indianapolis goes at 34 and then again at 44. Gonna be fascinating to see what the Colts do with those two picks within 10 spots. Within 10 spots and plus they didn't pick, you know, they haven't picked, that would be their first picks. I mean, they didn't participate yesterday. They, you know, they set it out yesterday. So you're exactly right. And today gets a little bit different because you've got two rounds today, it moves faster. And then you have some people, I mean, how many teams do we have, Mike? You'll know right off the top of your head that did not pick yesterday. I think there were six. There you go. And so that makes a difference too. Add New England to the list too. New England's gonna have an interesting day. They have five total picks in rounds two and three. So the Patriots who did not pick yesterday gonna be very busy. What do you think Belichick does? The Belichick things. He's gonna do Belichick things, which he always does. He always has a very high participation in this day. In this day he does and he's gonna take somebody that everybody's gonna go, what? What is that? And what he'll do, he's got a specific idea for that person that he will take that what nobody else was thinking about, but fits what Bill Belichick does. He's done it every draft. I've ever been involved when he's been in it. But isn't that what the good teams really do? Because we're some really good teams do. Isn't that what we saw Seattle do with the linebacker Jordan Brooks? And the Titans have done it in recent years with a guy like Jeffrey Simmons, a guy like Isaiah Wilson. You believe what you want because you know how you want to use it. Well, absolutely. I mean, you draft to what your team is and what you know and need. You don't draft to try to please the mock drafters. If you draft to try to please the masses and what the group think is out there about what it is, pretty soon you'll be a mock drafter, not a real drafter. Are the Miami Dolphins done? They drafted half a roster on night one. How many more players can they add to their team? How many players did they take? Three. They've got 14 picks. So they got 11 more. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. They go 39, 56, and 70. So we're gonna see a lot of the Miami Dolphins early in tonight's draft as well. Well, I know you've got to get back to studying. Amy, you've got to get ready for everything that you have going on. I got to get ready for Titans ready tonight at six. But thanks for taking the time to give us an update on your thoughts about Isaiah Wilson and what goes on from day one to day two in the NFL draft, Coach Dave McGinnis. See you at six o'clock central time on Titans Radio. Can't wait. Thanks guys. Great seeing you this morning. That does it for the official Titans podcast presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans for Coach Dave McGinnis and Amy Wells. I'm Mike Keith thanking you for listening and watching the OGP.