 We welcome you to the official Titans podcast, the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans with Amy Wells. I'm Mike Keith and a special guest to begin a special OTP. It's the head ball coach himself, Mike Drable. How are you, sir? I'm doing great, Mike. How are you? Well, it is schedule day and so we're all very excited about that. Amy, you want me to just roll through it? Hit it, Mike. The Tennessee Titans will open the regular season on September 14th, Monday night football, the last game of kickoff weekend in prime time at Denver. It's a 9-10 central time kickoff. The Titans home opener comes the following Sunday, September the 20th at Nissan Stadium against AFC South rival Jacksonville. Spoiler alert, the Titans don't play the Jags on Thursday night for the first time in this century, I think. Something like that. Week three, Tennessee is at Minnesota. The first trip for the Titans to US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The first quarter of the season ends with a home date against the Pittsburgh Steelers. It's actually the first of three straight home games to begin October. That Pittsburgh game is on October 4th, Tennessee host Buffalo October the 11th, Houston October the 18th. The Titans buy week in week seven. That's the weekend of October the 25th. After the buy, the Titans make a November 1st visit to Cincinnati. The Bears come to Nashville on November the 8th. And then the Colts hit town for Thursday night football November the 12th. That's right. A second prime time game for the Titans. Stay tuned. There is another one to come. But first, let's hit back-to-back road games to end November. At Baltimore November 22nd at Indianapolis November the 29th. December starts with a visit from the Cleveland Browns. The Titans then head to Jacksonville on Sunday December the 13th. In week 15, Tennessee's final regular season home game hosting Detroit, it'll either be Saturday December 19th or Sunday December 20th, whether it's Saturday or Sunday against the Lions be determined later in the year. And then tough ending, road work big time, Sunday night football at Green Bay December the 27th and at Houston in week 17 which comes on January the 3rd. Coach Variable, we have a lot of questions for you about this schedule. NFL fans around the league of course are super excited to be seeing this schedule. As players and coaches, how do you approach this news today? Well, we had an idea of who we played and we knew where we just didn't know when and so I think it's most important for us to work on maybe the common opponents, the opponents that we have an idea about maybe we played them last year teams out of our division. For example, the difference between the Denver Broncos, the Baltimore Ravens, the Buffalo Bills or maybe the Vikings or the Packers that we're not quite so sure about or haven't played recently. I think that's the first thing that comes to mind is who you're familiar with and who you've played recently. Every year is a new year, Amy. But we're certainly excited to continue this preparation as we work our way through these virtual meetings. When you get this schedule, how do you begin to start breaking it down and kind of putting it into more manageable chunks? We always talk about the season in four quarters, but not going to sit here and do what we ask our players not to do, which is count numbers is to sit there and training camp with 90 players and know that we're going to get it down to 55 and to have guys sit there and start counting. Well, how many guys in my position? What number am I? We ask our players not to do that. So as the head coach, I'm not going to do that and start counting and saying, well, this is a tough game. I've been involved in the NFL a lot of years, 20 years for me. And they're all tough. And when you play well, you have a chance to win. And when you don't play well, I guarantee that you're going to lose. So we have a great operations team. We really do, led by Brent Akers and his staff. And I know that they'll have us prepared for when we have to travel. And we're excited about having home games here early. Coach, was there anything that surprised you about this schedule? No, I'll figure out what uniforms we wear before we go out on the field that day. Mike always wonders what uniform we're going to wear and what time zone and at what time and on what station. So I'll let you know as soon as we go out to kickoff. Well, we know all the games are on Titans radio. That's good news, Mike. So we are definitely sure about that. I do want to ask you, though, Monday Night Football Week 1 in Denver, how excited will the Titans be to take part in Monday Night Football the last game of kickoff weekend? Well, it's always an honor. I think when you grow up watching football and you did and I did and a lot of our fans that when you grow up watching football, you watch Monday Night Football. I mean, that's your last taste of it until now on Thursday. And so before it was, there was no Thursday Night Football. So it was like, man, we got to get this game in and then get all the way to the weekend. So it's an honor to play on Monday Night Football. Certainly a great challenge to go on the road in Denver. Hopefully we can score a point this year and see how that goes a little better. But it'll be a great way to start the season. There'll be a lot of excitement and a lot of people tuning in. Three prime time games for the Titans on the schedule. How excited are you for Titans fans that this club gets the show of respect it does by being selected to play in prime time at least three times this year? Well, again, you're in respect by winning football games and by playing hard and we got to continue to do that. But it is certainly an honor and you want to be ready to go and be at your best at those games. They all count the same, but I know a lot more people are watching and players around the league are tuning into those games as well. Mike, speaking of Titans fans, four of your first six games are at Nissan Stadium, six of your first nine. The Titans and Titans fans have to find a way to take advantage and make Nissan Stadium as tough as they possibly can, especially to begin 2020. Yeah, we do. We have to start better and we played well down the stretch last year and that's really what allowed us to get into the playoffs and win a couple of games and we're gonna have to start the season off better so that margin for error isn't so thin. We have to, the goal is to win the division, to host home playoff games, to put ourselves in the best position possible and that'll start early in the season with those games that you mentioned that we have at home. I think people are, I just think the confidence and the momentum in which we had at the end of last year, I hope that our fans had that same type of feeling. I know a lot of people had watch parties. Unfortunately, we couldn't have a watch party at Nissan because we were on the road, but let's see if we can have a couple of watch parties down there at Nissan Stadium. Are there specific preparation challenges for you and your staff and this football team with the schedule? You know, those are some things that you look at those quick turnarounds, you know, the Sunday to Thursday, the Monday night to Sunday, you know, traveling to Denver, not much of a time zone and we can't do much to replicate altitude. Don't have any on the West Coast. So those are some things you'll worry about. It'll be cold in Green Bay, you know, we approach those things, you know, when they happen, but certainly we're very aware of them, you know, now as it starts unfold. You mentioned that Green Bay game, that's one of the last two games that are on the road at Green Bay and then at Houston. Does that almost add extra emphasis or drive home the need to make sure that the 2020 Titans are getting a home playoff game? It's important that we put ourselves in the best position to be playing meaningful games and we all know that a lot of those seasons started Thanksgiving, where teams start to, you know, some start to continue to improve and some don't and some kind of flatten off. So, you know, we have to be playing our best football, late the teams that do and continue to improve are the ones that go into playoffs and whether you play them on the road or you're playing at home, you're gonna still have to play well enough to win. Finally, Mike, how is all the virtual off season going with your current players? Couldn't be happier. I think it all started with the draft and the work that our IT department and our video department and everybody put in to make sure that that draft ran smoothly on a virtual level. I think that really carried over to our coaching staff and these meetings. I think the players are excited to see each other on the screen, on the computer screen. Our coach has done a fantastic job of being great teachers, film and making sure that players are getting exactly what they need. Players are engaged, they're making sure that they are answering questions and asking questions when they don't know something. When can the rookies get started, Mike? We'll be starting with these guys tomorrow morning at nine o'clock. They'll be a squad meeting. We'll go through introductions and these guys are getting ready to go. And finally, what uniforms are you gonna wear in Denver on September 14th? I have no idea. They'll have helmets and shoulder pads on. Be dressed as the Titans for sure. Mike, thanks so much. We always appreciate your take, especially on a day like this that means so much to Titans fans when they get the schedule for 2020. Yeah, thanks, Mike. Thanks, Amy. Titans head coach Mike Vrabel, kind enough to take time with us. Amy, as we get ready to run through the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans, let's go through that schedule one more time. The Tennessee Titans open the season at Denver on Monday night football on September 14th at 9, 10 p.m. central time. Then Jacksonville comes to Nissan Stadium on September 20th. Tennessee is at Minnesota on September 27th, and the Steelers will be in Nashville on October 4th. Two more home games in a row after Pittsburgh. October the 11th against Buffalo. October the 18th against Houston. Then the bye. October the 25th, that's in week seven. On November 1st, Tennessee is at Cincinnati. The Titans are home for back to back games next, November 8th against the Bears, followed by Thursday night football against the Colts. 10 days later, Tennessee is on the road at Baltimore. Then the following Sunday, it's second meeting in 17 days with the Indianapolis Colts this time on the road. All right, here are the final five down the stretch for the Titans. A home game with Cleveland, a road trip to Jacksonville, home for Detroit either on Saturday, December 19th or Sunday, December 20th. Sunday night football in Green Bay where Amy Wells will need a parka on the sidelines. And then January 3rd at Houston to end the regular season. So more expert analysis about this schedule. We welcome to the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans. Jim White, the great Jim White from TennesseeTitans.com and also Coach Dave McGinnis from Titans Radio. Amy, you may proceed with the questioning now. That sounds so formal, Mike, when you say it like that. These are friendly questions. And I want to start with Jim and then I'll ask Coach Mack, give me the game on the schedule that jumps out to you the most and tell me why. Well, I think it's the December 27th game at Green Bay, the one Mike just mentioned on Sunday night football. You have to have it mean something for that game to be important, obviously, but the thought of going to Lambeau Field in December on a Sunday night, a team that just went 13-3, a team that's coached by Matt LaFleur, a guy who used to be Tennessee's offensive coordinator. I think that game has a heck of a lot of intrigue. And that's in a schedule that's pretty attractive with three e-promecom games. Mack, what about you? The Houston game before the buy. Houston's won this division for the last five years. You want to go into the buy on a positive feeling. We've got our five of the first six are AFC games, four of them are at home, big time important to win that Houston game before the buy. Coach Mack, and then I'll ask Jim the same question. Is there anything on this schedule that surprises you? The only thing that when I look at it is when you look at the opener at Denver, okay, on Monday night, I mean, there's clearly a reason that they felt like we needed to go out to the AFC West coming off of a shortened off season and who knows how much training camp we have. I mean, that's interesting to me. We're gonna do it. We'll go out there and beat them. But just looking at it right from jump, I went, okay. There was a lot of talk leading up to the schedule coming out, and I haven't seen schedules for other teams yet, but I know there was a lot of conversation leading up to schedule at least about the potential for out-of-conference games within the first four weeks of the season. I look at the Titan schedule, I see three out of four games against AFC opponents, including a home game against a division foe in the Jacksonville jog wire. So I think that's the biggest surprise to me. I was expecting to see a lot of NFC teams early in case the schedule needs to be moved, in case the season needs to be shortened because of a lot of unknowns going on with the situation that the league and the world is in right now, but it didn't play out that way at least for the Titans. Jim, the Titans have three prime time games. Is this a reflection of the success that the team had in 2019 making it so deep into the playoffs? I definitely think so. I mean, I think the success that the Titans had, the fact that Derek Henry's back, Ryan Tannehill's back as a team, it was exciting down the stretch, going to win in New England and Baltimore in the playoffs. I think the three prime time games served as a reward. I kind of anticipated one of those prime time games being against the Ravens since that would have been a rematch of a divisional playoff contest. That'd be a new game in November, but the ones that are on the schedule are exciting, opening in Denver, facing a team that obviously beat the Titans last year, kind of led to the quarterback change in Tennessee, facing Jarell Casey in week one, a former great Titan, and then having a chance to play against the Colts in a game that certainly will mean a lot here in Nashville on a Thursday night and against the Packers on that Sunday night game I mentioned. It's a reward for a good season from 2019 and it's a chance for the Titans to kind of show, hey, we've still got it. All right, Coach Mack, a question for you. Which is the bigger challenge? A Monday night game in Denver that kicks off well past my bedtime with a short week to get ready for Jacksonville right after that, or back-to-back road games in November at Baltimore and then at Indy. It's the back-to-back games in November for me. Those are ASC games. We're gonna be fighting for playoff positioning then. Look, the Monday night game, the opening, I love it. You got a lot of time to prepare for it. And if you're going on the road in an opener on Monday night, then at least your second game that you're coming off with one less day to prepare, it's against a very, very well-known opponent for us. So to me, it's much, much more difficult later in November, those two that you mentioned. This is the official Titans podcast presented 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. All right, for the three of you, I'm going to ask this question, so Amy, get ready. I wanna start with Jim, then Amy, then coach. Titans get a bye week, week seven. October the 25th, they will have played four of their first six at home. As a matter of fact, they won't hit the road for six weeks from September 27th through November 1st because of three straight home games and the bye. It's really kind of an intriguing type of scheduling quirk, if you will. Jim Wyatt, do you like the bye in week seven? Would you rather have it earlier or later? I'd rather have it later. They tell you it's never a bad time for the bye week except for maybe if it's week three, and I think the Titans had a week three bye week way back in the day. I would have preferred to have seen it right close to the middle of the schedule, but I do think after a tough stretch of three straight home games, you can get off to a good start. You can kind of catch your breath a little bit and then get loaded up for the final 10. But if I had my druthers, I think I'd go. I'd pick after week eight or nine. Amy? I think I agree with Jim in that if I were allowed to choose, I'd have it be a couple weeks later, but I like the idea of having a chance to rest, let guys get really healthy and then push through to the end. It gives you a chance to build that momentum with hopefully a healthy squad. You know what? I'm gonna, first of all, I'm gonna question the great Jim Wyatt's math. I mean, at seven weeks, that's pretty close to the middle of 16. Okay, now the other thing is I like it. I like it coming right where it is because you've come off five of six, AFC opponents, I like that. You should have set yourself up for some success down the stretch. I like that where it is. You know what's interesting with it is if the Titans do have training camp as normal and if there are four preseason games as normal, then that would actually come at the midway point of football, meaning that you would have had four preseason games and six regular season games and you would have 10 games to go. So it would be technically the middle of football. Now, again, we don't know how it all works out with preseason and such, but I like it. I think right there is a great time, especially knowing that if you got somebody banged up, man, it would be great to get an extra week to go into that Cincinnati game and be as healthy as possible. I also like having it to be able to spend a little time on Cincinnati or a little extra time on Cincinnati and Joe Burrow, who will probably just be settling in at that point. I will never question the great Jim Wyatt. I questioned his math there a little bit. I think you just questioned it. Hey, let's talk about something. Coach, you take this first and then Jim next. Jonathan Joseph, 36-year-old corner. Speaking of math, by the way, the Titans will be out five weeks or will be at home five weeks, not six. That's my bad on math. So figure that out. Let's do numbers, Mike. Well, December 27th to November 1st. I'm sorry. Anyway, Jonathan Joseph, signs with the Titans, 36-years-old. Former first-round pick, 14 years in the league, nine years in the division. How does he help this defense, Coach Mack? I love this press conference. This is a pro's pro. You can tell just by the way he talks. I mean, you can tell he gets it. He gets it at all levels. He gets who he is. He's very comfortable in his own skin. Look, a pro that's comfortable in their own skin, especially if you're not gonna have a lot of time to involve yourself with your new teammates. Well, I tell you what, the players respect longevity in this league because to be in this league that long, especially at that position, you have to have a lot of water in your bucket. And I like that. I like that a lot. When I heard him today on the press conference, I was really impressed. Nice addition. Yeah, I thought it was intriguing too. I didn't realize his wife went to Hillsborough High School and then went to Tennessee State University. It was interesting. He ends up in Nashville where his wife grew up. I think he's a great addition. This is obviously a team that has lost some really good leaders, including Logan Ryan in that secondary room. He's someone that can come in and provide some great knowledge to some of the younger guys. And just his love of the game and his ability to continue to play after 14 seasons in the league, he's made a lot of plays on the ball. It was interesting to hear him say he thinks he's dropped 30, 35 interceptions during the course of his career just because he's been around the ball so much. So he's got a great relationship with Ben Jones. Just to hear Ben Jones, a former teammate of his, and he used to talk about him kind of reassures you that there's a quality guy coming in who's going to help that secondary room. That's gonna need some more veterans to step up and help some of the young guys. All right, well, Jim, there was another signing in the secondary, Ibrahim Campbell. He's a safety from Green Bay. Where do you think that he could fit in? I think he adds depth to the safety position. He's been a really good, special teams player. It's something this team has done here in recent week is just try to find some guys that will compete on the back end, give you some depth. I think the fact that this off-season, that the fact that there may not be an off-season, an off-season program, OTEs, many camp, everything's gonna be sped up when the team returns to training camp. So you need as many veterans in there instead of trying to rely on undrafted free agents to help you. And certainly the team signed some guys, 14 of them. We're gonna talk about those guys here shortly, but I think he will bring knowledge to the team, to special teams, to that secondary safety position, and he'll have a chance to compete in our spot. Yeah, he's a veteran special teams contributor, and that's huge. We won some games last year on special teams, guys. I mean, you have to do that in the national football league. That's vital. You used to be able to, before free agency in the salary cap, keep about six, seven, eight year vets that all they did was play special teams. Having a special teams contributor that knows how to do it, that's huge. All right, so Jim mentioned 14 undrafted free agents have signed with the Titans. I'm gonna ask each of you to give me one name among the undrafted to keep an eye on. Jim Wyatt, you lead us off. Well, I'm gonna go tuck in McCann, the kicker from Missouri, who I'm sure is a fan of. Got a couple of Missouri guys on here. 16 to 22 field goals last year, 34, 37 extra points. He can punt, so he can take a little pressure off of Brett Kern in camp, but he's obviously brought in here to compete for the kicking position. And Greg Joseph is another player that's gonna be in the mix there who finished the season last year. I think some people expect the Titans to be drafted kicker, potentially sign somebody during the course of this offseason. That has not happened. So tuck in McCann has a chance to earn a job. There's no question about it. I'm curious to see how this one plays out because you have McCann, you can have Joseph competing. And we've seen some offseason in the past where you've got young guys competing. If one of them doesn't kind of stand out, you could always dip back into free agency at that point. That's what happened with Ryan Suckup. Several years ago, it could happen. Ryan Suckup again, I think once he gets healthy and healed up in a position to kick again, maybe he gets back into the mix. But in the meantime, tuck in McCann and Greg Joseph are gonna have a chance to win the job. Well, I'm gonna go with another Missouri guy because of course I am. Kale Garrett, he's a linebacker. He was on the field a ton at Missouri. He struggled with some injury issues, but I think that when he was on the field, he really impressed coaches. And I'm excited to see what he's able to bring to the next level and he's a pretty versatile guy. I think that if he's able to find his niche somewhere, I think that he could carve out a little spot for himself and you can never have too many linebackers. So I'm excited to watch him through camp. You know, Coach Mack, had he not torn his peck last year in the fifth game of the year, he would have been an all-American. He was having a phenomenal year for the Tigers, very productive linebacker. And well-known to SEC fans, so he will certainly be one to watch. Who's your guy? Frog, Anthony McKinney, TCU, Big Tackle, 6'8", 315 pounds, you know, and this kid is just now learning how to play football. I mean, he was a wrestler in high school and then went to Iowa Western Community College and he's just now learning how to play 6'8", 315. He was at, and look, I recruited those Iowa junior colleges. Iowa Western puts out some really good players. I got a $100 bill here, everybody see it? Everybody see this $100 bill? Order. All right, question. All three of you, start with Amy. What is the mascot for the Iowa Western football program? Are you ready? All right, you don't know. Next, Jim. No, I wanna guess. Guess, don't look it up. Is it a lizard of some sort? No, it's not a lizard. Jim, go. I'm gonna go with the dollar bills that you held up money. Okay, that's exactly wrong. My teeth. Chiefs. Okay, that was closer. It's the Reavers. What's a Reaver? The Reavers, R-I-E-V-E-R-S, the Reavers. Yes, I didn't- What is a Reaver? I will tell you what a Reaver is. A Reaver of the 13th to the 17th century on the border of Scotland and England. They had a lot of river pirates in Atomua, Iowa. I mean, this splits, the Des Moines River splits the city in half. So they're the river pirates, the Reavers. There you go. I can't do that well, actually, but here's my. There are four receivers signed among the undrafted. Christian Wilkerson is really interesting to me because he went to Memphis, Craigmont, and then he played at SEMO and did a great job there. Nick Westbrook from Indiana is a receiver that was on his way to something special with the Hoosiers, had an injury, and is just now coming back. Kyle Williams from Arizona State is a talented young guy, really smart, gonna be a doctor. But the name I give you from Berry College in Rome, GA, I'm talking about none other than Mason Kinsey, a Division III player, the first ever player from Berry College to sign with an NFL team. He's from Demeris, Georgia. That's a town of about 1,500 to 2,000. He caught 50 touchdown passes, and he did a great job in a post-season bowl game. I think it was the Shrine Bowl he played in and played really well. A D3 player trying to make an NFL roster as something else, but Mason Kinsey is a guy who signed with the Tennessee Titans. Interesting player to watch, how about that? You cannot get information anywhere else in the world. Virtual, non-virtual, face-to-face, no where else in the world. Nobody won $100. And let us face it, the receiver position, there's I think there's a spot to be had. You know, Corey Banks, AJ Brown, Adam Humphries gonna be on this team. I think Khalifa Raymond has the edge over Cam Batson for the four spot. Then you got Batson, whether he can establish himself and stick. And then all of these undrafted free agents who have a change. So with the 55-man roster, with extra room on the practice squad, one or two of these guys I think is gonna end up sticking. Yeah, that's a great point. Well, this has been really good. We've talked schedule. We've talked undrafted. We've talked about Jonathan Joseph. We've talked about Reavers. And I mean, so much that we have packed in to this edition of the official Titans podcast brought to you by Farm Bureau Health Plans. Get the home field advantage with healthcare coverage from Farm Bureau Health Plans. They've been protecting Tennesseans since 1947. We move ever closer to football season as we get the schedule today. Exciting for Titans fans. Three, count them three primetime games. For Amy Wells, Jim Wyatt and Coach Dave McGinnis, Mike Keith, thanks you for listening to the OTP.