Rhett Bryan | Tennessee Titans Game Day Host

What's the strangest thing you're afraid of? Tails without fur on them, such as rats or opossums. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast Your Weirdest Fears, where we dig into the crazy things you're afraid of. Everything from animal people hybrids, you know people who get surgeries to look like an animal, to giant statues.

If I ever saw one of those giant statues, I probably would poop my pants. Listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts from. The listening you love is on the free Odyssey app. Your trusted local radio stations, coverage of your favorite teams, live news from your hometown, and millions of podcasts on demand. Best of all, you can completely customize your listening experience. Follow topics you care about, like leagues and teams, pause or rewind your local sports and news, and add shows to your queue to catch up later.

There's a lot to listen to, so get started and download the free Odyssey app today. We're pleased to welcome Rhett Bryan from Nashville. He is a game day host for Titans Radio Network, and I called it dramatic. I'd like to know, Rhett, what are a couple of words or emotions that you would attach to this season for the Tennessee Titans? Stunning is one.

Collapse would be another. I mean, you just think about, they started 0-2 and got behind the 8-ball, then they got it together, and at one point this season, as a matter of fact, Thursday Night Football in Lambeau Field, Green Bay, they beat handling Aaron Rodgers and the Packers for only time all season. They rung up 27 or more points this season, which tells you their offensive woes, but that's the last win that they had. That was November the 17th at Lambeau Field, and then they were 7-3 at that point in the season, and nobody really saw a seven-game slide to end the season at 7-10. Just a couple of weeks after the Green Bay win, John Robinson is let go by Amy Adams-Stronk as the general manager. It wasn't totally surprising in terms of the move, it was the timing, because at that point there was five weeks left in the season. And so, yeah, it's twists and turns, no doubt, and then it just had a really bad collapse at the end. I remember at the point at which they had won seven of eight games, I was talking about their identity and a team that knows who it is and how it wants to win and how it wants to approach games.

What happened? What derailed them at that point in the season, Rhett? It's the thing that could have derailed them in 2021. The injury bug has bitten them extremely hard in the last two seasons. They've used an NFL record of 177 players between 2021 and 2022. And it started, this is something that was a cumulative effect, and then there was a tipping point at one point where it was just you had more guys on IR than you had, you know, your roster looked totally different by some point in the year. So, honestly, the first place where it really started was in training camp in August when they lost Harold Landry to an ACL in a non-contact drill who they'd given a big contract to and had done really well in his first four seasons with the Titans, and they really missed him immediately. And then you get into the first couple of games of the regular season, Taylor DeJuan tears his ACL again, you've lost your starting left tackle, and then you just keep stacking these injuries, whether they're soft tissue or season-ending. I think they had a record 31 guys on IR at one point. In one of the last production meetings I had with coach Mike Rabel, I think there was 22 or 23 guys on the 53-man roster that were either just free agents or were off as somebody else's practice squad that were playing and not starters and guys that, you know, he and John Robinson had kind of constructed the roster with prior to that. Then why, ultimately, is the general manager fired and for assistance if it really was more about injuries?

Well, it's a culmination of a lot of those things. Now, listen, the whole John Robinson thing, the owner Amy Adams drunk, I guess had gotten to a point where she was tired of some of the things that were happening. And everyone wants to point to the AJ Brown trade denied to the draft back in the spring of 2022. And that may have well been the tipping point, but it wasn't the only thing that helped decide that.

And to hear her tell it, she had decided some weeks before that had happened that she was going to move on from his services. I think one of the things that kind of sticks out in that is the Julio Jones trade that he had made the year before. In fact, the Titans don't have a fourth round pick in this year's draft because of that trade. And then they have to pay him and that is really what set everything with the Titans being in a bit of cap trouble as the new year approaches in March. Because to make that trade for Julio Jones, they had to renegotiate or redo a year or two of Ryan Pannehill's contract, which put them behind the eight ball with the cap.

In fact, they're going to be, I think, 16 million over. So there's going to be a purge of some talent in this. But that is just one part of it as far as the four coaches that were let go earlier this week. Todd Downing, you could almost put the writing on the wall as the slide towards the end of the year, the seven game losing streak kept tacking up losses. You can almost see that coming because if you look at all of the scores in this season, like I said, the Green Bay game on Thursday Night Football in the middle of November is the only time they amassed more than 27 points. There were several games that never got more than 17 points.

Amy, as long as you've been doing this, you know this. 17 points average in the NFL is not going to get it done. Not with the Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City Chiefs of the world and what the LA Chargers are doing now and certainly the Eagles who have been just on fire all year.

It's not going to cut it. So Todd Downing was let go earlier this week along with the secondary coach Anthony Midgett. That one kind of wasn't surprising because they've been giving up some explosive plays on defense, but they haven't had all their starters in there. And then the offensive line coach Keith Carter was also let go. That was one of Mike Grable's original hires when he was named coach in 2018. So clearly the offensive line is going to be a major point of emphasis and change in the spring and the offseason and reconstructing that because I don't anticipate that Taylor Lewand will be back at left tackle. It's up in the air as to whether Senator Ben Jones comes back. Honestly four-fifths of the starting line could be different in 2023.

Which is a project in and of itself. One of the reasons why you don't give up 49 quarterback sacks this year. That's almost three per game. You know another reason why some of these offensive coaches were let go earlier this week. We're spending a few minutes with Rhett Bryan who's the game day host of Titans Radio. We're pleased to have him back with us here in the new year.

It's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS Sports Radio. Still they had a chance to win the AFC South title which speaks a lot about the division too. But just looking at the numbers for context. Yes they were 28th in the NFL in points per game at 17 and a half is where they finished up. And their passing attack specifically was in the bottom three in the NFL.

So not even 175 passing yards. What are they doing or or what are their options at quarterback this offseason? Well I think the big thing is seeing how because again we've got the Titans have to get a new general manager. They're in process of that now and have been for about a month. And some of the interview candidate list came out earlier this week.

But that person is going to have their hands full and what they're going to try to do to get to a cap number to see whether Ryan Tannehill returns as the starting quarterback. He's in the last main year of his contract extension that he got here after he was traded here. And spoke to us in the locker room on Monday and said I'd love to be back here. And certainly his performances this season and the toughness you can't argue because he tore a lot of ligaments in his right ankle. Had a high ankle sprain that developed into the other.

Ended up having to have surgery with Dr. Andrews in Birmingham. But your point is correct. So like you know draft Malik Willis in the third round back in the spring. He ends up starting three games and then what they realize is that they were trying to stop this seven game losing streak. You know they still they were this time a week ago here they have a game in Jacksonville with two of their main goals intact in winning the AFC South Division Championship and the title there and making it back into the playoffs. And you know for anybody playing a meaningful game in week 18 despite a slide you know you're doing something right but they just didn't have the personnel there do it. So they brought in Joshua Dobbs and eight days later he starts you know the next to last game the Cowboys game on Thursday Night Football. And he starts again in Jacksonville and he did really nice job.

And then when the turnovers happened the other night in Jacksonville that was clearly the difference in the ballgame in terms of score. But you know they have the 11th overall pick so I don't know if there's a chance they try to draft something or if that's a left tackle they take there. There's a whole lot of questions that have yet to be answered. It's going to be a wild offseason in Nashville with the Titans. If you look at the roster would you say there are players who would be untouchable players that they wouldn't consider purging or trading to try to make the salary cap work? I would say if we're talking about like a worst-case scenario if they're going to do just a massive purge of talent I would think three names that would not be on the trading block.

Okay. Because the fan base would have a mutiny. One would be Jeffrey Simmons.

Yes. The other would be the aforementioned Derrick Henry. And the third one would probably be safety Kevin Byard. Those three guys if any would be safe.

Of course I say that and they'll end up trading one of those now. But I think there are so many things that are open for discussion and on the table in this offseason and I think that's going to be the biggest part of whoever the new general manager of the Titans becomes is again he's going to have a lot of tasks ahead of him to do and you know Mike Prable is going to be consulted about who the new general manager is when they get it down to the final couple of interviews and you know it'd be interesting to see how he and this new general manager work in tandem together to put together a good roster. Brett Bryan is with us from the Titans Radio Network in the wake of what was a collapse in the second half of the season. Seven straight losses and still in that final game against Jacksonville an opportunity to at least get into the playoffs as a division champion with the AFC South going through a down year.

It's after hours here on CBS Sports Radio so you didn't mention any of the quarterbacks obviously. What was your assessment of Malik Willis in the limited time in which we saw him on the field? Yeah he ended up getting three starts and clearly the first start was in Houston back earlier in the in the season when Ryan Tannehill first started having problems with the high ankle sprained and he was clearly you know had moments where he the moment was a little bigger than him and trying to you know make something happen but a few weeks later he gets another start and then a third start and clearly he had made some progress in some places but you can tell that you know he had never really lined up under center in when he had played college ball and he even talked about Monday when they were cleaning out their lockers about you know hand hand eyes feet kind of all working together which are the key elements of you know making making a good passing game and all the traits of a quarterback and he said yeah I got a lot to learn but I feel like he made some strides forward how is he going to be ready in 2023 I don't know I think that remains to be seen but he gained some valuable experience in being basically thrown to the walls because of necessity. In conversations with players or hearing what they had to say with their exit interviews what did they say about the season other than the general disappointment of knowing that it was over? Well I think there's they even feel the heightened sense of uncertainty as to you know I can imagine I could not imagine playing you know going to war with a guy and being you know being around the same guys all season and then at the end of it abruptly ending you know who's gonna be back you don't know if you're gonna be a part of that or if you're gonna be somewhere different there's I can't imagine what they go through with all of that but yeah obviously it was disappointment because of the way it ended and you know but they didn't offer any excuses and they and they played their rear ends off last weekend at Jacksonville they really did they just came up short they just I mean you just again they had a bunch of pieces and parts in certain units and that was the problem is the injuries came and not just spread out into a couple of places but he wasn't it concentrated in areas that but the offensive line had a lot of issues with that in the secondary too when you concentrate it in a couple of position groups that really hurts what you're doing and look maybe I'm not taking anything away from Jacksonville because Urban Meyer bought the Titans a year in terms of having Trevor Lawrence ready in 2021 because he is clearly really good and we knew that going into everything and he's gonna be a thorn in the side for the Titans for twice a year for several years to come and I I'm excited to see what they do with the Chargers this weekend in Super Wild Card weekend because those those guys are starting to play if they can ever figure out some of their defensive stars to get the right pressure on quarterback they might be a surprise in this playoff. I'm glad that you brought them up because I wanted to ask your your thoughts on the Jaguars the Titans played them twice in the last five weeks and lost both of those games the Jags were the only team in the south to finish above 500 and they do it barely but man what a surge they put together so what impressed you about the Jags a team that you saw multiple times in the last month and a half? Clearly it started with a quarterback in Trevor Lawrence because the young man was the number one pick overall for a reason and to hear some of like some of the guys that Frank Frangie and Jeff Logman on Jaguars radio we we talked to those guys several times during the year and it seemed like they kind of had to de program a lot of guys after what happened with Ervin Meyer in 2021 and as they started to gain confidence because they started out really slow themselves but Trevor Lawrence yeah much better play for him this year he had over 4,000 yards passing wasn't making the mistakes in terms of interceptions now he's got a fumble issue when trying to extend plays with his body that's not something he can correct but he's got weapons I mean look at Travis Etienne who was robbed of his rookie season what was it he an Achilles I think right but he that that guy's good and we knew that in college watching the college and you know they are healthy that's the biggest thing and takeaways with him is they've got a short injury list I looked at it just a little while ago and they lost their left tackle Cam Robinson but they had they're pretty deep in that area and could have in fact when we talked to Frank Frangie the voice of the Jaguars last week he said this is one of the spots that they could actually afford to lose somebody with a left tackle because of the depth that they have the Jaguars defense if they can you know continue to force takeaways and make something out of it like they did against the Titans there's it's a lot of young talent there that that roster is not sure and they've got a chance to do of course listen if you're terrible for several years and you have top five picks you're supposed to be pretty good at some point right yes good point and they will have a Saturday night game under the lights for the second time in two weeks the Jags are the NFL's new darlings as they host the Chargers in that playoff game on Saturday evening coming into this season there had only been four teams in the entire NFL who had made the playoffs the last three years in a row the Titans were one of them and now they cycle out but they did have three good seasons there where they were in and we'll see what they can do in this crazy offseason you can find Rhett on Twitter at Rhett B Tennessee and he's the gameday host for Titans radio now launching in to the business of the offseason so we appreciate a couple of minutes Happy New Year to you Rhett thank you thank you Amy always a pleasure what's the strangest thing you're afraid of tails without fur on them such as rats or possums I'm Larry Mullins host of the podcast your weirdest fears where we dig into the crazy things you're afraid of everything from animal people hybrids you know people who get surgeries to look like an animal to giant statues if I ever saw one of those giant statues I probably would poop my pants listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from what's the strangest thing you're afraid of tails without fur on them such as rats or possums I'm Larry Mullins host of the podcast your weirdest fears where we dig into the crazy things you're afraid of everything from animal people hybrids you know people who get surgeries to look like an animal to giant statues if I ever saw one of those giant statues I probably would poop my pants listen and subscribe on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcast from the listening you love is on the free Odyssey app your trusted local radio stations coverage of your favorite teams live news from your hometown and millions of podcasts on demand best of all you can completely customize your listening experience follow topics you care about like leagues and teams pause or rewind your local sports and news and add shows to your queue to catch up later there's a lot to listen to so get started and download the free Odyssey app today