Let’s face it – every day we are routinely bombarded with questions. When you’re an emerging media company in Nashville, people just want to know what your opinions are on everything. It’s only natural. And, since our duty is to serve the people, well, we have no choice but to be present. That’s the SoBro Way. Also, aren’t mailbags just a barrel of laughs anyway? Welcome to the newest weekly recurring feature up in this bitch: The SoBros Mailbag. As always, hit us with those mailbag questions @SoBrosNetwork on Twitter, email ’em to me anonymously at thesobrosnetwork@gmail.com. And, holy shit, I need to update this terrible intro paragraph that I’ve been using literally ever since I started writing this column…
Question, from Michael on Instagram:
- It seems like the titans lately have a tendency to target older players past their prime (Clowney, AP, jackrabbit) in FA as well as injured players in the draft (Simmons, Farley). Do you agree with that strategy? Are there other teams that have taken a similar strategy and succeeded? Simmons worked out great but the others (less AP which we’ll soon find out) have been in my opinion, failed experiments.
- I’m sure this too has been talked about already but I’m loving the core of ILBs we have. When Jayon is healthy, do you think Long deserves a starting spot? Personally I think we’ll use all three but I’m of the opinion that a healthy jayon and long are both better than Evans and should be our starters once jayon is 100%. Evan’s is a great run stopper but damn he seems to be slow in coverage comparably.
Answer:
- LOVE the Titans talk in the SoBros Mailbag – so, I don’t think that they’re necessarily targeting older players as a strategy per se. I think they want a certain type (experience, leadership, toughness) to come in and be an example for younger talent, and I think if you can fit in Mike Vrabel and Shane Bowen’s defense and effectively teach it to the young guys too, that’s a bonus. They needed pass rush help a season ago, and they thought that Clowney (and you can put Vic Beasley into this category too) would fit the bill seeing as how Vrabel coached him in Houston and he was arguably the best defensive end on the market. But, he was an outright disaster – barely played, and when he did, he was a complete non-factor. Beasley was even more of an abject failure. You can add Johnathan Joseph to this list as well. They completely whiffed with him last year, and with Kevin Johnson this year. But, this is still a regime that wants to build around its drafted talent first (Byard, Henry, Brown, Simmons, etc.), and supplement the roster with veteran leadership and tone-setters. I would point to the acquisitions of Ben Jones, Ryan Tannehill, Rodger Saffold, and Denico Autry as evidence that getting that right type of gritty, experienced player CAN work for this team. They just had a really bad run at free agency in the 2020 offseason (made worse by the drafting of Isaiah Wilson, mind you). It’s also about who’s available in free agency – I think Bud Dupree has worked, by and large, considering that he’s continuing to get healthy. Denico Autry has been a godsend for this defense. Neither of those guys was available in 2020 – so part of it is the market and just having to deal with who’s there. I wouldn’t give up on Jackrabbit just yet – I know he blew an assignment that led to that wide open and ugly Cole Beasley touchdown in the Buffalo game, but he’s still a good, physical cover guy that has gotten better as the pass rush has heated up over the last few weeks. Julio Jones just needs to get healthy, and we can evaluate him at season’s end. Adrian Peterson’s style and personality fit this team and this offense like a glove – this guy runs hard, and once he knocks the rust off, I think he’ll be closer to the Autry-Dupree category than the Clowney-Beasley one. For the most part, as long as they can continue to draft at a decent rate, I think this strategy is working. The team is 7-2 (I know you asked me this before the Rams game, full disclosure) atop the AFC. Until these decisions cost them postseason appearances, I’m going to lean towards “I’m cool with it.” As for drafting hurt players, I think it’s more about value than anything else, and it’s a testament to how deep the roster is. Simmons would’ve been a top five pick in 2019 if not for the injury concerns. Farley likely would’ve gone top 10. But, because of how deep the Titans have built out their roster in recent seasons, they’ve been afforded the luxury of being able to see how these guys pan out, develop them without a real rush to get them on the field (Farley only really started playing because of injuries in the secondary), and not really worry about the cost because of an immediate need. As for other teams, I would point to the Buccaneers, who brought in Antonio Brown, Ndamukong Suh, and Leonard Fournette and then went and won a Super Bowl with ’em. The Patriots are in the playoff hunt with a ton of older free agent additions. Arizona adds JJ Watt and James Conner and they’ve supplemented that team well. It’s all about team culture and the pieces coming together – supplementing free agency with the draft, and with coaching. The Titans appear to be doing that well so far.
- I’ll say this – it felt good to have Jayon Brown back on Sunday night, and Rashaan Evans has played much better his last couple of games than I would’ve anticipated. But, I think there’s a good chance that the team moves on from both of them after this season. They declined Evans’ fifth-year option before the season started, and I just don’t think you even entertain the idea of the guy entering free agency if you’re 100% sold on him. So, I think he could be done. Brown could be back, but he just can’t seem to stay healthy and he’s on a one-year deal that I know isn’t really a one-year deal, but would be easy for them to get out of. David Long has been as steady as they come in recent weeks – I keep calling him a “heat-seeking missile” because of how hard he plays, and how well he does a lot of the foundational things that being a linebacker calls for (minus a little bit of not-so-good tape in run support). He’s only going to get better with more experience, and if you ask me, I think he absolutely deserves a shot at a longtime starting role. If they end up with both Brown and Evans gone, I think they’re confident in putting rookie Monty Rice into an elevated role. Even after the team signed Avery Williamson, it was Rice that got the nod when the team needed another ILB, and for him to not completely shit the bed was impressive in that spot. I think they like him a lot and he was definitely drafted with the idea of replacing Evans in mind, considering that his skillset is pretty close to what Evans brings to the table. As for the immediate future, I don’t think there’s any way you take David Long off the field right now – Evans and Brown may technically be the starters, but Long is going to cut into that timeshare. Evans was already playing less snaps on defense before he got hurt anyway. And, that’s my hot take on the ILB situation – not just more playing time for Long, but more playing time for Rice too..
Question, from E on Instagram:
*slams button* How do you feel about the epic masterpiece that is Drake’s video for Knife Talk
Answer:
E, you said it best when you said ‘epic masterpiece’ – I mean, I can’t remember the last time a music video got me this fired up. The song is all over Tik Tok right now, but holy shit – this video deserves an Academy Award. Remember when music videos were cool and we actually looked forward to them on TRL? This is one of those urban myth type of videos that they wouldn’t have been able to show on television back in the day, but you’d get the unedited version on a DVD release or something and it would’ve been sacred. That’s what this shit is.
Question:
Is it Fall or Autumn?
— Tom Hanks & the Guilty Pleasures (@SoBroCadbury) November 11, 2021
Answer:
I think autumn sounds classier and more sophisticated, but I’m going to be honest and say that ‘fall’ comes out of my mouth nine times out of 10. So, for the sake of transparency, ‘fall’ BUT if I want to sound intelligent and classy, I’ll say ‘autumn’.
Question, from Brittany on Facebook:
What do you have planned for your time off? (I hope absolutely nothing)
Answer:
It is a whole lot of nothing – I’m going to sleep a lot. I’m probably going to drink too much. I’ll probably gain 10 pounds. And, then by day 4, I’m going to get bored and start writing stuff again. I’m up in New Jersey for the holidays, so there’s a lot of family time, too – I enjoy getting to catch up with everyone, and spend time with my niece and nephew. It’s nice to kind of cleanse my brain and get away from work.
Question:
I’ve never been much of a gambler until recently and I think I’ve become a degenerate over night. What is the most amount of bets you have done in one day?
— Patrick Criswell (@PatCrizzy) November 12, 2021
Answer:
That’s how it happens, Patrick. Next thing you know, you’ll be selling a kidney to get money to bet on table tennis in South Korea.
I have a pretty solid method that has generated some good results for me ever since sports betting became legal in Tennessee. As far as volume of bets, it’s high. I mean, I’m making about 30-40 bets each weekend. But, I break it down by confidence – I’ll take a few games that I’m most confident in, and put higher dollar amounts on ’em ($10-$20 a bet). Don’t be tempted by the high payouts on parlays – the way to get sustained success betting is taking the games one at a time, focusing, and getting ’em right. These are the bets that are going to keep you going from week-to-week. You hit a couple of these, and you’ll get money to bet with next week and keep the train rolling. You just have to make sure you do your due diligence on the match-ups, why a line might look a certain way, injury report, and watch where the money is coming in too. Like, last night DraftKings tweeted that 97% of the money came in on the Ravens to cover…that’s a huge red flag that Vegas is about to bathe in the blood of sports bettors like us, and had I seen that before the game started, I would’ve emptied my account on the Dolphins +8.5.
Then I reserve smaller dollar amounts for games I’m less confident in ($2-$5 a bet) to continue (hopefully, if I’m right) keeping my account with a base dollar amount. And, I usually drop about 10-15 parlays per week, and take some prop bets I like (anytime touchdown scorers have been pretty lucrative for me). These are all $1 bets with high potential payouts – I call ’em ‘lottery tickets.’ If you hit the right one, you’re stacked for weeks to come. I’ve hit a 25-game moneyline parlay (it only paid out $50 on a $1 bet), 5-leg anytime TD scorer bet that paid out $118, a ‘MyCole Pruitt 1st touchdown scorer’ bet that paid out $68, and various other 3-leg and 5-leg parlays that have paid out anywhere from $12-$28 on a $1 bet.
So, I’m betting like crazy, but it’s all very calculated to keep a base dollar amount in my account from week to week, build on that, and maybe eventually get lucky with one of these wild parlays.
Keep the questions coming – catch y’all next week!
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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