George Walker IV / Tennessean.com via Imagn Content Services, LLC
Robinson Faces Roster Wrangling Challenges
General manager Jon Robinson never has been afraid to make an offseason move or two – whether through trade, signing or cut – in hopes of bolstering his team’s roster for the coming year.
This offseason is likely to be a challenging one in that regard for Robinson and the Tennessee Titans, based on a compilation of factors. The team is over the salary cap, has some significant pending unrestricted free agents, and has just five draft picks – though that final number should eventually swell to six or seven when compensatory draft picks are announced.
How does that situation compare to the rest of the NFL?
The OverTheCap website produced an informative graphic combining those factors – effective salary-cap space, draft capital and potential snaps lost to free agency – and ranked all 32 teams in each category.
Overall, the Titans were 25th out of 32 teams, with an average ranking of 21.7, ahead of just seven other teams: Arizona, Carolina, Kansas City, Los Angeles Rams, Chicago, Dallas, Tampa Bay.
Breaking down that overall average ranking by category, the Titans ranked 15th in potential snaps lost to free agency, 24th in cap room and 26th in draft capital.
Here’s a closer look at the Titans’ rankings in each of the three categories:
Effective Salary-Cap Space
OverTheCap lists the Titans as one of 11 teams currently over the NFL’s base salary cap of $208,200 million. Tennessee is about $7 million over the number, which is nowhere near as dire as teams like New Orleans ($76 million over) or Green Bay ($51 million over). Still, there’s work to be done by Robinson on the cap front, whether that means re-working contracts or simply cutting players.
Here are some of the players who conceivably could get cut as the Titans try to open up salary-cap room: left tackle Taylor Lewan ($12.9 million in cap savings); linebacker Zach Cunningham ($10.5 million); left guard Rodger Saffold ($10.5 million); cornerback Janoris Jenkins ($6.9 million); punter Brett Kern ($3.2 million); back-up tackle Kendall Lamm ($3.2 million); and wide receiver Julio Jones ($4.8 million if cut after June 1).
Potential Snaps Lost to Free Agency
Just as is the case every season, the Titans have multiple players whose contracts will expire in March. Even though the list is a long one, the combined experience of the group isn’t nearly that of some other teams, which is why the Titans ranked 15th in potential snaps lost to free agency.
Likely two – edge rusher Harold Landry and center Ben Jones – would be of most importance to the team. Landry had a career-best year, recording 12 sacks, 14 tackles for loss and 75 tackles. He’s also started 52 straight games for the Titans dating back to the end of his rookie season. But can the Titans afford Landry – whose new contract might be in the neighborhood of four years at $68.4 million, per Spotrac – when they have another edge rusher, Bud Dupree, who’s entering the second year of a five-year, $82.5 million deal?
Some of the other pending UFAs include linebackers Jayon Brown and Rashaan Evans, running backs D’Onta Foreman and Dontrell Hilliard, tight ends Anthony Firkser, Geoff Swaim and MyCole Pruitt, edge rusher Ola Adeniyi, kicker Randy Bullock, wide receiver Chester Rogers, cornerback Buster Skrine; and safety Dane Cruikshank.
All of the players made contributions to a 12-5 Titans team that won the AFC South for a second straight year, but this may not be the best retention year due to the cap situation.
Draft Capital
The draft capital ranking is more subjective than the other two categories, but there are at least a couple reasons the Titans are 26th, per OverTheCap.
The biggest is the absence of a second-round pick, which was moved to Atlanta last offseason as part of the deal to bring Julio Jones to Nashville. Productive second-round picks under Robinson over the years have included Landry, running back Derrick Henry, wide receiver A.J. Brown and cornerback Kristian Fulton.
In addition, the Titans have only five picks set in stone at present – one each in the first round (26th overall), third round (90th overall), fourth round, fifth round and sixth round. If the Titans were to make only five selections, it would be the smallest draft class since 2018, when the Titans drafted just four players.
But there is some good news here, as OverTheCap projects the Titans will receive a couple of compensatory draft picks – one in the fourth round, one in the sixth – as a result of losing more free agents than the team signed last offseason.
