Changes Are Coming -- As Usual -- To The Tennessee Titans
Change is not necessarily desired, it is, however, undeniable.
“The 2020 Titans, they’re going to look different than the 2019 Titans,” general manager Jon Robinson said Tuesday at the NFL Scouting Combine. “That’s the way it is. … There’s rookies that come in. There’s trades that happen. There’s free agency. There’s waiver claims.
“… It is a business and I’m charged with managing the contracts, the salary cap, all of that. There’s a lot that goes into that, certainly, short-term but also long-term because we want to competitive and we want to be fighting to get in the thing every single year.”
Robinson has led the Titans for four seasons and has reshaped the roster dramatically during that time. The one constant has been the record – 9-7 in each of those four seasons.
When they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship, their 53-man roster included 17 players who were not on the team in 2018. Plus, there were three free agents and one draft pick in their first years with Tennessee on injured reserve.
That degree of change paled in comparison to the roster upheaval of the previous three years, and – maybe it was just a coincidence – the team had its best playoff run in well over a decade.
A year-by-year look at the Tennessee Titans’ roster turnover under general manager Job Robinson (based on final 53-man roster):
| Year | Draft picks | Free agents | Trades/waivers | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2016 | 9 | 10 | 5 | 24 |
2017 | 8 | 12 | 1 | 21 |
2018 | 3 | 21 | 1 | 25 |
2019 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 17 |
Only seven Titans at the end of the 2019 season were ones that Robinson inherited when he was hired as Ruston Webster’s replacement. That group included quarterback Marcus Mariota, who will be elsewhere in 2020, and linebacker Wesley Woodyard, whose future with the team is uncertain at best.
Now, his first draft class is eligible for free agency. That means players he wanted – and might still want – such as tackle Jack Conklin, defensive tackle Austin Johnson, running back Derrick Henry and wide receiver Tajaé Sharpe could find another team (read: a contract offer from another team) more to their liking.
“As a team-builder, I think you want to try to keep as many good players on your team for a long period of time, as long as they’re still performing and helping the team and they’re buying into what’s going on,” Robinson said. “… I think we’ve got several players on the team that other teams around the league are going to want. That’s a testament to the players for coming in and performing at a level that we expected them to. It’s a testament to the coaches for them teaching those players, developing those players, inspiring those guys to go out on Sundays and help us win football games.”
The Titans are among the top half of the league in available salary cap space (they’re 15, to be exact). That means they have the money to try and hold on to most of the guys they want to keep or to find replacements for the ones they lose.
They also are one of four NFL teams that currently with fewer than $500,000 in dead money (paid to players no longer on the roster). That suggests Robinson has not made too many glaring mistakes that have cost the team money during his time in charge.
Now, he just has to do it all again.
“It’s going to be challenging for myself and trying to make sure everything fits,” Robinson said. “But I think we’ve built a culture. Nashville is a great city. Guys have fun playing football for the Tennessee Titans and I think that the guys that were on this team, hopefully – whose contracts are up – we can keep those guys around because I think that the grass isn’t always greener. Sometimes it is.
“But I know what we’ve got in Nashville.”
He just can’t be sure who exactly he will have next season.
