Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans 2023 Offseason Look Ahead - Cap Space, Free Agents & Cut Candidates

Episode Date: July 13, 2022

The Tennessee Titans are nearing the true beginning of the 2022 season! Which makes it the perfect time to take a peak ahead at what challenges they will face in 2023! First, what is the Titans cap space situation as things stand now? Tyler goes over the figures and dives into the tough choices the Titans will have to make with their own free agents! Names like Amani Hooker, Nate Davis, David Long & Austin Hooper are all set to hit the open market! Next, every year there are cap casualties that teams part ways with to save money. Ryan Tannehill, Bud Dupree and Taylor Lewan are all possibilities! How should the Titans proceed? Finally, what team needs will the Titans have next year and what free agents could be a fit!?Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitansSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!DaveDownload the Dave app from the App store right now for an Extra Cash account and get up to 500 dollars instantly. For terms and conditions go to dave.com/legal. Instant transfer fees apply. Banking provided by Evolve. Member FDIC.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, on today's show, we're going to take a little look ahead to the 2023 Tennessee Titans offseason. What contract decisions do they have to make? How much salary cap will the Titans have? Also, who are some cut candidates to help them carve out additional cap space? Who should they restructure? Who should they extend? And then finally, what are going to

be the needs for the Titans next offseason? And who are some free agents who could fill those needs? A look ahead at the 2023 Tennessee Titans offseason on today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it. on today's edition of the Locked On Titans podcast. Let's get it. You are Locked On Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast podcast. Going to see what things could look like for the Titans next all season before we really kick off the 2022 year.

Before we get into that, I do want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. If this is your first ever listen, make sure you subscribe on whatever platform that you do stream. I am going to be putting out daily Tennessee Titans content again on all platforms, always free, including the Locked on Titans YouTube channel. Make sure you subscribe over there.

Smash the notification bell. And hey, throw a thumbs up on the video if you're watching right now. It goes a long way to help support me and the channel, and I really do appreciate it. You can check me out on social media, on Twitter, at TicTacTitans. You can check out the show Facebook page at Locked on Titans. Again, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, nearly 25 years as a Tennessee Titans fanatic. I like to dive into the film, talk about the X's and O's along with obviously all the hottest topics

coming out of Nashville. But with that being said, let's dive into what the Titans cap situation will look like next offseason. And I know this is going to sound crazy, okay? But right now, based on what we see, the Titans would be $24 million over the salary cap. So they're in the negative at this moment in time. And that's to be expected. If you go look at the next season while you're in this particular year and you go look, of course, it's going to look like that. The salary cap always goes up a little bit each year. Also, the Titans are going to make some changes and make some moves to carve out some money. And by God, they're going to need to. Because when you look at who are free agents after the season,

some pretty important players for the Titans. Not just starting level, high level players, but some role players who are pretty important and could be more important by this time next year. So, yes, the Titans are at negative $23,590,741 in cap space. But that's not going to be the case. And we're going to talk about who they need to sign right now, but we are going to talk about who they can cut to create some more space.

So some big decisions that they're going to have next offseason. Austin Hooper is going to be a free agent after his one-year deal, depending on how he plays. And it's my opinion that Austin Hooper could be incredibly important for the Titans in the way that they play offense, going back to heavy tight end personnel, giving Ryan Tannehill a safety blanket over the middle of the field. Austin Hooper could be incredibly important to this offense, and he'll need to come back if that's the case.

I don't think Chika Konkwa will be quite ready to be a full-time number one tight end at that point, so bringing back Hooper could be critical. And then, of course, we have the three members of the 2019 draft class, Amani Hooker, Nate Davis, and David Long. Everybody's been talking about Amani Hooker, Nate Davis, who should you re-sign? But David Long has to be in that discussion as well. And shout out to Justin, I think it's Milo. I always forget Justin's last

name. It doesn't happen in his Twitter handle, but Justin from Broadway Sports. You guys know who I'm talking about. Check him out, Justin underscore M. He's been breaking some news lately, and he did confirm a previous report from Terry McCormick that the Titans are in fact working on a contract extension with Imani Hooker. And you love to hear that, and you'd think if you trade away A.J. Brown because you don't want to pay him $70 million guaranteed and $25 million a year, it would give you the ability to bring back some of these people. But for me, I'm looking at Nate Davis. I'm looking at Imani Hooker.

I'm looking at David Long. And I know some of you guys disagree with me, but if I have to prioritize one of those three guys, it might very well be Nate Davis. I'm just scared about what the offensive line up he will could look like in 2023. Dylan Radins, we don't know if that's going to work out. I hope so. Ben Jones getting older. They had to find a way to bring him back this year. Will he play another season?

Maybe. So if we got Radins and Ben Jones, as I'll discuss next segment, Taylor LeJuan very well could be cut. What if the Titans don't find a suitable replacement at left guard this year between Aaron Brewer and Jamarco Jones? And then you're going to let Nate Davis walk too? So there's the chance that you have to replace three of your five starting offensive line spots?

I mean, that is a very precarious situation to be in if you're moving the offense forward with youth in 2023. So Nate Davis, to me, is much more important than maybe people are giving credit. Although I think that because A.J. Brown was traded, should be able to get all three of those guys back. David Long's really going to depend on what his health looks like this year. But those are four starting level players that are very important to the Titans that they're going to have to make a decision on.

So that's money that's going to be needed there. And like I said, they're $24 million over the cap already. You look at some lower-level guys, a guy like Brett Kern, who you guys may put in that first level, but I think as Brett Kern gets older, he's got to make some decisions and look towards the future. But Nick Westbrook, Akina, T. Air Tart, Aaron Brewer, all restricted free agents,

so that's going to be something that has to be navigated. Jeff Swaim is a free agent. I know a lot of you guys are down on Swaim, but either way, those are a ton of valuable key players to this roster. Not only that, Jeffrey Simmons, I'm expecting him to get an extension by training camp by the beginning of

the year, his big money, which will probably be, you know, the Titans always work stuff out cap wise where they get your first year of your contract to be the lowest cap hit. They're doing that with Harold Landry this year around 5 mil. They did it with Bud Dupree last year around 5 mil.

So they'll probably do something like that with Simmons to get it anywhere between $8 to $10 to $12 million, even if he's getting paid $21, $23 million. So they'll do those cap gymnastics. But Simmons' extension is going to kick in in that fifth season. Harold Landry's big money on his contract, $18.8 million cap pit is going to kick in next off season. So the Titans are going to be in a pinch money-wise. How can they create more cap space though? How can they create more wiggle room? I have a huge list of players who the Titans are

going to have to make decisions on whether they need to cut those players or walk away to create additional cap space. And I'm going to go through that entire list, how much money they're owed, how much money the Titans can save, and what I think the Titans should do with each of those players. But before we get into that, though, do want to tell you guys about our sponsor, Dave. So level with me, guys. We've all been in a situation at some point in our lives where we're a little tight on cash. Maybe you could only afford to put a few gallons of gas in your tank.

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Banking provided by Evolve member FDIC. Future you. Will thank you. Titans fans, we're going to continue this 2023 offseason look ahead. We talked about the Titans cap situation as it stands right now, which obviously is going to change a ton. And we talked about some of the guys who are going to be free agents that the Titans really got to find a way to work out. Now, who are some guys who the Titans may look to cut

to create some additional salary cap space? It is a very, very interesting list with some very important names on there. We're going to go through all of them. Before we do, I want to thank you guys again for making the Locked On Titans podcast your first listen every day. Make sure that you subscribe on whatever platform you do.

It's free and available on all platforms. I also want to tell you guys about this cool project that we're doing here at the Locked On Podcast Network. Question. What NFL stars move the betting line the most? You could say, who are the most valuable players in the NFL?

Well, starting on July the 18th, Locked On is going to give you the 50 most valuable players in the NFL from the odds makers at betonline.net. Who moves the betting needle? The top 50 is going to be available July 18th on Locked On NFL or wherever you get your podcast or on YouTube. You can find the Locked On NFL podcast. Ryan Tannehill is on there. Derrick Henry is on there as well.

I thought Derrick Henry got some serious respect while Ryan Tannehill did not. So July 18th, check out the Locked On NFL podcast feed for our top 50 most valuable NFL players from BetOnline. But moving forward here, how can the Titans save some money? So there are $24 million in the negative right now as things stand. Big decisions to be made on Austin Hooper, Imani Hooker, Nate Davis, David Long, Jeff Swain, Brett Kern, Nick Westbrook, T. Air

Tart, Aaron Brewer, Simmons, and Landry's big money is probably going to be kicking in there. So let's do this list and let me know down below. Who are you cutting? Who are you extending? Who are you letting go completely and not worrying about? I mean, who are you keeping around just at their rate?

I mean, there are a lot of machinations that can happen here. Number one, Ryan Tannehill. I mean, this is the biggest question that's going to hang over the Titans over the next year. He's set to hit the cap $36.6 million on the cap next year for Ryan Tannehill. The reality is, how ready is Malik going to be?

Not only that, how do the Titans perform this year? For some reason, like we talked about on the Mailbag Monday, if there's a doomsday scenario where the Titans just have a bad year and they get a top five draft pick or something, at that point, depending on how Malik is looking, there's supposed to be a lot of good quarterbacks in this draft. Maybe you just draft one and you cut bait with Ryan Tannehill because that is going to save you $19 million.

Just Ryan Tannehill. Now it's $18 million in dead cap. Great. But at the end of the day, that cap is that cap. How much can you save? And the Titans are 24 over. $19 million in savings with just Tannehill? That really eliminates a lot of these math problems.

Everything becomes manageable at that point in time. But again, you can't just cut Tannehill. Malik Willis is a bum. You know what I mean? I don't think that. And I've been high on Malik. And I've been very optimistic. And some of you guys get in my comments and tell me I'm too optimistic about Malik and there's no reason to believe he'll be

good well let's play your game for a second then what if Malik is not good what if Malik is not ready to be a starting quarterback what if he's never going to be a starting quarterback well the Titans sure as heck can't get rid of Ryan Tannehill then right they can't I mean you can't do that to this team just Just leave them with no quarterback. Now, if they can draft one in the top five or they get close enough to where they can trade up or something like that, maybe that opens it up. And the Titans have a quarterback they feel more comfortable about.

I have a hard time thinking that this organization is going to draft a rookie and cut Ryan Tannehill and start the rookie right away. Tough for me to believe that after what I've seen from Mike Rabel. So, Ryan Tannehill, $19 million in savings if he's cut, but I just can't, if Malik is ready, then yes. But if he's not, then you can't do that. So, I just had to put, I don't know.

I simply don't know what the Titans should do there because we don't know enough about Malik Willis. But what I do know is, if Malik Willis is ready or even close, Titans are going to have to find a way to move on from Tannehill. Maybe they can do a thing like the Browns did where they eat some of the contract and they, you know, the Titans are going to,

if they cut Tannehill, they're going to have $18 million in dead cap. So what if the Titans traded him somewhere else and just ate $15 million and paid $15 million of it just to get it off the books? I don't know. Those are options that they may have, but I just don't know about Tannehill. Yes, if Malik's ready, that's an easy cut,

but we just can't know that. Now, a guy who I do have an answer for you on is Bud Dupree. So Bud Dupree is set to make $20 million against the cap next year. Again, I don't dislike Bud Dupree as a person. I think he's a good football player. But you're not paying your fourth best pass rusher $20 million on

the cap in this financial situation. You're simply not. You can't. You can't pay Jeffrey Simmons $22 million a year, Harold Landry $18 million a year, Danico Autry still at his $9 million, and then pay another $20 million to Bud Dupree while bringing back Imani Hooker, Nate Davis,

David Long, Austin Hooper. Like, you just can't, guys. Someone has to be cut. And it's going to be Bud Dupree. And I've said it since last season. And some of you guys don't believe me. Some of you guys still on Twitter say, why do you hate Bud Dupree? I don't hate Bud Dupree. It's simple asset allocation. Resource allocation. If you got $5 and you can go into the candy store, you're not going to just spend the entire $5 on all packs of

Reese's. You want a couple of Reese's cups. You want a Snickers. You want a couple gummy bears. You've got to diversify your profile here. You can't put $80 million of cap money into the D line. And this is somebody who thinks defensive line play

is the most important thing outside of quarterback play. You just simply can't pay your fourth best pass rusher $20 million, even if that pass rusher makes everybody else better. You can find somebody who's a competent fourth rusher for less money. If Bud Dupree was making $12 million on the cap, $10 million on the cap, which I think is what he should be worth, then fine. But the reality is the Titans completely overpaid

Bud Dupree, who was the fourth best pass rusher in Pittsburgh, too. He was always a cleanup sack guy, not a guy who wins one-on-one consistently. They overpaid for Bud Dupree coming off an ACL. They basically wasted Bud Dupree's money last year. They're not going to do it a third season.

So hopefully Bud Dupree plays well this year, but barring setting the sack record, he's going to be cut. And that's going to save the Titans nearly $9.5 million. Absolutely have to let go of Bud Dupree. Hope that Rashad Weaver is good to go, and if not, your first- round pick has to be an edge.

So, moving forward, the next one, Derrick Henry. Set to be $15.5 million on the cap. The Titans can save $12 million if they cut him. I'm going to say I don't know. Just like with Tannehill, we got to see what Henry does this year. But what we know about running backs,

it's not out of the realm of possibility that Derrick Henry really regresses in a significant way. Now, maybe not. I don't think that he will regress in a significant way. My opinion is that he will be fine. We're looking at 1,400, 1,500 yards and double-digit touchdowns. But the data out there suggests that he may regress significantly

and if he does you can't pay him $15 million on the cap so I would rather do an extension with Derrick Henry like a two year extension for a lower cap hit around $9-10 million but we gotta see what Henry does this year

I can't know right now Taylor LeJuan set to make $14 million against the cap. Zero dead money if cut. Literally just pure $14 million saving. No dead money at all. But I want an extension. Again, you cannot go forward with the offensive line

having to replace three or four spots on the O-line in 2023, especially if you're going with a rookie quarterback in Malik Willis. You cannot do that to him. So I want to extend Taylor LeJuan to lower that cap hit, and since there's no dead money, even if you do a restructure, the restructure bonus isn't going to be super punitive because there's no more dead money on his contract.

So it's not like the dead money plus the restructure bonus dead money. If you have to cut them in 2024, it's going to hurt you. All there is the restructure. So same thing with Robert Woods, 13 million, zero dead cap. You could save 13 million if you cut, but I want an extension and a restructure there. Again, we got to see what Traylon Burks does, but can't have Traylon Burks and Nick Westbrook-Akina as your top two guys. It's just not going to work.

I want to have Robert Woods in 2023. Zach Cunningham, same thing. I want an extension there. $9 million in savings have cut. $13.75 million cap hit. That's way too high for an interior linebacker. So you get an extension. You restructure.

You bring that down, minimal dead hit. I like that. So extend and restructure LaJuan, Woods, and Cunningham. Danico Autry set to make $9.2 million. You'll save $7 million if you cut him, but no. I'm just saying keep Danico Autry

at $9 million. He deserves it. He earns it. Don't play games. Keep Autry there, especially if you're going to let Bud Dupree go. And finally, Randy Bullock, $2.7 million on the cap next year. $2.1 million in savings. As one of my old assistant high school football coaches, Tuffy Thompson, used to say,

Bye. Bye. See you, Randy Bullock. Not a chance. So, for me, I don't know about Tannehill. I don't know about Henry. We got to see what happens this year. But I'm cutting Bud Dupree.

I'm cutting Randy Bullock. I'm doing restructures with LeJuan, Woods, and Cunningham. And I'm keeping Danico Autry as he is. So, that creates a situation where the Titans are going to have some needs going forward. What are going to be their team needs a year from now? Who are some free agents in the market from other teams who could fill those needs? We're going to talk about all that in just a second. Titans fans, we're going to cap off our 2023 offseason look ahead for the Tennessee Titans on today's show.

We talked about where they're going to be at salary cap space, as projections are right now. We talked about the big decisions that they're going to have to make on their own in-house free agents. Then we talked about the big decisions that they're going to have to make on their own. In-house free agents. Then we talked about some cap casualty candidates. Guys who could be cut to help the Titans save some money. Also, we need to talk about these team needs. We need to talk about what picks the Titans have.

We need to talk about free agents. And that's where we're going to go right now. Before we do, I want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen. Every day, ask for your second listen. Check out the Locked on NFL podcast. It's Monday through Friday, free and available on all platforms, including the Locked on NFL YouTube channel. So subscribe over there.

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greatly appreciate that. Just like the video if you're watching on YouTube. You know, those sorts of things. A review. I haven't got any reviews in a long time. Again, it's the off season. But if you are enjoying the show and you feel so inclined, please throw a five-star review up on Apple iTunes. That helps the show out quite a bit. Next week, back to five shows a week.

Friday, we're doing a gambling-related podcast. So, yeah. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy that. But let's dive into these team needs. So, taking a look here. Number one, I think, obviously, if it's my opinion that the Titans are going to cut Bud Dupree, yes, Rashad Weaver is there.

But who knows? Rashad Weaver's basically a rookie again because of his broken leg in week three. So, we don't know what we're going to get from Weaver. We simply don't. So, with that in mind, I think the Titans' number one need next year is going to be edge.

And I want to see them go into the draft and get a young edge rusher who's cheap. Because here's the reality. Like I mentioned earlier. You're paying Autry $9 million. You're paying Landry $18 million on the cap. You're paying Simmons probably $21-$22 million a year at that point. You need your fourth rusher to be cheap.

On a rookie contract. That's what you really need. To unlock that combination. That's what you really need to unlock that combination. That's how this works. Okay? If you're going to give some of your guys big money, you got to hit on some rookie contracts in their

rookie window to help. Edge rusher will be the primary need for the Titans next year. I think it was a need that people didn't pay enough attention to this year. So, edge, number one need for me. Number two, wide receiver. Robert Woods,

in his 30s. Like I said, you may have to cut Robert Woods because it's $13 million in pure savings with no dead cap. The Titans will need another young wide receiver to pair with Traylon Burks. They absolutely must.

They must. It'll be a significant need next year. Just as much of a need as it was this year. Also, on that note, like I've talked about the entire episode, you may be losing Nate Davis in free agency. You may need to upgrade at left guard no matter what happens this year because Brewer and Jones aren't good enough. Taylor LeJuan, $14 million in savings. No dead cap.

I mean, we talk about the Titans being $24 million over the cap. Robert Woods, Taylor LeJuan, cut them both. Zero dead cap. $27 million in savings. Now you're back to good. You do some restructures. Now we're talking close to $20 million in cap space with those two moves as the fulcrum.

Now, I don't want to see that because I think that would put the Titans in a bad spot, but if it has to happen, edge, wide receiver, offensive line, clearly the top need. So who could be available in free agency, though, for the Titans if they want to go that route? I think Bradley Chubb.

Now, that would be an expensive play, but if you really just want to lock in on the edge, you can make somebody cut LeJuan, cut Woods, move on from Zach Cunningham. If you move on from Tannehill, Bud Dupree, I mean, we're talking about massive savings. Bud Dupree, Ryan Tannehill together, that's $27 million. $27 million from LaJuan and

Woods. We're talking about $54 million. You could carve out enough space to do some extensions and maybe get a guy like Bradley Chubb. At wide receiver, Sterling Shepard, Juju Smith-Schuster, Debo Samuel, and DK Metcalf could be free agents if they don't get extensions. I'm doubting that, but a guy like Sterling Shepard, if it was Sterling Shepard, Traylon Burks, Kyle Phillips, Nick Westbrook-Akina, I think that's a really good group. I mean, a pretty good group. Average. In the NFL, you add another rookie to that, I think it could be solid. But Sterling Shepard, to me, is a guy who I think could give you similar things as Robert Woods gives you. He's a smart guy, good route runner, understands defenses, knows where to sit down, reliable hands, younger, a little more athletic.

I think he would be a perfect pairing with the big physical bodies of Traylon Burks, Nick Westbrook-Akina, and then the slot quickness of Kyle Phillips. Sterling Shepard is a guy who I really want with the Tennessee Titans, and maybe that's somebody that could get for less than top of the market. At offensive line, if the Titans do move on from Taylor LeJuan, all they're going to have on the offensive line is Ben Jones, Dylan Radins on a rookie deal.

At that point, Isaiah Wynn. I mean, and Radins could shift over to left tackle, leaving your right tackle spot open. A guy like Isaiah Wynn, a guy like Rob Havenstein from the Rams, maybe a return with Jack Conklin, who will be back in free agency. What if Radins slid to the left? We brought Conklin back to go to the right.

That could make some sense. If the Titans really want to go top market, Elton Jenkins from the Packers is one of the best offensive linemen in the NFL, bar none, period. Can play tackle, can play guard, can play center, can do anything. So maybe the Titans cut a bunch of money off and go for one of the best young offensive linemen in the NFL and give them a big contract.

Maybe they spend in free agency there to shore up the offensive line. Those are options at the top three positions of need that the Titans will have, depending on how much money they want to carve out. If they do let Zach Cunningham go, David Long's a free agent. Linebacker could become a huge need all of a sudden for the Titans. Depending on how Derrick Henry and Ryan Tannehill do,

running back and quarterback could be needs. Austin Hoover, they're going to bring him back? Tight end could be a big need again for the Titans. Somebody to pair with Chika Konkwo. A lot of questions, but that's kind of what the Titans are looking at next year. So keep

that in mind as we go into training camp because John Robinson is going to be looking for some extensions, maybe Hooker, Simmons, Long, Davis. Keep those things in your mind as we progress through the season. Of course, there's a long season ahead of us that we need to focus on first, but always good to take a little bit of a look ahead at what next year brings.

But that's going to do it for me today, folks. I hope this was informative. I hope it was fun. Let me know your thoughts on some of these decisions the Titans have to make down below. That's going to do it for me today, though, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.