Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Kevin Byard PAY CUT, Salary Cap Update, OT Workouts & Training Camp injury Update

Episode Date: July 23, 2023

The Tennessee Titans star safety Kevin Byard made another team-friendly decision this weekend when he accepted a re-negotiated contract to allow the Titans more financial flexibility. Some think it means Byard being cut after the year is more likely, but Tyler thinks the opposite. Next, the Titans worked out two veteran tackles over the weekend, but didn't sign either. What does it mean and was it the right move?? Finally, the Titans place a few players on some injury lists prior to training camp, but one of them wasn't Harold Landry!Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videosSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetterHelpThis episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. If you’re thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. Visit BetterHelp.com/Lockedon today to get 10% off your first month.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It was a huge weekend of news for the Tennessee Titans, highlighted by Kevin Byard being selfless and taking a pay cut so that the Titans can sign DeAndre Hopkins. We're going to go over all the financial details 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 Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast.

I am your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans. A huge weekend of Tennessee Titans news. We got the Kevin Byard pay cut. The Titans are working out offensive tackles. The Titans finally placed a couple players on PUP and NFI before we start training camp. Training camp is this week. The Jersey Review. I mean, so much is going on right now, and I am breaking down all of the latest news with you guys on today's show. Before we get into it, do want to let you know that today's episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find qualified candidates you want to talk to faster. Post your job for

free at linkedin.com slash locked on NFL. That's linkedin.com slash locked on NFL to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen Monday through Friday each

and every day. Remember, the Locked on Titans podcast is daily Tennessee Titans content all year round on all apps and always for free. Make sure that you get subscribed. Stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast where it's your team every day. Ready to dive into the training camp action this week. Tomorrow, we're going to be doing a 53-man roster prediction

plus talking a little bit more about those beautiful throwback jerseys. So make sure, again, that you get subscribed. Stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast. Free Tennessee Titans content every day all year long. But diving into the big news from the weekend, and

there was a lot of it, Kevin Byer once again remaining one of the greatest Tennessee Titans of all time. We heard the news earlier in the offseason that the Titans were hoping that Kevin Byard would take a pay cut. And as we heard, Kevin Byard declined to take that pay cut. But at the time, it makes sense. Why am I taking a pay cut for a team that didn't really add a ton of weaponry?

And now that DeAndre Hopkins is in the fold, Kevin Byard has a reasonable reason to take that pay cut. And really, when you look at it, Byard has the chance to make his money back. Essentially, what's happened here is the Titans have moved the money from this year to next year to give themselves more wiggle room now because they'll have more salary cap space next year. And Bayard can get the money that he lost back if he's on the team next year,

which personally based on what I'm seeing, he should be. So let's dive more into the contract structure here. I'm going to use a little bit of a visual aid. Shout out to spottrack.com. Excellent website covering the financial aspects of all professional sports. So shout out to spot track, but I'm showing the contract details on the screen for the YouTube crowd podcast.

Guys, I'll just, I'll just have to explain it to you here, but basically going into this season, Kevin Bayard had a salary cap hit of $19 million. The Tennessee Titans have lessened that by $8 million. That's the nuts and bolts of this situation. The Titans have saved themselves $8 million in salary cap space. So what they've done here is, basically, instead of paying Kevin Byard $14 million in cash

with $19 million in salary cap hit, they have taken $4 million away from Kevin or $3 million away from Kevin Byard in actual cash and moved that basically to next year with that $4 million roster bonus. So if Kevin Byard is on the Titans roster after March of 2024,

it'll be the new league year date, which will probably be March 15th, 17th, 18th, sometime in that third week of 2024. It'll be the new league year date, which will probably be March 15th, 17th, 18th, sometime in that third week of March. If Byard's on the roster next year, then he gets basically the $4 million that he gave up this year. He gets it back. So basically, it's a bet that,

hey, we can't pay you all that this year, but if you're with us next year, then we're going to be able to do it. And if you look at what I'm showing, you look at the out that the Titans would have when they could basically cut Kevin Byard next year. If they cut Kevin Byard next year to avoid that $4 million roster bonus in March, if they cut him at the end of February, like we've seen with Taylor LeJuan and Robert Woods and Bud Dupree and all that this year, Well, it would only save them $6 million on the cap and they would have a dead cap hit of $13 million. So to me, this is some people were

acting like, oh, this is Kevin Byard's last season with the team. Now this, I, to me, my analysis of the contract doesn't point me to think that Kevin Byard will be cut after the season. I think that basically the Titan said, instead of paying you $19 million on the salary cap this year and $11 million on the salary cap next year, we have less money now. We have more money next year. Let's just flip that. Hey, we're going to flip it so that we'll give you that same amount of money that you're supposed to get this year. We'll give it to you next year, Kevin. But this year, we can't give you quite that much. That's basically what I'm seeing from the contract. There's not a lot

of lost money for Kevin Bayard. He's taken a pay cut in this year. So that's true for people to call it a pay cut. He is going to receive less cash this year from the Titans than he was going to prior. But, he basically just flipped that money from this year

to next year when the Titans have more salary cap space to pay him. So to me, if you want a true word to describe this contract, it's not pay cut. It's truly a renegotiation. They're just renegotiating when Kevin Byard is going to get the money. So I'm not trying to take away from his heroism because he could have said no. He's still getting less money this season from the Titans. He decided to do that to help them fit in DeAndre Hopkins, help them bring in a veteran offensive tackle, help them make moves during the season.

So Byard still deserves credit. But I'm just saying, more than a true pay cut, if you look at the total value over the next two years, really more than anything, Byard renegotiated when he's going to get that money with the risk of knowing that the Titans could cut him before next year and then he wouldn't get that money back. So as long as Byard is on the team in March, he's not losing any money over these next two years, but the Titans could cut him. Now again, as I said, they would have $14 million in dead cap if they did that and only $6 million in savings.

I don't think that makes any sense. So I don't think that it's likely. I think Kevin Byard will be on the Titans for the next two seasons. And I think what the Titans could do is next offseason, they could give him an extension, give him two or three more years on his deal. And basically basically that would take Kevin Byard through the life of his career with the Tennessee Titans, right? They get through

this year, give them a little bit more wiggle room to make moves and make this team better, get to next year, and we can talk about what we want to do with the future, Kevin. That's how I see this deal. So is it a pay cut? Technically, yes, it is. What it's more of is a renegotiation, and I personally don't agree with some of the narratives out there that this means it's Kevin Byard's last year with the team. I think this just gives the Titans a little bit of breathing room so that they can figure out what they want to do with Byard next summer

when they have more money, they have more salary cap space, and they just have more flexibility. So this is really all about giving the Tennessee Titans the opportunity to make this team as good as possible, and Kevin Byard deserves credit for taking that pay cut sacrifice this year and taking the risk of not being on the team next year. But I think there are some real assurances here that Kevin Byard will be able to figure something out

with the Titans next summer. But again, this just gives them the wiggle room and the flexibility that they need this year to, again, sign DeAndre Hopkins, look at veteran offensive tackles, make moves during the season. So Kevin Byard continues to be one of the best Tennessee Titans of all time. What a great guy, what a great player. We're very lucky to have him on the team. But speaking of DeAndre Hopkins, veteran offensive tackles, all that. Hopkins, according to himself on social media, officially signed his contract with the Titans. We don't have the contract details yet,

but the veteran offensive tackles, they did work out on Saturday, and it doesn't look like the Titans were able to come to agreement with either of them. So we're going to dive into that in just a moment. Before we get into it, though, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Jobs. These days, every new potential hire can feel like a high stakes wager for your small business. You want to be 100% certain that you have access to the best qualified candidates available. That's why you have to check out LinkedIn Jobs.

LinkedIn Jobs helps find the right people for your team faster and for free. All you got to do is create a free job post on LinkedIn Jobs. Then add your job in the purple hashtag hiring frame to your LinkedIn profile, and it's going to spread the word that you're hiring. They have simple tools like screening questions that make it really easy to focus on the candidates with just the right skills and experience. So you can quickly prioritize who you'd like to interview and then hire. It's why small businesses rate LinkedIn jobs.

Number one in delivering quality hires versus the leading competitors. LinkedIn jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to faster. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to faster. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash locked on NFL. That's linkedin.com slash locked on NFL to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We just talked about the Kevin Byer renegotiation,

Kevin Byer pay cut, whatever you want to call it there. You can find a way to explain it the way that you want, but we went over all the financial details there, what it actually means for the Tennessee Titans going forward. We're going to continue that conversation as we talk about some veteran offensive tackles that the Titans brought in for a workout on Saturday. What happened there? Before we get into that, I do want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round on all apps

and always for free. Get subscribed. Stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast where it's your team every day. My everydayers out there, let me know who you are down in the comment section below, but shout out to my everydayers. It's going to be a great week. Tomorrow, we're going to be reacting to the Houston Oilers jerseys. I'm going to do my pre

training camp 53 man roster predictions going position by position. I'm going to get a visual aid working for you guys so you can see how I have the roster plotted out, who I think is on the bubble. We're going to have a huge conversation tomorrow. And then, of course, going forward, training camp begins

on Tuesday. So we're going to be forward, training camp begins on Tuesday. So we're going to be breaking down training camp practice and all that throughout the week. So excited for what's to come here. Again, make sure that you guys are subscribed for daily free Tennessee Titans content. But diving in here, we got an update from Jordan Schultz. George finished his workout with the Titans.

Sources say two sides will remain in touch moving forward with no deal as of right now. Unable to agree to terms, but mutual interest is still there. Unable to agree to terms. And it wasn't just George Fant. The Titans also had Chris Hubbard in for a workout. And it's funny because, you know, I'm not,

someone called me Tyler Stradamus on Twitter at one point in time. That was pretty funny. But, you know, I don't think I'm making like crazy predictions. It's not like we're at the start of free agency here. And there are so many different options. And I'm just guessing perfectly who the Titans are going to talk to. The reality is anybody who looked at the free agent list for offensive tackles would see George Fayette and Chris Hubbard as two guys with incredible experience.

I talked about Eric Fisher as well. He got injured last year, wasn't able to play in a game in 2022, but made a bunch of starts for Indianapolis in 2015, or it wasn't Miami and then Indy in 2020. Either way, 2021, he had a bunch of starts, former first-round pick, so I thought Eric Fisher might be a name that made sense as well, but George Fant was always the obvious option, the best option for the Titans. It's unfortunate, though, the news that they weren't able to work out an agreement

because you thought when the Kevin Byard pay cut came through, you thought for sure that that would mean that the Titans were going to add one of these veteran tackles, and I just worry about how long they're going to wait. If you don't do it now at the start of training camp, then in my mind, the Titans are saying, hey, we have other options on the team that we would rather explore rather than paying one of these guys a guaranteed salary for the rest of the season. Even if it's a veteran minimum salary,

if you sign them before the regular season and they're on the roster in week one, that means that person's salary is guaranteed going forward throughout the rest of the year. So that's why a lot of teams wait until after week one to kind of bring in some of these free agent veteran floaters that are there in the summertime. The Titans may have said, hey, rather than giving you guys this money, we might see if an offensive tackle gets cut somewhere else.

And then if they don't, then we'll call you back and maybe bring you in then. That, to me, is a risky game to play. I had to take a drink of water. Sorry about that. Everybody else, this is your moment. Take a drink of water. Hydrate, guys.

Training camp's on the way. But to me, that's a risky game to play because part of signing a guy right now and being able to plug him into the lineup is to be able to build that continuity. If you try to bring in a guy after cut day, which is two weeks before the regular season starts, and then plug him in because NPF is suspended for six games,

I think that might be difficult to do. It might be difficult to create continuity. And maybe the Titans just decided our in-house options are better. We'd rather roll with Jalen Duncan there. We'd rather kick Skowronski to right tackle and let Jamarco Jones play left guard. Any other combination that they could put together like we talked about. Maybe the Titans decided that going that route was better,

but I don't think it is. And I think it's pretty dangerous if the Titans aren't bringing one of these guys in. Now, it could be a situation where they're just not bringing them in. Now, it could be a situation where they're just not bringing them in right now. It could happen in a week or so after they see what these guys do in training camp or how their new in-house lineup looks. They might want to get a look at it now. I don't know either way, but again, I think it would be better to bring in Fant. I

think it would be better to bring in Hubbard. If Fant wants too much money, then you pivot to Hubbard. Hubbard's made 49 starts in his career. In the last three seasons where he had 200 passing block reps or more, he had over a 70 grade in pass blocking. So Hubbard's a guy who's been a pretty decent pass blocker throughout his career, and that's what the Titans are looking for philosophically on the offensive line this year. They've been gearing themselves way more towards pass protectors than run blockers, which is a deviation from the future. So with 2,967 career snaps at right tackle, I think that Hubbard would make a ton of sense. And in my opinion, as I said online at Tic Tac Titans on Twitter, the Titans need one of these players. Now, I know what you're thinking in your

head after the DeAndre Hopkins stuff, after the Kevin Byard stuff, where are the Titans at with cap space? So, the Titans had $16.6 million in cap space after Kevin Byard's renegotiation. Will Levis signed his contract over the weekend, which was about $1.7 million against the salary cap. So, the Titans are basically at $15 million in salary cap space right now without knowing what DeAndre Hopkins' cap hit is going to be, which I think is going to be anywhere from $4 to $6 million.

So I think the Titans have about $9 to $8 million worth of salary cap space left. If they bring in a George Fant, they bring in a Chris Hubbard, something like that, I think that's a little bit over $2 million for a veteran contract for those guys so the Titans would have themselves about $6 million $5 million somewhere in there to work with throughout the season to bring in some additional pieces and things like that so that's where the Titans are at

right now and that's where I think they could go and ultimately settle before the season but I am a little bit disappointed to see that the Titans did not bring in one of these guys officially because now it just makes me wonder about what their philosophy is going to be about handling this offensive line going forward. I hope that it's not a situation, like I said, where they clearly favor the in-house options and want to get a look at that because I don't really like those options as much as getting a free agent tackle. But again, we're talking about

Mike Vrabel. We're talking about Rand Carthon. They've been handling this all season nearly perfectly so far. So I'm going to sit back, watch them work, but have my own fair concerns and criticisms as well. Let me know down below what you guys think the Titans should do at offensive tackle. Do you want them to reach back out to Hubbard and Fant and bring those guys in? Do you want them to solve the problem for the first six games with an internal option. Let me know down below how you guys feel about that. But with that being said, the Titans made some roster moves on Saturday or Sunday. I forget exactly which day it was, but got a couple of guys going on the physically unable to perform list to start training camp.

Got a guy going on the non-football injury list to start training camp. And there's one player who is not on either of those lists. And I think that it's something that should get Titans fans really excited. So we're going to dive into that in just a moment. Titans fans, let's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We talked about the Kevin Byard renegotiation. We talked about the Titans working out offensive tackles and where they're at from a salary cap standpoint. Now I want to talk about some roster moves as the Titans head towards the start of training camp on Tuesday.

Feels so good to say that I got so excited this weekend with all the news and everything going on. I mean, I know that this isn't the start of the regular season, but to me, training camp is where it really starts. Buckle your seatbelt. It's time for the ride. Like, I'm so excited for Tuesday. But with that being said, let's talk about some of these roster moves that the Titans made leading up into training camp. Before we get into it, of course, I want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen

each and every day, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round on all apps, always for free. Get subscribed. Stay subscribed to the Locked on Titans podcast where it's your team every day. Tomorrow's my 53-man roster prediction. We're going to be reacting to those Houston Oiler jerseys a little bit too. I'm going to have an instant reaction, short video up on the YouTube channel later tonight after the full episode as well.

Given my reaction, you can, of course, follow me at TicTacTitans on Twitter, where I'm going to be reacting to the jerseys even more. But tomorrow, the 53-man roster prediction, I'm excited to dive into that before camp kicks off as well. But we got a couple of moves here. So number one, the number one thing I want to point out here, no Harold Landry on either of these lists. Harold Landry is not going to start camp on PUP. He's not going to start camp on NFI. So, no matter what, Harold Landry is close. They may not put him out there right away, but they're not putting him on any kind of list.

Landry's going to be playing shortly, basically is what we know from this. He's going to be playing shortly, basically, is what we know from this. He's going to be participating soon. And that's huge because the quicker he gets onto the field, the quicker he gets comfortable, the sooner he gets back to his peak level, the sooner the Titans' defense improves by miles because Harold Landry is that important.

So, I love hearing this. I love that he's feeling good. Looks like he's ready to go based on this news. That's very exciting news. Hype about Harold Landry. Ready to see him back in the lineup. Ready to see him back out on the field for the Titans. Starting that process to get back to normal and get right.

But, some players who did make these lists, and I know some of you guys are getting ready to shake your fist, yell at the clouds, but Dylan Radins and Caleb Farley will start training camp on the physically unable to perform list. All right. Now that you're all collectively done shaking your fist, this was expected.

Caleb Farley had a back surgery. Dylan Radins tore his ACL in week 15. I expected them to be on PUP to start training camp. Like, that seemed like a likely outcome based on everything that we've heard from the coaching staff through summer OTAs. It seemed like that would be the case. Farley was maybe on the fence a little bit,

but he hadn't been on the field whatsoever. They've just been saying he's been working through strength, strength training, working in the classroom, getting better, all that, but we haven't seen him out on the field at all. So this is kind of expected. And then Josh Thompson, the defensive back, will start

on the non-football injury list. Now, let me clarify this. Just because you go on PUP or NFI right now does not mean that you have to miss a certain amount of games. If you are put on PUP or NFI before training camp, you can come off the list at any time.

They don't have to sit out a certain amount of weeks in camp or all that. They can come off the list at any time. They don't have to sit out a certain amount of weeks in camp or all that. They can come off the list at any time. Okay? Here's the last thing that I want to say about this, because the reaction that I saw a lot was, the Titans should just cut Caleb Farley. Just cut him.

And a lot of you guys get in my comments and talk to me on Twitter, and you tell me the Titans should just cut Caleb Farley. And as I've said throughout the offseason, I understand the frustration. I understand why people are saying that. But, we talked about salary cap. If the Titans cut Caleb Farley right now,

they would lose $2.5 million in salary cap space. It would negatively impact the Titans' salary cap space to cut Caleb Farley. It doesn't make any sense to do that. You're hurting yourself by cutting Caleb Farley so that you can add what? An undrafted free agent corner, a sixth cornerback. Come on, man. Adding one of those bottom of the roster bubble guys is not worth losing

two and a half million dollars regardless of Farley. So financially, it makes no sense to cut Caleb Farley. And from the football aspect, the Titans just added Chris Harris as defensive backs coach. He has one of the best reputations in the NFL for coaching up young players and getting them to improve and be their best selves.

Farley deserves the chance here to see if he can stay healthy and see if he can improve under Chris Harris. It makes sense for the Titans to give him that opportunity as well because of the financial situation I already described. If the Titans get lucky here, Farley stays healthy all year once he gets healthy, and he's able to contribute in a limited role. I'm not saying starting.

I'm not saying even the third or the fourth corner. I'm saying playing special teams and being a saying even the third or the fourth corner. I'm saying playing special teams and being a fifth or sixth corner on the depth chart. And then if he can stay healthy, get some reps, do that role. Maybe next year when you could cut him and save

some money, maybe rather than doing that he improves. And maybe he's not a starting corner but maybe he's good enough to be a third or fourth corner after Christian Fulton leaves. So, financially speaking, football-wise, it doesn't make any sense to cut bait with Caleb Farley now.

So the Titans aren't going to do that. They shouldn't do that. And I think that people freaking out because Farley was on PUP, it's in bad faith because it should have been expected all along. Same thing with Raidens. Now, does it hurt to see that as a Titans fan? See your top

two picks in 2021? Basically not being able to contribute for their first two seasons? Yes, it sucks. And that's why I said I understand that people are frustrated with Farley specifically. I get the frustration here, but at the end of the day, this was expected.

So anybody freaking out is, you know, it's just kind of in bad faith, in my opinion. But either way, it was a huge weekend of news. Training camp is right around the corner. 53-man roster prediction tomorrow.

Make sure you guys tune in. But that is going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.