Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans NEXT BIG MOVES on Day 2 of Free Agency, Remaining Needs Left & Salary Cap Space

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Tennessee Titans made massive moves on day one in free agency, but there's more work to be done. I'll tell you the best remaining players at spots of needs and how much money the Titans have left to work with on today's edition of Locked on Titans. 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'm your host, Tyler Roland Titans fans on today's show.

Starting point is 00:00:39 We are going to talk about what needs the Tennessee Titans have remaining that they need to address in free agency, the best players available at those needs. Also, how much money do the Tennessee Titans have left to spend and how can they make more cap space? I'm going to go over all of that before I do. Do want to thank you for making Locked on Titans your first listen each and every day.

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Starting point is 00:01:41 Thank you all so much. But with all that being said, again, remember to stay locked in with the Locked-on Titans podcast. But the biggest needs remaining for the Tennessee Titans by far are both on the interior offensive line. You have starting center and starting guard. And the Titans made a couple of moves late last night that we'll discuss. They add Austin Schlotman, who is a backup center from the New York Giants. They add Cordell Volesen, who is a backup guard from the Cincinnati Bengals. Both of those guys are interior offensive linemen, but in my opinion, they are backups.

Starting point is 00:02:17 Now, Austin Schlotman, which is an interesting name to say consistently, but he had some good, he was basically the Corey Levin version of the New York Giants. The Giants had John Michael Schmitz as their starting center, and a lot of Giants fans say that Schlotman played better than John Michael Schmitz in the four starts that he made last year for the team. Just like how Titans fans say Corey Levin was better than Lloyd Cushingberry last year. But I don't think that you go into the season going, hey, we have Slotman and we have Jackson Slater, and we're going to let those two guys battle it out.

Starting point is 00:02:53 I don't think that that's the right way to go. And then for Cordell Voulson, he had plenty of starts for the Cincinnati bangles, but trust me when I tell you, Cordell Volson cannot be your starting right guard and should not be slated to be your starting right guard. So I think the Titans still have work to do on the interior offensive line at center, at garden at center. Dylan Parham is a name that I continue to focus on. Worked with Carmen Bracillo during their time together with the Las Vegas Raiders. Parham could be a center. He could be a guard. So it gives you good versatility there. A guy like Luke Fortner is still available, a veteran center that can make a lot of sense.

Starting point is 00:03:33 Elton Jenkins was cut by the Green Bay Packers yesterday. I've been talking about Elkton Jenkins for a couple of weeks now after it looked like he might be a cap casualty. Maybe Lloyd Cushingberry gets healthy. The Titans bring him back on a cheaper deal. I don't think that that's realistic, but hey, I guess you never know. Ethan Posich is a guy who I've liked for quite a few years, who was with the Cleveland Browns.

Starting point is 00:03:55 He's a starting level center, but is he a, you know, a massive upgrade. Excuse me. All the free agency talk got me going there. But at guard, Kevin Zitler. I still think that Zytler comes back for the Tennessee Titans. He wants to be in Nashville. He's not going to cost a lot.

Starting point is 00:04:15 There's no reason to rush that deal. Take your time. Get your things in order if you're the Titans. But I would like to see Kevin Zytler back. He was a very good player for the Titans last year. Yes, he's not a long-term solution at 36 years old. He was a little bit banged up at the end of the year, but I think the Titans could do a lot worse.

Starting point is 00:04:32 I continue to like Wyatt Teller at guard. I know that he's had some injuries. He's 31 years old, but he's still a very good player and could play for a couple more years. Greg Van Roten, he's 36 years old as well, but played pretty well for the New York Giants as a spot starter. Evan Neal is another New York Giants connection, although I've had my fill of former New York Giants at this point.

Starting point is 00:04:56 But the Titans just don't have as much. options on the interior offensive line as they had going into day one. So I want to see them address that on day two. Now moving forward to some of the depth spots on defense, edge rusher has not had any signing whatsoever at this time. And I know that John Franklin Myers adds to the defensive line. The Titans went out and traded for Jermaine Johnson, which you could look at as their edge addition.

Starting point is 00:05:20 You have Femiola-Dazio, but I still think the Titans need another guy. Maybe at this point they take a chance on Joey Bosa. I don't think Bosa would want to play for a team like the Titans. He'd want more of a contending type team. But hey, maybe the Titans go out and give him a one-year deal. I don't really like K. LeVon Chase-on, but at this point when you have John Franklin Myers, Jeffrey Simmons, Jermaine Johnson, Femiola Deja,

Starting point is 00:05:42 who are more big, strong power guys, maybe the Titans do go for a speed rusher. And I think Kalaun Chason could fit that bill. The guy who I actually want at edge rusher as a speed guy is Arnold Ebikete, who played for the Atlanta Falcons had a couple of seasons of six and a half sacks. He is a speed guy, 6 foot 2, you know,

Starting point is 00:06:04 230, 240 pounds. Had his role phased out when James Pierce Jr. and Jalen Walker were drafted by the Falcons but I think he would be a good fit as a designated pass rushing speed rusher. And then of course the big fish still remains out there. Trey Hendrickson, which I'll be honest with you. I don't see the Tennessee Titans making any kind of big splashes. Like Trey Hendrickson anymore, I told you last week that the Titans were not going to be in on Trey Hendrickson.

Starting point is 00:06:33 But at this point, if the market dissipates enough for Hendrickson and he doesn't get $30 million per year, the Titans may throw their hat into that ring. Now, Leonard Floyd could be a good designated pass rush or speed guy. They could bring in some other big bodied edges like Yaturgros Matos or A.J. Espineza or Clellan Farrell. who have some experience with Robert Salon some capacity other than Espinessa. So that could be an option. But either way, the Titans need an addition on the edge. Linebacker.

Starting point is 00:07:07 They need a coverage linebacker to go with Cedricer Grey. Leo Chenol, Bobby O'Kareke, Willie Gay. A lot of people are saying Dre Greenlaw. Drey Greenlaw is an older, injured version of Cedric Gray. They're both chase and run Will linebackers. I don't think that Drean Law makes some sense. At safety. Tons of safety is still out there. Nick Cross. Kevin Byard.

Starting point is 00:07:33 Jaquan Brisker. Jason Pinoc is who I think the Titans actually end up with. Andre Sisko, Gino Stone, still a lot of good value safeties on the board for the Titans so they don't need to rush there. Interior defensive line. A guy like Logan Hall. A guy like Sebastian Joseph Day could come back. I would love that.

Starting point is 00:07:51 If they want to go more with an interior nose tackle, run stuffing type. Fully Futecasse, Deshawn Han and the guy who I actually think they end up with Kalaya Davis who was with San Francisco last year. On offense, there's still some depth spots that I could see being added. No running back was added. Will the Titans go with a Rashad White?

Starting point is 00:08:11 I think that they should go with Brian Robinson who's a downhill power running back and even if, even if the Titans draft, Jeremiah Love, Brian Robinson still fits perfectly. Isaiah Pacheco, another guy who, runs hard and gets downhill. He could be an option as an RB3-R-B-2 type. So I think those make sense.

Starting point is 00:08:33 Could the Titans go back to the well at wide receiver? If Joanne Jennings, Romeo Dobbs, don't get big-time deals, maybe they take a $10 million, $11 million deal with the Titans. At this point, with Wondell Robinson in tow, I wouldn't even be mad. I didn't want Romeo Dobbs. I didn't want Joanne Jennings. but at this point, if the deal is cheap enough,

Starting point is 00:08:57 which obviously it might be since these guys haven't been signed on day one, I would take a chance on Juan Jennings or Romeo Dobbs at this point for a cheap deal, lower than what they were expected to get. If you could give those guys a one-year $10 million deal, I'm all for it at this point. Gabe Davis, obviously, experience with Brian Dable. He's a big physical receiver. They could bring Van Jefferson back,

Starting point is 00:09:19 who's another bigger physical receiver. Sterling Shepard is out there. I know he's had injuries, but obviously he's had some experience with Brian Dable. Nick Westbrookine Reunion for a veteran minimum deal. I'm not against it at this point. We know who he is. He's a veteran minimum player. I would bring back NWI for a million dollars.

Starting point is 00:09:38 There are other bigger names out there that I don't think make sense for the Titans. Debo Samuel, Darnel Mooney, Christian Kirk, Tyreek Hill. But at this point, I could see the Titans double dipping at wide receiver, because the guys that are still available are going to be cheaper than we initially thought and then of course special teams. Punter, go get me Tommy Townsend, Jamie Gillian, or Borges

Starting point is 00:10:03 from the Cleveland Browns, at kicker, bring back Joey Sly, bring me Daniel Carlson, or Jason Sanders. I'm cool with all of those guys, but the Titans still need additions on special teams. But how much money do the Titans have left to actually go sign these guys? I'm going to tell you right now.

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Starting point is 00:12:24 But head to fandle.com to get started. Again, that's fandle.com. Fandle. Play your game. Fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked-on Titans podcast. We're looking at the biggest remaining needs for the Tennessee Titans, the players that are still available. Now we've got to talk about how much money the Tennessee Titans actually have left. And we're starting to get some of the contract details in full

Starting point is 00:13:04 on some of the players that the Titans signed on day one. Alante Taylor is going to hit for $14 million on this. And this is a good financial lesson. We'll have more of a financial focused episode. Might be a financial focus Friday coming down the pike later this week. But Alante Taylor got $20 million per year, right? Three years, 60 million. But his cap hit in year one is only 14 million.

Starting point is 00:13:32 Wondale Robinson got $17 million per year on his contract. but his cap hit in year one is only $11 million. Cordell Flott got $15 million per season, but his cap hit is only $10 million in year one. Daniel Bellinger got $8 million per year, but his cap hit is only $5 million. Cordell Volson is at $3.2 million. That's a one-year deal.

Starting point is 00:13:58 That $3.2 million is basically like backup level money in the NFL. So there you go. again, the point is the average annual value, the average per year is not what hits the salary cap. So you can't just go, Alante Taylor 20, Wondale Robinson 17. Oh, that's, you know, $37 million in cap space the Titans used. That's not how it works. So with that in mind, we still don't have John Franklin Myers, Mitch Trubisky, slotman,

Starting point is 00:14:33 Josh Williams, who was signed at cornerback, Morgan Cox, who was brought back as the long snapper. We don't have those five guys right there. But my guess would be John Franklin Myers at about 13 million. Mitch Trubisky at about 5 million. Slot and Williams at about 3 million apiece.

Starting point is 00:14:53 Morgan Cox is going to be $1 million. He's going to get like $900,000. But essentially, I think those guys are going to equal up about $24 million in salary cap space. So if you take that $24 million for the guys we don't know about and you add it to the guys that we do know about, the Tennessee Titans have about $49 million minus the 24 of the guys we don't know about yet.

Starting point is 00:15:17 So basically it's $49 million in salary cap space with what we know already. Add in the $24 million for the guys that we don't know already. And I think the Titans have about $25 million. salary cap space right now. And let's be honest, that's not a ton to work with. The Titans had $18 million

Starting point is 00:15:37 of salary cap rollover going into the season last year. Like they had $18 million from 2024 that they kept over for 25 going into this year. So Mike Borganzi likes to leave a little bit of room to make moves during the season, to be able

Starting point is 00:15:55 to pull off a trade if you need to, a lot of different reasons. So I think for the effective amount of cap space that the Titans actually could spend right now, it's about $25 million. But keep this in mind. Legerius Sneed. Calvin Ridley.

Starting point is 00:16:19 Tony Pollard. And remember, if the math ain't mathed for you, remember, the Titans have a draft class that they have to pay as well. So that's included in that loss of salary cap. They got to pay, I think it's around $18 million. It's 12 to 18 somewhere in that. there. But Ligerius Sneed, the Titans could cut him, $12 million.

Starting point is 00:16:41 And I think he will be cut by the 15th, which is Saturday, I believe. Calvin Ridley, cut $13 million. Tony Pollard cut $7 million. Now, I'm not as sure about Tony Pollard. But the Titans could clear out $25 million more dollars just by cutting Lageria Sneed and Calvin Ridley. And I do think both those guys do get cut. Now the question becomes

Starting point is 00:17:05 If the Titans feel like they've done most of the work that they need to do in free agency and they don't need a big chunk of money They could cut Lageria Snead and Calvin Ridley as post-June 1st designations Here is how this works Because there's a lot of confusion in the fan base

Starting point is 00:17:23 Of how a post-June 1 cut works You cut the player with a post-June 1st designation That means that the player immediately, immediately becomes a free agent. They are cut. Now, that can save you more money. Legerius Sneed, if he's cut right now, regular, 12 million. Cut him as a post-June 1st designation, 15 million.

Starting point is 00:17:50 So that's 3 million more in savings. Calvin Ridley, cut him right now as a normal cut, 13 million in cap savings. Cut him as a post-June 1st designation, that's $18 million in savings. 5 million more. But here is the kicker. Here's the catch of a post-June 1st designation. The Titans don't get that money until after June the 1st. The player gets to become a free agent right now, but the Titans don't get that money until June 1st. Why would they do that? Well, essentially, if they don't feel like they need the money, here's the question.

Starting point is 00:18:29 it's like when you win the lottery the state where you win the lottery will say hey we'll give you half of the money as a lump sum right now or if you want the full amount of the money we'll do monthly payments so essentially it's Titans do you want that savings right now

Starting point is 00:18:57 at a reduced rate or do you want more cap savings but you can't have all of it until later. That's the gambit. And what that does is that gives teams more wiggle room financially and it lets players get into the market when teams are actually spending money right now during regular free agency.

Starting point is 00:19:16 I think the Titans cut Legerius Sneed outright. Here's, well, I don't really know which one it's going to be, but I think that one of them is going to be a post-June 1st designation cut and then the other one is going to be cut right now. and that'll give the Titans you know $40 million of cap space they can still do

Starting point is 00:19:40 two or three decent signings at edge offensive line and then they have the rest of it for later but again it's day two of free agency we're going to see it play out check out the Locked on Titans squad show that's coming up right now

Starting point is 00:19:55 that's going to do it for me today folks as always I am your host Tyler Rowland and this was Locked on Titans

Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans NEXT BIG MOVES on Day 2 of Free Agency, Remaining Needs Left & Salary Cap Space

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