Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Release Malcom Butler, Let Tag Options Hit Free Agency & Isaiah Wilson Trade Reax

Episode Date: March 10, 2021

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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, where do we even begin? So much Tennessee Titans news over the last 24 hours. Number one, Malcolm Butler was released. Now this is a move that we've talked about quite a bit here on the podcast, but to see

it actually happen, to see it really reported and taken place, you know, it leaves me in a strange spot. So I'll explain the ups and the downs that go along with that decision. And then we have to talk about the other major news that took place on Tuesday, and that was the franchise tag deadline. And we had a lot of players around the NFL get the franchise tag, none of them on the Tennessee Titans. And I saw some of you guys pretty upset online. I am here to talk you off the ledge and explain why it was the right decision for the Titans to not use the tag, but that's only the first part of the tag conversation.

We also have to talk about the players that did get the tag outside of the Titans, and more importantly, the players who didn't get the tag and will be free agent targets for the Tennessee Titans. And then as we're doing things chronologically backwards, get the tag and will be free agent targets for the Tennessee Titans. And then as we're doing things chronologically backwards, I will talk to you guys about the oldest story that we have had over the last 24 hours. It's just been a crazy, crazy day of Titans news. But on Monday night, we did get word that Isaiah Wilson would be traded to the Miami Dolphins. I gave you guys my quick thoughts at the beginning of yesterday's show.

Well, today, at the end of the show, I am going to dive in even further, explain the financials here, explain why the Titans made this move, why this move is a better outcome than other outcomes that could have taken place. So we're going over everything. I am so excited to dive into all of this major Tennessee Titans roster news with you guys on a Wednesday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it. Titans fans, we got a poor one out for the boy Mac Beasley.

That's right. The Titans did officially inform Malcolm Butler that he would be released. Now, we had gotten reports that the team and Butler's camp were working on a possible restructure to keep him with the team. But this is something I've actually talked about quite a bit when discussing Malcolm Butler's situation. If I'm Malcolm Butler, after clearly being the Titans' best cornerback in 2020, what incentive do I have to take a pay cut? Why would I do that after my best season in Nashville when the team

needed me the most and I stepped up the most? I know that Malcolm Butler wasn't perfect. He's not one of the top 10 cornerbacks in the league, but I would say he was a top 20 cornerback last year in the NFL. And like I said, by far and away, the best cornerback on the Tennessee Titans. This was the third season, or Malcolm had just completed the third season of a four-year contract. And here's the thing. Here's why this move was made to save money. We've talked at length about the depressed cap due to COVID-19 impacts on the salary cap in 2021.

And unfortunately, one of those casualties has to be Malcolm Butler. He saved the Titans $10.2 million just by releasing him. Although Malcolm Butler was the Titans' best cornerback in 2021, he's not a cornerback at 31 years old that is worth $14-15 million. So what the Titans are doing here is they're releasing Malcolm Butler. It's saving them 10 million dollars on the salary cap. And there is 4 million dollars in dead cap. Now the way you got to view this is that's money you already spent.

That's guaranteed money that already went to Malcolm Butler that was spread out over the life of his contract. So it's not like the Titans are losing $4 million. They're gaining $10 million here on $14 million that they technically already paid out. So the Titans are saving $10 million. That's the way that it should be framed, despite the fact that there are some dead cap still on the books. But that's okay.

The Titans are saving $10 million. Now, I do want to take a moment and just thank Malcolm Butler. I know that there were some ups and downs, and it was unfortunate that in 2019, he broke his arm and missed the back half of the year when he was playing pretty well, and that was about as good as we saw the Titans secondary in their two top corners. Adoree and Malcolm play at one time as that first half of 2019. But speaking of Adoree Jackson, now if you're losing your most reliable and your best cornerback, you are putting a ton of pressure on Adoree Jackson to get back to the form that we've seen him play in recent years.

Adoree's been up and down with different injuries, missed time, been out of the lineup, but he has flashed some times of really, really good football, and he's been a number one cornerback in terms of his peak play. Now the question becomes, can you rely on Adory Jackson to play at that level as consistently as he needs to with the cornerback group in the position it's in? So right now you have Adory Jackson, you have Christian Fulton, the second round pick from 2020. You have Chris Jackson, the seventh round pick from 2020. You have Breon Borders back in the fold.

You have a guy like Kareem Orr as well who's bounced up and back and forth from the roster to the practice squad. I mean, out of that group, imagine if you had Malcolm Butler. Now you can withstand some injuries here and there. Adoree Jackson misses almost the whole year, and it doesn't absolutely destroy you. Well, not now. Can you count on Adoree Jackson to be that? In my opinion, you can't do that, which is going to require the Titans to do one of three things.

Either they're going to have to spend a decent chunk of money in free agency, more money than we expected that they would. Or they're going to have to go out and trade for a veteran free. Not a free agent. But trade for a veteran player that can be relied upon. Or they're going to have to find a way to get their hands on one of the big three cornerbacks in the NFL draft. And that would be Caleb Farley, Patrick Sertan Jr., or JC Horn. And at this moment in time, where the Titans sit at 22, I don't think that they would be able to get any of the top three cornerbacks in the draft.

I think they'd all go a couple of picks before the Titans would even get on the board. So I guess what I mean to say here is with Malcolm Butler now gone while I agree with the move to save the money, his reliability and the stability that he brought to your cornerback group is now gone as well. And that means that the risk you are taking at cornerback is increased, which means in my mind, it heightens the necessity for the Titans to go out and do one of those three moves. Trade up to draft one of those top corners high. Trade for a veteran that you can count on. Like, Stephon Gilmore, for example, has been rumored a lot.

Now, that's a lot of money, but maybe that's what the Titans need to do. Because if not, then I think they do need to spend a decent amount in free agency rather than getting a top-tier edge rusher and then a medium-tier edge rusher. Now, the Titans may have to go with that top-tier edge rusher and then a medium-tier edge rusher, now the Titans may have to go with that top-tier edge rusher and then get a decent-tiered, an above-average-tier cornerback. Think about a William Jackson, for example. Maybe the Titans have to go that route. So it'll be interesting to see what they do,

but this move, while expected, will put John Robinson in a position where he's got to make some drastic moves to make sure the cornerback position can be relied upon going forward. But let's move forward into the next section of our show. We are going to talk about the franchise tag, who didn't get the tag for the Titans, who did get the tag around the NFL, and then which free agent targets are hitting the open market because they did not receive the tag, which is good news for the Tennessee Titans. Before we do, I want to tell you guys about Bilt Bar.

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Remember also, use promo code LOCKEDON20 to get 20% off your next order. That's LOCKEDON20 to get 20% off your next order at BuiltBar.com. Make sure that you check back to see who's won today's matchup and who will become the best tasting protein bar ever. It is time to dive into the next piece of major Tennessee Titans news that we got over the last 24 hours. And that is all of the news surrounding the franchise and transition tags. And to start out, the Titans had the ability to use either the franchise or transition tag if they wanted to. And we had kind of narrowed things down to where the Titans would really only consider using that on about three different guys. Corey Davis, whose price tag would have been $16 million. Jayon Brown, whose price tag would have been $15 million. And then really

the truly only realistic option, and that was Jonu Smith, who as a tight end would have been $15 million, and then really the truly only realistic option, and that was Jonu Smith, who as a tight end would have gotten a franchise tag price of around $10 million. The transition tag would have been around $8 million, but the Titans ultimately did not use the tag on any of the options that they had, and there was some disappointment expressed online. I feel like a lot of you guys thought the Titans would use that tag on Jonu Smith. Now I did at least acknowledge it as a possibility but in my mind and as I said on Twitter at

Tic Tac Titans, I never thought that the Titans would use the tag on any of those players. One, Corey Davis is not worth $16 million, and based on this, it does appear Corey Davis will be moving on in free agency. And the reality here is, once the Titans declined his fifth-year option last offseason, I said on that day, on the show, this means that Corey Davis won't be a Titan. Because either he plays poorly poorly and it justifies not giving him the fifth year option, or he plays so well that he prices himself out of Tennessee. And that's what happened. So either way, Corey Davis was never going to be a Tennessee Titan

after this season. I mean, during the year, we're all caught up in the emotions. We're seeing him score. A lot of you guys were like, yes, we've got to bring back Corey. I said, okay. We'll bring back Corey if we want to just get rid of everyone else and not sign a top-tier pass rusher and use that money there. But the Titans aren't going to do that because they know better. Because paying a guy 75% of what Corey Davis is about to get to get 75% of the production of Corey Davis is a better

value than giving him $13 million. So to me, no surprise there. Jayon Brown, it was so funny. One of the big time NFL reporters, I forget whether it was Ian Rappaport or Tom Pelissero or whoever it may be, someone for the NFL network. they put out a tweet saying Jayon Brown's medically cleared, his elbow's good to go, he's a rising star before he got hurt for the Titans. Okay, we gotta stop. We gotta stop. We gotta stop. I have told you guys, Jayon was like my favorite personality on the team.

I really like Jayon Brown. But calling Jayon Brown a rising star, bit disingenuous in my opinion. He's a pass coverage specialist who really struggled against the run, especially in 2020. Now everybody on the defense struggled in 2020, fair enough. But even when Jayon Brown was playing his best football, he's never going to be a pro bowl level linebacker. He's always going to be an undersized pass coverage linebacker. And the reality is you don't pay $15 million for that. I don't think you pay $11 million for that.

And that tweet that was sent out was agent service. I mean, Jayon's agent asked that NFL reporter to tweet that out to try to improve his value because he's hitting the market. He's hitting the market. He's hitting the market. So Jayon Brown, probably not coming back either. And that's something that I've kind of been okay with. I even said I'd roll David Long and Rashawn Evans out there. Get a veteran free agent in the mid-tier price range, $5 million, to be that rotational linebacker

if you need it. So to me, I'm okay with that as well. But like I said, the big area of disappointment came from Jonu Smith not being tagged. And he made the most sense because it was the least amount of money. But let me explain. Jonu Smith isn't worth $10 million. He's just not. And I know that there's a big debate between everyone on how good Jonu Smith is. And I understand that, that he has flash plays. He was good in the red zone, especially last year, scoring eight touchdowns. He's a physical threat. So he can match up one on one with a defender in the red zone and win. He does give you a little bit of blocking.

And he can go out and catch the ball, so that gives you versatility. He doesn't tip your hand on offense. But the reality is, we're talking about a guy who's had about 440 yards receiving two years in a row, about 40 catches two years in a row, 11 touchdowns combined in the last two years. Everyone talks about his ability to block,

but he's not an incredibly well-graded blocker per pro football focus. So he's not an awesome blocker like a Gronkowski or a Kittle or something like that. He's still an average blocker for a tight end. It's not like he's one of the best in the league at blocking at the tight end position. And then also when you consider I keep coming back to this tweet a co-worker of mine FB Ballblast FB Ballblast Kate I'm not even going to try to pronounce her last name unfortunately I know better than to try to wade into those waters but Kate put out a great tweet about Johnnie Smith everybody says that you know he tailed off at the end of the year because he was blocking because Taylor LeJuan was out.

But Johnny Smith actually averaged more routes run and more targets in the games where Taylor LeJuan was out. So that's a myth that's not supported by data. The Titans had to take Johnny Smith off the field on third down a lot of the times to put Anthony Ferkser on because Jonu is not a good route runner. You know, we talk about his versatility and how he has running back qualities. Well, those running back qualities are also why he's not a great route runner. He doesn't have great agility, great quickness.

He's a running back basically playing tight end. And that has its advantages, but it also has its disadvantages. So because of the disadvantages, John Yoo is an average blocker. He didn't really lose opportunities because Taylor LeJuan went out and just didn't produce in the back half of the season. He's never gone over 500 yards in his entire career. And he's always been part of a tight end group that had somebody to come on and deal with his deficiencies which is getting open against man on third downs so because of all of that

John O'Smith is not worth 10 million dollars and I understand that fear is driving the opinion right now what are the Titans gonna do at tight end now that John O'Smith is gone they have nobody at tight I would rather bring in a Jared Cook Jr. I would rather bring in a Kyle Rudolph for a much cheaper salary, half that salary of Johnnie Smith. Bring back Ferkser. Bring back Swaim and Pruitt and rock with that. Again, guys, it's all about how you're going to allocate your resources. And at this moment in time, I would rather put as much as we possibly can towards the defense, the secondary, and the pass rush, and maybe make some consolations at the tight end in the wide receiver spot.

I think the Titans can still have a high-level functioning offense, getting 75% of John Smith and Corey Davis for reduced rates, and then taking those savings and putting it towards the pass rush and the secondary. That's how I'd allocate the resources. So I don't think Johnnie Smith's worth $10 million. Corey Davis sure as heck isn't worth $16 million. And Jayon Brown sure as heck isn't worth $15 million. I think it was smart for the Titans to do that.

Now, quickly, we saw some guys get tagged on Tuesday. That list is Chris Godwin, wide receiver from the Buccaneers. Marcus May, safety from the New York Jets. Taylor Moten, tackle from the Carolina Panthers. Allen Robinson, wide receiver from the Chicago Bears. Cam Robinson, tackle from the Jacksonville Jaguars. He's not worth $14 million. That was a big shock.

Brandon Scherf, the guard from the Washington football team. Justin Simmons, the safety from the Washington football team, Justin Simmons, the safety from the Denver Broncos, Leonard Williams, the defensive lineman for the New York Giants, Marcus Williams, the safety for the New Orleans Saints, and then Dak Prescott got tagged, but that's just a procedural move as they get his new contract that we all know about lined up. But some guys who did not get tagged who will be interesting for the Tennessee Titans. did not get tagged who will be interesting for the Tennessee Titans. First of all, you have Carl Lawson from the Cincinnati Bengals,

who I know is a big target for Titans fans. Shaq Barrett from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn't get tagged. They used that on Godwin. Hassan Reddick from the Arizona Cardinals didn't get tagged. Bud Dupree from the Steelers, who I am not high on personally, but a lot of you guys are, didn't get tagged and will hit the market. Trey Hendrickson, a young guy from the New Orleans Saints, didn't get it. Romeo Okwara from the Lions, a guy like Hendrickson, didn't get tagged.

So a lot of those options did not get tagged, and the Titans will definitely have their eye on those names, especially the edge rushers that I mentioned. So let's move forward. We are going to talk about the Isaiah Wilson trade. I'm going to give my extended thoughts on that move to cap off today's show. Before we do that, though, I want to tell you guys about the Locked On Today podcast. There was a lot of player movement in the NFL on Tuesday. Who were the winners?

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Use promo code LOCKEDON and you'll receive a 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. BetOnline, your online sportsbook experts. Let's cap off today's show talking about that Isaiah Wilson trade. So John Robinson finally found a taker for Isaiah Wilson's services. And I am thoroughly shocked, quite frankly, that John Robinson got anybody to bite on Isaiah Wilson. got anybody to bite on Isaiah Wilson, but apparently Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores went to the same high school as Isaiah Wilson, so there's some belief that he may be able to reach that young man and get him back on track. Color me skeptical.

Just based on what we've seen from Isaiah Wilson, there's no indication whatsoever that this guy wants to play pro football. Now, let's talk about the fallout from the trade from a realistic standpoint and what it means for the Titans. So, it actually decreases the amount of money the Titans will have this year and increases the amount that they would have to pay for Isaiah Wilson. So, here's what happens. On a rookie contract, you have your guaranteed money, your signing bonus, and then you have your yearly salary. So the signing bonus for Isaiah Wilson was basically $6 million. And this is going to make the math easier for us to discuss. It's a little less, but let's just call it $6 million. So the Titans paid Isaiah Wilson

$6 million up front in a signing bonus. But the way that that works is that bonus money is spread out throughout his contract. So four years, $6 million, that's $1.5 million per season. million dollars per season. And then on top of the signing bonus, you have Isaiah Wilson's salary, just what he gets paid each year. And that in itself was about $6 million. Now it's spread out differently throughout the contract. It basically increases in value as the years go. So you have the base signing bonus of 1.5 plus his increasing yearly salary. It was $430,000 his rookie year. It's $1.1 million this year, $1.6 million next year, and $2.1 million after that. So the Titans already paid Isaiah Wilson his signing bonus.

So even though they traded him to the Dolphins and the $1.5 million of signing bonus that he was owed is there in 2021, 2022, and 2023, technically $4.5 million of signing bonus. Since the Titans already paid him that money, the Titans basically what they're doing is rather than paying 1.5 this year, 1.5 in dead cap next year, 1.5 in dead cap in 2023, when they trade him, they're just saying, hey, we're paying all this money up front and getting him off our books. When they trade him, they're just saying, hey, we're paying all this money up front and getting him off our books. So when the Titans trade Isaiah Wilson, they no longer have to pay his yearly salary. But since they already paid his signing bonus, they have to keep that on their books. But rather than have it spread out throughout the life of his contract as it continues, they're paying that debt up front.

So the Titans are basically paying three years of salary but of signing bonus 1.5 this year 1.5 next year 1.5 the year after that they're crunching that all up into four and a half million dollars and they're paying it this year as dead money on their cap but they don't have to pay isaiah wilson's salary 1.1 million this year, $1.6 million next year, and $2.1 million in 2023. So basically, the Titans are deciding, hey, we're paying any money that we owe for Isaiah Wilson. We're paying it all this year. We're getting it out of the way.

We're getting it done. And when we move into 2022, when we move into 2023, we will have absolutely no connection to Isaiah Wilson in any way whatsoever. So that's why the Titans decided to do this. And that's why trading Isaiah Wilson is a big deal. Because that yearly salary that I talk about, $1.1 million this year, $1.6 million next year, $2.1 million in 2023. If the Titans would have cut Isaiah Wilson, they would have had that dead cap on their money. They would have had the signing bonus money on their dead cap for the next three seasons. So this basically allows the Titans to be out of any financial involvement with Isaiah

Wilson on the salary cap after this year. So instead of being worth $2.3 million on the cap this year on the team, Isaiah Wilson's worth $4.5 million on the cap, but then the Titans don't have to pay him any money or have him impact their salary cap whatsoever any year after this one. Now, I also want to say that there was a draft pick swap here. The Titans got the Miami Dolphins' 2021 7th round pick and gave the Dolphins their 2022 2nd round pick.

So basically what the Titans decided was, we're going to take a bigger financial hit from Isaiah Wilson this year and get it out of the way, but we're going to get an extra 7th round pick from the Dolphins to use this year. Next year, we'll have Isaiah Wilson completely off of our books, but we'll give the Dolphins back that 7 seventh round pick. So they're trying to compensate. We'll take the money hit this year, but have the extra draft pick.

Next year, we won't have the money hit, but we'll have to give up the draft pick. So it's kind of a cancellation system for the Titans to help themselves out this year in a certain way, and then counteract that by helping themselves out in a different way next year. So that's the way that it breaks down.

Hope that all made sense to you guys. Either way, I am just happy to have Isaiah Wilson out of the Titans organization. But that's going to do it for me today. Do want to remind you guys, though, that you have to check out the mother show, the national show. Like I told you, check out Locked On today for all the biggest sports news in under 20 minutes. But if you want to go a little more in-depth in the national NFL news, make sure that you check out the Locked On NFL show

after you're done listening to this. But as I mentioned, that's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.