Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Updated Salary Cap: Two New Signings, New Contract Details & Remaining Options

Episode Date: March 22, 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, this Monday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is presented by Bilt Bar. Go to BiltBar.com, use promo code LOCKED15, and you'll get 15% off your next order. So typically on a Monday show, we would have Mock Draft Monday, go over some mock drafts, some different scenarios,

and then we'd have a Mailbag Monday answering your guys' questions. But there's still a lot going on in the realm of free agency with the Titans, and there was a lot of news and a lot of information that we got to break down from the weekend. First, after I recorded Friday's show, we got another Tennessee Titans signing in the way of cornerback Kevin Johnson. So I will break down everything you need to know about Johnson and also talk you guys off the ledge a little bit as there was a social media meltdown of sorts after that signing. Then we will also talk about the signing that took place while I was recording on Thursday night, and that is offensive tackle Ty Cimbrillo returning to the Titans.

After we talk about those two new additions, we will spin forward into all of the financial information that we got over the weekend that is pertinent to the Titans salary cap. We have the salary cap numbers, the contract figures for Bud Dupree's deal. We also got the exact numbers on Jayon Brown's one-year deal or quote-unquote three-year deal with the Titans. We got Ty Sambrillo's numbers over the weekend. I'll tell you what numbers we don't currently have. Talk about where the Titans salary cap number sits right now and also I'll let you know exactly how much money the Titans need to sign their draft picks as that does calculate into this salary cap figure and then we will end off today's show this Monday show the same way that we ended off Friday I feel like it'll be a

good chance to update you guys on what options are still out there on the market for the Titans at positions of need as a lot of the names that we discussed on Friday are no longer available. So we'll dive into that to end things off. So a big Monday edition to catch you back up on everything that took place over the weekend here on the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it! The first thing that we are going to discuss today is the Titans signing that caused a social media meltdown. But before we jump into that, I want to remind you guys I will be putting out the Locked

on Titans podcast Monday through Friday, not only during the season, but all year long. There's not another Titans content creator that could say they're pumping out that much content for you on a weekly basis. So make sure that you never miss an episode and subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream. Follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans for additional content and my film breakdowns. And then follow the new Facebook page at Locked on Titans pod as well. But the Titans picked up cornerback Kevin Johnson on Friday. And Kevin Johnson is a six-foot-tall cornerback. He played his first four years in the league with the Houston Texans.

Some overlap there with Mike Vrabel as his defensive coordinator as well, so there's your personal connection that seems to follow every signing and every move in the NFL. He did play the last two seasons on two different teams, first on the Buffalo Bills and then last year, 2020, with the Cleveland Browns. Like I I said, this deal, this signing, had people really upset online. And the reality here is Kevin Johnson is not a fantastic player. He's got mixed results here. If you look at his player grades per Pro Football Focus, had a pretty good year in 2016 in limited action, did not play the full season.

Played pretty well coverage-wise for Buffalo in 2019. He's had ups and downs with injury, with play as well in his six-year career. But, like I said, there is familiarity there with Mike Vrabel. He does know the system that the Titans are going to be playing. He played his best football, and I say his best football because he hasn't had great, great stints in his career. That's the reality here, but he has had some peaks. He has had certain moments of good play, and those moments did come under Mike Vrabel as his coach,

so we have to keep that in mind that the best this guy ever played was under our head coach in this system, although there hasn't been a lot of good play. So there's that. But the reality here is while we don't have the exact contract details on Kevin Johnson right now, he's going to be cheap. This is a one-year deal. We do know that. So it's not a long-term commitment for the Titans.

He played primarily in the slot last year for the Browns. So that's a guy who can man the slot. You can have Janoris Jenkins, Jack Rabbit on the outside, which is where he needs to be. You can have Christian Fulton play on the outside, which in my opinion is where he's going to end up playing better rather than being in the slot. And here's the real thing. This is a depth cornerback signing.

This isn't somebody who's a guaranteed starter. This isn't somebody who is a guaranteed person to make the roster even. It's likely that he makes the roster but if he played so poorly the Titans wouldn't hold on to him it's not a big financial commitment coming when we get the details on this contract it's probably going to be a couple million dollars one two million dollars something like that it's not going to be you know a large financial commitment a large deal that's going to soak up a ton of the cap space that that we're going to talk about later so please everyone. This is a depth cornerback signing. There is a chance that

Fulton's in the slot. Breon Borders is outside. If you like Breon Borders over Kevin Johnson, I get he's not a great player, but for the money that the Titans probably paid for Kevin Johnson, familiarity with the coach in the system, there's no reason not to take a chance on him and add depth to the cornerback room. Now, would I like to see the Titans go out and sign another cornerback who is historically a better player? Yes, that would make me feel much more comfortable, and I would suspect that the Titans will try to do that. But the Titans also need to go out and draft a cornerback and make sure that that's a priority

as well. So what if we have J.C. Horn, Christian Fulton, and Janoris Jenkins starting on day one? Would everyone calm down a little bit there? You don't want to rely too much on a rookie and a second-year player. But hey, that's where the Titans are at right now, and I do expect another depth veteran to be signed in the cornerback room. So basically, everyone just relax. Also, I talked about it on Friday's show because it happened during the recording,

but Ty Sambrello will come back to the Tennessee Titans. I was calling for that during our free agency previews. Five starts for the Titans last year. Thought he played pretty well. You add that to Kendall Lamb. You add that to Taylor LeJuan. You add that to a rookie tackle that's most likely going to be drafted, and I think that's a pretty solid group that you can roll into the season with, and we got contract numbers

on Ty Sambrillo. Only $1.75 million on a one-year deal. That's the type of deal I think Kevin Johnson's going to be looking at too. So there's just no need to fret over deals that are that little with that little financial long-term impact to the Titans. These are depth players. Not every player that you're going to sign is going to be starting quality. Not every player you're going to sign is going to be an all-pro or a pro bowl player. Rosters aren't built that way. You need depth pieces. And I like Kevin Johnson and I like Ty Sambrillo as cheap depth pieces that the Titans can have on the roster.

So that's my take on that. We are going to move forward into our conversation about the salary cap, how much space the Titans have and the financial information that we got on deals the Titans made over the weekend. Before we do want to tell you guys about BetOnline.ag, the fastest and easiest way to place any wager on all the sports action. Football might be over, but March Madness is in full swing. The NBA is in full swing. NHL is in full swing. MLB is right around the corner.

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numbers that we learned from over the weekend and then wrap up that conversation by letting you guys know and updating you on exactly where the Titans salary cap space is right now and how the Titans draft picks and the money they need to keep over for that will impact the cap as well. So the biggest deal that we got information on over the weekend was Bud Dupree and we knew that it was five years 85 million dollars but that isn't the type of contract information that you really need if you know anything about the NFL you need to know the guaranteed money you need to know the cap hit for this year you need to know

how everything is spread out so let's quickly dive into all that like I said obviously the bones of the deal are five years 85 million but the reality is the Titans gave Bud Dupree a two-year 34 million dollar deal when you talk about Bud Dupree's contract when you talk with your buddies when you talk with people at the water cooler at work and they talk about how much they gave Bud Dupree you can inform them that it was really only a two-year 34 million dollar deal so the Titans gave Bud Dupree a $16 million signing bonus. He's going to get $16 million when he signs the, well, not literally when he signs the contract, but he's going to get that $16 million pretty quickly compared to his salary and the rest of the deal. Now, the reason

that the Titans gave him a $16 million signing bonus is that pretty much covers the money they want to pay him for year number one. Remember, we're in a depressed cap situation. Teams are keeping cap hits low for the 2021 season because how low the cap is, knowing that the cap will explode in the next few years and they can have higher cap charges for players in the coming years. So the goal here is to keep it low. So the Titans gave Bud Dupree a $16 million signing bonus. In return to Bud Dupree, because they gave him that $16 million up front, they only gave him a $1.75 million salary for this year. So the majority of Bud Dupree's money is going to come from his signing bonus in year one. Now, to give you a comparison, after year one, that salary, base salary,

not his signing bonus money, not his roster bonus money, his salary money in year one is $1.75 million. Well, year two, it's $16 million, then $17 million, then $16 million, then $15 million. So you're like, whoa, it goes up from $1 million to $16 million. Well, what covers that gap? The $16 million signing bonus. So basically, in year one, Bud Dupree makes his money off the signing bonus in year two three four five he makes his money off his salary the Titans structured it that way

so they could keep his salary really low in year one spread the 16 million dollars out salary cap wise throughout all five years so his signing bonus basically counts as 3.2 million dollars through five years and that's going to bring you up to $16 million. So they keep the base salary low at $1.75 million. That signing bonus money, while Bud Dupree gets the money early, it's spread out throughout the life of the contract at $3.2 million a year. So $1.75 million is base salary in this season, plus the $3.2 million of spread out signing bonus gives you five million dollars and that's Bud Dupree's cap hit so he's only going to count five million dollars towards the Titans

salary cap this season although Bud Dupree personally gets a 16 million dollar signing bonus the second year of the contract is basically fully guaranteed as well that second 16 million dollars but after that the Titans can get out of the deal after two seasons they would have about a 10 million dollar dead cap hit in 2023 but then it goes down significantly in 2024 to 64 or 6.4 million dollars and even more in 2025 3.2 million dollars and with the way the salary cap is going to explode after this year those dead cap figures will be really, really low in the grand scheme of things. But you got to hope, the reality is you hope that the Titans have Bud Dupree for at least three years or four years of this deal. And he's a productive player, but if not, it's really

only a two-year commitment for the Titans. So I love the salary cap structure of this Bud Dupree deal. Hope I explained that to you guys and in a realistic way that you can understand it. Obviously, you can go on a spot tracker and over the cap.com and check it out for yourself as well. The next contract details we got were for Jayon Brown. Now Jayon Brown signed a three-year quote-unquote three-year deal, but really it's just a one-year deal and it's the same thing. The Titans can spread his signing bonus out throughout three years, even though he gets the money up front. So the Titans gave Jayon Brown a $2 million signing bonus out throughout three years, even though he gets the money up front. So the Titans gave Jayon Brown a $2 million signing bonus.

That's going to be spread out as about $666,000 over three years, but he's going to get that money up front because it's a signing bonus. So it's just a salary cap mechanism to spread it out. His base salary is actually more than Bud Dupree's, which was $1.75 million. It's $2 million. And then you have the $666,000 spread out for a signing bonus. And then he has a roster bonus tacked onto that. So Jayon Brown's deal is basically a one-year deal worth $3.5 million.

His salary cap hit is $3.5 million. The Titans will have about $2 million of dead money on the cap spread out over 2022 and 2023. But again, with the way the cap is going to explode, that doesn't matter. So Bud Dupree and Jayon Brown together are about $8 million on the salary cap. Also, Ty Sambrello signed and we immediately got his money. I mentioned it earlier, $1.75 million. So with Bud Dupree, Jayon Brown, and Ty Sambrillo, you're looking at about $10 million of salary cap space actually used by the Titans. And there you go. That's a Dory Jackson's money. There you go. It's fit right in

there. It's in Malcolm Butler's money, however you want to look at it. But let's move the conversation to an overall salary cap conversation. So the Titans, everybody was saying they were at about $24 million or so before we got these contract details. Obviously, I just said it's about $10 million in salary cap hit. So that brings us down to about $14 million for the Titans in salary cap space right now. Now, the only problem with that is there are signings that we still don't know the details of. We don't know Janoris Jackrabbit Jenkins' deal.

Now, I expect that to be a multi-year deal where they do similar stuff with the signing bonus void year deals. It's probably going to be about a two-year deal. I would imagine it's about a $3 million salary cap hit, $4 million salary cap hit for the Titans. That's a complete guesstimate. We don't know that. I don't know how they'll structure the contract. Shout out to Vin Marino for the Titans as well, who's the salary cap guy. But we don't know Janoris Jenkins. We don't exactly know Anthony Ferkser. And at this time, we don't know Kevin Johnson. So I expect Kevin Johnson to be a one-year deal for about $2 million, about less than $2 million or $2 million on the salary cap. Janoris Jenkins is probably going to be about $2 million, about less than $2 million or $2 million on the salary

cap. Janoris Jenkins is probably going to be about $4 million on the salary cap, $3 million somewhere, and they're depending on structure. And then, of course, Ferkser, I would expect that to be a one-year deal for less than $3 million. So you could have about $6 million to $8 million to $10 million in salary cap hits on those guys. So that's something to watch going forward. Do the Titans even have any more salary cap room? So right now, the way I see it, it's about $14 million in salary cap space for the Titans. Now, the draft pick compensation. The Titans draft pick.

So the way that this works is your salary cap is based on the top 51 salaries on your team. Remember, the Titans are going to get up to about 90 players for your training camp roster, and they cut down to about 53. So the NFL isn't going to count 90 players against your salary cap, or every team would be over. So it's only the top 51. So basically what happens here is when the Titans add their draft picks,

the draft picks don't just add to the salary cap, they also knock other players out of the top 51. So while the Titans add salaries with their draft picks contracts, they lose salary because those draft picks are knocking players out of the top 51 calculation. So when the Titans add about $8 million worth of draft picks, they're also going to lose about $6 million worth of players at the end of the roster, They're also going to lose about $6 million worth of players at the end of the roster, which means that the draft picks will result in an additional $2 million for the Titans.

So I'm saying the Titans have about $14 million in cap space right now with what we know, minus $2 million in draft picks from that. The Titans are about $12 million in salary cap space. We don't know Jenkins. We don't know Johnson. We don't know Ferkser. Now, one wrinkle that I want to mention here, the Titans could potentially restructure Ryan Tannehill,

convert a big chunk of his $29.5 million salary into signing bonus money. They could probably save anywhere up to $20 million in salary cap room by doing that. But here's the thing, guys. If they do that, they got to pay Ryan Tannehill $20 million in actual cash. We talk about all this money. Well, these guys get paid like paychecks too. A lot of this money is coming out weekly. Like you guys get your money. The Titans aren't giving Bud Dupree $35 million in a briefcase right now.

That would take a lot of cash money. So this money is spread out. It's not cash that they give to these players directly up front for their whole deal so we talk about the difference between salary cap space and cash flow actual cash that the organization has to pay players that's why the Titans aren't doing a bunch of restructures the reality here is Amy Adams Strunk isn't a big business person like some of the people in the NFL like like a Jerry Jones, like a Stan Kroenke. She doesn't have $100 million of actual cash sitting around that the Titans could just give out to players to do restructures. The Titans most likely, based on the way the organization is, don't have $20 million in cold hard cash to give to Ryan Tannehill to restructure

his deal. So it's not just about will Ryan take the restructure? Of course he would take $20 million of his money up front. Would the Titans like to do that from a salary cap perspective? Sure they would love to clear out $20 million more in salary cap to play around. But does Amy Adams Strunk and the Titans as a business have $20 million in cash to just give to Ryan Tannehill up front? That's a question that we don't know, and that is what we call cash flow. So if I ever mention cash flow, that's what we're talking about. So the Titans have about $12 million in cap space right now with their draft picks included without knowing Jenkins, Johnson, and Ferkser's deal.

So we got to watch that. You guys asked me all weekend long about that. That's the answer. So once we find out the details on Jenkins, Johnson, and Ferkser's deal so we got to watch that you guys asked me all weekend long about that that's the answer so once we find out the details on Jenkins Johnson and Ferkser we'll know a better picture and whether or not the Titans do any restructures to clear out any more room I think will be dependent on who they have the ability to sign if a big fish becomes available for the Titans or let's say like a Stephon Gilmore trade then I do think the Titans would take the financial sacrifice pay the restructure money and then make that deal but if they don't have anything pull up like that why spend 20 million dollars to create cap space that you may not even use why shell out 20 million dollars in cash as an organization without one of the richer owners in the league

if you don't have to so that's why the Titans aren't doing a bunch of these restructures that other teams are doing. But let's move forward into a conversation about what's still left out on the market after the weekend for the Titans. Before we dive into that, though, I want to remind you about the Locked On Today podcast hosted by the great Peter Bukowski. It gives you all of your sports update, all of the latest news in every major sport in under 20 minutes.

So it's basically like having the sports section read to you every morning in a nice, neat package. Make sure to check out the Locked On Today podcast on the Radio.com app or wherever you get your podcasts. Also want to tell you guys about BuiltBar.com. Built Bars are the best tasting protein bars ever. And right now, we are in the middle of Built Bar Madness. best tasting protein bars ever and right now we are in the middle of built bar madness they are doing a bracket challenge to find out which flavor is the best tasting built bar ever make sure that you go to built bar.com today or go on twitter at bar underscore built and check out today's

matchup so that you can vote also go to the website at any time to see who is winning the matchup and which flavors advance each day. The matchup that will be taking place today will be coconut against the white chocolate birthday cake. And as much as I do like the coconut bars, even though I'm not a coconut fan, the coconut flavor with Bilt Bar is just excellent. That white chocolate birthday cake is exactly up my alley. I love birthday cake ice cream.

I love birthday cake flavored things and treats and cake pops and stuff like that. So to me, the birthday cake, the white chocolate, and I love white chocolate, the white chocolate birthday cake is going to be my vote at least. But make sure you go ahead and vote, like I said, at BuiltBar.com or at Bar underscore Built on Twitter. And remember, use promo code LOCKED15 and you'll get 15% off your next order. That's promo code LOCKED15 to get 15% off your next order at builtbar.com. And like I said, check back to see who's won today's matchup and who will become the best tasting protein bar. the built bar matchup for today included white chocolate birthday cake and you know i don't like to uh bring too much attention to myself but today is my birthday And if you have listened this far into the show,

and I got a little Easter egg, I guess a birthday egg for you here. If you guys tag me on Twitter, at Tic Tac Titans, and guess how old I am, and whoever gets it right first, the first person to send me my correct age, as today is my birthday,

I will send you out a free Titans koozie. It's nothing big, but I will do a little game here. You're listening, you know, 20 minutes deep. This will show who listens to the entire episode. Also give you a chance to kind of guess how old I am. I will reveal the winner and my actual age on tomorrow's show and on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans at the end of the day as well. But yeah, today's my birthday. If you guys want to do anything special for me, I would just appreciate some reviews in Apple iTunes. Kind of slowed down on the reviews.

Haven't had a lot of those. I know it's the off season right now, so not to be unexpected. But I think I put out some fire content last week. The interviews were great. I've been keeping you guys up to date on everything free agency. I've gotten a lot of things right, this free agency, in terms of players who aren't going to come back, salary cap figures, where numbers players should be signed at.

I was the first person really talking about cutting a Dory Jackson as well. So not to pat myself on the back, but if I don't, who is going to? So because the podcast is free, it's every single day, it's my birthday, please shoot a five-star review for me in the Apple iTunes reviews. I would really appreciate it. And tag me on Twitter and guess my age for a chance to win a free Titans koozie. But let's get into the options that are still available out on the market for the Titans at positions of need.

I talked about tight end on Friday, but the reality here is I don't think that the Titans are going to be looking too deeply into the tight end market. Probably going to be looking into the draft for that. So free agency targets that I think still do make sense for the Titans if they're going to use their last little bit of spending power. At wide receiver, I really do think the Titans have to bring in a veteran wide receiver of some kind before they go into the draft. They can't have A.J. Brown, Cam Batson, Anthony Firxer, Nick Westbrook-Akina you just

can't go in Marcus Johnson of course you just can't go in with that you need one more veteran and then you got two veterans and A.J. Brown the veteran that could be picked up in free agency and then you draft Rashad Bateman at number 22 but either way T.Y. Hilton makes a lot of sense and rumors are he's going to be going back to Indianapolis but if the Titans could somehow steal him away that would be a pretty good move in my opinion at this point T.Y. wasn't somebody I wanted at the onslaught of free agency but where the Titans are at right now has to be considered as an option Golden Tate another depth slot receiver I think that would make a lot of sense and then you keep Bateman

on the outside which I think where he would be most successful early on in his career. Bateman, Golden Tate, and A.J. Brown, to me, that's a very solid wide receiver core, and I would not be worried about that whatsoever. Marquise Goodwin is a free agent, guy dealt with a lot of injuries, but a lot of speed, and you know I've been looking for a speed outside receiver for the Titans. A guy, this is the number one guy, I think, for me, outside of the veteran, T.Y. Hilton and Golden Tate, outside of those veteran slot receivers. If the Titans go off the beaten path here, I would like them to take a look at wide receiver Josh Reynolds.

Played for the Rams, 6'3", boundary wide receiver, athletic guy, played in a similar system, is going to be able to block for you. I like Josh Reynolds as a target for the Titans on a one-year deal. Sammy Watkins, I think that would make Reynolds as a target for the Titans on a one-year deal. Sammy Watkins, I think that would make a lot of sense for the Titans. Yeah, he's oft injured, but Sammy Watkins has speed. He's still in his 20s. I think that could make a lot of sense for the Titans on a one-year deal. I like Sammy Watkins there. And then is Jamison Crowder going to get released

by the Jets? There were rumors that Juju Smith-Schuster was going to go to the Jets and then they would release Jamison Crowder. It's going to save the Jets $10 million if they do it, but Crowder was their most productive pass-catching option. He's still a very productive player. The Titans should absolutely go all out to get Jamison Crowder if, in fact, he is released, but right now I'm starting to doubt that. The cornerback position, you have veterans like A.J. Boullier.

You have veterans like Casey Hayward, who I would really like to see the Titans go after, but they may be looking for a little more money than the Titans will actually give out. If so, you have guys like Mackenzie Alexander. You have a guy like Brashad Breeland, who had good moments for the Chiefs last year. You have Kwon Williams, former slot receiver for the 49ers, who I've been very interested in. A guy I've been talking about since we started the free agency preview, cornerback Razul Douglas, I think would make a lot of sense. Six foot two, very physical guy. And then, of course, the Titans could always consider, as I mentioned earlier in the show, a trade for Stephon Gilmore. They would need a lot more salary cap space to get that done, but that would be the domino that would fall to get the Ryan Tannehill restructure to take place.

Also, like I said, I talked about tight end. I'm not going to focus on tight end here. Four edge rushers who are veterans who could be looking at one-year cheap deals just to keep playing. The Titans could look at Melvin Ingram, formerly of the Chargers. Ryan Kerrigan, who's my number one out of this group, played for a Washington football team his entire career. Justin Houston, who bounced around but made his fame with the Kansas City Chiefs. And then Jadavion Clowney a Clowney reunion I think could make a lot of sense it seemed like the Titans were going to go away from that but with the little salary

cap that they have why not have a little Jadavion Clowney reunion and get him in here as just part of the rotation you don't have to start him he can be kind of a Bud Dupree backup give you some insurance there I think that would make a lot of sense for the Titans as well so those are the options that are still on the market that make sense to me. Before we go, I want to tell you guys about our new NFL draft lineup here at the Locked

On Podcast Network. The NFL draft is weeks away. It's time to start following our Locked On NFL Draft Duo. The Draft Dudes Podcast. They watch every prospect so you don't have to. The Draft Dudes Podcast. They watch every prospect so you don't have to. And the Locked On NFL Draft Podcast is your daily draft news and mock draft podcast.

So follow the Locked On NFL Draft Podcast and the Draft Dudes Podcast on Radio.com's app or wherever you get podcasts. That's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.