Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Why the Tannehill Deal Just Got Better, 2021 Titans Financial Look-Ahead

Episode Date: July 8, 2020

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Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, we saw a record-breaking contract, not only for the NFL, but for American professional sports this week. And my angle of that, of course, we're going to talk about who got that contract, how much it was. A lot of you guys probably already know, so maybe it's a false tease here, but the reason that I want to bring up that contract is because I want to talk about how it looks from the Titans' perspective when they just gave Ryan Tannehill a huge four-year deal with $91 million guaranteed, basically a guaranteed three-year deal for the Titans to Ryan Tannehill. And I'm going to talk about why the contract we saw signed on Monday makes the Ryan Tannehill deal that much better of a bargain. So we are going to talk about how Ryan Tannehill's contract just continues to increase in value by the day.

So we will start off there and then we will continue our look forward to the 2021 offseason. So as I mentioned on Monday, we're going to use this week's three shows. Before we jump into training camp previews, before we jump into our ultimate division crossover, we are going to use this week's shows to kind of look forward a little bit to maybe next February 2021 and what the Titans situation might be there. Just so you guys can have a few things in the back of your mind throughout the season that we need to keep an eye on. The general manager of the team, John Robinson, the head coach of the team, the scouts, the

front office personnel, all of them are always looking a couple of years ahead. You can't look too far ahead because things change so rapidly in the NFL, but you have to keep an eye towards the future, and we are going to do that here on the Locked on Titans podcast this week as well. So I will continue our 2021 Look Ahead series and talk to you guys about some people who are set to be free agents at the end of this season. Some people who the Titans could look at as free agents they want to sign at the end of this season. Some people who could stand to be cut as a cap casualty.

Some people who could stand to maybe restructure their deal to give the Titans some more cap space. And I'll give you an updated projected number of what the Titans cap space looks like right now for next offseason. So we're going to use our binoculars here, peek a little bit into the future and make sure that we understand exactly what could be taking place in the offseason a year from now. But first, we are going to start talking about that huge record-breaking contract and how that makes the Ryan Tannehill deal look. Very excited to get into all of it with you guys. Let's get it!

We saw a record-setting contract on Monday, not just for the NFL, not just for the quarterback position, but for American professional sports in total. Patrick Mahomes signed a 10-year contract with the Kansas City Chiefs worth up to $503 million. Once again, that is $503 million. Now, Patrick Mahomes will play the next two seasons on his rookie contract. He will get a significant signing bonus to compensate for his low salary, but it will make it a 12-year deal in total when the 10 years is added to the two that he has remaining. Now, Patrick Mahomes has vaulted up to the top of the list in terms of average salary per year at the quarterback position. He will now average about $45 million a year. That's number one at the quarterback position, but that brings us to a conversation

about the Ryan Tannehill contract. So Ryan Tannehill got a four-year deal worth $118 million from the Tennessee Titans, about $91 million guaranteed. That brings his average per year to $29.5 million. That ranks him 10th overall in the NFL at the quarterback position. When the contract was originally signed, Tannehill was about the 7th or 8th highest paid quarterback based on average salary per year, but we have seen some moves in the recent months that have pushed Ryan Tannehill even further down that list. We saw a Kirk Cousins extension that put Kirk Cousins above Ryan Tannehill's average salary per year. We saw Dak Prescott. We saw Dak Prescott offered the franchise tag, which would pay him $31 million

over the course of the 2020 regular season, which puts him above Ryan Tannehill. So Tannehill has already moved down at least two spots since signing his contract, increasing the value of his deal. And now he has been pushed down another spot by Patrick Mahomes, making him the 10th highest quarterback in the league in terms of average salary per year. And that is not it. We are expecting to see Ryan Tannehill pushed even further down that list. We have Deshaun Watson set to get some big-time money shortly. This time next year, we could see a big-time extension for Lamar Jackson, who is coming off an MVP season. So there are a lot of different possibilities and expected possibilities for Ryan Tannehill to continue moving down the list in terms of top

paid quarterbacks per salary per year. So right now, Ryan Tannehill's deal continues to be an incredible bargain and an incredible value for the Titans. It's not very often that you see a starting NFL quarterback get a new contract that doesn't reset the market where he doesn't become the highest paid player at the position. That's how these things work. Once a player, even if he's a little bit lower quality than the player who got the extension the year before due to inflation and just the way that the system works, the quarterback who gets the extension most recently is typically the highest paid at his position. is typically the highest paid at his position, but with Ryan Tannehill, he obviously did not deserve the type of money that Patrick Mahomes just got or even the type of money

that we've seen Russell Wilson get recently. So it makes sense that Ryan Tannehill wouldn't reset the market, but not only did he not reset the market, he's slotting in at anywhere between 10 to 13th highest paid quarterback in the NFL right now and to get a new extension done, to get a contract done, a brand new contract done with a starting quality player of Ryan Tannehill's caliber and have him only come in barely in the top 10 of highest paid players at his position and within just a few short weeks or a couple of months move even further down that list.

It's absolutely incredible and what a shrewd decision by John Robinson to lock Tannehill up early in this offseason so that he did not have to deal with all of these new contract figures and negotiate with Ryan Tannehill based on this type of deal we saw Patrick Mahomes get. Although Patrick Mahomes is completely deserving, although this is a record-breaking deal, from my perspective, the big story here is what a value the Titans got with Ryan Tannehill, even if he only plays out the three years, even if he only plays out two years, still an incredible deal that the Titans were able to get on a starting quality quarterback

who is definitely in the top half of the league in terms of talent and is now just barely in the top half of the league in terms of salary. Before we continue our 2021 look ahead series for the Titans where we're going to look at possible contract extensions, possible cap cuts, possible free agent signings the Titans could be interested in, possible salary restructures. I do want to remind you guys to subscribe to the podcast on whatever platform you do stream, whether that's subscribing on Apple Podcasts,

following on Spotify, wherever you listen, make sure that you are locked in to the Locked on Titans podcast. Next week, we are going to start our Ultimate Division Crossover Series where we have all of the hosts of the ASC South Locked On Podcast and we talk about what our teams have done so far in the all season and kind of preview things going into training camp and kick it off this football season. Also, make sure that you're following me on Twitter at TicTacTitans.

I am doing the Friday mailbag this week. Got a few questions already. Make sure you send your questions to me on Twitter at TicTacTitans. I post additional content on there, give you updates on the schedule for the podcast and things like that if there are any changes. So just make sure that you are a part of the community that we are building here on Locked On Titans and follow me on Twitter at TicTacTitans. Send in your questions for the Friday mailbag.

But with all of that said, we are going to jump into the next installment in our 2021 Look Ahead series and talk about who will be a free agent for the Titans after the year, who could be cut, and who could be looking at a possible extension? Let's continue our 2021 look ahead series by taking a look at who the Titans in-house free agents will be after this season. And of course, today is Wednesday, the 8th of July, which means there is a week left until the deadline to sign Derrick Henry before he plays on the franchise tag. Let's assume he does play on that franchise tag for a moment. That means that next offseason, Derrick Henry will be a free agent.

Obviously, that is the biggest name on the list. Next, we have defensive lineman Daquan Jones, whose importance to the team has skyrocketed after the trade of Jarrell Casey. So hopefully the Titans will be able to get something done with Daquan Jones to keep him in the fold. Also, Vic Beasley, we know he was signed to a one-year deal this offseason, so he will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. Corey Davis, whose fifth-year option was not

picked up, will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. Michael Pruitt, who actually is incredibly important to the Titans' run game. He's an incredible blocker at the tight end position, even played a little bit of fullback for the Titans at times before Kari Blossom game showed up on the scene. And speaking of Blossom game, he would also be a free agent for the Titans, but he would be an exclusive rights free agent. So it's a tad bit different and I haven't really included, planned on including the unrestricted or the exclusive rights free agents and restricted free agents in the NFL. Oftentimes those players are going to end up back where they started, so not including them in this list. But Michael Pruitt would be the next.

Kamalei Correa signed another one-year deal, so he would be a free agent. The Sage veteran, Jonathan Joseph, only signed a one-year deal. Ty Sambrello, the same thing, at tackle, only signed a one-year deal. Jack Crawford, Nick DeZubnar, all of those guys were signings this offseason who only signed to one-year deals. Then we have some Titans special teams players. Chris Milton and Ty Smith are also set to be unrestricted free agents. And then some big ones here, Jonu Smith, Jayon Brown, Kalief Raymond,

they are all set to be unrestricted free agents as well. So you got to watch out for possible extensions for Jonu Smith and Jayon Brown. Maybe a restructure for Daquan Jones to keep him in the fold long term. We could see all of that during training camp this year. I would expect to see at least one of Jonu Smith and Jayon Brown to get an extension this season. But we are talking about 2021. So all of those guys will be unrestricted free agents this time next year. Well, a few months before this next year.

But that's not the only thing that the Titans have to worry about. You start looking at salary cap. So right now, based on projections from spottrack.com, it appears that the Titans will have about $30 million in cap space next year based on how the salary cap is supposed to go. Now, the Titans will obviously try to carve out a little bit more salary cap room than that. And one of the ways that they can do that is by cutting people. So we saw that take place this year. Ryan Suckup, Delaney Walker, Cam Wake, and Deion Lewis. So we could see something similar next offseason.

So who would be the cut candidates? Who would be the cap casualty candidates for the Titans? Well, you need to look at dead money first. That's the number one thing. Because anytime you cut a player unless you know they are completely non-guaranteed you're going to have a little bit of dead money on your cap where you have to pay a little bit for those players even after you cut them and that would be the case for the Titans here. So the two players that make the most sense for the Titans

to potentially look at cutting next offseason to save some money would be, number one, Malcolm Butler. So Malcolm Butler would save the Titans $10 million in salary cap space if he were cut. And while I've been a supporter of Malcolm Butler, I think that he has been a much better player than Titans fans give him credit for. At that point in his age, he's done with three years of his four-year contract. The salary cap price that he has may not be worth it for his services, especially if the Titans extend Adoree Jackson long-term next offseason. So, Malcolm Butler would save the Titans $10 million. I could see him being a cut candidate or,

at the minimum, a restructure candidate same thing with Adam Humphries he wouldn't save the Titans as much money but he would save the Titans four million dollars on the cap and Adam Humphries simply doesn't really fit schematically in my opinion with where the Titans want to go from here with Ryan Tannehill and hopefully Derrick Henry and quite frankly he's just not a good enough player to be worth the type of money that he got. I understand the logic in John Robinson bringing him in, a slot threat, you know, third and short threat that's constantly going to be able to get open with his good route running and his quickness.

But the Titans aren't really working with that kind of offense where they're in shotgun spreading it out. They like to use play action they like to use the run game and uh the titans are really looking for yard after the catch specialist like johnny smith like aj brown like derrick henry and adam humphries doesn't really fit in that mold so i just don't really see him fitting with the team philosophy and i could definitely see the titans look to to cut him next offseason to free up a little bit of space. Corey Davis right now on spot track, his salary market value projection is about $8 million a year. I would much rather have Corey Davis at $8 million a year than Adam Humphreys

at $9 million. I mean, wouldn't you? So that's interesting. Let me know on Twitter at TicTac Titans. Would you rather have Corey Davis at $8 million or Adam Humphries at $9 million next year? That's an interesting conversation to have. Some restructure candidates for the Titans that could help save a little bit of money as well. Roger Saffold, he'll be making double digits by that time in his mid-30s. Same thing with Ben Jones, who will also be making a sizable contract, about $7-8 million. Next season, both of them could look to restructure, more Saffold than Jones in that situation,

but both of them will be in their mid-30s, and maybe it's time to start thinking about being comfortable, staying with the Titans, fighting for a Super Bowl, and helping the team out with a little bit of a team-friendly restructure. Kevin Byard is making a ton of money, and I put Taylor LeJuan and Kevin Byard in this category. Maybe they aren't going to restructure their deal to give them less money overall,

but we could see some of their money on their salary converted to signing bonus to bring their salary down to help the Titans out with the salary cap. So that's all possible as well. Like I said, the Titans are projected to have about $29 million in salary cap space and we'll look to enhance that almost certainly. Some options here that I wanted to talk about next are some free agents to be. Not the Titans in-house free agents, but some potential free agents next offseason that the Titans could take a look at if they do have enough cap space to try to go that route.

I don't expect John Robinson to spend a ton in free agency next year, but there are some players that could obviously help the Titans out. So I'll talk about those next. Let's take a quick look ahead at who the free agents will be in the 2021 class. And of course, I'm not talking about the Titansans in-house free agents i'm talking about all the free agents available in the national football league now obviously that is a massive list so i'm just going to go through a couple of the big names here who i think the titans realistically could look at who could help the cause so a lot of these guys are franchise tagged currently so they could work out a long-term extension with

their team and then this you know their name could no longer be an option but it is possible like with Derrick Henry that they could just play out the one year on the franchise tag and then in fact come become an unrestricted free agent so let's talk about some of the players who could be available first wide receiver A.J. Green. So obviously, A.J. Green is coming off an injury in 2019, didn't play a lot for the Cincinnati Bengals last season, should be able to come back. Their team looks like it could be slightly improved with some of the additions that they have, including rookie quarterback Joe Burrow. But if things do not go according to plan in Cincinnati, A.J. Green could choose

to go ahead and walk, and if the Titans do cut Adam Humphreys, lose Corey Davis to free agency willingly after his fourth season, they could look to go with a veteran route. This is something like I talked about with Josh Gordon. You know, you bring in a veteran to be opposite of A.J. Brown, you draft another young receiver to play in the slot, or you stay with heavy tight end personnel, which the Titans have been known to do and were doing at the end of last season. So A.J. Green could be a veteran wide receiver that the Titans could bring in around $10 million, around $9 million, which is what they're paying Adam Humphreys anyway, and

have him be across from A.J. Brown, the two A.J.'s, in a connection. And that way the Titans have a little bit different wide receiver type than they have right now. The Titans don't have a big, tall, lanky, down-the-field threat. They can go up and get it on a high point. That's what they wanted Corey Davis to be. He hasn't really shown consistently that he can be that. threat they can go up and get it on a high point that's what they wanted Corey Davis to be he hasn't really shown consistently that he can be that so AJ Green would be a veteran who wouldn't

command too high of a salary at 34 years old who could come in and fill a role for the Titans I think that would be a possibility another guy here who has had his ups and downs with the Titans in the past more downs quite frankly if we're being honest is Yannick Ngak downs with the Titans in the past. More downs, quite frankly, if we're being honest, is Yannick Ngakwe. But the Titans do need help on the edge. And right now, they're looking at Jadavion Clowney. But if Clowney doesn't come to the Titans, if Vic Beasley doesn't bounce back

to his league-leading sack performance kind of standard there, then the Titans could be searching for a defensive end. And let's say, we don't want to hear this, but let's say Harold Landry disappoints this year. Well, the Titans would need to do something major to fix the edge rush position and paying Yannick Ngakwe a decent deal to come over is something that some Titans fans would be okay with right now, but I personally would be more receptive to that idea if the Titans were to pick him up as an unrestricted free agent next year. Similar with Matt Judon, who's currently on the franchise tag

with the Baltimore Ravens, another edge guy who could help now. He is three years older than Yannick Ngakwe, will be 30 this time next year, so I'd prefer Ngakwe, but Judon could be had at a better price. An interior defensive lineman to pair along with Jeffrey Simmons. There's been a little bit of talk about the Titans trading for Chris Jones. Not substantial talk or real rumors, just, you know, fan chatter, quite frankly. As we see any time there's any player available through a trade or a free agent, Titans fans are going to talk about how the Titans could get their hands on that guy. Chris Jones could play this year with the Chiefs, be an unrestricted free

agent next year. It's unlikely, but if that were the case, someone like a Leonard Williams or a Chris Jones, an interior defensive lineman to pair with Jarrell Casey. Look at me making slips. Used to having Casey on the team, but that could pair with Jeffrey Simmons. That would make a lot of sense as well. Shaquille Barrett currently on a franchise tag. Bud Dupree currently on a franchise tag. More edge rush help for the Titans that could be unrestricted free agents next year. At the guard position, let's say the Titans cut bait with Roger Saffel due to his high price tag. Let's say that Nate Davis has a down year and doesn't really seem like a long-term option for the Titans. Someone like Brandon Scherf, a guard from the Redskins. Someone like Joe Tooney, well the Redskins for now. Joe Tooney from the Patriots

could slide in there as a veteran option. The Titans could cut bait with Malcolm Butler due to his price tag. A veteran like Patrick Peterson from the Cardinals will be an unrestricted free agent next offseason. Another wide receiver, veteran wide receiver, who could fill a need that the Titans don't currently have as a speed threat, T.Y. Hilton, could make an easy jump within the division and move right on over to the Titans. Obviously, Leonard Floyd is a similar name. He signed a one-year deal with the Rams for $10 million. The Titans could take a chance on him like they did with Vic Beasley. That's definitely an option for the Titans.

If Jayon Brown does leave as a free agent and Rashawn Evans is looking for a big-time extension that the Titans simply don't want to pay. Somebody like Demario Davis could come in on a cheap veteran contract. If the Titans want to go a cheaper route than T.Y. Hilton or A.J. Green, somebody like Marvin Jones from the Detroit Lions, a great speed boundary receiver, could come in and help out. A backup quarterback option for the Titans, Mitch Trubisky, a backup quarterback option.

I was never high on Mitch Trubisky, a backup quarterback option. I was never high on Mitch Trubisky. I called him Blake Bortles 2.0 as soon as he was drafted. Never been high on him, but as a backup, not the worst thing that could happen. Solomon Thomas, defensive lineman from the San Francisco 49ers, can play a little bit of edge, can play interior as well, would be a good versatile piece for this Titans defense. And Jalen Ramsey, gotta mention Jalen Ramsey. That's the big target I think Titans fans should keep their eye on. If the Titans do have a good amount of cap space, which they could have, they do decide to cut Malcolm Butler. Bringing on Jalen Ramsey, who is a Nashville native and trains in Nashville quite a bit, could make a lot of sense for the Titans.

But those are just some options that the Titans would have here. Another guy who's dealt with a lot of injuries at the wide receiver position, but is clearly a dominant speed receiver when healthy is Will Fuller. You look at Curtis Samuel from the Carolina Panthers. Some more options at wide receiver. So there are definitely a lot, a lot of available free agents that could show up next year. Now, obviously, things change pretty quickly in the NFL. Any of these guys could get an extension, could get the tag, anything like that.

But definitely could be some good options that the Titans could pursue on the free agent market in 2021. But that is going to do it for our financial section of our 2021 look ahead. We're going to have just one segment on Friday's show for the 2021 look ahead. And that's talking about what divisions the Titans will be playing. As you guys know, the divisions rotate every year. And the Titans play all four teams in a certain division every year. There's two divisions, one AFC, one NFC, every single year that the Titans play every team in. We'll talk about what those divisions will be in 2021 in a short segment preview in the 2021 schedule that we can expect. But I had a great

time talking with you guys today about the Mahomes contract, how that benefits the Titans, makes the Tannehill deal even much more of a value. Talked about who the Titans in-house free agents are going to be next offseason, who are some cut candidates to help save cap, who are some restructure candidates who could be looking at a long-term extension next offseason as well. So all of those things have been discussed, but I'm ready to continue diving into more of that as we look at the divisions that the Titans will play in 2021, but also Derrick Henry's deadlines next week. So we got to talk about that.

And John Robinson talked to Paul Kaharski at length on Tuesday night about a couple of different things. The kicker position, Jadavion Clowney, the roster as it sits. So on Friday, we are going to cover John Robinson's comments with Paul Kaharski, talk about Derrick Henry's deadline, maybe get some news by then, and also cover some of the division opponents the Titans will see in 2021, along with a Friday mailbag. Send in those mailbag questions at TicTacTitans on Twitter, or if you would like, go ahead

and put them in a five-star review on the iTunes Apple Podcast app. I would appreciate that as well. But now that you are done with this edition of the Locked on Titans podcast, tell your smart device to play Locked On NFL Draft. Never a bad time to get ready for the college football season or get ready for the 2021 NFL Draft. Go ahead and check out the Locked On NFL Draft podcast for more draft content. I personally am a draft junkie, so I love the show and I check it out as much as I possibly can. But like I said, that will do it for me today. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.