Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Will Tennessee Titans Cut Ryan Tannehill, Taylor Lewan is OUT & Defensive Cut Candidates

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, it's day one of off-season roadmap week. We're looking at the cut candidates for the Tennessee Titans. Should the Titans cut Ryan Tannehill? What about Taylor LeJuan? What about Bud Dupree? I'm going to go over all the potential cut candidates,

Starting point is 00:00:21 how much money they could save the Titans, and who should be cut, all on today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it! You are Locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Titans fans, it is day one of off-season roadmap week, and it is presented by PrizePix. PrizePix is daily fantasy made easy. You pick two to five or two to six players,

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Starting point is 00:01:42 Make sure you stay locked in to the Locked on Titans podcast all off season long. And today is day one of our off season roadmap week. Today, I'm going to go over the cut candidates for the Titans. Tomorrow, we are going to talk the in-house free agents that the Titans have to decide whether they're going to re-sign or not. Then we're going to look at team needs on offense and defense, and we're going to decide whether the're going to re-sign or not. Then we're going to look at team needs on offense and defense, and we're going to decide whether the Titans need to draft, sign, or both. To address those needs Friday, we will have a mock draft, seven rounds going over what the Titans draft could look like.

Starting point is 00:02:19 So make sure you don't miss a single day of the off-season roadmap week here on the Locked on Titans podcast. But with that being said, we got to dive into these cut candidates. The Titans need to save some money on the cap. And the best way to do that is to cut bait on some guys who are costing you too much for the production that they're giving you out on the field. And obviously, the biggest question for the Titans this year, what are they going to do with quarterback Ryan Tannehill? Well, let's talk about the financials here. So Tannehill is set to

Starting point is 00:02:52 make about $36 million on the cap this year. If the Titans decide to cut him in February, which February into March is that time where these guys start to get cut. We start to hear about the decisions the teams are going to make. If the Titans cut Ryan Tannehill in February or before free agency, they're going to save $17.8 million. But there is a dead cap charge that even if they cut him, it'll cost the Tennessee Titans. And that dead cap charge is $18.8 million.

Starting point is 00:03:26 So the Titans are going to have more dead cap if they cut Ryan Tannehill than savings. But if the Titans find a viable solution at quarterback, they could potentially make this move. For example, not likely, but if Mike Vrabel convinced his friend Tom Brady to come over for $10 million this year, $20 million this year. Well, if you cut Brian Tannehill and you save $17 million and then you pay Tom Brady $20 million, well, if you add Tom Brady's $20 to the $18 million of dead cap, now you're at $38 million. And hey, if you were paying $36 million for Tannehill, why not pay $38 million for Tom Brady? Now again, that's not likely, but I'm just using it as an example to explain to you guys what the possibilities could be.

Starting point is 00:04:13 Now, in my opinion, the Titans should not cut Ryan Tannehill. If, like Amy Adams-Strunk has said she wants to do, if, like Rand Carthon and Mike Vrabel have said they want to do, if they want to be a competitive football team next year, the best route and the most realistic route for them is to keep Ryan Tannehill at quarterback. He's got one more deal or one more year on his contract, and then you can get off of him with very, very little dead money.

Starting point is 00:04:40 It makes a lot more sense. So I'm going to say no, the Titans should not cut Ryan Tannehill unless, unless there is one potential scenario where I think cutting Ryan Tannehill does make sense. And let me break this down for you guys. June the 1st, June the 1st is a big day in the NFL. It's essentially when the new fiscal year starts in the NFL. Contracts flip over. You're no longer on your 2022. You're on to 2023.

Starting point is 00:05:13 If the Titans were to cut Ryan Tannehill, what they could do is, they did this with Julio Jones last year. They could say, hey, we're going to cut Ryan Tannehill in February, but we are designating Ryan Tannehill as a post-June 1st cut. That means that Tannehill's savings, if you cut him, will not show up in the bank account until after June 1st. So no, if you decided to cut Ryan Tannehill as a post-June 1st designation, you wouldn't get the savings for that until after June 1st. So it wouldn't help

Starting point is 00:05:53 you during free agency or anything like that. However, what you can do is you can use those savings to sign your draft class. There are veterans that are cut during training camp or cut during the summer when the team goes through the draft and free agency and says, oh, we don't need this guy anymore. So you've got money to play with there. And we saw the Titans be incredibly limited during this past season because they didn't have enough cap space during the year to make big trades, make signings, things like that.

Starting point is 00:06:26 So you could designate Ryan Tannehill as a post-June 1st cut. And if you did that, well, now you're saving $27 million instead of $18 million. And your dead cap is only $9.6 million rather than the 18.8 dead cap that you would have if you cut him just normally during February. Again, this is a method that the Titans used with Julio Jones last year. It saved them $15 million. They didn't get those savings until after June the 1st, but it allowed them to then sign their draft class and allowed them to have a little bit of money to play with going forward. So I don't think the Titans should cut Brian Tannehill, but if they do, the scenario I think that would do it is what if they get a quarterback in the draft? They trade up for CJ Stroud. They trade up for Bryce Young. They go

Starting point is 00:07:22 after a guy like Will Levis. If the Titans take either of those three quarterbacks, you're starting them year one. Put them in. Do not waste a year of cheap rookie contract. Cut Ryan Tannehill after June 1st when you have a highly drafted rookie. Save the $27 million instead of the $17.8 million. That would make sense. Now, if the Titans were to take Anthony Richardson out of Florida, who is basically a souped up version of Malik Willis, bigger, stronger, better athlete, more pro ready, although he's not incredibly pro ready. I would keep Ryan Tannehill for this year still to let Richardson learn under him, have a year to grow. But if the Titans were to, for any reason, make a move up for any of those top three quarterbacks,

Starting point is 00:08:07 then you cut Ryan Tannehill after the draft, after June 1st, save yourself $27 million. So the Titans do have some options. But for me, if I'm giving you an answer right now, don't cut Ryan Tannehill. I don't see a viable option out there that would be better for the Titans to compete in 2023. And you're only saving yourself $17.8 million.

Starting point is 00:08:29 You got dead cap of $18.8 million. I think I'd rather just keep Tannehill than try to look for another realistic option for the Titans. So, wanted to break down Ryan Tannehill's situation. And that post-June 1st scenario is something that we're going to talk about with some other players as well. But before we get into that, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by PrizePix. PrizePix is daily fantasy made simple. And PrizePix has ratcheted it up here recently. It used to be two to five players and you could win 10 times your money. Now they have the option to do two to six players and you can make up to 25 times your money on your entry. So what do you got to do to win? PrizePix has a projection for every player. Patrick Mahomes,

Starting point is 00:09:17 300 passing yards. Jamar Chase, 100 receiving yards. Christian McCaffrey, 50 rushing yards. receiving yards, Christian McCaffrey, 50 rushing yards, Jalen Hurts, two passing touchdowns. All you do is pick two to six players and say whether the player is going to do more or less than that projection. If you win, again, you have the chance to win up to 10 times or 25 times your money on your entry. Right now, go to prizepicks.com or just download the PrizePicks app right on your entry right now. Go to prizepix.com or just download the PrizePix app right on your phone. It's that simple and sign up with the promo code locked on. You're going to receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 if you're a first-time user. So you deposit $100, PrizePix gives you $100. You deposit $50, PrizePix gives you $50, et cetera, et cetera. Don't forget, use the promo code LOCKEDON

Starting point is 00:10:07 to sign up for an instant deposit match of up to $100 at prizepix.com. Titans fans, we are going to continue breaking down the Tennessee Titans top cut candidates. We got to talk about Taylor LeJuan, Robert Woods, Bud Dupree, all of those names. Before we do, I want to remind you guys, I appreciate you making the Locked On Titans podcast your first listen every day. Remember, this is day one of the off-season roadmap week. We're talking cut candidates today. Tomorrow is in-house free agent decisions.

Starting point is 00:10:54 Wednesday and Thursday are team needs and how the Titans should address them, draft or free agency or both. Draft, free agency or both. One of my favorite off-season games to play Friday. I will have a full seven round mock draft to try to address that. So we're doing cuts. We're doing re-signings. We're doing free agency. We're doing draft. All of that and much more. Make sure you stay subscribed. Get subscribed to the Locked On Titans podcast. But for your second listen, or technically not your second listen,

Starting point is 00:11:25 but do want to tell you guys about a cool thing that the Titans are doing with the Senior Bowl. The Titans are doing them all over the place. Locked on. Get inside analysis from hosts that cover the NFL's next generation in college. Find out which NFL draft boards these players will be climbing all in one location. Subscribe to the Locked On NFL Draft podcast feed or the Locked On NFL Draft YouTube channel.

Starting point is 00:11:47 You're going to get nightly shows covering the Senior Bowl Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night at 9 p.m. Eastern time, breaking down everything you need to know from that day's Super or Senior Bowl practice. It's a great way to get ready for the draft, so I hope you guys will check that out. But diving into these cut candidates even further, number one, we got to talk about Taylor LeJuan. And look, this is going to be a quick one for me. You got to cut him. Taylor LeJuan knows he's getting cut. He's talked about it publicly. Here's the reality. Taylor LeJuan has played, what, like 20 games in the last three seasons for the Titans?

Starting point is 00:12:26 He can't stay healthy anymore. If we're honest, you look at that PED suspension that he had, has he been able to stay healthy consistently since? No. So, not only is Taylor LeJuan's availability and health a good reason to cut him, but we just talked about dead money if the Titans cut Ryan Tannehill. You know how much dead money the Titans would have if they cut Taylor LeJuan? Zero.

Starting point is 00:12:54 Let me tell you in Spanish. Cero. Okay? Zero dead money on the cap if the Titans cut Taylor LeJuan. They're in prime position to add a new left tackle in the draft. It's a decent free agency group at left tackle as well with guys like Orlando Brown, Andre Dillard, Mike McGlinchey, Isaiah Wynn. I mean, there are some good options at the top of the market,

Starting point is 00:13:17 in the middle of the market. I think it only makes sense for the Titans to cut Taylor LeJuan. And if they do, they're going to say $15 million, $14.8 if we're being precise. How is there any argument to not cut Taylor LeJuan? That's why LeJuan knows himself. And he said publicly at media appearances, they're going to cut me. He knows because it's just the most logical decision. And when you look at a Titans team who, depending on what site you look at, is anywhere from $17, $18 to $23 million above the cap,

Starting point is 00:13:54 cutting Taylor LeJuan for zero dead money and saving $15 million with his recent health, I mean, it's the biggest slam dunk of them all on this list. So I do not expect Taylor LeJuan to be on the Titans next year. I went on a big rant about it a couple of weeks ago. They're not going to cut him and then bring him back for a cheaper deal because why would Taylor LeJuan sacrifice his body for less money than he thinks it's worth?

Starting point is 00:14:18 He's going to go be a media star. So that's an easy one moving forward. Next, you have Robert Woods. And to me, Mike Rabel talked about speed in the offseason already. I have talked to you guys about the fact that the Titans need to get cheaper and younger as a roster. Robert Woods is another slam dunk. You are cutting Robert Woods. It sucks that you gave up a pick for him, but it wasn't some insane pick that the Titans had to give up to get Robert Woods. So I'm cutting Robert Woods. If you do, you save $12 million with only $2.6 million in dead cap.

Starting point is 00:14:59 The Titans need to get faster and younger at wide receiver. Robert Woods coming off the ACL, he may be better this year in a more pass-friendly offense where he's not the number one wide receiver for most of the season with Traylon Burks being out for a lot of the time. Robert Woods wasn't put in a great position, but that doesn't mean that he's worth $14 million on the cap this year. So you cut Robert Woods, you save $12 million, you have $2.6 million in dead cap. That's not that bad whatsoever.

Starting point is 00:15:28 I expect Robert Woods to be cut pretty quickly by the Titans. And then this last guy that I want to talk about in this segment is Bud Dupree. And some of you guys don't like me for it. Bud Dupree has let me know that he sees what I say about him, but I don't really care because I

Starting point is 00:15:47 have said since the moment Bud Dupree was signed by John Robinson that this is a mistake and it has proven to be a mistake. Bud Dupree will be cut and I've said it since the moment that he was signed that he would be cut after two years. There was an out in his contract to cut him after two years. And since the contract was signed, it was obvious that's what would happen. Because Bud Dupree is nowhere near worth $18 to $20 million. He is a compliment pass rusher. He was the fourth best pass rusher on the Steelers

Starting point is 00:16:24 behind Tewitt and Hayward and Watt. And somehow, John Robinson saw that and thought, yeah, this guy deserves $20 million. He's a number one pass rusher. He was the fourth best pass rusher on the Titans in 2021. Landry, Autry, and Simmons are all better pass rushers than Bud Dupree. So always insane. Never understood that contract. If you than Bud Dupree. So always insane. Never understood that contract.

Starting point is 00:16:45 If you cut Bud Dupree, look, the dead cap situation isn't as clean as LeJuan or Woods. You'd have $10.8 million in dead cap, $9.3 million in savings. But back to that post-June 1st cut, I think Bud Dupree is a prime candidate to be cut after June 1st

Starting point is 00:17:05 And I told you that's an option with Tannehill, but I wouldn't pursue it unless you get a top three quarterback to me This is what the Titans need to do cut bud Dupree as a post June 1st designation then you save 17 million dollars and only have 3.2 million dollars in dead cap so an extra seven to eight million dollars you're going to save yourself and again the titans did this method with julio jones last year to save themselves 15 million dollars after june 1st and what they did was they waited to sign their draft picks so that they could use that money to do it and then you got a little bit of money to play with going into the season to make roster moves throughout the year. People only worry about cap

Starting point is 00:17:49 space with free agency. You got to worry about cap space with your draft class and with your in-season moves. Everybody wanted the Titans to trade for Jerry Judy and stuff during the season. Well, you got to have cap space to take in a guy like that. So to me, like Julio Jones last year, Bud Dupree should be cut and he should be cut as a post June 1st designation. So the Titans save 17 million on his cut, only have 3.2 dead money. No, they won't be able to use that money during free agency, but it'll help them with their draft class and their in-season moves, which they'll need money for as well. So those are the non-quarterback big-time cuts the Titans need to make. Now, I want to go into some smaller cuts, but guys who nonetheless will

Starting point is 00:18:41 be on the chopping block. And I got one surprise guy that maybe it's not a surprise to hear his name, but it would surprise me if he was cut because although you guys don't like him, it doesn't make a lot of sense to cut him financially. So we're going to get into that in just a moment. Before we do, I want to let you know that today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel, the official sportsbook partner of Locked On and the official sportsbook partner of the NFL. I'm so excited to talk to you guys about our new sports betting partner for Locked On because

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Starting point is 00:21:46 bet responsibly. Titans fans, I'm literally exhausted after the end of the FanDuel read. My lord, my lord, that was a mouthful, but I appreciate you guys sticking through it. We are going to cap off these cut candidates, talk about the other guys who are maybe lesser names that are being discussed, but still nonetheless guys who probably need to be cut by the Titans. And one guy that all of you guys want to be cut, and it's not going to happen. But before we get into that, I do want to thank you guys again for making Locked on

Starting point is 00:22:31 Titans podcast your first listen every day. Remember, it is off-season roadmap week, day one. We're going to do guys the Titans should re-sign tomorrow, draft, sign, or both on Wednesday and Thursday for offense and defense. A full seven-round mock draft on Friday. Before we get into the rest of the cut candidates, do want to let you guys know that you should check out the Locked On NFL podcast for your second listen.

Starting point is 00:22:56 You get your Titans news here with me. Get your national NFL news with the Locked On NFL podcast. But diving back into cut candidates, Zach Cunningham. So let me throw this at you guys a little bit. One, Cunningham was hurt a bunch last year. Two, some whispers that he's not a guy who works very hard. Guy who didn't really take his rehab as serious and work as hard at it as maybe he should have.

Starting point is 00:23:24 If you guys remember, Mike Vrabel had a comment about guys who only work from 8 to 4 and how that's not going to work in pro sports. There are some whispers out there that that may have been directed at Zach Cunningham amongst other people as well. So for me, easy cut to cut Zach Cunningham. I would do everything I can to keep David Long. And if they cut Cunningham, $9 million in savings, $4.5 million in dead cap. I'll eat the dead cap to save the $9 million. You could literally probably flip that over and give that money directly to David Long. So for me, that's an easy one. See a Zach Cunningham.

Starting point is 00:24:06 I'd rather see Dr. Gibby. I'd rather see Monty Rice. I'd rather see Chance Campbell. I'd rather the Titans draft another linebacker. David Long, of course. Either way, easy cut for me. See a Zach Cunningham. Next, Randy Bullock.

Starting point is 00:24:24 Listen, Bullock has been consistent and solid for the Titans, quite frankly, after having years of like insanely bad kicking, but he's not good enough to pay nearly $3 million. Okay. Not a chance, man. Not a chance. And if you cut Randy Bullock, you save 2 million and only have 600,000 in dead cap. Not even a question. The Titans need a kicker who can kick for over 50 yards. And yeah, Randy Bullock made the 51-yarder against Jacksonville. That was the longest kick he made all year.

Starting point is 00:24:56 And the Titans wouldn't be in that position if Randy Bullock could have hit a 48-yarder in week one against the Giants. They would have been in the playoffs if you're somebody who wanted that. So the Titans can do better than Randy Bullock. And at $3 million, not a chance. So I'm cutting Randy Bullock with ease. Last player that I think should be cut is Jamarco Jones. The biggest story or the biggest impact that Jamarco Jones had on the Titans season was him and Taylor LeJuan getting in a fight during training camp.

Starting point is 00:25:32 I think Jamarco Jones is a crybaby, quite frankly. I think Taylor LeJuan was probably teasing him. And Jamarco threw a fit. And I also think that Jamarco could have played through injury. But I think he decided to get surgery. Marcus Mariota did this to the Falcons. Once they benched him, he said, fine, I'm going to go get this surgery that I could have waited until after the season to have, but you're going to bench me. I'm going to go do it now. And I'm going to go have surgery and I'm

Starting point is 00:26:00 leaving the team and I'm going home. That is a thing that happens in the NFL all the time. That's one of those inner workings things that maybe casual fans don't realize. Players could go have surgery at any point in time to fix their injuries. Most of the guys on the Titans probably needed a cleanup surgery of some kind. But instead of doing, like Jeffrey Simmons,

Starting point is 00:26:22 Simmons could have had surgery on his ankle, but he said, no, I'm going to play the rest of the year and I'll deal with it afterwards. Happens every year. These players could say, no, I want to get surgery now. I'm not going to fight through it. Nope, nope. And I think, personally, it's my opinion and my guess,

Starting point is 00:26:44 I think that's exactly what Jamarco Jones did. He didn't get a starting job over Aaron Brewer. Taylor LeJuan was teasing him, being the kind of guy that we know Taylor LeJuan is, which I don't have a problem with. There's a lot of guys that are bullies like that in the NFL. Look at Micah Parsons' college experience. So, I just think Jamarco Jones is a crybaby. I don't think he's a guy who wants to work hard through injury and the Titans are going to save a million dollars if they cut him. It'd be

Starting point is 00:27:14 1.4 million in dead cap. But again, this is another guy post June 1st cut chance. If you designate Jamarco Jones as a post June 1st cut you save 2 million you only have 375,000 in dead money so get Jamarco Jones off this team man come on he's never gonna never gonna help the team so just go ahead and do it

Starting point is 00:27:37 the last player that I want to talk about here a lot of you guys in my comments or on Twitter have said the Titans should cut Caleb Farley. Cut Caleb Farley. Cut Caleb Farley. Okay, I get it. Odds are Caleb Farley is never going to be what the Titans wanted him to be. Odds are Caleb Farley may not ever even be a contributing player for the Titans on defense. But let me just school you guys to reality. If the Titans cut Caleb Farley,

Starting point is 00:28:07 they save $3.6 million and they have $7.5 million in dead cap. It makes way more sense for the Titans to keep Caleb Farley and just hope that he can turn it around. It doesn't make any sense to cut Caleb Farley to save 3.6 million when you're going to have $8 million, 7.9 million in dead cap.

Starting point is 00:28:34 So you guys can hate him all you want. You could say he's a bust. You could talk about how he's never going to be anything for the Titans. And you know what? You may be right, but financially speaking, it doesn't make any sense to give up on Caleb Farley, right?

Starting point is 00:28:51 It just simply does. But that's going to do it for me today. That's my opinion on all of the cut candidates, how the Titans should process them, what they should do. Tomorrow, we're going to go through the list of in-house free agents for the Titans. And I'm going to say which of those guys

Starting point is 00:29:04 they need to bring back. So make sure that you stay locked into the Locked on Titans podcast for that. Get subscribed. Stay subscribed. But that's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans. you

Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Will Tennessee Titans Cut Ryan Tannehill, Taylor Lewan is OUT & Defensive Cut Candidates

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