The biggest question mark regarding the Tennessee Titans upcoming offseason is what the team will do with starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill.

Tannehill, who will be entering his age 35 season in 2023, has one year remaining on his original four-year, $118 million contract with the Titans.

Since taking over for Marcus Mariota in 2019, Tannehill has thrown for almost 13,000 yards, 89 touchdowns, and just 33 interceptions in 55 starts under center for the Titans. Tennessee is 36-19 in regular season games started by Tannehill, and made it to three straight playoff appearances from 2019-2021.

2022 was an entirely different story. With A.J. Brown no longer in the Titans' receiving corps and an offensive line riddled with injuries, Tannehill had his worst season in Tennessee (2,536 yards, 13 TD, 6 INT, 49.4 QBR). After a 7-3 start, a major collapse saw the Titans finish 7-10 and miss the playoffs. Tannehill also ended the season on Injured Reserve after getting season-ending ankle surgery.

Now the attention turns to the offseason and the quarterback carousel. GM Jon Robinson and OC Todd Downing were both let go by the organization, and it's very possible that a new GM and new play caller may want themselves a new quarterback next season.

Contract Details

The elephant in the room regarding Tannehill's status will always be his contract.

It may be the final year of Tannehill's contract with Tennessee, and head coach Mike Vrabel may be saying publicly that Tannehill is the guy, but it carries a big cap hit that will make keeping him around very difficult.

In 2023, Tannehill will earn a base salary of $27 million. His cap hit (money against the Titans' salary cap space) for the season would be $36.6 million. That accounts for the $27 million of base salary, as well as $5 million worth of signing bonus and $4.6 million paid out when his contract was restructured in summer of 2021.

That signing bonus money and restructure money has already been paid to Tannehill. It has not yet gone against the cap next season, but it is guaranteed money that has already been paid to him. That makes it "dead cap." Dead cap is the amount of salary that will count against the team's cap space, even if the player is cut from the roster.

So to sum things up, if the Titans keep Tannehill on their roster, he will cost them $36.6 million in cap space and be a free agent at the end of the season. If the Titans choose to cut Tannehill and go in a different direction, they will not owe him his $27 million in base salary, but would still get hit for $9.6 million against the cap from his bonus and restructure payments. They would also owe him an extra $9.2 million from his void years (2024, 2025).

That's $18.8 million in dead cap remaining on his contract that Tennessee would pay Tannehill, even if he's not on the roster. That's also $17.8 million in cap space savings from the $36.6 million they would have to pay to keep him.

Ultimately, there are two questions that Mike Vrabel, Amy Adams Strunk, and the Titans' new general manager will have to answer before making their Tannehill decision:

1. Is this a rebuild, or a retool?
2. Is there a quarterback available that is better than Tannehill and can elevate this roster for around $18 million next season, and is that quarterback attainable?

If the answer is yes to that second question, the Titans should absolutely look to upgrade at QB. If the answer is no, it's probably best they not force something that will have longterm ramifications on their cap space and roster construction. Tannehill is far from the Titans' biggest issue right now, and if they can build around him, he has proven to be capable of leading a playoff team.

It should be a fun and dramatic offseason either way.

Image via George Walker IV / Tennessean.com-USA TODAY NETWORK