Tennessee Titans: Contracts the Team Should Move on From This Offseason
With a good portion of their 2019 roster set to hit the free agency market in March, the Tennessee Titans could use some extra cap space to work with. One way they could go about doing that is by cutting ties with players who are under contract for next season and who just aren't worth […]
With a good portion of their 2019 roster set to hit the free agency market in March, the Tennessee Titans could use some extra cap space to work with.
One way they could go about doing that is by cutting ties with players who are under contract for next season and who just aren't worth the amounts they're scheduled to be paid.
Four contracts that the Titans currently have on the books, in particular, stand out as ones that the team should probably move on from in the coming weeks.
RB Dion Lewis
- Dead money, if released: $1.125 million
- Cap savings, if released: $4.037 million
Arguably, this should be the easiest, most straightforward cap casualty in the NFL this offseason.
When the Titans signed Lewis in March of 2018, they made him one of the league's 10 highest paid tailbacks. The return on that investment has been grim.
In Lewis, the Titans thought they were getting a weapon who could give defenses fits as a receiver and shifty ballcarrier. What they've gotten is a slow, small back who chops his feet and frequently shoots the offense in the foot.
Lewis struggled so mightily during the 2019 season that he essentially became a meme among Titans fans. When Lewis was on the field, it just seemed that something bad was bound to happen.
Additionally, Lewis is heading into his age-30 season. Traditionally, hitting the 30-year-old mark is a death sentence for running backs.
By moving on from Lewis' contract and finding a cheaper and more talented replacement through the draft, the Titans would free up over $4 million to spend on retaining some of their talented players with expiring contracts.
K Ryan Succop
- Dead money, if released: $2.1 million
- Cap savings, if released: $2 million
In 2019, the Titans were historically bad in the kicking game. While not all of the blame for the disastrous results falls on Succop—he played in just six games—some of it does.
Succop missed the entirety of Training Camp with a knee injury and played in two preseason games before the injury led to him being placed on injured reserve, forcing him to sit out the first eight games of the regular season.
When he returned in Week Nine, Succop was far from being the accurate, reliable kicker he had proven to be for the Titans in years past. He looked to still be affected by the knee injury, missing all but one of the six field goals he attempted.
There is certainly a fair argument to be made for the Titans giving Succop one last chance to see if an entire offseason of healing has allowed him to return to form. The best move, however, considering just how bad the Titans were in the kicking game last year, would be to overcorrect.
The Titans cannot just try to stumble upon a kicker. They need to be aggressive in trying to get a good one.
Gaining $2 million by moving on from Succop's contract could help them do that.
Next two players —->
TE Delanie Walker
- Dead money, if released: $1.666 million
- Cap savings, if released: $6.418 million
Walker is one of the Titans' all-time best players. There's no denying that.
But unless the Titans are deeply convinced, based on tangible evidence, that Walker still has something left in the tank at age 36, keeping him would seem to be based merely on nostalgic value.
Due to injuries, Walker played in a total of eight games from 2018-2019, starting a mere five. He caught just 25 passes during that span.
When he was healthy in 2019, Walker wasn't even a focal point of the Titans' offense. When he wasn't healthy, fellow tight ends Jonnu Smith and Anthony Firkser were just fine in his stead.
Especially with Smith and Firkser being in the final years of their respective contract situations, the Titans should let them take the reigns at the TE spot.
In his prime, which happened to come in his early 30s, Walker was a dominant force.
Due to injuries and age, though, he's just not the same guy, anymore. The Titans would save a good chunk of cap space by admitting that.
OLB Cameron Wake
- Dead money, if released: $2.666 million
- Cap savings, if released: $5.588 million
In his first year as a Titan in 2019 at the ripe age of 37, Wake was not able to be a consistent impact player.
He burst onto the scene with a multi-sack game in Week One, but his production trailed off drastically beyond that point.
Ultimately, due to injury, Wake played in just nine games.
When the Titans signed Wake last year, they structured his three-year contract so that it could be pretty easily voidable after just one year. Taking advantage of that would be a good way to clear up cap space.
If the Titans were to keep Wake in the fold for his age-38 season, it would be fair to wonder if he'd even come close to contributing at a level worthy of his more than $8 million cap hit.
Wake is an older player coming off of an injury-riddled season in which he wasn't that productive while healthy. That's not a great combination from the Titans' perspective.
Cover image: Isaiah J. Downing
