Harold Landry's contract should open the books on another Tennessee Titans cap casualty
NASHVILLE — Edge rusher Harold Landry was made a priority by the Tennessee Titans this offseason. The club signed him to a reported five-year, $87.5 million deal on Tuesday, keeping a hugely talented 2021 pass rush in-tact. General manager Jon Robinson was committed to getting Landry's deal done. Franchise tagging Landry never made sense for Tennessee […]
NASHVILLE — Edge rusher Harold Landry was made a priority by the Tennessee Titans this offseason. The club signed him to a reported five-year, $87.5 million deal on Tuesday, keeping a hugely talented 2021 pass rush in-tact.
General manager Jon Robinson was committed to getting Landry's deal done.
Franchise tagging Landry never made sense for Tennessee in its current window. Based on the structure detailed by Paul Kuharsky, the Titans will give themselves financial flexibility with a lower Year 1 cap hit. Robinson and vice president of football administration Vin Marino have used similar contract arrangements as recently as last offseason when the team brought in then-free agent Bud Dupree.
Landry's new deal, however, is considerably bigger.
The Titans have cap space to clear with Landry's new deal
Plenty of options are on the table for Tennessee to get their cap right.
The business of football can be cold-blooded in this regard. Such is the nature of professional sports. It requires an unsympathetic approach as a means of sustainability. Robinson knows what is required to keep the Titans relevant in an ever-escalating AFC. That lack of emotion must also apply to knowing when to move on from the football equivalent of sunk costs.
After Landry's signing, it is time to give serious consideration to the idea of cutting Julio Jones.
A sunk cost is defined as a one that has already been incurred and that cannot be recovered. Over a one-year sample size, that is the only way to describe Jones' tenure so far in Tennessee. The 33-year old receiver played in only 10 games for the Titans in 2021 and has appeared in 19 combined games the last two seasons due to recurring hamstring issues. There were moments of brilliance, to be fair, and key contributions for an offense that suffered from considerable contrition.
Jones is a future Hall-of-Famer, but only managed to produce 31 catches for 434 yards and one touchdown this season.
Landry's contract is not directly in conflict with Jones' and Tennessee does have other options on the table. The team is currently over the cap by just North of $7 million and has considerable savings if they opted to part ways with left tackle Taylor Lewan ($12.9 million), linebacker Zach Cunningham ($10.5 million), left guard Rodger Saffold ($10.5 million), cornerback Janoris Jenkins ($6.9 million) or tackle Kendall Lamm ($3.2 million).
It feels laughable to say, but each of those players was more consistently available in 2021 than Jones.
When should the Titans move on from Jones
June 1st is the date to know in this conversation.
Teams cutting players with guaranteed money left on their deals can either eat the hit in one year or spread it out over several. With a pre-June 1 designation, any dead money left on a player's contract becomes a cap hit for the current year. After June 1, any dead money left becomes a cap hit spread out over the next two years.
Zach Lyons always does an exceptional breakdown of this and other must-know offseason terminology for Broadway Sports each year.
The Titans would absorb all $13.2M remaining as a cap hit in 2022 if they were to cut Jones pre-June 1 and gain $1.13M in cap savings. If the Titans cut the former Falcons wide receiver with a Post-June 1st designation, they could split the $13.2M cap hit over 2022 and 2023, with $4.8M and $8.4M dead cap hits, respectively.
$9.5M in cap savings sounds damn good right about now.
Robinson has admitted mistakes and ejected on them before they fester in years past. Jones might well be the latest of those examples. Tennessee fans, though, would rather see a general manager move on swiftly than stay married to decisions based on ego. Should Tennessee choose to take this path with Jones, it would not be the only move necessary. More hits will come.
While almost every other NFL club seeks to improve offensive efficiency this season, the Titans are committed to absolutely wrecking it for their opponents.
Featured Image: USA TODAY Sports.
