Tennessee Titans faced with critical decisions to make on Taylor Lewan and Nate Davis
NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans offensive line was an absolute mess in 2022. As the team gets ready to clear cap space, new general manager Ran Carthon has to make tough decisions on left tackle Taylor Lewan and right guard Nate Davis. No small task. Lewan played in only one full game last year, suffering an […]
NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans offensive line was an absolute mess in 2022. As the team gets ready to clear cap space, new general manager Ran Carthon has to make tough decisions on left tackle Taylor Lewan and right guard Nate Davis.
No small task.
Lewan played in only one full game last year, suffering an ACL tear on the first offensive play of Tennessee's Week 2 road loss to the Buffalo Bills. Davis made 12 of a possible 17 regular season starts for the Titans, but was also placed on IR in late December with a nagging ankle issue. Both have played critical roles in the team's success over their respective tenures in Nashville, but it would be near impossible to envision both returning to Tennessee in 2023.
Re-tooling the Titans starts up front this offseason, first and foremost.
Cutting Lewan makes the most sense
It is a borderline no-brainer given the left tackle's current contract situation.
Lewan signed a five-year, $80 million contract with the Tennessee before the 2018 season. Per spotrac.com, the nine-year veteran will earn a base salary of $14.81 million with a cap hit of the exact same amount heading into the final year of his deal and no dead money remaining. Lewan became a full-time starter with the Titans during the 2015 season after seeing action in eleven games as a rookie.
After missing only two starts from 2015-2018, Lewan has missed 34 games between a PED suspension and the two ACL tears in the last four seasons.
The part-time podcaster has talked openly about his expectations of being released when the team clears cap this Spring. Banking on Lewan to return to form in a last-chance situation is a risky proposition for Carthon to consider, given how perpetually unavailable the left tackle has been. Tennessee could easily select one of the top players at the position in this year's NFL Draft with their current 11th overall selection.
Titans re-signing Davis is no sure thing
The 2019 third-round pick has missed only 10 games since being drafted by the Titans.
Spotrac.com projects Davis to earn a contract with an annual value of $7.4 million as he prepares to hit the open market this year. The figure is not an astronomical one for a quality player at a non-premium position, but Tennessee has next to no financial wiggle room at present. The Titans have the third-worst cap situation in the NFL next year, coming in $26.62 million over the $224.8 million figure set by the league for 2023.
Re-signing Davis would all but guarantee a Lewan release.
Carthon faces an offseason where the only certainty on his offensive line is 2022 third-round pick Nicholas Petit-Frere. The Ohio State product made 16 starts in his rookie year at right tackle. With center Ben Jones' future up in the air, left guard Aaron Brewer insufficient at his position, and the Lewan-Davis situation, Carthon must have multiple solutions in front of whomever starts for Tennessee at quarterback in the coming season.
The Titans could be looking at a group that features four new starters of a possible five.
Featured Image: USA TODAY Sports.
