THE NFL LOCKOUT IS OVER!!!!! What do the Titans do?
The Lockout is OVER. I repeat: THE LOCKOUT IS OVER
Football is back!!!! Just let those sweet, savory, musical words sink in for a moment.
Now, what does that mean for the Titans
The New CBA
The initial update is that the club should receive somewhere around a 3-day window to review over all the details involved in the new CBA (contract bargaining agreement between the NFL and NFLPA). The CBA will more than likely include more than 3 days worth of information and this leads me to believe that much confusion will follow, at least on the small details. Update after update will occur on all the major websites and you can expect a lot of review on this website. As the details emerge we will go over the positive and negative shades of these revelations and determine why they are good and why they are bad. I’ll go ahead and tell you that my favorite part is the rookie wage scale. I don’t like hearing that Sam Bradford receives more guaranteed money than Brady, Manning, Rivers and Brees just because Bradford was drafted first overall. All the congratulations in the world are due to anyone drafted first overall, I certainly never accomplished that. However, being drafted first overall should not financially equate to getting paid more money than the greatest to currently play the game.
Free Agency
Free Agency will first begin with the undrafted players. Commonly referred to as College Free Agency, the initial report conclude that this period will begin at the end of the 3 days given to the clubs to review over the previously mentioned CBA. Players such as widely touted Delaware Quarterback Pat Devlin and cancer-surviving Boston College Linebacker Mark Herzlich will receive offers to play for multiple clubs. Some may offer more money through signing bonuses than others, but the players will ultimately choose a team that lacks talent in their area so as to give them the best chance to start. Once the period of 3 days ends (6 total), the real excitement begins: NFL Free Agency. All the major talked about players, such as Oakland Cornerback Nnamdi (Nahm-Dee) Asomugha (Ass-So-Muwa), Carolina Runningback Jonathan Stewart, Jets Wide Receiver Santonio Holmes and others will be courted by many teams and leave every fan out there clinging to hope as a small child holds a blanket while scared of the monster under the bed. If you watch Nascar, you’ll appreciate that this will resemble ‘White-Knuckle Weekend’. We will all be on edge. There will be more NFL news at this time than we’ve had since the NFL Draft in April.
What This Means for The Titans
First, they need to gather the information necessary as quickly as possible. They will need a small herd of individuals pouring over the new CBA in order to make sense of it. Then, they will need to rely on what they knew heading into the process and throw out offers for the players that are now Free Agents. They will have to do everything they can to re-sign players such as Middle Linebacker Stephen Tulloch and Defensive End Jason Babin, if they so desire. Then, the rush for bringing in outside NFL Free Agents begins. Do they throw the cash at Asomugha? Do they bring in extra help at safety? Do they want a solid, hard-hitting backup at runningback? Most of all, what are their plans for quarterback?
This will be a beautiful mess. Stay tuned.