Tennessee Titans: Fan Edition, Part 2: Electric Boogaloo

We continue forth with part 2 on our discussion with Titans fans Michael Campbell, Chris Garete, and Patrick Ward. If you missed it, you can catch part 1 here.

Of all potential Titans free agents, who do you think we should retain? Should cost be a factor in re-signing this player?

"“We have to re-sign Babineaux. “Babs” was consistent and can be bought for a nominal fee.”“You have to let guys like Finnegan and Griffin go. Both good players, but not great ones…It’s best to let [Finnegan] walk and slide Verner into his position…[the] guy showed flashes of greatness in his rookie season” – Michael Campbell"

No question about Babs. That deal thankfully seems to be more or less done already, with a technicality being the only thing preventing Babs from signing for the next few days. As much as I love Finnegan for all of his efforts on and off the field, I agree with Michael that the cold and difficult, but pragmatic decision is to let him walk. However, let’s not put all of the blame on not getting a deal done on the Franchise. Only one person has really ever been paid by the Titans the way Finny wants to get paid, and that’s CJ. It took him entering the record books and becoming one of literally two hand-fulls of players to break 2,000 in a season in order to get paid. Finnegan is a great player, no question. But he balked at a $7 mil/year offer. That seems remarkably fair for both sides. As a matter of fact, if you asked me to objectively put a value on Finnegan, I would say $7 mil/year. He apparently was insulted by an offer that stood to make him the second highest paid player on the team. I just think that it was unreasonable for him to automatically expect the franchise to make him essentially the highest paid player at his position. Also, know one knows how he would have developed anywhere else, Finnegan included.

"“I would love to see the team retain Cortland, but I believe he will require more money than the Titans are willing to pay.”“You always hate to see a player leave that has been as involved in the community as much as [he] has. On the field he was solid, and I always felt he gave his all for the team”“There really is [no] one else I feel like the Titans have to keep” – Patrick Ward"

While we couldn’t work out a deal with Finnegan, there is no question that he was a great player who’s absence may very well be recognizable on the field this season. Immediately, there is going to be some work to be done in effectively replacing him. However, I do agree with Patrick that there really isn’t anyone else primed to leave who is that crucial to our success next season. We all know that Griffin was recently given the franchise tag, and for those that don’t understand, this was done as an insurance policy because we had the room to do so in a relatively week off-season for safety’s. The tag should by no means be interpreted as an endorsement; quite the opposite.

"“Griffin is an interesting case as well. While some have complained over lackluster play in some games, he has also shown flashes of greatness.”“Jordan Babineaux = re-sign. That is all that needs to be said.”“Jason Jones I think is an average DT at best, and a sub-par DE. If he is…cheap, he [provides] decent depth on the roster” – Chris Garete"

I agree with what Chris says about Griff. While he has blown a lot of plays, he has made a lot of plays to. He’s like that kid with all the potential in the world that every now and then just makes a boneheaded move.( C’mon, man! ) I think just like that kid, you keep giving him a chance because you know if he can just get over that hump he can turn into something special. Unfortunately, that kid only get’s so many chances, and this may be his last one. My feeling on Jones is that someone will end up paying a bit more than they should for him, but not by much.

Stay tuned for Part 3

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