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Tennessee Titans need to be picky with EDGEs in free agency

By Will Lomas

NEW ORLEANS, LA - NOVEMBER 19: Preston Smith #94 of the Washington Redskins hits Drew Brees #9 of the New Orleans Saints and is called for a roughing the passer penalty at Mercedes-Benz Superdome on November 19, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
NEW ORLEANS, LA - NOVEMBER 19: Preston Smith #94 of the Washington Redskins hits Drew Brees #9 of the New Orleans Saints and is called for a roughing the passer penalty at Mercedes-Benz Superdome on November 19, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /
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The Tennessee Titans need to have a short list for the EDGE position in free agency.

Great, long-term options at EDGE very, very rarely hit free agency and the Tennessee Titans should know that this year is no different.

Most of the big names got the tag, and while the Titans have the cap space to pull off a big move, they shouldn’t be too eager to spend money on mediocre EDGEs.

Just so we are all on the same page, I went to Rotoworld’s awesome free agent tracker that Evan Silva put together and here are the top-five free agent EDGE still on the market.

1. Trey Flowers: Not worth it

I honestly think Flowers is fine and putting him on the Titans would give them a solid starter opposite Harold Landry, but that is what I think he is going to be. I don’t think he is going to take some big leap forward outside of New England and people that think that about any player leaving the Patriots are usually wrong.

He is going to get a huge deal to probably get a team anywhere from 5-9 sacks per year and I just don’t see the value in giving someone like that $18 million per year.

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2. Preston Smith: Worth it

With Flowers I think you get what you see. However, with Smith I think there is a lot to like because he spent his career lining up on the right side against the other team’s left tackle. Not just any left tackles though, he spent four games each year against Tyron Smith and Jason Peters, two of the best LTs in the NFL and still managed to beat those guys frequently.

In Tennessee he would likely move around a lot and would be allowed to find advantageous matchups. Also, I think he is another really good athlete and the more of those guys that you have on the front four/five the better.

3. Justin Houston: Worth it

No one should need any explanation on this, but I will just leave this tweet here:

4. Ziggy Ansah: Not worth it

I think some team is going to fall in love with what Ansah could be again and give him a nice, one or two-year deal. While that would be a good idea most years, I don’t think that the Titans are in a position to take a lot of chances this year as the fan base is ready for this team to take a step forward in a division that is getting tougher.

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5. Markus Golden: Not worth it

You could basically copy and paste what I said about Ansah and put it here, the only difference is that Ansah was dominant for a 5 year stretch before falling off of a cliff, where as Golden only had one year of great play.

EDGEs get paid and I think someone will give him close to $10 million per year and that is too rich for me.

So for me, there are only two EDGEs that I would feel comfortable making big offers to: Preston Smith and Justin Houston. While the others will surely get considered, I am going to have EDGE high up on the list of needs unless one of these two end up in Tennessee.

The Tennessee Titans could definitely just try to add another veteran body to the room, but like I said the only two EDGEs that will fix the problem and move EDGE down the list of needs is Houston or Smith.

With the alternative being paying a guy $10 million per year to not fix a problem feels…like a mistake.

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