Amani Hooker, the Tennessee Titans $10 million draft pick

How one Day 3 draft pick could save the Tennessee Titans $10 million next year.

The Tennessee Titans are a train running headlong into the 2020 salary cap, but a few smart moves could save them. One of those moves could be the development of rookie safety Amani Hooker.

So, what does a backup safety drafted with the 116th pick in the 2019 NFL Draft have to do with saving money in 2020?

First, let’s look at the Tennessee Titans defensive backfield.

Right now, the Titans base defense is a 4-2-5 look. That means that Tennessee runs four defensive linemen (two iDLs and two EDGEs), two off-ball linebackers and five defensive backs.

Currently the starters at DB are pretty locked in:

Boundary CB: Adoree Jackson ( $3.6 million, $3.6 million GTD)

Boundary CB: Malcolm Butler ($13.6 million, $6 million GTD)

Slot CB: Logan Ryan (Free agent)

Safety: Kevin Byard ($13 million, impossible to cut)

Safety: Kenny Vaccaro ($6.25 million,  $4.5 million GTD)

The numbers beside each name is their projected cap hit for 2020. Kevin Byard’s is a true projection because I expect him to get a new deal soon.

You will notice that the Titans really don’t have an out in any of those contracts and actually have to pay Logan Ryan to keep him. In fact, even if they could keep him at the same rate (despite the inflation in the cap and the rise of cornerback contracts) that would cost them…oh what do you know, $10 million per year.

What does a safety like Hooker have to do with the slot CB position? Well, look at this note from PFF:

Is it crazy to think that a safety by trade who shadowed as a slot corner in college could come in and take over that starting job? Maybe not.

Look no further than the Miami Dolphins 1st round draft pick in 2018, Minkah Fitzpatrick. Both primarily played safety in college but who were used as slot cornerbacks often enough and played the position well.

Could the Titans have a similar plan in mind for Hooker?

Bleacher Report actually had a similar idea to this saying the Tennessee Titans could decide to cut Logan Ryan this preseason and start Amani Hooker.

I don’t really think that is on the table, if anything they could trade him at some point during the season but they aren’t going to cut one of their best players (stud slot corner) just to free up cap space for 2019 when he is going to be a free agent next year.

But, if you suggested that they could let him walk for a compensatory pick if Hooker develops then yea I could definitely see that.

The best case scenario is that the cap raises by $50 million this year and that no one has to make any hard decisions. Unfortunately that won’t happen, so the Titans need to figure out how to get their money’s worth and this 4th round draft pick looks really promising.