Tennessee Titans: Financial breakdown of Taylor Lewan’s suspension
Tennessee Titans left tackle, Taylor Lewan, will lose a hefty sum of money during his four-game suspension.
With his four-game suspension now official, Tennessee Titans left tackle, Taylor Lewan, is set to lose a serious amount of cash as a result.
Lewan’s four-game suspension for violating the league’s policy against performance-enhancing drugs was upheld by the NFL on Friday after his appeal was denied. This was pretty much a foregone conclusion, but the announcement by the NFL made it official.
As such, Lewan will be suspended without pay, and as former agent and CBS Sports salary cap and contract expert Joel Corry explains, he’ll lose about $3.9 million altogether of his salary in 2019.
Expensive 4 game PED suspension for Taylor Lewan. He's out $3,411,765, which is 4/17th of his $14.5M base salary. Under the CBA, Titans are also required to recoup 4/17ths of the $2.2M in signing bonus proration allocated to 2019 ($517,647). Total of $3,929,412.
— Joel Corry (@corryjoel) August 23, 2019
Don’t worry about Dad, though. He signed a five-year, $80 million extension in 2018, so while this is a lot of money to us, it’s almost a drop in the bucket for Lewan.
Corry was asked if the Titans are required to recoup part of that signing bonus proration he talked about, to which he answered yes.
Recoupment is mandatory with PED & substance abuse suspensions. It's at the team's discretion with other types of suspensions. There's a salary cap credit with collection. Contracts usually have provision allowing collection from money the team is paying player. https://t.co/pEhPk6TdFf
— Joel Corry (@corryjoel) August 23, 2019
In the process of not paying Lewan during his suspension, the Titans get salary cap relief for the portion of the base salary not being paid, which is $3.4 million.
Titans get salary cap relief for the base salary that isn't being paid ($3,411,765) when Taylor Lewan's suspension begins with the 1st regular season game. https://t.co/bM93OtZT7z
— Joel Corry (@corryjoel) August 23, 2019
While that’s a nice chunk of change for the Titans in salary cap relief, I’m sure the team would like to trade it back for their star left tackle. Navigating the kind of pass-rushers this team has to face during Lewan’s four-game suspension won’t be easy.
In Lewan’s place, the Titans will have Dennis Kelly on the left side. Kelly was the No. 18 tackle in the NFL last season, per Pro Football Focus, although that was on the right side of the line in place of Jack Conklin.
Still, the Titans are better off than most teams would be in the same situation with Kelly, and Tennessee might be able to weather the storm for four games until Lewan gets back.
Lewan will be eligible to be added to the active roster on Monday, September 30th, following the Week 4 game against the Atlanta Falcons. Until then, he can partake in all of the team’s preseason practices and games.