Is it time to stop making a mountain out of a molehill when talking about the Tennessee Titans free agents?
I didn’t think I would have to talk about this so early after the Tennessee Titans season, but it is very possible for the Titans to keep all three of their big free agents.
Before I get into the numbers, I want to say a few things that have either been contested or glossed over when talking about the Titans in free agency.
First of all, we need to take a page from Nashville Predators GM David Poile and think about every contract deal that Tennessee does in terms of real money or “Tennessee dollars”.
What that means is that there is no state income tax in Tennessee while in other states, every contract is going to get immediately cut into and portioned out to the state.
For example, if you sign a $10 million deal with the San Francisco 49ers, you are going to be making less than $8.7 million when all is said and done thanks to the tax.
I believe the Titans are one of only eight teams that can say that they take 0% of a player’s contract with the others being the: Las Vegas Raiders (NV), Houston Texans (TX), Dallas Cowboys (TX), Jacksonville Jaguars (FL), Miami Dolphins (FL), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (TX), Seattle Seahawks (WA).
Secondly, according to OTC, the Titans have the 12th most cap room in the NFL without making a single cut. If the Titans end up moving on from Cameron Wake, Delanie Walker, Ryan Succop, and Dion Lewis then they would shoot all the way up to 6th in cap room with nearly $73 million in space.
Let’s start with the most important player first.