The Tennessee Titans sign EDGE Vic Beasley.
Today the Tennessee Titans filled a need by signing EDGE Vic Beasley away from the Atlanta Falcons.
Maybe saying “fill a need is generous” because Beasley is pretty well regarded around the Falcons fan base as a disappointment and that the majority of his sack production was an anomaly that came from his sophomore campaign.
After being drafted with the 8th overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, Beasley went on to have a very quiet rookie season with just 4 sacks despite playing every game.
He followed that up with the aforementioned 2016 season where he led the NFL in sacks with 15.5 and it looked like he was going to be a true stud on the EDGE that set the tone for the rest of the defense.
Instead, Beasley has managed just 18 sacks in the three seasons that followed his big year and 2019 was the first time since 2016 that he started double-digit games for the Falcons.
This is a pretty underwhelming signing for the Titans because Beasley presents the same issues that Cameron Wake had without the upside and consistency of being one of the premier pass rushers in the game.
Instead, the Titans invested money into what is essentially a boom or bust prospect on the outside who has to be used as a rotational player.
Here is where it gets interesting though, Beasley’s deal with the Titans is only a 1-year deal.
Vic Beasley gets a 1-year deal worth $9.5M guaranteed, source said, with a max of $12M. A chance to prove it in Tennessee. https://t.co/IrEo53XljG
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 17, 2020
In the only other contract year in his career (2019) he did manage to boost his production and this prove it deal may be his key to a bigger deal with the Titans or some other team in 2021 like Shaq Barrett’s deal with the Buccaneers this past offseason.
Does this mean that they won’t have money to sign Jadeveon Clowney or another EDGE? Maybe, but there is a chance that everyone else had priced themselves out of the market and the Titans decided to punt this problem to 2021 when they have even more money and more options.
One final note, the Titans sign Beasley after he was cut by the Atlanta Falcons. As you will learn in an article I am writing now, it really seems like the Titans are going to try and maximize their compensatory picks next season and signing a player who was cut like Beasley does NOT count against the formula for those picks.