Titans make a new deal with Kevin Byard.
The Tennessee Titans have restructured their contract with Kevin Byard, thus freeing up $6.1 million in cap space.
NFL Network reported this morning that the Tennessee Titans restructured their contract with Kevin Byard. Just a year ago, the Titans signed Byard to an extension worth $70.5 million dollars. Byard is still going to be making roughly the same amount of money, although, a portion of it was converted to a bonus rather than salary.
This is an incredible move by Jon Robinson because he keeps the Tennessee Titans star safety, Kevin Byard, happy and actually gets him his money sooner. At the same time, he clears up $6.1 million dollars in cap space for the Tennessee Titans. What is he going to do with that extra cap space? It is completely unclear.
Last night, Stephen Gostowski missed field goals from 47, 44, and 42 yards. He also missed an extra point to give him a total of four misses during the game. Fans seemed pretty sure that if the 10 points he left on the board cost the Titans the game that he wouldn’t last another week with the team. However, Gostowski found some success with time winding down in the 4th quarter to put the Titans upon the Broncos 16-14. That saved Gostowski from what would have been a lot of harsh feelings from fans (not that he isn’t still getting that).
The reality is that the Titans aren’t going to get another kicker. There aren’t any kickers available right now that are going to be any more capable than Stephen Gostowski is. It is easy to forget that he is coming off of hip surgery and didn’t have any preseason games to get back in the swing of things.
Postgame, Gostowski relived the nightmare and praised his teammates for having his back the whole way.
"“I just got here, and I come out here and play like that,” Gostkowski said. “For the guys to still support me and still have my back was pretty cool. And that’s the cool thing about team sports: You win and lose as a team. Obviously, a position like mine, everybody sees it when you screw up. That’s why I was grateful for the opportunity at the end — ’cause the guys deserve to win.” via Turron Davenport, ESPN"
So, what could the Titans possibly be looking to do with this extra cap space? They now sit around $9 million dollars.
Extend current players’ deals
There are some major contributors for the Tennessee Titans that are on contract years. It can be easy to get lost in the hype of this season and forget about the future, but being proactive can keep the team out of salary issues in the future. If the team starts working out the kinks now, they will be in good shape to handle the players that are due to be free agents when the time come.
Major players that are going in a contract year are Jonnu Smith, Jayon Brown, Corey Davis, Daquan Jones, and of course Jadeveon Clowney.
The most realistic of the options to get a deal soon is Jonnu Smith. He is a rising star in the NFL, but being a tight end and also not being completely proven leaves his value a little lower than the rest. Seeing as how the market got reset for tight ends this offseason with Travis Kelce and George Kittle getting new deals, Jonnu Smith could ask for a little more money than had the team extended him earlier in the offseason.
Jonnu has so much potential. Many are expecting a breakout year from him and I think he is going to be a no brainer to re-sign.
After Jonnu, the three players that stand out are Jayon Brown, Corey Davis, and Jadeveon Clowney.
Jadeveon Clowney looked really good in Monday’s game versus Denver. He was a huge help to the defense and when he gets into football shape, QBs better watch out.
Jayon Brown has been such a great cap space value for the Titans over the past two seasons, but it is time for him to cash out. Whether that be with the Titans or another team, who knows, but I want him to stay with the team if at all possible.
As for Corey Davis, he looked good, but it is going to come down to whether or not he will settle for WR2 money to stay on a Super Bowl contender.
This cap could be saved to roll over and go towards any of these guys, but the Titans might need some new help on the roster quickly.
Injuries (and other issues) could lead to a signing
The Tennessee Titans placed Adoree Jackson on IR before the game with the Denver Broncos. Placing him on IR means that he won’t be able to return to action until at least week 4.
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That means the Titans are going to have to face the feared Gardner Minshew and Kirk Cousins without their number one corner in the game.
Due to that, the team could go out looking for a fill-in option at cornerback. The two rookies, Chris Jackson and Kristian Fulton, teamed up with Jonathan Joseph and Malcolm Butler to do the honors against the Broncos. Neither Jackson or Fulton blew anyone away, but they didn’t have terrible performances either.
The only cornerback option in free agency that appeals to me is Prince Amukamara.
Darrynton Evans missed the Monday night game with a hamstring injury. It could have helped to mix him in with Derrick Henry, who had 31 carries in the game.
I don’t expect Darrynton Evans to miss a lot of time, but hamstring injuries can sometimes be a pain and linger longer than expected.
Then, you have Isaiah Wilson. Wilson is nowhere near in playing shape and was also charged with a DUI over the weekend. The Titans are unable to put their first-round offensive tackle in the game, and that can make things thin on the offensive line.
Free agent options
If the plan is to go with a cornerback, look no further than Prince Amukamara.
PFF ranked Amukamara as one of the NFL’s highest-graded man-to-man cornerbacks in 2019.
The sample size they had to pull from was relatively small, but you don’t play 9 seasons in the NFL if you aren’t at least a competent quarterback.
Running back is out of the question unless Evans is going to spend a good amount of time out with the hamstring injury, which I don’t believe is the case.
As for tackles, there isn’t really much to pick from. The most the team can probably do there is get Isaiah Wilson back on track and whip him into shape really fast.
So, all of that leads me to an interesting option. Kalif Raymond dropped lots of important passes last night and while I still believe in him, it might not be a bad idea to bring in an insurance policy and let Raymond run some deeper routes.
Taylor Gabriel is still out on the free agent market and would put a man on the field for the Titans that always has to be accounted for. His speed would be a major weapon for the team to utilize and he could share some time with Raymond to fill the role that Tajae Sharpe left open when he left the team last offseason.
The Titans have a few options with this extra cap space they have cleared. It can be used to secure the talent they already have on the team for longer, or it can add another piece to the team to fill in some things that are missing.