Which Tennessee Titans should leave?
The 2021 NFL season is officially in the books and now the Tennessee Titans have to take a long hard look at their roster.
While the Titans are tight on cap space, they have plenty of flexibility. There is always the possibility of reaching out to players and restructuring or extending contracts to make their 2021 cap hit lighter, but it is nearly impossible to accurately predict the cap implications of those deals.
Thanks to sites like Over The Cap, you can accurately predict the cap implications of what would happen if players were cut outright.
With that in mind, there are six players on the books next year that the Tennessee Titans could definitely consider cutting. Most of these players have value as trade options as well, but for the purposes of this, it is easier to look at what the players would give the Titans if they were cut and who would replace them.
I’m not advocating for any of these players to be released necessarily, but the cap space that they could open up would be valuable for a Titans team that is very close to getting to a Super Bowl.
Let’s start with the guys who are probably going to get cut.
Most likely to get cut
1. Kendall Lamm, OT (A cut creates $3.2 million in cap space)
Lamm made sense as an option to push for the right tackle position in camp, but injuries killed any momentum he could have created. David Quessenberry ended up as the right tackle by default to open the season and Mike Vrabel is so incredibly resistant to change that there was no way Quessenberry would end up on the bench without an injury.
There is no future in Tennessee for Lamm unless the Titans suddenly change their mind about how much they like him as a starting right tackle. This is one of the easiest cuts to make.
2. Brett Kern, P ($3.2 million)
Kern is a fan favorite and he was great for a really long time, but he is the 3rd highest-paid punter in the NFL and he wasn’t worth that this year.
The 15-year vet has struggled with injuries over the last two years and his yards per punt average has dropped for five-straight seasons. At 36, it is fair to assume that his strongest days are behind him and unless he is willing to reduce his price you can’t justify this price.
Good players making great money
3. Jackrabbit Jenkins, CB ($6.9 million)
Much like what happened with Malcolm Butler early in his career with the Tennessee Titans, people remember one or two bad plays from Jenkins and assume that he wasn’t good this season. In reality, he was good this season, and the coverage of Jenkins and Kristian Fulton was a big reason why the pass rush was so successful this year.
The problem here is that the Titans are probably going to take at least one big swing in free agency this year and Jenkins is the perfect cut candidate.
Caleb Farley has all the tools in the world and there should be some optimism about what he might contribute in year two after seeing the leap that Kristian Fulton made in his second season.
Cutting Jenkins frees up nearly $7 million which is nearly as much as the franchise tag is for a tight end. Meaning that cutting Jenkins might give the Tennessee Titans the money they need to fix that problem in free agency instead of in the draft.
4. Rodger Saffold, LG ($10.4 million)
Saffold made his first Pro Bowl this season and it makes up for the fact that he was left out of the Pro Bowl last year despite having a great season.
Saffold’s problem is that he is a great fit into a zone-blocking scheme, but the Titans don’t run as many zone runs as they did under Arthur Smith. On top of that, he been struggling to stay on the field due to an issue with his neck.
Aaron Brewer has stepped in and played well behind him and there is just too much money on the table for the Titans to keep him.
Shouldn’t get cut…but maybe
5. Zach Cunningham, LB ($10.4 million)
The starting linebackers for the Tennessee Titans next year should be Zach Cunningham and David Long Jr. with Monty Rice coming off of the bench. It would be great if mock drafts would stop looking at Rashaan Evans and Jayon Brown like they were studs that the Titans defense would be lost without and instead look at them as placeholders who were replaced by better versions of themselves.
However, due to how Cunningham got to Nashville, he is working on a deal that is essentially a 3 year/$35 million contract with $0 guaranteed.
I don’t think that the Titans are happy with his cap hit and I don’t think that he is happy with $0 guaranteed. The simple option is to rework his deal to lower his cap hit and add some guaranteed money, but it isn’t impossible that Tennessee just cuts him because they can’t agree on a number.
6. Taylor Lewan, LT ($12.9 million)
This is the big one right?
Here is the thing, on his contract Lewan would likely enter the season as the 14th highest-paid tackle in the NFL. I would argue that he is a top-15 tackle and that he is going to play much better next year after being a full year removed from his ACL injury.
However, his inability to stay healthy has to be terrifying to Jon Robinson and the front office. He famously hasn’t stayed healthy for a full season since 2018 and he has only played in 30 out of 49 games over the last three years.
Dillon Radunz looked good when he was asked to step in for Lewan this season and he held Nick Bosa in check when they were matched up together. You have to assume that another year with NFL training instead of North Dakota State training will make him even better.
Could Vrabel and Robinson cut someone that is the voice of the locker room and who isn’t even really that overpaid? I think a re-worked deal makes the most sense but if they can’t get that done then there is a world where Taylor Lewan isn’t in Nashville next season.
What options make the most sense?
As it stands, the Titans really have two options to choose between. Assuming that none of the deals are reworked, the conservative option is to cut Lamm, Kern, Jenkins, and Saffold. Each one of those players has a backup on the roster that is ready to step up at a much cheaper price.
If that is the way that the Tennessee Titans go, it means that they would end up with $16.5 million in cap space before restructuring other players.
The other option is that they go truly nuclear and they cut everyone on this list. In this scenario, Dillon Radunz steps in at left tackle for Taylor Lewan and someone is brought in through the draft or free agency to start at right tackle.
Zach Cunningham would be gone, but the Titans would still have David Long Jr. and Monty Rice, and Jon Robinson has done an amazing job finding linebackers on Day 3 of the draft.
That option opens up nearly $40 million in cap space and it only opens up needs at right tackle and backup linebacker.
It is going to be very interesting to see what the Titans can do and this isn’t even talking about how players like Derrick Henry and Kevin Byard could get new deals that reduce their cap hit significantly.
So when people talk about the Titans cap situation and what they will do in free agency, remember that the first step will be figuring out which players to cut and which players to keep.