5 big needs the Tennessee Titans have heading into free agency

2. Left Guard

The writing has been on the wall since the season started, but unfortunately, the Tennessee Titans had to cut ties with starting left guard Rodger Saffold.

Saffold was dominant for Tennessee in 2020 and he should have made the Pro Bowl that year, but luckily he ended his Titans’ career with a Pro Bowl nod in 2021. His cut freed up more than $10 million in cap space and that was the move that officially got the team underneath the salary cap.

Going forward, the Titans have three conceivable options here. The most likely and seemingly smartest decision would be to promote Aaron Brewer to starting left guard.

Brewer has been solid as an emergency replacement for Rodger Saffold over the past two seasons, and he is already on a very cheap contract with the Titans. Keeping him provides continuity and it keeps the team in the running for big-name free agents if they want to pursue those types of players.

The second scenario is that the Titans sign a free agent guard. Again, Mike Vrabel hates starting rookies whether they are talented or not, so if he feels like Brewer isn’t ready to start then he is going to push a veteran into the left guard spot.

Finally, the Titans could fall in love with Zion Johnson who played football with Mike Vrabel’s son in college. Johnson is clearly worth a 1st round pick and he is one of the better guard prospects to come out in the last few classes, but you have to question whether that relationship would give Johnson a chance to start at guard early in the season. If not, then this pick could come even after a veteran addition and that just doesn’t make much sense.