Tennessee Titans free agency checklist
Despite the Tennessee Titans re-signing Harold Landry already, there are still 2022 NFL Mock Drafts that have them taking an EDGE in the first round.
I don’t blame these mocks necessarily, but they fall into a large group of people who talk about the Tennessee Titans without really knowing anything about them. Sure, they know key names like Derrick Henry, A.J. Brown, etc. but they don’t know why players like Rashad Weaver, Dillon Radunz, Aaron Brewer, and others will be important next season.
To cut through all of that, it helps to have a clear checklist of what the Tennessee Titans need to focus on throughout the offseason.
So, I took a look at what the roster currently looks like (as of March 13th) and took an inventory of the five positions that need to be addressed. A couple of these positions will be hit in the 2022 NFL Draft, but the majority of them will be filled with free agent money or with players already on the roster.
Before we dive in, there is one thing that everyone needs to remember about this offseason. Mike Vrabel does not like to start rookies, in fact, he will try every avenue he has to avoid starting rookies. So, positions that need immediate help are going to be higher on the needs list than positions where they just need an upgrade or where they need a young body for the future.
1. Tight End
Tight end is relatively low on the positional value chart, and in most cases, it falls into the same tier as interior offensive linemen and safeties.
However, until something definitive happens with Taylor Lewan the Tennessee Titans will be set at all the premium positions. In fact, tight end is the only position where Tennessee is going to have to pull a starter from somewhere other than their current roster.
History has shown that drafting a tight end in the first round is a bad idea. Like when you spend a first-round pick on a quarterback, drafting a tight end in the first round almost guarantees teams a year where you are going to get no value from your biggest asset of the offseason.
The obvious difference is that unlike drafting a quarterback, you will almost never get back the investment you made by spending a first-round pick on a tight end which is why nearly all of the current Pro Bowlers were drafted outside of the top-32.
With that in mind, signing a free agent tight end seems like the safest bet and the smartest use of resources.
After franchise tags were placed on three tight ends, there are still double-digit tight ends that the Titans could sign to be an upgrade over what they had last season. They should be able to free up as much cap space as they want, so they can take their pick of the top options on the market.
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.
3. Wide Receiver
Of all the positions that the Tennessee Titans need to address this offseason, wide receiver is the one that everyone has their eyes on but no one knows what is coming.
Conventional wisdom says that since wide receiver is the only premium position that the Titans really need, spending a first-round pick there makes sense and is cost-effective. The problem is, the Titans don’t seem to this wide receiver is a premium position.
Under Jon Robinson, the Tennessee Titans spent a first-round pick on Corey Davis in 2017, but that was a draft where they had two first-round picks and they desperately needed a wide receiver in a class where the consensus was that there was a big drop off after the first three players.
In the four drafts since then, Robinson has only drafted one receiver with a top-100 pick and that was A.J. Brown in the second round of the 2019 NFL Draft class.
Unless there is a surprising move, the Titans’ top-two receivers are set in stone with A.J. Brown and Julio Jones occupying those roles. In a run-first offense, you have to wonder just how much Tennessee is willing to invest in that position.
Having said all that, I think that this draft is going to fall in a way that makes them feel like they can draft a wide receiver who helps at a “need” position and who is also the best player available regardless of position. With that in mind I don’t expect them to do much in free agency at wide receiver unless there is someone they absolutely love.
4. Center
The reason why this is so low on the list is that it feels like Ben Jones is going to come back and be the anchor for the Titans again this season.
Initially, it felt like there was going to be a big market for a veteran center, but when you go back and look at the deals that older centers have signed over the past decade, you realize that those players are rarely in high demand.
It isn’t hard to see a scenario where the Titans bring back Jones because they love him, and you have to remember exactly what he means to this team.
For GM Jon Robinson, he was the first free agent that he signed after being hired as the Tennessee Titans GM seven years ago. For Mike Vrabel, he is the guy that he points to when he needs an example of players who practice every day and play through pain. For Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry, A.J. Brown, and the other skill players, he is that big offensive lineman that does flips and cartwheels in the endzone when they score.
In 95% of his deals, Jon Robinson is pragmatic and looks at value over the other “intangibles” that a player might bring to a team, but this might be one of the rare times where the value that the player brings to the team trumps where other teams might value him.
5. Running back
The Tennessee Titans clearly have their RB1 in place with future Hall of Famer Derrick Henry, but we might be starting to see a time where the Titans realize that he can’t sustain his insane workload.
Early in Jon Robinson’s time as GM he paired DeMarco Murray with future replacement Derrick Henry. After that, he supplemented Henry with Dion Lewis (don’t laugh) and most recently he tried to add Darrynton Evans to the backfield to help spell Henry, but injuries prevented that from happening.
Mike Vrabel wants this team to have an identity as a run-first offense that establishes the run and to do that, you need depth on the offensive line and depth at running back. Since Evans has officially been released, there is no one under contract that can be the RB2 to Henry.
I would argue that the Titans’ backup running back is going to get as many snaps as their fourth wide receiver, so it all comes down to how much the team wants to invest there. Given their needs and how spending money on a running back almost never makes sense, it seems like a running back with good hands and the ability to play on special teams is going to be a high priority during the early parts of Day 3 of the 2022 NFL Draft.