The Tennessee Titans haven’t added any splashy players in free agency, but they have officially locked up their two most important free agents.
Harold Landry agreed to his mega-deal nearly a week ago, but everything was quiet on the Ben Jones front as free agency got closer and closer. With veteran centers agreeing to some outlandish deals, it started to look complicated for the Tennessee Titans front office.
While re-signing a center is never a flashy move, it is important to keep good, smart, tough players on your roster whenever possible. With centers falling off of the trade market left and right, Tennessee Titans fans were starting to get concerned that Ben Jones would find greener pastures as the top center option left.
However, all of those concerns were put to rest when they announced the re-signing of their longtime center this afternoon.
The #Titans are keeping C Ben Jones, source said. He gets a 2-year deal worth $14M.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 14, 2022
Earlier in the offseason, I made a prediction on what Ben Jones might sign for with the team. Using Alex Mack’s contract as a model, I thought that a deal for 3 years, $15 million would make sense.
That was before the center market exploded, but a jump from a $5 million AAV to $7 million isn’t unreasonable. With changes coming at left guard, keeping a veteran center who can help communicate the blocking assignment on the fly is even more valuable than normal.
This weekend I broke down the Tennessee Titans’ 5 biggest needs heading into free agency, and center ranked 4th on that list. The only reason it wasn’t higher is that this is the deal that made the most sense:
"“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.”"
Now the four biggest needs are tight end (Geoff Swaim doesn’t count), left guard, wide receiver, and backup running back. Keep your eyes peeled because moves are coming quickly like they always do during the legal tampering period.