It is fair to blame Jon Robinson for the state of the Tennessee Titans roster, but it was Mike Vrabel's delusions of grandeur (or at least competence) that kept the Tennessee Titans from fully investing in a rebuild this offseason.
He tried to ride the fence by adding starters in free agency like Andre Dillard and Trevon Wesco, but spending premium draft picks on future starters like Will Levis and Tyjae Spears.
At 2-4, it was clear that was the wrong decision, but you can't go back and fix those mistakes now. Instead, everyone needs to focus on what can be done to make this team better in the future.
Whether you like it or not, that means that we need to talk about trading players and they are going to be players that you probably like.
Luckily, PFF is here to help Tennessee Titans fans manifest this into reality. On Wednesday morning, they listed 10 trades that should be made at the deadline and three of them included Tennessee Titans players.
The Tennessee Titans should be gearing up for the future
In that article, there are three Tennessee Titans sent off, and it starts with DeAndre Hopkins being traded to the Kansas City Chiefs for a 2024 3rd-round pick.
Out of all of the players on the Titans roster, Hopkins is one of a handful of players who is doing his job at a high level and is under contract beyond 2023. It would be hard to stomach giving away a receiver like Hopkins when you consider that the Titans offense will already be going through a massive overhaul in 2024.
I personally wouldn't do this trade for less than a second-round pick, just because Hopkins absolutely still looks like a 1,000-yard receiver and he has been incredibly reliable.
The second trade involved sending Kevin Byard to the Philadelphia Eagles for a 2025 3rd round pick.
This one is interesting because I think the Tennessee Titans are going to cut Kevin Byard after this season based on his contract. Mike Vrabel has said a lot about how he is great in the locker room and Byard has been an incredible Titan on and off the field. However, this is a business and Byard just hasn't been able to make many plays lately.
The one thing holding me back from seeing this as a possibility is that Mike Vrabel's job will be on the line in 2024 and I don't know if Vrabel will trade away one of the team's leaders for a pick that he might not be able to use.
Finally, the no-brainer on the list is Kristian Fulton for a 2025 5th-round pick.
Normally I would be against this because I think Fulton still has a chance to get a decent contract somewhere else after this season which would mean a compensatory pick in 2025. However, with $100 million in cap space to spend, the Tennessee Titans will almost certainly cancel out any return on comp picks.
If all three of these moves were made, the Tennessee Titans would be able to get back the draft pick that they traded away in the Will Levis mistake during the 2023 NFL Draft (give or take 20 spots). They would also have a lot of ammo in the 2025 NFL Draft, with multiple picks in the third- and fifth-rounds.
I'm not sure how strong Amy Adams Strunk's faith is in Mike Vrabel at this point, but if she is confident in him and if she has told him that he has job security through 2024, then it would make sense to make these moves. In fact, if that is the case then Vrabel should be asking teams about their interest in Derrick Henry, Denico Autry, Ryan Tannehill (if healthy), and Teair Tart.