The Tennessee Titans are in the middle of another roster reset, a familiar theme in recent offseasons. The 3-14 Titans earned the No. 1 overall selection in the 2025 NFL Draft and plan to rebuild under new general manager Mike Borgonzi and president of football operations Chad Brinker.
Borgonzi has the top overall selection, along with just over $44M of cap space prior to roster cuts and contract restructures to work with. That is a good amount to spend, even if it pales in comparison to the $90-plus million the Titans had last offseason. Borgonzi has already said the Titans will be be more selective in free agency.
The roster has a lot of important holes in areas such as the offensive line, edge, and most notably, quarterback. Brinker and Borgonzi seem to align in the philosophy of building through the draft, but with all the talent deficiencies, they cannot build through that way exclusively.
When you look at who the Titans currently have under contract, it's difficult to decide who may qualify as cap casualties should the team want to expand their financial flexibility. Some tough sacrifices might have to be made, and the Titans may have no better choice but to jettison two defenders who have been key pieces over the past few years.
Harold Landry and Amani Hooker could be cap casualties for Tennessee Titans
Landry and Hooker have been consistent for the Titans over the years, and this past season was no exception. Talented players find ways to shine even when everything else around you is bad, and that is exactly what Hooker and Landry did this season.
Landry started out the year on fire and despite finishing slowly, finished with 9.0 sacks and 71 total tackles, the second-most tackles he's ever produced. The Titans were generally abysmal at EDGE, and he was the top player at the position to game plan for
Hooker was flying around in the secondary and ended the season with five interceptions, which was a career high. It is worth noting that most of his interceptions came after Quandre Diggs went down with a season-ending injury, not to mention the injuries at cornerback. Hooker had an incredibly impressive season.
That makes it difficult to project the Titans to release Landry and/or Hooker. But of course, the NFL is a cutthroat business and you do not survive by being 100% conventional. Analyzing their contracts makes it fair to wonder about their futures on the team.
Landry has two more seasons left on his contract and is set to make $24.05M each year, which is a lot of money for a non-elite pass rusher. If the Titans were to cut him this offseason, they would save just under $11M for 2025, which would represent significant cap relief.
It is just as possible and probably more likely that the Titans look at the potential savings and decide Landry is worth keeping instead. that is not worth it. Releasing him would produce an even bigger hole at a premium position, something the Titans must weigh. But it is always possible for a soon-to-be 29-year-old who is not a true game changer to be on the way out.
Hooker is in a slightly different situation, being two full years younger and having one remaining year on his contract. Hooker will carry a cap charge just under $11.5M.
The Titans would save almost $9M by releasing Hooker, which is a lot of cap savings, over three quarters of what he is set to make this year. Number two, safety is a non-premium position in the NFL these days, and even if cutting him would create another hole on defense, Borgonzi and company might decide the savings are worth it for a guy playing at a fairly replaceable position.
This is not to say the Titans should definitely cut both or even one of Landry and Hooker, as they'd be big losses on a team that already lacks talent. But the fact of the matter is when you play the leverage game, the Titans front office absolutely possesses leverage over both players.
They could easily request both of them to take pay cuts or risk getting cut, as there would be tangible benefits to letting them go. Perhaps they'll look to trade Hooker and/or Landry and get assets back in return. That qualifies as a potential alternative.
Who knows how much Borgonzi, Brinker, and the rest of the executives value Landry and Hooker.