Titans GM Mike Borgonzi should face scrutiny over troubling trade deadline rumors

Aside from Jeffery Simmons, the Tennessee Titans player who should have the most trade value is wide receiver Calvin Ridley. Ridley's usage in recent weeks has indicated he's a potential candidate to be dealt by the trade deadline.

While his season has started slowly, Ridley proved last year that once he gets hot, he can quickly stack up impressive performances and become the focal point of a passing game. You could see several contending teams talking themselves into a potential big-play threat like that and putting all of his early-season failings on the shoulders of former head coach Brian Callahan.

However, the rumors and reports surrounding the Titans suggest that the team is hesitant to trade him, even though they might be looking to cut him after the season.

Titans need to trade WR Calvin Ridley if he isn't in their long-term plans

After Thursday Night Football, Ian Rapoport was reporting on where the Titans stand in their coaching search, and he dropped this nugget about their intentions heading into the trade deadline. He said, "Who will they trade? Several teams are calling the Titans, trying to trade for their defensive players. Arden Key would be one, Roger McCreary would be another..."

This comes after few days after Jeremy Fowler was on the Ramon & Will show on 104.5 in Nashville, where he said that the names he has heard could be traded from the Titans were Key, McCreary, and Chig Okonkwo.

So multiple people on the national landscape are reporting that the two players with the most trade buzz are Key and McCreary. Neither insider mentions Ridley. Locally, Easton Freeze's reporting on where the team stands in terms of a potential fire sale points to why we aren't hearing Ridley's name a lot,

"The national perception of the Titans at the deadline will probably be [a] 'fire-sale team,' but my understanding is that they don’t exactly plan on fitting that description. Frankly, there isn’t a ton of fat available to trim on this roster, and there aren’t many positions they can afford to sell starters at and still hope to field a team. Everything they do is in service of Cam Ward. So every potential trade boils down to the same question: Is X return worth more than keeping Y player from helping make Ward’s 2025 more comfortable?

That’s why the most likely trade chips for Tennessee will be veterans on expiring contracts at specific positions, mostly on defense."

It seems like McCreary is going to be traded because he has short arms. Never mind the fact that he has been one of the team's most consistent players over the last three years.

Hopefully trading McCreary earns the team a decent draft pick, but it will almost certainly create another need for the team to solve next offseason. Keep in mind that there is a strong chance the Titans will cut L'Jarius Sneed next offseason to get out from under his contract, which would mean the front office would be forced to replace all three starting cornerbacks.

What makes this even more aggravating is that the team seems ready to cut Ridley this offseason without getting any draft compensation, according to Freeze. In the same article from earlier, Freeze says, "Calvin Ridley’s future with this squad is growing dimmer, and his contract has an out after 2025 that looks increasingly likely to be exercised by GM Mike Borgonzi."

Just to get this straight, Borgonzi's plan for the team over this season and into next season is:
-Trade away a young, cheap starting cornerback in Jarvis Brownlee Jr. for a late-round pick swap.
-Attempt to trade a cheap, young starting slot cornerback in McCreary instead of paying him in the offseason.
-Decline trade interest for Ridley and then cut him in the offseason?

That doesn't seem like the plans of a GM who expects to be any better in 2026. If that's truly the plan, Titans fans should be terrified. And perhaps Borgonzi should be scared too, given Amy Adams Strunk's addiction to firing key figures as soon as possible.