There have been plenty of weird offseason moments in the NFL, but which was the weirdest for the Tennessee Titans? It feels like the only true answer to that question is the Lorenzo Carter saga.
The Titans signed Carter in the hopes that he could help the pass-rushing rotation out in 2025 but I guess we'll never know what he could have contributed to this team. That's because Carter decided to retire the day before training camp kicked off. His time with the Titans was over before it ever truly began.
The timeline officially was that Carter joined the Titans on March 20th. He then retired from the league on July 22nd, giving him a little over four months with Tennessee before he decided he was done.
Lorenzo Carter signing with Titans, then retiring before training camp is weirdest offseason moment
Players sign with a team and then decide to retire later on all the time, but normally it's not quite this close to the regular season. Carter had only signed a one-year deal, but clearly didn't feel comfortable even playing for one more year in the league before hanging up the cleats for good.
Carter was brought in to help a weak Titans pass rush and was expected to be a rotational piece for them. His departure left them in quite a bind right before training camp because that position was already thin, and it became even thinner with his retirement decision.
The Titans could have certainly used Carter's veteran leadership, yet it wasn't meant to be apparently. The former third-round pick by the New York Giants in 2018 out of Georgia spent four years in the Big Apple before returning to the state of Georgia to play for the Falcons for three years. His retirement is even more surprising considering that he's not even 30 years old yet, set to hit that mark in December.
When it comes to weird NFL offseason moments this year, Lorenzo Carter peacing out before he ever took a snap in Tennessee is by far the strangest one for the Titans.