As the NFL trade deadline approaches on Oct. 31, and with the Tennessee Titans potentially set to be sellers after a 2-4 start, teams have reportedly called general manager Ran Carthon about two players specifically.
According to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, the Titans are getting calls on safety Kevin Byard and wide receiver Treylon Burks, although she notes that the team is unlikely to deal its younger players.
Russini adds that she hasn’t “found a team showing significant interest in Derrick Henry.”
The Tennessee Titans need draft capital and have been getting calls from general managers over the last few days. Though I haven’t found a team showing significant interest in Derrick Henry, sources around the league tell me Tennessee has received calls about safety Kevin Byard, and one team reached out about wide receiver Treylon Burks. I don’t get a sense Tennessee will move any young player.
With the Titans looking like they’re going nowhere this year and now dealing with an injury to Ryan Tannehill, the team should, at the very least, consider being sellers at the trade deadline.
As things stand now, Tennessee is on the path to a rebuild with very little in terms of 2024 draft capital. The Titans have no picks in the third, fifth and sixth rounds.
But the Titans have to walk a fine line here in terms of trading away key offensive players like Henry and DeAndre Hopkins, for example.
Doing so will leave an already lackluster offense even more short-handed, which could make developing a young quarterback like Will Levis more difficult once he sees the field, something that may happen as soon as Week 8.
But, then again, Henry and Hopkins are two of the more attractive trade pieces the Titans have, and neither figure to be in the team’s long-term plans, as Henry is set to turn 30 in January and Hopkins is already 31.
Tannehill is another name to keep an eye on near the deadline, although the aforementioned injury may hamper any potential effort to deal him.
On the flip side, trading away defensive players not named Jeffery Simmons shouldn’t be given a second thought. It wouldn’t be at all surprising to see guys like Byard, Denico Autry and Kristian Fulton moved.
