When Tennessee Titans left tackle Taylor Lewan suffered a season-ending injury during the Week 2 game against the Buffalo Bills, it wasn’t just the end to his season, it also might have been the end of his career in Nashville.
Lewan, who is set to make $14.8 million in the final year of his deal in 2023 but has no guaranteed money on it, will be a cut candidate next year after failing to stay healthy the past three seasons.
And that’s something Lewan is fully aware of, as evidenced by his comments on a recent episode of “Bussin’ With The Boys” about the injury and his future not only with the team, but in the NFL in general moving forward.
“It’s tough, but it really just turns into it’s out of your control,” Lewan said, per John Glennon of Sports Illustrated. “So, like I kind of sit there and wonder, `What if I am done as a Titan?’ Because you never know what’s going to happen. What if it is over for me? What if football is done with me?”
“I’ve got a lot to think about,” Lewan continued. “I’ve got a lot to do in the next few months to figure out what I want my life to look like in the future.”
Lewan, who suffered a torn ACL in 2020 and missed five games in 2021, didn’t say exactly what injury he suffered, but he did indicate it was not a new injury.
“Turns out this year, I found out that there are things with my knee going on now that are a direct correlation to what happened when I got my knee done,” Lewan explained. “So, I have to go and get my knee fixed, to be able to play football or to live like a normal life in general.
“So there’s not a whole lot I can go into, for reasons I can’t talk about right now,” he added. “But I promise when I’m able to talk about everything, I’m an open book. I’ll really say everything that needs to be said and then go from there. But the best I can say about this is that it’s not a new injury.”
If this is indeed it for Lewan in Nashville and/or the NFL in general, it’s hard not to recognize what he brought to this team after being drafted in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft.
Yes, his play was up and down in the latter part of his time with the Titans, but he provided stability for years at a tough position to fill, and he gave this franchise some personality and edge.
It would be very weird to see Lewan playing in another uniform in 2023, but chances are that’s where this is headed if he doesn’t retire.
