The Tennessee Titans are entering an offseason that is sure to have a lot of change, but unfortunately for Tennessee, they’re in a bad spot financially.
According to Over the Cap, the Titans are $18.5 million over the cap going into the offseason. The only teams in a worse financial situation are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ($42.1) and New Orleans Saints $38.7.
When talking about effective cap space, which is the cap space a team will have after signing 51 players and its rookie class, the Titans are at -$28.1 million.
Of course, the Titans have some contracts to shred that will help them get back under the cap.
Taylor Lewan, Zach Cunningham and Robert Woods will get cut to save $14.8, $8.8 and $12 million, respectively, and then you have Bud Dupree, who would save the Titans $15.7 million if cut after June 1.
Last but certainly not least, you have the contract of Ryan Tannehill, which accounts for $36.6 million on next year’s books. If cut or traded post-June 1, Tennessee saves a whopping $27 million.
The only issue with the post-June 1 designations is that the money stays on the salary cap until the date hits, so that money won’t be useful in the meat of the free agency period, which takes place in March.
If the Titans were to cut Tannehill and Dupree prior to June 1, they can use the money saved immediately, although it would be less, with the pair combining for a savings of $27.1 million in that scenario.
Let’s assume the Titans cut all five pre-June 1, that’s a total savings of $62.7 million, which would put Tennessee back under the salary cap and in decent shape financially just like that.
However, that would leave the team without a sure starting quarterback, so the Titans would either have to keep Tannehill or go out and get someone else.
If Tannehill stays, he would shave $17.8 million off that $62.7 million total, but the team would likely re-work his deal to lower his cap hit.
From there, the Titans can restructure contracts to create more wiggle room, and there are other ways to get creative with the salary cap as we’ve seen, especially over the last few years.
Whatever the case may be, the Titans have some work to do if they want to free up money and make the moves necessary to turn this thing around sooner rather than later.
