Evans' Free Agency Wait Surprising, Illuminating

It is clear that the Tennessee Titans are not the only NFL team to have seen too many of the inside linebacker's shortcomings.

There came a time late in the 2021 NFL season when the Tennessee Titans had seen enough of inside linebacker Rashaan Evans.

Now, it seems clear that the rest of the league has seen too much of the same things the Titans saw.

At first blush, the relative minimum of interest in Evans, a free agent since his contract expired two weeks ago, is astonishing. Keep in mind, this is guy who was a first-round pick (22nd overall) in the 2018 draft. A guy who has started 85 percent of the games he has played in his career. A guy who led his team in tackles in 2019. A guy who played 54 straight games (plus four more in the playoffs) over all or parts of four seasons before an ankle injury sidelined him for a time last fall. A guy who is 26 years old and figures to have a lot of football ahead of him.

Typically, NFL teams can’t open their checkbooks fast enough to pay for that kind of pedigree, production and potential when it becomes available.

Yet as the free agent signing period enters its third week Evans remains unsigned. There were reports Tuesday that he visited with Atlanta. Last week, he reportedly met with Jacksonville.

Still, there is nothing to indicate that he and his representatives are sorting through multiple options in order to determine which one is the best. On the contrary, it is clear that no one has made an offer that he couldn’t refuse. It is also fair to wonder if anyone actually has offered anything at all or of the reported meetings have been anything more than fact-finding affairs.

The thing about free agency is that it only takes one team. Regardless of what 31 clubs think about a particular player and his potential fit into their lineups, if one likes that guy enough, he gets a deal.

Evans will get one eventually.

Yet the fact that he has waited this long – and continues to wait – makes it clear that he was no one’s first choice when the signing period started and that every team – or every team in need of a linebacker, at least – saw the same flaws in his game that Titans coaches finally decided they could not – or need not – overlook any longer late last season.

To recap: Evans started the first six games of 2021 before he got hurt and the first four after he returned to action. It was consistent with the 2019 and 2020 seasons when he played and started every game for Tennessee.

Then he was relegated to a backup for the regular-season finale against Houston. Even worse, from his perspective, he was deactivated for the playoff loss to Cincinnati.

So, what changed? It’s simple. Evans no longer was their best option at that spot. While he was out with the ankle injury, Zach Cunningham was claimed off waivers from Houston. Cunningham, the NFL’s leading tackler in 2020, quickly settled in and made the defense look different (read: better) than it had been.

Evans was never the most instinctive player at his position. He was, however, unfailingly physical and aggressive. He ran hard, hit hard and when he made a mistake, he did so at full speed.

For three-plus seasons that was enough. Once Cunningham was plugged into the defense, though, the mistakes seemed too numerous to tolerate.

So, now he waits.

In fairness, the early days of the signing period have not been kind to inside linebackers in general. Notable names such as Bobby Wagner, Dont’a Hightower, Joe Schobert and Danny Travathan are among the others who did not get a deal early or have not gotten one yet. Wagner generally is considered the big prize of the group, so it is possible that once he gets a deal he likes and settles on a team, a number of other dominos will fall quickly.

It is also worth noting that waiting sometimes turns out to be the best thing.

Think back to 2018, Evans’ rookie year, safety Kenny Vaccaro went unsigned throughout the offseason even though he was a first-round pick (15th overall in 2013) and a five-year starter for the New Orleans Saints. The Titans added him days into training camp when Johnathan Cyprien was injured in one of the first workouts of training camp, and for three seasons Vaccaro was one of their starters and a prominent presence in the locker room.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that Evans is anybody’s second choice. Or third. Or fourth.

It seems obvious at this point that his shortcomings are as apparent to every other team in the league as they had been to the Titans.

In other words, his sudden drop down the depth chart last season could be a precursor to a long wait this offseason.