No Waiting For Swaim This Season

Veteran tight end re-signs with the Tennessee Titans a day before he was to become a free agent.

Geoff Swaim did not mind that he spent virtually all of last offseason without a contract.

This year, though, he chose not to do it again.

The Tennessee Titans agreed to terms Tuesday with the veteran tight end on a one-year deal. According to NFL.com, Swaim will earn $2.5 million for the season.

The move assures that the Titans won’t have a complete overhaul at the position. They used four different tight ends in 2020 and one, Jonnu Smith, agreed to a four-year deal with the New England Patriots on Monday. The other two, MyCole Pruitt and Anthony Firkser, are currently unsigned. Pruitt is an unrestricted free agent. Firkser is a restricted free agent, which means the team can retain his rights with the necessary qualifying offer.

Swaim became the newcomer of the group when he signed with Tennessee on Aug. 19, 2020, midway through training camp. Before that he spent four years with the Dallas Cowboys (2015-18) and one with the Jacksonville Jaguars (2019), who cut him two days into the new contract year.

“I got released in March and spent from March until the midpoint of (August) … at home, working out and training, spending time with my wife. For us, it was actually a pretty enjoyable time.

“I can’t help who signs me and what opportunities I get. So, for me it wasn’t a real stressful time.”

This offseason will be even less so.

Swaim re-signed with the Titans on the final full day of the current contract year rather than become an unrestricted free agent on Wednesday. The 27-year-old appeared in 10 games with eight starts (one short of his career-high) last season, primarily as a blocking tight end. He caught nine passes for 83 yards and the second touchdown of his career, a 5-yard reception in Week 13 against Jacksonville.

For his career, he has 575 receptions for 484 yards and has been around enough to know he did not want to go anywhere else.

“I’m just trying to embody what the team’s about,” Swaim said during the season. “The effort and finish these guys play with, the physicality, the mindset when they come to work every day to get something out of it – that kind of stuff’s contagious.

“For me, it’s easy to fall in line and get with the program.”

Apparently, it was not difficult to decide to stick around either.