Potential Titans’ Cuts for Salary Cap Relief

The Tennessee Titans will need to make some tough decisions in the coming weeks and have to cut some veteran players to get cap compliant by March 15th.

NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans’ salary cap situation is not an enviable one. At the moment, they are over the cap by 21-23 million dollars depending on which financial site you prefer to look at(Spotrac or Over The Cap). Regardless, they will need to solve that issue by March 15th and get below the salary cap before the start of free agency.

Now that the Super Bowl is over and the final chapter of the 2022 season is complete, NFL teams, the Titans included, will start to make cuts to veteran players in an attempt to shed salary. Deciding who to cut and how to do so is one of the more difficult aspects of roster management.

The Titans hired Ran Carthon to fix the roster and step one in that process is deciding which of the Titans’ veterans need to be let go in order to get the team’s financial situation in order. It is important to know that when discussing cuts two things are important. Cap Savings and Dead Money. Savings is obviously how much money is saved by cutting a player. Dead money is how much money will remain on the salary cap from the player even if he is cut.

Let’s take a look at who may be on the chopping block.

Ryan Tannehill – 17.8m Savings/18.8m Dead Money

What to do with Tannehill is maybe the biggest question the Titans have this offseason. Yes, parting ways would save a lot of money, but what will be the fate of the quarterback situation if they do so? The Titans could save even more on Tannehill if they designate him as a “Post June 1st” cut. That would save the Titans 27 million and only leave nine million in dead money, but the downside is the Titans won’t get access to those savings until after 6/1. It would help them sign their draft class, any veterans available after training camp cuts and make in-season moves, but would not help them in the opening free agency period.

Taylor Lewan – 14.8m Savings/0 Dead Money

From the toughest call to the easiest. Even Lewan himself knows the writing is on the wall. The Titans could choose to bring Lewan back on a reduced deal, but that path still starts with Lewan being cut from his current contract. With nearly 15 million in savings and no dead cap at all, it is a no-brainer.

Bud Dupree – 9.3m Savings/10.8m Dead Money

Dupree may be a prime candidate for the “Post June 1st” cut method discussed above. We saw the Titans use this when they cut Julio Jones in the 2022 offseason. Cutting Dupree now results in more dead money than savings so executing it as a post 6/1 move would increase those savings to 15.7 million and lower the dead cap to 4.4 million. Having 15 million to play with in June to make the moves outlined earlier could make sense for the Titans even if it doesn’t help them right away.

Bud Dupree would make sense as Cut Candidate for the Titans

Robert Woods – 12m Savings/2.5m Dead Money

Woods wasn’t a major disappointment for the Titans. He led the team in receiving yards(527) and receptions(53), but it is hard to justify paying Woods the 14.6 million cap hit he is set to have in 2023. Mike Vrabel spoke about getting faster as a team earlier in the offseason. Woods can still do a lot of things, but he does not help the “team speed” rating. The Titans need to revamp their receiving core and with Woods having so little dead money if cut, makes it a pretty easy choice.

Zach Cunningham – 8.9m Savings/4.5m Dead Money

Cunningham was unable to stay on the field for the Titans in 2022.He only played in six games and didn’t play particularly well in those six. It would be a shock for the Titans to have him on the team next year with a cap hit of nearly 13 million dollars. With David Long a free agent, the Titans might need to completely overhaul their linebacker group, but cutting Cunningham is probably the beginning of that.

Randy Bullock – 2m Savings/600k Dead Money

While Bullock has stabilized the Titans’ kicker spot for a few years it would be strange to see them pay nearly 3 million for a kicker who hit one field goal over 50 yards all season. Bullock is far from a terrible kicker, but he isn’t one of the better kickers in the NFL and the Titans are in a pinch financially. Maybe they bring Bulllock back on a reduced number, but even if they don’t, the risk of finding a new kicker may be worth the savings.

Jamarco Jones – 926k Savings/1.4m Dead Money

This move would cost the Titans more than they save, but Jones only impact on the Titans last year was a pre-practice argument with Lewan in training camp. Jones never played for the Titans and was on the injured reserve list most of the year. While it doesn’t save them a ton on the cap, the Titans could simply want to move on from Jones for the sake of it. You could see Jones wanting a new situation too. His total impact on the cap is 2.4 million, which is low. Maybe the Titans find a trade partner and if traded, Jones would only cost the Titans 450k in dead money and would save them 2 million. Wouldn’t bet on that though.

We can’t know who will be cut over the next few weeks, but we do know some of these names will be released. How many and how to execute the cuts is what new general manager Ran Carthon was brought in to figure out. The recent hiring of cap guru Chad Brinker should give Titans’ fans hope that the team will make the right combination of decisions. Either way, expect the fireworks to start soon.

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Taylor Lewan Talks Future, Titans: What does the future hold for Lewan with the Titans? He shared his thoughts with Jim Wyatt. CLICK HERE