Wake Is One-and-Done With Tennessee

One of the Titans' top 2019's top free agent additions released after having registered just two and a half sacks

Cameron Wake’s tenure with the Tennessee Titans couldn’t have gotten off to a better start.

The end, however, came quickly.

Thursday, the Titans released one of their most prominent free agent signings from a year ago.

The 38-year-old pass rush specialist signed a three-year, $23 million contract on March 15, 2019 but ultimately played just nine games for Tennessee. He spent the final five weeks of the regular season on injured reserve.

Wake was set to earn $8.58 million for the 2020 season. His release will cost $2.67 million in dead money but will create approximately $5.5 million in salary cap space.

The Titans also released veteran running back Dion Lewis and agreed to a new deal with cornerback Chris Milton, whose previous contract they terminated a day earlier.

Wake registered two and a half sacks in his Tennessee debut, a Week 1 victory at Cleveland, and was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week. He finished the season with two and a half sacks, the lowest total of his career.

That still was enough to raise his career total to 100.5 sacks, which makes him one of 33 players with at least 100 since sacks became an official statistic. He had 98, including at least 5.5 every season, in 10 years with the Miami Dolphins.

Wake missed two games in early October with a groin injury and then was placed on IR at the beginning of December. For the season, he was credited with five sacks and one pass defensed. His 11 quarterback pressures tied for fifth on the team.

He said following the season that he had no plans to retire and that his preference was to remain with the Titans. At least one of those things won’t happen.