Nashville It’s officially NFL offseason time. Now is the moment to become serious. The franchise tag will be available for use by general manager Ran Carthon of the Tennessee Titans and the other thirty-one general managers next week on players whose contracts are expiring this offseason.
The procedure runs from Tuesday, February 20, to Thursday, March 5. Following that, March 11–13 will be the legal tampering period for free agency.
The vacant year of each player’s deal will be expedited into 2024 if the Titans fail to extend the contracts of Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry, Azeez Al-Shaair, and Sean Murphy-Bunting by Monday at 4 p.m. CT.
The NFL utilizes a “void years” strategy to help distribute the prorated cap hits associated with signing bonuses. For example, if a player signs a three-year contract with a $30 million signing bonus, the cap hit would be divided into three equal parts of $10 million each year. Void years are employed by adding dummy years to the end of the contract, which can be carried out for a maximum of five seasons. It’s possible that the Titans may not offer any contract extensions before Monday’s deadline.
New coach Brian Callahan is still filling out his coaching roster and, before making any contract decisions, the new staff will want to assess the players and determine how each fits into their system. It’s highly unlikely the Titans will offer an extension to Tannehill, considering that his name didn’t come up in the introductory press conferences for Callahan or offensive coordinator Nick Holz. Tannehill’s dead money number is $9.2 million, according to overthecap.com. Dead money is a salary cap charge for a player who is no longer on the team’s roster.
It was obvious that Derrick Henry intended to examine the free agent market. Callahan, Henry, and Carthon have all stated publicly that they would be amenable to a reunion. It’s unclear how things will work out, but it seems unlikely that they will be resolved before Tuesday’s deadline.
The amount Henry has is $4.7 million. The amount Al-Shaair has is $2.5 million.
Last season, the linebacker recorded 164 tackles, including 84 solo stops. The Titans may bear the expense of keeping him in the hopes of renegotiating with him when free agency opens in March because he is a defensive leader.
Over the course of 14 games last season, Murphy-Bunting produced 57 total tackles, eight passes defended (two interceptions included), and two forced fumbles. It is $1.6 million to his number.
