The Titans Spent Over $250m In Free Agency, And Don’t Have Much To Show For It

It was a foregone conclusion that the Tennessee Titans were going to spend a boatload of money in free agency. A new coach, holes all over the defense, and a general manager who had to spend money to reach the NFL’s salary floor led to over $250M in deals being made, and counting — with three free agents yet to officially sign their offers.

There is no question that the Titans are a better team than they were a week ago. Granted, it would be difficult to get much worse, but the team did find ways to improve its roster and give Robert Saleh the pieces he wanted to reshape the defensive side of the ball. The problem with this class is how little impact the organization added to its roster. This was a team in dire need of steady, reliable players on both sides of the ball to aid in the development of younger talent. Instead we got one really good defensive line signing, a couple of good-not-great cornerbacks, and a wide receiver gamble that could define the next few years for the Titans.

Let’s start with the good: John Franklin-Myers. The vision here is both simple to see, and makes all the sense in the world. The Titans are moving to a 4-3 defense under Saleh, which precipitated the T’Vondre Sweat trade, and got Tennessee Jermaine Johnson. Presumably, we’ll see the team add some form of edge rusher in the early rounds of the draft, but the position that was a little more iffy was the penetrating three-technique DT. There isn’t a good enough defensive tackle in this class to justify taking one at No. 4 overall, it’s tricky to imagine someone a team would trade up for, and there’s a good chance most of the solid DTs will be gone before the second round pick. That’s why I love getting Franklin-Myers. He has scheme familiarity with Saleh, and generated pressure on over 10% of pass rushing snaps last season — which is a phenomenal number for a defensive tackle. Slot in another edge rusher and I think pass rush will be good to go.

As much as I like the JFM move, I dislike the signing of Wan’dale Robinson in equal measure. We have seen the one-year-wonder receiver archetype in free agency before, and more often than not it fails. There’s essentially one year of data to work off with Robinson, and while he was prolific, there wasn’t a lot that was special about him with the Giants. His 8.5 average depth of target is a lower than I want to see out of someone for Cam Ward to throw to, and too many of his receptions came on broken plays. I just don’t see the consistency as a route runner to be a No. 1 guy, and the Titans are paying him like one. This is giving extreme Christian Kirk vibes when the Jacksonville Jaguars signed him to No. 1 receiver money in 2022 based on the promise he could become a No. 1 guy, but he flamed out quickly.

The two corners signed are fine, but there is nothing special about either one. Alontae Taylor is a weird corner who is much better blitzing out of the secondary than he is actually playing cornerback. In 2025 he allowed a passer rating of 108.7 on throws targeting him, which is horrible for someone being paid as a No. 1 corner. Cordale Flottwas much better in this regard and has better natural ball skills, but he’s a mid-tier No. 2 corner in the NFL. These guys together are making $103M, and I just question the vision of that pairing.

Overall, I’m not sure what the Titans front office saw from the New York Giants last year that made them so resolute on going all-in on so many ex-Giants. Four of the team’s top free agents came from East Rutherford, which includes the frankly mystifying signing of tight end Daniel Bellinger for $8M a year when he’s never had over 300 receiving yards in a year. There’s some promising elements to his game, but there’s a lot of hope and talent projection here.

It’s not great when I look at punter Tommy Townsend as one of the best signings by a team that spent as much as the Titans did. This is a significant upgrade at punter, and will operate as an extension of the defense to win the field position battle.

As I said, this isn’t so much an issue of the Titans being bad, just not nearly as good as I would have wanted for a team spending as much money as they did. The Las Vegas Raiders were in a similar situation as Tennessee when it comes to their need to spend money, but the Raiders landed one of the best centers in the NFL, and two mammoth, proven linebacker upgrades in Nakobe Dean and Quay Walker. Those three moves offset the reservations I have about WR Jalen Nailor or DE Kwity Paye as being worth what Las Vegas gave them.

There’s a pervasive “two in the bush” element that too often tracks with the Titans. They are quick to offload proven, established talent in favor of chasing something that could be great down the road. These gambles haven’t paid off in the past, and there’s a real worry here that they’ve done it again with this free agent class. We’re left with a team that is better, but it doesn’t feel better to the tune of $250M in improvements. Part of that is the cost of doing business when you’re a struggling, rebuilding team — but that should lead to things like overpaying Tyler Linderbaum (as the Raiders did), not throwing mammoth money at Wan’Dale Robinson and hoping it all works out.