Over the past couple of weeks, the Tennessee Titans have slowly started to create some significant cap space to work with ahead of free agency.
Unfortunately, to do so, Tennessee had to move on from a couple of players who have been franchise pillars for the better part of the last decade, specifically Taylor Lewan, and now Ben Jones.
Following the recent release of the Titans’ legendary center, the team saved $3.7 million and is now expected to hover around $26 million once free agency officially begins next week.
Truthfully, as hard as this was on the emotional side, this was the move that had to be made for the franchise to move forward. Jones suffered at least two concussions last season alone, and it’s possible one more could cause him to hang it up forever.
Tennessee could not enter the 2023 season with that type of risk considering what it just experienced a season ago with all of its injuries.
On top of the fact that the Titans are parting ways with a beloved player, the other hard part about this move is it creates another hole for the team to fill.
Nonetheless, this is a move for the Titans to further themselves away from arguably the worst offensive line in team history, while also creating some much-needed cap space in the process.
I can’t give this move an A because of the hole it creates, but Tennessee made the right call to think about the future instead of being nostalgic and risk being in the same situation they were a season ago.
Final grade: B-
