For all of those Tennessee Titans fans who have shifted their focus toward the offseason, I have both some good and bad news for you.
On a positive note, the Titans are still projected to have the most cap space heading into the 2024 offseason, per Over the Cap. The bad news is, the number has significantly gone down from their initial projection.
Earlier this offseason, Tennessee was projected to have a little more than $100 million in cap space.
However, the current estimation is much less, coming in at $75.5 million based on a top-51 roster and a $242 million salary cap figure. It is worth noting that this figure does not include the cuts the Titans will make, like offensive tackle Andre Dillard, for example.
NFL teams with most projected salary cap room for 2024 (51 man roster, $242M cap)
1. Titans- $75.5M
2. Commanders- $74.5M
3. Patriots- $70.5M
4. Colts- $66.1M
5. Texans- $64.3M
6. Bengals- $58.2M
7. Bears- $53.5M
8. Cardinals- $47.7M
9. Lions- $47.4M
10. Raiders- $40.7M— Jason_OTC (@Jason_OTC) December 21, 2023
That is still a ton of cap space to work with, especially when you consider that any significant free-agent signing can have their contract structured to have a low cap hit in Year 1.
On top of that, there are several tricks general manager Ran Carthon can do to manipulate the salary cap.
Let’s use the $100 million contract that wide receiver A.J. Brown got from the Eagles a few years back, since many Titans fans are hoping to land a top receiver this spring.
According to Spotrac, over the first three years of the deal, the All-Pro receiver has cap hits of:
- $5.6 Million (2022)
- $8.5 Million (2023)
- $12.4 Million (2024)
He then has massive cap hits in 2025 ($26M) and 2026 ($41M), as well as some void years after that. However, by the time the Eagles get to 2025 or 2026, they’ll likely re-do his contract to significantly lower those numbers.
Needless to say, Tennessee is in good shape heading into the offseason, even if it’s not getting the $100 million projection we were all hoping for.