The new CBA could hurt the Tennessee Titans

The new NFL year is getting ready to get started, and it could start with a new CBA, and if it does, then the Tennessee Titans could be in trouble.

Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk joined the 31 other NFL owners in New York City on Thursday to vote on the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The last time a new CBA was negotiated was 2011, so this could be the last CBA a lot of players negotiate, so they’re going to want to get the best deal possible.

All that was needed was three-fourths of the owners to vote “yes” to pass it, and they did exactly that. Now the vote will go to the players, and if two-thirds of the NFLPA player reps vote to pass the new CBA, then it will go into effect at the beginning of the new NFL year.

It seems as if that vote may be more difficult to pass after Houston Texans player J.J. Watt said “Hard no” for the new CBA on Twitter. I know he’s only one person, but he is also a pretty important player in the NFLPA’s eyes, and he could flip some decisions that are unsure.

"According to ESPN, “the new CBA will raise the funding rule threshold to $15 million in the first year of the proposed deal and $17 million in 2029, the final year of the deal. So in that earlier example, in 2020, the team would only have to hold $10 million of the $25 million guarantee in escrow.Players had wanted the rule done away with completely, but they’ve secured a compromise that would, they hope, help create more favorable ground on which agents can fight for more guaranteed money in deals.”"

So what does the new CBA offer, and how could it hurt the Titans? Well, this could very well put the Titans in a spot to pick between Derrick Henry and Ryan Tannehill.

The Titans want to keep both, but now since they have the same agent, they will probably try to squeeze the Titans for everything they are worth, which could eliminate one of them being franchise tagged.

With that potential decision looming, the Titans might have to sign one player and let the other one test the free-agent waters and hope he resigns with Nashville.

A franchise tag isn’t completely off of the table for either player, but with Tannehill joining the same agency as Henry, it’s going to make it difficult for the Titans to bring back both players for what they think they’re worth.

If the players reject the new CBA proposal, we could enter the new year without a deal, and that would leave the Titans with the ability to franchise tag or transition tag one or both more easily because #NoRules.

I don’t think if either player is forced to go into the free-agent waters that they won’t return to Nashville, but it always is a possibility.