Tennessee Titans could be in a tough spot next spring

The 2020 season is slowly approaching, but eyes have briefly turned to the Tennessee Titans and NFL salary cap situation.

In May, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported if the NFL loses too much money this season, the salary cap could suffer tens of millions of dollars. This could be a big issue for the Tennessee Titans, and general manager Jon Robinson has noticed that.

The NFL cap space could drop anywhere from $30 million to $80 million in 2021. General manager Jon Robinson says that possibility could prevent the Titans from handing out contract extensions before they know for sure what the cap space will look like for the 2021 season.

"“I’m a big analogy guy. It’s no different than if I was if I was working for Pepsi or Coke, and I knew that we weren’t going to have as many sales,” Robinson said.“I don’t know what that’s going to look like. It’s something that we will certainly talk about. You know, we’ve talked to the players and the reps. There’s a lot of uncertainty right now with everything, and I would say certainly with the salary cap too, because we’ve got to be mindful,” Robinson admitted. “What you don’t want to do is do something and then you’ve got to undo it or try to unpack it a year, two years from now, given the uncertainty of the salary cap.”"

This could bring up issues for every NFL team, especially the Titans. Derrick Henry will be a free agent in 2021 if the Titans can’t sign him to an extension. If the Titans lose as much as Schefter reported, then it’s going to put the Titans in a tough spot.

July 15 is the current deadline to sign Henry. With this uncertainty sitting in the back of general manager’s minds, they’re going to have to make even more difficult decisions, not only before July 15 but throughout the season when contract negotiations take place.

Along with Henry, Corey Davis, MyCole Pruitt, Kamalei Correa, Jonnu Smith, Kalif Raymond, and Jayon Brown will also be free agents. Sure, they’re all replaceable, but they all played a factor in the Titans’ success in 2019, and most fans would like to see most or all of them in two-tone blue for the 2021 season.

A total of 33 Titans players are set to hit the free-agent market in 2021, which could leave the Titans to sign some of the cheaper players who aren’t as good just to keep the depth chart intact.

For the players’ sake, I hope the NFL doesn’t lose too much money to the point where a lot of athletes are forced out of a job, and the Titans are forced to let talented players walk in free agency.