Presented by Tennessee Roofing Concepts
By MIKE HERNDON, columnist
Through the first business week of free agency, the Titans have outspent all 31 other teams in free agency in terms of total contract values, handing out a whopping $294 million. Tennessee trails only the Raiders in terms of most guaranteed dollars committed to free-agent signings, with over $130 million of the $294 million total fully guaranteed.
While Mike Borgonzi and Chad Brinker have repeatedly stated their intentions to be a “draft and develop” team, this spending spree is a clear acknowledgement of the reality the roster faced heading into this player acquisition cycle. The poor drafting and development of previous front offices from 2020 through 2024 have left this roster barren of homegrown talent worth investing in.
With Chig Okonkwo signing with the Commanders this week, that leaves the Titans with a total of zero players from the 2020, 2021, and 2022 draft classes remaining on the team as of today. And the next two classes aren’t far behind, with six of the 13 picks from the 2023 and 2024 classes already gone and Will Levis likely to follow soon after the acquisition of Mitchell Trubisky in free agency.
The two players on the current roster who are slam dunks to get big pay days are Jeffery Simmons and Peter Skoronski, both of whom are likely to see top-of-the-market extensions before the 2026 season kicks off. Behind Skoronski, the next players who could be due for a big extension would be Cedric Gray and JC Latham, though the latter would really need to kick it into another gear in 2026 to earn a shot at an early extension.
The completely missing draft classes from 2020 to 2022 are why the Titans led the NFL in cap space entering free agency. So, the outlay of cash in free agency is effectively an effort to backfill those holes with players that other teams drafted and developed.
