First major move Titans make in the offseason.

2ToneBlueBlood · Jan 14, 2015

Gut said: ↑

This seems to need repeating. Of course if a guy goes to and wins the Super Bowl and his teams wants to give him max dollars, he'll never leave. But with the cap, you can't keep everyone and you can't even tag them if you don't have the room (cheaper to sign them long term for a lower cap #). So the team either makes the room or the player leaves. The other problem can be if the player and team don't see eye to eye on the VALUE of the player. The player leaves.

So now we have a free agent. A free agent coming off his rookie contract (not a ton of money), like Justin Houston, typically look at the big money first and location 2nd. Of course if NE or Seattle offered him the same deal we did, he wouldn't come here. No one would. But those teams almost never offer top dollar contract because 1, they can't afford it and 2, they can already get to the SB without that player. In effect, they expect a hometown/winning discount and sometimes they get it. but more often than not, those players willing to play for a discount are already past their first big money contract. In effect, they already got 'paid.'

The good thing for us is, the players we SHOULD be targeting are guys who are 25-27yrs old and coming off their rookie contracts as they will think long and hard about bigger money vs winning situation. IF Dallas didn't lock up Dez and the Pats offered him $7mil and we offered him $15 with a plan to rebuild the team in a year or 2, i'd say we have more than a competitive offer. Doesn't guarantee he'll take as we don't know him. Maybe he'd see winning and playing with a HOF QB worth losing the $8mil a year...but when you put it in terms of a $49mil contract from the Pats versus a $105mil offer from the Titans, our offer looks almost unstoppable. Now he looks and thinks, is it worth $50mil less to play with Brady? Plus, a lot of players equate where there contract ranks to how important they are. Having the top contract in the market means a lot to most of the players. Look at Darrell Revis. He left a much better situation with the Jets (at the time) to take bigger money with the lowly Bucs. Didn't he want to go to play with Brady or Manning? No, money was the bigger factor and for him, still is as NE is paying him a pretty penny this year.

Great players will go to bad teams if you pay them. Did Mario Williams go to the best team? No, he took the biggest contract. Not every player will, but it's worth trying or we will be a sub-avg team for as long as the Titans use this philosophy.

It's like the old saying...the lottery is for people who are bad at Math.

I fear Orakpo will be the next Wembley after his injuries. And I wouldn't sign Orakpo and Hughes as I think Hughes will be overpaid based on his 10 sacks which in part are because of the pieces around him. Might point is, go after the big guys first (though we'll no more after ppl are tagged and others re-signed). Dan Williams doesn't seem like such an impact player we need to spend big money on and we still owe SLH and Woods and Pitty.

I think if McCourty and Bulaga hit the market, they are willing to go to a worse situation for the money or they would sign cheaper contracts to stay with those teams. And btw, it becomes cost prohibitve to tag someone 2 years in a row 99% of the time.

So again, we may not get the chance to get all or some of these players, but why would you not want to IF you could? They would be major pieces on the team.
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I think Bulaga should be our #1 priority if he hits the market. He's a perfect fit for what we need and I think he's only 25. I'd offer him a 6 year deal, that way we have our book ends for years to come. Plus, I don't want to spend another high pick on offensive line.

ScotTitan · Jan 14, 2015

No Suh should be our number 1 target and we should offer him Watt money. See if anyone beats us. If we landed him then we are very flexible in the draft.

Suh DT, Mason Foster ILB, Chris Culliver CB and Mark Ingram RB. That's a great Free agency haul for us and quite possible.

I agree with Gut, money talks and we are sick of sub par free agents. Aim big.

Demaryius Thomas and Justin Houston should be next on the list.Once there all gone then you can start looking at your Worilds and Brandon Graham's and Dan Williams.etc

titans1839 · Jan 14, 2015

Orlando Franklin is another G that I like. IF Iupatit goes quick or is asking crazy money. Orlando can play both LG and RG and has been solid to Denver.

xpmar9x · Jan 14, 2015

ScotTitan said: ↑

No Suh should be our number 1 target and we should offer him Watt money.
Click to expand...

No. Justin Houston should be our number 1 target

ScotTitan · Jan 14, 2015

xpmar9x said: ↑

No. Justin Houston should be our number 1 target
Click to expand...

Justin Houston OLB
Leonard Williams DT

Or

Randy Gregory OLB
Ndamukong Suh DT

Whatever, either or is fine by me.

xpmar9x · Jan 14, 2015

ScotTitan said: ↑

Justin Houston OLB
Leonard Williams DT

Or

Randy Gregory OLB
Ndamukong Suh DT

Whatever, either or is fine by me.
Click to expand...

Option #1: Houston is coming off a 22 sack season. Just turned 26 and has another 5 years of being in his "prime", besides Watt he's arguably the best front 7 guy in the league. With our pass rush being as awful as it is, he would provide an instant impact, imagine Houston/Casey both coming at you from one end. Leonard Williams is a monster and has JJ Watt potential, with a ceiling of Gerald McCoy?

I don't trust Randy Gregory, he has all the measurables and was an athletic freak in college, but that doesn't always translate to the pros. His pass rush moves are average, doesn't use his hand well, struggled against power blockers especially when they get under his pads. He still has amazing feet and lateral quickess and a great motor. Still think his ceiling is somewhere like Aldon Smith, but his floor is screaming bust to me. Then Suh, who's played 4-3, would need to switch positions to DE after playing DT his whole life.

To me, I'm going with #1 - but wouldn't be even slightly upset with #2.

Gut · Jan 15, 2015

I think there are about 5 players who I'd target at the same time...assuming they are not tagged or re-signed.

Justin Houston, OLB (huge money contract offer)
Mike Iupati, OG (best G in free agency...big money contract)
Devin McCourty, S (big money)
Dez Bryant, WR (huge money)
or
Demaryius Thomas, WR (huge money) not signing both Thomas and Bryant

The above players are about as good as it gets at their positions and they will likely want to be the HIGHEST paid at those positions. They are also all Pro Bowl caliber and 27 or younger. 2 other players I'd consider are...

Suh, DT
Bulaga, RT

The problem I have with Bulaga is that I haven't really watched him this year so I don't want to put my stamp of approval on him. Additionally, we don't need a great RT. Plus, suggesting we sign a high priced LG and RT...which is what Webster failed at so spectacularly disturbs me. But I digress. If our top targets are gone and Bulaga isn't looking to become the highest paid RT, I have interested as it would fill a big hole (and we cut Oher).

Suh is an entirely different issue. If we sign Suh, I don't see us drafting LW who, at the moment, is the best player in the draft. If I was Webster and knew I was either taking a QB or trading back, I could see us pursuing this as he's a great player but literally wants JJ Watt money. And that's the next problem. Suh is great but he's not worth that kind of cash. but because of his asking price and 'issues,' he's the most likely person on these lists to be available. The other issue is he's already 28. JJ Watt got a 6 year $100mil contract (similar to Mario Williams). It's harder to protect the team from declining play when the new guy is a free agent. I would not give Suh Watt money unless it was structured in such a way that I could get out at year 3 or later and we were unlikely to draft LW.

For certain, there are other players I'd consider too....say Jeremy Maclin...but I'm not breaking the bank for him.

We have huge needs at OLB, big time WR, S, and OG! Unlikely all will be available and would come here but I'd target these guys...even if only 1 or 2 is available. We need to not spend money on holes we are filling with avg players but overpaying. Overpay for great players...not Levitre, Oher or Griffin.

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