Category: League News

Where Titans rank in strength of schedule based on projected win totals

A look at where the Titans rank when it comes to strength of schedule based on projected win totals.

The Tennessee Titans have made some shrewd moves this offseason to improve one of the league’s worst rosters.

Chidobe Awuzie, Lloyd Cushenberry, Tony Pollard, and Calvin Ridley highlight the team’s free-agent additions. Star cornerback L’Jarius Sneed was acquired in a trade with the Kansas City Chiefs and subsequently signed to a contract extension.

On paper, the Titans have gotten better and the 2024 NFL draft hasn’t even happened yet. One would think that the Titans are favored to improve on their 6-11 record from a season ago.

However, oddsmakers in Vegas don’t necessarily think that will be the case, as the Titans’ win total opened at just 5.5. One reason for that is the brutal schedule the Titans are slated to play in 2024.

Warren Sharp of Sharp Football Analysis recently broke down each team’s strength of schedule based on implied win totals. The Titans have the sixth-toughest schedule in the league for 2024.

Only the Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots, Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, and Minnesota Vikings figure to have a tougher slate of games than the Titans.

Of the 14 teams on Tennessee’s schedule, eight had winning records last season. Five of those teams made the playoffs and the three that didn’t suffered an injury at the quarterback position.

Of course, the Titans also are not helped by the fact that they play in a much tougher AFC South. Once the laughingstock of the league, the division now figures to be extremely competitive with four impressive young quarterbacks.

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Former Bucs DB Logan Ryan announces retirement

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive back Logan Ryan is retiring after 11 seasons in the NFL

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive back Logan Ryan is hanging up his cleats.

Ryan officially announced his retirement from professional football Tuesday, posting a heartfelt video message on social media to deliver the news.

A two-time Super Bowl champion, Ryan spent 11 seasons in the NFL, including the 2022 campaign with Tampa Bay. He finishes his career with 755 total tackles, 98 pass breakups, 18 interceptions and 13 sacks over 154 regular-season games.

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PFF lists Titans among NFL’s worst with 1st-round picks since 2014

Unsurprisingly, the Titans were listed as one of the worst teams in the NFL when it comes to their first-round picks since 2014.

The Tennessee Titans hope that general manager Ran Carthon can change the narrative surrounding the team’s inability to hit on first-round draft picks, which was a glaring issue during the Jon Robinson era.

Over the last decade, the team has had mixed results from its first-round selections, and things have been particularly bad since Tennessee hit on Jeffery Simmons in 2019.

Pro Football Focus‘ Sam Monson included the Titans among the worst franchises at using their first-round picks. Here was part of his analysis:

Tennessee’s recent run of first-round selections includes all-time busts for a variety of reasons. Isaiah Wilson played three snaps for the team before off-field concerns led to his departure. Caleb Farley was immediately struck by serious injury and has played only 164 snaps over his three-year NFL career.

Treylon Burks was put in the unenviable position of needing to replace what the team traded away in A.J. Brown, and he has been completely unable to do so thus far. Jack Conklin was a good player for the team but left in free agency, as did Corey Davis. Marcus Mariota started for a while but was ultimately benched for performance reasons.

Monson rightly notes that Simmons has developed into one of the best interior defenders in the National Football League. Still, he has been the outlier in the Titans’ first-round picks since 2014.

Coming out of Georgia, Wilson had all the makings and the skill set to be a ten-year starter in the NFL. In his final season with the Bulldogs, he played in 11 games and was responsible for just one sack allowed, per PFF.

The Titans were hopeful he could be a pillar when they drafted him 29th overall in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft. However, his tenure in Nashville was short, to say the least.

Wilson continued to have issues in short stints with the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants before being out of the league entirely.

The red flags were there for Farley. The defensive back suffered a torn ACL and missed the 2017 season at Virginia Tech. He also missed time in 2019 with a back injury.

Injuries have plagued his NFL career, with Farley suffering a torn ACL in Week 6 of his rookie campaign. The following season, Farley was shut down in November after undergoing surgery to repair a herniated disc.

He missed all of last season with lingering a nerve issue while recovering from back surgery and has played only 12 games. Even when he’s been on the field, Farley hasn’t been good.

Of the Titans’ eight first-round picks from 2014-20, only four had their fifth-year option picked up, including Adoree’ Jackson, Marcus Mariota, Taylor Lewan and Simmons — and Jackson was released before playing on it.

Of those four, only two received a second contract (Simmons and Lewan). Farley and wide receiver Treylon Burks are currently both on pace to not have their options picked up or stick around for another contract.

Carthon hopes to reverse the fortunes of Tennessee’s first-round selections, with his first attempt coming in the form of left guard Peter Skoronski, who had a promising first season in the NFL after being drafted in 2023.

The Titans hold the No. 7 overall pick in April’s draft and if Carthon can hit on it, and Skoronski continues to improve, he’ll be off to one heck of a start.

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All the NFL’s new rule changes for the 2024 season

Check out the full list of rule changes the NFL is adopting for the 2024 season

As is the case every year at the league meetings, the NFL has made a list of rule changes and other resolutions in advance of the 2024 season.

From moving back the trade deadline to making big changes to kickoffs, this year’s list of changes could have a significant impact across the entire league.

Check out the full list of new rules and regulations above.

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NFL approves new, later trade deadline for 2024 season

The NFL is pushing back the trade deadline by one week starting this season

The NFL is pushing back the trade deadline one week starting with the 2024 season.

Starting this year, the deadline will now be the Tuesday after Week 9 games have been completed, per the league’s official release.

Multiple teams had been pushing for this change, giving clubs more time to make key moves near the midway point of the regular season in preparation for either a playoff run or an early start on offseason strategy.

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Full details of the NFL’s new updated kickoff rules

Check out all the details of the NFL’s new kickoff rules that were just approved for the 2024 season

Over the last few years, it felt to many as if the NFL was on the verse of phasing out the kickoff completely from the game.

Now, it has a new lease on life courtesy of some bold new rule changes that were just approved this week at the league meetings in Orlando.

Drawing from many of the aspects that made the recently reborn XFL’s kickoff play so entertaining, the NFL will adopt its own version for the 2024 season as a test run to see if it’s something they want to keep moving forward.

Here are all the details on the new rule:

Yeah, this is gonna be fun.

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Devin White says Eagles are ‘better all-around team’ than Bucs

The now-former Bucs linebacker appears to have quickly forgotten who embarrassed who in the playoffs just a couple of months ago

After five years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, linebacker Devin White signed a one-year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles in free agency this offseason.

Speaking to the media Tuesday, White asserted that his new team is better than his old team.

“It’s an opportunity to show why I was drafted Top 5, why I helped a team win the Super Bowl,” White said during his introductory press conference. “Just to prove that I do what I do. I don’t lack any confidence as far as being on a one-year deal. I don’t shy away from it. I think it was the best thing that happened. Last year wasn’t who you were, that’s never been Devin White on tape. Now you get an opportunity on a bigger stage, it’s a bigger platform here, it’s a better all-around team built right here, right now to do great things. And I want to be a part of that.”

https://www.youtube.com/live/ZOAEhHAVfzg?si=x9hKYNyr_CQnpqZf&t=5811

I’m not sure if White remembers or not, but the Eagles’ 2023 season was ended by a 32-9 blowout loss in the playoffs to…the Bucs.

Maybe he’s just that confident in the coaching changes and roster moves the Eagles have made in the offseason, but it’s definitely an intriguing take to say that Philly is a better all-around team right now than the team that bounced them from the playoffs with authority just a couple of months ago.

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Shaq Barrett: ‘Tampa gonna be mad they let me go’

Now with the Miami Dolphins, veteran pass rusher Shaq Barrett clearly has a chip on his shoulder after being cut by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers moved on from veteran pass rusher Shaq Barrett this offseason, saving some salary cap space and opening up opportunities for younger players to get more reps at outside linebacker in 2024.

Barrett signed a one-year deal with the Miami Dolphins after being let go by the Bucs, and it’s clear he’s got a chip on his shoulder after Tampa Bay decided to release him.

“A lot to prove,” Barrett said this week (via Joe Schad, Palm Beach Post). “Especially getting cut from another team like that, adds another whole fuel to the fire right there. And I’m like, Dolphins gonna’ be happy they signed me. Tampa gonna’ be mad they let me go.”

Matthew Hinton-USA TODAY Sports

Barrett was a cheap signing on a one-year deal by the Bucs back in 2019, and he responded by leading the NFL with 19.5 sacks, getting the franchise tag and eventually a long-term contract extension from Tampa Bay. He was a key piece of the Bucs’ championship team in 2020, including a dominant performance against the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV.

After a torn Achilles ended his 2022 season prematurely, Barrett simply wasn’t the same player last season. Set to turn 32 years old this season, the Bucs obviously wanted to go with younger, cheaper options at the position.

That being the case, Barrett is clearly hoping to make Tampa Bay regret that decision with a bounce-back campaign in Miami this year.

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Report: Titans were ‘really close’ to trading for Chiefs CB L’Jarius Sneed

The Titans were reportedly “really close” to trading for Chiefs CB, L’Jarius Sneed.

We’ve seen differing reports on how close the Tennessee Titans — and other teams — were to trading for cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, who remains a member of the Kansas City Chiefs.

But The Athletic’s Dianna Russini clarified things during a recent episode of “The Athletic Football Show”, stating the Titans and Indianapolis Colts were “really close” to completing a trade for Sneed. The holdup, she believes, had to do with Sneed’s contract extension demands.

Russini notes that this came before the Titans signed Calvin Ridley last week, and adds that all trade talks aren’t dead but the chances of Tennessee landing Sneed are “smaller” now. She believes the Colts are the front-runners.

You can check out the entire clip below.

As far as what draft compensation the Titans would’ve sent to Kansas City is concerned, Russini did not say. But clearly the Titans were ready to pull the trigger on what could have been a massive upgrade to their secondary.

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Former Bucs OL Aaron Stinnie signs 1-year deal with Giants

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive lineman Aaron Stinnie is signing a one-year deal in free agency with the New York Giants

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive lineman Aaron Stinnie is signing a one-year deal with the New York Giants, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

Stinnie has spent most of his career in Tampa Bay as a backup, but started 11 games at guard last season, and also performed admirably when thrust into the starting lineup due to injury during the Bucs’ Super Bowl run back in 2020.

This news comes at the same time the Bucs have signed a one-year deal with former Giants guard Ben Bredeson, which means he and Stinnie are basically just switching places in free agency.

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