A look at some potential cap casualties for the Titans in 2024.
The Tennessee Titans enter the 2024 offseason flush with cap space, but they will have an opportunity to clear more money if they decide to cut some players from last year’s team.
According to Over the Cap, the Titans are sitting with $68.1 million in cap space, the second-most in the NFL behind only the Washington Commanders.
That’s a far cry from last year, when the Titans were strapped for cash, even after cutting some players. That also forced Tennessee to bet on upside with some of their free-agent signings.
But things are very different this year with the Titans having a ton of money to spend. And, as a result, their need to cut players isn’t as dire as it was last year, although the team still figures to part ways with at least a few players.
Here’s a look at the Titans’ biggest cut candidates for the 2024 offseason, and we’ve included a prediction for what will happen with each.
Here’s a look at the players with injury designations for the Week 5 matchup.
The Indianapolis Colts (2-2) and Tennessee Titans (2-2) are just about set for a Week 5 matchup at Lucas Oil Stadium.
On the final injury reports, the Colts ruled out three players while listing one as questionable ahead of this divisional matchup. The Titans, meanwhile, had four players ruled out, one of which is not injury-related.
Here’s a look at the players with injury designations in the Week 5 matchup:
Our next installment of training camp previews for the Titans comes at the linebacker position.
With Tennessee Titans training camp just days away, we keep chugging right along with our positional previews (we’re cutting it close, I know), with the linebacker position being up next.
The Titans are set to have two new full-time starters in 2023 after the team parted ways with both David Long and Zach Cunningham this offseason.
Monty Rice got a taste of being a full-time starter while one or both were hurt during the 2022 campaign, and he’s projected to get the nod in 2023 alongside newcomer, Azeez Al-Shaair.
However, neither player has a ton of experience as a full-time starter in this league, making linebacker arguably the biggest question mark on the defensive side of the ball.
Aside from the acquisition of Al-Shaair, the Titans also signed Ben Niemann and Luke Gifford. In addition, they have Jack Gibbens and Chance Campbell returning for Year 2.
Here’s a look at the roster locks at the position and competitions set to take place, as well as a prediction for how things will ultimately shake out.
After going over the offense, Shaun Calderon moves to the defense and names one veteran player on the roster bubble at each position group.
If the Tennessee Titans are going to be legitimate contenders in 2023, the defense is probably going to have to lead the way.
The defense looks primed for another strong campaign as long as the group can stay on the field together, something that was unfortunately a major issue last season with the Titans being ravaged by injuries.
Outside of inside linebacker and maybe cornerback, there aren’t many real starting opportunities to be had on the defensive side of the ball. As a result, the majority of the position battles set to take place in training camp are for reserve roles.
With that in mind, I wanted to take a look at one veteran defender at each position group who figures to be on the roster bubble going into camp.
Some of these choices are by default due to the player being the only real veteran depth option of the group, while others could cause a real debate among fans.
In case you missed it, we did the same for the offense, which you can check out right here. Now, on to the defense.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Luke Gifford thought his ball was going to sail past the hole.
A grad student at Pepperdine, Gifford had come to the par-4 15th hole off two straight birdies, including an uphill 30-footer on the 14th. His approach shot sailed right on the 15th, the pin left and tucked behind a menacing bunker, but he was just trying to lag a putt up close to the hole from 60 feet away and get out with a par.
He hit it, and Gifford instantly knew he put too much on it.
“I haven’t made a putt all week, have really struggled,” he said. “And that one was going to go a few feet by.”
That was, until his ball met a pebble.
There’s millions of pebbles scattered throughout Grayhawk Golf Club, site of the 2023 NCAA Men’s Golf Championship. It’s a desert course, so it’s no surprise when players or spectators have to empty their shoes after a round. But on the green?
Gifford’s ball hit the pebble about 10 feet away from the hole. It jumped up, killed the speed and went a bit to the right. It also went in the hole for his third straight birdie.
“This pebble is coming with me the rest of the tournament,” Gifford said with a smile. “It’s such a joke how it went in.”
The pebble that Luke Gifford’s ball hit on the 15th green. (Photo: Cameron Jourdan/Golfweek)
Gifford’s third straight birdie was the highlight of his round and a huge one for the Waves, which shot 11-under 269 on Sunday in the third round, setting a new record at Grayhawk for lowest round in an NCAA Championship. Pepperdine set the old record in 2021 with a 9-under 271 in the final round.
Gifford signed for a 3-under 67, his best round of the week. Derek Hitchner carded a 5-under 65. Sam Choi also shot 3 under, and William Mouw was at even-par.
Pepperdine, which won the championship in 2021 at Grayhawk and made the match play semifinals in 2022, moved up to second at 3 under and three strokes behind Illinois. More importantly, the Waves are well inside the 15-team cut and are in great position to make match play yet again.
“Guys played solid all the way around,” Pepperdine coach Michael Beard said. “We’ve got a great group of guys. Our youngest player is 22 that’s in our starting five right now. And with that comes experience.”
Only Hitchner and Mouw remain in the starting lineup from Pepperdine’s semifinalist team last year, but as Beard mentioned, there’s plenty of experience in the lineup.
He couldn’t quite put his finger on why his teams have been successful at Grayhawk. But the Waves have yet again put themselves in position to make match play, and a small pebble played a big part.
“It’s a combination of knowing this place and doing the prep work to make sure we can be successful,” Beard said.
Cowboys ST coordinator John Fassel jokingly called Titans GM Ran Carthon a “dirty dog” because he “stole my guy” Luke Gifford in free agency.
One of the Tennessee Titans’ six free-agent signings so far this offseason was former Dallas Cowboys linebacker, Luke Gifford, who is expected to play primarily on special teams while also possibly helping out on defense.
After the signing, it was revealed that Cowboys coaches were high on Gifford and even believed he was suited for a bigger role.
One of the Cowboys coaches who is apparently in that camp is special teams coordinator John Fassel, who texted general manager Ran Carthon after the team inked Gifford to a two-year, $4 million deal.
“The special teams coordinator in Dallas, as soon as it became public knowledge that we’d agreed to terms, I get a text and it was like: ‘You dirty dog, you stole my guy,'” Carthon revealed, per Jim Wyatt of Titans Online. “And he had nothing but great things to say about Gifford.”
As we already mentioned, Gifford is set to take on the key special teams role he had in Dallas, but Carthon believes he can be an asset on defense, also.
“I think he can help us on defense as well,” he said. “Obviously, he has to go out on the field and prove it. But at minimum we have a really, really good special teams player.”
It remains to be seen if Gifford will indeed secure some semblance of a role on defense, but with the team having a pair of uncertainties at the top of the depth chart in Azeez Al-Shaair and Monty Rice, it’s certainly possible.
Luke Gifford is hoping to get snaps on defense with the Titans but says his primary role will be to “dominate on special teams.”
One of their five free-agent signings thus far, former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Luke Gifford is expected to play primarily on special teams for the Tennessee Titans in 2023.
After all, that’s the role he’s played the most during his career, with the 27-year-old linebacker playing just 74 defensive snaps over his four years in Dallas.
Gifford wasn’t shy in admitting that his primary role with the Titans will be on special teams, an area he hopes to “dominate”, but he also hopes to pick up some snaps on defense.
“I know that wherever I go, my role is going to be first to just dominate on special teams,” he said, per Paul Kuharsky. “And then really just do whatever I can to help the team. Hopefully, whether that’s a little bit of linebacker here and there or whatever they see for me is what I’ll do. So, I’m excited about it for sure.”
The Titans do have some question marks at the position right now.
The team did sign Azeez Al-Shaair, who figures to take one of the starting jobs, but the jury is still out on Monty Rice, and the Titans have little experience behind him, giving Gifford a chance to get some snaps.
As far as which linebacker roles he can play on defense are concerned, Gifford feels he offers some versatility there.
He also said he reached out to former Nebraska teammate and current Titans free-agent defensive back, Joshua Kalu, to ask about Tennessee prior to free agency.
Gifford said he has the ability to play strong, weak and middle linebacker.
The Titans made each of their five free-agent signings official and are set to introduce their new players to the media on Monday.
One week after inking their first free agent, the Tennessee Titans have made all five of their reported signings from the first week of free agency official.
The team announced the signings of offensive tackle Andre Dillard, offensive lineman Daniel Brunskill, edge rusher Arden Key, and linebackers Azeez Al-Shaair and Luke Gifford.
Whether or not we get all five in the same day remains to be seen, but we’ll have coverage of each whenever they happen. If it is all five, shoutout to the Titans for making it easy (not) on us by having all five in the same day.
On top of introducing their new players, the Titans are reportedly working on finishing a one-year deal with free-agent cornerback and former Tampa Bay Buccaneer, Sean Murphy-Bunting, so there’s a lot going on to start the week after what has been a quiet handful of days.
Vote in our polls within the article to give your grade for the Titans’ free-agent signings thus far.
The Tennessee Titans have inked a total of eight free agents so far this offseason, with five of those players being from outside the organization.
The free agents Tennessee has re-signed were long snapper Morgan Cox, wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine and defensive lineman Naquan Jones, with the NWI deal causing quite the stir.
As far as outside free agents go, the Titans have inked two offensive linemen in Andre Dillard and Daniel Brunskill, a pair of linebackers in Azeez Al-Shaair and Luke Gifford, and an edge rusher in Arden Key.
As each signing was reported, our Shaun Calderon slapped a grade on them, but now we want to hear what you think. Scroll down to vote in our polls and share the grade you think the Titans should get for each of their signings.
To keep it simple, grades go from A-F only, with no “+” or “-“. Also, we’ve included any articles we’ve written about the signings if you need more information on the players.
Shaun Calderon gives the Titans a grade for their reported signing of LB Luke Gifford.
The Tennessee Titans struck another free agency deal on Tuesday morning after reaching a mutual agreement with former Dallas Cowboys linebacker, Luke Gifford.
Gifford is coming off an impressive 2022 season in which he led the team in special teams tackles with 22 and finished with an impressive tackling grade of 81.5, per Pro Football Focus.
The Nebraska product will look to become a consistent presence to a special teams unit in Tennessee that can use all the help it can get.
As far as actual defense goes, Gifford had very limited opportunities in Dallas, only playing on 42 defensive snaps last season, and just 77 in total since 2020.
However, according to Todd Archer of ESPN, some coaches in the Cowboys’ building believed that Gifford was ready for a larger role on defense.
This move was clearly made with the intention of Gifford becoming an integral piece of the special teams units, but the fact that he also has some long-term potential on defense solidifies a good grade.
