The Tennessee Titans made yet another expected move on Wednesday by releasing safety Kenny Vaccaro after he spent three seasons with the team.
It was expected because not only did Vaccaro have a down year in 2020, but the Titans also have a replacement already in-house in 2019 fourth-round pick Amani Hooker, who obviously comes cheaper than the veteran.
Releasing Vaccaro, who was due to make $6.9 million this season, will save the Titans $3.9 million against the cap, while forcing them to pay $3 million in dead money in 2021.
Vaccaro is the third notable player to get released by Tennessee early this offseason, along with cornerback Malcolm Butler and wide receiver Adam Humphries.
Cutting those three players is saving the Titans a total of $18.5 million, but we can shave about $1.8 million off that total thanks to the dead money coming from the Isaiah Wilson trade.
According to Over the Cap, the Titans have about $16.7 million in cap space and so far are doling out a whopping $17.2 million in dead money this year, currently the sixth-highest total in the NFL.
It doesn’t appear that cap space figure includes Tennessee’s cap carryover money, which is about $2.3 million, per the NFLPA. If not, the Titans actually have about $19 million to work with right now.
Just a disclaimer: the cap space numbers are extremely fluid, so these figures aren’t always perfect, but are at least in the ballpark.
[lawrence-related id=58664,58646,58631]
[vertical-gallery id=57972]