I am going to be breaking down all of the Tennessee Titans contracts over the next few days. If you need any help with understanding some of the terms used below, check out Free Agency 101. This will include:
- So about that 28m
- Current top-51 salary cap
- Titans free agent signings
- Former Titans contract details
- Compensatory Picks
- Draft Class Cap Hits
If you want to see all free agent action, you can click here for our Free Agent Tracker.
So… about that $28m
On the morning of Tuesday, March 23rd, it was brought to my attention by our own Justin Melo that, according to the official web site of the NFLPA, the Titans had just over $28m in available salary cap space. It was said in a group chat, and I quickly responded that there was a mistake with this math, so don’t even trust it. I moved on with my day never thinking of it again.
Then the following day, as I awaited the arrival of my cohosts to record our Broadway Sports Radio show over at Fox Sports Shoals, I started to get tweets asking about the supposed $28m in cap space. My mind didn’t automatically connect it to the NFLPA site, which was obviously wrong, and I figure I must’ve missed a restructure. I head over to both Spotrac and overthecap.com to investigate, check a few twitter accounts, nothing…
So I ask someone, and what do you know, they send me the article with the NFLPA’s salary cap numbers. Was there more to this than I thought? I had to take a break to record our show, during which I saw a few more tweets about it. Once I was free, I did some more research, and after five minutes I discovered I was right initially, there was no truth to this $28m number.
So why was it reported? Well, it turns out the NFLPA site hasn’t been updated with any official NFL Transactions for any team since the league officially announced the $182.5m salary cap on March 10th. So the cap space totals you see there are over two weeks old, and frankly, it’s ridiculous that the NFLPA has yet to update it. It’s also quite ridiculous that people (Titans fans and analysts alike) just accepted a $14m sudden jump in cap space for the Titans as a fact without doing any research.
The actual salary cap space as of this writing is:
Current top-51 salary cap: $9,363,660
Here is the current top-51 salary cap as of March 30th, 7:45a. This does not account for the Jackrabbit or Olasunkanmi Adeniyi contracts because those details have not hit. We will update the tracker when they do.
| Cap/Cap hits | Notes | |
| Top 51 room before cuts | $12,749,660 | |
| Dennis Kelly cut | + $3,416,660 | salary cap savings |
| Adoree Jackson cut | + $10,244,000 | salary cap savings |
| Mason Kinsey cap hit | ($660,000) | due to Top 51 |
| Tucker McCann cap hit | ($660,000) | due to Top 51 |
| Top 51 cap | $25,090,326 | After major cuts |
| Geoff Swaim cap hit | ($2,406,250) | 2021 contract |
| Jared Pinkey cap hit | + $660,000 | due to Top 51 |
| Top 51 cap | $23,344,076 | After Swaim |
| Morgan Cox cap hit | ($987,500) | 2021 contract |
| Mason Kinsey cap hit | + $660,000 | due to Top 51 |
| Top 51 cap | $23,016,576 | After Cox |
| Bud Dupree cap hit | ($5,121,875) | 2021 contract |
| Tucker McCann cap hit | + $660,000 | due to Top 51 |
| Top 51 cap | $18,554,701 | After Bud |
| Jayon Brown cap hit | ($3,497,916) | 2021 contract |
| Jan Johnson cap hit | + $660,000 | due to Top 51 |
| Top 51 cap | $15,716,785 | After Jayon |
| Ty Sambrailo cap hit | ($1,750,000) | 2021 contract |
| Tommy Hudson cap hit | + $660,000 | due to Top 51 |
| Top 51 cap | $14,626,785 | after Ty |
| Josh Reynolds cap hit | ($1,750,000) | 2021 contract |
| Kevin Johnson cap hit | ($2,203,125) | 2021 contract |
| Anthony Firkser cap hit | ($3,000,000) | 2021 contract |
| Matthias Farley cap hit | ($950,000) | 2021 contract |
| David Bellamy cap hit | + $660,000 | due to top 51 |
| Parker Hesse cap hit | + $660,000 | due to Top 51 |
| Rashard Davis cap hit | + $660,000 | due to Top 51 |
| Paul Adams cap hit | + $660,000 | due to Top 51 |
| Current Top 51 cap space | $9,363,660 |
No matter what team pays them, Adoree Jackson and Dennis Kelly will not count towards any of the compensatory pick calculations for the Titans. When you cut a player, they do not count in the comp pick formula.
Titans free agent signings
Denico Autry
Denico Autry signed a three-year, $21,500,000 contract with the Titans, including a $6,000,000 signing bonus and $9,000,000 guaranteed.
His cap hit is already included in the previous section, but here is what his contract looks like:
| Year | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Roster Bonus | Cap Hit | Dead Cap |
| 2021 | $1,100,000 | $2,000,000 | $437,500 | $3,537,500 | $9,000,000 |
| 2022 | $6,150,000 | $2,000,000 | $500,000 | $8,650,000 | $5,900,000 |
| POTENTIAL OUT: | 2023, $2M Dead Cap | ||||
| 2023 | $6,750,000 | $2,000,000 | $500,000 | $9,250,000 | $2,000,000 |
Important Notes:
- Signing Bonus ($8m) + 2021 Salary ($1.1m) + Partial 2022 Salary ($1.9m) is the guaranteed money
- If they were to cut him after the 2021 season: $2,750,000 cap savings, $5,900,000 dead money
- $437,500 of the roster bonus is a LTBE Incentive that he must be active for 14 games to earn. Every game he is active after 14 earns him an additional $31,250, but it is not guaranteed.
- If he fails to reach 14 active games, his 2022 roster bonus does not count against the cap.
Kendall Lamm
Kendall Lamm signed a two-year, $6,800,000 contract with the Titans, including a $1,700,000 signing bonus and $3,000,000 guaranteed.
His cap hit is already included in the previous section. Like I said on the latest “Football & Other F Words,” this signing to me screamed there was a good chance Dennis Kelly could be gone. Sure enough, one day later he has left the building. Here is what Kelly’s potential replacement is set to make:
| Year | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Roster Bonus | Cap Hit | Dead Cap |
| 2021 | $1,300,000 | $850,000 | $468,750 | $2,618,750 | $3,000,000 |
| POTENTIAL OUT: | 2022, $850k Dead Cap | ||||
| 2022 | $6,750,000 | $850,000 | $1,000,000 | $4,150,000 | $850,000 |
Important Notes:
- Signing Bonus ($1.7m) + 2021 Salary ($1.3m) is the guaranteed money
- $468,750 of the roster bonus is a LTBE Incentive that he must be active for 15 games to earn. If active the 16th game he will get an additional $31,250, but it is not guaranteed.
- If he fails to reach 15 active games, $500k of his 2022 roster bonus does not count against the cap.
Bud Dupree
Bud Dupree signed a 5 year, $82,500,000 contract with the Tennessee Titans, including a $16,000,000 signing bonus, $35,000,000 guaranteed.
| Year | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Roster Bonus | Cap Hit | Dead Cap |
| 2021 | $1,750,000 | $3,200,000 | $171,875 | $5,121,875 | $35,000,000 |
| 2022 | $16,000,000 | $3,200,000 | — | $19,200,000 | $30,500,000 |
| POTENTIAL OUT: | 2023, $10.85M Dead Cap | ||||
| 2023 | $17,000,000 | $3,200,000 | $20,200,000 | $10,850,000 | |
| 2024 | $16,000,000 | $3,200,000 | $19,200,000 | $6,400,000 | |
| 2025 | $15,500,000 | $3,200,000 | $18,700,000 | $3,200,000 |
- Signing Bonus ($16m) + 2021 Salary ($1.75m) + 2022 Salary ($16m) + partial 2023 Salary ($1.25m) is the guaranteed money
- $171,875 roster bonus is a LTBE Incentive that he must be active for 11 games to earn. If active for 12 games or more he will get an additional $15,625, but it is not guaranteed.
- If he fails to reach 11 active games, none of his 2022 roster bonus does not count against the cap.
Geoff Swaim
According to Aaron Wilson for he Houston Chronicle, Geoff Swaim signed a 1 year, $2,500,000 contract with the Titans, including a $1,250,000 signing bonus and $2,250,000 guaranteed.
| Year | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Roster Bonus | Cap Hit | Dead Cap |
| 2021 | $1,000,000 | $1,250,000 | $156,250 | $2,406,250 | $2,250,000 |
- Signing Bonus ($1.25m) + 2021 Salary ($1m) is the guaranteed money
- $156,250 of the roster bonus is a LTBE Incentive that he must be active for 10 games to earn. If active after 10th game he will get an additional $15,625, but it is not guaranteed.
- If he fails to reach 10 active games, his roster bonus will get credited back to the 2022 Titans salary cap.
Janoris Jenkins
We only know currently that Jackrabbit has signed back with the Titans.
Morgan Cox
Morgan Cox signed a 1 year, $1,212,500 contract with the Tennessee Titans, including a $137,500 signing bonus, $887,500 guaranteed.
| Year | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Cap Hit | Dead Cap |
| 2021 | $1,075,000 | $137,500 | $987,500 | $887,500 |
Jayon Brown
Jayon Brown signed a 1 year, $5,300,000 contract with the Tennessee Titans, including a $2,000,000 signing bonus, $3,250,000 guaranteed.
| Year | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Roster Bonus | Cap Hit | Dead Cap |
| 2021 | $2,050,000 | $666,667 | $781,250 | $3,497,916 | $9,000,000 |
| 2022 | VOIDED YEAR | $666,667 | — | $1,333,334 | $1,333,334 |
| 2023 | VOIDED YEAR | $666,667 | — | — | $666,666 |
- Signing Bonus ($2.00m) + partial 2021 Salary ($1.25m) is the guaranteed money
- $781,250 of the roster bonus is a LTBE Incentive that he must be active for 10 games to earn. If active after 10th game he will get an additional $78,125, but it is not guaranteed.
- If he fails to reach 10 active games, his roster bonus will get credited back to the 2022 Titans salary cap.
Anthony Firkser
Thanks to Paul Kuharsky we now noticed that OverTheCap.com has casually put up Anthony Firkser’s contract numbers. Anthony Firkser signed a 1 year $3,000,000 contract with the Tennessee Titans, including a $1,250,000 signing bonus, $1,750,000 guaranteed.
| Year | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Cap Hit | Dead Cap |
| 2021 | $1,750,000 | $1,250,000 | $3,000,000 | $3,000,000 |
Kevin Johnson
Kevin Johnson signed a 1 year, $2,250,000 contract with the Tennessee Titans, including a $1,000,000 signing bonus, $2,000,000 guaranteed.
| Year | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Roster Bonus | Cap Hit | Dead Cap |
| 2021 | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 | $203,125 | $2,203,125 | $2,000,000 |
- The roster bonus is a LTBE Incentive that he must be active for 13 games to earn. If active after 13th game he will get an additional $15,625, but it is not guaranteed.
- If he fails to reach 13 active games, his roster bonus will get credited back to the 2022 Titans salary cap.
Ty Sambrailo
Ty Sambrailo signed a 1 year, $1,900,000 contract with the Tennessee Titans, including a $500,000 signing bonus, $750,000 guaranteed.
| Year | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Roster Bonus | Cap Hit | Dead Cap |
| 2021 | $1,000,000 | $500,000 | $250,000 | $1,750,000 | $750,000 |
- Signing Bonus ($500k) + Partial 2021 Salary ($250k) is the guaranteed money
- $250k of the roster bonus is a LTBE Incentive that he must be active for 10 games to earn. If active after 10th game he will get an additional $40,000, but it is not guaranteed.
- If he fails to reach 10 active games, his roster bonus will get credited back to the 2022 Titans salary cap.
Josh Reynolds
Josh Reynolds signed a 1 year, $1,750,000 contract with the Tennessee Titans, including a $750,000 signing bonus, $1,750,000 guaranteed.
| Year | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Cap Hit | Dead Cap |
| 2021 | $1,000,000 | $750,000 | $1,750,000 | $1,750,000 |
Olasunkanmi Adeniyi
Adeniyi has been inside the building and signed. But we know nothing beyond that.
Matthias Farley
Matthias Farley signed a 1 year, $1,090,000 contract with the Tennessee Titans, including a $100,000 signing bonus, $175,000 guaranteed.
| Year | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Cap Hit | Dead Cap |
| 2021 | $990,000 | $100,000 | $950,000 | $175,000 |
Former Titans contract details
Corey Davis
Corey Davis signed a three-year, $37,500,000 contract with the New York Jets, including a $7,000,000* total signing bonus and $27,000,000 guaranteed.
I think Davis, while not as affordable as Jonnu Smith (below), was a super easy deal the Titans could’ve pulled off in different ways. Here is what it looks like:
| Year | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Cap Hit | Dead Cap |
| 2021 | $7,000,000 | $2,333,333 | $9,333,333 | $27,000,000 |
| 2022 | $13,000,000 | $2,333,333 | 15,333,333 | $17,666,667 |
| POTENTIAL OUT: | 2023, $2.33m Dead Cap | |||
| 2023 | $10,500,000 | $2,333,334 | $12,833,334 | $2,333,334 |
Important Notes:
- *Signing Bonus: $2m signing bonus + $5m roster bonus for 2021 treated as a signing bonus
- Signing Bonus totals ($7m) + 2021 Salary ($7m) + 2022 Salary ($13m) is the guaranteed money
- $9,333,333 (Davis) – $660,000 (DJ Montgomery falls out of Top 51) = $8,673,333 cap hit for the Jets in 2021
Jonnu Smith
Jonnu Smith signed a four-year, $50,000,000 contract with the New England Patriots, including a $15,000,000 signing bonus and $31,250,000 guaranteed.
Jonnu Smith was one the main reasons for the offensive identity of this Titans football team. He had built an amazing chemistry with Ryan Tannehill during the offseason last year and rewarding the Titans with nine total touchdowns. His “worth” has been a hot debate amongst the fan base, and of course everyone is freaking out over the $12.5m-per-year deal he signed.
However, Smith’s 2021 cap hit is only $5,687,500, and with the cap almost certainly set to increase tremendously next year, I feel the Titans and Jonnu could’ve found common ground. Jon Robinson may just be too rigid and uncreative to find it.
Here are the contract details:
| Year | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Roster Bonus | Cap Hit | Dead Cap |
| 2021 | $1,000,000 | $3,750,000 | $937,500 | $5,687,500 | $31,250,000 |
| 2022 | $9,000,000 | $3,750,000 | $1,000,000 | $13,750,000 | $26,500,000 |
| 2023 | $10,000,000 | $3,750,000 | $1,000,000 | $14,750,000 | $13,750,000 |
| POTENTIAL OUT: | 2023, $3.75M Dead Cap | ||||
| 2024 | $11,000,000 | $3,750,000 | $1,000,000 | $15,750,000 | $3,750,000 |
- Signing Bonus ($15m) + 2021 Salary ($1m) + 2022 Salary ($9m) + Partial 2023 Salary ($6.25m) is the guaranteed money
- $937,500 of the roster bonus is a LTBE Incentive that he must be active for 15 games to earn. Every game he is active after 15 earns him an additional $62,500, but it is not guaranteed.
- If he fails to reach 15 active games, his 2022 roster bonus does not count against the cap.
- $5,687,500 (Smith) – $780,000 (Terez Hall falls out of Top 51) = $4,907,500 cap hit for the Patriots in 2021
More to come as the Titans sign more players and more former Titans find new teams… check back soon.
Desmond King
Former Titans slot corner, Desmond King signed a 1 year, $3,000,000 contract with the Houston Texans, including a $500,000 signing bonus, $500,000 guaranteed.
| Year | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Roster Bonus | Cap Hit | Dead Cap |
| 2021 | $2,000,000 | $500,000 | $468,570 | $2,968,750 | $500,000 |
- $468,570 of the roster bonus is a LTBE Incentive that he must be active for 15 games to earn. Every game he is active after 15 earns him an additional $31,250, but it is not guaranteed.
- If he fails to reach 15 active games, his 2022 roster bonus is added back to the 2022 cap.
- $2,968,750 (King) – $850,000 (Chad Hansen falls out of Top 51) = $2,118,750 cap hit for the Texans in 2021
Adoree Jackson
Adoree’ Jackson signed a 3 year, $39,000,000 contract with the New York Giants, including a $13,500,000 signing bonus, $26,500,000 guaranteed. While there are more details out, neither spotrac or overthgcap.com have his details broken down.
Current Compensatory Picks Status: 0, but getting close
The Tennessee Titans have not earned any compensatory picks as of this writing. They are however close. What you should be rooting for is DaQuan Jones, MyCole Pruitt, and Adam Humphries to sign expensive enough contracts to count towards the formula. You can click here for more information.
2021 Draft Class Cap Hit
This is a topic that involves the top-51 and how a draft class has an effect on the salary cap. You will often see people freak out about the projected cap hits for draft classes on the internet/social media. It can be jarring to see that currently in free agency your team has $XXm in cap space, and then goto Spotrac or Overthecap.com and see the draft class is going to take up $Xm in salary cap.
Well, there may be no need to freak out in most cases, because of how the salary cap, and salary cap space is based on the top-51 contracts. So, just a reminder: only 51 contracts with the highest cap hits count towards the salary cap, and for every player you sign more than likely a contract will fall off.
Being that this is a Titans centric web site, let’s break it down:
| Rookie | Projected Cap Hit** | Current Player | Cap Hit |
| Round 1 | $2,342,999 | Anthony McKinney | $664,166 |
| Round 2 | $1,120,072 | Logan Woodside | $780,000 |
| Round 3 | $876,637 | Teair Tart | $780,000 |
| Round 3 | $857,182 | Daylon Mack | $780,000 |
| Round 4 | $827,287 | Cody Hollister | $780,000 |
| Total Added: | ($6,024,177) | Total Fallen Off: | + $3,784,166 |
| Actual Cap Hit: | ($2,240,011)* |
*Actual Cap Hit = Total Added – Total Fallen Off
**Using spotrac.com
We see that while spotrac.com has our rookie class totaling a $8,837,702 cap hit, but that’s not the whole story. When some of the current contracts drop off, and you take the difference, only about $2.7m count towards the cap.
With the current Titans cap space at $9,363,660, you can expect after the rookie draft class signs their contracts that our cap space is $7,123,649. Now this of course doesn’t include: Jackrabbit, Olasunkanmi Adeniyi as their contract details are not yet revealed.
However, I will keep this updated as those happen.
Great work. Thank you.
2nd that, great work and thanks for keeping us informed
Awesome breakdown …do you guys do similar for home budgets? 🙂
Really appreciate all the hard work you put into getting this out to us!