Improve The Offense Through The Draft: Part Two

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Things finally have settled down at the Lyons household, so I am able to grace your inbox again to finish up with some options to fill the Tennessee Titans needs on offense. Two days ago, I wrote about the wide receivers, and today I am going to write about the rest of the offense filling these specific needs:

• The Jack-Of-All-Trades Tight End

• The Athletic Pass Blocking Guard

• The Third Down Running Back

I also left off a wide-receiver prospect in that I want to put on your radar just in case he isn’t. I am going to start off with a topic that sprung up under one of my tweets that tie into the Titans Salary Cap Tracker tool for the paid subscribers. The topic in question revolves around the discussion of cap space needed for draft picks.

Cap Space & Draft Picks

Here is a quick update of where the Tennessee Titans stand after signing all of their current free agents:

Football & Other F Words @FWordsPod

#Titans have signed all their FAs: - Cap Space: $7,152,103 - Cap Needed for Draft Picks: ~$4.3m - Situations Unsettled: Aaron Brewer & Teair Tart - Wants New Contract: Big Jeff - Decisions Still Looming: Byard, Henry, Tannehill - Other Situations to Monitor: Autry, Landry

I use a combination of Spotrac.com and OverTheCap.com to get my information. Showing loyalty only to one can leave out pertinent information that’s available at the other site. What I love most about Spotrac.com is that it is the most user-friendly site out there. One of the things it also has that OverTheCap.com doesn’t, is an estimate on what the cap hits are for draft picks.

Here are where the Titans stand with their draft picks/cap hits:

Table 1

So, one would think that the Titans need roughly $8.7m in cap space to sign their draft pick, right? Wrong. Some of that $8.7m is already accounted for in a way thanks to the top-51 rule. Let me explain.

Before Sean Murphy-Bunting’s contract details came out today the Titans had cap space of $8,288,769. Well, we know that SMB’s cap hit for 2023 is $1,886,666. So, most people would assume the following:

Table 2

However, there is something call the top-51 rule, and if you have followed any of my writings or salary cap lessons over the last few years, you’d know that only the top-51 contracts count towards the salary cap. Before SMB signed, the Titans already had 51 players counting towards the salary cap. So, what that means is the lowest player’s cap hit needs to fall off. So, this is how it goes:

Table 3

Thus, $7,152,103 is the current and correct amount of effective or working cap space. Now, how does all of this pertain to projecting out the cap space needed for draft picks? Well, it’s because we are looking for what actually counts towards the salary cap, what makes the top-51 contracts, and what contracts will fall off.

Here are the lowest six veteran cap hits stacked up next to the cap hits for draft picks:

Table 4

Now, looking at this and Table 1 above, we know the following: Only three cap hits for draft picks will count in full towards the top-51 cap space. The current picks in Rounds 5-7 will only have their signing bonuses count. Threw a curveball. Signing bonuses must always count towards the cap space, regardless of the total cap hit of the contract. So, all of that ends up looking like this:

Table 5

Now you’re thinking: “Okay, that means $6,578,424 is what’s needed in cap space.” Nope, remember three contracts that are currently on the top-51 are going to fall off to make room for those three draft-picks whose cap hits count in full. Those people would be Shyheim Carter, Curtis Brooks, and Chance Campbell. This is how it looks:

So, currently, the Titans only need an additional $4,295,420 in cap space for the draft picks. That’s because the contracts of Carter, Brooks, and Campbell are already account for $2,283,004 of the rest, and when their contracts fall off, it makes up for the difference.

So, if you hear or read anyone say the Titans need either $8.7m or $6.6m in cap space for the draft class, tell them they’re wrong, and tell them they only need roughly $4.3 in additional cap space. On to the players!

The Forgotten Wide Receivers