The Tennessee Titans made a surprise transaction on Friday afternoon, releasing veteran CB Chidobe Awuzie.
An extra $3.98 million of Awuzie’s 2025 salary was set to become guaranteed on Saturday. Tennessee moved on before that came to be, choosing not to designate him as a post-June 1 release.
The Titans will save $1.99 million against the cap in 2025 and will have $4.49 in cash savings as a result. In other words, they didn’t need to make this move by any means. Tennessee has more available cap space than almost every team in the league. So why do it?
Tennessee’s new front office has been on a mission this offseason to cleanse the roster of Ran Carthon’s bad decisions. The 2024 Titans were too aggressive in free agency and getting a hard reset will allow Mike Borgonzi to build things in his image. But I also believe that cutting Awuzie is an example of the Titans doubling down on one of Carthon’s best moves: Drafting Jarvis Browniee Jr.
Brownlee's surprising rookie season
Jarvis Brownlee Jr. emerging as a high-upside starting cornerback during the 2024 season was one of the biggest positives of the year. The Titans spent big money to upgrade at cornerback and found a physical, versatile, scheme-fit cornerback in the fourth round of the draft.
Brownlee ended up making 14 starts as a rookie after being forced into action by the injuries to Awuzie and L’Jarius Sneed. He also got a healthy dose of matching up with opposing WR1s for the same reason and held his own. But with Sneed and Awuzie back in the fold and full healthy for 2025, it was hard to see where Brownlee’s snaps were going to come from.
Tennessee had Sneed, Awuzie, Brownlee, and Roger McCreary. Four starting caliber cornerbacks. You’re not going to pay Sneed and Awuzie to sit on the bench, and so the Titans front office found a solution: Pay Awuzie less, get out of the contract entirely, and roll with Brownlee in 2025.
Brownlee will not be the only young player that the Titans lean on this season with hopes of seeing a big step forward.
I do find in ironic, however, that Tennessee’s effort to separate from Ran Carthon’s misses forces them to actually double down on his hits.
