The facts about the Titans in Free Agency - a 3-year look

I can't believe the number of threads of people whining about the Titans not being active in Free Agency (which doesn't actually start until 27 Feb) and saying it will be just like the last few years when we don't sign anyone.

Well, let's look back at the Titans roster and our performance in Free Agency over the past 3 years.

From our 2008 roster, the following players were acquired through Free Agency in the past 3 years:

Tier 1 (FAs that played at or near Pro Bowl level) - Chris Hope, Jake Scott, David Thornton, Kevin Mawae

Tier 2 (FAs that won starting jobs on the 2008 Titans)- Chris Carr, Jevon Kearse, Alge Crumpler, Kerry Collins, Nick Harper, Tony Brown, Justin Gage

Tier 3 (FAs that primarily contribute on Special Teams or as a backup) - Ryan Fowler, Josh Stamer, Dave Ball, Kevin Vickerson, Eric King

Over 1/3 of our active roster have been free agent signings in the last 3 years. The bottom line is the Titans Front Office has done an excellent job over the last 3 years at identifying guys in Free Agency that can contribute in the Titans system.

For info:

Free agents that were brought in and failed to perform over the same period:
Justin McCareins, David Givens, Eric Moulds, Corey Simon, Kelly Herndon,

Free Agents that the Titans have cut or lost, over the same period (how many of these guys would be an upgrade that you would insist on bringing back?):
Drew Bennett, Antwan Odom, Travis LaBoy, Jacob Bell, Bobby Wade,
Travis Henry, Randy Starks, Calvin Lowry, Ben Troupe, Chris Brown

 

And if we had only kept Travis Henry, Drew Bennett, Ben Troupe and Jacob Bell we certainly would have won the Super Bowl by now, right?

3 seasons ago we had the #3 pick in the draft. That wasn't because we asked for it. It was because we sucked. The year before we had the #5 pick because we sucked then too.

This team was destroyed by the Salary Cap and had to be re-built from scratch.

 

So, who should we have signed instead?

The biggest name free agent receivers that were on the market last season were Berrian, Stallworth, DJ Hackett, Bryant Johnson and Drew Carter. NONE OF THEM even caught 50 passes this season. And the only one who went to a team that made the playoffs was Hackett (Panthers), where he was invisible.

Remember we used our cap space last season to give extensions to Stewart, Roos and Finnegan. Surely you agree that is a good use of our money?

 

You know the Vikings traded a first round pick, 2 third round picks and a swap of 6th round picks to the Chiefs to get Jared Allen right?

And then they had to give Allen a huge new contract making him the highest paid defensive player in the league.

He wasn't a free agent.