Ten months after trading for Robert Woods, the Titans will make the veteran wide receiver a cap casualty. Tennessee is releasing Woods on Wednesday, Jordan Schultz of The Score reports (on Twitter).
The Titans will save just more than $12MM by cutting Woods, whom they acquired from the Rams last year. The team made Woods a key part of its post-A.J. Brown plan, but its passing attack struggled throughout the season. Woods, who suffered an ACL tear in November 2021, could not recapture his pre-injury form. Between the Woods and Taylor Lewan releases, the Titans created more than $26MM in cap room Wednesday.
Woods was a constant for the Sean McVay-era Rams prior to his injury. The former Bills draftee broke through upon joining McVay in Los Angeles in 2017, reeling off his four highest receiving yardage totals from 2017-20. Woods surpassed 1,100 yards in 2018 and ’19 and caught 90 passes for 936 yards in 2020. After sweetening Woods’ contract previously, the Rams gave him an extension in September 2020. Landing Woods for just a 2023 sixth-round pick, the Titans took on that contract weeks before dealing Brown to the Eagles.
In Woods’ defense, the Titans were not readily equipped to produce a full-fledged bounce-back season. The team started an unready Malik Willis in three games and was without Ryan Tannehill for five in total. Woods, 30, finished his 10th NFL campaign with 53 catches for 527 yards and two touchdowns. The 6-foot receiver’s 9.9 yards per reception was a career-low figure.
The USC product did not establish much momentum in Tennessee, but he did play all 17 games. On a thin receiver market, Woods catching on with a fourth team is not difficult to foresee. Any deal will not come close to the $16.25MM-per-year pact the Titans are shedding, but Woods would make sense as a veteran auxiliary target. The longtime starter will now have an early start in free agency. As a street free agent, Woods signing somewhere would not affect the compensatory formula.
Tennessee’s Brown decision backfired quickly. Deemed too costly by ex-GM Jon Robinson, the former second-round pick broke the Eagles’ single-season receiving record and caught a deep touchdown pass in Super Bowl LVII. The Titans, who also let Corey Davis walk in 2021, had no receiving presence on Brown’s level. Woods, who came to Nashville a year after the team traded a second-round pick for Julio Jones, led Tennessee’s 2022 edition in receiving, with Treylon Burks‘ 444 yards second among the team’s wideouts. The Titans ranked 30th in passing last season.
While Burks should be expected to play a centerpiece role for the 2023 team, new GM Ran Carthon will have work to do in assembling a receiving corps. The Woods and Lewan cuts will save the Titans more than $26MM, though they still have cost-clearing tasks ahead of the market opening. These transactions moved the team’s cap-space total to barely $2MM, according to OverTheCap.
He’s not someone you want to count on as your number two or maybe even number three receiver anymore, but specially with his run blocking ability, he can still make a nice complementary piece for the right team.
But also, Brad Spielberger points out, the Titans got one year each of Woods and Julio Jones, totalling less than 1,000 yards, for $25.3M total, plus losing a net 2nd and 4th, when they could have kept AJ Brown. Ouch.
I’d be more than fine if my favorite team signed him as a WR3. I agree with a lot of what you said, though. I can’t help but think he’d be a nice fit on Baltimore.
That Brown trade just looks horrendous from the Titans side. Sometimes you just need to pay the star you have.
Baltimore makes sense. So would a lot of places. I think his skillset is well-rounded enough that he can slide down the role player path more gracefully than others.
And yeah, when someone is willing to trade a first and a third for the right to give a guy a much bigger contract than you’re offering, it should be a sign to reconsider how much you’re willing to offer.
I could see the Bears signing him. They still have to eventually find a #1 wr but Woods would be a nice veteran presence for Fields, Mooney and Kent.
Woods back to the Rams!!!
Chargers!!!! Perfect fit!!!
Chargers do make a lot of sense.
The Chargers desperately need to add speed to the receiving corps. I don’t think that’s one of the better fits.