Alontae Taylor brought one of the most versatile profiles into this year’s free agent market. While that may have helped the former Saints second-rounder drive his price to the near-$20MM-per-year place his market settled, the team he signed with does not seem to have an intention of capitalizing too much on the hybrid skillset displayed with New Orleans.
Robert Saleh said (via veteran Titans reporter Paul Kuharsky) the team is preparing to use Taylor mostly as an outside cornerback. Considering the gulf between the slot and boundary markets, it is not too surprising that Tennessee had more of a perimeter role for Taylor in mind. That said, Taylor entered free agency as the rare corner to log more than 1,500 snaps inside and outside during his first four seasons.
The Titans also added Cor’Dale Flott on a three-year, $45MM deal, overhauling a cornerback cadre that had underperformed. Tennessee soon released the injury-prone L’Jarius Sneed, who did not deliver on a tag-and-trade transaction. In Taylor and Flott, the TItans are prepared to entrust their outside coverage responsibilities to two players with extensive slot experience.
Taylor has 1,664 career slot snaps and 1,597 as a boundary defender, creating an interesting profile that moved PFR to rank him atop the cornerback market entering free agency. The Titans gave him a three-year, $58MM deal that included $42MM guaranteed at signing. That said, Taylor indicated he had never worked as a regular nickel prior to 2023. The Saints used him extensively there over the past three seasons, however, creating a Byron Murphy– or Deommodore Lenoir-like hybrid role for the Tennessee alum. Also playing his high school ball in Tennessee, Taylor returns home with big responsibilities.
The Giants drafted Flott in the 2022 third round, having a slot role in mind, but the LSU alum ended up being primarily a perimeter cover man. A slot regular in 2023, Flott settled in on the boundary over the past two seasons. The 6-foot-2 CB will do so again in Tennessee, but with both he and the 6-foot Taylor set to play outside, an opening inside exists.
“We have two guys on the outside now that started games in Taylor and Flott,” GM Mike Borgonzi said, via ESPN.com’s Turron Davenport, at the annual NFL meeting. “And Marcus [Harris] has played inside. So we feel good about where we’re at there, but we’re not done.”
A 2025 sixth-round pick, Harris played 168 outside snaps and 128 in the slot as a rookie. Pro Football Focus ranked the former Cal, Idaho and Oregon State corner 32nd among all CBs in 2025, creating some promise. The Titans scrapped their plan for Sneed and Chidobe Awuzie to team up quickly, cutting Awuzie (who had signed a three-year, $36MM deal) after one season. A year later, Sneed — who was on a four-year, $76.4MM extension — was out. For depth purposes, the Titans also added Joshua Williams — a four-year Chief who overlapped with Borgonzi in Kansas City — on a lower-cost deal (two years, $6.75MM).
Borgonzi confirmed (via TennesseeTitans.com’s Jim Wyatt) the team is not done at corner. It would stand to reason the Titans are eyeing at least competition for Harris in the slot, seeing as they devoted considerable free agency resources to Taylor and Flott. Saleh also did not rule out some slot usage for Taylor to capitalize on his blitz prowess (six sacks from 2024-25). This will be an area to monitor after Round 1, as the Titans assuredly will not address the position at No. 4 overall.
I still think the outlay of cash on those two corners was kinda nuts.