Arden Key

Titans Asking ‘Reasonable’ Price For EDGE Arden Key

November 4th, 2025 at 11:10am CST by Nikhil Mehta

The Titans have set a “reasonable” trade price for veteran edge rusher Arden Key, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer.

Several teams have been seeking reinforcements at the position, and Key has emerged as a player who is likely to be moved before Tuesday’s 4:00 p.m. trade deadline. The eight-year veteran logged 23.5 sacks and 25 tackles loss in his previous four seasons, but is off to a slower start this year with just 1.5 sacks and one TFL.

Some of Key’s other metrics have dropped, too. In 2024, he posted a 9.5% pressure rate and an 11.5% pass rush win rate, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). This season, those numbers are down to 8.4% and 8.2%, respectively. That’s not a precipitous collapse, though, and Key’s consistent production with three different teams since 2021 indicates that he still has something to contribute to a defense.

The Lions and the Patriots have both been mentioned in connection to Key, and other teams seeking a splashier addition off the edge could pivot to the less-heralded Titan as a backup option on Tuesday afternoon.

Key is owed $3.375MM for the rest of the season, per OverTheCap, making the financial cost of acquiring him relatively inexpensive, too. Given his expiring contract, a perceived fire sale in Tennessee, and clear interest in Key on the trade market, it seems like only a matter of time before he is moved.

Patriots Had Interest In Jaelan Phillips

November 3rd, 2025 at 12:37pm CST by Nikhil Mehta

The Patriots had interested in Jaelan Phillips before the Dolphins traded him to the Eagles on Monday morning, according to Mike Giardi of the Boston Sports Journal.

New England sent Keion White to the 49ers last week, likely because he did not fit in new head coach Mike Vrabel‘s vision for the defense. That raised the need for a third edge rusher behind Harold Landry and K’Lavon Chaisson. Phillips would have fit the bill, but it seems that the Patriots were not willing to beat the Eagles’ offer. Miami also may have hesitated to trade Phillips within the division.

The Patriots have made a huge leap under Vrabel to start the 2025 season with a 7-2 record and a +68 point differential. They lead the AFC East with one of the easiest remaining schedules in the league, making them a contender not only for a divisional title, but a top playoff seed as well. That could inspire an aggressive trade-deadline investment in their pass rush to take advantage of an impressive season thus far. Upgrading a defense that has already excelled this year could mean even more if and when the Patriots play the AFC’s best offenses in the postseason.

Giardi also notes that Arden Key may make more sense for the amount of draft capital that the Patriots are willing to move. The Titans seem to be full-on sellers after firing Brian Callahan, and Key’s production has dipped enough for him to be a cheap acquisition. A trade to the Patriots would reunite Vrabel with another of his pass rushers from his time in Tennessee – the first being Landry.

Lions Inquiring About Edge Rushers

October 21st, 2025 at 1:58pm CST by Connor Byrne

The Lions acquired notable pass-rushing help before last season’s trade deadline in landing Za’Darius Smith from the Browns. A year later, the Lions could address the same area before the upcoming Nov. 4 deadline. They’re making calls for an edge rusher, Dianna Russini of The Athletic reports.

The addition of Smith came a few weeks after the Lions lost elite pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson to a season-ending broken tibia. Now healthy, Hutchinson has come back this year to thrive during the Lions’ 5-2 start. The 25-year-old has racked up six sacks and four forced fumbles, and Pro Football Focus ranks his performance second among 113 qualifying defensive ends.

In addition to Hutchinson, Detroit has gotten strong work from Al-Quadin Muhammad, who already has five sacks and is just one away from tying a career high. Muhammad’s emergence has come in the absence of Marcus Davenport, on IR since Sept. 22 with a pectoral strain.

Davenport has already missed five games after missing most of the past two seasons, and with the Lions now on a bye, he could return in Week 9. It doesn’t appear that will happen, though, as head coach Dan Campbell suggested last week that Davenport probably won’t be ready until late November (via Nolan Bianchi of the Detroit News).

By the time Davenport is back in the fold, he could be part of a deeper group of rushers if general manager Brad Holmes reels in help for the second deadline in a row. While it’s unclear which players Holmes has targeted, Titans outside linebacker Arden Key could be a name to watch in Detroit’s search, according to Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports.

As a soon-to-be free agent on a team that could conduct a fire sale, Key is an obvious trade candidate. Key has missed back-to-back games with a quadriceps injury and has only totaled 1.5 sacks in five contests this year, but he amassed 23.5 over the previous four seasons. If he ends up in Detroit and returns to his past production, Key would give the team another solid complement to Hutchinson.

With a $6.5MM salary and a $9.29MM cap hit, the Lions wouldn’t have trouble absorbing what’s left of Key’s contract. The team has over $25MM in cap space, which should give Holmes plenty of room to maneuver over the next couple of weeks.

Potential Fire Sale In Tennessee?

October 19th, 2025 at 10:11pm CST by Ely Allen

We are just over two weeks away from the NFL’s trade deadline, and as teams look around and assess what needs to be done in order to make the playoffs, phone calls are being made. One team perhaps receiving more calls than the rest of the league is the Titans.

Starting the season with a 1-6 record and less than a week removed from firing ex-head coach Brian Callahan, Tennessee is clearly being counted out by the rest of the league. Despite the lack of elite talent that has put the Titans in this position, there are players that contending NFL teams are interested in. Most notably, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, “seemingly everyone called the Titans to see if star defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons was available ahead of the…trade deadline.”

Unfortunately for those calling, the answer was a resounding no. Simmons is off limits, and he’s not the only one. The other player who would be a complete non-starter in any trade deal out of Nashville, according to Dianna Russini of The Athletic, is recent No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward. Tennessee drafted Ward with intentions of building their team around him, and they’re not going to give up on him after only seven games. Despite the team’s struggles early and Ward’s lack of production, the 23-year-old quarterback has shown flashes of brilliance and a drive and dedication that has others in the building excited.

As for Simmons, they’ve seen their 2019 first-round pick become one of the top players at his position. He’s currently in the second year of the four-year, $94MM extension that was tacked on to the end of his rookie deal, but many expect that he’s headed for a raise in the coming offseason. Simmons did leave today’s game with a hamstring injury, though, per ESPN’s Turron Davenport, so there’s a chance the calls for him might have slowed depending on the severity of the injury.

Essentially, Ward and Simmons will serve as the offensive and defensive pillars around which the team plans to build around. Aside from those two, though, Russini asserts that “the Titans are open for business on every” other player. At the moment, the most attractive trade targets in Tennessee appear to be on the defensive side of the ball. Cornerback Roger McCreary and outside linebackers Arden Key and Dre’Mont Jones could be players on the move soon, with Rapoport confirming that trio has drawn interest around the league.

A second-round pick in 2022, McCreary is playing in the final year of his rookie deal. McCreary has established himself as one of the league’s stronger nickelbacks, though he’s shown the ability to play on the outside, as well. Expecting that he’ll price himself out of Tennessee in free agency, the Titans would be hoping to get something for him now as opposed to losing him for nothing in the offseason.

Key looked early in his career to be a bit of a bust as a third-rounder out of LSU. Racking up only three sacks in his first three years of play, Key eventually found success in his fourth season and grew in his role more and more until he landed a three-year, $21MM deal with the Titans and became a full-time starter in the second season of that deal last year. Now in the contract’s final year, Key’s services will likely be shopped off with the hopes that he will continue his success with the contender to whom he gets traded.

Jones landed in Tennessee on a one-year, $8.5MM deal. He’s had consistently solid production at previous stops in Denver and Seattle and, so far this season, has been worth his money so far in Nashville. Like McCreary and Key, nothing appears to be awaiting Jones in the offseason but free agency, so the Titans will hope that somebody bites with an offer worth trading him for.

And what exactly would that offer look like? While the Titans have a lot of work to do in building up the roster around pillars Ward and Simmons, it would appear they prefer to do so with young players that they choose. Per Russini, Tennessee isn’t looking for players in exchange for any trade assets; the team wants draft capital. The Titans are hoping to stockpile future draft picks so they can move their rebuild plans forward with youth. We’ll see how well negotiations go over the next 16 days.

Titans’ Arden Key Drawing Trade Interest

October 16th, 2025 at 10:56pm CST by Connor Byrne

With multiple teams looking for pass-rushing help ahead of the Nov. 4 trade deadline and the 1-5 Titans likely to sell, outside linebacker Arden Key could end up on the move in the next couple of weeks. Key has drawn interest on the trade market, according to Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo of NFL.com.

Key was also a trade candidate leading up to last year’s deadline, but the 29-year-old remains in Tennessee. With a trip to free agency looming for Key in the offseason, the Titans may now have more urgency to ship him out for the best offer.

The soon-to-expire three-year, $21MM deal Key signed with the Titans in 2023 came under a different regime. He’s on a $6.5MM base salary with a $9.29MM cap hit during the final season of that contract. President of football operations Chad Brinker and first-year general manager Mike Borgonzi will decide his fate by the deadline.

Key has been dealing with a quadriceps injury, which could complicate matters. He missed a loss to the Raiders last Sunday – the final game of the Brian Callahan era – and hasn’t practiced leading up to this week’s matchup with the Patriots.

In the five games he has played this year, Key has notched 1.5 sacks. He averaged just under six per season from 2021-24. Key spent the first of those four years with the 49ers, who are on the lookout for pass rushers. A reunion with Key could make sense, though that’s merely speculation.

Along with Key, fellow OLB Dre’Mont Jones, cornerback Roger McCreary, and tight end Chig Okonkwo are potential Titans trade candidates, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. Those three join Key as pending free agents, meaning the Titans are at least in position to consider offers.

Jones is making $1.99MM, though he carries a significantly higher cap hit than that ($8.51MM). Typically good for around five sacks per season, the former Bronco and Seahawk inked a one-year, $10MM with the Titans last March. Jones has totaled 17 tackles, two QB hits, and a sack in six games in 2025. Pro Football Focus ranks his performance 55th among 111 qualifiers at his position (Key checks in at No. 72).

McCreary joined the Titans when they selected him 35th overall in the 2022 draft. He has since started in 36 of 53 regular-season games, including one of six this year, and pulled in three interceptions. The nickel corner expressed a desire to remain with the Titans before the season, but he remains unsigned beyond this year. He’s playing out 2025 on a $3.66MM salary and a $4.63MM cap hit.

Okonkwo was part of the same Titans draft class as McCreary in 2022. Former GM Jon Robinson took Okonkwo in the fourth round, and he has played in 57 straight regular-season games since then. Okonkwo entered 2025 off back-to-back 50-catch seasons and has added 23 with 218 yards and no scores through six games this year. He’s earning $3.41MM with a $3.54MM cap hit. The Titans may have a potential replacement lined up in fourth-round rookie Gunnar Helm.

It’s unlikely all of these players will end up elsewhere by Nov. 4. However, with the Titans out of playoff contention, they’re all worth monitoring as the deadline draws closer.

Titans DL Sebastian Joseph-Day Drawing Interest; Arden Key Still A Trade Candidate

November 5th, 2024 at 10:02am CST by Adam La Rose

The Titans’ offense was altered ahead on the trade front with DeAndre Hopkins being dealt to the Chiefs. As the deadline approaches, the team’s defensive front is worth watching closely.

Defensive lineman Sebastian Joseph-Day is drawing trade interest, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports. That is also the case for defensive end Arden Key, who was recently added to the list of trade candidates. Fowler adds nothing is imminent on either front at this point, but time still remains for negotiations to take place with contending teams.

Joseph-Day began his career with the Rams, and his time with them allowed him to establish himself as a high-end presence against the run. The Chargers inked him to a three-year, $24MM pact in 2022, but that investment did not produce the desired results. Shortly after the Bolts fired head coach Brandon Staley and general manager Tom Telesco last season, Joseph-Day was waived in a move which allowed him to return to the West Coast.

The 29-year-old quickly caught on with the 49ers to close out the campaign, but he was once again on the move in free agency this spring. Shortly after visiting the Titans, Joseph-Day inked a one-year deal. That pact includes a base salary of only $1.38MM, and paying out the remainder of that figure would be feasible for any number of teams looking to add along the D-line for the second half of the campaign. The former sixth-rounder has collected 21 tackles this season, along with 2.5 sacks.

Key was linked to the Cardinals over the weekend, with Arizona being one of several teams in the market for an addition along the edge. Given yesterday’s acquisition of Baron Browning, though, they are unlikely to make a further move on that front, especially since Key is not a rental. The former Raider, 49er and Jaguar nearly set a new career in sacks last year with six, and he is on his way to a new personal mark in 2024 (four in eight games). Key is on the books through 2025, and he is owed $7MM total that year along with a scheduled cap hit of $9.3MM.

Sitting at 2-6 on the year (despite boasting the league’s No. 1 total defense), the Titans represent obvious sellers for players who are pending free agents in particular. That makes Joseph-Day a strong candidate to be moved in the coming hours, but calls will no doubt continue coming in for Key as well.

Titans’ DE Arden Key Drawing Trade Interest; Latest On Lions’ EDGE Search

November 3rd, 2024 at 9:43am CST by Rory Parks

The Cardinals are interested in the Giants’ Azeez Ojulari, and Arizona’s search for a pass rusher has not stopped there. Per Dianna Russini of The Athletic (subscription required), the Cards have also reached out to the Titans to discuss a trade for defensive end Arden Key.

Key, 28, is under club control through 2025 and is due a manageable $6.5MM salary next season. So even though the 1-6 Titans are obvious sellers at this year’s deadline, they do not need to move Key if they do not get an offer to their liking.

That said, New York is setting a high price on Ojulari, which could in turn boost Tennessee’s leverage in any talks involving Key (although Big Blue is reportedly unlikely to recoup more than a Day 3 selection for Ojulari, regardless of any posturing to the contrary). Key, a former third-round pick of the Raiders, struggled to find his footing with the Silver-and-Black, but he established himself as a useful complementary edge defender by posting 11 sacks and 32 quarterback hits over the 2021-22 seasons, which he split between the 49ers and Jaguars.

He turned that performance into a three-year, $21MM contract with the Titans in the 2023 offseason, and he recorded six sacks and 12 QB hits in his first year in Nashville. This year, he has tallied three sacks and six QB hits through seven games, and Pro Football Focus has assigned him a strong 70.3 pass rush grade.

The 4-4 Cardinals, who surprisingly find themselves at the top of a muddy NFC West picture, have been hit hard by injuries along the defensive line, and GM Monti Ossenfort recently confirmed that he has explored deals that could bolster his club’s pass rush.

At the end of October, Lions head coach Dan Campbell indicated that Detroit could soon be making a move to address its EDGE corps, which has lost both Aidan Hutchinson and Marcus Davenport for the season. Armando Salguero of Outkick.com named Key as an “outside possibility” for the Lions, although Key’s performance in Tennessee’s recent loss to the Detroit – two sacks and six total tackles – could have caught the eye of Campbell & Co.

The Lions have already been connected to the Browns’ Za’Darius Smith, and both Russini and ESPN’s Adam Schefter confirm that Detroit has indeed checked in on Smith. Salguero, meanwhile, names the Panthers’ Jadeveon Clowney and the Saints’ Chase Young as other possible targets for the Lions.

Arden Key’s PED Suspension Overturned

August 17th, 2024 at 1:30pm CST by Sam Robinson

A year after signing a four-year Titans extension, Jeffery Simmons has added a piece of reporting to his resume. The sixth-year Titans defensive lineman alerted X followers that Arden Key‘s suspension will not come to pass.

In late July, reports came down that the Tennessee edge rusher received a six-game suspension for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing drug policy. In a rare development, the ban has been overturned on appeal. ESPN.com’s Turron Davenport confirms Simmons’ offering, and the Titans will be eligible to use Key for the season’s first six games.

This will both keep a Titans starter in the mix and protect Key’s guarantees. While appeal processes can lead to reduced suspensions, PED bans are not commonly reversed. This represents a win for the Titans, who have Key on a three-year deal worth $21MM. The free agent pickup started nine games last season and is on track to be Tennessee’s top Harold Landry edge sidekick this year.

Signing early during the 2023 free agency period after playing for three teams from 2020-22, Key notched six sacks and 12 quarterback hits in his Titans debut. The former Raiders third-rounder and Jaguars and 49ers supplementary rusher has a 6.5-sack season — with the 2021 49ers — on his resume as well. Key, 28, struggled to find a role with the Raiders but has offered belated production elsewhere. The Titans need more of it soon.

The Titans have run into steady trouble finding edge help opposite Landry. From Jadeveon Clowney to Cameron Wake to Vic Beasley to Bud Dupree, Tennessee has been unable to staff this position since acquiring Landry in the 2018 second round. The team also lost versatile pass rusher Denico Autry in free agency, seeing him join off-ball linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair with the Texans. Tennessee needs Key, who was part of GM Ran Carthon‘s first FA crop, to provide stability.

Rashad Weaver (5.5 sacks in 2022, none last year) loomed as Key’s replacement. The former fourth-round pick can slide back into a rotational role on the heels of this news.

Titans’ Arden Key Facing Six-Game Ban

July 30th, 2024 at 1:06pm CST by Sam Robinson

A day after the news of Denico Autry‘s suspension emerged, another AFC South pass rusher is set to begin the season late. Titans outside linebacker Arden Key is facing a six-game suspension, ESPN.com’s Turron Davenport reports.

Going into his second season with the Titans, Key violated the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. Key started nine games for the Titans last season; he is tied to a three-year, $21MM deal authorized during the 2023 free agency period.

“I don’t have much to comment on it until that comes out from the league,” Titans HC Brian Callahan said, via Davenport. “It’s not something that you want to hear, but we don’t have a choice. We have to go play football with what we have.”

The loss of Autry was set to make Key a more important presence in Tennessee, which was planning to use the well-traveled rusher as a starter opposite Harold Landry. Suddenly, a Titans pass rush that housed Landry, Key, Autry and Jeffery Simmons will enter the season depleted.

Autry led the Titans with 11.5 sacks last season; Landry contributed 10.5 upon returning from an ACL tear. Key added six, finishing third on the team in this department. This suspension would also void Key’s remaining guarantees, though considering no guarantees remain on his deal beyond 2024, this suspension probably does not stand to affect him on this front.

This could lead to the Titans looking into an outside addition, as they are thin on the edge after Autry’s Texans defection. Rashad Weaver, a three-year Titan who started four games in 2022, could step in opposite Landry in a pinch. Seventh-rounder Jaylen Harrell and 2023 UDFA Caleb Murphy represent the other Landry sidekick options outside of Key.

AFC South Notes: Titans, Simmons, Key

April 5th, 2023 at 9:33pm CST by Adam La Rose

The Titans struggled to develop a consistent passing game in 2022, as they tried to fill the void left by the A.J. Brown trade. Their shortcomings in that department have led to the expectation that moves at the receiver position will be made this offseason, though little has taken place so far.

Tennessee lost Robert Woods on an intra-divisional deal with the Texans after releasing the veteran amidst a slew of cost-cutting moves. They have re-signed Nick Westbrook-Ikhine on a one-year contract, but have yet to make a decision on depth contributors Chris Conley, C.J. Board and Cody Hollister. No outside additions have been made after the first few waves of the free agent period.

“We are going to look to address it,” new GM Ran Carthon recently said of the need for new pass-catchers. “We are not trying to fill everything via free agency, but if that’s where the best option comes from, we’ll address it that way. We just have to be patient, and exercise patience and allow that to come to fruition.”

Those remarks – along with the Titans’ lack of action so far – point to the draft being the source of additions to their receiving corps. The team used a Day 1 pick on Treylon Burks last year after dealing Brown to the Eagles, but they will have plenty of options this year (headlined in most evaluations by Jaxon Smith-Njigba) with the No. 11 pick. Tennessee also has a second- and third-rounder as part of their draft capital.

Here are some other AFC South notes, starting with one more out of Nashville:

Tennessee has been in talks on a new deal for defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, per ESPN’s Dan Graziano. That comes as little surprise, since he is set to play on the fifth-year option in 2023 ($10.75MM), but represents an obvious priority from a finanal standpoint. The 25-year-old put together another highly productive season in 2022, earning Pro Bowl and second-team All-Pro honors for the second straight year. Simmons has made clear his intention to remain with the team long-term, something which will no doubt require a hugely lucrative multi-year deal.
Defensive end Arden Key spent the 2022 season in Jacksonville, and put up the second most productive season of his career (27 tackles, 4.5 sacks). The Jaguars felt they would be able to re-up the veteran, as noted by ESPN’s Michael DiRocco, something which would have allowed the team to retain useful edge rushing depth. Instead, Key signed a three-year, $21MM deal in Tennessee last month, leaving the Jaguars in need of either a less costly free agent addition or a draft pick to replace him.

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