Titans free agency: Did they overpay Andy Levitre?

You have to love Titans' fans. Last year my Twitter timeline was full of people complaining because "Bud Adams is cheap and the Titans never spend da moneezzzzz. This year people are complaining because the Titans have overspent in free agency.

One thing first off: You never get great "value" in free agency- especially in the first couple of days. However, it is the market that sets the value. So for lack of a better phrase, "it is what it is."

That brings us to the crown jewel of the Titans free agency class, Andy Levitre. I am seeing a lot of people talking about how the Titans overpaid for him. Ben Muth of FO wrote up Levitre here, calling him a great pass blocker and a little better than average as a run blocker, and ends his analysis with this:

I’m not sure if all this can justify his new contract....

Maybe Levitre got a little more than guards are considered to be worth in today's NFL, but with as bad as this team has been in the interior of the line for the last 2-3 years, the only way they could have overpaid him was if they gave him left tackle money. There was nothing more important for this team than upgrading the interior of the offensive line this season, and they couldn't afford to just wait for the draft to do it because they needed two starting guards.

The success of this team in 2013 is going to be very dependent upon the success of Jake Locker and Chris Johnson. Levitre makes those guys better the minute he walks on the field. So while the Titans might have given Levitre more money than they should have, I don't think the "overpaid" for him at all.