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How the Tennessee Titans should spend their free agency money: Starters

Getting into the second wave of free agency.

Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Without any restructures or cuts, the Tennessee Titans are projected to have nearly $51 million this year to spend in free agency. That should mean a huge offseason period for a team that is looking to go out and fix a lot of issues on this team on both sides of the ball.

The question is, how do you distribute the money though the "waves" of free agency. In the past, the Titans have usually been big players in the 2nd wave of free agency which is mostly filled with guys who were above average starters that either got replaced or had some issues in the previous seasons to caused GMs to disagree with them about there value.

This is where the Tennessee Titans will get their starters this year and player who will compete for starting time from day one. With so much money, I am going to float out options for nearly every position of need. With the draft ahead, I believe they will set themselves up to draft the BPA, and to do that they can't have a glaring weakness on the team.

With right tackle, safety and defensive line settled here is what I would do with the second wave of free agency.

Second wave: $20 million annually (close to 40%)

Jeff Allen LG: 4 years/$28 million ($7 million annually)

A young player who really goes underrated in this league. I think he will wait until the market is set by Kelechi Osemele, Richie Incognito and Evan Mathis but I think this will make him the 6th highest paid guard in the league so everyone wins.

Manny Ramirez C: 2 years/$12 million ($6 million annually)

This gives the Titans one of the better centers in the league for a reasonable price. On top of that it gives them a veteran who is still has some good years left.

Casey Hayward CB: 3 years/$21 million ($7 million annually)

I think you have to overpay cornerbacks in this league, but Hayward could be worth it. He and Jason McCourty both teeter on that line between a #1 and #2 cornerback and with other players like Josh Norman, Sean Smith, Pac Man Jones, Trumaine Johnson, and Janoris Jenkins all likely to get big contracts or the tag before this signing, I think this is a cheap way to bolster a weak CB group.

Alright, now the Tennessee Titans have their offensive line that looks like this:

LT: Taylor Lewan

LG: Jeff Allen

C: Manny Ramirez

RG: Chance Warmack

RT: Mitchell Schwartz

Which would be outstanding in this league full of bad offensive line play.

On top of that you now have a very talented DB group that could still use a playmaker in the draft. That leaves RB, backup EDGE and two WRs as the top needs for the Tennessee Titans heading into the draft. I would probably trade down and get more picks and then maybe do it again until I was in the early teens. This roster would be perfect for a guy like Ezekiel Elliot, Laquon Treadwell, Corey Coleman, or even a Noah Spence in this scenario.