Should the Titans re-sign OG Nate Davis?

Welcome to Music City Miracles’ Tennessee Titans 2023 NFL Free Agency Primer! Free agency is set to begin on March 15th, but the Titans are able to re-sign their own free agents before then. New general manager Ran Carthon and head coach Mike Vrabel have already begun collaborating on their vision for the 2023 Titans. Carthon and Vrabel will collaborate on various sizable decisions.

The Titans currently possess 25 free agents (20 unrestricted), including several key starters and role players. Over the next few weeks, we’ll take an in-depth look at each free agent and provide arguments for why the Titans should, or shouldn’t re-sign that player. We’ll also offer our final verdict and a prediction to go along with our analysis.

Today, we’re analyzing starting right guard Nate Davis.

Name: Nate Davis

Position: Right Guard

Current Age: 26

Why the Titans should re-sign Davis: Davis became a starter approximately one month into his rookie campaign and has been penciled into the starting lineup ever since. Davis experienced his best campaign as a sophomore, starting a career-high 16 games while allowing just one sack, per Pro Football Focus. Davis hasn’t quite reached those heights then, but he remains an above-average NFL starter.

Davis played quality football in 2022. He was Tennessee’s second-best O-line starter behind Ben Jones. Davis played a total of 682 snaps at right guard, scoring a run blocking grade of 69.8, pass blocking grade of 66.8 and an overall grade of 70.6 from PFF. Davis was credited with allowing 3.0 sacks. He was also whistled for four penalties.

Why the Titans should let Davis walk: Davis made a career-low 12 starts in 2022. Davis battled through multiple lower-body injuries and was constantly in and out of the lineup. Davis hasn’t played a full season since 2020. The Titans will certainly take Davis’ injury history into account when deciding whether or not to re-sign Davis. Jim Wyatt recently alluded to Davis having potentially played his final snap as a Titan.

Projected Contract: Spotrac is projecting Davis to sign a three-year contract worth $22.4 million ($7.4 million per year). Pro Football Focus is projecting a three-year deal worth $21 million ($7 million annually). I can see Davis signing for slightly more per year than this projection, but he shouldn’t approach $10 million AAV.

Final verdict: I believe the Titans should re-sign Davis. They already need to find multiple starting offensive linemen this offseason, especially at left guard and left tackle. Elsewhere, Jones isn’t going to be around forever at center, and Nicholas Petit-Frere didn’t play like a surefire starting right tackle. The Titans shouldn’t create additional holes by letting Davis walk.

Prediction: My opinion doesn’t matter. I’m predicting the Titans decide against re-signing Davis. Perhaps Davis’ injury history scares the Titans away from making a multi-year commitment. Perhaps Davis is one of the “8-4 workers” Titans head coach Mike Vrabel alluded to during his end-of-season press conference. I believe Davis will sign a lucrative contract elsewhere.

What are your thoughts? Should the Titans re-sign Davis? Leave your opinion in the comments.