The Tennessee Titans traded cornerback Roger McCreary to the Los Angeles Rams on Monday. They received a fifth-round pick in exchange for a sixth-round pick. The fanbase reacted as expected. We’ve compiled
some thoughts, including the fallout.
Many complained about the pick-swap. Surely the Titans would have preferred to acquire an additional selection as opposed to settling for a swap, but the return represents decent value. The Titans will receive the Rams’ highest fifth-round selection and send back their lowest sixth-rounder. That should improve their original selection by roughly 45-65 spots. That’s 45-65 real prospects. That’s not insignificant.
McCreary was never going to net the Titans a fourth-round selection or higher. He’s a good player, but he’s a role-specific defender at a non-premium (nickel corner) position with size/physical limitations on an expiring contract. You can debate whether the Titans should have retained McCreary and signed him to an extension, but only delusion would lead to believe he was netting a significantly better return.
McCreary will probably demand somewhere between $10 and $15 million on a multi-year extension this offseason. The Titans are slated to possess a league-leading amount of cap space and could absolutely have signed him to that deal if they wanted to. Instead, Mike Borgonzi and Chad Brinker didn’t view him as a necessary long-term solution, so they preferred an improved draft pick instead.
The argument against the McCreary trade is asset management. The Titans already have a lengthy to-do list to attack this offseason. McCreary is a starting-caliber player. Borgonzi and Brinker will only possess so many opportunities to improve a lackluster roster this offseason. They’ve added another to-do item to the list.
Sixth-round cornerback Marcus Harris should be the biggest beneficiary of the McCreary deal. The expectation is Harris will be the new slot cornerback. Borgonzi and Brinker drafted him, whereas they inherited McCreary and Jarvis Brownlee from previous regimes.
The Titans need to find out if Harris is a solution. They also claimed Micah Robinson off the Green Bay Packers’ practice squad. Robinson is intriguing. He was drafted by the Packers and made their initial 53-man roster. The former Tulane standout ran a blazing-fast 4.38 40 during the pre-draft process. Perhaps we should stop ourselves from getting excited after Jalyn Armour-Davis and Samuel Womack have turned out so disappointingly.
The decision to trade McCreary could indicate Chig Okonkwo is next to depart before the deadline. Like McCreary, Borgonzi/Brinker inherited him from a previous regime. They’ve shown no interest in extending his expiring contract, and also drafted Gunnar Helm.
