We knew two things going into free agency. First, lots of teams had plenty of room under the new salary cap and would overpay for star players. It would definitely be a seller’s market.
Second, we knew that Tennessee’s new GM Mike Reinfeldt had evaluated all the applicable Titan players and assigned a monetary value to each of them.
What we didn’t know was what Reinfeldt would do in free agency.
After four days of relative inactivity we can see that Reinfeldt had no intention of getting into any bidding wars for high-priced talent.
Titans’ fans certainly can’t accuse Reinfeldt of being a spendthrift or spending money like a drunken sailor. The Titans lost two of their own in leading receiver Drew Bennett and leading rusher Travis Henry when Reinfeldt was significantly outbid for their services.
The St. Louis Rams signed Bennett to a six-year, $30 million deal while Reinfeldt reportedly offered Bennett only $12M over four years. Travis Henry accepted an offer from the Denver Broncos with $12M in guaranteed money after Reinfeldt reportedly offered only $8M guaranteed.
Is Reinfeldt undervaluing players or are other teams overpaying? Time will tell.
The Titans are finally getting involved in free agency by scheduling several groups of players to visit, but Reinfeldt hasn’t identified them other than to say they arent running backs or defensive linemen.
The best news I heard today was Kerry Collins agreeing to terms with the Titans to return for another year as Vince Young’s backup and mentor. Kerry’s a class act and deserves better treatment than some fans gave him last year.
No details of his contract were disclosed, which Reinfeldt earlier said was going to be his M.O. It will make it more difficult for those of us who try to be amateur capologists.
In other news, former Titan Kevin Carter signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, ending speculation he might return to Tennessee.
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