Titans have until Monday to extend four contracts or face financial penalties

A deadline looms this Monday for general manager Ran Carthon

The NFL offseason has marked its merciless arrival. General managers may begin applying the franchise tag to players with expiring contracts beginning this Tuesday, February 20, with the deadline extending to March 5th. Free agency’s legal tampering period runs from March 11 to March 13. The Tennessee Titans will be facing a unique deadline this Monday, February 19.

If the Titans don’t extend the contracts of Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry, Azeez Al-Shaair, and Sean Murphy-Bunting prior to end of business day Monday (4 p.m. E.T.), each player listed will see the void year of their contract accelerate into 2024. The financial-related penalty for failing to extend each player is as follows, according to OvertheCap:

Tannehill $9.2 million

Henry $4.7 million

Al-Shaair $2.5 million

Murphy-Bunting $1.6 million

The kinks worked into these contracts helped the Titans lower their cap charges in 2023, moving money into this offseason, where the Titans were projected to possess significantly more cap space.

There’s little-to-no chance that Tannehill and Henry get extended before Tuesday. Tannehill is expected to move on and sign with another franchise this offseason. The Pittsburgh Steelers have been linked to Tannehill due to his obvious connection to their new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith.

Henry has already stated his desire to test free agency. The Titans would have to approach Henry with an extremely lucrative offer to re-sign him this early into the offseason. General manager Ran Carthon possesses the financial flexibility required to absorb the $4.7 million penalty attached to Henry.

The conversation is significantly more interesting surrounding Al-Shaair and Murphy-Bunting. The Titans may plausibly possess interest in re-signing both players, particularly Al-Shaair. If the intention is to retain Al-Shaair and Murphy-Bunting, there’s financial incentive to complete those extensions this weekend, or early Monday afternoon before the deadline passes.

The penalties attached to Al-Shaair ($2.5 million) and Murphy-Bunting ($1.6 million) are fairly manageable. If Carthon feels he requires more time to negotiate potential extensions, Monday’s deadline probably won’t convince him to offer Al-Shaair and/or Murphy-Bunting above market value. The impending deadline could help kick-start negotiations, and perhaps the Titans get a deal done this weekend.