Injuries and a rising cap number place left tackle Taylor Lewan at a crossroads with the Tennessee Titans.
“In the next couple of weeks, I will be cut by the Tennessee Titans – that will happen,” Lewan said on his podcast. “I truly believe that in my heart of hearts. Then I have to go into a situation that I’ve never been in in my entire life: I have to weigh the pros and cons of playing football, or not playing football.”
Lewan, 31, missed most of the 2022 season with a torn ACL, his second in three seasons. He has played only 20 games since the start of the 2020 regular season.
A first-round pick in 2014 selected No. 11 overall, Lewan has a cap number of $14.7 million for 2023, the final season of a five-year, $80 million deal he said provides more than enough financial security to walk away.
“Football, it is not something I can wake up five years from now and say: You know what dude? I am going to go play ball again,” Lewan said. “Once this chapter is closed, I am not a Brett Favre. I am not these guys that is going to retire and unretire. I am not going to do that. I am going to make a decision, and I’m going to stick with that decision. But I am happy either way, and I think that is the most beautiful thing I can be given in my life.”
The Titans again own the No. 11 pick in the 2023 draft and could be in the market for Lewan’s replacement. The direction the team under new general manager Ran Carthon has not been charted.
Tennessee is also excessively over the 2023 salary cap — by roughly $24 million — and has a multitude of needs on either side of the ball.
