Titans to cut veteran WR

Ten months after trading for Robert Woods, the Titans will make the veteran wide receiver a cap casualty. Tennessee is releasing Woods on Wednesday, Jordan Schultz of The Score reports.

The Titans will save just more than $12M by cutting Woods, whom they acquired from the Rams last year. The team made Woods a key part of its post-A.J. Brown plan, but the team’s passing attack struggled throughout the season. Woods, who suffered an ACL tear in November 2021, could not recapture his pre-injury form.

Woods was a constant for the Sean McVay-era Rams prior to his injury. The former Bills draftee broke through upon joining McVay in Los Angeles in 2017, reeling off his five highest receiving yardage totals from 2017-20. Woods surpassed 1,100 yards in 2018 and 2019 and caught 90 passes for 936 yards in 2020. After sweetening Woods’ contract previously, the Rams gave him an extension in September 2020. The Titans traded for that contract shortly after dealing Brown to the Eagles.

In Woods’ defense, the Titans were not readily equipped to produce a full-fledged bounce-back season. The team started an unready Malik Willis in three games and was without Ryan Tannehill for five in total. Woods, 30, finished his 10th NFL campaign with 53 catches for 527 yards and two touchdowns. Woods’ 9.9 yards per reception was a career-low figure.

The USC product did not establish much momentum in Tennessee, but he did play all 17 games. On a thin receiver market, Woods catching on with a fourth team is not difficult to foresee. Any deal will not come close to the $16.25M-per-year pact the Titans are shedding, but Woods would make sense as a veteran auxiliary target. The longtime starter will now have an early start in free agency. As a free agent, Woods signing somewhere would not affect the compensatory formula. That and the early release stands to increase the former second-round pick’s chances of playing in 2023.

Tennessee’s Brown decision backfired quickly. Deemed too costly by ex-GM Jon Robinson, the former second-round pick broke the Eagles’ single-season receiving record and caught a deep touchdown pass in Super Bowl LVII. The Titans, who also let Corey Davis walk in 2021, had no receiving presence on Brown’s level. Woods led Tennessee in receiving, with Treylon Burks‘ 444 yards second among the team’s wideouts. The Titans ranked 30th in passing last season. While Burks should be expected to play a centerpiece role for the 2023 team, new GM Ran Carthon will have work to do in assembling a receiving corps.