{"id":804626,"date":"2026-03-10T13:55:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T13:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/804626\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T13:55:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T13:55:17","slug":"titans-latest-free-agency-gamble-could-leave-cam-ward-exposed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/804626\/","title":{"rendered":"Titans\u2019 latest free agency gamble could leave Cam Ward exposed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5f\">The Tennessee Titans entered free agency looking for a new starting center. That was the result of general manager Mike Borgonzi&#8217;s decision to release starter Lloyd Cushenberry <a href=\"https:\/\/titansized.com\/titans-move-on-from-a-50-million-mistake-made-by-mike-borgonzi-s-predecessor-01kjbers61fk\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">from his contract earlier this offseason<\/a>. It&#8217;s an important position given that sophomore quarterback Cam Ward is recovering from a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5i\">The Titans were <a href=\"https:\/\/titansized.com\/john-franklin-myers-contract-details-prove-titans-paid-much-neded-premium\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">big spenders during Monday&#8217;s legal tampering period<\/a>. They added weapons like wide receiver Wan&#8217;Dale Robinson, defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers, <a href=\"https:\/\/titansized.com\/cor-dale-flott-contract-details-prove-titans-just-made-a-wise-investment\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">and cornerbacks<\/a> Cordale Flott and Alontae Taylor. When it came to center, the Titans took a far less conventional approach.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5l\">The Titans signed former New York Giants center Austin Schlottmann to a one-year contract, Tom Pelissero reported. Schlottmann becomes the fourth former Giants player to join the Titans via free agency. If he&#8217;s the plan to replace Cushenberry as the starting center, it&#8217;s a risky one.<\/p>\n<p>Titans make unforeseen signing at center that leads to more questions than answers<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5r\">Schlottmann began the 2025 campaign as the Giants&#8217; backup center. He eventually entered the lineup due to an injury to starter John Michael Schmitz. Schlottmann performed admirably all things considered.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5u\">The veteran center earned 362 snaps at the pivot position. Pro Football Focus assigned him a stellar overall grade of 70.8. They only credited Schlottmann with allowing three quarterback pressures and zero sacks. He was whistled for just three penalties.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5x\">The move reunites Scholottmann with new Titans offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, who was his head coach last season. That means Schlottmann will possess a high-level understanding of the offensive scheme. Whether or not he&#8217;s a starting-caliber center is up for debate. Last year&#8217;s sample size was small.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"60\">The Titans did not pursue top-tier free agent centers like Tyler Linderbaum and Cade Mays. Instead, they identified Schlottmann as a shrewd option on the market. Whether that&#8217;s as a backup or starter remains to be defined. For Ward&#8217;s sake, a bigger move at center is warranted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Tennessee Titans entered free agency looking for a new starting center. That was the result of general&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":804627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2061],"tags":[7,6,526,394,2411,527],"class_list":{"0":"post-804626","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennessee-titans","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-tennessee","11":"tag-tennessee-titans","12":"tag-tennesseetitans","13":"tag-titans"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116205226099934129","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/804627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}