About a month ago, the Tennessee Titans freed up cap space by releasing veteran offensive tackle Taylor Lewan. Lewan is a high energy pass protector, but has been plagued by injuries the past few seasons. Retirement seems like a very large possibility, but if he keeps playing, I have three strong landing spots for the Pro Bowl tackle.
Cincinnati Bengals
Even after revamping their offensive line in the 2022 offseason, the Bengals still allowed forty four sacks. Tackle La’el Collins allowed five with a PFF grade of 57.9% and Jonah Williams allowed 12 with a PFF grade of 61.2%. Lewan has made it clear he wants to play left tackle and doesn’t want to switch sides so he could take Williams’ spot. Where an issue arrises though is that Williams is under contract until 2024. He’s expected to make 12.6 million this upcoming season. Unless Cincinnati can find a trade partner for Williams, I don’t know what they’d do with him.
Lewan would bring great energy to Cincinnati’s offensive line, and if he can stay healthy he’d match up great vs T.J. Watt, Myles Garrett, and Jadeveon Clowney. Contract wise, Lewan will probably be looking for a two-year deal, but teams will probably want him on a one-year deal to see how his knee will holdup following multiple injuries. I could see Cincinnati giving Lewan a one year, 6 million dollar deal.
Pittsburgh Steelers
This one is a long shot. Back in 2017 in a Titans-Steelers game, Lewan spit in the face of T.J. Watt. Not a good look. Over the past few years, Lewan has attempted to squash the beef in order to get Watt on his podcast, Bussin’ With The Boys. After being denied by Watt a third time, Lewan said “We’ve had our past. Yeah, I spit in his face. I hit him in the nuts one time. Like that is, listen, hand up, that’s on me. But damn, boys, like, can we turn a page? Let’s just turn a page and move on.”
Team chemistry is a huge thing and bringing Lewan into a locker room with a guy he spit on would be a tough look. I’m not sure how the locker room would take to Lewan as Watt is the Steelers best player. Maybe as reparations, Watt could spit on Lewan?
Pittsburgh allowed 38 sacks last season and struggled big time at the tackle position. Left tackle Dan Moore Jr. allowed seven sacks and posted a PFF grade of 62.4% while right tackle Chukwuma Okorafor allowed three sacks and recorded a PFF grade of 61.2%. Lewan would be an immediate upgrade at left tackle, but I don’t know if they could swing it as they’re currently at less than a million dollars in available cap space.
Chicago Bears
While the Bears were abysmal this past season, they’re lining up an epic offseason. They hold the number one overall pick and around 95 million dollars in cap space. The Bears allowed the fourth most sacks of any team in the NFL with 58 and are in dire need of keeping Justin Fields upright. Left tackle Braxton Jones allowed seven sacks and committed twelve penalties while right tackle Riley Reiff allowed three sacks and posted a PFF grade of 64.3% on only 542 snaps. They had many weak spots in 2022, but tackle was their weakest.
Chicago will be in the market for multiple offensive linemen and they could land their bookend tackles now. The Bears could sign Lewan to a one-year, 6-7.5 million dollar deal and then Orlando Brown Jr. on a three-year, 45 million dollar deal. That’d be one hell of a dynamic due at tackle for the Bears. Because they have so much cap space and the potential to win in 2023, I see this as the most likely landing spot for Lewan.