By MIKE HERNDON, columnist

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Over the last couple of weeks, we have been previewing Titans' free agency at specific positions of need. We started with the offensive line (check that out here) and then moved to wide receiver last week (read here).

Arden Key/ © Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – There is one question that comes up in the discussion about Ryan Tannehill’s future with the Titans that is too simple, too cut-and-dried and simply can’t be what the franchise uses to decide what to do about him as he heads into the final year of his contract.

Ryan Tannehill/ Photo: Angie Flatt

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Because the current state of their roster and salary cap dictates so much work pertaining to 2023, it’s difficult to look beyond the league year that starts on March 15 and the season that will kick off in September.

But teams that are in good working order are not just looking at the coming season as they plan for personnel, but for a year and even two years ahead.

We’ve covered the most significant decision pertaining to the 2024 Titans quite thoroughly as we’ve contemplated their direction with Ryan Tannehill, who’s got a $36.6 salary cap number in 2023, the final year of his four-year contract.

What about other key players who are heading into the final year of their deals?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- We cut to the chase.

If you've not listened to the podcast, you should and you can listen to it on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn or watch on YouTube.

So please head to one of those and subscribe and get all of that taken care of.

And then dig into this mailbag, in which members have provided every question. Please keep the quality questions coming, particularly through the private Facebook page, which is always the first place I will turn when I am putting one of these together.

Jamie Zaleski If Vrabel’s style is play good defense and run the ball, doesn’t that put you in games that are grind them out close games? Does that mean he prefers to play close coin toss games week in and week out when the league has proven there are better ways to win games? If all this is true and Vrabel seems very intelligent, why is he opposed to changing his philosophy?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A new podcast episode  -- "Malik Willis' Fresh Start" -- is up on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn and YouTube, which you can see below.

Whichever platform you prefer, please subscribe, rate and review.

Subjects I dive into:

💥 The noise about QB scenarios
💥 How new offensive coaches will be good for Malik Willis
💥 The shape of Mike Vrabel's staff has changed, but the numbers are only up a tick
💥 A small technical adjustment with immediate results
💥 Fans hearing what they want 

You can find previous podcasts here.

By MIKE HERNDON, columnist

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Last week we talked about how the Titans could go about rebuilding their offensive line through free agency. If you missed it, you can check that out here. That column also opened with a breakdown of the Titans' cap situation and how much money they may be able to free up through various cuts, extensions, and restructures with veterans currently on the roster.

I won’t completely re-hash that here, but the short version is that the Titans are currently projected to be $21.5 million over the salary cap when the new league year starts on March 15^th. Obvious cuts like Taylor Lewan and Zach Cunningham can get them to the cap, and a few other potential cuts or restructures for guys like Bud Dupree, Robert Woods, and Ryan Tannehill could take them below the cap enough to allow them to make some of the necessary moves in free agency to bring this roster closer to competing in 2023.

Realistically, they could create somewhere around $30 to 40 million in cap space without totally gutting the current roster or crippling their future cap situation for the 2024 season and beyond.

Behind offensive line – and maybe quarterback if the Titans decide to make a move there – wide receiver is clearly the next spot that must be addressed by Ran Carthon in his first offseason as GM in Tennessee. (Photo: Adam Thielen, a potential cap casualty in Minnesota: © Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports.)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – When I was a kid, I knew Raymond Berry as an NFL coach who’d been a very good player. His New England Patriots won the AFC in 1985 but got destroyed in the Super Bowl by the mighty Bears.

As with a lot of old-time greats, it was only after I read something later detailing his Hall of Fame career that I came to fully appreciate him.

You hear this guy or that guy was incredibly detailed, but this extraordinary 2008 Sports Illustrated piece shows that Berry rates with the most meticulous players imaginable.

And as we watched Eagles and Chiefs players slip all over the terrible Super-Bowl field and the Titans decide to move to a high-tech artificial turf after seasons of footing problems because of late-season issues with their natural grass, I’ve often thought of Berry and how he handled the grass at Yankee Stadium in the Colts-Giants 1958 NFL Championship Game, known as the Greatest Game Ever Played.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- When Mike Muchak was booted by Tommy Smith and Ruston Webster after the 2013 season, it was primarily because he would not make significant changes to his coaching staff after three years at the helm of a team for which he played 12 seasons and served as an assistant coach for 17 more.

The Pro Football Hall of Famer did not assemble a great staff.

Having spent his entire career with one franchise limited his network, but he was also put in a bad spot in 2011 when Bud Adams waited too long to make a final decision on Jeff Fisher and then hired Munchak last, by a lot, after the other new NFL coaches had time to assemble their staffs.

But one spot where Munchak crushed it was with the young, entry-level spots on his staff.