Three Best, Three Worst Contracts for the Tennessee Titans

The Tennessee Titans aren't in salary cap hell, but they are well on their way to purgatory.

After a disappointing 6-10 season, Tennessee has to set its sights on 2013, but while the Titans have some cap room, they also have more than their share of difficult decisions.

Here are the best and worst contracts they have on the books.

3 Best-Kenny Britt

Length: Five years

Total Value: $ 9.459 million

Total Signing Bonus: $1.25 million ($250 K still to be accounted for)

2013 Salary: $1.347 million

Estimated Cap number: $2.3 million

Peak Cap Number: $2.3 million

Years Remaining: One

Kenny Britt is a perpetual headache, and he's coming off a brutal year, but the one thing he has working in his favor is a decent contract.

Honestly, if Britt was making any more money than he is, the Titans would have to think about parting ways with him.

As it stands, he's cheap enough to make it worth their while to keep him around in the hopes that he'll flash the unlimited potential everyone believes he possesses.

Michael Roos

Length: Six years

Total Value: $43 million

Total Signing Bonus: $9 million ($1.5 still to be accounted for)

2013 Salary: $6 million

Estimated Cap number: $7.25 million

Peak Cap Number: $7.25 million

Years Remaining: Two

Roos was the Titans MVP in 2012, and the team has him secured for a reasonable contract.

Almost all of Roos's signing bonus has been accounted for, so even if the team had some need to release him, they could do so with little consequence.

Roos signed a big, but fair deal and now that he's almost played his way through it, the team is still getting a solid shake.

That's a great sign of fair contract. Roos got security, and the Titans got a good player for a fair price.

Nate Washington

Length: Six years

Total Value: $26.8 million

Total Signing Bonus: $4.5 million ($900 K still to be accounted for)

2013 Salary: $4.2 million

Estimated Cap number: $5.1 million

Peak Cap Number: $5.1 million

Years Remaining: Two

Nate Washington is a competent receiver who is making a fair contract. The Titans couldn't replace him on the open market for the $5 million he's occupying on the cap.

With two years left on his deal and very little bonus money left to account for, the Titans get flexibility with Washington.

The combination of a reasonable salary, low bonus money and solid play makes Washington one of the better deals on the Titans.

3 Worst-Chris Johnson

Length: Six years

Total Value: $55.26 million

Total Signing Bonus: $10 million ($6 million still to be accounted for)

2013 Salary: $10 million

Estimated Cap number: $12 million

Peak Cap Number: $12 million

Years Remaining: Four

Get past whatever you think about Johnson for a moment and just marvel at how awful this contract is for the Titans.

Even if you think he's great, and plenty of people do, everyone can agree that his contract is ridiculous.

The Titans are in the unenviable position of having to deal with his uneven production or cut him and eat big money.

Johnson's contract is complicated, but it looks like the Titans could actually save about $4 million on the cap by dropping him. There is still at least $8 million of guaranteed money to account for, but with a $12 million hit for keeping him, the team could afford it. Note: this is slightly different than what my understanding was before. In the linked article above, I thought it would cost the Titans cap room to cut Johnson.

There's simply no right answer to the problem other than to build a time machine and stop themselves from ever agreeing to the deal in the first place.

Michael Griffin

Length: Five years

Total Value: $35 million

Total Signing Bonus: $9 million ($7.2 million still to be accounted for)

2013 Salary: $3.5 million

Estimated Cap Number: $6.3 million

Peak Cap Number: $8.3 million

Years Remaining: Four

File this deal in the "bad idea from the start" bin. The Titans re-upped Griffin before the 2012 season, and it took about two weeks into the regular season to massively regret the decision.

Griffin was easily the most disappointing Titan last season, and more often than not one of the worst defenders on the field.

His play was bad, and because of the big contract, there's little Tennessee can do about it. Griffin's cap number spikes after 2013, but the Titans would have to eat $5.4 million in dead cap money to cut him.

Eugene Amano

Length: Five years

Total Value: $26.247 million

Total Signing Bonus: $7.25 million ($2.9 million still to be accounted for)

2013 Salary: $3.685 million

Estimated Cap number: $5.75 million

Peak Cap Number: $6.255 million

Years Remaining: Two

Amano hits the magic trifecta for a bad contract.

He's terrible.

He's hurt.

He's overpaid.

Dumping Amano would save roughly $2 million on the cap, which would still leave a chunk of dead money.

He tore a triceps in the preseason in 2012 and never played. The Titans will likely dump him but will still have to eat plenty of bonus money in the process.