3 things Tennessee Titans absolutely must do now that they have salary cap money to spend

Tennessee Titans general manager Ran Carthon got the tough decisions out of the way. Now it's time for the fun part.

By releasing expensive veterans Taylor Lewan, Robert Woods, Zach Cunningham and Randy Bullock on Wednesday, the Titans shed more than $37 million in contracts from the books for 2023, putting the team $12.41 below the salary cap heading into the new league year beginning on March 15.

Financial flexibility is huge for the Titans. The roster's flaws were exposed last season and Carthon will need to address those issues in free agency. But the Titans also have veterans approaching their prime who are due new contracts or extensions before the Titans lose them in free agency.

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Here are three musts Carthon needs to achieve with his newfound spending money this offseason.

Priority number one: Lock down Jeffery Simmons long-term

This one is a no-brainer. After back-to-back All-Pro, Pro Bowl seasons, defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons is the face of the Titans' defense, and arguably the team's best overall player. He's heading into the final year of his rookie deal and he's said he wants to play in Nashville as long as he can. Extending Simmons long-term to make sure he plays his best years with the Titans has to be Carthon's top priority, and failing to do so could arguably make the entire offseason a failure.

A Simmons extension should cost the Titans around $20 million a year. That'll put Simmons in the same contract tier as Kansas City Chiefs standout Chris Jones, New York Giants star Leonard Williams and Indianapolis Colts stalwart DeForest Buckner. But with some tactical bonuses and contractual backloading, the Titans can devote less than $10 million in the salary cap to Simmons in the first year's of his extension, as the Chiefs and Giants did with Jones and Williams.

Whatever the costs end up being, the Titans need to make Simmons' extension the top priority. If there's money leftover to make more moves without additional cuts, that's great. If not, keeping Simmons is the most important thing.

Priority number two: Find speed at wide receiver

The Titans are likely to add receiver help in the draft. But it'll take more than one or two rookies to fix the Titans' issues on the outside. After releasing Woods, the Titans are missing a veteran presence in the receiver room, and Titans coach Mike Vrabel has twice mentioned his goal of adding more speed and versatility on the perimeter to improve the offense.

There aren't too many stars available at receiver in free agency, but there are plenty of speedy targets who can stretch the field as a No. 2 or No. 3 target who the Titans can sign for $2-5 million per year. DJ Chark, Byron Pringle, Nelson Agholor, Deonte Harty and Olamide Zaccheaus can all fit this bill, as can more established, older veterans like Sammy Watkins and Marvin Jones.

The Titans are counting on 2022 first round pick Treylon Burks to emerge as a No. 1 receiver. Adding veteran help to improve the downfield passing attack can only help Burks grow.

Priority number 3: Commit to an offensive line plan

Lewan, Nate Davis, Aaron Brewer, Dennis Daley, Corey Levin and Le'Raven Clark are all headed to free agency. Davis figures to be one of the most sought-after interior offensive linemen in free agency and Brewer has the chops to start for many teams despite his size.

Davis will likely command somewhere between $7-10 million annually, making it tough to retain him and add more starting-caliber linemen through any means other than the NFL draft. Players like Brewer, Daley, Levin and Clark should be cheaper to sign, but last season proved the Titans might not want to commit to them as anything more than sixth or seventh options rather than starters.

O-line is where the Titans will likely need the most help, so planning for how to allocate resources best instead of giving all the budget to one or two players might end up being the best tact.

Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on Twitter @nicksuss.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Titans have cap space. Here's how they should spend it