Tennessee Titans trade CB Roger McCreary to the Los Angeles Rams

With a week until the NFL trade deadline, the rebuilding Tennessee Titans have seemingly started their fire sale by trading cornerback Roger McCreary to the Los Angeles Rams. The compensation for this trade is the Titans get the 5th round pick that is closest to the start of the round, which will almost certainly be their own pick that they gave for Ernest Jones IV last offseason, but will also give up their own worst 6th round pick, which will probably be either the Broncos or the Bills.

This marks the second cornerback trade this season for the Tennessee Titans, as they had already traded Jarvis Brownlee Jr. to the New York Jets for a 6th round pick. If you put some simple terms on the trade, despite the difference in years of the picks, the Titans have pretty much traded McCreary and Brownlee for a total of a 5th round pick, which is honestly embarrassing.

It feels hard to believe the team couldn't get more out of the former second round pick, who was up for a new contract this offseason which is likely to be in the $10-$12 million per year range. McCreary, despite not playing his best ball this season, has been a solid and consistent slot corner for the team, who was extremely impressive in his first few seasons with the team. I imagine he was not willing to sign a new deal with the team, leading to the trade.

This leaves a gaping hole in the secondary for the Titans, with L'Jarius Sneed on IR, Darrell Baker, Marcus Harris, and Jalyn Armour-Davis are the team's starting cornerbacks. This leaves a chance for young players to get snaps, but also may lead to getting picked apart through the air.

The Titans are loading up on late draft picks through trades, and this trade is almost guaranteed to be only the first of what ends up being a long stretch of trades for the team, likely including many other veteran players.