The Titans may have a trade chip on their hands in Joey Slye, and the buzz around it is tied to one simple thing: teams desperate for a kicker are out there.
According to Jason La Canfora, “a smart GM” is going to land the Titans K Joey Slye in a trade, as he carries just a $2 million cap hit on an expiring deal.
Slye has been steady enough in Tennessee to draw that kind of attention. Over the last two years with the Titans, the veteran kicker has hit 38 of 46 field goal attempts and 36 of 37 extra point tries. This season, he has played in seven games and gone 10 of 11 on field goals and 10 of 10 on PATs.
La Canfora’s case for a deal starts with the mess around the league at kicker. He mentioned the Packers, noting rookie Trey Smack’s struggles, and also named the 49ers and Rams as natural fits.
San Francisco already extended Eddy Pineiro, but he has missed a kick in each of the last four games. The Rams, meanwhile, are on their third kicker of the year in Brandon McManus after cutting Harrison Mevis and losing Blake Grupe to a torn ACL.
La Canfora also suggested the Eagles could look to move some contracts while adding help for a run at the division this year, though that could shift if a Week 7 loss drops them to 2-5.
Slye, now 30, has bounced around the league quite a bit since entering as an undrafted player out of Virginia Tech after the 2019 NFL Draft. He first signed with the Giants, was waived in May, brought back in July, and waived again.
From there, he caught on with the Panthers as a camp leg and ended up winning the starting job when K Graham Gano went on injured reserve. He re-signed with Carolina and later agreed to a one-year extension in January 2021 that would have kept him from reaching free agency in 2022.
That didn’t last. The Panthers released Slye after the preseason, and he later landed with the Texans as an injury replacement.
He also had a similar short-term stop with the 49ers. Washington then brought him in as its main kicker after releasing K Dustin Hopkins.
Slye returned to Washington on one-year deals for two seasons before testing the market as an unrestricted free agent. He signed a one-year contract with the Jaguars, but they cut him a month later, and he then joined the Patriots for the 2024 season.
The Titans followed with one-year deals over each of the last two seasons, and now his name is in the trade mix again.
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