Titans To Release Lloyd Cushenberry, Xavier Woods

Along with Cushenberry, the Titans are waving goodbye to safety Xavier Woods, Schefter relays. Woods joined the Titans on a two-year, $10MM pact last March. He will now return to free agency a year later.

Cushenberry, a 2018 third-round pick from LSU, became Denver’s No. 1 center from the get-go. He started in all 57 of his appearances with the Broncos over his first four seasons. Cushenberry logged full seasons on three occasions, but a groin injury limited him to eight games in 2022.

While Cushenberry remained a full-time starter over 23 games in Tennessee, he had a harder time staying healthy there than he did in Denver. The 6-foot-4, 315-pounder played every snap for the Titans before his first year with them ended with a torn Achilles in Week 9.

Cushenberry returned to play 15 games in 2025, but he finished as Pro Football Focus’ 34th-ranked center out of 37 qualifiers. The 28-year-old recently underwent shoulder surgery, but he should make a full recovery by next season, according to Rapoport. Cushenberry will have to look for another team in the meantime.

Despite coming off the board late in the 2017 draft (Round 6), Woods has started for most of his career. The former Cowboy, Viking and Panther continued in that role in his only season with the Titans.

Woods started in 10 of 11 games in 2025 before landing on IR with a hamstring injury in mid-December. The 30-year-old’s season wrapped up with 39 tackles, three passes defensed, two interceptions and a sack. PFF rated Woods’ performance a passable 43rd among 91 safeties.

Tennessee entered Wednesday with an NFL-leading $103.50MM in cap space, per OverTheCap. General manager Mike Borgonzi will now have even more money available to upgrade a team that stumbled through its second straight 3-14 season in 2025.

Moving on from Cushenberry will add $3.42MM to the Titans’ books, though it will also stick them with $9.05MM in dead money. Woods’ exit will clear $3.82MM at the cost of a more palatable $1MM cap hit.