Titans’ cap cuts include former Alabama prep star
The Tennessee Titans released former Pinson Valley High School star Zach Cunningham on Wednesday during a salary-cap purge.
In addition to cutting the linebacker with a failed-physical designation, the NFL team also released kicker Randy Bullock, offensive tackle Taylor Lewan and wide receiver Robert Woods to shave a little more than $37 million off its salary-cap obligations for 2023.
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An elbow injury limited Cunningham to six games as he made two trips to injured reserve during his sixth NFL season.
At Pinson Valley, Cunningham earned All-State recognition as a linebacker in 2011 and 2012 and received the Class 5A Lineman of the Year Award in 2012, when he made 197 tackles, including 41 behind the line of scrimmage, and blocked four punts.
Cunningham became Vanderbilt’s first unanimous All-American in 2016, when he was the Commodores’ first consensus All-American in 32 years.
A second-round selection of the Houston Texans in the 2017 NFL Draft, Cunningham made 90 tackles as a rookie, 107 in 2018, 142 in 2019 and, after he had signed a four-year, $58 million contract extension, an NFL-best 164, with a league-leading 106 solo tackles, in 2020.
But during the 2021 season, the Texans released Cunningham, with coach David Culley saying Houston’s problem with the linebacker lay off the field.
Cunningham joined the Titans as a waiver claim and played for Tennessee in the final four regular-season games and one playoff contest to close the 2021 campaign.
In 82 NFL regular-season games, including 76 starts, Cunningham has 620 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 29 tackles for loss, 12 quarterback hits, one interception (which he returned for a touchdown, 19 passes defensed, five forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.