Titans Confirm They Tried To Trade Zach Mettenberger, But Couldn’t Find Any Takers

May 18, 2016

Titans GM Jon Robinson confirmed that they tried to trade QB Zach Mettenberger before waiving him a few days ago.

“There were a lot of teams we touched base with over the course of the draft weekend that had interest in Zach, and a lot of those teams ended up selecting quarterbacks at some point in the draft,’’ Robinson said, via Jim Wyatt of TitansOnline.com. “For whatever reason those discussions never really manifested, or culminated into anything.”

“Every team is looking for quarterbacks in this league for sure, and having two capable ones or three on a roster, that’s everybody’s goal. For Zach, being able to acclimate him back with the system there in San Diego, it will be good for him.”

Robinson also explained that they have a lot of faith in QB Matt Cassel to backup Marcus Mariota and offer some veteran leadership.

“I really like Matt,’’ Robinson said. “He’s a veteran presence, and the fact that he’s played in a lot of games is a plus. He’s been a productive player in this league, a reliable, dependable player. We felt that he’s more than capable of going into the game and getting us through a stretch of games if Marcus were to get hurt. And the veteran leadership, knowledge, that he adds to the room with Marcus and Alex.”

The Chargers wound up claiming Mettenberger, who will be reunited with Ken Whisenhunt in San Diego.

Reports from Monday mentioned that the Titans actually made Mettenberger available for trade and were just looking for a late-round pick in return for him. However, no team was willing to part with even a seventh-round pick for Mettenberger.

It’s possible that these teams knew Mettenberger was going to end up on waivers at some point, and it was best for them to wait until later to grab him.

Mettenberger, 24, is a former sixth-round pick of the Titans back in 2014. He’s currently in the third year of his four-year, $2.345 million rookie contract and stands to make a base salary of $600,000 for the 2016 season.

In 2015, Mettenberger appeared in seven games and threw for 935 yards while completing 60.8 percent of his passes to go along with four touchdowns and seven interceptions.