As the Tennessee Titans work to replace the recently fired Mike Vrabel, it might be a good idea to examine just how attractive this coaching situation is when compared to the other jobs that are open – or might still come open – in the NFL:
The pros
• Quarterback: Even though the Titans struggled with a 6-11 record this season, they do have one important piece in place. Rookie quarterback Will Levis showed enough in nine starts, throwing for 1,808 yards with eight touchdowns and four interceptions, to make believers out of the front office that he can be the franchise quarterback going forward.
Levis displayed a strong arm, a quick release and plenty of toughness standing in the pocket and firing the ball behind a sieve of an offensive line. It can’t be overstated how important a quarterback is in today’s NFL, and if the Titans provide Levis with more weapons and better protection, they believe he has a high ceiling.
The Titans offer a better situation at that position than all but two of the other franchises looking for a head coach.
The Chargers, despite their major salary cap problems, have the best quarterback of the lot in place with Justin Herbert. Of the other teams, only Washington (barring a trade) is in line to draft Caleb Williams or Drake Maye, picking second overall.
Seattle has Geno Smith, who is OK short-term but a bit long in the tooth, while Atlanta’s poor quarterback situation got Arthur Smith fired. Carolina has Bryce Young, but he appears way behind Levis in terms of development thus far.
• Salary cap space: The Titans have nearly $86 million to spend this offseason on needed free agents to fill holes. That’s a good thing because there are plenty of holes that need to be filled all over the roster.
Fortunately for the Titans, they should be able to find some help at wide receiver for Levis in the free agent pool, and perhaps some help in the secondary and on the interior offensive line.
That $86 million is second-most among teams in terms of cap space available, but it must be spent wisely rather than just using it to fill holes. That will be on general manager Ran Carthon to align with whoever the new coach is and bring in the right fits to maximize the use of this cap space.
The Titans are heading into a new domed stadium in 2027, so it makes sense that they would want to construct a team to fit that environment., i.e., more passing and a more open offense. Let’s see if they can use some of that cash to start heading in that direction.
• A blank canvas: While that might not seem like a plus, the Titans have 16 players who will be unrestricted free agents in March. The new coach can start remaking the team in his own image and not be saddled with a bunch of high-priced players that he doesn’t necessarily want.
The list of truly expensive players on the Titans 2024 salary cap is short: defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons ($23.4 million), Harold Landry ($17.5 million) and DeAndre Hopkins ($13 million) – all players that any coach should want to keep on the roster.
Others like left tackle failure Andre Dillard ($9 million) will be shown the door the minute the new league year begins. The remainder of the roster is virtually all on rookie contracts, meaning that the new regime can keep the ones they want, and dispose of the ones they don’t with only minimal cap damage.
The cons
• A lot of holes: While the “blank canvas” listed above is a selling point, the new coach has to know going in that this is probably not an overnight fix in Tennessee.
Yes, the Titans could take a page from the Texans book this season and turn it around in one year, but remember this, the Texans were terrible for three years in a row trying to assemble the pieces to be a contender again. It happened this year, when they were able to land C.J. Stroud and Will Anderson in the draft to put with what they already had, which included a decent offensive line.
The Titans will have to start almost from scratch on the offensive line, as only Peter Skoronski looks like a potential building block from the 2023 group. There are holes in other places, as well, which means the new coach and Carthon are going to not only have to hit on draft picks and get contributions from them early.
Carthon does come from the 49ers front office, which has had a knack for getting a lot of late-round picks to pan out (QB Brock Purdy, TE George Kittle, WR Jauan Jennings). The Titans could use some of that same scouting and luck to help accelerate the process.
• A winning sales pitch: For all the things that Mike Vrabel was in terms of being conservative on offense and all the things that go with playing it close to the vest, one thing Vrabel had with his players was their trust and respect. Vrabel is one of those coaches that motivates players and during his Titans tenure, he was able to get the most out of many of them.
The new coach coming in will have to make sure that he has the same type of buy-in from the holdover players. This shouldn’t be a problem, but there could be some who won’t quite fit into a new system, especially one that should be based more on an explosive offense than what the Titans have previously had for most of their existence.
• Being judged on and off the field: This sounds simple, but controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk was upset over some things that Vrabel did, including comments made during his induction into the Patriots Hall of Fame and talk that he wasn’t sold on Ran Carthon being the general manager, The Athletic reports.
In terms of Adams Strunk, she usually goes all in on her people but keeps tabs on them. Since she took over as controlling owner in 2015 – when things were really bad and a housecleaning was needed – she has dismissed Ken Whisenhunt, Mike Mularkey and Vrabel as head coaches and moved on from Ruston Webster and Jon Robinson in the general manager’s role.
Her father, the late Bud Adams, was no stranger to making impulsive moves when he felt the time was right, and it appears that Adams Strunk is capable of changing horses when things don’t go to her liking. The best advice for the new coach: Figure things out, win games and keep Amy Adams Strunk happy.
Terry McCormick covers the Titans for TitanInsider.com