Tennessee Titans Waiting for Gregg Williams’ Suspension to be Lifted

July 31, 2011; Metairie, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams during training camp practice at the New Orleans Saints practice facility. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

The Tennessee Titans have shown interest in bringing on Gregg Williams as their assistant head coach. I expect they will, but as of now, they’re waiting on word from the NFL as to whether or not they will lift the indefinite suspension on Williams that held him out of the NFL during the 2012 season.

While they’re waiting for word from Goodell, Michael Griffin has stepped forward as a fan of the addition, as well has ex-Titan John Thornton. Thornton played for Williams in 1999 and 2000.

"He was probably my favorite coach to play for,” said Thornton, a 10-year defensive tackle who played under Williams with the Titans in 1999 and 2000. “He knows his personnel really well, and he’s always attacking. … We were never letting an offense dictate to us what was going to happen. He was going to blitz you when you stepped off the bus."

We’ve seen how well the Titans LB’s can do when blitzing. Both Akeem Ayers and Zach Brown found success when sent in on blitzes in 2012. That was one of the few things that worked for the Titans when they experimented more with it as the season went on. On big thing that the Titans defense was missing though, as Alterraun Verner put it, was swag. The Titans should be hoping that Williams can bring that to this defense, just not in the way that got him suspended.

"If you don’t know him, you may think that, ‘Hey, this guy is a renegade.’ I just think that if you know him, you know what kind of guy he is. He’s not trying to blow peoples’ knees out. A lot of that stuff is talk,” Thornton said. “… A lot of that bravado is how he gets his guys to play hard. I have never known him to say, ‘Go do something dirty.’"

When/if Williams gets his suspension lifted, and the Titans sign him to a contract, you have to think that the Titans defense will be under a microscope during the 2013 season. Dangerous plays that defensive players get flagged for and any illegal hits will probably be overreacted to. It’ll be interesting to see how Williams goes about fixing this defense. Gray and him have a solid history together and I think the Titans will be praised for the hire at the end of 2013.

But who knows? Nothing’s in ink except, that is, William’s indefinite suspension.

What do you think?

You can find me on Twitter @JustinLStewart