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Tennessee Titans exercising patience in OC search

By Matias Wodner

NASHVILLE, TN - AUGUST 18: Executive Vice President/General Manager Jon Robinson, Controlling Owner and Co-Chairman,Board of Directors Amy Adams Strunk, and head coach Mike Vrabel pose for a photo on the sideline durin warms up prior to a pre-season game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Nissan Stadium on August 18, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - AUGUST 18: Executive Vice President/General Manager Jon Robinson, Controlling Owner and Co-Chairman,Board of Directors Amy Adams Strunk, and head coach Mike Vrabel pose for a photo on the sideline durin warms up prior to a pre-season game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Nissan Stadium on August 18, 2018 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images) /
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Just as the Tennessee Titans front office has showed in the past, they have not been in a rush to hire a new offensive coordinator.

Matt LaFleur’s departure as offensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans a week ago was a bit of surprise, but the Green Bay Packers felt comfortable about him taking over as the head coach of their football team. Our own Will Lomas quickly put together a list of desired options to replace LaFleur, and although three of those options have already penned new contracts, the Titans haven’t shown interest in any of those names — at least to our knowledge.

That last part shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has followed the Titans under GM Jon Robinson’s watchful eye. Robinson’s front office has frequently held the team’s operations under wraps and leaks have been hard to come by. Fans expecting to hear about candidates the Titans might be interested in will be hard-pressed to find any news out there.

Also, the Titans front office has exercised patience in the past. Robinson’s hiring of Mike Vrabel as head coach came relatively quickly following Mularkey and the Titans splitting up. Five days seems like a quick turnaround, but that January 20 hiring date is later than any of the head coach hirings that have transpired this offseason. Granted, the Titans were in the playoffs and their season was extended, but Robinson surely had Vrabel in mind from the get-go and could’ve snatched him up even sooner after Mularkey’s firing if he wanted to.

LaFleur’s hiring as OC came on January 29. A span of nine whole days between the hiring of a HC and OC is essentially an eternity in the modern NFL, and fans had been clamoring for the Titans to make a move just a few days following Vrabel’s arrival. Dean Pees’ hiring as DC came on the same day as LaFleur’s. While other teams were rushing to fill out their staffs with high-profile names, Robinson and Vrabel sat back and waited for the right candidates to appear. And they ended up getting two guys with impressive credentials and pedigree. Pees’ success in 2018 has been well-documented, and while the Titans offense struggled for much of the season, LaFleur called some really innovative games and made the best of what we had at his disposal.

It has been eight days since LaFleur was hired by the Packers. A similar timeline to last offseason would suggest an OC hire is coming within the next few days, but the Titans could be waiting to talk with candidates from the four remaining playoff teams. Or they might hire from within the current staff. We don’t know, but we can rest assured that Robinson and Vrabel will end up with the person that they feel is best suited for the job and aligned with the vision they have for the offense going forward. They know what they’re doing; there’s no need to stress about a lengthy search.

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