Titans ILB coach Tyrone McKenzie was NOT fired, says new report
It appears we have a case of conflicting reports when it comes to what happened with former Tennessee Titans inside linebackers coach, Tyrone McKenzie.
The story of former Tennessee Titans inside linebackers coach Tyrone McKenzie leaving the team continues to take twists and turns.
After it was reported that McKenzie was moving on to become the linebackers coach with the Detroit Lions after two years as the inside linebackers coach in Nashville, Titans beat writer Paul Kuharsky reported that McKenzie was in fact fired from his job in Tennessee.
Tyrone McKenzie was fired by the #Titans.
— Paul Kuharsky (@PaulKuharskyNFL) January 30, 2020
At the time that was surprising to find out because McKenzie is a well-respected guy who had done a great job with the team’s inside linebackers, and he was thought of as a potential candidate to replace retired defensive coordinator, Dean Pees.
It also left me to speculate if his removal had to do with head coach Mike Vrabel potentially taking more responsibility by assuming both head coaching and defensive coordinator duties.
Perhaps McKenzie thought he might get the vacant defensive coordinator job and was not happy that he was to be passed over. Again, this is me just guessing and trying to make sense of this situation. There’s no confirmation that’s the case.
However, according to ESPN’s Turron Davenport, the divorce of McKenzie and the Titans “was mutual” and he was not fired.
"I’m told by multiple sources the split between Titans and former ILB coach Tyrone McKenzie was mutual. He was not fired. It was a mutual decision. Tennessee’s LBs, especially 6th-rnd pick David Long Jr. made progress under McKenzie. Now he’ll work with the Lions group of young LBs."
Regardless of how you look at it, letting McKenzie go is a bit of an odd situation. He was damn good at his job, and it’s not like he left for some huge promotion in Detroit. And, he was under contract, so the Titans would have had to let him talk and walk to another team.
Something had to have pushed this to happen, and maybe we’ll find out more in the days to come.