5 names to replace Arthur Smith as the next Titans OC
By Will Lomas
3. Someone from the L.A. Chargers
Pep Hamilton and Anthony Lynn are both intriguing and they both have different resumes despite working on the same staff last season.
Hamilton is a name that Titans fans are probably familiar with from his time with Indianapolis with Andrew Luck. As soon as the Colts made the decision to let Bruce Arians go instead of giving him the job over Chuck Pagano, they hired then Stanford OC Pep Hamilton to do the same job at the NFL level.
Luck’s connection with Hamilton was clear, but once Luck started getting hurt Hamilton became a scapegoat and was fired. The reason he is here on this list now though is because he kept coaching and taking new opportunities until he got a chance to work with the Chargers this year as the QB coach.
Justin Herbert was considered a raw prospect coming out of college who had tools but just didn’t have the refined skills to be successful early. Well, that was quickly proven to be inaccurate as Herbert went on to have a fantastic rookie season and he kept the Chargers relevant for a little while.
So the two big feathers in Pep Hamilton’s cap are the development of Andrew Luck and Justin Herbert. However, he was a part of some pretty mediocre offenses in between those stints and he seems more fit to take over a team that is going to deal with a rookie quarterback.
You have to stack that up against Anthony Lynn who was a great influence on the Chargers offense as soon as he got the job.
Since he took the job in L.A. here is how the offense ranked in DVOA by year:
2017: 7th
2018: 3rd
2019: 12th with a broken Phillip Rivers
2020: 15th despite Austin Ekeler missing a massive chunk of the season and a rookie quarterback
Maybe the job as a head coach was too big for him and there are clearly some issues with his clock management and decisions late in games, but isn’t that one of the things that Mike Vrabel does best?
Hiring Lynn would give the Titans someone who has a lot of experience and who specializes in making quarterbacks feel comfortable. That seems ideal for the Titans current situation and I would probably lean towards Lynn over Hamilton, but again you can make the argument for either.