If you are looking for someone to blame for the Tennessee Titans’ injuries, Mike Vrabel says you should look at the players who got injured.
Mike Vrabel had what will probably be his last public appearance for a while on Monday when he gave his summation of the season and talked about what is to come for the Titans in the near future.
The conversation about the next GM had some interesting points and no decision has been made on Todd Downing which is concerning.
Until a GM is hired or until we know what happens with Downing, the most interesting piece of information that came from that press conference was Mike Vrabel’s opinion of why this team has been so injured:
"“We look at those soft tissue of repeat offenders…it doesn’t take too hard to look and see Kristian Fulton and David Long. I mean they are repeat offenders with soft tissue injuries. They have to figure out a way to train and act like…the game is played at high speed. Kevin Byard hasn’t pulled a hamstring since he’s been playing here.”"
Great stuff from Mike Vrabel on the #Titans injury problems and how they can fix it: pic.twitter.com/u0N7Z7VjqD
— AtoZ Sports Nashville (@AtoZSports) January 9, 2023
There is a long list of players that spent a lot of time on the injury report when they were in Tennessee, that left and didn’t fall into the category of “repeat offenders” at their next stop.
However, the focus should be less on the past and more on the future. He specifically mentions impending free agent David Long as one of the guys that is responsible for their own injuries and the same might be said for Nate Davis another impending free agent.
Tennessee Titans are building around the healthiest options
While Mike Vrabel touched on every roster-building buzzword when he talked about what the Tennessee Titans would do this offseason, he seemed incredibly aggravated with the questions about injuries.
In the tirade above, you can boil all of his comments down to the fact that he thinks that players are responsible for their own health and that some of the players that have been brought in were guys with health concerns in the first place.
This offseason, fans should expect Mike Vrabel to take a microscope to the Tennessee Titans roster and critically look at any player that he believes is a repeat offender. A quick look tells me that these players are in trouble:
-Taylor Lewan
-Bud Dupree
-Nate Davis
-David Long
-Kristian Fulton
-Amani Hooker
-Zach Cunningham
-Caleb Farley
While some of those players were already gone, it only means that Mike Vrabel and the new GM will have more holes to fill this offseason. It also means that there are going to be a lot of players that the Titans won’t even consider at this point for fear of adding another “repeat offender” in a crucial offseason.
Mike Vrabel is going to have a lot of sway this year and it seems like the new GM is going to be asked to get Vrabel’s approval on moves that are made. This is going to be a roster made in Vrabel’s image and that is intriguing until you realize that he is also the guy that has been giving Todd Downing a vote of confidence for two (maybe three) years.