A week ago the Tennessee Titans had a short list of eight options for the open GM job, and two names have already been scratched off of that list.
First, San Francisco 49ers Assistant GM Adam Peters took his name out of the running for any GM job, opting to stay with the franchise that he grew up watching. As a potential GM in waiting, it is easy to see why he might want to stick around and watch what he helped build.
Today, the Arizona Cardinals announced that they are hiring Tennessee Titans executive Monti Ossenfort to be their next GM.
That is slightly surprising considering that the franchise decided to promote Ryan Cowden to interim GM ahead of Ossenfort when they fired Jon Robinson meaning that they almost certainly prioritize Cowden more than Ossenfort.
Having said that, everyone marveled at what a steal it was when the Titans brought Ossenfort into the building. After three years with the franchise, he seems to have earned enough of a reputation for the Cardinals to take a swing.
What does this mean for the Tennessee Titans GM search?
The team has been announcing which GMs they have met with throughout the process in a nice bit of transparency, so we know that they have met with five candidates so far (excluding Ossenfort):
Thursday: Ryan Cowden, Titans
Friday: Ran Carthon, 49ers
Friday: Ian Cunningham, Chicago Bears
Friday: Glenn Cook, Cleveland Browns
Saturday: Quentin Harris, Cardinals
The only candidate we haven’t heard about is Malik Boyd from the Buffalo Bills.
Since there are no more GM jobs open, there really isn’t a rush for the Tennessee Titans to hire anyone immediately so they can take their time.
The good news for Titans fans is that I don’t think they were going to promote Ossenfort and I don’t think they are going to promote Cowden. I think it is going to be an external hire, and that is interesting. Since the Cardinals hired Ossenfort, the Tennessee Titans now have an abundance of time and seemingly no competition.
Of the candidates that we know have interviewed, Cunningham is probably the most intriguing with Carthon right behind him (though I have a big question I want answered), Cook in third, and Harris at the bottom of the list.
There is no telling whether or not more GM interviews will take place, but it seems very unlikely that the Titans are going to try to “run it back” by promoting internally. Expect to see the list paired down as Tennessee sets up the next wave of meetings with Mike Vrabel involved more prominently.