Todd Downing is no longer a concern for Tennessee Titans fans, but his performance as the team’s Offensive Coordinator over the last two years will be something that they will remember for a long time.
If there is a small silver lining to his time as OC, it is that his lack of results might actually make the job intriguing for potential candidates.
Just in the simplest sense, how good would the 2023 offense have to be for fans to appreciate the new OC? After finishing in the bottom-5 in scoring offense, even being close to average in 2023 would be a massive improvement for the Tennessee Titans.
Another aspect of replacing Todd Downing is that the team did such a poor job featuring any player enough to allow them to finish with a positive stat line. That means the next OC will instantly be able to set up “breakout years” for guys like Treylon Burks and Chig Okonkwo.
There isn’t a doubt in my mind that Downing got the least out of this group and if the new OC can do simple things like getting the ball to the team’s playmakers or just identifying which offensive linemen should play and which offensive linemen are Dennis Daley, then he will be a hit with the fans.
Obviously, there are other reasons why the Tennessee Titans’ job should be attractive to candidates. For example, excluding Todd Downing, every OC that has worked for Mike Vrabel has been hired as an HC somewhere else in the NFL.
The team also has plenty of talent like Derrick Henry, Ryan Tannehill, Treylon Burks, Chig Okonkwo, Robert Woods (if they want to keep him), and Kyle Philips. There is plenty to work with if you aren’t going to commit to running the ball on every first down and if you have an ounce of creativity.
You can also throw in the fact that a new OC will be able to have a lot of input on the players he wants in the offense going forward considering how many players the Tennessee Titans might acquire this offseason through the draft and free agency.
What does this mean for the Tennessee Titans’ timeline?
Even though they have the lowest bar of any OC job, that doesn’t mean that they can sit back and take their time.
The Tennessee Titans need to make significant inroads into their search before teams looking for head coaches are able to make their hires and turn their eyes toward potential OCs.
Nearly every coach that they have been connected to publicly could be interviewed and hired immediately, but the team might hold off until the Kansas City Chiefs are finished with their playoff run. At that point, they would be able to bring in Eric Bieniemy and Matt Nagy for interviews.
If they are locked into an internal hire like Tim Kelly or Luke Steckel, then this is a hire that should have already happened. The longer they wait, the more and more it seems like the Tennessee Titans will actually hire someone from outside of the Mike Vrabel tree.
Stability at HC and a job with no pressure for 2023 could be the deciding factor in finding the team’s next OC, but if they wait until they can interview the duo from Kansas City, they need to be sure that they are going to land one of them.
If not, the Tennessee Titans could end up promoting someone internally because they have run out of other options and that will be something that everyone in the building (and fan base) will be keenly aware of. That is a great way to cut your OC’s legs out from under him before he calls a single play.