Tennessee Titans watch as the 2023 OC sweepstakes begins

The Tennessee Titans are looking for a new Offensive Coordinator, but they don’t seem to be in any sort of rush right now.

There were double-digit openings around the NFL for offensive play callers on Thursday morning, but before the workday was over three names were already off the board.

Former Indianapolis Colts HC Frank Reich has taken the Carolina Panthers HC job. While there was some very cautious optimism that he might spend a year as an OC before jumping back into the captain’s chair, that seems to not be the case now.

Another name that Tennessee Titans fans were very familiar with was Mike LaFleur. While he hasn’t technically been hired yet, reports say that he has the “inside track” for the L.A. Rams OC job. That fit obviously makes a ton of sense and being there means that he could be the guy who takes over for Sean McVay once he finally decides to retire.

Finally, Nathaniel Hackett was a name that I was interested in early in the process because of the success he had with Aaron Rodgers and Matt LaFleur in Green Bay. Even though I have been less interested in him after digging a little deeper, the Tennessee Titans could have done worse than Hackett as their OC.

That won’t happen now after he has taken the OC job with the New York Jets.

What does that mean for the Tennessee Titans OC search?

While all of those names made sense for the Tennessee Titans, none of them were actually officially interviewed by Mike Vrabel. It is fun to connect the dots on who makes sense for the Titans, but right now they have cast a pretty small net with only five coaches linked to the job publicly.

With each passing day, fans should hope that the Tennessee Titans decide against promoting Tim Kelly from within. Kelly would be a solid, if underwhelming, option, but the real problem with waiting this long to promote someone internally is that it would mean that the Titans were spinning their tires when they could have been finding their next OL coach.

Since there will be at least two new starters on the OL by next year, finding someone who can develop talent (unlike Keith Carter) is going to be crucial to maximizing the value of any rookie offensive lineman that the Tennessee Titans draft.

Still, it seems like the duo in Kansas City is worth keeping a close eye on and there could be more assistant coaches on playoff teams that could get interviews as well. With an incredibly low bar and several pieces in place already, it will be interesting to see just how much better this Tennessee Titans can be if they can find even an average OC this season.