If the Tennessee Titans were hoping for the perfect offensive coordinator situation to fall right into their laps, then the football gods just answered their prayers.
The Miami Dolphins have fired head coach Mike McDaniel. It's somewhat of a stunning move, considering McDaniel was helping in their general manager search, but their loss is the Titans' potential gain.
It's time for them to get on the recruiting trail, but will they be able to lure McDaniel when he's all but certain to receive interest from just about every team with an opening?
Titans need to do whatever it takes to recruit Mike McDaniel to be their new OC
The Titans have a couple of really attractive recruiting pieces for any prospective head coach or offensive coordinator to come along with him. Obviously, the fact that ownership is extremely motivated to win is the primary factor, and there's no salary cap for the coaching staff. They can throw whatever assets they see fit at whatever coaches they believe can make the biggest impact.
And this offseason is all about surrounding Cam Ward. Who better to help put him in a position to succeed than Mike McDaniel?
You might ask yourself, if Mike McDaniel could make such an impact for the Titans as their offensive coordinator, why not just hire him as the head coach? Well, at this stage of the offseason, general manager Mike Borgonzi has to cast the compelling vision of having your cake and eating it, too.
The ideal scenario for the Titans might be to hire a head coach like Robert Saleh, who could completely transform the defensive side of the ball, while having McDaniel coordinate the offense. That pairing right there would likely send the entire Titans fan base up to Cloud 9 for the entire duration of the offseason.
Of course, Saleh and McDaniel know each other very well from their days together with the San Francisco 49ers, and they could pair up once more to lead the Titans back to prominence in the AFC South.
We've seen in the AFC South over the last handful of years just how big of a difference coaching can make. The Texans went from the complete debacle of the Deshaun Watson saga to being a contender in the division with DeMeco Ryans at the helm. The Jaguars went from picking in the top five of the draft to winning the division this past year, the first year of the Liam Coen era.
The Titans could create some momentum of their own by getting two guys who are elite in their respective categories on both sides of the ball.
With Cam Ward in place, motivated ownership, a new stadium on the way in 2027, and a division that is obviously wide open going forward, this is the opportunity the Titans desperately needed to fall into their laps. And here it is. The only question now is whether or not they can make it happen.