Anthony Robinson completes the Tennessee Titans three-headed front office

The Tennessee Titans have just hired the man who should be in charge of running their draft and scouting process from here on out.

During the team's front office restructure late last week, the Tennessee Titans quietly let go of Ryan Cowden and reportedly hired Anthony Robinson. With Cowden almost certainly on his way out after Jon Robinson was fired, we knew there would be a hole in the team's front office and it was an area where Ran Carthon was not exceptionally qualified.

Let's be clear, Ran Carthon wasn't hired because he was a great scout. Where Carthon has worked and risen through the ranks is on the pro-personnel side of things. 15 out of 15 years in an NFL front office, he has worked as either a pro scout or as the Director of Player Personnel. While his duties occasionally touched on the NFL Draft, it wasn't where he spent most of his time.

Honestly, that is a good thing for the Tennessee Titans because when he was with the San Francisco 49ers and the St. Louis Rams, they weren't especially smart in the draft during his time with the team. They were much better at team building and identifying which players they needed to add or keep, and which players could be replaced.

A little of that inexperience showed up in the draft this year for the Tennessee Titans. For as much as the team is acting like they were in complete control and that they didn't make any miscalculations at the wide receiver position, the Titans are one injury away from the worst group of receivers in franchise history.

Though they almost promised that they were going to surprise everyone with a move on the Monday after the draft, here we are a week later staring at a roster that looks identical to the one they had after the draft.

Hiring Anthony Robinson was such a smart move by the Tennessee Titans and it will make sure that Ran Carthon can focus on the things that got him the GM job, building relationships and trying to build a team and manage the contracts in a way that can hold that team together.

Anthony Robinson perfectly complements Tennessee Titans front office

Robinson was the Director of College Scouting for the Atlanta Falcons, a position he was promoted to in 2019. Since he has been given that role, he has been remarkably successful in one of the most crucial areas of the NFL Draft, the first round.

Starting in the 2019 NFL Draft, the Atlanta Falcons have had six first-round picks:

2019: Chris Lindstrom OG, Boston College
2019: Kaleb McGary OT, Washington
2020: A.J. Terrell CB, Clemson
2021: Kyle Pitts TE, Florida
2022: Drake London WR, USC
2023: Bijan Robinson RB, Texas

Lindstrom is already one of the best (maybe the best) interior linemen in the NFL, McGary was just snubbed as a Pro Bowler, A.J. Terrell is one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL, Kyle Pitts is a freak show and the rare first-round tight end to make it to a Pro Bowl on his first contract, and Drake London nearly hit 1,000 yards in his first season without a quarterback.

By all accounts, Bijan Robinson is the skill position version of Peter Skoronski i.e. a near can't-miss prospect whose only knock was just the value of the position he played.

Since the 49ers' process of letting scouts and position coaches take over on Day 3 of the draft has worked so far, combining that success with winning first-round draft picks should mean that the Tennessee Titans should have a much better draft class and draft strategy next offseason.

What is most exciting for Titans fans is that five of those six picks made in the first round were on offense and they were all at different positions.

The college scouting staff that he was in charge of was able to identify high-quality NFL players at every non-QB position on the offense, so now it will be possible for the team to build an elite supporting cast around whichever QB is in charge of the Tennessee Titans offense in 2024 (and hopefully beyond).