By firing Mike Vrabel, Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk and GM Ran Carthon are going to get a lot of attention this offseason. Those two are going to have to prove that the decision that ownership made was the right one.
Passive observers, local media who had grown close with Mike Vrabel, and national media members who haven't watched the Tennessee Titans more than a handful of times over the last two years are going to be quick to defend Mike Vrabel and right now that means a lot of negative reaction to anything that the Titans do.
Amy Adams Strunk could come out tomorrow and announce that she had given $10 million to local children's hospitals and several people on talk radio would talk about how she could have spent that time looking for a new head coach.
Having said that, it certainly doesn't help when Amy Adams Strunk's only comments about firing Mike Vrabel have been in a short statement and a 5-minute interview between her and the Voice of the Tennessee Titans, Mike Keith.
Compound that with a Ran Carthon press conference that was 35 minutes of answers that provided no details on what the future will hold, and you are going to have an aggravated fan base.
The biggest concern is around the idea of Mike Vrabel not fitting the "vision" of what Amy Adams Strunk wants the Tennessee Titans to be. While that could be because the team had one of the longest losing streaks in franchise history to end last season, or that they have lost 18 of their last 24 games (second-worst over that stretch in the NFL), it is something else.
Amy Adams Strunk's vision is to have a team that is offensive-minded, analytics-driven, and built around Will Levis.
How do we know that? Well, so far there have been three head coaching candidates connected to the Tennessee Titans. Immediately after the Vrabel firing, Buck Reising said that he expects Detroit Lions OC Ben Johnson to get "significant interest" from the Titans.
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler mentioned that Miami Dolphins OC Frank Smith would be someone to keep an eye on considering his extensive experience in the Kyle Shanahan/Mike McDaniels offenses (which connects him back to Ran Carthon).
Finally, Justin Melo broke the news that the Tennessee Titans will interview Cincinnati Bengals OC Brian Callahan.
Aside from being offensive-minded, all three have proven that they can elevate the quarterbacks that they are working with. Jared Goff is having one of the best two-year stretches of his career with the Lions and Ben Johnson.
In 2022 Tua Tagovailoa led the NFL in touchdown percentage, yards per attempt, yards per completion, and QB rating. This season, Tua leads the NFL in passing yards and that was with skill position players in and out of the lineup all year.
Then there is Brian Callahan who helped turn Jake Browning into one of the most effective quarterbacks in the NFL (Browning led all QBs in completion percentage), and Joe Burrow has obviously thrived with Callahan as his OC.
This and the fact that Amy Adams Strunk identified Will Levis as one of the most attractive assets that the Tennessee Titans have to entice a new coach, and it is pretty obvious what the focal point of this team is going to be.
As for the analytics part of the equation, we know that Vrabel and former GM Jon Robinson didn't have any interest in analytics. It wasn't until Ran Carthon came in that the Titans added an analytics department.
It is clear that the front office she is trying to build and the innovation and evolution of the NFL, both value analytics. Based on how the conversation around analytics has shifted since Carthon was hired, it makes sense that the emphasis on those numbers would grow instead of shrinking.
We will see as more info comes out whether names like Bobby Slowik get mentioned or a massive name like Jim Harbaugh emerges as a real option, but the direction of the first few interviews seems to point towards a clear vision of bringing in a coach that can improve the offense, turn Will Levis into a franchise quarterback, and help find a formula for sustained success.
(Since this article was written, the Tennessee Titans have also identified Aaron Glenn, Antonio Pierce, and Dan Quinn as potential candidates.)