The first step in the Tennessee Titans’ offseason (well, hopefully after firing Todd Downing) will be to find a new general manager after the team parted ways with Jon Robinson in December.
With the season now over, Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk spoke on the process of hiring a new general manager, which she says has been gong on for four weeks now.
“We’ve been working on it for at least four weeks now,” Strunk said. “I’d like to have a GM as soon as possible, but we’re not going to rush the process just to get someone in as quickly as possible.
“The way we have it planned right now is we have two rounds, and we’re going to see where these interviews take us.”
In her explanation of what she’s looking for in candidates, Strunk emphasized the ability to collaborate to make decisions.
“We want someone who is an exceptional talent evaluator, exceptional at roster building, and someone who is an excellent decision-maker,” she said. “I also want someone who is a collaborator, someone who is able to find and build consensus to get to the best answers for the team, someone who is open to innovation and evaluating talent beyond the traditional avenues.
“Just really a talented person in all areas. But more than anything I want someone that can collaborate – that is super important to me, being able to find this person who can collaborate so we’re all working together, rowing the same direction.”
Collaborating will be important here. Strunk says she expects a “culture of working together”, and that culture will likely include head coach Mike Vrabel having more say over moves.
“The GM and the head coach are going to report to me, but as an organization we expect a culture of working together,” Strunk said.
“I think collaboration amongst all of us is going to be important to take that next step in the goal of winning a championship. The two of them are going to report to me, but the two of them are going to be working together to get us the best team we can possibly have.”
Also of note in Strunk’s quote was her saying she wants “someone who is open to innovation and evaluating talent beyond the traditional avenues,” which would seem to indicate a desire to use analytics.
As a team, the Titans have been trailing the rest of the league in analytics for years now, which was at least partly a reflection of the former GM, who wasn’t a proponent of them.
As far as in-house candidates are concerned, Strunk says current interim GM and Vice President of Player Personnel Ryan Cowden and Director of Player Personnel Monti Ossenfort will be interviewed.
Whoever the Titans bring in is going to have to be accepting of Vrabel’s increased role, which could limit the pool of options. It’s also possible Tennessee will hire a Vrabel guy to make things easier.
