The Tennessee Titans finally granted the wishes of the vast majority of the fanbase after officially relieving Todd Downing of his duties as the team’s offensive coordinator.
Downing now joins former General Manager Jon Robinson, among several others, who will now be looking for work elsewhere over the coming months.
Naturally, with the season officially in the rearview mirror and both jobs being available, the topic of conversation has now shifted to who should fill those massive seats going forward.
There have been several names floating around for each job, including a few notable in-house candidates.
Vice president of player personnel, Ryan Cowden, and director of player personnel Monti Ossenfort, will both interview, per owner Amy Adams Strunk.
Meanwhile, the current passing game coordinator, Tim Kelly, is expected to warrant serious consideration for the open offensive coordinator position.
However, with all due respect to the three of them, unless they absolutely blow the team away during the interview process, it’s probably time for this franchise to stop pretending as if their building is so fantastic that everyone must be promoted from within.
For starters, the team had every opportunity to give Kelly a shot in 2022 and make a legitimate argument for him in 2023. The writing has been on the wall for weeks when it came to the offensive coordinator position.
If the Titans genuinely had an interest in Kelly, they should have ripped the Downing band-aid off weeks ago so they could have seen if Kelly could provide some type of spark to their lifeless offense.
Tennessee chose not to even try that, so it’s really hard to sell your fanbase on that one going forward. One thing is for sure, whoever they get has to update this offense to the modern times and make it more creative, manipulative, and aggressive.
Tennessee already made the necessary moves, now it’s time to swing for the fences and get someone outside the building in hopes of reviving what was once a potent offense just a few seasons ago.
As for the general manager position, the team seems to be taking the right approach by casting a wide net to several candidates throughout the league.
GM candidates for the #Titans reported so far:
Ian Cunningham- Bears Asst. GM
Glenn Cook- Browns Asst. GM
Ran Carthon- 49ers Director of Player Personnel
Adam Peters- 49ers Asst. GM
Ryan Cowden- Titans VP of Player Personnel
Monti Ossenfort- Titans Director of Player Personnel— Titans247 (@NFL_Titans247) January 9, 2023
Quentin Harris- Cardinals VP of Player Personnel
— Titans247 (@NFL_Titans247) January 9, 2023
This is a good sign that they’re not just considering close friends of head coach Mike Vrabel and/or someone they feel is a safe candidate.
Similarly to the offensive coordinator job, it’s time to swing for the fences and get a bright, innovative, and fresh philosophy inside the building when it comes to a new general manager.
By all accounts, it seems to be trending in that direction, but only time will tell how all this plays out.
