Although the Titans could not turn their No. 1 seed into a postseason win, they are rewarding the top power brokers responsible for the team earning that first-round bye.
Mike Vrabel and GM Jon Robinson signed extensions with the team Tuesday. Vrabel is entering his fifth year as Titans head coach, while Robinson is going into his seventh as GM.
The Robinson-Vrabel partnership has changed the course of the Titans, who have made the playoffs in three straight seasons. This past 12-5 result gave Tennessee its first No. 1 seed since 2008, and the season could well lead to Vrabel earning Coach of the Year acclaim at this week’s NFL Honors banquet.
Vrabel has yet to have a losing season as Titans HC, and he broke the team’s four-year run of 9-7 seasons by winning the AFC South with an 11-5 record in 2020. He also oversaw upsets of the Patriots and Ravens in the 2019 playoffs, leading the Titans to their first AFC championship game since 2002.
The Titans gave Vrabel a five-year deal when he took the job in 2018, which would have made 2022 a walk year for the former Super Bowl-winning linebacker and Texans defensive coordinator. Vrabel, 46, has solidified himself in this role and is the longest-serving Titans HC since Jeff Fisher. The Titans battled through numerous injuries this season, deploying a historically high number of players due to the various maladies. Vrabel’s team defeated three of the four conference finalists this season — the Chiefs, Rams and 49ers — but its upset loss to the Bengals ended the run early.
Robinson, 46, has been with the Titans since coming over from the Buccaneers in 2016. Robinson’s teams have made the playoffs in four of the six seasons under his watch. Under Robinson, the Titans managed to land a starting quarterback in a trade package headlined by a fourth-round pick. While Ryan Tannehill has not been a top-tier QB, the former injury-prone Dolphins starter has stabilized his career in Tennessee. The Titans also landed Derrick Henry, Harold Landry and A.J. Brown in the second round under Robinson, who has built the most consistently good Titans teams since Fisher’s run in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Vrabel is a quarterback short of a Super Bowl run. THIS is the team that should be sending Green Bay a king’s ransom (plus Tannehill) for 2 years of Aaron Rodgers.
Is it even functionally possible to trade Tannehill this offseason given his cap hit?
Also, they need to work on their line, add/replace talent to the defense, and have better health among their skill position players for that to be true. They did great work this year, but they were also lucky to come out of that season with the 1 seed.
Rodgers has 1 more year at 45 million. Im sure tennessee could extend him and get the cap down, but GB wouldnt care for Tanehills cap hit. The Titans are 9 million over the cap without retaining any of thier FA or signing their draft class.
I also think Tannehill’s cap hit might actually make it impossible to trade him, no matter what they get back salary-wise.
Won’t be traded but he could be a june 1st cut
Could he? I’m asking honestly. But also, a lot of teams would LEAP at the chance to upgrade to Tannehill if he were a free agent.
If he’s too hard to trade, I would think he’d be very hard to release even after June 1st. I don’t know his contract status but if it’s a 20 million dollar dead cap hit plus with Rodgers salary I don’t see how that works. Denver would be the only place I see getting Rodgers unless the Raiders can trade Carr
According to Spotrac, if he is cut post June 1 is would save them $0. He could theoretically be traded and sign some sort of extention, but he has 9.2 million in money due to hin after the contract, so the Titans will 99% have to keep him barring some team like washington with dan snyder so something stupid.
I read it wrong, my fault. If he’s a post 6/1 trade the dead cap for 2022 is 9.6 saving them 29mil