While A.J. Brown‘s performance in his first game against the Titans did not represent a good look for his first NFL franchise, Amy Adams Strunk said the game did not factor into her decision to fire GM Jon Robinson.
The Titans owner indicated her decision to can the seventh-year GM was already made, despite having signed Robinson to an extension in February. Rumored to be displeased with the state of her team’s roster, Adams Strunk preferred to let Robinson go early rather than going through a lengthy delay.
“I’d already made my decision,” Strunk said, via the Associated Press’ Teresa Walker. “A.J. had a great game. More power to him, but that didn’t actually have anything to do with that.
“… Once I made the decision, I was like, ’I can’t sit on it. I’ve got to go ahead and do it to be fair to Jon.′ I don’t know how many weeks we have left in the season. There could be a lot more hopefully in our season, and it just didn’t seem like the right thing to do to drag this along.”
[RELATED: Brown’s Knee Trouble Influenced Titans’ Trade?]
Adams Strunk confirmed she was in the loop on the negotiations that led up to the draft-night Brown trade, Walker adds, but after studying Robinson’s body of work — from drafts to free agency to season performances — she opted to cut bait. This comes after Robinson, teaming with HCs Mike Mularkey and Mike Vrabel, did not have a losing season while running the team. The Titans went 3-13 the season before Robinson’s hire.
The timing here is obviously interesting, with Robinson’s recent extension running through the 2027 draft. Ownership’s decision here has dismayed many around the league, The Athletic’s Jeff Howe notes (subscription required), adding that Robinson should not have trouble landing another high-profile position soon.
“I told the fans from the very beginning that I want to win it all, and I want to be one of those elite teams that people are always scared of, and it’s my responsibility,” Strunk said. “And eventually it’s up to me to make those kind of decisions that get us there.”
Tennessee has advanced to three straight playoff brackets, earning the AFC’s No. 1 seed — for the first time since 2008 — last season. The Titans flamed out immediately after their bye, losing to the Bengals despite sacking Joe Burrow nine times. The 2019 team did upset the Patriots and Ravens en route to the AFC championship game, however. This year’s squad has lost two straight, but with the rest of the AFC South either rebuilding or underwhelming, the Titans (7-5) remain on track to make another postseason berth.
Robinson, who fired Mularkey after back-to-back winning seasons, made a number of solid draft choices to help put the team in position to contend after Ryan Tannehill‘s 2019 arrival via trade (for fourth- and seventh-round picks). The team has never extended one of Robinson’s first-round picks, however, and the 2020 Isaiah Wilson whiff represented one of this era’s worst draft choices. The Titans have also seen a number of players go on IR over the past two seasons; their 16 players on IR leads the NFL this year. Adams Strunk mentioned the number of players the injuries have forced the Titans to use, per Walker, who notes the team has used 76 players this season. Tennessee set an NFL record by using 91 last year.
Adams Strunk did not mention offensive coordinator Todd Downing‘s DUI arrest or the NFL investigation that emerged in the aftermath as a reason for the firing. That brought another major headline for the team due to the timing between the Titans’ plane landing from Wisconsin and Downing’s arrest. Downing remains in place as OC, though Vrabel said that could change depending on the investigation.
This surprising decision also did not come about because of a Vrabel ultimatum, Adams Strunk added. Vrabel and VP of player personnel Ryan Cowden will coordinate personnel moves for the rest of this season. Adams Strunk did not rule out the Titans waiting until after the Super Bowl to make the right hire, if necessary, and Walker adds Vrabel will be involved in the process.
Just another idiot owner who probably is jealous of the attention other owners are getting. She apparently canned Robinson because she resented being kept out of the decision making loop. Now she has admitted she doesn’t even know how many weeks remain in the season…lol. Good luck to the next GM that has to work for Adams. He’ll certainly need it.
She isn’t winning anytime soon with a has been at QB.
It’s easy to take shots at Tannehill, but he’s been by far the Titans’ best QB since the early 2000s.
She said she doesn’t know how many weeks remain in the season because they’re currently on track for the postseason, genius.
On track means nothing. Until a playoff berth is secured you have to assume your season is 17 games long.
Give me a break. They’re winning the division by three games. They’re prohibitive favorites to at least make the playoffs. And you definitely missed the meaning of her comment.
Even a psychic Jets fan should be able to see her comment is idiotic nonsense…especially the part about doing Robinson a favor.
So now you’re moving the goalposts on which comment you think is nonsense, since you missed the common sense meaning of the comment you singled out. Maybe get some air.
She’s going to run her franchise into the ground.
Aren’t you the guy who said the franchise is going to fall apart because a woman owns the team, even though they’ve won their division most of the several years she’s been in charge?
By saying she doesn’t know how many weeks are left in the season, I’m quite sure she was considering post-season play…
I would posit that Robinson had something to do with that.
It won’t be long now, I can just see it the titans get off to a slow start early next year and the titans owner fires vrabel land hires an NFL commentator
Bullsh*t
This season has made Vrabel look great while shining a light on how Robinson has let the offensive line and pass catcher group get worse and worse. With Henry aging and Tannehill declining, this roster is going to need some reshaping. I can understand being leery of Robinson leading the way after the past couple years, and if there’s friction between Vrabel and Robinson, she’s not going to say so, but Vrabel is the horse to back.
The in-season firing was lame.
Either lame or telling. I think it might be a sign of behind the scenes matters they’re not airing out.
I’m sure that’s true.It just appears as undisciplined and unprofessional. I would think (outside of internal options), it would give any credible GM candidate pause. I’m not a big Amy fan.
Hard to fault them for not giving Brown big money, while he’s a good WR when healthy, he’s got to be healthy. This year he has been healthy, will have to see how the whole contract plays out. At the same time, if Philly wins SB it was worth it for them.
Given what other receivers fetched this offseason, you could argue they should have gotten more if they were going to trade him.
The Titans have issues keeping guys healthy. That is a big issue.
Oh that contract is gonna look great Brown is fine. He having way more fun in philly
I wonder if she thinks his drafts were duds or that he simply didn’t land enough free agents? The Titans do seem pretty devoid of play-makers, but every team in the league would probably like more…
And of course the FA receiving pool might not want to play on a team with Tannehill as the QB and a running back that will be taking the majority of the team’s offensive touches – thus even if you had the money to throw around they may not seriously consider the Titans.
Didnt even make a trade to help the team at the deadline.
I find it hard to believe that Strunk “made her decision” already after immediately giving Robinson an extension.
The team is likely (certainly) going to win its division. There is no urgency to force this move, no matter how perturbed Strunk was at whatever reasoning she thought justified it. I would wonder how successful she thinks a team that lost its G.M. Late in the year will be? New management, no matter how familiar it is with the current workings, will need to now adjust on the fly. She said that she wanted to be fair to Robinson-did she think about being fair to her team?
She’s just your typical owner spinning some bs story to cover the mistake she made. She probably canned Robinson just for the media attention because she was jealous that owners like Snyder, Jones, Tepper and Irsay are getting lots of media attention while she was being ignored.
Posting your opinion over and over doesn’t make it any less lame. I sure she is dying to get the same attention Snyder is getting.
History doesn’t care whether the attention a person received was positive or negative.
Yea I’m sure it wasn’t because the owner looks embarrassed because AJ just dunked all over Tennessee nah