Mike Vrabel stands to inherit more decision-making power with the Titans going forward, with seven-year GM Jon Robinson now out of the picture. Vrabel and VP of player personnel Ryan Cowden are running the show presently.
But the fifth-year coach insists he was not part of the process that led to Robinson’s surprising ouster. “I was informed of the decision. This wasn’t a decision that included me,” Vrabel said (via NBC Sports’ Peter King). Vrabel and Robinson signed extensions in February. Robinson’s runs through the 2027 draft; it is a good bet Vrabel’s aligns with that since-discarded contract.
Amy Adams Strunk decided to make the change after studying Robinson’s moves, and the owner curiously cited the Titans’ run of player unavailability — leading to inflated IR contingents over the past two years — as part of the reason Robinson is out. While the Tennessee owner said she had made her decision prior to A.J. Brown‘s two-touchdown performance against his former team, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports notes the Titans’ loss to the Eagles did play a role in the dismissal.
Tennessee’s losses to Cincinnati and Philadelphia were part of the reason Adams Strunk cut bait so soon after authorizing the extension, Jones adds, noting this firing is not believed to have come about because of a power struggle between Robinson and Vrabel. Adams Strunk said she wanted the Titans to be regarded as one of the NFL’s elite teams. Despite an injury-affected 2021 Titans edition earning the AFC’s No. 1 seed, she cut the cord and will look for a new decision-maker to pair with Vrabel.
Robinson hired Vrabel in 2018, and the two have never had a losing season together. The Titans are coming off three consecutive playoff berths. Though, their Week 14 loss to the Jaguars does open the door to a once-seemingly insurmountable AFC South lead slipping away. The Titans (7-6) still have a two-game division lead.
Vrabel will be included in the Titans’ GM search, however, and Jones adds it is clear he will be more involved in personnel decisions henceforth. It will be interesting to see if Vrabel will also have final say over the Titans’ 53-man roster in 2023. The reigning NFL Coach of the Year has gained considerable respect around the league during his Nashville stay, but Robinson’s firing shocked executives around the league.
Firing a GM without a losing season on his resume during a season does represent an interesting look for the Titans, especially so soon after greenlighting an extension. The Titans’ GM search will obviously generate extensive attention once it begins in earnest.
Robinson builds a team last few years that’s been in the playoffs only for the female owner to take away his power smh
lol, you can’t resist being a creep, can you? Is her being a woman the reason he’s missed on their biggest contracts while nickel and diming their best young offensive player, letting their offensive line fall apart, and getting zero production out of two consecutive first round draft picks?
It’s an oddly timed firing, but hardly a nonsensical one, and blaming this on the owner being a woman is grade school level sexism.
Well this is very telling. Few words to say a lot about yourself there.
In the AFC South that’s not nearly as much of an accomplishment as it sounds on the surface. Texans haven’t been a threat since the Hopkins-Watt era, Jaguars have been inept before and since their brief ‘Sacksonville’ run, and the Colts haven’t had a good QB since Luck.
At best, they’ve stagnated. No signs of breaking through to the next level as a team, and the clock is ticking on Henry’s prime.
It ain’t the 19th century anymore buddy.
“I could not have been involved in the hits on the dons of the five families. Witnesses can tell you I was at my godchild’s christening.”
So silly that Vrabel is being forced to lie about this. No owner is going to fire a successful GM shortly after inking them to an extension AND keep the coach without some behind the scenes backstabbing going on (absent some signs of serious negligence). Good luck finding a GM of any worth when they know that the coach is in control and has final say/owner’s ear. Might as well make Vrabel the GM in addition to the coach.
Vrabel was part of a conspiracy? To what end? He’s not going to be both GM and HC. Robinson’s replacement might make it even harder for Vrabel to achieve success. I’m convinced this is all on Adams.
Bill B, his mentor, is GM & HC.
Bill wasn’t elevated to GM at age 47 after just 5 seasons as a HC.
In the last seven seasons, I can’t think of many teams that have had consistent winning records. The Chiefs, the Ravens, and Titans seem like the only ones. Even this year, the Steelers and Packers have fallen to likely losing seasons. The Patriots, in the year following their mass retirements (no pun intended) and Brady’s departure, had a losing season. The Saints had a couple before fixing their defense.
Not to mention, the Titans had a bad losing season immediately prior to Robinson’s arrival. They also had the first two of those winning seasons before Vrabel was hired. Strunk was, as I said earlier, involved in an ownership struggle for most of those years. Tennessee may not be the first to come to your mind when naming the best teams in the league, but when you look at it, their success has been more than most of the competition, despite a few noticeable deficiencies on the roster. The Titans don’t need to chase being regarded as a top NFL team. When you look at the last seven years since Robinson’s arrival, they actually have been.
I want to amend my comment and say that the Ravens did, in fact, have two losing seasons in the last seven years. So it seems that only the Chiefs have not had a losing team in that time, other than Tennessee.
I think fans and owners have a very different perspective on what makes a team “elite”. For fans it’s the W/L record as you’ve stated but for owners it’s all about financial valuation. As you can see from the following list, the Titans have a long way to go to become financially “elite”.
link to forbes.com
That’s a good point.
“Amy Adams Strunk decided to make the change after studying Robinson’s moves,”
Hahaha
This is another example of an owner behaving badly and not feeling she owes anyone an explanation. It’s her money and she can do what she wants. If you don’t like it she will take her ball and go home. Common attitude of the very rich toward everyone else.