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The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/liljakeyplzandthnx on 2025-07-13 23:47:25+00:00.
Tennessee Titans
Division: AFC South
2024 Results: 3-14 (1-5 AFC South), 4th in AFC South
Hello and welcome to the /r/nfl 2025 Offseason Review series! I’m proud to be kicking it off with your Tennessee Titans, the worst team of this past season by draft position. You’ll see thirty-one other posts that look a lot like this one about thirty-one other teams in the coming days, and I hope you enjoy them all. You can find the hub for all those posts here.
My goal here is to catch you up to speed on all the happenings and goings-on of my particular team since the clock hit zeroes on their final game of the season. Because that encompasses half a year of stuff, it can get pretty long, so here’s a handy table of contents:
Table of Contents
- FAQ
- Front Office/Coaching Changes
- Free Agency Signings and Losses
- 2025 NFL Draft
- Projected 53-man Roster and Depth Chart
- Schedule and Predictions
Frequently Asked Questions
1. So why exactly did y’all fire Vrabel?
Listen, we’re not exactly happy we have to defend this, either. Heck a whole lot of Titans fans still regret that decision. Depending on the day I might be one of them. But I won’t say there wasn’t a logic in place for Mike Vrabel to no longer be the head coach of the Tennessee Titans. The National Football League of today, like it or not, is a league where offense is king. And if your offense ain’t up to snuff, you gotta do something about it. Vrabel, to his credit, was not above letting people go. He fired offensive coordinator Todd Downing after a poor 2022 showing where the team finished 28th in points, and fired special teams coordinator Craig Aukerman less than 24 hours after a game that featured two blocked punts. But he was not as willing to evolve. Derrick Henry led the league in rushing attempts in 2022 with Downing as OC, and then led the league in rushing attempts in 2023 with Tim Kelly as OC. While such a philosophy had taken the Titans to the AFC Championship game in 2019 and to two straight division titles the following years, for the 6-11 2023 Tennessee Titans, it clearly wasn’t working anymore. While this is speculation on my part, I’d wager owner Amy Adams Strunk wanted Vrabel to put more emphasis on the passing attack and get an offensive coordinator who could do that, while the ever-loyal Vrabel didn’t want to send Tim Kelly packing so soon after the promotion. With the two at a standstill, the chute was pulled, and long story short, Mike Vrabel is in New England now. Was there a power struggle between Vrabel and Ran Carthon? Maybe, maybe not. We have no proof from either party, just whispers, rumors, and gossip. We may never know the exact reason why Vrabel had to clear out his office, but it’s not hard to see a team fire their head coach after they failed to win a lot of football games. Doesn’t matter if the coach has a sterling reputation in the wider media and the fanbase, he needs to win to keep his job, and Mike Vrabel just didn’t win enough to do that.
2. In the same vein, why exactly did y’all fire Ran Carthon?
Honestly this one’s a softball compared to the Vrabel question. The answer here is simple: he made moves to win, and the team did not, so he doesn’t get to make the moves anymore. The contracts and trades Ran Carthon executed in the 2024 offseason were based on the idea that this team would compete for a playoff spot during the season. You can’t tell me 50 million to Lloyd Cushenberry, 92 million to Calvin Ridley, and the consistent reiteration that Will Levis was the future for this team was all code for “this year’s gonna suck.” The L’Jarius Sneed trade and subsequent record-setting contract simply do not make sense for a team that would be okay exiting 2024 with a 3-14 record. That particular record plays a significant role in my calculus here, too. If, say, the Titans finished 6-11 and picked 7th overall just like in 2023-24, I think Carthon is still the GM. But because the team that was already pretty bad became the absolute worst team in the league after a bunch of big name free agent signings and optimism, heads had to roll. Ran himself elucidated this perspective on his firing, as less than a week after getting his pink slip, he said on 104.5 The Zone that “at the end of the day, we’re gonna be judged by wins and losses.” He lost a lot more than he won, and he recognized that. So did Amy Adams Strunk. Which is why Mike Borgonzi is now the General Manager of the Tennessee Titans. Spoilers for that part of this post I guess.
3. What is your ownership smoking that makes them think this is all a good idea?
The National Football League is not a league that lets you sit back and coast. If you do, they will run you over. You’ve got 17 opportunities to put your product forth and woo the American public to support you. 18 if you’re lucky, even more if you’re really lucky. Amy Adams Strunk understands this, and runs her business accordingly. If your job is to improve on that product, and the product is not up to snuff on too many of those 17 occasions, you’re out. GM, Coach, QB, doesn’t matter what your job title, if your performance cannot maximize the thing America sees on those 17 days, she will find someone who can. This approach attracts many labels. Cutthroat, meddlesome, tyrannical, unforgiving, relentless. One thing it can’t be called is apathetic. Amy Adams Strunk wants the Tennessee Titans to be the best team she can put on the football field, and to hire the people who will make that a reality. If the people she hires do not deliver her what she wants, she will hire other people to do their job better. This cycle will continue until results are satisfactory. No second chances, no grace periods, no mulligans, only results. This will certainly drive people away, fans and prospective employees alike. There will be those who think this methodology is draconian, those who believe this is not how one should build a successful enterprise, and those who would rather not deal with the potential blowback should they run afoul of ownership. But this will also draw people who like a challenge, who want the best for the team, and who are willing to lay it all on the line to make the most of those 17 opportunities. You are more than welcome to put yourself in the “you’re coping too hard chief” camp. I, however, have bought in, and will Titan up.
Front Office/Coaching Changes
General Manager
FIRED: Ran Carthon
HIRED: Mike Borgonzi
A big chunk of the fanbase was incensed by this move. “What kind of franchise fires their beloved head coach to stand by the new GM, only to fire that GM a year later?” “Who would want to work for an organization with that kind of turnover?” “This reeks of a hothead owner who doesn’t know what she’s doing and makes rash decisions.” Thankfully it appears cooler heads have since prevailed. Despite the fact it is clearly one of the most consequential hiring processes in the league, hunting for a new General Manager isn’t all that exciting. Since the general football viewing public is kept in the dark regarding what happens in NFL front offices, all the smoke and mirrors make for a more confusing than exciting spectacle. Even so, some favorites and non-favorites arose during the hunt. Reggie McKenzie’s tenure as GM for the Raiders soured his taste in Titans’ fans mouths. Thomas Dimitroff probably drew the most polarizing reactions of the bunch. Browns AGM Catherine Hickman and Colts AGM Ed Dodds were a couple curveball picks for interviews. However, the prevailing wisdom at the time was that this was one person’s job to lose, and that person was Jon-Eric Sullivan. Titans president of football operations Chad Brinker had worked with Sullivan for over a decade in Green Bay. Thus, particularly since the regime of the past had been perceived as one without a clear direction and much disagreement, it was important that this brain trust be on the same page with one another. So Sullivan would get picked, we’d all act shocked, then hopefully the team would be better in the very near future. But that’s not who they picked. Mike Borgonzi, three-time world champion with the Kansas City Chiefs, was considered an outside shot when he was on the list of GM candidates. Not because he wasn’t qualified, but because he didn’t fit the mold. The General Manager of the Tennessee Titans was supposed to be someone in lock step with the rest of the front office, not someone who’d spent his entire football management career with a team not based in Nashville. I know when I saw it, I figured he was just practicing for his inevitable GM interview with some other team in the future. Shows what I know. Now that he’s been head honcho for a few months, his vision for the team is one that is clear, focused, and fills the fans with hope. It’s only been like three quarters of a full offseason, but so far, good hire.
GM Support Staff
FIRED: Anthony Robinson, Brent Akers, Anthony Pastrana
HIRED: Dave Ziegler, Reggie McKenzie, Dan Saganey
If you fire the guy at the top, usually his second-in-command and entourage will go as well. So it was with Ran Carthon. The new conglomerate of football minds includes …
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