After Mike Vrabel's firing, I've got knee-jerk questions for the Tennessee Titans | Estes
The Tennessee Titans of Mike Vrabel are no longer. He’s gone. Fired by Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk.
Not traded for draft picks. Not exiting voluntarily, according to the team.
“As I told Coach Vrabel, this decision was as difficult as any I’ve made as controlling owner,” Adams Strunk said in a lengthy statement that didn’t answer some knee-jerk questions that I have about an earth-shaking move that won’t be received wonderfully by many in the Titans’ fanbase.
1. Was Mike Vrabel firing purely about wins and losses?
I doubt that it was. I’d believe anyone who has been paying attention to the soap-opera-like climate surrounding this season would have doubts, too.
Vrabel’s leverage to demand organizational change – if that’s what he was aiming to do – was reduced by the fact that the Titans went 6-18 in his final 24 games.
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Nonetheless, his tenure in Tennessee was largely a successful one, and he’d said publicly that he wanted to stay. The Titans just fired someone who is highly respected around the league. Vrabel was the NFL’s Coach of the Year two seasons ago, and he’ll be in popular in this hiring cycle. He won’t be out of work long.
Which leads to …
2. How seriously did Titans consider trading Mike Vrabel?
That the Titans received zero draft capital in return for losing Vrabel initially seems to be a glaring misstep in all this, especially after media rumbles for months that the New England Patriots – if not other teams – would have been interested in a swap.
The logistics of that, however, would have been complicated and time-consuming. Waiting to work that out with another team while adhering to the NFL's hiring rules could have hindered the Titans’ efforts to search for their next coach.
Would it have been worth the wait anyway? We’ll never know.
3. Why didn’t Titans fire Vrabel happen sooner?
This doesn’t appear to be as simple as Vrabel walking into a room and getting fired. Otherwise, the Titans would have announced it along with other NFL teams on Black Monday.
What was discussed between coach and owner that created a delay? And did that discussion itself result in Vrabel being axed as opposed to Adams Strunk showing up already knowing how she wanted this to go?
4. What changed owner Amy Adams Strunk’s mind?
In late November, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini wrote the following in clear terms: “Angry Tennessee Titans fans can stop hoping owner Amy Adams Strunk fires Vrabel. It’s not happening.”
What changed? While this season was a disappointment, it didn’t worsen on the field. The Titans beat the playoff-bound Miami Dolphins in December on "Monday Night Football" and finished on a high note Sunday with a nice win, knocking the rival Jacksonville Jaguars out of the playoffs.
“If you just look at this past game, guys were playing hard for him. Guys want to win for him,” linebacker Harold Landry said.
In general, Titans players have supported Vrabel’s remaining as coach. That was evident in how they played even after the team had been eliminated from the playoffs.
5. Does this expand Ran Carthon’s role?
In her statement Tuesday, Adams Strunk referenced a belief that, “The teams best positioned for sustained success (in the NFL) will be those who empower an aligned and collaborative team across all football functions.”
It’s not the first time we’ve heard the “collaboration” word since Carthon was hired to replace Jon Robinson as general manager. How will that work now?
With Vrabel gone, does Carthon get to hire the next coach? And will that coach report to him?
Doesn’t sound as if that will be the case.
Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Mike Vrabel fired, and I have questions for Tennessee Titans
