While the Tennessee Titans haven’t been able to get over the hump with a Super Bowl during his tenure, general manager Jon Robinson has done a great job turning the franchise around from where it was when he took over.
Prior to Robinson taking the reins in 2016, the Titans were a mess. Tennessee had five losing seasons in seven years, including a combined mark of 5-27 in the two campaigns before Robinson was hired.
Since then, the Titans haven’t had a single losing season and have made the playoffs four times, including a trip to the AFC Championship Game in 2019. Tennessee also won back-to-back division titles in 2020 and 2021, marking the first time the franchise has ever done that in the Titans era.
Despite that success, the Titans’ front office fell just outside the top 10 in the rankings of Pro Football Network’s Dallas Robinson, coming in at No. 12.
The Titans’ trade for Ryan Tannehill — in which they sent fourth- and seventh-round picks for Tannehill and a sixth-rounder while taking on just $2 million of the quarterback’s $7 million salary — remains an all-time coup. Tennessee dealt next to nothing in exchange for a signal-caller who subsequently led the NFL in QBR. That simply doesn’t happen.
The Titans seem to have taken a self-imposed step back this offseason, trading A.J. Brown to the Eagles despite finishing as the AFC’s No. 1 seed in 2021. That’s a level of self-awareness most front offices don’t possess. Robinson and Co. are taking one step backward to eventually move two steps forward.
While Robinson has certainly had his fair share of warts when it comes to free-agent signings and draft picks in the last two years, the good has outweighed the bad overall.
The trade for quarterback Ryan Tannehill and landing multiple franchise-changing players in the NFL draft over the years — especially in 2016 and 2019 — are among Robinson’s highlights.
Perhaps his best move was the hiring of head coach Mike Vrabel, who has become one of the better head coaches in the NFL.
That fact was cemented by the job Vrabel did in 2021 when the team finished 12-5 despite fielding an NFL record 91 players because of injuries.
Vrabel was rewarded with NFL Coach of the Year for his efforts, and Robinson also deserves some credit for piecing the roster together to help fill the voids.
Earlier this offseason, the Titans rightly gave Robinson and Vrabel contract extensions, which will keep the pair in Nashville for the foreseeable future.
Now, Tennessee will once again look to finally take that next step in 2022.