The Tennessee Titans made another huge personnel move on Tuesday, firing general manager Ran Carthon after just two seasons.
Previous general manager Jon Robinson was fired at the end of 2022 and former head coach Mike Vrabel was fired almost exactly one year ago. So, it’s safe to say the Titans’ organization has been shaken up quite a bit over the last three years.
The firing of Carthon was not completely surprising. When a team finishes with a 3-14 record and earns the top pick in the draft, it’s unsurprising to see people lose their jobs. However, it was quickly reported that first-year head coach Brian Callahan was safe. So, why Carthon and not Callahan?
Did Carthon deserve to be fired?
GM Ran Carthon of the Tennessee Titans. (Photo by Johnnie Izquierdo/Getty Images)
Carthon was at the helm for two drafts with the Titans. Thirteen players were selected in those two drafts, and the results have been mixed.
Arguably, the biggest reason for Carthon’s firing is Will Levis’ poor play. Carthon selected Levis in the second round of the 2023 NFL draft, and the team hoped the quarterback would lift them out of purgatory.
Instead, the Levis experiment has gone as poorly as possible, and now the team is looking for a new signal-caller again. One has to imagine that Carthon would still have a job if Levis panned out.
The 2024 class has produced better results. T’Vondre Sweat and Jarvis Brownlee Jr. were arguably two of the best players on the roster as rookies, and Carthon should get credit for that. However, when your team is this bad, a couple of hits can’t make up the difference.
Did Carthon deserve all the blame, though, for the terrible season? Absolutely not. The team failed to improve as the season went on and actually looked worse. Callahan failed to develop the players on the roster at all, which can’t be blamed on the GM.
It would have made more sense if Callahan and Carthon had both been fired. I could understand keeping both or getting rid of both. Canning Carthon and keeping Callahan seems like setting up the former GM as the scapegoat, which leads me to my next point.
Will anybody even want this GM job?
Owner Amy Adams Strunk of the Tennessee Titans. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
Football is one big fraternity. People talk, and owners and franchises get reputations placed upon them. Football people will see the turmoil that’s embroiled this franchise, and some will likely not want to touch this job with a ten-foot pole.
Carthon was fired after just two seasons, which is almost unheard of for a general manager. Why would a general manager want to take a job if he knows he may not even get to see it through? An NFL team and a vision cannot be firmly established in just two seasons.
Making matters worse is that both Robinson and Carthon received extensions one season before their firing. This means being in Amy Adams Strunk’s good graces one day doesn’t guarantee long-term job security. Who would be comfortable with that?
Amy Adams Strunk has made the Titans a laughingstock
Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK
Amy Adams Strunk became the controlling owner of the Tennessee Titans in March 2015. Since then, the team has a 78-86 record. The Titans have made the playoffs just four times in that span and haven’t been since the 2021 season.
Since 2022, the team has received the most publicity for the following things:
- Trading away two future Hall of Fame wide receivers (AJ Brown and DeAndre Hopkins)
- Firing two general managers in just over two years
- Firing Mike Vrabel
- Letting Derrick Henry leave in free agency
- Earning the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL draft
- Building a massive new stadium when the current stadium already gets taken over by opposing fans
That’s pretty much it. Not a lot for Titans’ fans to smile about of late, and it’s hard to see much getting better. The worst part is that the team EXPECTED to be good in 2024. You don’t spend a quarter of a billion dollars in free agency if you expect to finish with the worst record in football.
This is a directionless franchise. And the worst part? The owner won’t even talk to the media unless she absolutely has to. Carthon was also excellent at avoiding the media, only holding four press conferences during his entire tenure.
Move over, Cleveland Browns, New York Jets, and New York Giants. The Tennessee Titans are the newest and biggest dumpster fire.
