ESPN NFL insider suggests which OC hire the Titans could make
The Tennessee Titans took care of their biggest offseason to-do list item earlier this week by hiring Ran Carthon to replace Jon Robinson as the franchise's general manager. Carthon was previously the director of player personnel for the San Francisco 49ers. The focus for the Titans is now on hiring an offensive coordinator. Tennessee has […]
The Tennessee Titans took care of their biggest offseason to-do list item earlier this week by hiring Ran Carthon to replace Jon Robinson as the franchise's general manager.
Carthon was previously the director of player personnel for the San Francisco 49ers.
The focus for the Titans is now on hiring an offensive coordinator.
Tennessee has already expressed interest in several external candidates, including Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, Chiefs quarterbacks coach Matt Nagy, Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Justin Outten, and Atlanta Falcons quarterbacks coach Charles London.
ESPN NFL insider Dan Graziano, however, believes it's still possible that despite those interviews, the Titans simply promote passing game coordinator Tim Kelly to offensive coordinator.
The Tennessee Titans continue to look at offensive-coordinator candidates to replace Todd Downing, but it's possible they end up promoting passing-game coordinator Tim Kelly to the job. Kelly and Mike Vrabel coached together in Houston for four years before Vrabel got the job as Titans head coach, and Vrabel promoted from within the past two times this job came open. Arthur Smith ascended to the job when Matt LaFleur left for Green Bay, and Downing was promoted to the OC job when Smith left to coach the Falcons.
It certainly wouldn't be a surprise if Vrabel promoted Kelly, considering that's how he's operated in the past when it comes to coordinator openings.
Kelly, who worked with Vrabel when both coaches were on staff with the Houston Texans, has previous offensive coordinator experience.
The Illinois native was the Texans' offensive coordinator from 2019 to 2021.
In 2019, the Texans had the No. 14 scoring offense in the NFL. In 2020, Houston had the No. 18 scoring offense in the NFL (though their scoring average actually improved from 23.6 points per game to 24.0 points per game).
The 2021 season didn't go as well for Kelly as the Texans finished with the No. 30 scoring offense in the NFL. It's not fair, however, to entirely blame Kelly for the offensive struggles in 2021 as Deshaun Watson missed the entire season. Houston was forced to start a combination of rookie Davis Mills and Tyrod Taylor at quarterback — not exactly a recipe for success.
One thing worth noting is that Kelly, despite not having Watson in 2021, was still heavily criticized by local media in Houston for his playcalling efforts and inability to create clean running lanes for the Texans' rushing attack.
Beyond statistics, the offensive tape is also difficult to watch. Any fan can see the team, once again, struggles to create lanes for their running backs, over use the screen game, and the play-calling has been beyond puzzling in the second half of games. The staff has done well with the development of Davis Mills, however despite several great throws this season it isn’t hard to see the game plans are ones which don’t put a young signal caller in a great position to succeed.
That was obviously a different situation in Houston and it doesn't mean that Kelly would fail in Nashville. But if Vrabel decides to promote from within again after the disastrous decision to promote Todd Downing, it might leave a lot of Titans fans scratching their heads and wondering if Kelly is the right guy to help Tennessee's offense turn the corner.
Featured image via Andrew Nelles-USA TODAY Sports
