It is still up in the air who will be the starting quarterback for the Tennessee Titans when the 2023 season gets underway.

Tennessee is set to hire a new GM in the coming weeks, and the new executive may want to get creative to find an answer for the Titans' offensive struggles of late. Ryan Tannehill, who has started for Tennessee since the middle of the 2019 season, is coming off of his worst season in a Titans uniform and a season ending ankle surgery.

Tannehill is also entering the final year of his four-year, $118 million contract with Tennessee, and will carry a $36.6 million cap hit for the Titans this season.

Those numbers naturally call into question if Tannehill will return to the Titans in 2023. That's not a guarantee, not when the team can save nearly $18 million against the cap if they cut him before March 21st.

While the team's direction is still undecided, popular sports media personality Colin Cowherd is already posturing about what Mike Vrabel and the Titans may do at quarterback. On a recent episode of The Colin Cowherd Podcast, Cowherd had a conversation with fellow talk show host Nick Wright about his "hot take" regarding Aaron Rodgers finding his way to Tennessee.

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"So, Mike Vrabel played with Tom Brady," said Cowherd. "He is absolutely one of the smartest coaches in the league. He knows the importance of the position and he's now in a conference where Trevor Lawrence looks like a top five quarterback. He's in a conference with Mahomes, Allen, Burrow, Herbert and Trevor Lawrence. All the good young guys. And Vrabel is going to get on the phone after this season, because there's no dead cap hit for Tannehill, and he's going to say ‘Aaron, get the f— down here.’” 

Cowherd shared his theory, which was an admittedly hot take, that the Packers would be willing to trade Aaron Rodgers to the Tennessee Titans this offseason, and Mike Vrabel was going to land himself a future Hall of Famer at quarterback after convincing Rodgers to put on the two-tone blue.

"He's going to play to his vanity ‘Mahomes, Burrow, Herbert, Trevor Lawrence…I need you.’"…"My hot take is, Vrabel's going to get on the phone and and try really hard to convince Aaron Rodgers," Cowherd said. 

While Cowherd's co-host Nick Wright believed the concept was "not crazy," he did bring up the point that for this to happen, Green Bay would have to trade Rodgers, as the team cannot afford to cut him given their salary cap situation.

That's hard to picture as a possibility for the Titans seeing as Rodgers would still be owed over 18 million dollars in 2023 and his cap hit escalates to over 40 million dollars in 2024. Not to mention Green Bay would likely ask for monetary contributions to any trade, as well.

While it may be fun to imagine what the Titans could be capable of with Vrabel as their head coach, Derrick Henry in the backfield, and a Hall of Famer like Rodgers under center, I don't see it happening.

Image via Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports