Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans FIRE Colt Anderson, John Fassel HOME RUN HIRE & Mike Borgonzi's Real Role

Episode Date: January 20, 2025

The Tennessee Titans have finally FIRED special teams coach Colt Anderson and have hired legendary coach John Fassel for the role. This is a HOME RUN HIRE for the Titans and Brian Callahan in a make-or-break season for the coach. Fassel has a proven track record of special teams success. We also got some information on the role of new general manager Mike Borgonzi as well as the back story on how his hiring went down. Tyler dives into the latest details. Subscribe to the TicTacTitans Film Channel:https://www.youtube.com/@TicTacTitans TicTacTitans Merchandise: https://dixons-dream.square.site/shop/tictactitans-gear/C3AAPNWXSXA6SBYG3USV2I7R?page=1&limit=30&sort_by=category_order&sort_order=asc Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitans Follow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPod Subscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videos Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!TalkspaceAs a listener of this podcast, you’ll get $80 off your first month with Talkspace when you go to Talkspace.com/LOCKEDONNFL and enter promo code SPACE80. LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply. PrizePicksDownload the app and use code lockedonnfl to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuelFrom the first whistle to the final drive, FanDuel makes the NFL Playoffs even more exciting! Right now, new customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get THREE HUNDRED BUCKS in BONUS BETS – if you win your first bet! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)  

The Tennessee Titans have fired special teams coach, Colt Anderson, and replaced him with the best possible candidate, John Fossil. I'll break down the move on today's edition of Locked on Titans. You are Locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Welcome to the Locked On Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland, Titans fans. Today's edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, use the code locked on NFL for $20 off your

first purchase. The Tennessee Titans make the change. We have all been waiting on and fire special teams coordinator, Cole Anderson and the replacement is none other than legendary special teams coach John fossil. This is a home run hire for the Tennessee Titans. I'll go into details as to why exactly that is. We're also going to go into some other details today. We got the inner workings of new general manager Mike Borganzi's real role with the Titans and we got some background on how the hire happened. So diving into all of that on today's show

before we do. Thank you for making the Locked on Titans podcast. You are first to listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. You're not going to beat that anywhere else. Make sure that you get subscribed. Stay subscribed. It's your team every day.

And, of course, shout out to my everydayers out there tuning in. Monday through Friday, if you aren't an everydayer, well, you well, you need to be one because clearly as I've been telling you, there's going to be a ton of Tennessee Titans news. You never know when it's going to pop up, but I'm always going to be here to break down the big stories with you guys. So again, make sure you get subscribed, stay subscribed, but the big news, Cole Anderson fired and that what the Tennessee Titans did here is they didn't even publicly announce that they had fired Cole Anderson as the special teams coach. They just hired the new one. You know what I mean? We got news. The Tennessee Titans are hiring John Bones Fossil as their special teams coordinator. I didn't even know the position was open. So the Titans tried to do Cole Anderson a favor with that, not putting out the news that he's fired, just putting out the news of his

replacement. But make no mistake about it. Cole Anderson was fired by the Tennessee Titans. This isn't a demotion. This isn't anything else. They fired him and it was the right move to make. The Titans special teams was a pure disaster for two-thirds of the season and not only was the special teams play bad, but Cole Anderson made a mockery of himself and Brian Callahan with some of his answers in his press conference is saying that he didn't realize that the guys didn't know what to do on special teams when he first started coaching it. Like what are you even saying? So not only were the Titans an embarrassment on the field do on special teams when he first started coaching it. Like, what are you even saying?

So not only were the Titans an embarrassment on the field with the special teams week in and week out, but Cole Anderson was an embarrassment at the podium every single week. So this is a move that had to be made. And again, the Titans bring in John Bones Fossil. That's a name that's been around the NFL for quite some time. Jim Fossil, another guy that you might recognize. But Bones Fossil has been, again, one of the most decorated and revered

and respected special teams coaches in the entire NFL for quite some time. He came into the NFL in 2005 as an assistant special teams coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. Then he moved to a full-time special teams coordinator position with the Las Vegas Raiders from 2008 to 2011.

Then he went to the Los Angeles Rams from 2012 to 2019, a little run over with Jeff Fisher, former Titans coach as well. But then John Fossil has been with the Dallas Cowboys for the last five seasons. And you look at what he did with the Dallas Cowboys just in the last five years, Cavante Turpin has turned into one of the best returners in the NFL. Not only that, but Brandon Aubrey, the kicker for the Dallas Cowboys has been one of the best kickers in the NFL. Shout out to my guy, Zach

Lyons. He put out some data here that Jim Fossil's special teams units according to Rankin DVO a last five years with the Cowboys, third best 10th best 10th best six bet seventh best. This is a guy who routinely has some of the best special teams units in the entire NFL. He has turned some players into special teams heroes that you would not have heard of otherwise. And you look back, he's been creative. John Fossil has brought for plays on punt return on kickoff return, things like that. He is a creative guy and innovator for special teams at the end of the day. So again, John Bones fossil 51 years old, the top special teams coordinator

candidate on the market and the Tennessee Titans go out and make it happen. So outside of just the fact that this should improve the Tennessee Titans and this is a big, big season for Brian Callahan's future in the NFL. Is he gonna be reverted to just an offensive guy who can only call plays or design plays or be involved with offense? Or is he going to establish himself as an actual head coaching candidate in the NFL for years to come? And how he is viewed is on the line this season and to go out and get bones

fossil and take it that serious. That's what I'm most excited about is that the, of course, like I said, with the GM hire, we don't know if this is going to improve the Tennessee Titan special teams. It seems likely based on all of the data that we have, based on all of said with the GM hire, we don't know if this is going to improve the Tennessee Titan special teams. It seems likely based on all of the data that we have based on all of the experience that fossil has, this should turn the Tennessee Titan special teams into at least a good unit. If not a great unit, we could just be league average and that would be a

massive improvement over last year's disaster special teams performance. So the one thing that gets me most excited here is that the Tennessee Titans looked at this problem. They took it seriously and they made a monster move and they went outside the organization. They didn't just promote somebody within. They didn't just rotate the coaching staff and put somebody else in that position. No, they said we have a significant problem on special teams.

We are going to go outside of the organization and get one of the top talents in the entire NFL. That is the type of thing that we were begging for with Mike Vrabel's coaching staff. We said, don't just hire your buddies. Don't just promote from within, go outside the organization and get the best talent possible. That's a complaint that we had about the Mike Vrabel era, Tennessee

Titans coaching staff. And now Brian Callahan in his second season is saying, I'm not playing any games. We're getting the top talent in the NFL. And for me, where we saw the previous Tennessee Titans coach, Mike Grable be so stubborn about who he hires and who he fires, he kept on downing around for two seasons, even though the Bengals were laughing at the Titans in the playoff game because they knew what plays the Titans he fires. He kept Todd Downing around for two seasons, even though the Bengals were laughing at the Titans in the playoff game because they knew what plays the Titans were calling. He kept Craig Aukerman around as the special teams

coordinator for six seasons before finally making a change there after Ryan Stonehouse had his leg snapped into. For Brian Callahan to not have to be forced to make this kind of change, for Brian Callahan to look himself in the mirror and say, this is a move that I have to make. I have to fire one of my buddies who I believed in and hire somebody who is not someone that I have a ton of experience with.

That shows me a lot personally in my mind for what Brian Callahan is willing to do to make this the best coaching staff possible. So a great move by the Tennessee Titans hiring one of the best special teams coordinators, if not only in the NFL, if literally in league history. So massive move for the Titans following up on the big hire of Mike Borgons. I'm going to tell you what Mike Borgons is real role is with the Titans. Now that we have some background information and we'll talk about exactly how the hire happened. It's locked on Titans, part of

the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by Game Time. I love going to live events, whether it be sports, music, theater, comedy. One of my favorite memories was attending a concert last year. The energy and excitement were unforgettable, but it was even more unforgettable because I got my tickets on Game Time. And now Game Time has made it even easier to get your tickets. They got a new feature called Game Time Picks. The feature filters out the fluff to show you only incredible deals on great seats. Recently, I was looking for tickets to an upcoming event, and I hopped on the Game Time app and with Game Time picks, I found an amazing deal and I could even

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Create an account. Redeem the code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off. Download the Game Time app today. What time is it? It's Game Time today. What time is it? It's Game Time. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We talked about the big move for the Titans on the coaching staff hiring John Fossil as the special teams coordinator. What a massive, massive upgrade that is from Cole Anderson for the Titans desperately needed.

Again, he's turned some some players into some special teams, darlings. And Lord knows that the Tennessee Titans need that now, but I want to go back to the hire of Mike Borganzi because we got some really, really good information on Monday about the hire, about Borganzi's role with the Titans, the process of hiring Borganzi from the Titans perspective. And it came from an article by sports illustrated Albert Breer. So if you want to check out the entire piece, the entire article, it's got a lot of

nuggets for other teams, but the Titans had their little section and it went over the Borganzi higher and I just want to talk about some of the great stuff that we got from that Breer article before I do. Thanks again for making Locked on Titans your first listen each and every day. Remember Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. Make sure that you get subscribed.

Stay subscribed. It's your team every day. But I think one of the big questions for the Titans and look, we still need to hear from the organization. There's going to be a press conference for Mike Borganzi. We should hear Chad Brinker speak at that press conference. And the number one question that I want answered is, who has final say on the 53-man roster?

Because we were told when Rand Carchon was fired that the new general manager would answer to Chad Brinker, and it was Chad Brinker who had the final say on the 53-man roster. That's what Birk Nehill told Tennessee Titans fans is that Chad Brinker has the final say on all things football, including the 53-man roster. Well, according to the Albert Breer article, that is not true. According to Albert Breer, Mike Borganzi is going to be involved with the coaching staff, scouting, sports medicine, sports performance,

player development, and has final say on the roster. So Breyer is reporting that Borganzi has final say when the Tennessee Titans told us last week that Chad Breaker had final say. I need that question answered immediately. Who has final say over the roster? All right. But here's what we do know outside of the roster 53 man final say, it was also reported by Albert Breer that Brian Callahan will report to Mike Borgans.

Mike Borgans will report to Chad Brinker. So the way that it was described is the Tennessee Titans. This is my interpretation of the information because it was said that the Tennessee Titans didn't want a general manager who was just a glorified scout, they needed somebody who could do more. And that to me is basically saying we fired Rand Carchon because Rand Carchon was basically a glorified scout. He was involved in the scouting process in San Francisco,

but he wasn't involved in the other aspects of team management, like salary cap and roster asset management and free agency and all these different things. So to me, you look at that comment of the Tennessee Titans didn't want just, you know, a glorified head scout. They needed somebody who could focus on team building. From all of those aspects, I just mentioned from scouting, sports medicine, the coaching staff, player development, managing the roster on a day-to-day basis. But what was also said is the Tennessee Titans picked this organizational structure because they wanted to take some of the newer quote unquote

newer age elements off of the general manager's plate. Four age elements off of the general manager's plate. So this is my interpretation of what I'm hearing. Okay. Number one, Rancarthon was more of a glorified scout and he wasn't properly prepared to handle all of the other aspects that the Titans want their general manager to handle again, hiring and firing on the coaching staff, scouting, sports medicine, coaching staff, scouting, sports medicine, sports performance, player development, all of that stuff.

My Borganzi is more qualified to, or at least more prepared to handle all of that stuff that comes along and to connect the dots here. When the Titans fired rank car, they said the general manager position today is different than what it was when rank car, thon was hired. when they ran Carthon, they said the general manager position today is different than what it was when ran Carthon was hired. So again to me, that is saying that they wanted ran Carthon to be a glorified scout and it basically focused solely on the draft. Chad Brinker would handle the free

agency, the trading, the other parts of roster management. And what I am getting from what's happened now is Chad Brinker wants to be higher than that. Brinker doesn't want to be involved in the free agency stuff and being on the phone working trades for Randcar Thon and doing all those things. He wants to work on, again, the newer age elements of being a general manager, which is injury management, analytics, data science. He's going to be working on all of the high level corporate type aspects of these elements of a football roster. And then Mike Borganzi again, can be focused on the player acquisition, the

scouting, developing the players, making sure strength and conditioning is in the right place and Chad breaker can just be kind of an overseer of all that. That's what I am taking from the information that we got when Rayncarthon was hired. And then the information that we're getting now from Albert Breyer's article about what the Titans are putting on Mike Borganzi's plate. So it does appear that this is a real general manager role. And this is not some Chad Brinker Patsy and the Chad Brinker puppy dog, the Robin,

the Chad Brinker's Batman. That does not appear to be what this is. Now, again, we are going to get a press conference with Chad Brinker and Mike Borganzi. I would not expect to hear from Amy Adams Strunk in this press conference. I think it's going to be Brinker and Borganzi sitting together at a table, taking questions and the number one question that must be asked is who has final say on the roster and no matter what the Tennessee Titans have done here, if they are able to clearly identify

and answer it is Chad, it is Mike, it is if they don't have a clear answer to who has final say on the roster, I am going to be disappointed because what the fans need right now, what Tennessee Titans fans need is clarity. I want to know who is responsible. I want to know who is making what decisions. I want to know who is to blame when things go bad. I want to know who is responsible. I want to know who is making what decisions. I want to know who is to blame when things go bad. I want to know who gets the credit when things go right. That's what we deserve. Titans fans deserve clarity as to who is in charge of what and who is responsible. That is the most important thing going forward. And what we got out, we got great information out of this Albert Breer article about

what the Titans are looking for what the responsibilities will be all of that. We got great background information as well, which I'm going to get into in just a moment. But at the end of the day, all of this is great, but it got more confusing because we were told that Brinker has final say over the roster and now Albert Breer is saying that Borganzi does. So if that question is not answered by the Tennessee Titans, then I will still walk away incredibly disappointed with all of this change

and nonsense. We need clarity and we need it like yesterday. But with that being said, do want to move forward again. There's some great background here into how Mike Borganzi was hired, his relationship to Chad Brinker and how it's grown over the years. Excited to dive into that. It's Locked on Titans, part of the Locked on Podcasts network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by PrizePix. It's playoff time. If you're like me, you want to make the most of these final weeks of football

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Use the code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. That's PricePix. Download the PricePix app today. Use the code LOCKED on NFL to get fifty dollars instantly after you play your first five dollar lineup. It's PrizePix. Run your game. Titans fans. Let's cap off today's edition of the locked on Titans podcast. We talked about hiring John bones fossil as a special teams coordinator for the Titans. That's a great move.

Also, we talked about Mike Borganzi's real role with the Titans. And while we got more information, things got a little bit more murky at the same time, but now I just want to dive into some background information for those who are curious of how this hire came about and the connections between Chad Brinker and Mike Borganzi as well. Uh, both of them, both of them have shared experience and they do have a good relationship. It's been proven out multiple times during their times with Kansas City and Tennessee

respectively. So dive it in first. Do want to thank you again for making locked on Titans your first to listen each and every day. Make your second listen locked on NFL. I'm the lead host of locked on NFL as well. So you get your Titans news here with me in under 30 minutes every day. Get your NFL news with me in under 30 minutes every day at locked on NFL.

It's also free available on all platforms. Make sure you get subscribed. Stay subscribed over there. But number one, both Chad Brinker and Mike Borganzi came into the NFL in 2009. Great year, 2009 graduated high school, went to college, wonderful Wonderful times tough times, but wonderful times all the same But they developed a relationship during that time while scouting on the road a lot of these scouts Even if they're for different teams Borganzi with Kansas City and then brinker with Green Bay Even if there were different teams these scouts see each other on the road. They see each other at games

They know each other and brinker and Borganzi developed a little bit of a relationship during that time together. Now, again, it's not like they were working for the same team so that they're best buddies, but they clearly knew each other. They were associates and they're out on the road doing similar things and that creates a bond. And then you go to the last two trade negotiations between these two teams, the Legerrius-Snead trade that happened before the season and then the DeAndre Hopkins trade that happened during the season. Because Borganzi and Brinker have a relationship from that time as scouts, they were the points of contact on both of those trades. They weren't the ones solely negotiating. Obviously multiple

people were involved in the negotiations and what's going to be offered next. But as for the conversations and how they happen, that was Borganzi and that was Breaker. So there's a connection there and those two have already gotten used to working together in high leverage situations. Albert Breer also mentioned that the Titans thought that Mike Borganzi was the quote most complete candidate. He had a clear plan for everything going forward. The Titans did their background on Mike Borganzi.

A lot of the time when you talk about background and you think about references, you think about people above you, your bosses, your, you know, leaders per se. Well, the Tennessee Titans definitely talked to that group. They talked to Brett Veatch for 45 minutes, who is the Kansas City Chief's general manager, and Mike Borganzi was a part of a small group in Kansas City with Brett Veatch, with Andy Reid, with their SVP Chris Shea, and those players, those people right there, along with Mike Borganzi, were the people who ultimately made the final decisions on how to build the Kansas City Chiefs dynasty.

It was those people together in a small group who made the final call. So Borganzi's fingerprints, quote unquote, his fingerprints are all over the moves that Kansas City has made. This isn't just like some hanger on guy who's getting credit for what the chiefs have done. No, he has been immediately and intricately involved in the decisions that the Kansas City Chiefs are making throughout this dynasty that they've been on. Not only that, like I said, they didn't just talk to the bosses. They talked to the people under Mike Borganzi to see how much of a leader he is, to see how he handles those conversations with people under him. It's great that your bosses love you, but what about the people who are under you? Do they love you? Is that a great thing?

And according to this report from Albert Breer, everything checked the boxes for the Tennessee Titans. They were very, very excited to hire Borghansie, and quite frankly, it is a fantastic hire on paper. Like with the John Bones fossil hiring, like I mentioned earlier, we don't know. We don't know if these things are going to work. We don't know if these are going to be the moves that ultimately put the Titans in position to turn this thing around. We can't know that for certain, but this is good process. You're hiring top tier candidates.

You're hiring people who have established reputations in the NFL and have actual tangible success that you can point to. I don't know if it's going to work out, but that's the best that you could possibly ask for. The best that you could possibly ask for is for the top tier general manager candidate and the top special teams coach. Like if you went back a couple of weeks or a month ago and you told Titans fans that you're going to get a new general manager who came from Kansas City, who's one of the best candidates in the NFL, and you're going to get the top special teams coach in the NFL, I think people would generally be happy with that.

Right? I mean, it's hard to complain. Will it work? Again, we don't know, but good process, good hires, and I'm excited about what the Titans do next. Speaking of what's next on tomorrow's show, I'm going to plot out what moves Mike Borganzi has to make going forward, and then eventually this week, we'll get that press conference with Mike Borganzi, and I'll be here to break down all of the information we get out of that.

So make sure that you get subscribed, stay subscribed. That's going to do it for me today, folks, as always, I am your host Tyler Rowland and this was Locked on Titans. Thanks for watching guys!