Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans GM Search Continues, Weekend Interviews & Best Candidate

Episode Date: January 13, 2023

The Tennessee Titans are looking for a new general manager and have a ton of interviews scheduled throughout the weekend. However, the Titans did have two interviews on Thursday. Tyler breaks down the weekend schedule and goes over his top candidate for the job. Also, the Titans need to make this decision soon as a key part of the scouting process is rapidly approaching!!Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videosSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFLBuilt BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!PrizePicksFirst time users can receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100 with promo code LOCKEDON. That’s PrizePicks.com – promo code; LOCKEDONUltimate Football GMTo download the game just visit Ultimate-GM.com or look it up on the app stores. Our listeners get a 100% free boost to their franchise when using the promo LOCKEDON (ALL CAPS) in the game store.TurboTaxCome to TurboTax and don’t do your taxes. Visit TurboTax.com to learn more.Tommy JohnWinter mornings are brutal. So here’s my tip for tackling the day in comfort: Grab new Tommy John Loungewear and take cozy wherever you go. Get TWENTY PERCENT OFF YOUR FIRST ORDER at TommyJohn.com/LOCKEDON. BetterHelpThis episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at Betterhelp.com/LockedOn and get on your way to being your best self. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Titans fans, the general manager search continues. The Titans completed some interviews on Thursday, and they have a lot more scheduled throughout the weekend. I'll tell you who those interviews are with, who the Titans' top target for GM should be, and I'll tell you about a GM that declined the Titans' request.

We'll discuss all of that and more on today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it! You are Locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Titans fans, the general manager search is heating up. The Titans completed two interviews on Thursday. I'll tell you who they were with, and we'll talk about the interviews they have scheduled

throughout the rest of the weekend before we get into it. Do want to let you guys know that today's episode of Locked on Titans is brought to you by BetOnline. BetOnline has you covered this season with more props, odds, and lines than ever before. BetOnline, where the game starts. Thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round on all platforms

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But the Titans completed two interviews on Thursday. Who were they with? Well, the Titans did their internal candidate interviews. So that would be the Titans current interim GM, Ryan Cowden, and also Monty Austin for it. So Ryan Cowden has been John Robinson's top lieutenant since Robinson came to the Titans in 2016. He has been here the entire time with J-Rob.

Monty Austin Fort came over not too long after that, but Austin Fort is a guy who worked with John Robinson during those New England Patriots years. So these are two guys who have done a pretty good job within the organization as John Robinson henchmen, for lack of a better term. But really what I want to make a point of is here because I know just saying that the Titans are interviewing in-house candidates boils some of your guys' skin. It gets the blood running and I get it. Why in the world would the Titans hire somebody who worked with John Robinson so closely when they just fired John Robinson? And listen, I'm not telling you guys who think like that that you're wrong.

But I do want to say this, okay? You guys have worked jobs, right? Most of you guys, maybe some of you guys are younger, haven't really worked jobs yet. But anybody who's around my age or in their 20s has worked jobs before where maybe you're a manager, you're a supervisor, you manage a team, and you work underneath your boss. But that doesn't mean that you want to do everything your boss wants to do. That doesn't mean that if you were the boss, you would do things exactly the same. So while I agree with you guys that are in the comments or on Twitter telling me

we need fresh blood, we need new ideas, we need a new set of eyes in there, I can understand where you're coming from there. But all I'm going to tell you is just because you work underneath somebody doesn't mean that you agree with everything that they do. And again, anybody who's ever held a supervisor position or a manager position, you didn't agree with everything that your boss did just because you worked underneath of them. So keep that in mind. But, but I agree with you guys. They need a new set of eyes. They need new fresh ideas. They need somebody to come into the organization that isn't doing things the way that the Titans have done them before. And let me point this out for you guys. Number one, Monty

Ossenfort got his break into the league with the Patriots. I am so sick of the Patriot mentality, of going for cheap options at different places, thinking that you can mine gold from people through excellent coaching. I am also going to point out that Ryan Cowden, John Robinson's right-hand man, has been interviewing for general manager jobs since 2017. He interviewed with the Chiefs in 2017. He has interviewed for general manager positions every year since then, including two last year, one of them with the Giants, and he hasn't got the job. I'm sorry, but if you are such a good candidate

that you've been interviewing with teams for the last five years and no one has hired you, there might be a reason for that. Okay. So while I'm not going, I'm not going to condemn those guys for being underneath John Robinson. Again, I've had jobs where I was a supervisor, I was a manager, and I did not agree with the way that my boss above me handled things. Okay? So just because someone's your boss doesn't mean that you agree with everything that they say or they do. And it doesn't mean that Cowden or Austin Ford wouldn't do things differently than John Robinson.

But at the same time, while giving them that reprieve, I am going to agree with all of you guys who come to me and say they need new ideas, they need fresh ideas, they need to get somebody in. So the Titans completed interviews with Monty Austin for and Ryan Cowden on Thursday. Those are in the books.

And while I'm not going to completely judge those guys' candidacy based on the moves John Robinson made, I do fully agree that the Titans need new blood they need new eyes they need fresh ideas from other organizations that have done it better okay so I am fully on board with you guys if you do not want Cowden or Austin for and the way I believe I want the Titans to go outside the organization and hire a new general manager as well. But with that said, the Titans have a ton of GM interviews scheduled this weekend with three or four different candidates that are going to take place. Not only do I think the best candidate possible is in the external group? But I'm also going to tell you guys why the Titans need to get this hire done

as soon as they possibly can. Also going to talk about a GM candidate who rejected the Tennessee Titans. So we got a lot to talk about on today's show. Before we get into the rest of it though, do want to tell you guys about today's sponsor, LinkedIn. rest of it though. Do want to tell you guys about today's sponsor, LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the best place to post your job for your small business, period. Okay. No question about it. They give you excellent tools that you can use like screening questions. And the tool that I like the best is a ranking system that actually allows you to rank all of the candidates that you've met with

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that the Titans interviewed on Thursday and why although I'm not going to punish them entirely for being understudies of John Robinson, I am in the boat of getting some new life in the organization and hiring an external candidate. The Titans have a ton of interviews this weekend with those candidates. Let's dive into them. Before we do, I want to thank you guys again

for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. I want to give a shout out to Matthew Jackson. As for your second listen, check out the Locked On NFL podcast. I host the Thursday show of Locked On NFL. You're going to get all your Titans news here with me every Monday through Friday all year long. Get all your NFL national news with the Locked On NFL podcast. Again, free, all platforms, Monday through Friday, all year round. You can't beat the Locked On Titans and Locked On NFL combo.

But moving forward here, looking at these interviews, on Friday, the Titans will be interviewing Ron Carthon from the San Francisco 49ers. So we talked about Carthon earlier in the week. He's a guy who's done great work with San Francisco. He has been all over, honestly, the GM landscape in terms of what you would want from a general manager. He's a former NFL player himself.

His father, Maurice, was an NFL player. He's been a scout, a director of player personnel for the Rams and the 49ers. His current focus right now is on pro scouting, so trades, free agency, and waivers with the 49ers. And also, he is a relationship focused man. He talked in public plenty of times about how the relationship between the head coach and the general manager is vitally important. Obviously talking about Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch. So a guy who understands the importance of relationships in the business. He's also a pro-focused guy with trades and free agency and waivers, but has also done a lot of college stuff as well. So I love Carthon. I think Carthon is a great option for the Titans, but a guy on Saturday that the

Titans are in, and remember Carthon's interview will be on Friday with the Titans, but Saturday the Titans have two interviews and one of them is my top candidate possible. And one of those Saturday interviews is with Ian Cunningham. Ian Cunningham is my top choice. Period. He is considered one of the top top guys in the NFL

waiting to get a shot at a general manager spot. We talked about Cunningham earlier. He cut his teeth in the Ravens organization. What organization is better at drafting players than the Baltimore Ravens? What general manager

in the last 20 years was better at building rosters than Ozzie Newsome? I would venture to say no one. So Ian Cunningham learned directly from Ozzie Newsome and the Baltimore Ravens staff. Then after that, Cunningham became a college scout for the Philadelphia Eagles. He learned directly under current general manager for the Jets, Joe Douglas.

The Jets have an awesome roster outside of quarterback. The Eagles might have the best roster in the NFL right now. So we're talking about three of the best roster builds that we have seen in the NFL over the last 10, 15 years. Cunningham has been in the building with the Ravens, with the Eagles, with Joe Douglas, who's now with the Jets. He's done it all. He's been an assistant director of player personnel.

He moved to director of player personnel for the Eagles in 2021. And he is so well regarded that when the Chicago Bears' current general manager, Ryan Poles, took the Chicago Bears' GM job, he said, I'm not coming unless you create an assistant general manager position so that I can hire Ian Cunningham. Guys, Cunningham is 37 years old.

He's a modern guy who understands how to build rosters in the modern NFL. Cunningham is by far, is by far the best candidate in my eyes. I want Ian Cunningham. Okay? Now, I would love Ron Carthon. I would. Don't get me wrong.

That's my number two candidate. But Ian Cunningham is like a rocket ship, man. And the Titans need to get on it before someone else does next year. So for me, Ian Cunningham, far and away, the top choice.

Love him as an option. Love his experience. Love the guys that he's learned under. Okay? That's important to me. Look at those teams. Ravens, Joe Douglas' Jets roster, and the Philly roster right now.

I mean, those are great rosters right there. So that's my top choice. But that's not the only interview that the Titans are doing on Saturday. No, the Titans have another interview with a guy who came along a little bit later in the process, and that is Quentin Harris from the Arizona Cardinals organization. Now, Quentin Harris, like I said, he wasn't one of the initial names that was mentioned when we first talked about the general manager candidates, but just some background on Quentin Harris, like I said, he wasn't one of the initial names that was mentioned when we first talked about the general manager candidates. But just some background on Quentin Harris.

He's been with the Arizona Cardinals for the last 15 years. He's been pro scouting for six years. He did college scouting before that. He's currently the director of, well, he was the director of player personnel. He's been elevated to the vice president of player personnel with the Arizona Cardinals. He was a former NFL player himself back in the early 2000s. And he has been around the organization with four different coaches. They've kept him around because he does such a good job.

I really like Quentin Harris. I think he's a solid option. But for me, guys, Carthon is number two. Cunningham is number one, and I would have Harris a little bit below that. Now, there are a couple other general managers who the Titans have been rumored to request interviews with. One of them was Malik Boyd. Malik Boyd is with the Buffalo Bills right now, and he surely deserves an opportunity. But at 52 years old, I would rather hire a younger guy who's kind of on the rise than hire an older guy.

I think it would be more. Mike Vrabel's in his early 40s. I think a 37-year-old guy would be more compatible with Mike Vrabel in terms of relationship than a guy who's in his 50s. Also, Glenn Cook from the Cleveland Browns haven't got an update on when he will be interviewing with the Titans. So, Glenn and Boyd, we don't have a scheduled interview there. And honestly, those guys are at the lower end of my candidate wish list.

So, I'm not even upset that we don't know about that. Now, the other candidate that we talked about earlier in the week was Adam Peters. Okay. From San Francisco. Widely regarded as the top talent evaluator in the NFL. But he rejected the Titans. Now it wasn't just the Titans. The Arizona Cardinals also asked for an interview with Peters, and Peters declined. He said he's going to focus on San Francisco's playoff run,

but there's been some back and forth with the reporting as to does that mean that Peters would be interested in doing an interview after the 49er season ends? Or does that mean that he's not interested at all? Guys, in my opinion, what I've heard is Adam Peters is not leaving San Francisco. It's not a, hey, I'm focusing on the playoff run. I'll get with you guys later. It's, I'm staying in San Francisco, period. Okay?

So, that's that. He rejected the Titans. It is what it is. And now you move forward. Carthon is a guy from San Francisco that I like a lot. And then, of course, as I mentioned, Ian Cunningham, my top choice for general manager. But outside of the candidates, the interviews, the Titans need to make this higher as soon as they possibly can. Period. interviews. The Titans need to make this higher as soon as they possibly can, period. I'll tell

you what looms ahead for the Titans in a couple of weeks and why it's so important that the Titans make this higher as soon as they possibly can. Before we get into that though, do want to tell you guys about betonline.net. Betonline.net is your number one source for all your sports betting info, stats, news, and analysis. You can get all the latest odds and trends for every professional and amateur league out there from pro football to college football to college basketball to NBA. They even have esports at BetOnline.net,

the fastest and easiest way to get your betting info. Head to the website today or use their mobile device to learn more. BetOnline, where the game starts. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. We talked about the in-house candidates that the Titans interviewed on Thursday. We talked about the external candidates that the Titans have interviews with this weekend. I told you Ian Cunningham is my top choice by far. Cut his teeth. Learned from Ozzie Newsome with the Ravens. Then learned from Joe Douglas, who is now running the New York Jets. Learned from Howie Roseman with the Philadelphia

Eagles. I mean, those are some great guys to learn how to build a roster from. So Cunningham, my top choice. But no matter who the Titans hire, they need to do it now. They need to get on it as soon as possible. Maybe not now, but within the next few weeks. Because in a couple weeks, starting on January the 30th is the Senior Bowl. And the Senior Bowl is one of the biggest cogs in the draft machine every single year. The Titans need to have their general manager in place

when they go down to the Senior Bowl. They need to have an idea of who's going to be on the scouting staff when they go down to the Senior Bowl. We talk about hiring the general manager, but what about filling out the scouting staff when they go down to the senior. We talk about hiring the general manager, but what about filling out his scouting staff? Okay? The draft is right around the corner, folks. And the senior bowl is one of the biggest moments

in the pre-draft process. The Titans cannot drag their feet on this. Okay? They need to complete these interviews over the weekend, go into next weekend with a second round of interviews, and they need to make a decision within the next 14 to 15 days because you have to have a general manager in place

to go down to the senior bowl and make those evaluations. Also, think about this. What if the general manager comes in and has a different idea for how to build the roster, different types of players, different strengths, different weaknesses? Well, then you need to know what kind of players the general manager wants when you start your scouting process. So to me, it's blatantly obvious just to get a GM in place. And I said yesterday or earlier this week, I don't want the Titans to hire an offensive coordinator until they get a GM in place so the GM can be a check for Mike Vrabel. So,

to me, I know it may seem like a rush, but I don't really think that it is. I think the Titans need to make this higher within the next couple of weeks so that they have their GM in place for that Senior Bowl to get their scout staff together. And that is going to be just as important as the guy that they choose.

So the Titans can say all they want. We're not going to rush this. You're doing yourself a disservice if you don't have a general manager in place by the time senior bowl practices start on the 30th. Okay? It's that simple for me. So that's why the title of today's show

and why the thumbnail of today's show says the Titans need to make that GM decision ASAP. Because the draft process has already started. And the longer the Titans wait to get their GM in place and him to get his staff in place and his process in place, then the more behind they're going to be on the draft.

And as we've seen the last few years, the Titans cannot afford to botch another NFL draft. They simply can't. So get your man, get him in place soon. The last thing that I want to do here before I go for the week with you guys is answer this question from Jordan Thomas in the chat. He says, anyone think we can steal Lamar Jackson? There are a lot of people talking about that and I get it. Look guys, I just don't think it's realistic. The Ravens are

going to tag Lamar Jackson and even if they don't want to pay him a long-term deal, they're going to tag him and then they're going to trade him. So like we talked about with Hopkins yesterday, not only do you have to trade a bunch of draft picks for Lamar Jackson, but you're going to pay him what? $39 million in the first year, then his big contract extension kicks in, and you're paying him $50 million the next three or four years? I mean, I guess so. I

guess. But guys, look at the NFL. The biggest cheat code in the NFL is a great quarterback on a rookie contract. If you have a really good quarterback on a rookie contract, that is your window to win. That's the window to win because then you could pay all these other top tier position players while you have a quarterback who's on a cheap rookie deal. So to me, Lamar Jackson is right on that line of tier one quarterbacks. When he's playing his best football, I could see him as a bottom part of the tier one quarterback. But more often than not, in my opinion,

Lamar is at the top of tier two. He's with Dak Prescott and Jalen Hurts. He's in that group. Another great example would be Ryan Tannehill. Kirk Cousins, Derek Carr in the second tier of quarterbacks in the NFL if you want to say that's tier 2 and you know tier 3

is those guys then fine but at the end of the day you're splitting hairs so to me I don't think Lamar is worth that money and if you do that then now you only get don't think Lamar is worth that money, and if you do that, then now you only get the part of Lamar that is super expensive. You got none of the benefits

of having Lamar during his cheap years when that's when you capitalize, okay? So when did the Chiefs win their Super Bowl? When Pat Mahomes was still on his rookie contract. Okay? See how that works? Alright? So, to me, it's pretty obvious.

The Titans will not be getting Lamar Jackson. I don't think that it's very realistic whatsoever. I get that it's fun to talk about. It's fun to discuss. All that. But I just got to be upfront and honest with you guys as I always do. I don't think that it's fun to talk about. It's fun to discuss all that, but I just got to be upfront and honest with you guys as I always do. I don't think that it's a realistic option.

So that didn't have anything to do with general managers, but a lot of you guys are asking about the Lamar rumors. I'm not as high on Lamar as maybe some people are, so I'm not wanting to pay him $50 million over the next four years. Count me out on that. I'd rather go get a rookie quarter. If we're going to give up the draft capital

that it takes to go get Lamar, give up that draft capital and go get one of the rookie quarterbacks and see if you can catch lightning in a bottle on a rookie contract. That, I think, is a much more sustainable and much more realistic route for the Titans to actually hit.

So that's going to do it for me today, though, folks. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content for free all year round. I'm going to be back with the YouTube crowd on Sunday night for all my podcast listeners who listen on their morning commute. I'll be back with you guys on Monday morning. We're going to do a mock draft Monday. On Monday, barring any huge general manager news over the weekend, we're going to be going over some mock drafts for the Titans and what picks can make sense. So with that in mind, that's going to do it for me today, though, folks.

As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans. you