Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Mike Vrabel was POWER HUNGRY, Bobby Slowik Interview Request & No Harbaugh or Belichick

Episode Date: January 11, 2024

The Tennessee Titans fired Mike Vrabel because of his hunger for power and his egomaniacal ways. That was proven with the latest report from The Athletic. Also, the Titans finally requested an interview with Bobby Slowik, who is a perfect candidate for the Titans' head coaching spot. Finally, the Titans will not be interviewing Jim Harbaugh or Bill Belichick and that is 100% the right move.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Jase MedicalEmpower yourself when you purchase a Jase Case, providing you with a personal supply of 5 antibiotics that treat 50+ infections. Get yours today at jasemedical.com and use code LOCKEDON to get $20 off your order. BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month.PrizePicksGo to PrizePicks.com/lockedonnfl and use code lockedonnfl for a first deposit match up to $100!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.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.FanDuelScore early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON 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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It was Mike Vrabel's ego and his hunger for power that ultimately got him fired by the Tennessee Titans. We're going to go over the latest reports 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. 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 GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use the code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. We got a lot to discuss. Mike Vrabel's ego is what ultimately got him fired by the Tennessee Titans. Also, the Titans finally requested an interview with Bobby Slowik, my number one candidate. But it also turns out the Titans will not be requesting an interview with Jim Harbaugh or Bill Belichick.

And that is the right move for the Titans. Before we get into all that, thank you for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. Make sure you get subscribed, stay subscribed. It's your team every day here on the Locked on Titans podcast. I know a lot of you guys enjoyed my insight on the interview process and the coaching search. I'm going to have a ton more of insight and analysis on everything this offseason.

As the coaching search continues, free agency, the draft, cap management, all of that stuff. So again, make sure that you stay with me here on the Locked on Titans podcast. And so close, so close to 10,000 subscribers. Hit that subscribe button, folks. Help me out here and hit that thumbs up button as well. The show's always for free. All I ask for is the press of a button.

But with that being said, there was an excellent report in The Athletic on Thursday morning from Diana Rossini on the national side of things and Joe Rexrode on the local side of things. And it really put a spotlight on what went down within the Titans organization and to me it is clear that the number one issue was Mike Vrabel's ego and his need for power.

So, turns out that Amy Adams Strunk during the 2023 season was focused on evolving and modernizing the Titans process behind the scenes, having more of a reliance on analytics and data analysis. And that may not necessarily have been the way that Mike Vrabel saw things

or that Mike Vrabel wanted to do things. And because of that, Amy Adams-Strunk almost fired Mike Vrabel last offseason. But look, Amy wanted to make it work. She knew Mike Vrabel was a good coach, and Amy wanted to make it work. She knew Mike Vrabel was a good coach and she wanted to make it work. But two things happened last offseason that began to destroy the relationship between Mike Vrabel and Titans controlling owner

Amy Adams Strunk. Number one, Mike Vrabel wanted full control of the roster. He went to Amy Adams Strunk and said, I want final say on the roster. I have earned it. And Amy Adams Strunk disagreed pointedly. And guess who I agree with? Amy Adams Strunk.

Look, you can point to Bell Belichick if you want. 20 years as the GM for the Patriots. But when Bell Belichick truly, truly, totally took over as the general manager for the Patriots at the end of the 2010s, that is when things started to fall off roster-wise for the Patriots. Okay? And that's an outlier because Bill Belichick is the greatest coach of all time.

But you want to look at some more realistic examples, look at Bill O'Brien in Houston, who, through no coincidence, is Mike Vrabel's mentor. Bill O'Brien took over GM responsibilities in Houston, and all of a sudden, that team went in the tank. Okay? You want to look at another local example?

Look at Jeff Fisher. At the end of his tenure with the Titans, he had too much power. He had too much say, and it drove of his tenure with the Titans, he had too much power, he had too much say, and it drove the Titans roster into the ground. Look, guys, at the end of the day, the head coach cannot be the GM because the GM has to look at the future

and the coach needs to look at the now. And there is no humanly possible way for somebody to do both of those at the same time. And ask yourself right now, is Mike Vrabel more Bill Belichick or is Mike Vrabel more Bill O'Brien? Think about it. It's a lot more likely that Mike Vrabel is Bill O'Brien than he is the greatest coach of all time.

So that's pretty simple. So that was the first thing that pissed Amy Adams Strunk off. The second thing is he questioned her decision about hiring Rand Carthon. We have talked about how Mike Vrabel wanted Ryan Cowden, but not only did he want Ryan Cowden, he went to Amy Adams Strunk and said, you should hire Rand as the assistant general manager, not the general manager, because I don't think that Rand is ready.

Directly questioning Amy Adams' shrunk decision. And it pissed her off, according to this report. So two things there. Then, Mike Vrabel went to New England in week seven and said how great the organization was and how different it was in New England. And when he came back, he wouldn't even tell Amy Adams' shrunk that he didn't want to be the coach of the New England Patriots. He didn't dispel the rumors whatsoever. So again, I use the analogy

yesterday. Go to your wife, go to your husband, go to your partner, go to your boyfriend, go to your girlfriend right now and say, hey, do you want to be with me? If they go, is that somebody you want to stay with? Think about it. Think about it. So, obviously, the wedge between Amy Adams-Strunk and obviously, this isn't Vrabel versus Carthon. It was Vrabel against Amy Adams-Strunk. That was the beef. That was the rift. And it's obvious here, Mike Vrabel wanted more power.

He wanted full say over the roster. He wanted Ryan Cowden, who would be his yes man at general manager. He didn't want Rand Carthon because Carthon was going to bring in analytics and data and do things in a totally different way that was going to modernize the team. And Vrabel is a former player who's an old school defense, hard nose, run the ball guy, and he just didn't want it. So Vrabel wanted the power for himself. And then when Amy didn't give it to him, he questioned her decision directly and then wouldn't say anything about not wanting to leave the organization. Is that somebody that you want to keep around?

Is that somebody that you want to keep running this team? It just was not going to work for the long term, so it was the smart move for Amy Adams to cut bait now. Now, there were some other things. There were some other things in there, all right? Number one, and this is something that a lot of people, a lot of people were latching onto in that report. It said that Ryan Cowden, who after the draft moved on and now works for the New York giants, Ryan Cowden

ran the draft board. Okay. Ran the draft board. And everybody online, and me too, me too, when I read the article and I read that, to me that read, wait, Ryan Cowden ran the draft for the Titans, not ran Carthon? Wait, what? And of course,

Rex Road and a bunch of other people, including my guys, Zach Lyons at FWords, they all clarified about an hour after the article went live. That doesn't mean that Ryan Cowden was in charge of the draft. It means that he was moving the players off the board as they got drafted. He was the one updating the actual draft board. He wasn't the one making the decisions on who to pick. So it was a huge misconception.

And for an hour before that was cleared up, everybody was like, oh, Rand didn't even do anything. These aren't even Rand's draft picks. And just use it as a reason to crush Rand. And then Rex Road went on the internet and said, I didn't think that anybody would interpret it that way. Okay. Okay. You guys put that in there and sensationalized the article.

And then after everybody was like freaking out about it, you had to backtrack and explain what it really was. And then you tried to blame the readers for their misinterpretation of it. Whatever, that's a conversation for a different day. But again, it was an ego-driven move by Mike Vrabel. He wanted more power.

He wanted more control. And he thought that he had earned it. But again, we have so many examples, so many examples. When the coach tries to be the GM, you fail because the coach thinks about the now and the GM thinks about the future and it is against human nature to be able to do both of those properly at the same time. So I will continue to say it was the right move to remove this egomaniac and to get rid

of this archaic approach to NFL football. Now we have the reporting that shows it in clear sight. But with that being said, it's time to talk about the coaching search because the Titans requested two more interviews on Thursday and there was a report

that they're interested in another candidate that they haven't requested quite yet but I'm going to go over all three of those guys here in just a moment before I do though do want to let you guys know about game time I love game time I literally on Wednesday night just ordered my Drake tickets off of GameTime. So hyped. Can't wait to go see the boy. So excited. And I was so excited to get on GameTime and actually do it. The GameTime app is awesome. And I was so pumped because most of the tickets were like $250, $270. And I got a flash deal for $188.

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on the GameTime app for $20 off. Download GameTime today. Last minute tickets. Lowest price. Guaranteed. Last minute tickets, lowest price, guaranteed. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Again, I am your host, Tyler Rowland. Nearly 25 years as a certified Tennessee Titans fanatic.

I'm a film guy breaking down the X's and O's. I've written for Sports Illustrated. I've written for USA Today covering the team as well. Make sure that you stick with me here from Monday through Friday. Tennessee Titans content all year long, always for free. Get subscribed, stay subscribed. Shout out to my everydayers out there. Tune in Monday through Friday. Let me know who you guys are down below. Couldn't do it without you. If you aren't an everydayer, you need to get like them. But with that being said, we talked about the latest reports from the athletic on Mike Vrabel and his power-hungry, egotistical ways that led to his firing.

But now, let's turn the page, all right? Because with Mike Vrabel out, it's time to talk about some more head coaching requests because the Titans are requesting more interviews. And I've been pretty vocal for the last couple of weeks that I think Bobby Slowik, the Houston Texans offensive coordinator, is the best candidate for the Tennessee Titans head coaching job.

And ladies and gentlemen, Bobby Slowik was requested for an interview on Thursday. Woo! There it is, folks. I mean, I was dancing. I mean, dancing. No doubt about it. And look, I've talked about Bobby Sloic and why I like him so much. Number one, extensive experience with the greatest offensive minds in the NFL. He was on the 2013 Washington coaching staff. They had guys like

Mike McDaniel. They had guys like Mike McDaniel. They had guys like Kyle Shanahan. They had guys like Matt LaFleur. I mean, literally a big handful of some of the best coaches in the NFL came off that Washington coaching staff in 2013. He worked for PFF for three years. He was a defensive quality control coach. He then worked in San Francisco with Kyle Shanahan on the offensive side of the ball for multiple years. Not only that, but his family pedigree.

Bobby Slowik is an NFL child. His father was a defensive coordinator for four NFL teams. His dad still works in the Canadian Football League as a defensive assistant. Again, 2017, when he left pro football focus to come back into the NFL, Bobby Slowik started as a defensive assistant. Again, 2017, when he left pro football focus to come back into the NFL, Bobby Slowik started as a defensive control coach for the San Francisco 49ers. He has an intimate understanding of how to game plan on the offensive side of the ball

and the defensive side of the ball. So to me, that is incredibly invaluable. And you got to add in the other layer here. Not only are you helping yourself by hiring Bobby Slowik, but you're hurting the Houston Texans. All right. What happened to the Tennessee Titans offense long-term when Arthur Smith left to be the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons?

Yeah, it was okay in 2021 when they had A.J. Brown, but after that, complete fall off, 17 points a game in back-to-back seasons. So, to me, it's obvious that if you steal Bobby Slowick away from the Houston Texans, might just hurt the Houston Texans offense. Might just hurt the development of C.J. Stroud. Are they going to bring in another person who follows the same offensive philosophy? Are they going to have to change the playbook? Are they going to have to change the playbook?

Are they going to have to change the terminology? Are they even going to be able to get somebody from the San Francisco situation to come in and keep that continuity going? Very doubtful. So you can help yourself and help your own quarterback while hurting your division rival in a major, major way. So it's a two-pronged thing that makes a ton of sense. But Bobby Slowick was requested for an interview by the Titans, and we rejoice, ladies and gentlemen. But also,

it wasn't just him. Brian Johnson, the offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles. Now, I get if you want to look at the Eagles' struggles this year and say, why would we want the guy running the Eagles' offense when it has regressed so much this year? And look, I'm not going to argue with that. I get that. But I would caution you. I would caution you. As I pointed out with Mike Vrabel,

Mike Vrabel's defense for Houston before he was hired as the head coach for the Titans was terrible. They gave up the most points in the NFL. So it's not so easy to just be like, that person's side of the ball sucked. Statistically, they must suck as a coach. One thing I will point out is the Eagles offense is entirely different than the Titans. They have much more RPO game in their offense, much more quick rhythm passing game, much more shotgun run in their offensive game plan.

So like I explained yesterday, sometimes when you interview people, it's not necessarily that you're going to hire them, but you're getting intel. You're getting information. Hey, why do you run so much RPO? What do you think is most important in offense? How would you utilize Will Levis?

How would you utilize Tajay Spears? What do you think about our roster? What changes do we need to make? It's about gathering that information, getting that intel. And one thing that I forgot to mention yesterday, the Titans are going to need coordinators. The Titans are going to need not only a head coach,

but an offensive coordinator and a defensive coordinator. So you interview these guys like the Titans did in 2018 with Matt LaFleur. The Titans interviewed Matt LaFleur to be their head coach. They hired Mike Vrabel, but then they hired Matt LaFleur to be the offensive coordinator. So could Bobby Slowik be hired? And then if the Eagles really do get rid of Nick Sirianni and that coaching staff, could the Titans swoop up Brian

Johnson as the offensive coordinator even though Bobby Slowik is going to be calling the plays? I think that could make a ton of sense for the Tennessee Titans. And again, that's why everyone freaking out about the Titans requesting defensive coaches was overreacting because this team is going to need coordinators.

So it's not like every head coaching interview that they have is a guy who they actually are going to hire for a head coach. And I'll say this, you can't just hire a coordinator for a coordinator position. If you do that, it can be blocked. If the Titans said, we want to interview Brian Johnson for offensive coordinator, the Eagles could just say, no, you can't.

But if it's a promotion, it cannot be blocked. So you guys have to understand the nature of the business and the nuance with this situation, just like I explained yesterday. But those are the two people, Bobby Slowik and Brian Johnson, who were requested for interview by the Titans on Thursday. There's one other name though. According to Dan Graziano of ESPN, the Titans are very interested in Frank Smith. Frank Smith is the offensive coordinator of the Miami Dolphins.

He has a ton of experience. He's a former offensive lineman and a former offensive line coach. Where do the Titans need the most help? Offensive line. Frank Smith is known as a great teacher, a great mentor, nothing but positive reviews for him. So Graziano said that the Titans have a ton of interest in Frank Smith. I will say this.

The Titans have yet to request an interview with Frank Smith. So that hasn't happened yet. But I would imagine that it would come through very, very soon. So really excited for the coaching search, really excited for the names that are involved in this coaching search, excited for the names that will come. If anything crazy happens over the weekend with the coaching search, of course I will be here to break it down with you guys,

even if it's an off day for the Locked on Titans podcast because I am dedicated to you. And with that being said, hit the subscribe button, folks. So close to 10,000. But I'm going to tell you why the Titans should not pursue Jim Harbaugh and Bill Belichick. And we learned on Thursday that they won't. So we're going to get into that in just a moment.

And we learned on Thursday that they won't. So we're going to get into that in just a moment. Before we do, though, I do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by Jace Medical. I know that we come to sports to escape from some of the crazy realities of real life. But can we talk for just a minute about preparing for real life? According to the FDA, pharmacies are running out of antibiotics like amoxicillin. It is scary, okay?

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We talked about Mike Vrabel's ego being the ultimate reason why he got fired. We talked about the Titans requesting interviews with Bobby Slowik, Brian Johnson, the rumored interest in Frank Smith as well. But now I want to talk about some coaches that the Titans don't want. And maybe it's a little controversial because they are two very good coaches. And Jim Harbaugh and Bill Belichick. But I'm going to explain why the Titans are right to not be interested in either of those names.

Before I do, though, thank you again for making the Locked On Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. I do want to let you guys know that Locked On has launched the first ever national sports 24-7 streaming channel on YouTube. It's called Locked On Sports Today. It's here for you 24-7 covering the top sports stories of the day with local experts from Locked On, plus all our national shows covering every single league.

Go to Locked On Sports Today on YouTube and subscribe to the first ever National Sports 24-7 streaming channel. All right, guys. I know this may sound crazy to a lot of you. I get it. But we got a report from Diana Rossini that the Titans will not be requesting interviews with Jim Harbaugh

or with Bill Belichick. Alright? And now, let's say this. Bill Belichick is the greatest coach of all time. No doubt about it. No question about it. In the NFL. let's say that. Okay? And Jim Harbaugh is one of the best football

coaches of the last 15 years. He's won at every level. He's a good coach. But, this episode is going to be full circle. Because we started out the show talking about ego and power hungry coachesungry coaches.

And that's where we're going to finish. The Titans just fired Mike Vrabel because he wanted so much power. He wanted so much control. He had such a big ego. He wouldn't fire his bad position coaches. He wouldn't let Rancart Thon be the GM. He wouldn't let the whole entire organization modernize and improve. He didn't want any of it. He wanted to do it his way, and we're not doing it my way.

I don't want to be here. Let me out. It's ego. It's pride. It's power. Okay? And at the end of the day, Bill Belichick was the general manager for the Patriots for 20 years. He's going to want to have power over the roster. He's going to want to do what he wants to do. Okay? The Titans are trying to evolve.

The Titans are trying to modernize past this archaic view of football where you have this one football czar who does absolutely everything. It should be a collaborative process. And Belichick and Harbaugh are not at the top of the list of guys who are willing to collaborate, okay? They aren't, all right? So Bill Belichick, he's earned the right to ask for that, but that doesn't mean the Titans

should be the team that gives it to him. And let's just call it what it is. He's an older coach. The Titans need to go out and get a young coach that can connect with Will Levis and build up a young football team that is probably going to be one of the youngest football teams in the NFL next season. Okay?

It's not time to go out and get the dinosaur head coach who won multiple championships nearly a half a decade ago. You know? So, I am fully on board with the Titans not being interested in Bill Belichick. And on the flip side, Jim Harbaugh is going to want even more power than Bill Belichick. Jim Harbaugh is not only going to want the most power, Jim Harbaugh is going to want the biggest contract in the NFL

to leave Michigan and come back. Because the only way you're going to get him to leave Michigan is to pay him more. So there's going to be an owner out there that gets desperate, that needs that guy to have full control and full say, that old school approach to football. Alright? That Bill Parcells,

if you want me to cook the meal, you got to let me buy the groceries. You know? That is how these old school coaches see it and think. Alright? So, it's pretty clear to me and pretty obvious. And I get the immediate pushback.

You're going to say, hey, those are two, you know, championship coaches. Harbaugh won the national championship. Gross. Go Bucs. But anyway, Belichick, obviously the most decorated coach of all time in the NFL, but to me, it's just not where the Titans are right now. And I said this about Mike Vrabel too. Mike Vrabel is a good coach, but he's not the right coach for where the Titans are at right now.

And I think that teams out there that make sense for Mike Vrabel, teams that are more ready to compete right away and think that they have a great playoff roster and aren't trying to kind of build up with a young team, a team like the Chargers, a team like the Falcons, a team like the Seahawks, those teams, and maybe even you could throw the Raiders in there.

They have a lot of really good talent, okay? Those are the teams that Harbaugh and Belichick and Vrabel need to go to. Not the Titans, not the Commanders, not the Panthers, teams that need to be built up all the way. Like, that's just not where those guys make sense. Alright, so for me, everybody was kind of freaking out about the report that the Titans aren't interested in these names, but it makes all the sense in the world.

You just hot-fired an ego-driven, power-hungry coach because he refused to collaborate and wanted his way or the highway. Why would you then go out and pay top dollar for an ego-driven, power-hungry coach that wants things his way or the highway? It just doesn't make any sense, okay? You don't date a blonde and say,

I didn't like dating blondes, I want to date a brunette, and then your very next girlfriend's a blonde again. It just doesn't make any sense. You know what I mean? So I understand those are good names. Those are big names that everybody knows. A lot of casual football fans don't even know who

Bobby Slowik is. But they know who Jim Harbaugh and Bill Belichick is. So I get why there would be people in my comments or online saying they should want those guys. But realistically, think about what the Titans want to do, what they just came from, and what they just ejected from. And it's going to make a lot more sense to you that those guys are not options

that the Tennessee Titans are interested in. But again, with all that being said, if anything pops off over the weekend, I'll be here to break it down, even if it's my off day. And with that sort of dedication and that sort of passion, all I ask for in return, get subscribed. I want to get to 10,000 subscribers soon, folks.

This is the best Tennessee Titans podcast in the world. Women lie, men lie, numbers don't. Make sure you get subscribed, stay subscribed. It's your team every day. But with that being said, that's going to end today's episode. We're going to have a mock draft Monday coming up for you soon.

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