Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans MUST CLEAN HOUSE If Ran Carthon FIRED, Why NOT to Fire Ran & Chad Brinker Promotion

Episode Date: January 6, 2025

The Tennessee Titans have been rumored to be considering firing general manager Ran Carthon and if that is the move they want to make, Brian Callahan needs to be fired with him. Having a new GM and a coach on the hot seat is a bad combination. However, the Titans should not fire Ran Carthon and his track record with player acquisition is exactly why. Finally, if the Titans do make a move away from Carthon, Chad Brinker taking over the general manager role could be a likely outcome.Subscribe to the TicTacTitans Film Channel:https://www.youtube.com/@TicTacTitansTicTacTitans Merchandise: https://dixons-dream.square.site/shop/tictactitans-gear/C3AAPNWXSXA6SBYG3USV2I7R?page=1&limit=30&sort_by=category_order&sort_order=ascFollow 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!Turbo TaxReady for stress-free taxes and the most money back, guaranteed? Head over to TurboTax.com today and get matched with your Expert—who’s ready to take your taxes off your plate, so you can focus on your day. 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/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload 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.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR 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)

If the Tennessee Titans want to fire a Rancarthon, they might as well just clean house. I'll explain why 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 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 FanDuel. New customers can place a $5 bet and you'll get started with $200 in bonus bets.

Make sure that you visit FanDuel.com to get started. On today's show, I'm going to talk about why the Titans should just clean house if they want to fire Rand Carthon. Explain why I don't think they should fire anyone anyways and talk about what action I think the Titans would take if they did fire

Rand Carthon. Before we get into all of it, I do want to 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. You're not going to beat that anywhere else. Make sure that you get subscribed. Stay subscribed.

It's your team every day. Speaking of every day, shout out to my everydayers out there. Tune in Monday through Friday. Couldn't do it without you guys. And if you aren't an everydayer, you need to be one because it's about to be an insane offseason for the Tennessee Titans. And I'm going to be covering all the news every day, all offseason long, getting you guys ready to go for when next season eventually does roll around.

But with that being said, with that in mind, we got to start with the job status of Rand Carthon. Because first and foremost, before I explain why I think the Titans should absolutely just clean house in general with everybody, if they intend to fire Rand Carthon, but how we got here, you know, obviously the Titans had a bad season. Obviously, since Rand Carthon has taken over as general manager, the Titans have gotten worse in their two seasons with him at GM. Now, that first season with Mike Vrabel, was he truly the general manager like we would think of?

That's up for debate. But regardless, the stink is on his name. Two seasons in a row, the Titans have gotten worse with Rancar Thawne at general manager. And we've gotten reports over the last few days, last weekend, the end of last week, saying that, you know, Rankarthon may be fired. We've gotten multiple reports from two different sources

hinting at that possibility. Adam Schefter hinted at that on Sunday in ESPN's pregame shows. So there is some reason to believe that Rankarthon could be fired. Now, as of my recording this, it's about 5 p.m. Eastern time on Monday afternoon, Rancart Thon has not been fired. With that, Brian Callahan has already spoken at a press conference on Monday, and still, to this point, Rancart Thon has not been fired. But that does not mean that Rancarthon still may not be fired later this week.

After you hear this, it could happen late on Monday night after this has been recorded. And of course, as always, I'll jump on for a bonus episode to break down the big news if it happens. But here's my thing. There's no way in the world, there's no way in the world there's no way in the world that the Tennessee Titans can fire Rand Carthon and keep Brian Callahan

it just does not make any sense whatsoever and here's why Rand Carthon is the one who picked Brian Callahan when the Titans hired Brian Callahan at that opening press conference, it was nothing but, I want to work with

Rand. When I met with Rand, I felt a natural connection. Me and Rand have a natural chemistry. We want to work in collaboration. I want to work with Rand Carthon. The whole reason that Brian Callahan was hired is because

him and Rand Carthon worked so well together. That was the entire point. The collaboration, the we're going to hunt together, right? We're going to hunt together. The worst thing, the worst thing that the Tennessee Titans could do is fire their general manager

and then hire a new general manager and force that general manager to take Brian Callahan. Now I saw some people say, well, you hire the new general manager and you give him the choice whether to keep Brian Callahan or not. Okay, well, here's the problem with that. Rank Arthur Thon hasn't even been fired yet.

When you fire Rank Arthur Thon, then you have to go through the process of hiring a new general manager. You have to go through the interview process. You have to check certain boxes. You have to do certain things. And by the time that you get done with doing those things, and you actually hire a general manager, now that general manager has to meet with Brian Callahan. Hey, Brian, how do you see this? Hey, Brian, how do you see that? Do we agree? Do I want to keep him around? And then let's say the general manager decides, you know what? I don't want Brian

Callahan. Well, now you have to start the process of hiring a new head coach. You have to check those same boxes. You have to go through initial interviews. You have to start the process of hiring a new head coach. You have to check those same boxes. You have to go through initial interviews. You have to go through second interviews. You have to go through virtual interviews. You have to have all those meetings with the new general manager. And by the time that you get through all of that, which head coaching candidates are even still available?

Are they in the top crop? Probably not. Those guys are probably going to be hired already. Or if they're not hired already, because let's say it's Ben Johnson with the Lions and they go to the Super Bowl and you can't technically hire them. Don't you think that those coaches

have already had their interviews with the teams that they're interested in? Don't you think that those coaches, even if they do go far in the playoffs and can't officially be hired, already know that they're going to the team that they're going to? You put yourself so far behind in the hiring head coach process

that it does not make any sense whatsoever. If you are going to fire Rankarthon, fire everyone. Because Rankarthon picked the head coach. Rankarthon picked the quarterback. Rankarthon signed all the free agents. Rankarthon drafted all the quarterback. Rankar Thon signed all the free agents. Rankar Thon drafted all the players. And he did that in mind of Brian Callahan, who he collaborated with on all of those moves.

It does not make any sense to fire Rankar Thon and keep Brian Callahan around. So if you're going to make the change, if you're going to abandon ship on this version of the Tennessee Titans, if you've had it, then you have to clean house entirely. You can't leave any lingering remnants behind. To me, I would compare it to like a cinematic universe,

like DC right now. They're saying it's a full reboot, but you still have the same Peacemaker, and you still have the same Harley Quinn, and you still have Amanda Waller from the previous version. It's only going to confuse the message that was really, really nerdy. So my nerds in the house, shout out to you guys who know what I'm talking about here. But the point is you can't let anything linger.

If you want to start fresh, then start fresh. You cannot fire Rancarth on and keep Brian Callahan around. It does not make any sense whatsoever. Now, I'm going to tell you why. Because of that, I don't want to see anybody fired. Because if you're going to fire somebody, it doesn't make sense for it to be Rancar Thawne out of all people. So I'll explain why now.

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Again, download the app today. Use the code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. It, download the app today. Use the code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. It's PrizePix. Run your game. Titans fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. I told you why I think it's silly to fire Rand Carthon if you're not going to fire everybody else.

But now I want to tell you why I don't think the Titans should fire anyone anyways. And if they do, it shouldn't be Rand Carthon. It doesn't make any sense. At the end of the show, I'm going to tell you about if the Titans do fire Rand Carthon, what I't make any sense. At the end of the show, I'm going to tell you about if the Titans do fire Rand Carthon, though, what I think actually happens at general manager. And that is a promotion from within whether you want to hear it or not. But continuing forward here, again, if the Titans are going to fire Rand Carthon, you might as well fire Brian Callahan and Chad Brinker and everybody at the same time. But here's the truth. I don't think the Titans should fire anybody right now.

Number one, look at the problems from this season. What are the big problems? All right, the big problems are quarterback play. All right, and I don't have a problem with taking a chance on Will Levis in the second round. Again, remember this. Ryan Tannehill was in his 30s and he looked done. So the Titans, with pick number 11, you're not going to be able to pick one of the top quarterbacks in the draft.

That's not going to be an option for you. So what do you do instead? You take a chance on a second round quarterback. I don't necessarily have a problem with that general philosophy, okay? They took a chance on Will Levis. See if you can catch lightning in a bottle. You didn't have a problem with that general philosophy. Okay? They took a chance on Will Levis. See if you can catch lightning in a bottle. You didn't have a great way to fix your quarterback position after Ryan Tannehill, so we'll take a shot. I don't really mind that, but the truth is, quarterback play was a major problem this year.

Not only that, but the coaching. I hate to do this, but if we are going to fire somebody for doing a bad job this year, Brian Callahan deserves to be fired way before Rancarthon. Rancarthon got us Calvin Ridley. Rancarthon got Tony Pollard. Rancarthon drafted J.C. Latham.

Rancarthon drafted Tavondre Sweat. Rancarthon drafted Peter Skowronski. Rancarton brought in Tajay Spears in the draft. Rancarton drafted Jarvis Brownlee Jr. Rancarton drafted James Williams, who's been a good special teams player in the second half of the year with potential to move forward as a linebacker

as a seventh round pick. Rancarton got Jalen Harrell. Rancarton brought in Bryce Oliver. Rancarton brought back Nick Folk. Rancarton brought in Bryce Oliver. Rancarton brought back Nick Folk. Rancarton brought in Lloyd Cushenberry who had an injury. That's not Rancarton's fault that he popped his Achilles. It's not like a soft tissue injury where they

brought in a guy who's always injured. Look, if you want to look at Rancarton, you could say he hired Brian Callahan. That was terrible. You could say that he traded for LeJarius Sneed and that hasn't worked out. But Quandre Diggs was playing good football when he got brought in before he got injured with a broken foot, which, again, isn't like a soft tissue injury that's lingered all year.

You get an injury-prone guy. So, like, has Rancar Thon been amazing? No, he hasn't been amazing. But we can't sit here and say out of Brian Callahan and Rancar Thon been amazing? No, he hasn't been amazing. But we can't sit here and say out of Brian Callahan and Rankar Thon and Chad Brinker that the guy who's done the worst is Rankar Thon. So I don't even understand. I can't even fathom how Rankar Thon would be the guy who gets canned. Now, I try to be honest, and I did this yesterday.

I try to look at it from Amy Adams Strunk's point of view. She is just another human being, a very rich human being, but just another human being like me and you. Ray Carthon picked the QB. He picked the head coach. He made me spend $250 million in free agency and we were bad again. We were terrible. We were worst in the NFL. The worst team in

the NFL. So I get from Amy Adams-Strunk's point of view from that direction, you could say I'm firing Rand Carthon for all of that. But my problem comes back to, well, if you're firing the general manager

because he hired a terrible coach, how can you not also fire the terrible coach? There is no logical path that has Rankarthon getting fired and Brian Callahan keeping his job. Like, that is not logical. If it happens, it's not logical. So, again, talking about what it looks like to fire Rand Carthon,

but keep Brian Callahan, talking about what it looks like to clean house entirely, I don't like either of those options. I simply don't. You clean house. I don't have faith that they're going to have the time and the resources. Amy's going to be paying Vrabel, going to be paying Callahan, and she's going to hire a new coach.

Is that coach going to be worth anything, or is it just going to be the cheapest possible option they could find? Who's going to want to be the general manager after the Titans abandoned Rand Carthon after two seasons and fired Brian Callahan after one? I just don't think that if the Titans fire everybody, that they have the resources and the time and the public relations view, the optics, as they call it.

I don't think that things would be in their favor for them to fix the problem. You're just going to hire a general manager for cheap who's going into a bad situation, or a head coach for cheap who's going into a bad situation or a head coach for cheap who's going into a bad situation. And I just don't think that doing that is what sets the Titans on the path to get better.

I also think that you have to take into consideration the new stadium. And you could say if you do this now, you get two more years of a new brain trust and then you could say if you do this now, you get two more years of a new brain trust, and then you could fire him again in 2027's offseason before you go into the new stadium,

but I don't think that's wise. I think you need to build up forward. I think that what we've seen from the Titans here, let's just be honest about the season for a second. What really went wrong this year? The turnovers, the special teams, and the quarterback play. It ruined everything. An improving offensive line.

The Titans' offensive line was 11th in pass-blocking efficiency from Week 13 to Week 18. Do not tell me that the Titans have a terrible offensive line, because they don't. They had a middle-of-the-road offensive line with a terrible right tackle position. That's what the Titans had this year. They had a mid-offensive line

with the worst right tackle position in the NFL. That's what they had. So it's not like the offensive line was the worst right tackle position in the NFL. That's what they had. So it's not like the offensive line was absolutely terrible. When Mason Rudolph played, the offensive line was fine. So quarterback play was a way bigger issue. And look, they tried with Will Levis. It didn't work. You got to give this coaching staff and this general manager

one more year. One more year with the quarterback of their choice. One more year. And then they bring in a quarterback of their choice, which is why I don't want the Titans to draft a quarterback. Because if you let them pick their quarterback of choice and they make the wrong decision, now you're screwed with another rookie quarterback on a rookie contract.

So, don't fire anybody. Let them bring in a veteran quarterback and prove that they can win. And if they don't, then you move on after next year. You have 2026 and the 2027 offseason to build this thing up before the stadium opens. You let the new regime after this year bring in the young quarterback that they like

in the 2026 or 2027 draft, which are much better for quarterbacks. This needs to go on for one more season. They need one more year before they clean house. And if you're going to fire Rand Carthon, just commit and fire Brian Callahan too and start completely over. But here's the thing.

If the Titans do, if the Titans do fire Rand Carthon, the guy who replaces him might already be in the building. We're going to talk about that right now. Do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by Game Time.

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It's GameTime. Titans fans, let's cap off today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. I'll be honest with you, today's episode kind of feels like we're just waiting on news. Like, that's where I'm at. I'm just going through the possibilities here, my thoughts on the possibilities, as we kind of wait for, is Rancarthon going to be fired? Is Rancarthon not going to be fired? Is he going to get one more year? Arene going to be fired? Is Rancart Thawne not going to be fired? Is he going to get one more year?

Are there going to be any changes? We're literally waiting for that news, and we don't know if we're going to get it now, later in the week, either way. But again, if the Titans fire Rancart Thawne, you might as well clean house and fire Brian Callahan too. Although my personal opinion is you shouldn't do either of those things.

You should give this group one more year and make them get a veteran quarterback to bring in to prove that they can win. All right? That's because if they get a rookie quarterback, they give you the same excuse of, oh, it's a young quarterback. We got to build him.

We got to get him back. No. I want to see a veteran quarterback in here and see if Brian Callahan can actually win some games. That's what I want to see. Can Rankarthon deliver a veteran quarterback? And then if it doesn't work in 2025, you fire both of them and you

restart over. And that's why I want the Titans to trade back in the draft and build the roster. Because I don't trust this group to pick a quarterback. Period. Period. No doubt about it. Do not trust Brian Callahan and Rankarthon

to pick a new quarterback. But let me just say this. If Rancarthon is fired, and put on my tinfoil hat for you guys here, I think that Chad Brinker,

the Tennessee Titans president of football operations, would assume the general manager position. Now, Rancarton is GM. Chad Brinker is president of football operations. They are equals. But I think it would be Chad Brinker taking over the general manager job of Rancarton.

So remember, Chad Brinker was incredibly well-respected as a scout on the business side talking about the money and the salary cap and all of that, and he's a former player who's in scouting. So,

Chad Brinker knows the business side, knows the analytics side, knows the football side. He was well-respected in Green Bay. Green Bay had to stop him from going to other places because he was so well-respected around the league. And he even went back to school in a doctorate program at Northwestern, I believe it was.

We talked about it last year or the year before when Brinker was officially hired. Last year, yeah. But the point is Brinker is a super intelligent human being. He knows every level of football operation. And he's already somebody in the building who maybe Amy Adams-Strunk trusts. You have to think to yourself, Amy Adams-Strunk knows football better than your average person.

You know, she's been owning a football team and watching football and being involved in the discussions for years and years. She knows football better than your average person. But Amy Adams Strunk isn't, you know, Greg Cosell. It's not like she is, you know, a football lifer. So when Rand Carthon does something and she's unsure about whether that's a good idea or not, who does she ask?

Who does Amy Adam Strunk get her football advice from when she wants to ask questions about the job her general manager has done? Who is that person? That's one of the biggest questions in the Tennessee Titans universe is who does Amy Adams-Strunk ask for for advice on high-level football decisions? The answer to that question may be

terrifying, quite honestly. But we don't know. We don't know the answer. So I am going to take a shot in the dark, take a guess. I think that Amy Adams Strunk might be going to Chad Brinker

saying, hey, do you think the move that Ran made was the right move? Did you agree with him? Does your data support that? Would you have made that decision? And what if

what if Chad Brinker is like, no honestly I didn't agree. Chad, would you have traded for LeJarius Sneed? No, I didn't really agree with that. Chad, would you have drafted Will Levis? No, I didn't really agree with that. Chad, would you have drafted Will Levis? No, I didn't really agree with that.

Chad, would you have hired Brian Callahan? No, I really didn't agree with that. We don't know whether Chad Brinker agrees or disagrees with what Rand Carthon is doing. We don't know. And remember, Amy Adams-Strunk made them equals. This offseason made them equals. So she already doesn't view Chad Brinker as an underling of Rand Carthon.

He views him as equals. So I am just putting a theory out there, taking a guess that if Rand Carthon did get fired and Brian Callahan didn't, that it wouldn't be some huge change. It would be we are firing Rand Carthon and we are promoting Chadancar Thawne and we are promoting Chad Brinker.

That's what I think happens if Rancar Thawne gets fired. But again, I don't want the Titans to fire Rancar Thawne. And if they did, I think they should just clean house entirely, not promote Chad Brinker. But what I think will happen, what I want to happen, what could happen, all different things, of course. But let me know what you want to happen with the Tennessee Titans' future. Should they fire Rand Carthon?

Should they fire Chad Brinker? Should they fire Brian Callahan? What combination would you want to see them fired in? Either way, let me know down below or hit me up on Twitter at TicTacTitans as well. But that's going to do it for today's edition of Locked on Titans. Thank you so much for tuning in. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland.

And again, this was Locked on Titans. Thank you so much for tuning in. As always, I am your host Tyler Rowland and again, this was Locked on Titans.