Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans PROMOTE Tim Kelly to Offensive Coordinator & Make MASSIVE Coaching Staff Changes

Episode Date: February 8, 2023

The Tennessee Titans finally made the move we have all been waiting for on Tuesday when they promoted Passing Game Coordinator Tim Kelly to Offensive Coordinator. There are some real reasons why the Titans made the right move and reasons why fans should be excited. Also, Mike Vrabel made a ton of changes to his coaching staff including additions and demotions. Tyler goes over all of the big changes. Finally, Chris Harris finally OFFICIALLY joins the Titans in a big move to fix the pass defense.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!BlueNileAt Blue Nile, you can find the perfect piece of jewelry for life’s special moments—or even create the custom engagement ring of her dreams! Right now, you can save up to fifty percent at BlueNile.com.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.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.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. 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, we finally have an offensive coordinator, Tim Kelly, gets the spot. And Mike Vrabel makes a ton of changes to his coaching staff. I'm breaking down all of today's news 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, we have a lot to talk about on today's show.

A ton of changes made by Mike Rabel on his coaching staff, including promoting Tim Kelly, last year's passing game coordinator, to offensive coordinator for the 2023 season. Before we get into it, I want to let you know that today's episode of the Locked on Titans podcast is brought to you by Nissan. The only thing more exciting than the big game is the all-new, all-electric 2023 Nissan Aria. There's only about five days left until the Super Bowl. Are you ready?

The Nissan Aria is, and it is the EV for the people who love to drive. Learn more at NissanUSA.com. Thank you guys for making the Locked On Titans podcast your first listen every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content on all platforms, all year round, and always for free. Make sure you get subscribed. Stay subscribed to the Locked On Titans podcast where it's your team every day. Part of the Locked On podcast network. Tim Kelly is your offensive coordinator, Titans fans.

Let me know down in the comment section how you feel about that. I am here to tell you this. Number one, was Tim Kelly my number one candidate? No, I'm not going to tell you that he was. I would have preferred Brian Johnson, the quarterback coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. I would have preferred Matt Nagy,

the quarterback coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. I would have preferred Matt Nagy, the quarterback coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. But the reality here is Tim Kelly is not a bad choice. And I've said all along that I think Tim Kelly is a very reasonable hire and a hire that I would not be upset by. Let's talk about three reasons why Tim Kelly will be a good choice for the Titans and three things that should get you pretty excited about Tim Kelly. Number one, third down offense. Look at the third down conversion rates of Tim Kelly's offenses since he took over in 2019 in Houston. 2019 in Houston, in Houston. 2019 in Houston, 43.5% conversion rate on third down. That was eighth best in the NFL. In 2020, with a 4-12 Texans team, the Texans were the 13th best third down offense in the NFL with a conversion rate of 43%. In 2021, with the worst team in the NFL, the Texans were still a top half of the NFL third down offense, converting third downs 39.7% of the time. So his three years in Houston, eighth best third down offense, 13th best third down offense, 15th third best or 15th best third down offense. Compare that to the Titans third down offense last year with Todd Downing, 36.5%. That was 23rd in the NFL. Mike Vrabel has said consistently,

and he repeated it again today when talking about these moves at his press conference, that he does not believe that the Titans offense is broken fundamentally. He even pointed out the Titans red zone offense as something that he stands on. He said the Titans just simply need to get to the red zone more often. Well, how do you get to the red zone more often? By converting on third down, something that Tim Kelly, despite having some of the worst teams in the NFL during his time in Houston, was able to do. Top half of the NFL in third down offense every single year in Houston. Also, Tim Kelly's passing attack. In 2020, the Houston Texans were fourth in the NFL in passing yards.

They were eighth in the NFL in passing touchdowns. Now, of course, you could say, well, the Texans were a terrible team in 2020. They had to throw the ball all the time. So, of course, their raw numbers would be near the top of the league. But I would counter with this. The Texans were first in the NFL in 2020 in net yards per attempt. That's an efficiency stat. So it's not just raw numbers that Tim Kelly was able to produce with the Texans. And we're talking about the 2020 Houston Texans who were 4-12.

So that's what I would tell you there. Not only that, but the third reason, the third reason, not just third down efficiency, not just his ability to coordinate a proper passing attack, but the third reason to be excited about Tim Kelly is his ability to develop quarterbacks. Deshaun Watson's best season in the NFL was under Tim Kelly in 2020. Watson, 4,823 yards, 33 touchdowns, 7 interceptions, 70% completion percentage, and a 112 quarterback

rating. Deshaun Watson's best season as a pro came under Tim Kelly in 2020 with a 4-12 Texans team. Not only that, but if you want to counter and say, well, that's Deshaun Watson. At the time, he was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Anybody could have made Deshaun Watson play well because he was good. Well, let's look at Davis Mills in the last two seasons with the Texans. Okay? Number one, Davis Mills in 2021 under Tim Kelly.

16 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, 66.8% completion rate, 88.8 passer rating. Look at the drop in 2022 in Davis Mills' performance once he didn't have Tim Kelly calling his place. 17 touchdowns to 15 interceptions tied for the most in the NFL. 61% completion rate, a drop of almost 5%, and a 10-point drop in passer rating from 88.8 to 78.8. Tim Kelly gets the best out of his quarterback. So whether it be his passing offense and his ability to coordinate there, do you guys remember in 2021 when the Texans beat the Titans in the middle of the season?

And at the end of the season, Davis Mills carved up the Titans secondary in the second half of that game, and the Texans almost beat the Titans, if not for an 4-1 out. A.J. Brown, hail Mary, that he caught, turned into a Sam Sloman field goal, one of the greatest moments in Titans history, in my opinion. But the Texans were carving up the Titans that year, and they were awful because Tim Kelly understands

how to coordinate a passing attack. So whether it be his passing acumen, whether it be his third down ability and his third down history, or whether it be his ability to develop quarterbacks and get the best out of the signal callers, Tim Kelly gives you a lot of reasons to be excited. And again, reminding you, Mike Vrabel said that Tim Kelly was the perfect fit, the right fit. Also, Mike Vrabel said he doesn't believe that the Titans offense is completely broken. And I agree with Mike Vrabel. I agree.

And Tim Kelly hasn't had the best success with running the ball as a play caller. But it works perfect for the Titans to have a great rushing attack already established with Derrick Henry and then add in a play caller who understands how to call passing plays. You get the best of both worlds now. So again, I'm not going to come up here and tell you that this was my top choice. It wasn't. But I also think that it's a little bit overreactionary for people to be throwing up their arms and completely upset with the Tim Kelly hire as well. During the season, we were all begging for Tim Kelly to take over as play caller. And now that they actually do it, people are mad. I said Matt Nagy's name. Everybody reminded me that he sucked with the Chicago Bears.

I say Eric Biennium. Well, why hasn't he been able to get a shot the last five years? He can't be that good. I say Kellen Moore. Oh, Cowboys fans hated him. I say Greg Roman. Oh, Ravens fans hated him. Is there an offensive coordinator choice that would have had everybody on board?

No. Not at all. So to me, you could say that Tim Kelly wasn't your first choice. And he wasn't mine. And I'm not going to pretend like he was. But to act like this is a terrible hire or terrible decision for the Titans, that's overblown as well. But that wasn't the only big coaching news of the day, Titans fans.

The Titans made a ton of changes. They made additions. They made demotions. They made reassignments to the coaching staff. We're going to go over all of them before we get into it though. Do want to tell you about a place where you can make a ton of coaching changes. You can control your franchise the way that you want. And that's on the Ultimate Pro Football GM app.

You can control your franchise from top to bottom. Hire and fire coaches and coordinators, trade players, sign players through free agency, cut players, do the draft every round, pick the players that you want. You can set up what scheme you want on offense and defense. You can control every single aspect of your franchise. It's challenging. It's realistic. The ultimate football GM app is free. You can play it offline. Play as you go.

When you want. Where you want. And one of my favorite things is you can actually create a league with all of your friends and compete against each other to see who can create the best franchise possible. We did that with Locked On. and it's been a lot of fun. Shout out to Chris Carter from Locked On Steelers, who was the NFL champion. So make sure that you guys go download the Ultimate Football GM app

because right now Locked On Titans listeners can get a 100% free boost to their franchise. All you got to do is use the promo code locked on inside the game store There's a store inside the app you add locked on in the promo code area You're gonna get a 100% free boost to your franchise download the game right now Visit ultimate dash gm.com or go the easy route and just look up ultimate GM in your app store That's ultimate dashgm.com. The ultimate football GM.

Start your dynasty today. Titans fans, so many changes to the Titans coaching staff. I'm going to continue breaking them all down here for you guys. We just talked about Tim Kelly being promoted to offensive coordinator. Now we got to talk about the rest of the moves before we get into it. Do want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content on all platforms all year round and always for free.

Do want to let you guys know that as of this week, I have joined the All Titans group over at Sports Illustrated. I will be writing articles, film breakdowns, covering news, all of that for Sports Illustrated, I will be writing articles, film breakdowns, covering news, all of that for Sports Illustrated, only for the Titans at All Titans. Go to at All Titans, S-I-F-N on Twitter. Follow that account right there or just check out All Titans. You can Google that, whatever you would like. Check out all the work that I've been doing.

I appreciate all you guys' support as always. Moving into the additional changes for the Titans. Number one, we got a new quarterback coach. Charles London, who is the quarterback coach over in Atlanta with Arthur Smith, will now be the quarterback coach and the passing game coordinator for the Titans. Obviously, you get that leftover residual effect from being around Arthur Smith, Charles London, some people thought could be an offensive coordinator candidate. He even interviewed for a few offensive coordinator positions this offseason.

He's a guy who's going to come in, take that passing game coordinator role from Tim Kelly, now with Tim Kelly going to the play calling role at offensive coordinator. Love having Charles London on board. He can remind everybody, hey, this is what Arthur Smith was doing in Atlanta that you guys love so much. Add that to the passing game coordination

that Tim Kelly is going to bring now that he's calling plays. I think it's a perfect fit to have Charles London in the Titans coaching staff as the quarterback coach. He worked with Desmond Ritter and got some pretty good stuff out of Ritter. So hopefully he can come in, help the quarterbacks in Tennessee. But that would lead you to the question of what happened to the Titans quarterback coach, Pat O'Hara? Well, that's where we start talking about some demotions. Now,

Mike Vrabel can call these reassignments all he wants, but some people got demoted on Tuesday. That is the reality here. So Pat O'Hara was the quarterback coach for the Titans. He has been, in my words, demoted to passing game analyst. So, I've seen a lot of people ask, what is passing game analyst? Well, guys, in my opinion, that's just a quality control coach at that moment in time. What Pat O'Hara is going to do is, he's going to self-scout the Titans passing game, and he's going to give notes to Mike Rabel about what he sees. That's a lot different than being the hands-on quarterback coach that works with the players

at practice every day. That is a demotion, no matter what anybody wants to call it. Pat O'Hara was demoted from quarterback coach to passing game analyst, okay? With Charles London taking over as quarterback coach. Continuing, one of the big openings that we've been wondering about was offensive line coach. And the Titans have promoted assistant offensive line coach, Jason Houtaling. He was working underneath Keith Carter, and now he will be promoted to offensive line coach.

Mike Rabel said that Jason Houtling had one of the most impressive coaching interviews that he's ever experienced. Very excited to see what the Titans can get out of the offensive line with a new offensive line coach and a ton of new faces that we expect to see on the offensive line. Not only that, but tight end coach from last year, Luke Steckle, who somehow, for some reason, interviewed with the Chargers for their offensive coordinator position.

His agent must have really been owed a favor from Tom Pelissero because Tom Pelissero tweeted it out and said that Luke Steckle was considered like a young genius and an up-and-comer in the industry and a potential OC. Guys, I don't believe that. Not for one second.

But either way, Luke Steckle was demoted to run game analyst. And just like I just explained about Pat O'Hara, that's a demotion, okay? Don't let anybody tell you any different, a reassignment, whatever. We don't want you working directly with the tight ends anymore.

We want you just self-scouting the run game and reporting back to Mike Vrabel what you see. But with that being said, the tight end coach position is open. And in place of Luke Steckle goes Tony Dews. So Tony Dews was the running back coach for the Titans, and he's now being assigned to tight end coach. Why would they do that? Well, I'll tell you why. Because the Titans want to see Tony Dews get more opportunities to be an offensive coordinator and working with the tight ends and being involved in the passing game and the running game install gives Tony Dews a better understanding of both sides of the

offense, which should lead to more opportunities for him going forward. And Mike Grable talked about that, wanted to develop opportunities for people, and Tony Dews is one of those guys. So, recap. Charles London as quarterback coach and passing game coordinator. Jason Houtaling, promoted from assistant offensive line coach

to full-time offensive line coach. Luke Steckle, who was the tight end coach, demoted to run game analyst. Pat O'Hara, who was the quarterback coach, demoted to passing game analyst. And Tony Dews, who was running back coach, moved to tight end coach. The Titans do not have a running back coach at this moment in time. So that's still an open vacancy that will be filled. But with that being said, we got to talk about the defensive side of the ball for the Titans.

The Titans made two additions. Well, I guess three additions in total, but two of them we've heard about publicly already, including a very important hire of Chris Harris as the passing game coordinator on defense. Before we get into that, though, do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by PrizePix. PrizePix is daily fantasy made simple. Look, you go on PrizePix, and they have a projection for every player. Take the Super Bowl, for instance. Pat Mahomes, 300 passing yards.

A.J. Brown, 5 catches. Jalen Hurts, 30 rushing yards. Travis Kelsey, 1 receiving touchdown. Isaiah Pacheco, 35 rushing yards. All you got to do is go on PrizePix and you pick two to six players and say whether you think they're going to do more or less

than the projection. If you get it right, you have a chance to win up to 25 times your money. All you got to do is go to prizepix.com right now or do the easy thing. Download the PrizePix app to your phone. Sign up. Use the promo code LOCKEDON. First time users are going to receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100. You deposit $100. PrizePix gives you $100.

You deposit $50. PrizePix gives you $50. They're available in 30 different states and Canada, so don't forget to go to prizepix.com or download the PrizePix app, sign up using the promo code LOCKEDON and you're going to get an instant deposit match up to $100. Before we cap off today's show with all this breaking news, do want to let you guys know about our friends over at Built Bar.

Built Bars are the best tasting protein bars in the galaxy. You get the best of both worlds with Built Bar. You get all the taste benefits of a candy bar with some delicious flavors. They're all covered in 100% chocolate, but you also get all the health benefits of a protein bar. Low calorie, low sugar, high protein, high fiber. You can go to Bilt.com right now or just go to your local Walmart or Sam's Club. Pick up a 13-bar variety box of the best-tasting protein

bars in the Galaxy Built Bars. But I want to thank you guys again 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 and always for free.

Thank you guys so much for all your support at all times. I definitely do appreciate it. But, we had Tim Kelly promoted to offensive coordinator. His passing game acumen, his third down success, and his ability to get the best out of quarterbacks should have you excited about

that hire. Also, Charles London, the quarterback coach and passing game coordinator. Jason Houtaling, his offensive line coach. Luke Steckle, demoted to run game analyst from tight end coach. Tony Dews, replacing him as tight end coach. And then Pat O'Hara, demoted from quarterback coach to passing game analyst. That is the moves on offense.

Now let's talk about defense. And finally, finally, the Chris Harris saga is over. Chris Harris has officially been hired by the Tennessee Titans as their defensive backs coach and their passing game coordinator on defense. And guys, I've talked about Chris Harris before, but this hire should very much excite you. Chris Harris, over the last three years in Washington, has piloted two times a top five passing defense. They were the fourth best passing defense in Washington in 2020 and the second best passing defense in Washington in 2022. He's developed some really good young players in the secondary, which is exactly

what the Titans need on defense. So Chris Harris was being courted by different teams. He interviewed for San Francisco's defensive coordinator position. He even got requested for an interview by the Houston Texans to be their defensive coordinator. But all of that nonsense is done, and Chris Harris is officially, officially with the Tennessee Titans coaching staff. I don't expect him to be there for very long. Chris Harris will probably move on to a defensive coordinator position next year because he's that highly regarded.

But my God, what could Chris Harris do with Christian Fulton, who's still a young player? Roger McCreary, Elijah Molden, Caleb Farley even, Trey Avery. I mean, the Titans have so many young players in their secondary that Chris Harris, to not only help with pass defense, but to develop those young cornerbacks, I mean, this is a massive hire. Not a lot of people are going to be talking about

how important Chris Harris is to the defense, but I am, and I'll just tell you to listen up. I got to give a shout out to Titan the Tiger. Consistently putting accurate and intelligent comments in the chat. Ran and Mike have some gravity to snag Chris Harris. Chris Harris could have went and been the defensive coordinator for the Texans.

But Mike Vrabel and Ran Carthon got him to be a passing game coordinator for the Titans defense. Also want to drop this. Farley has to go. Look, Morales,

I understand you're upset and frustrated and sick of it with Caleb Farley. But if the Titans cut Caleb Farley has to go. Look, Morales, I understand you're upset and frustrated and sick of it with Caleb Farley, but if the Titans cut Caleb Farley, it's going to cost them $7 million in dead cap and only save them $3 million. They're going to lose $4 million total if they cut Caleb Farley. It doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any sense to do that. So I understand why people feel that way, but as I talked about last week, it just doesn't make any sense financially to cut Caleb Farley, even if everybody's upset with his development and his play so far.

So just wanted to give you guys just that information so you know. But if Caleb Farley is going to turn it around, Chris Harris is the guy for the job. If Chris Harris can't do it, then yeah, nothing's going to do it. But you've got to be incredibly excited for the hire of Chris Harris. I wanted to devote a whole segment to it because of how hype I am about this hire. And somebody said earlier, anybody can cut up the Titans pass defense. When we were

talking about Tim Kelly, well you're right. And hopefully that stops now with Chris Harris, who has piloted two top five passing defenses in Washington. So, let's hope so. Two more hires here that the Titans did make on the defensive side of the ball.

Number one, we already talked about one, Lori Locust, Coach Lowe, who is the first female coach in Titans history. That's cool in itself. Mike Vrabel talked about that hire and about her interview, and he said that Rand Carthon and Mike Vrabel were incredibly impressed with their conversation with Coach Lori down at the Senior Bowl. She developed a lot of good

players on the defensive line in Tampa Bay where she was an assistant defensive line coach and now she's going to be working with the outside linebackers and outside linebacker Coach Ryan Crow. So, like that addition there. Also, Justin Hamilton will be added as a defensive quality control coach. And guys

let me just break this down for you real quick. Defensive quality control coach is a gopher. They're holding bags at practice. They're throwing passes. They're catching the ball and passing it off to the quarterback. When the coach says, hey go grab this. Hey go get the coffee. Hey blah blah blah. That's what they're going to the quarterback. When the coach says, hey, go grab this. Hey, go get the coffee. Hey, blah, blah, blah. That's what they're going to be doing. So that's what they mean by quality control coach.

Okay? But either way, man, an overall breakdown. This was the next step in the offseason for the Titans. The next big step. We had the GM hire. We had coaching fires. Now we have coaching hires. Rex,

this is a good start. If any of you guys jumped in late, I'm in segment three. I'm going to be done in about two minutes. As soon as I end the live broadcast, you're going to be able to go back to the beginning and watch everything from the start. So if you came in late, just wait a couple more minutes and you'll be able to go back to the

beginning. But now, now we can stop worrying about offensive line coach, offensive coordinator, GM, all these staff positions. It's time to worry about the roster. Okay? Now, we're going to start hearing about some players getting cut, especially after the Super Bowl. We're going to start hearing about some of the cuts that the Titans are making. And not only the cuts that the Titans are making, but the cuts that all NFL teams are going to make.

Guys, we talk about free agents and what free agents make sense for the Titans. The free agent pool is about to explode with all of the cap cuts that are about to happen around the NFL. Okay? So, now that we have this step done in the process, the coaching staff is put together, now we get to focus on the players

and the roster moves that will be coming down the road for the Titans. So very excited to dive into all of that. As I told you guys, thank you for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round

on all platforms and always for free. Check out all my work on all platforms and always for free. Check out all my work at alltitans.com, part of Sports Illustrated. Just started over there this week, guys. I am living my dream every single day, and I owe it all to you guys. So thank you so much for all of your support. 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.