Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Ran Carthon Wants to Build 'Championship Roster', Talks Tannehill & Analytics Approach

Episode Date: January 20, 2023

New Tennessee Titans GM Ran Carthon was introduced today and was fantastic at his opening press conference! Carthon spoke on many topics including his relationship with Mike Vrabel and how a collaborative approach is the goal for the franchise. Also, Carthon spoke on the status of Ryan Tannehill as the teams starting QB, the injury issue that has plagued the Titans the last two years and his feelings on analytics. Carthon also told a story about how analytics impacted a major draft pick at his previous job that you won't want to miss. Finally, Titans coach Mike Vrabel also spoke about a few topics including the offensive coordinator search and why the Titans held on to special teams coach Craig Aukerman.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.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, new Tennessee Titans general manager, Rand Carthon was introduced today. He had a lot of great things to say. He talked about what he's going to do first, his relationship with Mike Rabel. He also had some interesting comments on the roster,

Ryan Tannehill's status, and how they're going to incorporate analytics into the organization. We're going to discuss all the highlights from Rand Carthon's opening press conference on a bonus 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, it is a great day to be a Tennessee Titans fan. Hope springs eternal. Rand Carthon was introduced as the new general manager today. He had his intro press conference and he knocked it out of the park. We are going to dive into the highlights from his press conference. Before we do, though, I want to thank you guys for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day. I am going to be putting out daily, Monday through Friday. And hey, sometimes you get a sixth bonus episode as well,

but I'm going to be putting them out all year long on all platforms and always free. So make sure you stay locked in to the Locked on Titans podcast and never miss a minute. If you're excited about Rand Carthon taking over as general manager for the Titans, throw a thumbs up on the video right now. I definitely do appreciate the support. But first and foremost, the number one thing that has to be discussed here is what is Rand Carthon going to focus on first? And I thought this first quote from Carthon was very interesting. He says, quote, Mike Vrabel is at the top of my to-do list. Us working together and forging a relationship and coming

up with a plan on how to build this roster. There are a multitude of things we need to do that we need to fix to make this organization better. But my number one priority is spending more time with Mike Vrabel and learning the systems that are here in place and how I can help improve upon them, which will help us building a championship team. Well, all I can say is here in championship team, championship roster, all that, that gets me going.

All right, I'm not even going to front on you guys. I love hearing that kind of talk. But Carthon hits on something that I think we all kind of knew all along. Look, Mike Rabel was heavily involved in this decision and in the discussion about the general manager. And there is no doubt about it.

This isn't your typical, what you think of, archaic GM to coach relationship where the GM is in charge and is the boss of the coach. No, they are very much equals in this situation. And the words that we hear from Carthon

throughout the press conference talk about collaboration. And we'll dive in to more of that stuff. But what I did want to let you guys see is a snippet here from Rand Carthon's opening press conference where he talks a little bit more about what he wants to do with Mike Vrabel. This video is courtesy of TennesseeTitans.com. I'm here to help Mike in any way that he sees fit. Obviously, Mike has been here.

He has a way he wants to do things, and I respect that totally. So wherever I can add value to Mike from that standpoint, I'm here for it. There you go. I mean, he says, wherever I can add value to Mike, I'm here for it. Guys, this is something that we have expected since the firing of John Robinson.

Mike Vrabel is in charge here. Now, they talk about collaboration all day, all they want, but it's obvious that Carthon was brought in to help Mike Vrabel and kind of do what Mike Vrabel needs him to do. We use this analogy since Bill Parcells did, but you're asking a guy to cook a meal without letting him pick the groceries. So although Carthon is the general manager, it is obvious that Mike Vrabel is making the grocery list. And Carthon, I thought throughout, talked about the collaboration, but with answers like that, it's obvious that he is here to get

Mike Vrabel the players that Mike Vrabel wants and that fit for Mike Vrabel. So I thought that was fantastic. He did talk a little bit more about how the relationship will work because one thing that did come up is who will have control of the 53-man roster, who will have, let's say, the final say on how the roster works and everything like that. And he talked about that. I thought it was fantastic because this is what Carthon said about the final say on the roster and all that. He says, quote, I don't think that matters because the word that we truly believe here is collaborating. I think all of that comes down to a matter of ego.

Mike and I are here to work together. We are going to bring people in here that we see fit. We are not going to see it the same every time, but he and I will have the mutual respect to be able to work through that and get the right people in here. I mean, what a fantastic answer on day one from Ran Carthon. All about collaboration, showing nothing but respect to Mike Rabel. And I love the thing at the end. He said, we're not going to see it the same every time. That is a fact.

There's no way that they're going to agree on every player, every move. But having the mutual respect to work together and balance those things out is going to be key. And you know, you hate to read between the lines too much, but everything that we've seen from Amy Adamstrunk, from Mike Vrabel, from Carthon now makes you think that maybe John Robinson wasn't so open to Mike Vrabel's input. So that's a big change and it's a healthy change and a good change if you're a Tennessee Titans fan. The next thing for me that really stood out, though, was talking about the roster.

Do the Titans need to rebuild? Do the Titans need to retool? How does Carthon see the roster? I got another clip for you guys here, courtesy of TennesseeTitans.com. No, this is a competitive team. This is a competitive team, and we can win football games. But at the end of the year, you evaluate your roster every year and you're always looking for ways to improve that.

And so that's what we're going to do here. Although I feel the team is competitive and we're good, the objective is not be good. The objective is to be great. And so we're going to continue to work to build a great roster. Oh, man. Championship team, great roster. And I love that answer.

The Titans are a competitive football team. They had the most injuries in the NFL Oh man, championship team, great roster. And I love that answer. The Titans are a competitive football team. They had the most injuries in the NFL and still were playing for a playoff berth in the last week of the season. So this team isn't quite as far away from being back to contention. And if they really hit a couple off seasons, you know, perfectly the next few years, they're going to be right back to being able to compete, go deep runs in the AFC. So it looks like Carthon is not interested in a full-scale rebuild. It looks like he's a guy who does believe the Titans can retool

and get back to great, quite frankly. And that is, from a Titans fan perspective, exactly what you want to hear. But that's not the only stuff that Carthon talked about. He also talked about Ryan Tannehill's that Carthon talked about. He also talked about Ryan Tannehill's status. He talked about the injury bug. He talked about analytics. And guys, he had a fantastic story about how analytics impacted a draft selection in San Francisco. And boy, it gets me going. Before we get into all of that though, do want to let you guys know that today's episode is sponsored by LinkedIn Jobs.

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That's ultimate-gm.com. Ultimate Football GM. Start your dynasty today. Titans fans let's continue our bonus episode breakdown of Rand Carthon's opening press conference with the Tennessee Titans we went over his answers about Mike Vrabel and that relationship and where things stand there. We heard his answer on the roster, retool, rebuild. It looks like a guy who wants to retool now. He said a bunch more interesting things like about Tannehill,

the injuries, analytics, a great story coming for you guys that I'm ready to show you as well. But before we get into all that, I do want to thank you again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen every day, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round on all platforms for free. So make sure that you subscribe, smash the notification bell, and throw a thumbs up on the video right now. I definitely do appreciate the support.

But diving into the quarterback situation, Ryan Tannehill. Ryan Tannehill, what are the Titans going to do with him? I just had my quarterback episode just a second ago, last episode that came out on the podcast feed. So it only makes sense that Carthon would be asked about that. But when asked if Ryan Tannehill is the team's quarterback moving forward, Carthon said this. He said it's not fair for him to answer that question.

He's still evaluating the roster, and more conversations need to be had. More evaluations need to be done. And he said, quote, Mike and I will confer and figure it out, end quote. I do want to mention he also did say that the quarterback position gets guys hired and fired in this league all the time. So they're going to approach it very, very cautiously, I guess, to paraphrase what Carthon was saying. So I thought that was very interesting.

It's funny that he was asked about that already, but I thought he gave a very diplomatic answer and a fair answer. Quite frankly, there's no way that right now he knows exactly what he wants to do with Ryan Tannehill. And even if he does, you don't say it right now at your opening press conference. So I thought that was a great way to answer that question. As for the injuries, it's obvious that the Titans have had a ton of different injuries, record-setting injuries over the last few years. And Carthon talked about that.

He talked about all the injuries the Titans have had. And he said this, quote, we're going to explore every option to figure out how to keep our guys on the field. It's a violent sport. And there's not going to be a way to keep everybody healthy. It's a violent sport and there's not going to be a way to keep everybody healthy. It's

just not possible. But we're going to explore every option to figure out how we're going to be able to maximize keeping guys on the field. End quote. My Lord, I love that quote. We are going to explore every option. Look, guys, if you've been listening to the show for any amount of time, you follow me on Twitter, at TicTacTitans. It is obvious from my standpoint here that the Titans are not as advanced

as other NFL teams when it comes to things like their training methods, like their recovery programs, like analytics. For example, if the Titans are that far behind the rest of the NFL in analytics, it is only logical to think that they may be that far behind other teams in other areas that don't necessarily have to do with football. I mean, everything has to do with football directly, but you see analytics isn't players on the field,

sports science, recovery, training methods, all that. Those are things that we don't watch every Sunday. So it's only logical that if the Titans were that far behind, remember J-Rob infamously said, I'm the analytics department. So it's only fair to wonder how far behind the Titans may be from other teams in the NFL in certain areas off the field. Hearing this makes me believe that Carthon coming over from San Francisco, coming from Los Angeles, is really going to do everything that he can to modernize this football operation.

Okay. And not only does that make me feel better about the injury issue, but the thing that excited me the absolute most was the conversation about analytics. I mean, Carthon just really knocked my socks off with this one. No way around it. So he talked about analytics, how it was involved in San Francisco, how they did things there, and I thought it was incredibly insightful.

And he gave an excellent answer and an excellent story about how analytics made an impact. I'm going to dive into that. He did say he think that analytics definitely plays a part in football. Scouts trust their eyes. Sometimes the data can drive you to decisions and help you see things from a different vantage point. I think there's a place in our game for it. And here you go, guys. An excellent story about his time in San Francisco where analytics made a big impact.

This is big. I love it. So he comes to me. He has a running back and he's like, man, my numbers are telling me this is the best outside zone running, running back in the draft. He was like, but I'm not walking in there with Kyle with just this paper to say that, can you watch this guy and see if you can confirm what my, what the tape saw. And I watched the tape. That was my first exposure to the player.

And I agreed with him. And then that player ended up being Elijah Mitchell. D'Amico Ryans, it was his first year as D coordinator. And that round, that pick was going to be his linebacker. And D'Amico, some kind of way, he came in the draft room, Elijah's tape was on. And he was watching Elijah. And he called Johnny Holland, our linebacker coach, up and was like, Coach, this running back is better than the linebacker coach up and was like, coach,

this running back is better than the linebacker we're going to pick. And so we shifted from taking a linebacker and took Elijah. Man, what a story. What a story. Analytics guy comes. Hey man, my analytics, my data told me this guy is exactly what we want. Carthon checks the film. Hey, it lines up. My eye test matches the data. And that's what analytics is all about, guys. It's not the be all end all, but it's part of the discussion.

It is a part, it is a piece of the puzzle. If you're the Tennessee Titans for the last five, six years, you don't get opportunities like that right there that he just explained because you don't give enough credence to the analytics. So the fact that he literally tells a story of we were going to take a linebacker, but instead one of our analytics guys said, hey, look at this prospect on the data side. See if the film matches. The film matches now. We're not taking this linebacker in the sixth round. We're taking this running back. And as Carthon went on to point out,

Elijah Mitchell was crucial to the run that the San Francisco 49ers made last season. So that's the type of mind, that's the type of environment that Titans fans are getting now. I mean, welcome to the 21st century, fans. I cannot believe it. Welcome to modern NFL football.

It's just fantastic. Do also want to point out that as for scouts and the staff, Rand pointed out that he's not going to, you know, head over heels, change everything. Right now, he's keeping the scouting staff in place. Ryan Cowden is going to stay in place. Now, I would expect that there are some changes made to the staff after the draft. But what you can't do right now with the draft three months away is totally overhaul your scouting department.

It just doesn't work like that. Actually, in the NFL, scouting contracts usually run until the draft because there's no way that you're going to fire your entire scouting staff or make fundamental changes to your staff. But again, three months, two months out of the NFL draft. It just doesn't make any sense. So glad to hear that. Some structure being in place. Really impressed by Carthon. There are a few things that Mike Vrabel had to say on the day as well, and I'm going to dive into those in just a moment. Titans fans, let's cap off this bonus edition of the Locked on Titans podcast.

We've broken down Rand Carthon's intro presser, went over all the highlights with you guys, had the clips. Hope you enjoyed that. But Mike Rabel got up there and had some things to say as well. I got to tell you, I haven't seen Mike Rabel this excited in a long time. He had a smile on his face. He was jovial until he got one question about special teams and he laid the hammer down. Can't wait to talk about that. But first,

what I want to mention is Vrabel talked about the current process of hiring an offensive coordinator and he said they've casted a wide net. They've talked to a lot of different people and he talked about the fact that he said, quote, we need to score more points. He talked about how they've been efficient in the red zone the last few years, but they haven't got down to the red zone enough recently. And that's of course the Todd Downing experience. He even talked about how they've been okay on third down. He talked about being more efficient, being more effective on first and second down, which makes sense that he's looking at a guy like Matt Nagy, who you guys can say whatever you want about him as a head coach,

but as an offensive coordinator, he's been very solid. He has some great ideas and working in a system in Kansas City where it brings me back to one time Todd Downing was doing a press conference. It was this season, and he talked about getting into third and manageable, how important it is to get in third and manageable. And credit to Paul Kaharski. He said, Todd, have you guys ever thought about, you know, maybe not getting to third down? Maybe you could pick up a first down on first down

or pick up a first down on second down? Like, why is the focus getting into third and manageable when the focus should be being efficient on all downs? So clearly the thought process, Todd Downing called plays scared. And you can't do that in the NFL. You've got to get more yards on first and second down. The goal of the offense can't be get to third and manageable.

Like that can't be the goal, okay? Like it's asinine, all right? So Mike Rabel talked about first and second down specifically how the Titans had to get better on early downs. I think that's absolutely key. So I loved hearing that. Also, Mike Rabel was there in general. That's a joke for anybody who follows me on Twitter at Tic Tac Titans. But the last thing that I'm going to talk about today on this bonus episode is Mike Rabel Last thing that I'm going to talk about today on this bonus episode is Mike Rabel absolutely smoking somebody in the press conference.

Now, I said reporter, and a lot of the people who were present at that scoffed at me using the word reporter. I didn't know who asked the question when I was watching the press conference myself. I didn't know what person asked the question to be able to identify who they are, what they are, blah, blah, blah. I don't know every Tom, Dick, and Harry who hosts a TV show or a radio show in Nashville. I don't care. I simply don't. So it turns out it was Jared Stillman.

I guess he's a radio show host in Nashville. Stillman, I guess he's a radio show host in Nashville, but he asked Vrabel why Craig Aukerman, the special teams coach, wasn't fired with how bad the Titans have been on special teams. And it's funny, the truth is the Titans were actually a lot better on special teams this year. But Mike Vrabel basically got pissed about that question. And he said, wait, let's be objective then. What about special teams?

Is it good? Why should I fire Craig Aukerman? What's bad? And he talked about coverage on punts and how they've allowed a lot of long punt returns this year. Mike Vrabel stopped him and said, hey, we were number three in the entire NFL in net punt yards. Our punter just set a record that's been standing for 82 years. Yeah, we got to kick some of them a little higher. Some of them were a little low, but we were number three in the NFL in net punt yards.

Oh man, Vrabel just laid the hammer down with the statistic. It was hilarious to see. And then Vrabel did transition. He said, look, punt return is an issue. We got to have a punt returner. We had Trenton Cannon. He got hurt. We obviously liked Kyle and wanted to bring Kyle in. We saw him have a big return in week one.

But then he got hurt. He dropped a couple punts. We had Amani out there. We had Robert Woods out there. We tried different guys out there. And then he joked. He looked. He said, Ran, I need you to go out there right now and find me some punt returners.

But he did say, we are going to have guys catching punts off the jug machine until we get calluses on our hands. Because we got to find a better punt returner. But man, that answer about special teams and him going back at the person who asked the question with the statistics, it was just, it was the essence of Mike Vrabel and it was, it was wholly entertaining. So, uh, if you want to go back and check out the press conference, that's like the last 15 to 10 minutes of it.

It was like a 47 minute press conference. Uh, I've watched it back like three times now to prepare for the show, but if you guys want to check that out, it was excellent, but that's going to do it for me today, guys. A bonus episode for you, breaking down Rand Carthon's opening press conference with the Tennessee Titans. I'm going to be back with you guys on Sunday night into Monday morning. And I know I said it last week, but unless an offensive coordinator is hired over the weekend, we will do mock draft Monday, our first mock draft Monday of the offseason to

start the week next week. That's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.