Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Defensive Coordinator Candidates: Hottest Names, Old Sages & Internal Options

Episode Date: January 21, 2021

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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, on yesterday's episode, we dove into the offensive coordinator candidates that the Titans would have this offseason. And today, we are going to cap off the second part of taking a look at all of the coordinators that are available to the Tennessee Titans as we transition over to defense.

And of course, the defensive coordinator position, or lack thereof, was probably the biggest pain point for the Titans last year. And although, during the season, head coach Mike Rabel mentioned that not having a defensive coordinator wasn't something that was hurting the team, I think by going out and looking for a defensive coordinator, that's almost an admission without the words that it in fact did hurt the football team. So with that in mind, the Titans are actively looking for a defensive coordinator based on the reports that we are getting, and it's time to look at who could fill that spot.

And as we did yesterday, we do need to look at the internal candidates. Maybe Mike Vrabel decides to go with a different person on the Tennessee Titans staff, although I think that's very unlikely. And more likely is that the Titans will look for an outside candidate. And we're going to take a look at some of the old heads that are available, some of the veteran defensive play callers that are available for the Titans who kind of fit that Dean, Pease, Wise, Sage mold. And then we're going to look at some of the hot coaching candidates

who may not be incredibly young but haven't necessarily had their opportunity to shine like some of the older candidates that we are going to talk about. So we got to talk about the internal candidates. We got to talk about the hot candidates. We got to talk about the old head candidates. A lot going on in today's show. And not only are we talking defensive coordinator position, but we got to talk about A.J. Brown and what an absolute monster he is.

A story that he told from a hospital gurney on Tuesday night. And also, we need to talk about what I would like to see the Titans do with defensive coordinator and what improvements I want to see made on the defensive side of the football. So a lot to talk about on this Thursday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it. It is a Thursday edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. And as I mentioned yesterday. We went over all of the possible offensive coordinator

candidates that I think make sense to replace Arthur Smith. We looked internally. We looked outside the organization as well. If you missed any of that show and any of those candidates, make sure that you go back and check that out. That was Wednesday's show yesterday. Subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream. And not only for yesterday's show,

but I will be putting out Monday through Friday Tennessee Titans content throughout the entire offseason. You're not going to find that anywhere else, period. So subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast on iTunes, Google Podcasts,

Spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts, you can find the Locked on Titans podcast on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you listen to podcasts, you can find the Locked on Titans podcast there. But let's dive into today's show. And the number one thing that I want to talk about is something that actually came out on Tuesday, but you know, it came out after I had recorded Wednesday's show. And that was the news of AJ Brown's knee surgeries. That's right, plural. So A.J. Brown went live on Instagram on Tuesday night from his hospital bed

after he had encountered two knee surgeries just to kind of talk to the world a little bit. Clearly, A.J. was still feeling the medicine and the anesthesia. He was a little woozy in the conversation, but very fun, awesome conversation. You can go check that out. It's been posted on Twitter. You can find it on his Instagram. But the big takeaway here is that AJ said he had surgery on both of his knees,

and the one knee that gave him the most problems throughout the year, he was told in week two that he should shut it down for the year and have surgery. And not to mention the ankle injury that he had later on in the year, but just the knee injury at the beginning of the year where he missed a couple of games after week one, he was told to shut it down for the year. But no, that is not what A.J. Brown does. If we have learned anything in the last two seasons, it's that A.J. Brown is a stud.

He is a specimen, a man amongst men. It's really impressive what he's been able to do in just his two short years, even more impressive considering that he was so banged up this year, all the incredible plays. Remember, my number one takeaway coming out of re-watching the game is just that A.J. Brown is an absolute unit. He's fantastic. He carried the team in a lot of times, and knowing that he did that with two knee injuries that should have sat him out for the entire season, just incredible. He was able to go over 1,000 yards for a second consecutive year. Couldn't ask for anything else, and stuff like that, and watching him play this year has quickly vaulted A.J. Brown into my favorite Tennessee Titan to watch personally.

I asked you guys on Twitter, at Tic Tac Titans, who your favorite Tennessee Titan was. Obviously got a lot of Derrick Henry, got some Ryan Tannehill in there, but for me, it is Arthur Juan Brown. But I want to cover that news for you guys, of course, but let's dive into this conversation about defensive coordinator candidates. And first, what I want to do is just take a look at the internal candidates. And quite frankly, I don't think that they're very deserving, but you never know what Mike Vrabel could do. He could choose to believe that it just wasn't cut out for Shane Bowen to call

plays. And maybe there are some other options on the staff currently that could get their opportunity and do a much better job. So number one for me, Jim Haslett. I think this would be a terrible decision, but in the vein of a Dean Pease type. Dean Pease is an old sage, had a ton of wisdom, had tons of NFL experience. Well, Jim Haslett does fit that mold. He's had tons of experience calling plays on defense, has been a head coach in his career as a coach in the NFL. So a lot of experience to draw off of and maybe Haslett would use that experience to put a better

defense out there for the Titans. But the reality is for me, the inside linebacker group had one of the most precipitous drops in production, say that three times fast, precipitous drops in production of any unit on the entire team. And quite frankly, you have to look at Tyrone McKenzie leaving and then Jim Haslett taking his spot and think about the drop in production. And the second internal candidate that I want to mention here is another guy who really fits that exact mold without the age, and that's Anthony Midgett, who just came over last season to be the defensive backs coach for the Titans after Kerry Coombs left to be the defensive coordinator for the Buckeyes.

I'll quickly touch on this. A lot of people have said to me, why didn't the Titans just hire Kerry Coombs as DC? Well, in my opinion, Kerry Coombs wanted to get back into college football so that he could eventually be a head coach in college football. I don't think that Kerry Coombs ever would have had that opportunity in the NFL. So he went back into the college ranks, probably got more money in the college ranks than he would have got from the Titans to be the defensive coordinator. And then it keeps him in college ball and gives him a better opportunity to be a head coach in college. If Luke Fickle ever leaves Cincinnati, which of course he will eventually,

I would look for Kerry Coombs to maybe try to pursue that University of Cincinnati college football job. But that's another discussion for another day. The reality is Anthony Midgett, again, a drop-off in play in the secondary, especially with the safeties, Kenny Vaccaro and Kevin Byard, from the year before. Now there were injuries in the secondary, youth in the secondary., Kenny Vaccaro and Kevin Byard from the year before. Now, there were injuries in the secondary, youth in the secondary. Maybe Midget isn't to blame, but what we do know is him and Vrabel have a very strong

connection, and that's why he was able to hire Midget over to the Titans for the exact same position that he had with the Texans. So they have a strong bond there. He has a lot of trust in Midget, and maybe he didn't feel comfortable elevating a guy like Anthony Midget directly to defensive coordinator. He didn't want to upset the other guys who have been on the staff previously, but now with a year going through what they've been through, Midget's been on the staff for a year. Maybe that will make Mike Vrabel comfortable enough to give him the opportunity. Now, I don't think that's a fantastic idea. I don't

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I want to give you guys as much information as possible of all the different options that are out there. And that's why I started with the two internal candidates. But the reality is, none of those people have earned it. Whether it be Hazlitt or Midget or even Shane Bowen getting the actual bump. None of those guys have earned it, and I would be pretty upset personally if that is the direction that the Titans went. Part of the reason that we know that the Titans are looking for outside candidates for defensive

coordinator is because some of the rumors of some of the people that they are interested in. The number one name that I want to get into as we start to talk about what I think should be more realistic options and more exciting options for the Titans is a name that's kind of been in the rumors a lot lately, and that is New Orleans Saints defensive back coach Aaron Glenn. So Glenn's kind of a mold between those old heads and some of the hot risers. He's 48, which isn't young by NFL coaching standards, but it surely isn't old.

You know, he's still got that vigor, he's got that fire, and he wants to prove himself as a defensive coordinator. Now with Glenn, things are a little complicated. Reports were earlier in the week that he had accepted the job as the defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions. week that he had accepted the job as the defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions. But then, Josina Anderson reported late last night on Tuesday that Aaron Glenn, in fact, had not accepted that and was still interviewing with two other teams for their defensive coordinator spot, and I can only pray and hope that the Tennessee Titans are one of those teams.

In my opinion, not only for the defensive coordinator spot, but for the offensive coordinator spot as well, the Tennessee Titans are a perfect team to take that leap with. So the Titans' defense wasn't good last year, but as I'm sure you guys see, there is talent there to work with. And also on the offensive side of the ball, clearly there's a ton of talent to work with there. So in my mind, the Tennessee Titans' coordinator positions are much more attractive and enticing

than the Detroit Lions with a brand new head coach and a terrible defensive roster. So to me, I don't see why Aaron Glenn wouldn't pick the Titans over going to Detroit with Dan Campbell from the Dolphins. So Aaron Glenn is the number one candidate for me, and he's probably the hottest defensive coordinator candidate right now. Going forward, another guy who I honestly might be more excited about is Gerard Mayo. He's the linebackers coach for the New England Patriots. He did play with Mike Rabel for just a small amount of time earlier in their playing careers, and Mayo is on the younger side, 34, but he's a hot rising candidate, a defensive

mind. Clearly, if he's one of the best position coaches in New England, then the guy knows what he's doing. So I would like to take a chance on maybe a hot, young defensive coordinator like that who is more focused on the modern schemes and has cut his teeth more with the modern schemes the NFL offenses are running. The next name on the list is another guy I would be wholly satisfied if this ended up being, and this is more of a wise older guy, but not somebody who has

really had a great opportunity to show what he can do, and that is Terrell Austin, who's currently the defensive back coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He's had two years under Dean Pease as the defensive back coach in Baltimore, so you have a little bit of a connection there and a schematic identity. I like the way the Pittsburgh Steelers play defense as well. I'd like to play more like the Steelers and like the Ravens with more pressure concepts. 55 he did have a former opportunity as a head coach has been a defensive coordinator in the NFL before so he kind of gives you a perfect marriage of that old sage and that new guy still trying to prove what he can do because I feel like a guy like Terrell Austin is is really searching for a chance to show that he could still possibly even be a head coaching candidate in the NFL so those are the the names that interest me the most outside of the organization. But there are also three more names that I think make a lot of sense outside the organization as well. Number one, Gerald Alexander, who is currently the defensive back coach for the Miami Dolphins.

So just to make the connection there, you have Brian Flores, who came from the New England program, who was the head coach there, brings in a guy like Alexander. And the Dolphins' defense was absolutely fantastic this year, especially their defensive back play with their cornerbacks and Byron Jones and Zavian Howard, who Alexander got to play back to an incredible level, leading the NFL in interceptions after having a down year in 2019. So Alexander isn't a super hot name on the defensive coordinator circuit, but he's 36 years old.

A former player has shown that he can get a lot out of his position group, and that's somebody who I think the Titans should look at. And I do want to go back and look at Terrell Austin, DB coach for Pittsburgh. Look at what they've done with Joe Hayden. Look at what they've done with Edmonds. Look at what they did with Minka Fitzpatrick once they got there. Gerard Mayo and the linebackers from the New England Patriots. Think about a guy like Kyle Van Noy. Think about a guy like Jamie Collins. Some of

these guys who maybe don't play for New England anymore, but were developed there. Aaron Glenn and the DBs in New Orleans. Do I even got to talk about that? I mean, they got Vaughn Bell, Marcus Williams, Marshawn Lattimore has played well there as well. So, you know, these guys have done well with their position group. The last two guys that I want to mention, Jim Leonard, 38 years old, currently the defensive coordinator for the Wisconsin Badgers, a former NFL player.

His defenses in Wisconsin have been incredibly impressive, and people expect him to make that jump to the NFL shortly, as he was a former NFL player who didn't play too long ago, so he should have a good understanding of the NFL game, and Mike Vrabel would do well to fill his staff with former players, in my opinion, and former role players as well, who end up being the best coaches instead of the star players. The last name here, Jesse Minter,

he's the defensive back coach of the star players. The last name here, Jesse Minter. He's the defensive back coach for the Baltimore Ravens. Once again, look at guys who have had incredibly successful defenses with schemes that I really like that I think fit what the Titans are trying to do, being multiple. And then you also look at his individual position group, Marcus Peters, Marlon Humphreys, Jimmy Smith. They developed Chuck Clark. They had Earl Thomas there, they let Earl Thomas go and replaced him and still got similar production so an incredible position group, a Baltimore Ravens defense

scheme that I really really like and a young guy who can kind of make his way and is motivated to show what he can do so I like all of those outside the organization candidates for the Tennessee Titans the most now what I want to do next is I want to talk about some other candidates who maybe aren't as exciting, but they have a lot of experience to draw off of.

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I'm going to go over the last four options that I have for you guys and then tell you who I think would be the best selection. We have gone over quite a few possible candidates for the Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator position on today's show. We looked at two possible internal candidates in Jim Haslett and Anthony Midgett, who I am not very high on. We looked at all of the outside candidates that I am high on. Aaron Glenn, Gerard Mayo, Terrell Austin, Gerald Alexander, Jim Leonard, Jesse Minter. Now, let's look at some of the older coaches or some guys who have had a lot of opportunities in the past who could come in right away and provide experience.

Before we do, though, I want to remind you guys, the NFL playoffs obviously continue this weekend. You want to make sure you get all of your national NFL analysis on the Locked On NFL Show. Subscribe on whatever platform you do stream. But the last few names that I want to get into here, and you'll see how they all make sense to be grouped together. Number one, Matt Patricia.

So I know, I know, I know. Matt Patricia bombed in Detroit. He was terrible with players. He was terrible with the media. He just overall did a bad job. But the reality is he was a really good defensive coordinator in New England. Now, the counter to that is he's got Bill Belichick in the game planning room, blah, blah, blah. But Matt Patricia clearly did a great job as a defensive coordinator. His personality

with players was an issue. In my mind, with Mike Vrabel leading the helm, Matt Patricia won't feel as free to be an asshat, basically, and to disrespect players and treat them like Bill Belichick tried to. He's not going to try to do that because Mike Vrabel has control of what's going on in the culture. He'll be just asked to do his job, coach defensive football, call plays, scheme game plan. So from that perspective, I think Matt Patricia could make a lot of sense. There's obviously the New England connection. Next, a guy I'm not very high on, but there is the connection,

is Romeo Cronell. Clearly had a big influence on Mike Vrabel, not only with their time in New England, but their time in Houston. Cronell is gone from Houston as well, and he fits that Dean Pease mold of an old sage who Vrabel can trust to bounce ideas off of. Now, I'm not very high on Cronell because I don't think he's been a good defensive coordinator for quite some time, but just giving you guys all the possibilities. Another guy who fits that mold is Wade Phillips. Now, this is somebody who a lot of people ask about. A ton of people ask about Wade Phillips, Wade Phillips, Wade Phillips. Well, in my mind, hear me out. Wade Phillips is one of the best defensive minds in the history

of football, but he is really old, guys, and there are just complications that come with being an older guy. I mean, I'm 30 now, and I can already tell the difference from when I was 20. Imagine being in your 70s and trying to go through the grind of coaching NFL football and the hours you've got to put in the game plan. Can Wade Phillips do that at his age a year out of the league? I don't know. Now, the other issue is on the field schematically. The reason that the Rams got rid of Wade Phillips is because he is very rigid with his philosophy on defense and as soon as the Rams put in Brandon Staley, they became the number one defense in the NFL and Staley got a head coaching job.

a head coaching job. So, Wade Phillips runs a 3-4, a gap penetrating 3-4, and he doesn't do a lot of varied coverages. He doesn't do a lot of varied looks. He doesn't do any 4-3 looks. He's not multiple up front, and that's something that Sean McVay wanted because that's what you need to do in the modern NFL. So, those schematic concerns probably haven't changed for Wade Phillips. And that's not something that Mike Vrabel is going to want. Mike Vrabel wants a multiple defense. And although it didn't work out great last year, I still agree with the general philosophy that Mike Vrabel has. The last guy doesn't fit exactly into the mold of the last three, but he is a guy who's had his opportunity and is looking for a job right now and that's Chris Richard so Richard was the defensive back coach for the Cowboys most recently he had a lot of

buzz early on and then the Cowboys kind of dropped off in their production he was ousted from the job after last season when Mike McCarthy came in but Richard was a hot name for a while now the defense that they ran in Dallas was a 4-3 defense, a lot of cover three, a lot of man on the outside. I don't think schematically that necessarily fits, but you can't just say because of the scheme this guy ran at this place, that's exactly what they want to do at the next place. A lot of guys are multiple. They'll change their ideas. They'll fit what they're doing to their personnel. So that's just a name that was hot for a while and died off, but could make sense for the Titans as he is currently unemployed. But that is all of the

candidates that I want to lay out for you guys. What I do want to say here is from the Titans defense, they just need more consistency. If you're bringing a blitz off the edge, make sure that the alignment is right and that the cornerback or the safety is close enough to the line of scrimmage that the blitz can actually get home. If the Titans are running a twist stunt up front or a slant stunt up front, make sure that it makes sense with the coverage that's in the back. You can't slant to the right-hand side and then play man coverage and blitz off the left-hand side as well. You're just wide open.

You can't play a cover three zone and blitz your slot cornerback when you know that the offense's tendency is to dump into the flat or a team that does that quite often. The exact same game plan that got the Titans killed in Green Bay. They played a ton of man. They played a ton of cover three against a team that constantly attacked the flat. It just doesn't make any sense. So I just want consistency. I want logic.

I want to put the players in a better position to succeed. And I know that those are all very general things, but I try to explain as deep as I can here. But in my mind, based on all the names we've gone over and what I want to see from the Titans' defense going forward, I would like Gerard Mayo. I like linebackers, guys. I like linebacker coaches. I played linebacker. Not that that matters.

I mean, I played at the high school level. It's nothing special. It's not like I know anything special about linebacker from that. But what I do know is that linebackers are vital to pass coverage. They're vital to run defense. It's like a tight end on the opposite side of the ball. And tight end coaches do a great job transitioning to an offensive coordinator. The reason that Mike Vrabel gave for Arthur Smith when he was hired.

They're involved in the run game planning. They're involved in the passing game planning. Makes them ideally suited to run an entire defense because they're used to thinking about both aspects. Well, that could be said the same for a linebackers coach. So a guy like Gerard Mayo, who's young, who is creative in his philosophies, who has playing experience with Mike Rabel, comes from the New England system. I think that makes a lot of sense for the Titans, and I'd

like to see a young, hungry guy to get in there and shake things up. Plus, the inside linebackers from last year's team completely regressed under Hazlitt, so even if you bring in Mayo, and that includes firing Hazlitt, I'm all for that. I'm all for getting rid of Jim Hazlitt. I don't think he should be on this coaching staff anymore. So, to me, Gerard Mayo makes the most sense. That's who I would like to see. If not him, then Aaron Glenn, Terrell Austin, Jim Leonard. And if they don't go with any of those guys out of the other group, I'd like to see Matt Patricia. So that's going to do it for me today. That's all of the defensive coordinator options that I thought were worthy to discuss. And obviously, because of my luck and the way things go, Mike Rabel will probably pick two candidates on offense and defense that I never even talked about. But when that happens, I will be here to break it all down with you guys and fill in all of the gaps in the story of the new coordinating candidates or the new coordinating hires. of the new coordinating candidates or the new coordinating hires.

Hopefully, we get that news kind of soon. You don't want Mike Rabel to sit on his hands and miss out on a lot of really good candidates. So hopefully, we get that news soon, maybe even on Thursday, and we'll be talking about it on Friday. Either way, I will be back with you guys to close off the week here on the Locked on Titans podcast tomorrow. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans podcast tomorrow. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.