Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Titans Offensive Coordinator Search: Internal Candidates & Outside Options

Episode Date: January 20, 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, this Wednesday edition of the Locked On Titans podcast is presented by Bilt Bar. Go to BiltBar.com, use promo code LOCKEDON and you'll get 20% off your next order.

And Titans fans, I know you have been waiting for today's episode. It is time to go over the Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator candidate. So who should the Titans be looking at to replace Arthur Smith after he has joined the Atlanta Falcons as their head coach? We're diving into all of the different options today. Not only are we going to look at the options within the building, within the Titans organization and offensive staff already, but we are also going to peruse the assistant coach market and take a look at some names that could fit the Titans system and some names that I think could even possibly take this offense to the next level. But we do have some Tennessee Titans

coaching news that did happen on Monday. A hire on the defensive side of the ball. No, it wasn't the defensive coordinator. And as for the defensive coordinator, we will be going over the DC candidates in tomorrow's episode. So make sure that you don't miss that and subscribe to the Locked on Titans podcast on whatever platform you do stream. But how I'm going to do things, we are going to start off talking about that hire that took place on defense on Monday. And then dive into the options that the Titans have already in the building. And then we will move into that conversation where we take a look at the outside possibilities in other organizations. And I'll round off today's show by giving you basically my opinion on what the Titans

should do. So we'll go over who are the candidates that make the most sense. And then at the end, I'll tell you exactly which direction I think the Tennessee Titans should go. So going over all of the possible offensive coordinator candidates for the Tennessee Titans on today's Locked on Titans podcast. Let's get it! Titans fans, today's episode is one that you all have been asking for for basically the entire time since the Titans season ended.

It seemed like the writing was on the wall with Arthur Smith, and then, of course, everyone is pining for a D.C. candidate. So to remind you guys, today we're going over offensive coordinator candidates. Tomorrow we'll be going over the defensive coordinator candidates for the Titans. Make sure that you subscribe to the Locked On Titans podcast. But before we get into a conversation about the offensive coordinator, there was a hire on the defensive side of the ball that did happen on Tuesday for the Titans. I think I said Monday in the intro, but get my days all mixed up.

It was Tuesday that this took place, and the Titans hired an assistant defensive line coach in Kaneche Udeze, and Udeze came from USC as a college football player. He was a fantastic college football player, had some All-American honors when he was in college during the early 2000s, won a national championship with USC at that time. He was a first-round pick to the Minnesota Vikings in 2004, played until 2008, but unfortunately, he was diagnosed with cancer, and due to complications with neuropathy in his feet and his inability to really plant and cut, once he recovered from the cancer, it just killed his NFL career. But since then, Udese has been big into coaching. We've seen him early in the 2000 teens working in

the NFL, spent a ton of time in college football as well, and that's where he will be coming from to join the Titans staff. And it was locally. Vanderbilt is where Udese has been coaching. He was a linebackers coach for Vanderbilt, but of course, his natural position as a player was on the defensive line, so he will be coming over to the Tennessee Titans as an assistant defensive line coach. We're going to talk about coaching candidates and prospects over the next two episodes, including today. One big thing for me is potential.

Getting some of these young guys who have a creative mind and especially guys who have had some experience dealing with college schemes one thing that you guys should have noticed by now is how college schemes just proliferate in the NFL all the spread concepts the RPO concepts the type of stuff that Marcus Mariota was really good at in college all of that stuff has slowly made its way into the NFL and has become prevalent in the NFL. So on the flip side of that, you're going to need young, creative, defensive minds who can think forward

and help you prepare for some of these college schemes. So having a college mind on there, even though Udeze is a young guy, having a college mind on there is going to help. And I personally think that Udeze is just waiting in the wings to take over that inside linebacker coaching job for Jim Haslett, who obviously is an elder statesman on the coaching staff. So Udeze could be one of those up-and-coming young defensive minds that could really help the Titans, and as we know, the Titans need all the help on the defensive line they could get especially when it comes to pass rush so I really like the hire there with Udeze I think it's a good young talent

defensive talent to put into the coaching staff someone that Mike Vrabel can groom and that can hopefully benefit the Titans organization going forward so I really like that hire like to see some additions on the defensive side of the ball but with with that news out of the way, we do have to move into what the Titans could be looking for at offensive coordinator. And quickly before we talk about the Titans prospects on their coaching staff, just want to mention that I would be looking for somebody to keep the Titans offensive scheme as it is, but add in more wrinkles, diversify the offense more, want to see more complex route schemes. I want to see better in the screen game for the Titans.

I would like to see more RPO elements, more read option elements. Tannehill has the athleticism, and I think that the way defenses played the Titans offense, a lot of blitzing up the middle, a lot of pressure off the edge as well. You have to use quick hitting passing plays to attack those aggressive style defenses. So that's what I want to see from the Titans offense. And as for the people on the Tennessee Titans staff currently that could impact, we have Pat O'Hara. Now, Pat O'Hara is the quarterback coach for the Tennessee Titans, and some people consider

him an offensive coordinator candidate in the league. He's seen a lot. He's 52 years old, and although he doesn't have any play calling experience in the league. He's seen a lot. He's 52 years old, and although he doesn't have any play-calling experience in the NFL, he has a very strong relationship with Ryan Tannehill that could benefit the offense. So that is a name that could be available for the Titans to elevate into Arthur Smith's spot. Another guy is tight ends coach Todd Downing. Now, Arthur Smith was a tight ends coach, so the tight ends coach is going to be involved in the run game planning. He's going to be involved in the passing game planning, which makes tight end coaches an ideal fit for an offensive coordinator position, being involved in both aspects of the offense. And not only that, but Todd Downing is a young guy at only 40 years old.

I mean, that may not sound young to some of you, but in the NFL landscape, as for coaching, that's a pretty young guy. And he does have play-calling experience. So Todd Downing did call plays for the 2017 Oakland Raiders. He had been with the team in a non-play-calling capacity prior to that, and a lot of people credit Downing with that explosive year that Derek Carr had in 2016 where he was an MVP candidate. So Todd Downing, definitely a potential candidate for this job. And then finally, Keith Carter from the offensive line. Now, I gave Keith Carter a lot of crap at the beginning of

last season, and obviously, just like with Arthur Smith, I was wrong, and the black cloud that was Marcus Mariota just kind of affected everybody and skewed the way everyone was viewed. But the reality is, Keith Carter's offensive line was fantastic, led the way to was viewed, but the reality is Keith Carter's offensive line was fantastic, led the way to a 2,000-yard rushing season for Derrick Henry. This team has been built on the run game the last two years, and Keith Carter's offensive line is the heartbeat of that. Also, a drastic drop in sacks this year. The Titans had over 50 sacks last year, under 30 this year, so a great job by Keith Carter coaching up that offensive line. Ben Jones had a fantastic year.

They got a lot out of somebody who was presumed to be a backup in Dennis Kelly. And we've seen the development of guys like Aaron Brewer, an undrafted free agent who I talked about in yesterday's show as the offensive rookie of the year for the Titans. And then Nate Davis, who got Pro Bowl votes and All-Pro votes this year due to his performance. So, got to give Keith Carter some credit there. And then the dark horse on the coaching staff for the Titans that could be elevated,

how about Mike Vrabel? The guy thinks he can be every coach anyway, so heck, I wouldn't be surprised if Vrabel thought he could do that. Just jokes there, but thought I'd mention that. Those are the three candidates on the Titans coaching staff right now that I think have a legitimate claim and a legitimate opportunity to get the job. But the Titans are clearly looking for outside of the organization options, and I'll explain how we know that to start off our second segment when we go into all the options the Titans will have from around the NFL outside of Nashville. Before we

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To kick off today's conversation about offensive coordinator options that the Titans have, we talked about internal candidates who could be elevated and promoted from within to the offensive coordinator position, talked about quarterback coach Pat O'Hara due to his strong relationship with Ryan Tannehill, talked about tight ends coach Todd Downing based on having NFL play calling experience, and also talked about offensive line coach Keith Carter due to the success that his unit has had over the last two seasons. But let's dive in a little bit further to the names that you guys are probably more excited to hear, and that is the outside of the organization options.

And boy, there are a lot of decent options out there currently. And let's talk about some of those. And these aren't in any kind of order or any kind of, you know, ranking per se, just some names that I think fit and I'll explain why. So we will start with Mike Kafka, who is currently the passing game coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs. Now, the NFL did adjust the rules recently. Since Mike Kafka is not an offensive coordinator currently,

it would be a promotion to get the job in Tennessee. The Titans could go ahead and interview him now without waiting for the Chiefs to be out of the playoffs. So that's something interesting to watch. But Kafka is 33 years old. As I said, he is the passing game coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs. He's been with Andy Reid since 2017. And I'm going to keep it simple with these names, guys.

We don't need to dive into the statistics of these offenses because divvying up how much credit Kafka should get compared to Andy Reid or Bien-Ami or Pat Mahomes, you know, it's impossible to do. So obviously, these are just names that make sense and are kind of hot on the coaching market right now and for good reason. So Kafka is one of those guys, maybe the hottest guy that would be available to the Titans. The Kansas City Chiefs offense is incredibly diverse. They're incredibly creative with the things that they do in the screen game with RPOs,

with the read option. And then obviously you got a guy like Pat Mahomes who can get things done to make you look good, but Kafka has grinded his teeth with a mind like Andy Reid. So it would make sense to take the Titans up a notch, possibly, on the offensive side of the ball, continuing to do what they do best with their scheme, but adding in some of those elements that the Chiefs have perfected

over the last few years. Speaking of the Chiefs, also, Kafka's only 33 years old, so you get a young guy like that that will be hungry for his opportunity to call plays and show owners around the NFL that he's head coaching material. I think it would be a good spot for Kafka in a ready-made offense that can have success. People are going to mention Eric Biennemi. He's been talked about as a head coaching candidate, but Biennemi's 51 years old. The Chiefs don't have to let him come to Tennessee. It would be a lateral move for him in position, even if he's not necessarily calling all the plays in Kansas City.

He's got a hand in it, at least. So I don't see Biennemi as an option. I don't know why he would leave KC unless it was for a head coaching job. But Kafka might be waiting behind him and Andy Reid to get a spot to show what he can do. So that's why he's a prime target right now. As for the Green Bay Packers, who obviously Matt LaFleur kind of started what the Titans are doing on offense. And Luke Goetze, who is the passing game coordinator for the Green Bay Packers right now, 36 years old. Their offensive coordinator, Nathaniel Hackett, isn't looking like he's going to be going anywhere to be a head coach,

which means Goetze is not going to be able to call plays. He's behind LeFleur. He's behind Hackett. He's going to want an opportunity to show what he can do. He's 36 years old. He went from quality control coach to wide receiver coach, now to passing game coordinator during his time coaching in the NFL. So Luke Getze could be a name that gets on the Titans radar because the Packers run a similar scheme and there's that Matt LaFleur connection, which ties so well into what the Titans are doing already. Next, we have Matt Wise, who's a running backs coach for the Baltimore Ravens. And again, I'm looking to accelerate the Titans offense

from the base that they already have, adding in some of the RPO elements and some of the varied run game looks that the Ravens started going to this year could help the Titans offense diversify. And like I said, maybe take that next step. Next, let's look at another offense that schematically is doing similar things

to what the Titans do, and that's the Los Angeles Rams, and they have two decent candidates here. One, offensive coordinator Kevin O'Connell, 35-year-old guy, been Sean McVay's right-hand man in Los Angeles. Now, the only issue here is it would be a lateral move from offensive coordinator to offensive coordinator, which means that the Rams can block that attempt to hire that guy because it's a lateral move. Now, the key factor here, which I'll mention a couple of times, Kevin O'Connell does not call plays for the Rams. That's Sean McVay's duty. So Kevin O'Connell may

want an opportunity to be an offensive coordinator where he actually gets to call the plays. So that's why it may be enticing to him. But again, the Rams can block that interview if they choose to, because it's a lateral move. One move that the Rams could not block, however, though, would be passing game coordinator Shane Waldron. And Waldron is 41 years old, but he's been with the Rams for quite some time. He was with McVay since 2016, tight ends coach in 2017, which obviously Mike Rabel has an affinity for tight ends coach, knock, knock, Arthur Smith. Then Waldron became the quarterback's coach in 2020. So he's been all up and down the offense, understanding what it takes

to coach every single position on the offense. Sounds ideally suited to be an offensive coordinator. And with Kevin O'Connell and Sean McVay in front of him, there's no way that Waldron's going to get an opportunity to call plays in Los Angeles. So this would be a promotion for him, opening up the interview for the Titans. Also, he's got the personnel background to deal with every position on offense. And then he's coming from a scheme that does similar things to what the Titans are trying to do in that wide zone tree. And the Rams do some more RPO elements and some things that I think the Titans offense

would benefit from doing. So that is a bunch of options right there. And quite frankly, I'm not done with the outside the organization options. There's a ton more that I want to talk about, but we've run out of time here in our second segment. So we are going to continue the conversation. In our third segment. Going over outside the organization candidates.

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Get in on the action. Don't forget to use that promo code LOCKEDON to receive a 50% welcome bonus on your first deposit. let's continue talking about outside the organization options that the titans would have at offensive coordinator we went through the first half of the list talked about some offenses that kind of fit schematically with what the Titans do. The Packers, the Ravens, the Rams. Also talked about the Chiefs. Obviously, that's an offense you want to draw as much as possible from. But let's move into some other candidates that make sense for the Titans. Number one, a guy that was recently fired, and that is the former offensive coordinator from

the Seattle Seahawks, Brian Schottenheimer. And clearly, a Schottenheimer, he's had a ton of time in the NFL coaching. And quite frankly, the reason that he was fired from the Seattle Seahawks, in my mind, is debatable. Pete Carroll said it was a philosophical difference. He wanted to get back to running the ball more. But the Seattle Seahawks offense was way better in 2020 when they were airing it out and doing more in the passing game. When they got back into their traditional take the ball out of Russell Wilson's hands, run the ball, try to hold the clock.

I mean, when they started doing all that, they started playing worse football and they eventually got knocked out of the playoffs because of it. So I disagree with Pete Carroll entirely on what the philosophical direction they should go in is, but that's not my call. All I can worry about is the Tennessee Titans, and I think Schottenheimer would add some. Again, you guys hear me going back to this. He's obviously worked with a guy like Russell Wilson, great with the boot play action,

great with the run game, making things look similar, but there's some more read option elements in the Seahawks offense. There's some more RPO options in the Seahawks offense. There's some more RPO options in the Seahawks offense, at least with Schottenheimer at the helm. So Schottenheimer is a veteran guy who maybe you wouldn't have to worry so much about him looking for promotions and looking to be a head coach like some of the younger guys that we've talked about. Maybe he's more of a loyal guy who wants to stay around

and just kind of build in Tennessee. But I think that would be an option to at least consider. Now, is his experience in the NFL going to make it an issue with a hard-headed guy like Mike Vrabel, who clearly has shown that his ego gets in the way of his coaching sometime? I don't know. We will see, but he is on the market. Another guy that makes a lot of sense and is getting a lot of buzz right now is Shane Steichen. So, he's a guy who was the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Chargers. Clearly he was let go when Anthony Lynn was fired, but a lot of people credit him with Justin Herbert's development. Now I will say that the Chargers had some curious play calling this

year and that's why Anthony Lynn got fired and reports are that Steichen was involved a lot in some of those curious play calls so considering that and some of the weird stuff that Arthur Smith did I don't know if that's the direction that Mike Vrabel wants to go but what I can say is Steichen as I mentioned has proven that he can help develop a young quarterback he led Justin Herbert to the best rookie quarterback season ever if the Titans are looking to maybe get a young quarterback in right now to sit behind Ryan Tannehill for the next few years, then maybe it makes sense to go with a quarterback guru like that.

And speaking of another quarterback guru like that, Pep Hamilton. Now he's on the older side. He was the quarterback coach in Los Angeles with the Chargers. Obviously all of them let go when Anthony Lynn was fired. Pep Hamilton, again, on the older side, 46 years old, has worked with luck, worked with Herbert last year as well, worked with luck in Stanford. He has experience in the NFL, so that would be an option. I'm not as high on Pep Hamilton as an option, but that's another guy who fits in the Schottenheimer mold of someone who maybe Mike Vrabel doesn't have to worry about skedaddling to be a head coach after one season, like the Titans have

dealt with two offensive coordinators leaving in the past three years. Next is a name that he's on the older side. So again, this is in the Pep Hamilton, Brian Schottenheimer, Matt Weiss category of some older coaches. But John Embry is the tight ends coach for the San Francisco 49ers. Now, the 49ers obviously have a very similar scheme to what the Tennessee Titans are doing, and Embry has developed some of the best tight ends in NFL history. Tony Gonzalez and George Kittle, of course, and then Cameron Bray in Tampa Bay had some of his best seasons. He's not the caliber

of Tony G or Kittle, but you guys understand he's good at developing these players. And again, Mike Vrabel has an affinity for tight end coaches. So I think Embry isn't a slam dunk option, but he is one that's out on the market from a similar offense. Another guy coming out of Seattle, Dave Canales. Now he wasn't let go by Pete Carroll. He's considered a Pete Carroll confidant. He's been in Seattle since 2010. He was their passing game coordinator. That's a position that gets elevated to offensive coordinator quite a bit.

He's still on that line between young and old. He's 39 years old, so still room to grow, but again could be a guy who's looking to move on and be a head coach of his own eventually. But those guys are the talented guys. Those are guys you want to come into your offense and improve things and lead things because if they're head coaching candidates, that means that they must be pretty decent football minds.

Now, I do want to mention a couple other names here. I'm not going to go as in-depth because I really don't like any of these options. But if Mike Vrabel wanted somebody a little more experienced in the room, he could look at some previous head coaches. Somebody like Doug Peterson, who was fired from the Eagles. Somebody like Adam Gase, who was fired from the Jets. Please God, no, Mike. Somebody like Anthony Lynn, who was fired from the Chargers.

Somebody like Jay Gruden, who was with the Washington football team and then was the offensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars in recent years. So those are some names that I think could make sense for the Titans that have head coaching experience. I'm not too in love with any of those, but hey, they are options on the table. So after we went through all these different candidates, you know, which names make sense for me?

Me personally, I don't want the Titans to elevate somebody from the current coaching staff. That's not what I want to see happen. I want to see some fresh blood in the organization that can add those spread elements, add those RPO elements, diversify the running game a little bit. The Titans got in a spot where they had their best punch and they threw their best punch. And then once their best punch got stopped threw their best punch and then once their best punch got stopped they didn't really have much else to go with and that's what happened in the

Ravens game once they locked up Derrick Henry the Titans passing game and the other concepts that they went to weren't effective enough for them to move on without having the wide zone run game work so I want to see somebody brought in who can add elements of other things and that's why my top names here are Mike Kafka number one he can add those elements coming from KC and would really improve the screen game which for the Titans skill sets on offense with the run after the catch ability adding to the screen game could be a big boost for the Titans Shane Waldron the passing game coordinator from the Rams again adding in those RPO elements while keeping the foundation of the outside zone run. I like that a lot.

He's a young guy at 41 who is getting a lot of buzz right now. Again, going back to that same exact well. Dave Canales, the passing game coordinator from the Seattle Seahawks, 39. Another guy who can add those elements as well. So those are the names that I really like there if they were available, but that's kind of where I want the Titans to go. Not necessarily about a name, but I do think they need to add some new blood from outside

the organization to hopefully pep up this offense and add some new elements. Not to crush Arthur Smith. That's not what I'm saying here. I'm not saying that Arthur Smith wasn't good enough. I'm saying Arthur Smith laid an incredible foundation, but if the Titans want to take the next step, let me diagram a play for you guys before we go, just to give you an idea of some type of things that I would like to see the Titans do more of. I saw this play one time, or this scheme, one time all year for the Titans. So if you would, imagine a normal Tennessee Titans offensive formation. Do two tight ends on the right-hand side. Think Derrick Henry

back in the backfield, Ryan Tannehill under center, or even do it out of shotgun. Even better, do it out of shotgun. You got Derrick Henry in shotgun to your right-hand side. You got two tight ends on the right-hand side, one on the line of scrimmage, one as a wingback slightly off the line of scrimmage. On the left-hand side, you have two wide receivers. You have the one all the way on the outside, and then let's say we have A.J. Brown in the slot. Well, teams are being very aggressive off the edge, oftentimes blitzing the slot defender that's head up over A.J. Brown.

oftentimes blitzing the slot defender that's head up over A.J. Brown. So what a great counter would be for the Titans in that scenario is an RPO, a read pass option, where the offensive line and the tight ends are thinking that it's going to be a run, so they act as such, and then Tannehill has the option to pull the ball and throw it out to A.J. Brown quickly if his man blitzes off the edge, giving him a wide open lane one-on-one, or he can hand off to Derrick Henry if the running lanes are open. That sort of thing needs to be added to the Titans offense because it'll allow them to deal with the penetration and the pressure that teams were bringing on them to disrupt

the timing of their offense. They need more quick hitting passing games with spread concepts, with RPO concepts. And I'd also like to see a lot of snap motion. We see pre-snap motion for the Titans to move guys around, but we don't see a lot of motion at the snap, which is a spread concept. Think about what the Chiefs do with Tyreek Hill, where they're moving him back and forth on the line of scrimmage. If you watch the college football national championship game,

think of the way that Alabama used Devontae Smith. That sort of thing is what the Titans need to do more of to diversify their offense. Now, there are talent gaps on the roster that need to be filled to be able to do that, but those are the things that I want to see so an outside candidate makes the most sense for me. But that's going to do it for today's episode. I hope you guys enjoyed. You've been asking for it.

Glad I was able to bring you a comprehensive list of all of the available options for the Tennessee Titans at offensive coordinator. Now watch Mike Rabel will hire himself. Just kidding. But that's going to do it for me today. Make sure you're back here tomorrow on the Locked on Titans podcast as we go over the defensive coordinator candidates, which may be even more of a hot topic than the OC.

But that's going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.