Tennessee Titans, head coach Mike Vrabel call for equality

The franchise and head coach both spoke about racial inequality on Tuesday.

In the aftermath of the tragic death of George Floyd while in police custody, the Tennessee Titans and head coach Mike Vrabel are speaking out against inequality.

In a brief statement released on Tuesday on social media, the Titans wrote:

“We reject racism in every form and are committed to being a part of the generation that ends it.”

During a Zoom call with the media, head coach Mike Vrabel went into great detail and called for “inclusion, diversity, equality, opportunity,” while also talking about his own upbringing, per Jim Wyatt of Titans Online.

“There’s just some things I would like to say: First, I’d like to first acknowledge my own personal privilege, one that is real,” Vrabel said. “And I’d like to acknowledge a social blind spot that either I was unaware of or chose not to see. I’ve had the unbelievable opportunity to listen to our players the last two days in our team meetings. I listen to them with an open mind and hear and learn what they believe in and how they feel. Amy, Jon and myself have tried to put great people and great fathers and great husbands and great student-athletes onto our football team, and the majority of those men are African-American with a much different experience and background than I’ll ever know. And by listening and understanding those thoughts and feelings, and how they feel, has helped me recognize what is important, and what is important is we find ways to respect each others’ feelings, that we respect each others’ beliefs, that we respect each others’ efforts to make positive change in our community where we work, the communities where we live and the communities where we grew up.”

“Being an only child of a basketball coach, playing for the Ohio State Buckeyes, Pittsburgh Steelers, and New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs afforded me a great luxury of seeing how successful locker rooms are built and managed,” Vrabel said. “They’re built and managed on fair competition, love, loyalty, accountability, teamwork. What they’re not built on is race, creed, color or money.

“I would say that in closing, leaders are prepared, leaders take decisive action and inspire a group of people towards a common goal. That common goal is inclusion, diversity, equality, opportunity. So, on behalf of the Tennessee Titans – our owner, our general manager, the head football coach, our staff – we want to support and will continue to help lead our players as we work towards that common goal.”

As our country continues to go through a very difficult time, multiple Titans have no spoken out about the matter.

Both quarterback Ryan Tannehill and first-round pick, offensive tackle Isaiah Wilson, have released statements on Twitter touching on the subject of the sad and inexcusable circumstances surrounding Floyd’s death.

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