Now that the offseason is officially upon us, speculation about soon-to-be free agent quarterback Tom Brady and the Tennessee Titans possibly being a match continues to heat up.
And Titans general manager Jon Robinson may have added fuel to the fire during his 2020 NFL Combine press conference on Tuesday.
When asked about the future of quarterback Ryan Tannehill in Nashville, Robinson wasn’t definitive about a desire to keep him and instead gave a typical “general manager speak” kind of answer.
“We’ll see how it goes. He’s under contract here for the next few weeks and he did a great job for us. We’ll start those talks and see kind of where those go, just like all the other players,” Robinson said.
Normally I wouldn’t make a big deal about that, but when you compare that Robinson answer to the one he gave about running back Derrick Henry, there is a noticeable difference.
When asked about Henry’s status, Robinson was more definitive about bringing him back, saying the team would “do everything we can to keep him around.”
“Derrick had a great year for us, I mean he led the league in rushing,” Robinson said. “He built off the second half of the 2018 season that he had. He cares about his teammates, he works hard, he’s great in the community and we’re going to work through that one and do everything we can to try and keep him around.”
The fact that he left it wide open in his response about Tannehill will only fuel the speculation that the Titans are considering Brady this offseason.
Robinson could have easily kept the Brady speculation in check for now by simply giving the same kind of answer for both Tannehill and Henry, but he clearly didn’t do that here.
Instead, the contrasting styles in Robinson’s answers only opens the door for more debate about who the Titans might possibly be targeting to be their quarterback for 2020.