In the aftermath of the Tennessee Titans firing now-former head coach Mike Vrabel, more details continue to emerge about the situation between himself and the team and how the firing went down.
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Vrabel’s relationship with general manager Ran Carthon was just fine, as the GM said on Monday, and that this was a decision made solely by owner Amy Adams Strunk.
He adds that this was brewing ever since Vrabel’s New England Patriots Hall of Fame ceremony, which really kickstarted the speculation and rumors that he might leave for New England in 2024.
Rapoport notes that Vrabel failing to address the situation internally wasn’t well-received by those in the building.
He adds that Vrabel was presented with “a couple of different things” in his meeting with Adams Strunk, but ultimately Vrabel wasn’t down with them and the meeting itself didn’t last long.
What those “couple of different things” were wasn’t explained specifically by Rapoport, but one can guess that perhaps they involved what Adams Strunk needed from Vrabel in order for him to stay, and/or quite possibly a trade scenario.
“I would say based on the way this was going the last couple of weeks, not totally a surprise (that Vrabel was fired),” Rapoport said. “And Ran Carthon, the general manager, came out yesterday and talked about how good the relationship had been between him and Mike Vrabel.
“My understanding is that is true, this was a decision made by Amy Adams Strunk, one that she has been mulling for the last several weeks, I would say maybe the last several months ever since Mike Vrabel went to New England, took part in the Hall of Fame day and all of the rumors started floating about whether or not Mike Vrabel would be the Patriots’ coach next year, whether he’d the Titans’ coach.
“He never really addressed that internally; I know that didn’t sit great with the people there. He went into a meeting (on Tuesday) with the owner, it was not a long meeting and he was presented with a couple of different things. Did not sound like he was into it.”
From @GMFB: #Steelers star TJ Watt (MCL) is out this week, while we looked back at the move that left #Titans coach Mike Vrabel out in Tennessee. pic.twitter.com/07WmVAQNeR
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 10, 2024
Also on Wednesday morning, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported that the team had a vision of a certain identity and it was not in line with Vrabel’s.
"The identity of what they want this team to be is not in line with Vrabel" – Dianna Russini just now on @1025TheGame
Went on to say they hired Carthon with a vision in mind and wanted to see if Vrabel could fit in to that vision
— Football & Other F Words (@FWordsPod) January 10, 2024
What’s that identity, you ask?
I cant say with 100 percent certainty, but I would guess it’s a more modern way of doing things on offense, and with team-building in general when it comes to things like analytics and collaboration.
We’ve seen reports saying that Vrabel never asked out of Tennessee, but it sure sounds like he didn’t do much to try and stay, either.
Of course, being able to stay would have had to be on the table in the first place, but based on the fact that Vrabel wasn’t fired on Monday and was given a meeting on Tuesday tells me it was indeed an option.
People are undoubtedly going to throw around the “T” word (tampering) after seeing Rapoport’s report, but it remains to be seen if the Titans will pursue that, and if they’d be able to get enough proof to make their case.
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