Tag: Amy Adams Strunk

Titans make Kevin Byard trade official, release statements

Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk, head coach Mike Vrabel and GM Ran Carthon all thanked Kevin Byard in separate statements on Monday.

Hours after news broke that the Tennessee Titans were trading safety Kevin Byard to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for a player and two picks, the team made the move official.

In the announcement of the trade, the Titans included statements from owner Amy Adams Strunk, head coach Mike Vrabel and general manager Ran Carthon. Tennessee also thanked Byard in a social media post.

Adams Strunk:

“I want to thank Kevin and Clarke for what they have meant to the Titans family and our community. Kevin has been a model of leadership on and off the field, always setting such a wonderful example for teammates and others to follow. His phenomenal play and tireless charitable efforts have earned him a special and lasting place in our hearts. Kevin will always be a Titan, and we wish him well this year and in the years to come.”

Vrabel:

“I want to thank Kevin for what he means to me personally and to this team. When I arrived, he helped carry a new message into the locker room and establish the mindset and work ethic we were trying to instill throughout the team. His play on the field speaks for itself. An intelligent and athletic player, he has led the secondary and helped us win a lot of games. Kevin and Clarke and the kids mean a great deal to me, and I wish them success in all that is in front of them.”

Carthon:

“I haven’t known Kevin long, but I have gained a great deal of respect for him as a player and as a person. I want to thank him for his professionalism both on and off the field and what he gave to this team on a daily basis. He is the definition of a pro’s pro. I wish him all the best.”

Byard released his own statement prior to that and thanked everyone from the owner to the workers inside the building. You can check that out right here.

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Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk releases statement after stadium approval

Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk released a statement following the approval of the team’s new stadium.

Early Wednesday morning, final approval was given for the Tennessee Titans’ proposed new stadium after the Metro Nashville Council voted 26-12 in favor of the financing plan in the third and final vote.

The stadium, which is set to cost $2.1 billion, is scheduled to open in 2027. After the vote passed, Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk released this statement:

“For more than 25 years, Nashville, Tennessee, has been the Titans’ home, and with the approval of the new stadium agreement, we are grateful to know the Titans will be a part of this great city and state for decades to come,” Adams Strunk said. “I remember the early days of our time here feeling all the promise and opportunity ahead, and I feel that same enthusiasm and excitement again today. We are thankful for the support of Mayor Cooper, Metro Council, the Sports Authority, the State of Tennessee, and most importantly, the people of Nashville and Tennessee as we all embark on this new chapter together.”

Adams Strunk and the Titans are kicking in $840 million of the funds needed, while public funding totaling $1.26 billion will cover the rest, making it the largest public subsidy for a stadium in United States history, according to Cassandra Stephenson and Rachel Wegner of the Tennessean.

You can check out artist renderings of the new enclosed stadium right here.

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The moment Ran Carthon found out he was Titans’ next GM

Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk had issues reaching Ran Carthon at first, but ultimately she got through.

The Tennessee Titans have hired their next general manager in Ran Carthon, who will be taking the podium on Friday in an introductory press conference.

The former director of player personnel for the San Francisco 49ers, Carthon’s new job is well-deserved after spending the past 15 years in NFL scouting departments, where he became a rising star.

The Titans moved quickly to secure Carthon, as the team held its interviews with him on Friday and Tuesday, with Tennessee ultimately deciding to hire him on the same day as his second interview, per MMQB’s Albert Breer.

On Thursday, the Titans released a video of the moment controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk called Carthon to notify him he was chosen to be their next general manager. Apparently, she didn’t get through at first.

Also on Thursday, Carthon touched down in Nashville in preparation for his big day tomorrow.

Carthon’s introductory press conference is set for noon CDT on Friday.

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Titans owner releases statement on hiring of GM Ran Carthon

Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk has released a statement on the hiring of Ran Carthon.

The Tennessee Titans made their hire of new general manager Ran Carthon official on Wednesday, with controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk releasing a statement on the move.

Adams Strunk expressed her excitement for the hire, while also noting Carthon’s experience, both as a player and talent evaluator.

“We are excited to add Ran to our organization as our new general manager,” Adams Strunk said. “He brings a variety of valuable experiences to our team — as a former player and a successful personnel executive for multiple teams. I was impressed with his natural leadership qualities and his ability to connect with people. With talent evaluation being critical to this role, the roster they have built in San Francisco stands out. He played an important role there constructing one of our league’s best teams.”

The Titans also revealed that Carthon’s introductory press conference is tentatively scheduled for Friday.

A former running back who comes from a football family, Carthon played in nine games over two seasons with the Indianapolis Colts.

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Since his playing career ended, Carthon served as a scout for the Atlanta Falcons and was the director of player personnel with the Rams before moving on to San Francisco.

In all, Carthon brings a wealth of experience (15 years, to be exact) and knowledge to the table, and he’s well-respected around the NFL. On the surface, this looks like a fantastic hire, but only time will tell.

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Titans should go outside building for OC, GM hires

The Titans should hire someone from outside the current team (and even the Mike Vrabel circle) to take the vacant GM and OC roles, Shaun Calderon writes.

The Tennessee Titans finally granted the wishes of the vast majority of the fanbase after officially relieving Todd Downing of his duties as the team’s offensive coordinator.

Downing now joins former General Manager Jon Robinson, among several others, who will now be looking for work elsewhere over the coming months.

Naturally, with the season officially in the rearview mirror and both jobs being available, the topic of conversation has now shifted to who should fill those massive seats going forward.

There have been several names floating around for each job, including a few notable in-house candidates.

Vice president of player personnel, Ryan Cowden, and director of player personnel Monti Ossenfort, will both interview, per owner Amy Adams Strunk.

Meanwhile, the current passing game coordinator, Tim Kelly, is expected to warrant serious consideration for the open offensive coordinator position.

However, with all due respect to the three of them, unless they absolutely blow the team away during the interview process, it’s probably time for this franchise to stop pretending as if their building is so fantastic that everyone must be promoted from within.

For starters, the team had every opportunity to give Kelly a shot in 2022 and make a legitimate argument for him in 2023. The writing has been on the wall for weeks when it came to the offensive coordinator position.

If the Titans genuinely had an interest in Kelly, they should have ripped the Downing band-aid off weeks ago so they could have seen if Kelly could provide some type of spark to their lifeless offense.

Tennessee chose not to even try that, so it’s really hard to sell your fanbase on that one going forward. One thing is for sure, whoever they get has to update this offense to the modern times and make it more creative, manipulative, and aggressive.

Tennessee already made the necessary moves, now it’s time to swing for the fences and get someone outside the building in hopes of reviving what was once a potent offense just a few seasons ago.

As for the general manager position, the team seems to be taking the right approach by casting a wide net to several candidates throughout the league.

This is a good sign that they’re not just considering close friends of head coach Mike Vrabel and/or someone they feel is a safe candidate.

Similarly to the offensive coordinator job, it’s time to swing for the fences and get a bright, innovative, and fresh philosophy inside the building when it comes to a new general manager.

By all accounts, it seems to be trending in that direction, but only time will tell how all this plays out.

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Tennessee Titans general manager interview request tracker

The Titans have already begun requesting interviews with GM candidates. Follow this tracker for the latest.

The Tennessee Titans have begun the process of looking for their next general manager, as Amy Adams Strunk revealed on Monday morning.

According to Strunk, the Titans have been working on the process of hiring a new GM for four weeks now, dating back to when the team parted ways with general manager Jon Robinson.

In her explanation of what she’s looking for, Strunk emphasized the ability to collaborate, which will be important with head coach Mike Vrabel expected to have more say over decisions.

“We want someone who is an exceptional talent evaluator, exceptional at roster building, and someone who is an excellent decision-maker,” she said.

“I also want someone who is a collaborator, someone who is able to find and build consensus to get to the best answers for the team, someone who is open to innovation and evaluating talent beyond the traditional avenues.

“Just really a talented person in all areas. But more than anything I want someone that can collaborate – that is super important to me, being able to find this person who can collaborate so we’re all working together, rowing the same direction.”

Follow along with our tracker below for all of the latest news on the Titans’ general manager search.

Titans’ Amy Adams Strunk talks GM search, wants ‘collaborator’

“The GM and the head coach are going to report to me, but as an organization we expect a culture of working together,” Strunk said.

The first step in the Tennessee Titans’ offseason (well, hopefully after firing Todd Downing) will be to find a new general manager after the team parted ways with Jon Robinson in December.

With the season now over, Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk spoke on the process of hiring a new general manager, which she says has been gong on for four weeks now.

“We’ve been working on it for at least four weeks now,” Strunk said. “I’d like to have a GM as soon as possible, but we’re not going to rush the process just to get someone in as quickly as possible.

“The way we have it planned right now is we have two rounds, and we’re going to see where these interviews take us.”

In her explanation of what she’s looking for in candidates, Strunk emphasized the ability to collaborate to make decisions.

“We want someone who is an exceptional talent evaluator, exceptional at roster building, and someone who is an excellent decision-maker,” she said. “I also want someone who is a collaborator, someone who is able to find and build consensus to get to the best answers for the team, someone who is open to innovation and evaluating talent beyond the traditional avenues.

“Just really a talented person in all areas. But more than anything I want someone that can collaborate – that is super important to me, being able to find this person who can collaborate so we’re all working together, rowing the same direction.”

Collaborating will be important here. Strunk says she expects a “culture of working together”, and that culture will likely include head coach Mike Vrabel having more say over moves.

“The GM and the head coach are going to report to me, but as an organization we expect a culture of working together,” Strunk said.

“I think collaboration amongst all of us is going to be important to take that next step in the goal of winning a championship. The two of them are going to report to me, but the two of them are going to be working together to get us the best team we can possibly have.”

Also of note in Strunk’s quote was her saying she wants “someone who is open to innovation and evaluating talent beyond the traditional avenues,” which would seem to indicate a desire to use analytics.

As a team, the Titans have been trailing the rest of the league in analytics for years now, which was at least partly a reflection of the former GM, who wasn’t a proponent of them.

As far as in-house candidates are concerned, Strunk says current interim GM and Vice President of Player Personnel Ryan Cowden and Director of Player Personnel Monti Ossenfort will be interviewed.

Whoever the Titans bring in is going to have to be accepting of Vrabel’s increased role, which could limit the pool of options. It’s also possible Tennessee will hire a Vrabel guy to make things easier.

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Warren Moon: Amy Adams Strunk reminded me of Bud Adams with GM firing

Warren Moon says Amy Adams Strunk firing Jon Robinson reminded him of something Bud Adams would do.

Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adam Strunk shocked the entire football world when she decided to fire general manager Jon Robinson in the middle of the 2022 campaign.

After three consecutive offseasons that were mostly filled with lackluster draft classes and questionable veteran acquisitions, the move truthfully needed to be made.

The part that especially threw everyone off was the timing of it all. One person who was admittedly shocked by the move was franchise legend, Warren Moon.

The Hall of Fame quarterback and Houston Oilers legend even went as far as to compare the move to something her father and original owner Bud Adams would have done.

“I don’t know what caused [the firing of Robinson] to happen,” Moon said, per Paul Kuharsky. “I’m sure it’s probably a couple major things that we’ll never know about. But I’m sure having one of your [former] top players have that type of game against you did not help. And the fact that it seemed like the head coach wasn’t very happy about that move, either. It’s really hard to say why it happened. But yeah, she reminded me of her old man as far as that move. I think she’s done a tremendous job for the organization and all he things she’s got planned. But yeah, that one shocked me a little bit.”

Like her dad, Adams Strunk has made some surprise firings during her tenure as owner, so it’s easy to see where Moon is coming from when he compares her to his former boss.

On top of Robinson getting the boot recently, the firing of former head coach Mike Mularkey is another example.

In fact, Adams Strunk even threw her support behind Mularkey before letting him go not long after, something Bud did with Jeff Fisher before firing him in 2011.

There are still far more differences than similarities between Adams Strunk and her dad, but she’s definitely got at least a little Bud in her.

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Titans must use same logic with Todd Downing as they did with Jon Robinson

Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk didn’t want to delay the inevitable when it came to Jon Robinson, and she should use that same logic with Todd Downing, Shaun Calderon writes.

Last week, Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk caught everyone off guard when she fired general manager Jon Robinson in the middle of the season.

The firing came after three questionable offseasons in a row that ultimately culminated in the owner being forced to watch a former fan-favorite go bonkers against the team that drafted him.

Adams Strunk indicated that the reason for this firing was that she had made up her mind regarding which way she was going to go with the general manager position moving forward.

Rather than just sitting on the decision and delaying the inevitable, which she said wasn’t fair for all parties involved, she decided to pull the band-aid off sooner rather than later.

That is a completely fair and logical explanation as to why she made the move when she did.

However, using her logic, the same should be done when it comes to the offensive coordinator position.

You’d have to imagine that the eventual move to make this offseason would be to fire offensive coordinator Todd Downing. It has become very evident that this Downing experiment has not only run its course, but has far overstayed its welcome at this point.

There’s also a relatively strong chance that the team will at least consider former Houston Texans offensive coordinator and current Titans passing-game coordinator Tim Kelly for the job.

Therefore, why not let him get a head start and at least see what he can do beforehand instead of possibly giving him the job blindly?

That way, if it doesn’t go well, at least Adams Strunk can quickly cross one candidate off the list and won’t have to second guess herself about going with an external candidate if Tennessee were to pass on Kelly.

Even if it’s not Kelly, if there’s anyone on staff that the Titans are genuinely intrigued by, they should be allowed the opportunity to see what they can do over whatever’s left of the 2022 season.

Of course, the big roadblock here is Mike Vrabel, who may not be on board with such a move. If that’s the case, he and Adams Strunk need to have a long, hard conversation.

Tennessee’s lifeless passing attack and deteriorating ground game need a shot in the arm in the worst possible way. At this point, the only way to do that is to make a change, which would show that the owner is consistent with her logic of not waiting around to do the inevitable.

There’s no telling if this will even fix anything, but it’s become crystal clear that sitting around and hoping for improvement isn’t doing the trick, either.

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Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk addresses Jon Robinson firing

For the first time since firing Jon Robinson, Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk spoke in-depth about the decision.

For the first time since firing former general manager Jon Robinson, Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk addressed the situation.

Adams Strunk made the shocking move on Tuesday but had yet to talk about it publicly outside of a statement that came alongside the announcement of the move.

On Friday, she sat down with Teresa Walker of the Associated Press to give her side of the story.

Interestingly enough, the Titans owner says she had her mind made up before the game against the Philadelphia Eagles and thought it would be better to make the change now as opposed to simply waiting for many reasons.

“Honestly, I had made the decision it was time to move forward,” Adams Strunk said. “There was no reason to go six, seven, eight weeks, however long we remain in the season.

“It was not fair to Jon, it was not fair to the team, it just seemed like the right thing. It gives us plenty of opportunity now to identify future candidates that we’re going to interview. To get to watch the internal candidates. I’m just not that person that’s going to sit on a decision like that.”

“I’d already made my decision,” Strunk added. “A.J. had a great game. More power to him, but that didn’t actually have anything to do with that.”

Adams Strunk also went on to shoot down the idea that Titans head coach Mike Vrabel had given her some kind of ultimatum to spur on Robinson’s firing.

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“This was my decision,” she said. “I saw on social media that ‘oh, Mike gave Amy an ultimatum.’ That’s so false, that never happened. People that say that don’t know Mike Vrabel. That would not be something he would say or do, and he actually had a great relationship with Jon, so I want to put that to rest right now.”

Finally, Strunk reiterated that it has been her desire from the very beginning to win a Super Bowl, and to do everything she can to make that happen.

“I told the fans from the very beginning that I want to win it all and I want to be one of those elite teams that people are always scared of, and it’s my responsibility,” Strunk explained. “And eventually it’s up to me to make those kind of decisions that get us there.”

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