Tag: Amy Adams Strunk

Titans’ Mike Vrabel addresses Jon Robinson firing, what’s next

On Wednesday, Titans head coach Mike Vrabel addressed the firing of Jon Robinson.

For the first time since former Tennessee Titans general manager Jon Robinson was fired on Tuesday, head coach Mike Vrabel addressed the matter in his Wednesday press conference.

Vrabel began the presser with a statement on Robinson, who he thanked for giving him the opportunity to coach the Titans. Of course, Robinson hired Vrabel in 2018.

“I want to start by personally thanking Jon Robinson and his family,” Vrabel said. “For their care, effort and support that they’ve shown the team and our fans for the past seven years. I want to thank him for giving me the opportunity to lead this football team on the field, to coach it each and every day.

“And with that, obviously change is never easy but we realize that we all have a job to do. That job is evaluated each and every day. I told the team this, I met with all the staff — we have a personal relationship with Jon, everybody here in some capacity, and so our personal feelings aren’t what’s important. What’s important is that we respect and understand the decision, and that we move forward aligned, and do everything that we can to prepare our players and be great for them as we go out against the Jaguars at home.”

One of the reports that have come out in the wake of Robinson’s firing stated that Vrabel is now expected to have “significant power” over personnel decisions.

When asked about that, Vrabel said the process isn’t changing and that both he and vice president of player personnel and interim general manager, Ryan Cowden, will work together, but Amy Adams Strunk has the final say.

“Ryan Cowden and I will continue to communicate in that process as we get down the stretch of trying to figure out the active roster, players that are looking to return from injury,” Vrabel said. “That process isn’t going to change.”

Vrabel said he has since been in touch with Robinson after the move and the two had a phone conversation on Tuesday night. He also said they were on the same page with their approach, something that has been in question.

Of course, one of the biggest topics has been Robinson’s trade of A.J. Brown, whose dominant performance against the Titans in Week 13 appeared to be the final straw.

Here’s what Vrabel had to say about that, including his note that there were indeed conversations between Robinson and ownership prior to the Brown trade.

“Here’s what I feel, to look back and second-guess, we made a decision we felt like was in the best interest of the football team,” Vrabel said. “A.J.’s in Philadelphia.”

Another report stated that Vrabel didn’t lobby for Robinson’s firing, and he backed that up by saying he wasn’t included in the decision and he was only informed of it after it happened. He also said he supports

One person missing from Wednesday’s presser was the person responsible for this move, which Adams Strunk herself. It’ll be interesting to see if the Titans owner meets with the media in the wake of making such a huge decision.

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Amy Adams Strunk sends clear, important message with Jon Robinson firing

Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk sent a clear message with the firing of Jon Robinson, and it’s a great one.

Back in 2019, the Tennessee Titans had the now-infamous slogan, “good to great,” with the idea that the team would finally take that next step from average or slightly better to something bigger.

Despite being unable to break through from the dreaded 9-7 record, the team was able to get as close to that goal as it had been in a long time in what was one of the more improbable runs in franchise history.

The underdog Titans ended the Tom Brady era IN New England, and then went on to shock the world and upset the Baltimore Ravens, leading to an AFC Championship Game showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs.

And even though the Titans lost that game — and after getting an early lead, may I mind you — the run left both players and fans with a taste of something greater, which led to Super Bowl expectations.

And that was the beginning of Jon Robinson’s downfall.

Let’s not forget that Robinson deserves credit, not just for the good teams he built in the past few years — and for his attempts to go for it with moves that were almost universally loved at the time, like Jadeveon Clowney and Julio Jones — but also for pulling this organization out of the dumpster it was in before he got here.

But he was unable to re-create the 2019 finish in the next few years, let alone build on it. And while the Titans were definitely good in 2020 and 2021, they simply weren’t great, something that was no longer acceptable.

As a result, all of his misses (draft picks included) were magnified, and it was no longer “In J-Rob we trust,” but rather “what the hell is J-Rob doing?”

The dam broke when Robinson traded A.J. Brown. Dealing one of the franchise’s best receivers of all time in a championship window was never a good idea, and to do so before exhausting all avenues made it even worse.

It’s only fitting Robinson got canned after the Titans got embarrassed by Brown and the Eagles on Sunday, but that’s not the only reason.

Ultimately, the inability to advance past the good stage in recent years didn’t sit well with Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk, who said as much in her statement along with the announcement of Robinson’s firing.

Since becoming controlling owner in 2015, my goal has been to raise the standard for what is expected in all facets of our organization. I believe we have made significant progress both on and off the field through investments in leadership, personnel and new ideas. This progress includes the core of our business, the football team itself, which is regularly evaluated both by results (wins and losses) and team construction/roster building. I am proud of what we have accomplished in my eight seasons of ownership, but I believe there is more to be done and higher aspirations to be met.

Had Robinson met those expectations, some of his blunders might’ve been forgiven, but as the Titans are heading toward another good (and I’d argue slightly less than good) but not great season, Adams Strunk refused to sit around and accept it any longer.

The firing of Robinson sends a clear message: Adams Strunk wants bigger and better things for this franchise when it comes to winning — and that’s great news for the Titans and their fans.

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Report: Mike Vrabel didn’t lobby for Jon Robinson’s firing

Titans head coach Mike Vrabel reportedly did not lobby for former GM Jon Robinson to get fired.

As we learn more and more about what led to the firing of former Tennessee Titans general manager Jon Robinson, the more and more the move makes sense.

Not only was he reportedly at odds with head coach Mike Vrabel and owner Amy Adams Strunk over personnel decisions, his overall results were not viewed as favorable in the eyes of ownership.

But despite the fact that Vrabel and Robinson didn’t see eye-to-eye, the Titans head coach did not lobby for the now-former general manager’s firing behind the scenes, according to Buck Reising of AtoZ Sports Nashville.

According to sources, Robinson’s compounding mistakes had been wearing on Tennessee’s ownership for some time. While Vrabel and Robinson have had disagreements on personnel decisions, no public or private undermining of the former general manager by the coach is said to have occurred. Robinson and Vrabel had a healthy working relationship during their time together.

Among the moves we know of that Robinson and Vrabel didn’t agree on were the trading of A.J. Brown, the trade for Julio Jones, and the release of punter Brett Kern, as Reising reported on Tuesday.

With Robinson gone, the Titans have named Ryan Cowden the interim GM, but reports suggest that Vrabel is likely to have “significant power” moving forward. Hopefully that yields better results.

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Jon Robinson’s lack of patience with A.J. Brown proved costly

Jon Robinson needed to exercise more patience with A.J. Brown, and his decision not to proved costly, Shaun Calderon writes.

The Tennessee Titans caught the sports world off guard when they fired general manager Jon Robinson on Tuesday.

To say this move was a shock would be a massive understatement. The decision to move on is understandable, but the fact that it happened mid-season during a winning campaign is what’s so surprising.

The timing of it all seems to indicate that ownership really did not enjoy watching Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown torching the team he once played for.

Several other factors certainly played into the decision, such as missed draft picks and failed free-agent acquisitions, but you have to be pretty naive to think that last Sunday’s overall disaster didn’t play into this decision.

Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk has now made it loud and clear that her hands weren’t exactly cramping up when it came time to give the Ole Miss product a new deal.

Truthfully, the narrative that the Titans had no choice but to trade Brown was always delusional and non-sensical.

Tennessee always had a choice, and the decision Robinson seemingly made for them was to move on rather than being patient and exhausting every option when it came to negotiations.

Even if Brown supposedly cut off communication after asking for $80 million in guaranteed money back in April — the most irrelevant time of the year for veterans to be in contact with their team — the Titans had the right to tell his representation to call back when he’s realistic with his demands, otherwise they’ll see him in July.

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Tennessee always had the leverage in this situation. Now, would this topic have been discussed to a nauseating degree every single day? Probably.

But what history shows us is that being patient and playing the leverage game often leads to both parties meeting halfway at some point.

You don’t have to look any further than the three similar examples from just last offseason.

Despite a ton of similar trade rumors, the 49ers eventually inked Deebo Samuel after things looked incredibly bleak, the Seahawks signed DK Metcalf, and the Commanders kept Terry McLaurin

Make no mistake about it, where there’s a will, there’s always a way, and especially in this era where the salary cap can be manipulated in a multitude of ways.

Absolute worst-case scenario, Robinson calls his bluff that he’s not going to hold out when it really matters, forcing him to finish out his contract, and then deal him next offseason after franchise tagging him.

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However, at that point all the leverage would shift back to the talented wideout because the team would no longer be able to fine him.

But in no way, shape, or form was Brown ever going to cost himself money in the short term by holding out in 2022, and he damn sure was never going to put bad football on film and cost himself money in the long term.

Robinson had the choice to either sign him, play the long and annoying leverage game, force him to finish out his deal, or prematurely cave in negotiations.

The former Titans GM chose the latter.

That decision, combined with the fact that the Titans are right back amongst the worst wide receiver rooms in the NFL — a place this franchise knew all too well up until Brown was selected back in 2019 — ultimately became the final nail in Robinson’s metaphoric coffin.

To make that move in the middle of a Super Bowl window always required instant success that at least somewhat mirrored Brown’s impact.

Treylon Burks could very well become an elite player in the league as the year’s pass, but that doesn’t change the fact that JRob traded a bona fide superstar for a rookie when the team was on the cusp of a championship run just a season ago.

That type of gamble was never going to provide any type of long-term patience.

In the end, Robinson made his decision to move on from one of the most electrifying players in franchise history — and now, at least partly as a result, the Titans have made theirs.

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Schefter: Jon Robinson excluded Amy Adams Strunk from ‘a lot of conversations’

Schefter: Jon Robinson excluded Amy Adams Strunk from ‘a lot of conversations’

As we continue to sort through the aftermath of the Tennessee Titans firing now-former general manager Jon Robinson, ESPN’s Adam Schefter had an interesting note in one of his reports concerning the dynamic between Robinson and Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk.

Per Schefter, Adams Strunk was not happy about being excluded from “a lot of conversations,” which one would assume is personnel decisions.

“This is a situation where the owner was not particularly happy with Jon Robinson and she decided to make a change this morning,” Schefter said.

“I think everybody remembers the A.J. Brown trade. They saw the Eagles this weekend and A.J. Brown lit up the Tennessee Titans… I think the owner was not happy — not entirely happy — about not being included in a lot of conversations, and I think she felt like she wanted to go in a different direction, so they have appointed Ryan Cowden as the interim GM and they’ll wind up being in the GM market after this season.”

It isn’t clear what conversations exactly, but clearly we’re not talking about practice squad signings here if it was enough to get Adams Strunk upset.

If Robinson did make big moves — like trading A.J. Brown — without first going to the owner, that would be quite the gutsy play on his part, and it would be understandable for Adams Strunk to not be happy about it.

But, again, we don’t know exactly what moves Schefter is talking about.

Taking Schefter’s words into consideration with everything else, it’s clear this was something that was building for awhile now; Week 13 was just the final straw.

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Details emerge about Titans’ reason for firing Jon Robinson

New details have emerged about the reason the Titans fired now-former GM Jon Robinson.

The Tennessee Titans stunned the football world on Tuesday when they parted ways with general manager Jon Robinson after six-plus seasons.

The move was shocking because the Titans made it during the season, and after Robinson had signed a multi-year extension this past offseason.

Some would argue the Titans sporting a winning record and being on pace to win another division crown as another reason why it’s surprising, but anyone who has watched this team closely knows it is a very ugly 7-5.

So, the question is, why now?

Well, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, “Titans brass wasn’t happy with the direction of the roster assembled by Jon Robinson.”

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Also, the extension Robinson signed last offseason would’ve kept him under contract through the 2027 NFL draft, so the now-former Titans general manager will make a nice buck from Tennessee until then.

It’s hard to argue with the Titans’ logic here.

After all, Robinson is coming off an offseason in which he traded away a franchise cornerstone in A.J. Brown — who just torched the Titans in Week 13 — and failed to adequately address both that position and the offensive line.

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As a result, the Titans don’t have much of a chance to do anything more than win the worst division in football, something that clearly didn’t sit right with owner Amy Adams Strunk.

One has to wonder if Brown burning the Titans in Week 13 was the final nail in the coffin. If not, Robinson’s firing just days after that would be one hell of a coincidence.

The aforementioned issues are only some of the ones Robinson has had in recent years. He has also been plagued by some bad draft picks, signings and trades, which has no doubt knocked off the luster he once had.

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Tennessee will roll with vice president of player personnel, Ryan Cowden, for the rest of the season. Cowden has had multiple general manager interviews in recent years.

If this move shows anything, it’s that Adams Strunk isn’t messing around and is dead serious about this team doing more than just the bare minimum of winning a division — and that’s great news.

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Titans, Nashville exploring option of building a new stadium

The Titans and the city of Nashville are now exploring the option of building a new stadium.

Talks between the Tennessee Titans and the city of Nashville about renovations to Nissan Stadium have now expanded to the possibility of building a new stadium entirely, according to Axios’ Nate Rau.

A Titans spokesperson told Axios that renovation costs would be nearly double the $600 million they were reported to be by The Tennessean earlier this month, which has led to a re-evaluation of the situation.

“We need to take a step back and re-evaluate if a stadium renovation is the most responsible option forward and explore other paths,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson then went into a bit more detail about why costs to renovate will be so high.

“For example, the stadium’s structural frame was built with concrete and needs to be largely replaced with steel,” the spokesperson said. “The mechanical, plumbing, and electrical systems need to be completely replaced. The window system throughout the building is so antiquated that it is not even manufactured anymore.”

In a statement to Axios, Mayor John Cooper confirmed the aforementioned issue with cost and the consideration of a new stadium, saying “revised cost estimates require us to closely review whether a new stadium would be a better long-term financial decision.”

In 2019, Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk made it clear that she didn’t want a new stadium in an interview with Midday 180. It isn’t clear if she has changed her mind since then.

“I don’t want a new stadium,” she said. “But I do like the Hard Rock Stadium [where the Miami Dolphins play]. That’s a very interesting model and one that we need to keep looking further at to make improvements.”

This is certainly a situation that bears monitoring, as it looks like the Titans and Nashville are, at the very least, considering changing course to build a new stadium after months of talks about renovations.

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Titans players lobby to wear throwback uniforms in 2021

Derrick Henry is leading the charge among Titans players.

While it remains to be seen if it will actually happen, Tennessee Titans players are lobbying for the ability to use their sweet Oilers throwback jerseys in 2021.

And no, Houston Texans fans, you can’t have them!

After learning of the possible switch on jersey number policy to allow for more flexibility with digits moving forward, Titans running back Derrick Henry took to social media to suggest the team break out the throwback uniform and helmet this coming season.

And that’s something Titans wide receiver A.J. Brown, safety Kevin Byard and left tackle Taylor Lewan agreed with — and who wouldn’t?

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One major hurdle to making this happen is a result of the league’s helmet rule, which would force Tennessee to wear its Titans helmet even if throwback jerseys were used.

Back in 2019, controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk said that would not happen because the combination “just wouldn’t make sense.”

“I would personally like to, but I don’t want to go there until we can have another helmet to go with it… that uniform without that helmet just wouldn’t make sense”.

We can’t say we blame the Titans owner. After all, an Oilers jersey with a Titans helmet would look odd at best and kind of spoils the whole thing.

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See it: Jadeveon Clowney, Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk take photo together

Jadeveon Clowney has officially met Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk.

The newest acquisition for the Tennessee Titans, pass-rusher Jadeveon Clowney, has touched down in Nashville and already took a photo with the team’s controlling owner, Amy Adams Strunk.

Shortly after the Titans made the signing official, the team released a photo of Strunk posing with Clowney, who appears to just be getting off the plane after touching down in Nashville.

It doesn’t get more official than that.

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Titans have inked Clowney to a one-year deal that appears to be worth a base salary of around $12 million, but can go up to $15 million with what we would assume is incentives.

And thus ends the nearly six-month pursuit of one of the biggest fish on the free-agent market, and now the Titans can look ahead to a 2020 season in which they have all the pieces in place to make a run to the Super Bowl.

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Despite insider report, NFL owners not waiting on Jerry Jones to speak out

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is one of the NFL’s leaders, but he’s taken a sudden backseat in using his powerful voice to speak out for change.

With every passing hour of silence from the big office at The Star in Frisco, the message being relayed only grows louder. It’s been 17 days since the first protest in Minneapolis, and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has yet to make any statement regarding the current social injustice movement in America.

The Cowboys organization released a video statement promising ongoing conversation, but the man who runs the highest-profile team in all of sports doesn’t appear in it. The league has announced monetary support– albeit a microdrop in their lake-sized financial bucket- to fight systemic racism. And while many players and coaches from around the league have participated in marches and rallies in cities across the country, team owners have been largely missing in action on the ground.

On Thursday, a media insider suggested that other NFL owners have maintained silence on the issue directly because of the example being set by Jones.

Read that again.

As incendiery a headline as that makes, it’s not entirely factual. The truth, however, may be even more damning for the man who runs America’s Team.

ESPN’s Dianna Russini appeared on the network’s show Get Up and recapped her findings after a Players Coalition meeting that took place on Wednesday. The meeting was held virtually, and, according to Russini, began with a request for all media members to exit so that the meeting could be “a safe space” for all to talk freely.

While the GMs, coaches, and players who were present- representing several major sports besides the NFL- talked about education and community outreach, what didn’t come up, per se, was owners’ roles in the current movement or their responsibility to speak out, Russini told host Mike Greenberg.

But one NFL head coach Russini debriefed after the meeting told her:

“Everything falls in line with Jerry Jones. All eyes are on him. He’s the most vocal owner in the league. And not only is he the most vocal leader, but there are numerous owners that listen to him. He mentors them. What Jerry does, they do. And until he makes that move, the dominoes can’t start falling.”

 

“It’s not pulling them like it is the rest of the country,” San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman said of the league’s owners. Sherman went on to single out Jones for his silence in the wake of nationwide protests.

Even former Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant- who is lobbying for a return to the league and has targeted Dallas as a preferred destination- called out his ex-employer in a tweet for not lending his powerful voice to any protests.

Russini’s source similarly believes that what Jones does or doesn’t do is apparently the bellwether for the league’s other owners. But, as the facts bear out, rather than allowing themselves to simply be “dominoes” waiting for a nudge from Jones, a not-insignificant number of NFL owners have stepped out and spoken up on their own.

Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk delivered an impassioned statement on Thursday, announcing, “Hearts, minds and institutions need to change throughout our country. Those who face racism need to be heard, and more importantly, understood by those who haven’t listened before.”

Strunk shed light on some of the Titans’ ongoing efforts and concluded her statement by declaring: “I support our players using peaceful protests and their platforms to advance us as a nation. I would encourage those who haven’t thought about these issues before to understand the pain, anger and frustration of the black community. Black lives matter. We should all agree on that.”

As NFL journalist Paul Kuharsky notes, the Titans owner isn’t the first or the only league owner who isn’t waiting around for Jones. “We’d seen or heard statements from at least 10 NFL owners, 32 percent of them,” before Strunk released her statement, according to Kuharsky.

On May 30, San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York said in a tweet, “Before we are able to realize impactful change, we must first have the courage and compassion as human beings to come together and acknowledge the problem: black men, women, and children and other oppressed minorities continue to be systemically discriminated against.”

On May 31, Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis told ESPN regarding his players, “If they have something to say, I’ll stand beside them. I won’t stand behind them; I’ll stand beside them. And if there’s something I don’t know, I’m happy to listen to them. We’ve got to find a solution.”

On June 1, New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson said in a statement, “Our goal will be to advocate for issues of change when and where we are able to in black and brown communities. Hopefully our work will be a model for others. They will have my full support.”

On June 1, Chicago Bears owner George H. McCaskey said, “We must do more than wring our hands and hope it doesn’t happen again… Through our voice, our actions and our resources, it is our obligation to lead.”

On June 1, Cleveland Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam promised, “We must work together to elevate our efforts and our actions to ensure that we can be a positive and productive change agent off the field.”

On June 1, Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti vowed, “I have asked a group of former and current Ravens players to decide which organizations should receive proceeds from the $1 million donation we are making today.”

On June 2, Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie tweeted, in part, “At times, I have too many words. At times, I have no words. But silence is not an option.”

On June 2, Buffalo Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula spoke out: “We stand with and will continue to work with those dedicated to eradicating racism and inequality. We stand with those peacefully protesting. We stand against those who are motivated by hatred and violence.”

On June 2, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay quoted Martin Luther King Jr. via Twitter: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

On June 3, Houston Texans owner Cal McNair said in a posted tweet, “This has been a pervasive and mostly silent problem for the past 400-plus years… I believe that these injustices cannot continue.”

On June 3, Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan said in a released statement, “As a member of the NFL family, I recognize I have a unique opportunity to address inequity wherever it is present, expand opportunity for all who seek it, and seek justice for all who deserve it. I take that responsibility seriously.”

As of June 12, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has yet to say a word.

His is the flagship team of the league, and the most valuable sports franchise on the planet. His fanbase reaches every corner of the globe. One from-the-heart statement from him into the nearest microphone would surely have ripple effects throughout the NFL, the sports world, the country, and beyond.

Russini’s head coach source was right. All eyes are, in fact, on Jones. And yes, what Jerry does, other owners invariably do as well.

Jones had the chance to be the undisputed leader within the NFL’s ownership by speaking out immediately. The Cowboys could have been the example and set the tone for other franchises to follow. Instead, more than a third of the other owners have beaten Jones to the punch. At this point in the story, Jones risks being barely more than a follower in the middle of the pack who did way too little, way too late.

The only thing worse is continuing to do nothing at all.

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