{"id":150892,"date":"2022-12-07T15:59:58","date_gmt":"2022-12-07T15:59:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/with-jon-robinson-gone-mike-vrabel-holds-the-power-in-tennessee\/"},"modified":"2022-12-07T15:59:58","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T15:59:58","slug":"with-jon-robinson-gone-mike-vrabel-holds-the-power-in-tennessee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/with-jon-robinson-gone-mike-vrabel-holds-the-power-in-tennessee\/","title":{"rendered":"With Jon Robinson gone, Mike Vrabel holds the power in Tennessee"},"content":{"rendered":"
Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Whenever a company fires a high-profile employee, there are usually two versions. The official position, and the truth.<\/p>\n
In the case of the Titans firing GM Jon Robinson on the first Tuesday in December, the official position includes no effort to disconnect the decision from the trade that sent receiver AJ Brown to Philadelphia \u2014 even as the move came two days after Brown helped his new team dismantle the team that traded him away.<\/p>\n
Since then, there has been no reporting aimed at pushing back against the perception that Brown’s performance served as the catalyst for a longstanding power struggle\/philosophical divide between Robinson and coach Mike Vrabel, who made his displeasure with the trade clear through his body language after it happened. So, yes, perception and reality may be one in the same. Owner Amy Adams Strunk, after an extended period of presiding over periodic squabbling by Robinson and Vrabel, decided that Vrabel was right all along \u2014 and that Robinson needed to go.<\/p>\n
For the 31 teams ultimately controlled by one person, change like that can come at any time. On any given day, the owner can roll out of bed and decide to make a big change. For better or worse.<\/p>\n
Whether it’s better or worse for the Titans remains to be seen. For as good as the Titans have been, maybe the friction between Robinson and Vrabel had been holding them back. Maybe, if Vrabel didn’t also have to navigate internal disagreements and dysfunction, the team would have achieved even more over the past few years.<\/p>\n
There were signs of disagreement well before the Titans decided to trade Brown for a first-round pick that became his replacement. When the Titans traded a 2022 second-round pick and a 2023 fourth-round pick for receiver Julio Jones and a 2023 sixth-round pick in June 2021, GM Jon Robinson was the one who did the press conference and the media appearances. Vrabel didn’t say a word.<\/p>\n
And that said plenty. Vrabel likely didn’t want Jones. To no surprise, Jones didn’t do much for the Titans before Tennessee released him after one season.<\/p>\n
What other personnel decisions were made over the objection of Vrabel? Was the drafting of quarterback Malik Willis something Vrabel didn’t want, given its potential impact on incumbent starter Ryan Tannehill? Did Vrabel want to make a competitive offer running back D’Onta Foreman, who played very well last year after Derrick Henry an injury?<\/p>\n
None of that really matters at this point. What matters is that Vrabel necessarily emerges as the guy who’s in charge of the football operations, as a practical matter. He has earned it through his coaching. He has likely cemented it through his told-you-so views on players like AJ Brown and Julio Jones coming to fruition.<\/p>\n
And so, like Vrabel’s friend and mentor Bill Belichick in New England, Vrabel now becomes the guy who ties it all together. Maybe that’s exactly what it will take to push the Titans over the top.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Getty Images Whenever a company fires a high-profile employee, there are usually two versions. The official position, and the truth. In the case of the Titans firing GM Jon Robinson on the first Tuesday in December, the official position includes no effort to disconnect the decision from the trade that sent receiver AJ Brown to …<\/p>\n