Ran Carthon’s Firing Proves How Quickly Tennessee Titans Change Their Mind

The Tennessee Titans fired general manager Ran Carthon after just one season as general manager, the team announced on Tuesday.

After his first year in Tennessee, head coach Brian Callahan is safe despite this move.

Just last season, the Titans made the controversial decision to fire Mike Vrabel to give Carthon and Callahan more power in a collaborative alignment. 

Two years later, the Titans fired Carthon, while Vrabel—who spent the season as a consultant for the Cleveland Browns— is the hottest name on the head coaching market.

Carthon’s firing is a surprise to many, including NFL insider Dianna Russini.

Russini is correct. These last few years have been a complete revolving door in Tennessee. The Titans own the No. 1 overall pick and now need to find a general manager to make that selection.

It's an extra bad look considering the fact that Vrabel is currently galivanting around the country interviewing for every single head coach opening. It's almost like they probably should have just kept Vrabel all along.

Carthon was far from the only issue in Tennessee. In fact, he found plenty of value through the NFL Draft by selecting offensive lineman JC Latham with the No. 7 overall pick and highly touted defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat in the second round.

Not to mention, he pulled off a high-profile trade with the Kansas City Chiefs, acquiring L’Jarius Sneed for a third-round pick. 

With a few draft hits already under his belt, why would you fire the guy that has the organization set up to make the call at No. 1 overall? 

The one knock on Carthon is that the Titans have spent a ton of money on players like Calvin Ridley, Tony Pollard and Chidobe Awuize just to finish the season with the No. 1 overall selection. 

Quarterback is a clear need that wasn’t addressed by Carthon and Callahan in their first and only season together. The Titans decided to roll with Will Levis and Mason Rudolph, and that’s ultimately probably what cost Carthon his job.

But this is a controversial firing, and Deion Sanders—the opinionated father of top quarterback prospect Shedeur Sanders—already took to social media to weigh in on the firing.

Coach Prime has publicly stated that he will play in a role where his son is selected, along with fellow Colorado superstar Travis Hunter.

On the surface, it surely seems like Sanders was surprised to learn about this news in Tennessee.

And it could make their collective mission of finding a general manager and franchise quarterback that much more difficult.