Analyzing Ran Carthon’s Tenure and Subsequent Firing

Written By Jack Loeb

Yesterday, near midday, the Titans worst kept secret was let loose. Amy Adams Strunk and Chad Brinker made the decision to fire Ran Carthon after two seasons. The decision came at the surprise of fans given the tight-lippedness from ownership and senior front office officials. A few hours after the loss to the Texans Josina Anderson posted on X about the GM position being closely “monitored” (see below).

Buck Reising on his radio show last night spoke of knowing of the rumors surrounding the demise of Carthon since October. That goes to show that this process and decision has been brewing for quite some time. In addition, Paul Kuharsky wrote a great article here which goes over what he’s heard from people inside the organization that attest to Ran Carthon’s fault. Two cited example of Carthon’s “miscues” comes from PK’s article first, “…while Mike Vrabel and Carthon were at Levis’ Pro Day in Lexington, Kent., Carthon left early. Some personnel people and scouts say early departures are not uncommon, but that left a mark on many inside the Titans organization.” Second, “Personnel people and scouts typically eat and then dive into film of the game the team just played to get ahead on the Monday review. But Carthon often did what I do on my plane rides home after games. He napped.” This information is clearly coming from deep within the front office and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were started or at least allowed to be given by Chad Brinker (President of Football Operations) or someone of close allyship with him. In Chad Brinker’s statement he seems to hint that Carthon had a lack of discipline needed to be a competent GM going forward, especially given how crucial this offseason is for the organization.

Carthon certainly didn’t come in to a great situation to begin with. He was brought in to collaborate with Vrabel post Jon Robinson’s mess and then the Titans made the decision to fire Vrabel after a lackluster 6-11 season. Thus, Carthon was tasked at bringing in a new HC as his first move in 2024 and that was Brian Callahan. After bringing in Callahan he attacked Free Agency and the offseason with vigor. First, signing the best Center available in Lloyd Cushenberry (good), then signing Tony Pollard (good), followed by Kenneth Murray Jr. (bad), then Chidobe Awuzie (good), penultimately Calvin Ridley (good), and the icing on the cake trading for L’Jarius Sneed (good…sort of). This past offseason myself and nearly everyone else universally praised the vision that Ran Carthon and Brian Callahan were executing together. It seemed like the two were working in tandem and that this was going to be a transitional season that could see the Titans in the playoffs. However, reality came crashing down around the Titans as Will Levis failed to live up to expectations which was obvious by the Week 5 loss to the Colts. At the time L’Jarius Sneed was underperforming Chidobe Awuzie was missing games and headed to IR and outside the Jets game Calvin Ridley was MIA. The free agent haul this past offseason was phenomenal from an on paper perspective. However, as may have derided the Jaguars over the past 10 years for doing the same it can be all for naught if injuries and the QB position doesn’t work out.

Free Agency wasn’t the only part of Ran Carthon’s job description. The most important part is the draft. Let’s analyze Carthon’s first full authority draft of 2024.

1st Round: JC Latham (C)

Latham wasn’t necessarily a bad pick given who was taken in front of the Titans. Many fans and Titans media personnel were all in on Joe Alt, and rightfully so. Unfortunately, Jim Harbaugh had other plans and drafted Alt in front of the Titans. Then Malik Nabers went to the Giants at 6th overall and he’s proving himself to be a stud. Now, getting back to Latham. He didn’t have the best rookie year at LT and may questions have arisen even about moving him back to RT in the future. That’s not exactly what you want to hear given the fact that he was being coached by legendary OL coach Bill Callahan. He allowed 7 sacks on 661 pass plays. As a whole that looks pretty good. However, he ranked 127th in sacks and T-72nd for tackles according to PFF. He was a rookie and there will probably be a good amount of growth going into year two. Regardless, that’s not good and the Titans aren’t sure they have their future LT on the roster.

Round 2: T’Vondre Sweat (A)

Probably the best pick Ran has made. Sweat was a beast in the middle of the DL and he with Simmons helped the Titans rank as one of the best run stuffing units this season. After questions arose about Sweat’s conditioning he ended up playing the most snaps of any rookie DL with 699 and ranked as the 15th best DL according to PFF. This is a no brainer great pick from Ran.

Round 4: Cedric Gray (I)

For most of the season Gray was injured and that set him back significantly as he was trying to play catchup most of the year. He played a total of 48 snaps and thus his grade is incomplete.

Round 5: Jarvis Brownlee Jr. (C+)

Brownlee Jr. was the de facto starting CB for most of the season as either Chidobe Awuzie was absent or L’Jarius Sneed became absent due to injury. He played 911 snaps with 1 Interception and 6 PBU. For being put in that type of situation Brownlee played fairly well. He had a penchant for sticky coverage, and sometimes too sticky as he had 9 penalties on the season. Overall he seems like a solid pick with upside.

Round 6: Jha’Quan Jackson (D)

Jackson was supposed to come in and solve the Titans punt and kick return problems. However, that was not the case. By the middle of the season he was replaced by Chestnut, Kinsey, and Spears. He fumbled several times and made poor decisions whether to fair catch, take a knee, or let the ball roll into the endzone. He hardly played on offense so that was null. Not a great pick, but at the end of the day he was a 6th round pick, no big deal.

Round 7: James Williams (I)

Williams is another player that hardly played this season. When he did he didn’t exactly standout and most of his snaps came on special teams. Overall this is an incomplete and again, this is a 7th round pick.

Round 7: Jaylen Harrell (I)

Harrell is another player that hardly got snaps and has an incomplete grade. He only recorded 8 tackles on the season and thus there’s just not enough data to make a sound decision.

Ran Carthon’s draft and free agency acquisitions don’t scream that he was not fit for the job. From the outside the firing of Carthon is puzzling for sure. However, from the inside, and there’s probably more information we’re not aware of, the situation seemed to be untenable inside the organization regarding Ran. We may get more clarity as time goes on as what seemed to be the tipping point to fire Carthon given his extension and promotion last offseason. For now there are an infinitesimal number of questions and very few answers from the Titans organization. Many fans are rightfully upset at the move by Amy Adams Strunk, and by extension Chad Brinker, to get rid of the GM that was chosen above Vrabel last year, and who led the search and hiring for the HC that the organization has retained this year given the 3-14 record.

The Titans now are on the search for a new General Manager. One of the benefits of that currently is that only the Jets are also in need of a new GM and the Titans are in a much better place from a draft perspective and organizational perspective than New York. However, for the would-be hopeful GM’s the Titans general manager position is muddied. What are the duties of the GM? Ultimately, what is the role of the new GM? Is Chad Brinker the real GM and the hired GM will be the assistant to the real GM? Nobody knows, the same can probably be said about the people inside Saint Thomas Sports Park.

Jack Loeb https://twitter.com/jakjack91
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