Ran Carthon’s GM Rookie Season in review

I’ve decided to take some time to review Ran Carthon and what he has done for this Tennessee Titans organization in his rookie GM season. This is what I concluded.

It’s very hard not to like the direction this team is heading in. He showed the conviction to stick to his board, didn’t overpay players and prioritized the team’s stars with very little resources left over after the dismantling from the previous regime.

Not only did Ran offer upside in this upcoming season and at the very least give us an option to make a late playoff push and once you’re in anything can happen in a 3 game stretch through the Super Bowl. Especially with Mike Vrabel at the helm.

Overall I say it’s been a solid B+ to A- grade thus far with room to still grow in the offseason. Especially if they bring in any kind of real help at the receiver position.
Cough Cough Deandre Hopkins

The one big whiff in my opinion was letting David Long Jr. walk out that door. Long had a true breakout season and at times looked like an All-Pro. Obviously he brought in Azeez Al-Shaair to replace him. Who should be very good in his own right. But they nearly signed for identical money! With the departure of Zack Cunningham as well this could quietly be one of the worst position groups on the team. We are one injury away from starting Monty Rice (who currently still doesn’t appear to be healthy) and Dr. Gibby. With the Titans currently sitting just under 8 million in cap space we realistically could have brought in Al-Shaair and retained David Long Jr.

But I digress, Carthon has employed nothing but prove it deals to this years free agent pool and some will prove it and some won’t. Regardless we know this team will look very different come 2024.

Through the draft he showed that we will not be picking players based on team needs and will be sticking with a best player available approach. Which pairs perfectly with Mike Vrabel’s next man up mentality.

While this roster is fairly light at a handful of positions on paper I’m fairly confident that this team will be loaded with depth through Carthon’s tenure in a very short order.

Brought in-
Peter Skoronski
Will Levis
Tyjae Spears
Josh Whyle
Jaelyn Duncan
Colton Dowell Sean Murphy-Bunting
Ben Niemann
Chris Moore
Trevon Wesco
Corey Levin
Jeffrey Simmons
Tyler Shelvin
Luke Gifford
Aaron Brewer
Teair Tart
Naquon Jones
NWI
Jacob Copeland
Caleb Murphy
John Ojukwu
Trey Wolf Kearis Jackson
Alize Mack

Let see the door-
Taylor Lewan
Randy Bullock
Zack Cunningham
Robert Woods
Ben Jones
Bud Dupree
Nate Davis
DeMarcus Walker
David Long Dennis Daley
Austin Hooper
Mario Edwards
Dylan Cole
Lonnie Johnson
Geoff Swaim
Andrew Adams
Josh Kalu
Cody Hollister

(I left off a few names that were irrelevant in my opinion)