Turon Davenport, ESPN
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Titans on Tuesday fired general manager Ran Carson, who finished the season with a 3-14 record and acquired the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft.
“We cannot ignore that our football team has not improved over the past two years,” Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Slank said in a statement released by the team. “I am very disappointed that our win-loss record during this period was poor.”
The Titans announced that Brian Callahan will continue as head coach and President of Football Operations Chad Brinker will lead the search for the team’s next general manager.
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“I think the general manager position is unique to each organization,” Brinker said on the team’s website. “What we are looking for in this particular job is a top-notch, top-level evaluator who has spent his career as a scout and has spent the majority of his career projecting college players to the National Football League. They’ve really helped set up the draft committee and hopefully create a consistently winning organization, and you can see their imprints all over the roster.”
Team president and CEO Burke Nihil said on the team’s website that while the new general manager will oversee day-to-day roster decisions, Brinker will have “final authority” over the roster.
“It’s important for Amy to have absolute clarity in the football organization,” Nihil told the team’s website. “So the general manager position is going to have primary responsibility for all of these things that Chad is talking about from a day-to-day standpoint of overseeing the roster and the coaching staff, but Chad will have the primary responsibility for the football program. As a leader, Chad will have final authority on all football matters, including rosters.”
Nihil noted that Carson was hired when the description was different than the franchise’s current desire for the general manager position. The Titans want a general manager who will work closely with their current head coach.
Colorado State coach Deion Sanders reacted to the Titans’ announcement on X that his son Shedur Sanders will likely be considered when the Titans select No. 1 overall in April, saying, “Wow!” Posted.
Carson was hired as the team’s first Black general manager in 2023 after the Titans fired former GM Jon Robinson midway through the season. The University of Tennessee lost seven games in a row and was eliminated from the playoffs.
Carson was promoted to executive vice president last year in addition to the title of general manager. That’s when the Titans promoted Brinker to president of football operations, a position he took at Tennessee in February 2023 after 13 seasons in Green Bay.
The Titans went 6-11 in Carson’s first season. Mr. Slank fired former coach Mike Vrabel and authorized Mr. Carson to lead the search for a new coach, which was ultimately replaced by Mr. Callahan.
Callahan’s first season (3-14) was the team’s worst season since 2015, when they finished 3-13. Tennessee’s record over the past two years is 9-25.
“He was my first head coach and my first play-caller,” Brinker said of Callahan on the team’s website. “First-time head coaches have several challenges, including building a culture, evaluating current and future talent, establishing trust and communication, building a high-level staff, and building alignment from coaching to the front office to ownership. There are challenges. On top of that, he was a first-time play caller and a first-time head coach.
“Brian was one of the hottest candidates on the market last year. We believe in Brian and want to give him the opportunity to develop into the head coach we expect him to be. We know and we’ve been talking about it.’ That’s not enough this year. And I think Brian is really remorseful in that regard, and he understands that, frankly, we all have to be better. We have to do better, myself included. I want to give Brian the opportunity to continue to grow. Building a program takes time. ”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
