The Tennessee Titans are dominating the headlines after the surprise decision to sack general manager Ran Carthon.
The exec had four years left on the contract he signed over the offseason but paid the price for a 3-14 season that led to the No.1 pick.
“It’s impossible to ignore that our football team hasn’t improved over the past two years,” owner Amy Adams Strunk said in a statement.
“I am deeply disappointed in our poor win-loss record during this period, of course, but my decision also speaks to my concern about our long-term future should we stay the course.”
It would appear that the choice is between quarterbacks Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward with the first selection of April’s NFL Draft.
And getting rid of Carthon could have had a massive impact on the decision.
Shedeur’s dad, Deion, reacted almost instantly to the news.
“Wow,” he wrote, followed by an eyes emoji in a post that is open to interpretation.
Whether Deion believes it was the right call is potentially massive after his comments in November about his son’s potential destination.
The Hall of Famer said on FS1 he would step in if he thought the wrong team were drafting Shedeur or teammate Travis Hunter after he coached the potential top-three picks with the Colorado Buffaloes.
“Yeah, but I’m not gonna do it publicly. I’d do it privately,” Sanders said. “And with Travis as well.”
Situation matters for a quarterback – just look at Sam Darnold‘s rebirth since joining the Minnesota Vikings.
Deion wants a franchise that will help his Shedeur reach his potential.
“Somebody that can handle the quarterback that he is. Somebody that can handle understanding what he’s capable of,” he said on what he was looking for.
“Someone that has had success in the past handling quarterbacks or someone in an organization understands what they’re doing, not just throwing you out there amongst the wolves if you don’t have the support and the infrastructure of the team.
“Forget the line, he’s played with lines that haven’t been great but he’s been able to do his thing, but just the infrastructure of the team, the direction of where we’re going.”
Deion cannot stop a team from calling Shedeur or Hunter’s name.
But Eli Manning was able to convince the then-San Diego Chargers to trade him to the New York Giants hours after they selected him with the first pick.
The move worked out well for the two-time Super Bowl champion, who revealed why he made the call 18 years later on NFL Network star Kyle Brandt’s podcast.
“It was my decision having talked with my agent, coaches, [general managers] and owners,” Manning.
“Going through the draft process, I was just worried about the Chargers organisation at the time. I felt it was the right decision and I had a little pull.
“I quietly tried to say, ‘Hey, please don’t draft me, it can be our secret,’ and they didn’t keep the secret part very well.”
Titans head coach Brian Callahan has already told incumbent QB Will Levis to expect competition in camp.
“I was very straightforward with him that it’s very likely that there’ll be somebody else in here competition-wise at the very minimum,” Callahan said. “So that’s a position that we’ll be looking at.”
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