While nothing has been made official, it sure sounds like the Tennessee Titans will be announcing the hire of Tampa Bay Buccaneers Director of Player Personnel Jon Robinson to be the franchise's next GM. There will be plenty of time to debate the merits of Robinson's hire, but with the veteran NFL scout and personnel man onboard in Tennessee, the question becomes - who will Robinson tab as his head coach?
Well, according to NFL.com reporter Ian Rapoport, the Titans may already have a candidate in mind - interim head coach Mike Mularky. Per Rapoport, Mularkey has been given "strong indication" that the job will be his. Even the Titans staff is said to believe that Mularkey is going to wind up being the guy.
It's interesting that Robinson still hasn't yet been named GM officially and the franchise may already be giving indications, strong or otherwise, that they have a head coaching candidate in mind. Traditionally, a GM is given carte blanche - or at least a strong say - in picking what is essentially their head coach. Robinson will surely have a say in who the Titans hire, but it sounds like he could be walking into a situation where a majority of the decision has already been made for him, which wouldn't seem to be a great indication of how things in Tennessee will work going forward.
That being said, Rapoport also reports that the Titans plan to interview Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, Jacksonville Jaguars assistant head coach and former Buffalo Bills head coach Doug Marrone, along with Mularkey.
The pool of candidates, not exactly deep to begin with, has shrunk considerably in recent days with Hue Jackson landing in Cleveland, the Giants planning to promote Ben McAdoo and the Eagles said to be closing in on longtime rival, Tom Coughlin.
It will be interesting an interesting start for the Robinson-Titans relationship if Mularkey is pushed on him by Tennessee ownership. Then again, maybe Robinson will end up deciding on Mularkey, who now has an 18-39 record as an NFL head coach, on his own.
