NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Titans suffered a serious blow with the Packers' reported decision to hire Matt LaFleur as their next head coach, putting them in position to have a fifth offensive coordinator in five years.
That simply kills the continuity for Marcus Mariota and the offense and puts Mike Vrabel under pressure to make a big hire for his quarterback heading into his staff's second season.
There will be six remaining head coaches vacancies and seven staffs that need to fill out, so it will benefit Vrabel if some of the best offensive minds do not wind up with jobs and he can interview coaches like Adam Gase, Todd Monken and maybe Kliff Kingsbury as well as, on the older end of the spectrum, Jim Caldwell though he figures to be more married to his ways. [Unlocked]
But young offensive minds are in high demand, which is why LaFleur is the new guy in Green Bay, where Mike McCarthy was coach from 2006 until he was fired before the end of 2017 despite winning a Super Bowl and posting a regular season record of 125-77-2.
Maybe Mike Vrabel dips into the college ranks, as he reportedly tried to do with Ryan Day from Ohio State before hiring LaFleur last year. Day is now OSU's head coach. Maybe he sees an NFL position coach he feels is ready to call plays. There does not appear to be one on his current staff.
"Another new voice, another new play caller for the Titans," Blake Beddingfield said. "It doesn't matter who they hire. He will put some of his own language and spin on it."
Even if Mariota is a quick study, he's got to be a study again, and he won't be picking up and advancing stuff he did in 2018, he will be restarting on it as the new guy presents it.
He's already done that under Ken Whisenhunt and Jason Michael as a rookie in 2015, under Terry Robiskie in 2016 and 2017 and under LaFleur in 2017.
And it's not just Mariota.
The Titans have young receivers in Corey Davis and Taywan Taylor who need to figure out a new voice with new language and likely new elements to an offense. Derrick Henry just found his groove and things will change and who knows if the offensive line will be asked to do things differently?
Packers offered the job to Titans' OC Matt LaFleur, per sources. Other HC candidates have been notified that they're out. So it looks like LaFleur in Green Bay.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 7, 2019
The Titans knew there was the risk of a short stay for LaFleur. Heck, he was one of three candidates for their head-coaching job at this time last year, before they hired Vrabel and then circled back to him.
Sean McVay did LaFleur a favor in letting him leave for a play-calling job though the Rams had no obligation to do so.
Now, with some paperwork ahead to finalize things, he's about to be a head-coaching colleague of both McVay and Vrabel.
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