NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Mike Vrabel will soon hire a tight ends coach, as he is elevating Todd Downing to replace Arthur Smith as the Titans' offensive coordinator, Tom Pelissero reports and I've confirmed.

Downing was hired in 2019 to replace Smith when he was elevated to replace Matt LaFleur as the team’s offensive play-caller. Now, with Smith the new coach in Atlanta, Downing will be Tennessee's third play-called in four seasons.

Vrabel's move again provides the Titans with continuity.

Downing spent 2015-2017 with the Raiders and was their offensive coordinator in the final year of the Jack Del Rio regime.

That offense was not especially good: 18th overall, 16th in passing, 25th in rushing and 23rd in points averaging 18.8.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- In his three years as Titans’ coach, Mike Munchak worked under Bud Adams in his waning years, which made things difficult for the Hall of Famer in some respects.

After the Vince Young-Jeff Fisher drama played out with both ultimately gone following the 2010 season, Munchak was hired very late in the cycle – Feb. 7, 2011.

Photo courtesy Denver Broncos

Having spent his playing and coaching career exclusively with the Oilers and Titans and coached exclusively under Fisher, he didn’t have widespread connections to use when putting together a staff, and with that super-late start, the pool of available coaches was limited.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Is Isaiah Wilson a blip or a flashing neon sign?

The Titans’ flop of a first-round pick in 2020 creates a major concern regarding the Titans’ ability to continue to identify guys who “love ball,” a characteristic they state as a primary, fundamental element in what they want.

This post from December packages up just how bad a misread they had on Wilson: Titans have to cringe at what they said about Isaiah Wilson on draft night.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Last year seemed like it would bring a great deal of quarterback tumult, but ultimately outside of the Tom Brady move and the draft, it wasn’t as wild as anticipated.

This time around is going to be different.

Photo courtesy Kate Luffman/ Tennessee Titans

As of today, only 12 teams are locked in (and, in all but maybe two cases, in love with) with their starting quarterbacks – just 38 percent of the NFL.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Hello all. Hope you enjoyed the games and had a big weekend.

Impressively, I picked both games wrong.

Let's discuss some of the things that are on your mind.

When a head coach makes the call to have no officially titled defensive coordinator for the season and has such a abysmal season with that call can a GM step in and say Hey we need to get a coordinator OR is that overstepping his power?

— My Peeps Show Pod 🎙🌎 (@MyPeepsShowPod) January 22, 2021

Jon Robinson is certainly free to suggest anything he wants, and Mike Vrabel can take him up on things.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Dean Pees was not choosing between two defensive coordinator offers when he decided to join Arthur Smith’s staff in Atlanta.

Pees took the one offer he had to re-enter the league as a coordinator a year after retiring.

He had already made a commitment to Smith, a hot coaching candidate who interviewed for all seven openings when Mike Vrabel recently offered him a role with the Titans as a consultant, not as a coordinator.

So it remains unclear what Vrabel’s plan is for adjusting his staff, where Shane Bowen functioned as the defensive coordinator in 2020 but retained his outside linebacker coach title and responsibilities as well.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – After nine years, Jan. 15 was the final show for The Midday 180.

In 2008, newspapers were well on their way to their demise, with only the best ones surviving well as online outlets and continuing to do the sort of work my colleagues and I hoped to be part of when we set out on careers as sportswriters.

I was incredibly fortunate to land at ESPN.com as one of eight NFL divisional bloggers, a designation that has come to mean different things at different times. At that point, it meant covering the AFC South like crazy.

The eight of us were hired to help ESPN shape its online coverage of the league at that time, and while it’s changed a lot since then, there are still echoes of it in what they do now. [Unlocked]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A.J. Brown doesn’t owe the Titans, or anyone, an apology.

Tuesday, he went live on Instagram from a recovery room with quite a revelation after two knee surgeries:

“They told me I was done for the year in week 2. I played all year. I made the Pro Bowl.”

Photo courtesy Alison McNabb/ Tennessee Titans

That is an incredible testament to his capabilities, toughness, fortitude and team-first mentality.