NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Here’s hoping Tim Kelly was a backburner guy, an advisor in the mold of Jim Schwartz and not a big factor in the Titans' offense in 2021, his first year with the team.

His title said he was the passing game coordinator, and that passing game was terrible, firstly because of the poor personnel. Surrendering to A.J. Brown’s noise and demands and dealing him to Philadelphia neutered the offense, deciding Aaron Brewer would suffice to replace Rodger Saffold was an overconfident move and Robert Woods brought zero explosion to town. Then injuries stacked up and created more issues.

But Mike Vrabel’s said he doesn’t want to be known for coaching talent and I’d think that would apply to the guys who coach for him too.

And so very high on the list of questions for him when he speaks later this afternoon, a question he will doubtlessly dodge, is what exactly did Tim Kelly do last season that puts him in position to recraft an offense and call plays for it?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – As we enter weeks of further speculation about the potential for the Titans to make a deal up from No. 11 to get one of the draft's top quarterbacks, I’ve been thinking about another sort of draft weekend trade the franchise needs to get a whole lot better at or start to avoid.

Five times during Jon Robinson’s seven drafts, he dealt two or more picks for one pick in a move-up to get a targeted player.

Dez Fitzpatrick in training camp against the Bucs

Giving up a second and third in 2018 for a 16-spot second-round jump that positioned Tennessee to draft Harold Landry was a winning move. And a 2017 move-up for Jayon Brown panned out.

But in three other more recent instances the team gave up seven picks to position themselves for Dane Cruikshank, Dez Fitzpatrick and Malik Willis.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- We are on the cusp of the weekend again and that's beautiful, though that bye week between the Championship Games and the Super Bowl sure has an empty feel to it.

If you missed the podcast, well that's a mistake. Here are links to it for you on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts and YouTube.

Courtesy Tennessee Titans

Again, a lot of good questions rolled in this week. I'm hoping to have to start breaking some of these off for their own posts.

Here's the best of the very good batch.

What do the Titans do after Henry is done? Do they continue pursuing a strong run game or do they veer towards the modern NFL? It'll likely happen at a similar time as a potential rookie QB on a cheap contract for 4 years. We could be 1-2 years away from very significant decision

— IFR-Titan-Z625 (@IFR_Titan_Z625) February 2, 2023

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Paul Noska worked under 10 Oilers/Titans head coaches and, technically, seven general managers, though his overlap with Ran Carthon was quite short.

Wednesday, the team didn’t renew Noska’s contract, ending his 40 years with the franchise and their last remaining personnel tie to the Houston Oilers. “Hoss,” as he was known, is 59 and knew no other life than serving a light-blue locker room.

Photo courtesy Titans Facebook

The team's rationale for the move is unclear. There may be some big reason he was not brought back. It would run counter to the character generations of players have responded to.

“Hoss was so old school and I loved it,” said Bernard Pollard, a safety with the Titans in 2013 and 2014. “He and his staff made sure the guys were taken care of. Hoss was so serious about work and making sure the job was done. He was great at his job and he made sure the guys under him knew how to be great as well. One of the best equipment staffs I’ve been around. Love that dude.”

The move seems a bit symbolic of a trend with some of the team’s senior-most employees.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Paul Noska, who’d worked for the Titans franchise for 40 years as part of the equipment staff, did not have his contract renewed by the team on Wednesday.

Noska, known affectionally through the Titans facility as “Hoss,” began working for the Houston Oilers when he was 18.

He joined the club in 1982 as an equipment assistant and has been a full-time member of the club's equipment department since 1983.

It's unclear what prompted the move. A previous version of this report said he was dismissed.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A new podcast episode is up on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcasts and YouTube.

Whichever platform you prefer, please subscribe, rate and review.

Subjects I dive into:

💥 Mike Vrabel's hiring process and timing and what it tells us about who may be coming
💥 Why offensive head coaching hires are good for the Titans
💥 The reporting of interviews and hires
💥 Joseph Ossai and one play losing a game
💥 Boss time
💥 Roster construction of the final four and the lessons it offers for the Titans
💥 Ran Cathon and players who love ball 

By MIKE HERNDON, columnist

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- There is little doubt that the four best teams in the NFL were playing this past weekend. Sure, the 49ers flopped in the NFC Championship game after Brock Purdy’s first-quarter injury derailed any hopes they might have had, but over the course of the season and postseason, I’d take these four over anyone.

It’s always a worthwhile exercise to examine what lessons might be learned from the way these rosters and coaching staffs are constructed.

Let’s start with spending habits. Where are the top teams in the league investing heavily and where are they looking for value? Here is a positional breakdown of where each of the four teams ranks in the NFL when it comes to average annual value (AAV) of current contracts for each position according to Spotrac:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Titans are switching Nissan Stadium to a high-tech artificial surface for the 2023 season.

The move is spurred by NFL studies showing the team's natural surface may have contributed to more lower-body injuries from 2018-2021 than the six NFL venues that use the sort of monofilament fields the team will now turn to.

Nissan Stadium's field has been Bermuda sod since the building opened in 1999 as Adelphia Coliseum, but the franchise has consistently struggled to maintain a good playing surface in November, December and January. Nashville sits in a transition zone, where it can be difficult to sustain natural grass that can handle the heat of August and colder temperatures of the late fall and winter along with the lack of sunlight.

The team has worked with consultants and tried different tactics, and regularly resods part of the field or the whole thing. Despite those efforts, the Titans have consistently wound up with an inconsistent field that has not been durable.