Last week, the Tennessee Titans rocked their fan base with the news that longtime Titans DC Jim Schwartz would be returning to Nashville in an advisory sort of role on defense. His official title is “Senior Defensive Assistant.” Personally, I love the move. Just about everything on defense failed in 2020, and the Titans needed some ideas emanating from outside the organization to get some fresh takes on what’s going on with that unit.
Now, I think Schwartz can certainly still go as a defensive coordinator in the league. Hell, I don’t know if the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles win that Super Bowl without him. His defenses since he was fired as the head coach of the Detroit Lions have been good, including a top four defense in yards allowed with the Buffalo Bills in 2014, and one in 2017 with the Eagles. One of the hallmarks of his defenses have always been the ability to get after opposing quarterbacks, which happens to be an area the Titans struggled mightily with in 2020. So, fans of this team should be ecstatic to see him in any sort of advisory role. His presence only helps.
But, getting that experience and knowledge base in-house isn’t all that matters. I found this to be an obvious acknowledgment from Mike Vrabel that shit just didn’t work in 2020, and that he was willing to put that ego and BDE we always rave about in check for the sake of getting better. And, this is a move that should make the Titans better. The media was questioning whether or not Vrabel was stubborn to a fault with Shane Bowen and this defense. But, I think he’s successfully quelled that criticism for awhile now. All that said, I find it highly unlikely that Schwartz will be calling defensive plays at any point this season. Bowen is Vrabel’s boy – it’s going to take a catastrophic failure to get him out of that seat, in my opinion. So, while you can’t say that the Titans are going to take the next step just because of the signing of one man, you can at least say that this is a step in the right direction in a couple of different ways.I dive into Schwartz’s hiring in a lot more detail on last week’s episode of The Unofficial Titans Podcast, which you can listen to HERE:
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Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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