Analysis
12/6/22
3 min read
Tennessee Titans Fire General Manager Jon Robinson
The Titans fired general manager Jon Robinson on Tuesday, the team announced. Ryan Cowden, the Titans' vice president of player personnel, will replace Robinson for the rest of the season.
"I believe we have made significant progress both on and off the field through investments in leadership, personnel and new ideas," Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk wrote in a statement. "This progress includes the core of our business, the football team itself, which is regularly evaluated both by results (wins and losses) and team construction/roster building. I am proud of what we have accomplished in my eight seasons of ownership, but I believe there is more to be done and higher aspirations to be met. I want to thank Jon for his dedicated work to set this organization on an upward trajectory and I wish him and his family the best."
The 33rd Team analyst Matt Cassel, who played on the Titans for two seasons when Robinson was the general manager, didn't see the news of Robinson's firing coming.
"It blows my mind," Cassel said. "The success the organization has had under his leadership has changed the tide for the Tennessee Titans and where they are at right now. I know they made the trade in the offseason for A.J. Brown, but that is no reason to get rid of you GM."
This was Robinson's seventh season as the Titans' general manager. During his tenure, Tennessee made the playoffs four times, was 66-43 overall and never had a losing season. This move comes as the Titans are 7-5 and have a three-game lead on the Colts for first place in the AFC South.
The 33rd Team analyst Marty Mornhinweg was surprised to hear of Robinson's firing because of Tennessee's success under Robinson.
"This is shocking," Mornhinweg said. "They have done everything they could do except get to and win a Super Bowl... I suspect it might be a personality conflict, something going on behind the scenes."
Despite the Titans' success, not every move Robinson made worked out. Most recently, the Titans traded A.J. Brown to the Philadelphia Eagles for a 2022 first-round pick. Brown has 950 yards and nine touchdowns this season, including 119 yards and two touchdowns against the Titans in Week 13. No Titans receiver has more than 400 yards this season.
In 2021, Robinson traded a second and sixth-round pick to the Atlanta Falcons for often injured receiver Julio Jones. He played in just 10 games for the Titans and recorded 434 yards receiving.
Robinson selected Georgia offensive tackle Isaiah Wilson in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft, but he played just one game before the team traded him to the Miami Dolphins, and he fell into legal trouble.
The Titans signed Robinson to an extension in February that tied him to the team through 2027, so they'll still have to pay him for the next four years, NFL Media reported.
