NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Titans have conducted 10 virtual first-round interviews for their open GM position.
The expectation now is that Chad Brinker trim the list and have some candidates to Nashville for more extensive meetings before offering someone the job.
We’ve outlined the limitations of the job and Chad Brinker’s rationale for why it’s a good one.
And even though Brinker has final say over all football matters, the NFL has somehow deemed the GM post to be higher-ranking, meaning teams have had to allow their people to interview for it.
Sources: The NFL has reviewed the description of Titans GM position and the two sides have agreed that the vacant position will be the primary football executive post. Non-GMs cannot be blocked by their current teams from accepting interview requests.
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) January 10, 2025
That the new person will hold the “primary football executive post” while Brinker will hold “final authority on all football-related manners” is bound to create complexity and confusion.
Given what they know about Brinker’s desire for the hire to be all-ball I asked four NFL personnel people I trust to rank their top three off the Titans list:
- Reggie McKenzie, Dolphins senior personnel executive
- Thomas Dimitroff, former Falcons general manager
- John Spytek, Buccaneers assistant general manager
- Ed Dodds, Colts assistant general manager
- Matt Berry, Seahawks senior director of player personnel\
- Terrance Gray, Bills director of player personnel
- Cat Hickman, Browns assistant general manager and vice president of football operations
- Mike Borgonzi, Chiefs assistant general manager
- Ian Cunningham, Bears assistant general manager
- Jon-Eric Sullivan, Packers vice president of player personnel
One chose to name only one: Sullivan, who worked with Chad Brinker with the Packers and who he feels will be good at the job. With three points for a No. 1 vote, two points for s No 2 and one point for a No. 3, here’s where it landed with a total of 21 points available.
|
Candidate |
First |
Second |
Third |
Points |
|
Thomas Dimitroff |
2 |
|
|
6 |
|
Jon-Eric Sullivan |
1 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
|
Ian Cunningham |
|
2 |
|
4 |
|
Mike Borgonzi |
1 |
|
|
3 |
|
John Spytek |
|
|
1 |
1 |
|
Terrance Gray |
|
|
1 |
1 |
I wrote about Sullivan immediately upon the news that Ran Carthon was out and before any word of a formal Titans’ list.
Thomas Dimitroff also got six points, with two first-place votes. He’s viewed as a been, there, done-that executive who was general manager of the Falcons from 2008 to 2020 after a term as a scout and director of college scouting with the Patriots.
He’s been out of the NFL for four seasons and is currently CEO if the football analytics company Sumer Sports.
The next strongest showing was from Ian Cunningham, assistant GM of the Chicago Bears. He was in the mix for the job in 2023 when Carthon was hired. (Glen Cook of the Browns, Quentin Harris of Arizona, Malik Boyd of Buffalo and in-house candidates Ryan Cowden and Monti Ossenfort were in the mix. Ossenfort got the Arizona job. Adam Peters, now having success with the Commanders, turned the Titans down.)
Borgonzi comes from the most successful team in the NFL, and bringing something from the Chiefs into the Titans could certainly be healthy.
This is just one small sampling of opinions from some people around the league. But I thought it worth getting and sharing while we wait on the next step from Brinker.