NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Many people both inside and outside the Titans organization did not view Ran Carthon as ready when he arrived in Nashville as the general manager two years ago.

Two years later on Tuesday, Amy Adams Strunk basically decided she picked wrong as she fired him, moving president of football operations Chad Brinker into position to hire a GM and, according to team president Burke Nihill, giving him “the final authority on all football matters.”

To soften the blow, Nihill talked about how the job is different now than it was then. But picking players to make the team better stays the same and Carthon didn't do well enough at that, plain and simple.

I admit I did not get along with Carthon. I tried not to let that paint my coverage of him. He hid from the media, so outside of his decisions, there wasn't much to cover.

Ran Carthon
Ran Carthon/ Angie Flatt

Carthon is a relationship-based guy. He sold that like crazy. Strunk bought it until she didn’t.

It served him well at times, like when he found a key path to Jeffery Simmons through his uncle, Jason Hatcher, and built a good rapport with a young and inexperienced agent, Paul DeRousselle, while negotiating a long-term extension.

But with others, it rang hollow and wasn’t enough to fill in for missing ingredients.

Back-slapping and laughing it up with people who like you while fencing yourself off from anyone who doesn’t buy into that as a magic formula for making things happen is not a route to success.

His critics did not view him as a grinder.

I’ve been told all the important parties were on board with the Titans making a move and drafting Will Levis with the 33rd pick of the 2023 draft. But while Mike Vrabel and Carthon were at Levis’ Pro Day in Lexington, Kent., Carthon left early. Some personnel people and scouts say early departures are not uncommon, but that left a mark on many inside the Titans organization.

So too did Carthon’s post-game routine after road games. Personnel people and scouts typically eat and then dive into film of the game the team just played to get ahead on the Monday review. But Carthon often did what I do on my plane rides home after games. He napped.

I don’t want to over-read into Brinker’s statement about what he’s looking for in the next GM, but he said the new person will be “all ball, all day.” That’s football-centric, not relationship-centric.

We can’t yet fully grade Carthon’s work as a personnel executive.

His first go-round was somewhat muddled as he and Vrabel both had a hand in player acquisition. But drafting a guard 11th requires him to be All-Pro caliber, and Peter Skoronski is not on that path. Levis is not the long-term quarterback and cost the team a third-round pick in a trade-up. Tyjae Spears has skills but a third-rounder needs to start, not be a niche player.

This year, with roster final power, Carthon chose JC Latham seventh. He is promising but doesn’t come out of his rookie season as an unquestioned left tackle. Thirty-eighth pick T’Vondre Sweat is a very good player against the run but was not as disruptive against the pass as you’d like. They had no third-rounder because of the trade for Levis. Fifth-round corner Jarvis Brownlee was a great find.

Out of all those picks and later-round guys, the Titans found no clear stars.

Free agency brought Daniel Brunskill, Arden Key, Nick Folk and Azeez Al-Shaair (who left after one year) in 2023 and a big, expensive class in 2024 that included Tony Pollard and Calvin Ridley, who were big performers on offense. But others like L'Jarius Sneed, who cost this year's third round pick, were lost to injury or underperformed.

The team went 3-14 and earned the No. 1 pick after Carthon made big pronouncements.

In a radio interview before the season, he said he had just reviewed the need sheet the Titans had on offense.

“We literally checked every single box from what we felt like we needed in starters to the furthest backup,” Carthon said. “And we were able to hit every single one of those. And that’s what we really set out to do.” 

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