Words could not have described the pressure Tennessee Titans general manager Jon Robinson placed on himself heading into the 2022 offseason better than a 31-second pause during the NFL Scouting Combine.
Robinson, who typically communicates in a no-nonsense, machine-like fashion, displayed a rare moment of vulnerability when asked to reflect on what he could have done better following the Titans’ 19-16 playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals at Nissan Stadium in January.
“That’s what keeps me up at night, is … the trust that ownership has put in me, our fans,” Robinson said with a quivering lip before trailing off. “I mean, that stadium was rocking. And you can only imagine what it would have been like the next week. So [there’s] a pretty long list of stuff that I’ve got to be better at.”
Sure, the way the Titans’ 2021 season ended — in the playoffs, at home, as the No. 1 overall seed, with his defense earning a playoff-record nine sacks — is about as demoralizing as it gets. But the run Tennessee went on to get there can’t be overlooked. And that started in the front office.
It’s evident that controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk believes in what Robinson and head coach Mike Vrabel are building. She locked both up to multiyear contract extensions in early February, citing the Titans’ improvement since the duo took charge.
“Together they have developed a culture within our organization that has been essential to our success,” she said. “Their values align with mine and what I want the Titans to be. They demand excellence from themselves and others, work well together, are always striving to improve, and they care deeply for our players and staff.”
Through the combined efforts of Robinson, Vrabel, VP of player personnel Ryan Cowden and director of player personnel Monti Ossenfort, the Titans pieced together a competitive roster in 2021 that weathered a storm that included the midseason loss of All-Pro running back Derrick Henry and the use of an NFL-record 91 players. Cowden and Ossenfort even parlayed Tennessee’s 2021 success into their own interviews for general manager openings in early January.
But for all of 2021’s triumphs, the Titans still find themselves in the midst of what could potentially be a franchise-defining offseason.
Among the team’s top priorities, a new state-of-the-art, enclosed roof stadium is in the works for 2026. It has been reported that the Adams family is considering “liquidating almost everything they have” to raise an estimated $700 million in funding for the new stadium project.
Of course, that kind of investment isn’t made if the on-field product — the crux of Robinson’s job — isn’t putting rear ends in seats, something the Titans had no issue with last season. The team ranked eighth in the NFL in total attendance (617,102) and 12th in both average attendance (68,566) and percentage of tickets sold (99.2).
Obviously, the results on the field have a lot to do with that.
Since Robinson’s arrival in 2016, the Titans have had four playoff appearances, six straight winning seasons, an AFC Championship appearance and back-to-back AFC South titles. Only six teams have more wins than the Titans during that span, and only four active GMs have more wins than Robinson’s 59.
Then there’s the roster building itself. Robinson has more than a decade of experience as an NFL scout, including five years as the director of college scouting for the New England Patriots. This is where he shines. Much of Tennessee’s current nucleus — Derrick Henry, Kevin Byard, Harold Landry, Jeffery Simmons, Nate Davis, Amani Hooker, David Long, Kristian Fulton — are all Robinson draft picks. Of the Titans’ 22 offensive and defensive starters last season, Robinson drafted nine of them and signed two more as undrafted free agents.
The Union City, Tenn., native has also started stockpiling talent for the future. Rookie third-round picks Malik Willis and Chig Okonkwo, plus rookie fourth-round pick Hassan Haskins, look to be a strong trio of future building blocks.
Robinson also made the bold move to trade away a budding superstar in A.J. Brown, electing to not let the team be held hostage by the overinflated contracts of the wide-receiver market. He then used his acquired draft capital to pick a Brown clone in Treylon Burks.
Time will tell if that was the right call, but for now, Robinson is choosing to be more of a live-in-the-moment kind of GM.
“Keep winning and try to punch a ticket into the tournament and see where we go,” Robinson said recently. “I’m not really a ‘look down the road at where we need to end’ [kind of guy], because the only way you’re going to get there is working hard tomorrow and trying to have a better day tomorrow than you had today.”
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