5 HRS AGO - The Titans have promoted Arthur Smith to offensive coordinator. He has been with the Titans since 2015. Before that he was with Ole Miss and the Washington Redskins. He played college football at North Carolina and spent one year there as a graduate assistant. Paul Kuharsky was the first guy to throw Smith’s name out there as a possible replacement for Matt LaFleur, who is now the head coach of the Green Bay Packers. We don’t know anything about Smith as an offensive coordinator. What we do know, based on the fact that he got the job, is that Mike Vrabel and Jon Robinson have enough faith in him to hand him the keys to the offense. We also know that there will be some continuity with what they were doing last season. That is a good thing for Marcus Mariota and the whole offense. This is his 4th coordinator in 5 years, but at least it won’t be a new system. Collapse

12 HRS AGO - The Patriots and the Rams (disgusting) will play in the Super Bowl on February 3rd. I will be rooting hard for the Patriots because I cannot stand to see Stan Kroenke win a championship after actively tanking in St. Louis before taking the team to LA, breaking every so-called relocation criterion on the way, and running a smear campaign against the city of St. Louis. Any way, now that THAT is off my chest, what we saw this weekend was that defense does not matter that much. No team in the top 10 of defensive DVOA was in a championship game this weekend, and 4 of the top 5 offensive DVOA teams were in. The NFL is changing, and the Titans need to get with the times. They don’t have a generational QB like a Brady or Brees, so they need to surround Marcus with as many weapons as possible, like the Rams do with Goff, or the Chiefs do with Mahomes (although Mahomes is an MVP candidate and much closer to generational than Goff caliber). Daniel Jeremiah has the Titans selecting DK Metcalf Collapse

3 DAYS AGO - Will the Titans select another young receiver? It’s mock draft season once again. Mel Kiper released his first mock earlier this week, now NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah has released his first attempt of the year. For the Titans, it’s a new weapon for Marcus Mariota coming off the board with the 19th pick. Ole Miss receiver D.K. Metcalf is the pick for Tennessee. “Metcalf has a rare blend of size and speed. He’d be the perfect partner for Corey Davis,” Jeremiah explained. The 6-4, 230 pound receiver declared after his redshirt sophomore season. He appeared in just seven games for the Rebels in 2018 after seeing his season ended by a neck injury. Metcalf caught 67 passes in 21 games, totaling over 1,200 yards and 14 touchdowns during his college career. The lack of experience and neck injury is worrisome, but Metcalf’s explosive ability to go get the football with his enormous frame and win down the field is enticing. Can Jon Robinson afford to wait on another receiver to develop Collapse

4 DAYS AGO - Mel Kiper has released his first mock (In$ider) of the 2019 NFL Draft season. He has the Titans taking a tight end in the first round. We will get to his comments in a minute, and while they aren’t completely crazy, I will say like I did all mock draft season last year- The Titans aren’t taking a tight end in the first round. Could they take one in this draft? Sure, but it isn’t going to be at 19. Here is what Kiper had to say about the pick: This might not look like a need on paper, but Delanie Walker is 34 and missed most of the season after a severe ankle injury. Hockenson can be a weapon. He is an all-around tight end, an excellent blocker and a good pass-catcher with a big 6-foot-5, 250-pound frame. The Titans will keep a close eye on playmakers for Marcus Mariota. Delanie is certainly getting older and the Titans do need playmakers, but they will address the playmaker issue in free agency and look to add some youth and athleticism on the defensive line or off the EDGE with this Collapse

5 DAYS AGO - Ian Rapoport is reporting that the Jaguars are expected to hire John DeFilippo as offensive coordinator. Everyone on Twitter is assuming that this means Nick Foles will be heading to Jacksonville at some point this offseason. That’s not a bad assumption. Flip is a bit of a weird hire for the Doug Marrone and the Jaguars considering Flip was fired in Minnesota because he didn’t call enough run plays, and Marrone is widely known as an “establish the run” guy. Things could change if they get a competent quarterback because they do have talent at the wide receiver position. The Jags offense was built around giving the ball to Leonard Fornette and playing defense. Fournette could be on the outs, however, in Jacksonville after some things that went on during the final game of the 2018 season. I am not thrilled about this hire. I was really hoping the Jaguars would settle on Mike McCoy. Collapse

6 DAYS AGO - Everything you need to know about the unofficial first scouting event of the season... The 2019 East-West Shrine Game kicks off on Saturday afternoon from St. Petersburg, Florida. Created in 1925, the East-West Shrine Game was the nation’s first college all-star football game, committed to supporting Shriners Hospitals for Children. Today, it is gives lesser-known NFL prospects another chance to showcase their skills before the testing and interviewing portion of scouting season begins. Some interesting facts about the Shrine Game courtesy of The Draft Network’s Joe Marino: Don’t sleep on the significance of the Shrine Game and the NFL talent that is on display. 70 participants from the 2018 Game made final NFL rosters last season. More than 300 East-West Shrine Game alumni are on NFL rosters on a yearly basis. The Shrine Game has produced 77 Pro Football Hall of Famers. TV Info When: Saturday, January 19, 2019 Game start: 3pm EST Broadcast: NFL Network Venue: Tropicana Field, St. Collapse

7 DAYS AGO - Our old friend Dan Kadar is still pumping out weekly 2019 NFL mock drafts for the SB Nation mothership. His latest mock has the Titans taking Brian Burns, EDGE, Florida State. Here were Dan’s comments on the pick: The Titans lost Brian Orakpo to retirement, and need a good edge player opposite budding star Harold Landry. Burns is a player who profiles similarly to Orakpo. He’s a lengthy edge player with athleticism. Burns doesn’t have the strength Orakpo does, but he can get there. Burns had a very nice year in Tallahassee with 10 sacks on the season. That was a big jump form his 4.5 in 2017. This pick makes a lot of sense for what the Titans need in 2019. The thought of them lining Harold Landry up on one side with Burns on the other is pretty exciting. I am on board with this pick assuming the Titans are able to solve some offensive problems in free agency. Collapse

7 DAYS AGO - For those who’ve wanted competitive postseason football, well, it hasn’t been a good showing through two rounds. Just ask the Chargers how they felt after today. Anyway, while there hasn’t been too much competition, and while the Titans missed out on the playoffs this year, let’s try to answer this column’s question: What’s been your favorite playoff game thus far? I’m going to go with Seahawks-Cowboys. It wasn’t a perfect game by any means, but did feature a lot of fun defensive play, with guys like DeMarcus Lawrence and Frank Clark standing out. Dak Prescott’s 3rd down conversion scramble was insane, and a combined 22 points were scored in the fourth quarter. So yeah, the bar hasn’t been set real high, unfortunately, and none of the season’s top ten defenses remain. That just goes to show that passing offenses, for the most part, win championships in today’s league, though a stop here and there is certainly important. But I digress. Let’s hear your voices, Titans fans. Describe Collapse

1/11/2019 - The Titans have to hire Art Smith, right? The guy is an absolute legend, and if they hired him as OC, he’d get more than just one photo in the editor. Turron Davenport completely overlooked the future HOF play-caller in this piece where he mentions some familiar names and some not so familiar names associated with the vacant OC job. The Titans had 4 draft picks in 2018 and got 3 studs. Two will be fixtures in the defense for a long time to come and the other will be at minimum the best special team player on this team for a long time. All three need to improve in 2019, but we saw a lot of good in 2018. Antonio Brown is not likely to be a Steeler when the 2019 season kicks off, and I can’t think of a better team for him to be on than the Titans. NFL.com really tries to make a case where Nick Foles should be the full time starter over Carson Wentz. That’s a bit much for me. Foles is an EXCELLENT backup, possibly the best, but I’m sticking with Wentz if I’m the Eagles. Let the Titans Collapse