How can the Tennessee Titans get better? Mike Vrabel and Ran Carthon outline the first steps

INDIANAPOLIS − To the surprise of no one, Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel and general manager Ran Carthon want to win football games.

Carthon and Vrabel spoke to media Tuesday in advance of this week's NFL Scouting Combine, outlining their plans for what figures to be a busy offseason. The Titans own the No. 11 pick in the NFL Draft, cleared more than $30 million in cap space by releasing four veterans last week and have holes everywhere from offensive line and receiver to defensive end and cornerback.

Both coach and GM spouted the oft-repeated football line Tuesday about wanting to get better at every position and being open to adding whichever players are going to help the team win. It's the right attitude to have, but it's every team's attitude. In order to improve the team that lost seven straight games to end the 2022 season and miss the playoffs for the first time since 2018, Vrabel and Carthon need more than a desire to win.

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That's where the specifics come in.

Carthon likens roster management to building a puzzle. The picture on the front of the puzzle box is Vrabel's vision for what the roster should look like. Carthon's job is to identify all the pieces available and put the right ones in the right places to make that picture.

Identification comes first, and in order to do that, Carthon needs to know what Vrabel and his assistants want. So Carthon says he commissioned every Titans assistant to send him a 20-play reel outlining what traits they value most. This exercise gives Carthon the information he needs to look for the right kinds of players and lets the coaches reexamine what they want the team's identity to be.

"That’s been a really good project for our coaches just to say, ‘Hey, how do we want these players to look on the edge? How do we want them to look inside? How do we want these safeties to look? How do we want these offensive linemen to look?’" Vrabel said. "It’s been, I think, a great exercise not only in looking for play style and skill set, but making sure we’re good from a fundamentals and philosophy standpoint as we evaluate players."

The Titans hired Carthon from San Francisco, an organization renowned for its ability to identify and evaluate talent. The Titans are trying to capture that magic, but there are constraints. Even with the four cuts the Titans made last week, they still only have a little more than $12 million available in salary cap space. Combine the goals of improving on the offensive line, at receiver and in pass defense with the needs to retain or replace free agent starters like linebacker David Long and guard Nate Davis and the intention of extending the contract of All-Pro defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons and it's tough to make all the money add up even with the best talent evaluators.

Carthon said he hasn't had discussions with representatives for players like quarterback Ryan Tannehill and outside linebacker Bud Dupree about whether their contracts need to be restructured to find spending money. And he said he doesn't plan to make his negotiations with players like Davis or Long public, preferring instead of keep contract talks "inside the family."

Free agency begins on March 15. The draft is less than two months away. Many of the draft's top prospects will meet with the Titans this week.

The Titans' brain trust is committed to making the roster more competitive in 2023. With Carthon in his first year as a general manager, it's hard to predict exactly what that's going to look like. But Carthon wants to keep all his options on the table, not just with the types of players he's willing to draft but also by making trades in and around the draft.

"We're always open for business," Carthon said. "All the guys, you've got my number. Call me. No, it's always about being open to trying to continue to add value. We'll listen and field every call and see what comes from it."

Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on Twitter @nicksuss.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Titans: Ran Carthon, Mike Vrabel on fixes before NFL combine