 Titan's general manager ran Carthon. What's the number one question you've been getting in a month plus on the job? Am I drinking water out of a fire hydrant? It's a good question. I've never attempted to You know and so now I've gotten a lot of great advice from guys and Andrew Berry's giving me the best piece of advice which is get rest and you have time to do it all You can't sign any free agents to the new league your starts. You can't draft anybody to the draft opens So you have time to get it all make sure I get my rest So any event that I have to make a tough decision is coming from a well-rested place and I'm just not Just reacting, you know, and so I've With my family not being there. I really don't have much to go home to so I stand the office as late as possible work As late as possible. I live very close by and so it's I literally go to my place to sleep I wake up. I'm back in the office and kind of you know, then in the middle of house shopping I work go meet my realtor see about three or four homes back in the office You know get a little bit of work in so it's been great, man But that's the number one question in my drinking water fire. I don't know who came up with that But it is descriptive. Yeah, and and literally from the moment I got offered the job Everybody was it's good. This is what it's gonna be like. So Hey, man to each his own here we go It has to be hard to balance that need for rest though with all of the different things because this time of year There's so many different options. There's so many different things that can happen in scenarios that I'm sure you're playing through your mind How do you balance all of the different things that are just rolling through your head and take inventory? Gotta be big on taking notes. I was Went to bed after interviews last night go straight back to the hotel talk to my family And I lay down shoot Chad Brinker a couple notes things that are on my mind Wake up at 3 3 30 in the morning things on my mind shoot off a couple texts You know and I let guys know like hey, you don't have to respond at 3 30 or 4 o'clock I'm just getting these thoughts off, you know And so you just got to take inventory and kind of prioritize something I learned from less need He categorizes things in big rocks and little rocks, right? What are the big rocks that are gonna hinder your progress going forward? Let's attack those things and where can the little rocks wait so that's really what I'm doing and again, man It's just you don't have to make hasty quick decisions. You know, it's just just got to take your time and make the right decision So I'm just again taking my time doing everything, right? I'm not doing things the way people expect or probably want me to do it But you know, it's this is a process like and I'm lucky to have Mike, you know Somebody that's here that's established that the culture is established So again, it's a lot of me assimilating to what's going on and me learning, you know The way in where I can add value and then being able to just go right next door to his office like hey, man Here's what I'm thinking like what do you you know, you've experienced this like hey How can you how can I do this better or like hey? How would you handle this, you know? And he's been beyond helpful from the job to school districts like who would have thought that Mike Vrable knows as much about Nashville area school districts as he does from the private schools the public schools like he's got it covered You know, Jen did a really good job of coaching him up on that, but he's just been a great resource You know between him and the doffo and Burke like I'm surrounded by good people who can help me in this transition Chad Brinker you mentioned highly thought of executive with the Green Bay Packers Why was he the right guy to come in as assistant GM to you with the Tennessee type? So if you know Chad Chad's one of the greatest humans, you know God has ever created just a genuinely good person that cares about people But if you look at Chad's background, he's played the game. He's done a pro scouting. He's done college scouting He's done salary cap. He's done analytics like he brings a broad Perspective, you know to our organization that is going to help us continue to evolve You know again, I come up with the with the title of football guy, right? Nobody knows what you know unless you tell them and so I've always Valued having people from broad perspectives that can do a lot of different things I don't believe in pigeonholing guys into just a college scout or just a pro scout like this is player acquisition Right, we got to find where's the bad? Where's the value right? You can't go and draft all these guys if the draft isn't strong in a certain area, right? And so that portion may come from free agency And so we're going to cross train our guys and guys will know both spaces, you know So that allow us to build, you know a versatile staff So if there is movement in it You can take a scouting assistant that is done both and plug them in or you might move a pro guy on the road Or vice versa want to have versatility and I think Chad is one of the more versatile guys in our business Much like ran Carthon was in San Francisco fair Fair, but he brings a lot more. I personally feel You know Chad won't talk about himself. So I'll talk about him in this moment He's a guy that Green Bay thought enough of to pay for him to get his executive MBA from Northwest Right, so not only does he goes and gets his executive MBA, but through the course of getting an MBA He meets with some guys that are in in the tech space and he creates his own AI model for injuries and cap studies And so he figures out a way to create these models that he owns the IP for and so wherever he goes He can bring that IP, you know with him and again It allows us to grow in a space that we're trying to evolve to which is in the analytics department, you know And so he brings that vast I have an understanding of analytics because coming from where I'm coming from But he's on another level than I am and so that's an area where he's going to be a strength, you know Organization obviously being in Indianapolis one of the primary goals is to evaluate all of the players that are you know participating in the Combine, but it's also an opportunity for you to really spend a lot of concentrated time with your staff How are you going through that process of not only working together and kind of getting in lockstep with everybody? But also just kind of evaluating the chemistry of this group. Yes, it's time spent right so it started for me in particular Get the job literally reach out to every single area scout. I knew the pro staff fairly well reach out to every single area guy You know just to have an opening conversation Then senior bowl comes we get to spend a week together in the senior bowl We go to dinner one night just hang out have fun Then last week they were all just in for four days for meetings So it's it's been a Part of the process of spending more time together getting to hear them in their space and Actually giving them the opportunity to speak and speak how they feel about the players as Openly as possible and again it allows me to evaluate You know not only our department, but our processes and so last night our area guys are you know Coordinators are in there running the meeting in terms of meeting with the players And again It's another good portion for me to see because these guys are the ones that've been scouting them the last five six years Right, so I can't come in and pretend to be an expert on these particular players from these particular areas Knowing that I hadn't been in there So it's good to let these guys lead take ownership of that process and again It allows me to not only evaluate them, but our processes as a whole listing. Do you talk about that? It sounds like that's going well. No, it's going everything's going well again I'm stepping into a space that was already established, right? and Again, it's a little bit of a cheat code because of what J Rob the systems that he brought from New England was how I came up Right in Atlanta and then we instituted those things in San Francisco. So the language is the same So it makes it easier for me to step in and understand exactly what they're saying because we speak, you know Some places speaking colors We speak in numbers in terms of our grading scale and I know even though the numbers are a little different I do know the Bucket that these guys belong to because of the similarity in the systems last week the Titans wave Taylor LeWon Robert Woods Zack Cunningham and kicker Randy Bullock What went into the process of deciding that these would be the first moves that you made and and the timing of it? Well, a lot of it too was one of the first of all the timing part, you know wanting to get through the Super Bowl There's a little bit of a competitive advantage that those teams would have had had we made these moves prior to Because those guys would have been available to those Super Bowl teams for that time So a little bit of a competitive competitive advantage there So we wanted to wait until after Super Bowl, but those moves were just you know Roster moves that needed to be made to kind of allow our program to go into the next direction You know, they were all tough moves all those guys have made contributions to you know To our organization and your grateful form You know honestly that was Outside of Taylor that was my first time talking to those three guys and it was you know, it was tough You know your first conversation you hear it in their voice like oh, hey, and then I'm like hey man I'm sorry that this is our first phone call, you know Particularly a guy Robert Woods will have a ton of respect for I was in LA when we first signed him there It was only I was in a building with him maybe two weeks after we signed him and then I left and then now to come into this situation And I even have Robert featured in my GM presentation Right for signing the right guys culture builders guys who come in it can help establish a culture So that one was really tough, you know because of the amount of respect I have for him But him being who he is he handled it like a true pro and we actually had a really good conversation and You know again these are moves that need to be made for us to take the step into you know a new New year as you look at the roster as it stands right now There's a lot of different options for the ways that the Tennessee Titans can move forward How do you I? Guess how do you narrow in on some of the specific areas that need to be addressed as we approach? Not only free agency, but the draft that's coming around the corner There's a lot of different things that can happen and it seems like a narrowing of a focus would be beneficial, right? So the way I look at everything is it's a puzzle, right? There's a puzzle There's a picture in the end of we know when you open the box and you put all the pieces out You know how the puzzle was supposed to look in the end and so right now We're putting we're finding all these pieces on how we're gonna make that picture come to light at the end, right? So in terms of narrowing in a focus will have that but we're still gathering all the pieces We're grouping all the pieces of how to put this puzzle together and so we're gonna again as player acquisition, right? So we hadn't gotten a free agency yet Draft is after that and so now we got to see where's the value that was a part of our meetings with with the pro guys Okay, give a positional overview. Where's this? Where's this class strong? Where's it like in the same thing in college? Where's it strong and where's it like? So we got to use those two things to balance and we're gonna find the best value in whether it's the draft Whether it's free agency to make the necessary moves to make that picture come to light at the end because you are a new general manager Other teams don't know what you're going to do. You have no track record in that way. He likes that I was going to the question is I think it's already been answered by the smile How much of an advantage is that that the Tennessee Titans are open for business and people don't really know What that business is right now? I mean the only way you'll find out is if you call the inquire, that's right, you know, so I Have friends a lot of friends in this business Who we've had intimate talks throughout the years and so, you know, you get a little hey I think this is who I think I think this is your guy Could be I don't know, you know, so to a lot of my friends knowledge I haven't seen any of these guys and so we'll keep it that way. I haven't seen anybody in the draft I haven't seen any free agents. So We'll see when the draft opens this obviously is not your first combine in your career But it is your first combine as the guy What has surprised you the most about being here in this new role has anything changed a little bit Well, we're staying at one hotel And Throughout my career I've stayed at another hotel. So that's been a little bit of an adjustment But again having such a vast network of friends and people You know, you try to build in the time to see everyone But understanding now in this position like you're in a different light and so I'm hosting a little bit more Hey, come to my room and hang out instead of being out out, you know in years past I could do that No one. Oh, that's the guy in San Francisco. I think, you know, and then they you get the peer down at your credential like oh, yeah Okay, and so now I just you know, I'm aware of that I'm aware of my surroundings at all times and so I'm just more so isolating myself and Hanging out my room and everyone who knows me knows where to find me and how to find me last question How different is ran Carathon in the interview room with the perspective players Then you were when you were in the different roles with Atlanta LA in San Francisco. I feel like I'm the same I'm more in this space of information gathering, right? I want to hear more about these guys And so there'll be a couple questions. I might interject and ask or you know ice breakers if I know The kids high school. I know the area he grew up or we have someone in common I might do that just to you know lighten the mood a little bit But more so I've always just kind of sat in the back and just to listen and hear where these guys are coming from Try to read the guy to try to see you know where they are how they're feeling and you know again these young men This is a this is a this is the dream, right? This is the the last portion of seeing that dream come true And so there's gonna be some nerves and you know There'll be some guys that stumble over words or you know Just might not be at their best because of the nerves And so I just rather sit back and like I said before allow the area guys the national guys to lead Allow the coordinators and coaches to lead and then I could sit back and listen and then make my decisions or my opinions Of the guy of the people not the player, but the people from there