Tennessee Titans general manager Jon Robinson has done a great job overall since taking over in Nashville, but where does he stack up against other general managers from around the NFL?
According to NBC Sports’ Patrick Daugherty, Robinson is the No. 9 general manager in the NFL. Here’s what Daugherty had to say about J-Rob:
Over the past three seasons, the Titans have won 32 games, earned a No. 1 seed and reached the AFC Championship Game. With Ryan Tannehill. That only happens with the right balance of elite coaching and astute roster building. It has been more the former for Jon Robinson, who has watched Mike Vrabel’s staff continually make the whole of its 53 players greater than the sum of its parts. Vrabel has schemed around talent deficiencies on defense while relying on a punishingly retro, contrarian approach on offense. It would not be possible without some major hits by Robinson — Derrick Henry, Jeffery Simmons, A.J. Brown — but it would be so much easier if Robinson starts nailing more of his big decisions. 2020 first-rounder Isaiah Wilson is no longer even on the roster, while 2021 first-rounder Caleb Farley lived up to his pre-draft durability concerns. The Julio Jones trade was a disaster. Robinson deserves credit for hiring the right leader and refusing to let his mistakes fester. Now he needs to finish the job by getting more of the broad strikes right as Vrabel handles the Sunday details.
Robinson has certainly had some misses over the years in free agency, trades and the NFL draft, but what general manager hasn’t? What’s important is that the good has outweighed the bad over six seasons.
Before Robinson took over in 2016, the Titans were coming off five losing seasons in seven years and hadn’t made a trip to the playoffs since 2008.
But things have turned around drastically under Robinson, with the Titans enjoying six straight winning seasons, including four trips to the playoffs (one of which ended in the AFC Championship Game) and two straight division titles the past two years.
Among his highlights are franchise-altering drafts in 2016 and 2019, the trade for Ryan Tannehill, and the rebuild of the defense that sent it from horrible in 2020 to near-elite in 2021.
We’d also be remiss not to mention how Robinson helped piece together an injury-riddled roster in 2021 that still won 12 games and the No. 1 seed in the AFC despite fielding an NFL record 91 players.
Pretty much the only thing Robinson hasn’t accomplished is a trip to the Super Bowl and a victory in the big game, but thanks to a contract extension earlier this offseason, Robinson will have more time to get Tennessee there.
