Meet The New Boss: Interim GM Ryan Cowden

A long-time scout with the Carolina Panthers, he has been the Tennessee Titans' vice president of player personnel since 2018.

George Walker IV / USA Today Sports

NASHVILLE – Ryan Cowden wants to be a general manager in the NFL.

Now, he has his opportunity. At least for a brief time.

After four-plus seasons as the Tennessee Titans’ vice president of player personnel, Cowden was promoted to interim general manager Tuesday after Jon Robinson was fired. According to the team, Cowden will serve as the lead voice on personnel matter through the remainder of the 2022 NFL season but a “comprehensive search” for a full-time replacement will begin once the team has played its final game.

AS VP of Player Personnel (and director of player personnel for two seasons before that), Cowden played a primary role in identifying many of the in-season additions who were among the NFL-record 91 players that Titans used during the 2021 NFL season. Tennessee finished 12-5 and earned the AFC’s No. 1 seed for the playoffs.

That caught the attention of other teams. Cowden interviewed with the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants early this year as those teams searched for a general manager. According to reports, he was one of several candidates the Steelers interviewed more than once. In 2021, he interviewed for the same role with Washington.

No one has seen fit to turn over a personnel department to him, until now.

“I think it was something that came up a couple of times,” Cowden said at the start of training camp regarding last season’s roster turnover. “There's no magic elixir, like there's not some magic formula. We try to stick to the principles that we we've talked about through our pro department, our college department, and however many times it's been said.

“As much as we can, it's so much about the right fit versus maybe the most talented fit. … That's a real thing about this program and has been since we've been here, so that did come up and I think that (there were) some questions. It was just trying to believe in your processes a little.”

Cowden, 43, was one of Robinson’s first significant hires when he joined the Titans in 2016. Prior to that, he spent 16 years in the personnel department with the Carolina Panthers and rose from a scouting assistant to assistant director of college scouting. In 2018, he interviewed with the Panthers in their most recent search for a general manager.

“Player acquisition is such a broad scope, right?” he said. “Whether that comes from the college or the pros, the street, from other teams, from waivers, trades. And I think what we went through last year was a testament not only to the process that we put in place from the personnel side, but it's a collaboration because we may identify a player that fits characteristics or traits that we believe fit our program.

“It's a collaborative effort from the coaches to get that player ready that week, from the trainers to add a new person to find out what that's about, the weight staff, equipment, it’s such a big process to get all those guys in.”

A native of Lebanon, Va. where he was an All-Region quarterback, Cowden transitioned to an undersized safety (5-foot-8, 175 pounds) during his career at Wofford College. As a senior in 1999, he finished third on the team with 59 tackles and served as holder on placekicks, which allowed him to throw a 29-yard touchdown pass on a fake field goal.

He was hired by the Panthers shortly after he earned a finance degree from Wofford, and days after he accepted a job at a fireworks store. He never started the latter position.

How long Cowden will remain in his current post remains to be seen. The team has said a preliminary search for Robinson’s permanent replacement will begin immediately.

Presumably, that means Cowden is a candidate, albeit one who won’t present a significant shift in philosophy.

“We all want the perfect prototype at every position, right?” he said on his process of player evaluation. “Give me the height, the length, the speed and everything. But it's not how it goes. We don't get everything.

“… But then once they're here, it's so much about the rest of the organization, the other parts, and the player himself taking that opportunity and running with it.”

Cowden finally has his opportunity. People will be watching.