Downing, Three Other Coaches Fired

Two days after the end of the 2022 NFL season, coach Mike Vrabel shakes up his staff with the dismissal of assistants on both sides of the ball.

NASHVILLE – Only two days after finishing the season on a seven-game losing streak, Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel fired four assistant coaches on Monday.

Offensive coordinator Todd Downing, offensive line coach Keith Carter, secondary coach Anthony Midget and offensive skill assistant Erik Frazier are all out.

Downing had come under particularly heavy criticism this season after the Titans finished the season ranked 30th in overall offense (296.8 yards per game), 30th in passing offense (171.4 yards per game) and 28th in points (17.5 per game).

The Titans were held to 20 points or fewer in 12 of their 17 games this season, including six of their last seven, and they scored a grand total of 94 points in the third and fourth quarters combined this year, an average of just 5.5 per game.

Downing has been the offensive coordinator for the past two seasons, after serving as tight ends coach for two years. He also generated negative headlines in December when he was arrested and charged with driving under the influence hours after a victory in Green Bay.

"Our behavior and our actions outside of here are critical whether that is mine, the coaches, or the players," Vrabel said earlier Monday. "That is something that is extremely important and critical in how we carry ourselves outside of here. We will have those conversations and I will have meetings with coaches, and we will go from there."

Under Midget, Titans cornerbacks struggled this season, and the defense finished dead last in passing yards allowed with an average of 274.8 yards per contest. Tennessee gave up 29 touchdown passes in 2022, a figure that was topped only by Kansas City (33). A number of the recently drafted cornerbacks – Roger McCreary, Caleb Farley, Kristian Fulton and Elijah Molden – seemed to make only incremental progress, though injuries played a huge part in the development of Farley and Molden in particular.

Midget coached the defensive backs for three seasons.

Under Carter, an injury-riddled Titans offensive line surrendered 49 sacks this season, the fifth-highest total in the NFL, a topic that Vrabel addressed in his season-ending news conference on Monday.

“You have got to protect your quarterback in the National Football League,” Vrabel said. “When you don't, what happens? They get hurt and they turn the ball over. We need to find guys that can protect the quarterback, just because that is what happened.”

The Titans have used multiple high picks on the offensive line in recent years, but haven’t seen great reward at this point.

Tackle Isaiah Wilson, the team’s first-round pick in 2020, was a complete bust, playing just three offensive snaps in the NFL. But Carter could hardly be blamed for that, as Wilson appeared to have a self-destructive streak a mile wide.

Dillon Radunz, the Titans’ second-round pick last year, started just five games in two seasons before going on injured reserve with an ACL injury this year. Right tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere, a third-round pick last April, did start 16 games this year, but his rookie season featured its share of bumps.

Carter just finished his fifth season as the Titans’ offensive line coach.