Ran Carthon is certainly a trailblazer and a role model as the first Black general manager in Tennessee Titans history.
He is one of a record nine Blacks in that position throughout the NFL.
But as the holder of arguably the most high profile upper management sports job in Nashville, he also has an enormous task ahead and he will ultimately be judged by one yardstick, wins and losses.
Right now Carthon heads a team that has gone steadily downhill since losing the opening game of last years playoffs at home to the Cincinnati Bengals.
They were horrible in the latter part of the 2022-23 season, dropping seven in a row. They still were in the playoff hunt till the final week of the season due to being in a terrible division, but they wound up having to start a career backup QB the last two games and their offense finished at or near the bottom of the league in every major offfesive category.
Carthon has already begun the tough job of retooling this team. Among veterans he has cut are offensive tackle Taylor Lewan, center Ben Jones, wide receiver Robert Woods, and linebacker Bud Dupree.
But those are just the beginning steps and Carthon has some huge decisions to make in the days ahead.
First and foremost, will he keep the incumbent QB Ryan Tannehill, who is in the last year of his contract, or trade him and try to move up in the draft?
Rumors are circulating that running back Derrick Henry is being shopped. The Titans deny that Henry is on the trading block.
Star defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons needs a new contract deal, and no one wants to see a repeat of last year’s fiasco with A.J. Brown.
Then who are the Titans considering in the upcoming draft? They need help at wide receiver, in the secondary and on the offensive line among major priorities.
So it will be quite a busy time for Carthon and the Titans as the new NFL business year officially gets underway this week. His choices and decisions will shape the franchise in the coming months, and be a big factor in determining whether the Titans return to contender ststus or remain among the pretenders in the NFL
