5 hours Ago By By TERESA M. WALKER AP Pro Football Writer
NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans are on their third general manager in nine years and second since January 2023. Their president of football operations has a simple answer for why this latest hire will work. “Mike Borgonzi,” Chad Brinker said Wednesday as the Titans introduced Borgonzi as the franchise's 15th GM all time.
Borgonzi has the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft and $50 million in salary cap space to rebuild a franchise that is 16-35 over the past three seasons. It's a big change from his 16 years with Kansas City where he eventually became the assistant general manager, helping the Chiefs post 12 consecutive winning records.
They are now chasing a fifth Super Bowl berth in six seasons and third straight Lombardi Trophy. Yes, calls inquiring about that No. 1 pick overall already are coming in.
“I think I got some feelers yeah," Borgonzi said with a chuckle. “Some congratulatory, but yeah, ‘Keep in touch.'” The Titans hired Borgonzi on Jan.
17 — 10 days after owner Amy Adams Strunk fired general manager Ran Carthon after just two years and a 9-25 record. Brinker oversaw the initial round, interviewing 10 candidates virtually before six met with Titans officials over the span of three days. A key connection for Brinker and Borgonzi is John Dorsey.
Brinker started his NFL career with Green Bay where Dorsey spent 21 seasons as an executive, and Borgonzi already was working with the Chiefs when Dorsey was hired as Kansas City's general manager in 2013. Chiefs coach Andy Reid also started his NFL career with the Packers. So they use the same system and approach in scouting players, down to grading, the same way.
"Now, he’s modernized some of it a little bit and I kind of like some of the tweaks that he’s made within it,” Brinker said. “When he kind of went through the interview process and presented, I was like, ‘Wow, there’s some pretty cool ideas that he’s kind of added to it.’ But we’re completely aligned when it comes to the philosophy in the system.
" Now Borgonzi's job is to help fill what Brinker called the “major holes” on the Tennessee roster that led to a 3-14 record in Brian Callahan's debut season as coach. Will Levis is the only quarterback under contract for 2025, making that the top need. Borgonzi also has to fix the right side of the offensive line, bolster depth on the defensive line and outside pass rush and add speed everywhere possible.
How Borgonzi and the Titans use that No. 1 pick will be key to how quickly this rebuild clicks. Trading down for more draft selections would help a team that currently has only eight in April's draft, which doesn't include a third-round selection in the trade that brought cornerback L'Jarius Sneed from Kansas City to Tennessee.
The Titans also swapped seventh-round slots with the Chiefs, which now looks to be much later than Tennessee would've selected. The prep work begins in earnest with Saturday's East-West Shrine Bowl followed by the Senior Bowl on Feb. 1.
Brinker and Callahan have used the phrase “draft and develop” talent that the Titans sign to new deals as the philosophy moving forward. Brinker said Wednesday he'd love to have 30 picks over the next three drafts with 12 in the top 100. All options are on the table.
Tennessee previously had the No. 1 pick for the 2016 draft and traded it two weeks before the draft to the Los Angeles Rams for a haul that netted a trio of All-Pros: right tackle Jack Conklin, now five-time Pro Bowl running back Derrick Henry and safety Kevin Byard. That draft helped the Titans string together six straight winning seasons, a run to the AFC championship game in Kansas City in the 2019 season and the AFC's No.
1 seed for the 2020 season. “You can’t pass up on a generational talent,” Brinker said. “We won’t do that.
But we also got to look at all the options available to us there as well, because we want to build this team for the long term.”.
