Following Matt LaFleur’s departure to Green Bay, the Tennessee Titans have promoted tight ends coach Arthur Smith to the team’s offensive coordinator.
All reports coming from those close to the team is that Smith has been one of the hardest workers on the last few coaching staffs, as evidenced by him remaining on staff through four head coaches.
Head coach Mike Vrabel was “impressed throughout the season in gameplan meetings with his ideas, in-game with his understanding of situations and the ability to get the most out of his position group,” per Jim Wyatt of titansonline.com.
Smith has had a lot of success with the tight ends since his hiring in 2015, which is on display in the form of perennial Pro-Bowler Delanie Walker. Walker has been a great tight end for years, but Smith was really able to showcase his talents at player development when Walker had a season-ending injury the first week of the 2018-19 season.
Second-year player Jonnu Smith started off having a rough season, which was epitomized with his big drop on the opening drive against the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. With the help of his new OC, Jonnu Smith was able to turn his season around and ended up being a key piece to the offense until he went down in Week 14.
This is also a good move for the sake of consistency. With Marcus Mariota heading into his fifth season in the league with his fifth play-caller, consistency was arguably the most important factor heading into this decision.
Smith knew LaFleur’s offense well and has a good idea of what Mariota likes to run, and will undoubtedly find the best way to help him and this offense succeed.
All in all, this was probably the smartest move for the Titans to be able to evaluate what they have with Mariota and the rest of the offense. Titans fans should be excited to see what Smith can do with this offense. With the Titans ranking near the bottom of the league in most of the offensive categories, there is nowhere to go but up for Tennessee.
