Titans Beat Cardinals in Tight Race For Gus Bradley

Robert Saleh's first week as the Tennessee Titans head coach was filled with a flurry of additional hires, attention-grabbing quotes and a bevy of reactions from fans excited to have a guy in the driver's seat. Although it'll be a long time before a Saleh-led team touches the field, it'd be hard to avoid excitement at the team's current, big-news juncture.

Most recently in the way of headlines, Saleh and the Titans landed Gus Bradley to take over as the team's defensive coordinator, following what turned out to be the longest search in the primary coaching cycle.

Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer broke down Bradley's move to Tennessee, outlining what was a surprising trajectory behind the scenes that led to the Titans netting yet another big catch for their growing force on the sidelines.

For the Sake of Titans Football

"Mike LaFleur and his old buddy Robert Saleh (the two were together with the Jets, and while LaFleur was let go, that wasn’t really Saleh’s doing) were battling over Gus Bradley for about 24 hours," Breer explained, "and Bradley chose to go to Tennessee with Saleh, despite a richer financial offer and the opportunity to call plays in Arizona."

Saleh, in less than two weeks in his new role in Tennessee, has the Titans in a position to be chosen based on the merits of their circumstance alone. It's Titans football for the sake of that and that alone; money, apparently, wasn't enough to sway Bradley elsewhere.

Tennessee Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi, left, and new head coach Robert Saleh | DENNY SIMMONS / THE TENNESSEAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Not only that, but play-calling duties didn't do the trick, either. Bradley took a dock regarding both pay and responsibility to coach in Nashville alongside Saleh and the rest of his staff.

Hiring a Mentor

Why? Well, according to Breer, "Bradley’s relationship with Saleh is why. Saleh views Bradley as one of his most important mentors, having learned under him in Seattle on Pete Carroll’s staff, before Bradley brought Saleh with him to Jacksonville after getting his shot there to be a head coach."

"That the two are reuniting is a nice stroke of luck for Saleh, since Bradley was likely to become Kyle Shanahan’s DC in San Francisco (replacing Saleh), had Raheem Morris not been available."

The way the dice rolled, Saleh was given a prime opportunity to recruit an important coach on his own path to join the place he now calls home. The Titans add another experienced defensive mind, round off their dichotomy of highly sought-after coordinators and an opponent loses out on said mind.

Everybody wins, at least in Tennessee.

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