Vrabel Doubles Down on Senior Assistants

It worked on defense. So, Mike Vrabel decided to give it a try on offense as well.

The Tennessee Titans head coach can’t say yet exactly what passing game coordinator Tim Kelly will do. All he knows is that he expects the move – Kelly was hired last month – to have a positive impact on offense similar to the one Jim Schwartz made last season with the defense when he was added to the staff as senior defensive assistant.

“We hadn’t had a role like that previous to last year,” Vrabel said Wednesday at the NFL scouting combine. “Jim Schwartz and I had multiple conversations, and I decided to sort of add that role on defense. That was something that I know helped us, not only during the week but on gameday, [to have] someone that has experience, that wasn’t looking for any sort of credit, that didn’t have an agenda.

“When that person – the right person – became available in Tim Kelly, we were able to make it work.”

Kelly spent the last three seasons as the Houston Texans’ offensive coordinator. He started as an offensive quality control coach with that team in 2014 and progressed to assistant offensive line coach (2016) and tight ends coach (2017-18) before he became a play-caller.

The 35-year-old became available when Houston elected to replace head coach David Culley after one season.

During his first two seasons in charge of the Texans’ offense, with Deshaun Watson at quarterback, his unit finished as high as 13th in the NFL in total offense and 14th in points scored. Last season, with Tyrod Taylor and rookie Davis Mills under center, Houston finished 30th in scoring and last in yards.

Kelly is not as experienced as Schwartz, who had been a defensive coordinator with three teams for a total of 14 years along with a five-year run as head coach of the Detroit Lions.

Then again, the offense is not in need of as much help. Even with injury issues to running back Derrick Henry, wide receivers Julio Jones, A.J. Brown and others, Tennessee still finished 15th in points scored and 17th in yards.

A year ago, Schwartz lent his experience to a defense that ranked 28th in points allowed and 24th in yards allowed in 2020. How much of a difference he made specifically is difficult to say, but that unit was much improved in 2021.

Based on his title, Kelly will focus on the passing game. Whether he works more with quarterback Ryan Tannehill or the wide receivers, whether he revamps some of the route combinations or focuses on game-planning based on opponents’ pass defenses remains a work in progress.

“We’re still trying to figure out what that is right now,” Vrabel said. “There’s conversations between me, and [offensive coordinator] Todd [Downing] and Tim and [offensive line coach] Keith [Carter] as we watch through our offseason … and [consider] what we may want to add.

“Then we’ll see where things progress during the season and what area of focus he may concentrate on.”