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Mike Vrabel is finally getting to work with players as the Titans' new coach.

He spent much of the first day of Tennessee's offseason program with players making introductions and explaining his expectations for the 2018 season.

"There was an energy in the building Johnny Townsend Jersey Raiders ," Vrabel said. "I think that's all we can ask for."

Vrabel has been thinking about this first day since accepting the Titans' job in January . Next comes implementing his system and teaching it to the Titans. The first-time head coach will be relying upon his coordinators to help build, teach and apply their respective schemes with the Titans installing new offensive and defensive systems with Matt LaFleur on offense and Dean Pees on defense.

He takes over a franchise that has gone 9-7 each of the past two seasons and just won its first playoff game in 14 years. After that victory came an ugly loss in the divisional round at New England , and Tennessee fired coach Mike Mularkey two days later .

For the first two weeks, NFL clubs are not permitted to do work on the field and limited to conditioning, weightlifting and classroom work. Even when Vrabel gets the chance to get on the field with his club, he said he will be careful not to rush.

"That's a huge mistake we can make," Vrabel said. "We're not going to rush and try to shove a bunch of stuff down their throats. We do have two weeks before we have a voluntary mini-camp. It'll be my job to kind of have a feel for where we're at. I don't want to go out on the field and have a bunch of stuff and them not be able to execute. Whatever we feel like we know, then that's what we'll run in the mini-camp."

With the program being voluntary, Vrabel said he didn't take attendance and wasn't concerned with who wasn't on hand. The coach said a few texted him to make sure Vrabel knew they couldn't make it.

The Titans' new playbook is all ready to go, though Vrabel said it will change and evolve.

"I think what you find is players get professional initiative," Vrabel said. "When players prove that they can do their job, they say, 'Hey http://www.jetsauthorizedshops.com/authentic-sam-darnold-jersey , coach, have you ever thought about doing it this way?' It's going to be something that we're going to listen to. And when we start game-planning for teams, I'm sure there will be some things that we'll add to the playbook."

When asked how different the Titans offense and defense might look from the previous two years under former head coach Mike Mularkey, Vrabel did not elaborate.

"Every year is different," he said. "There's new players and new coaches, new schemes. There may be a team that has no coaching changes, but they're going to look differently, because they're trying to do things better. They're trying to win more games."
A rare losing season without a playoff appearance led to significant front office changes for the Green Bay Packers.

A new structure is in place at the top of the front-office flow chart, and new general manager Brian Gutekunst is signaling that the Packers might be a little more aggressive in free agency.

The ”draft-and-develop” philosophy will still be the foundation of the way that Green Bay builds the roster, Gutekunst said Monday at his introductory news conference at Lambeau Field.

”But I do think I will lead in my own personality and probably a little bit more aggressive in certain areas,” said Gutekunst, formerly Green Bay’s player personnel director.

”We’re not going to leave any stone unturned as far as every avenue of player acquisition.”

Predecessor Ted Thompson is now a senior advisor following a 13-year tenure highlighted by the Super Bowl-winning 2010 season.

The Packers went to four NFC title games and won six NFC North crowns under his watch.

Thompson also took heat from some vocal fans for being timid in free agency, especially at a time when two-time NFL MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers is still in his prime at age 34.

The defense did not improve over the past four seasons despite being stocked with high draft picks.

Thompson had the titles of executive vice president Isaiah Oliver Falcons Jersey , general manger & director of football operations – positions that will now be held by different executives under the structural change initiated by team president/CEO Mark Murphy.

”It’s very difficult for one person to handle all of those responsibilities, so really looking at it, I decided it would be in the best long-term interests of the organization to change the structure,” said Murphy, who oversaw the GM search.

Gutekunst, 44, will have complete control over roster decisions as general manager.

Coach Mike McCarthy, who is under contract through 2019 after receiving a one-year extension during the season, will now report directly to Murphy. He will have the authority to hire and fire the head coach.

Russ Ball, the team’s salary cap expert and chief contract negotiator, was promoted to executive vice president/director of football operations after serving as vice president of football administration/player finance. Ball, who interviewed for the GM job, will also report directly to Murphy.

Murphy said he decided to make the change during a broad re-evaluation sparked by the GM search. He hoped that lines of communication would improve in order to break down ”silos” that had built up over the years.

”I just felt like there were too many silos in football Tarik Cohen Jersey , whether that be coaching and personnel, the college and the pro side, and breaking down those silos” was necessary, Murphy said.

Murphy is the highest-ranking administrator on a team without a traditional owner – the Packers are the NFL’s only publicly-owned franchise. In times when there might be close calls, Murphy would cast a tiebreaking vote.

”But I hope it never gets to that,” Murphy said. ”That’ll be the goal, is that we can work together and through good communication we’ll all be on the same page.”

He has more football experience than the average team president, having played safety under Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs for the Washington Redskins.

Also a lawyer, Murphy had extensive experience in sports administration before becoming Packers president/CEO in 2007, including athletic director stints at Northwestern and Colgate.

Entering his 20th season with the Packers, Gutekunst is also a football lifer, but on the personnel side. He spent the past two seasons as player personnel director. He also oversaw college scouting for four years, and worked 11 seasons as a regional college scout in the talent-rich Southeast.

Gutekunst got his start in Green Bay as a scouting intern in the summer of 1997 Martinas Rankin Jersey Elite , spent most of 1998 as a scouting assistant for the Kansas City Chiefs before returning to the Packers for good when then-GM and Hall of Famer Ron Wolf hired him as a scout on Dec. 30, 1998.

Gutekunst had interviewed for other GM openings in recent years. In fact, he got the call from Murphy offering him the Packers’ job while on a trip over the weekend to Houston to interview for the Texans’ vacancy.

The interview with the Packers on Friday ended up being his last one.

”I let Mark know on Friday that this was my dream job, that I absolutely love this place,” Gutekunst said.

Interjected Murphy: ”You didn’t tell your agent that.”

It all worked out in the end.

”I’m really glad that it came to where we are now,” said Gutekunst, as his wife and children watched from the front row of the auditorium.

The Packers also interviewed director-football operations Eliot Wolf, who is the son of the former GM and friends with Gutekunst; and former Buffalo Bills GM Doug Whaley.

Gutekunst said he hoped that he could keep Wolf as his ”right-hand man”, but wouldn’t hold him back if other opportunities arose.

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