There is not enough work for a team president with the Tennessee Titans.
Jeff Diamond once served as a nice go-between when former coach Jeff Fisher and former general manager Floyd Reese sparred and the team settled into a new place in a new city. But in time, owner Bud Adams lost interest in Diamond and the job he was doing.
Now Mike Reinfeldt has suffered the same fate. (Technically, he was senior executive vice president and chief operating officer. In practice, he functioned as team president.)
Per Jim Wyatt of The Tennessean, Reinfeldt is out while coach Mike Munchak and general manager Ruston Webster remain in.
It’s a bit of an awkward deal for Webster, I am sure, as Reinfeldt brought him in and eventually got them both promoted.
But when the Titans have a coach, a GM and a top administrator of non-football operations in Don MacLachlan, what’s a president really to do? A lot of people inside team headquarters thought there was not enough.
Reinfeldt’s frequent bike rides became like Diamond’s frequent golf outings to many within the organization -- a symbol of days that weren’t full enough and a cushy job.
Adams was harsh in what he told Wyatt about Reinfeldt, who was the team’s GM from 2007-11 and whose first-round picks included safety Michael Griffin, Chris Johnson, Kenny Britt, Derrick Morgan and Jake Locker.
“He has two more years to go on his contract, but I think we’d be better off without him,” Adams said. “I don’t think he was getting the job done. Mike Reinfeldt is out.”
What the job was wasn’t especially clear, but Reinfeldt got the treatment guys who fall out of favor with Adams typically get.
Munchak has two years left on his deal, and it’s unclear how much his staff will be revamped. Adams said such changes will be up to Munchak, who wasn’t picking from a great field when he first got the job because Jeff Fisher’s departure came late and many jobs around the league had been filled.
“I think he is the right guy to get the job done,” Adams told Wyatt. “He just needs the right people around him.”
Munchak fired Chris Palmer as offensive coordinator late in the season, replacing him with quarterbacks coach Dowell Loggains.
Tom Moore joined the team as an assistant when that move was made. Munchak wanted him as coordinator when he was elevated to replace Jeff Fisher in 2011 and he could try to persuade Moore to take the job now and craft an offense for Locker. With all the coaching turnover around the league, he will have good options if he chooses to move Loggains back to his old spot.
And defensive coordinator Jerry Gray has to be in trouble. The franchise just set a new record for points allowed, regularly getting shredded by the best opponents it faced.
Meanwhile Webster will gain some power. He deserves a chance to stock the roster.
Last year was his first draft running things for Tennessee, and his first four picks were all quality contributors: receiver Kendall Wright, linebacker Zach Brown, defensive tackle Mike Martin and cornerback Coty Sensabaugh.