Former Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel, now a consultant for the Cleveland Browns, said Tuesday that “nothing surprised me” about his exit from the Titans organization following last season.

Vrabel was fired on Jan. 9 following six seasons as Titans coach, including three playoff appearances. Tennessee had a losing record in Vrabel’s final two seasons, including a 6-11 mark in 2023.

“This is my 25th NFL training camp, so I would say that nothing surprises me in the NFL,” Vrabel said during a media availability in Cleveland about his exit from the Titans. “That’s part of the job. I think it’s disappointing. I think you’re disappointed that you couldn’t do the job the way that they wanted it or they envisioned it.”

Vrabel was reportedly interviewed by at least three NFL teams with head coaching openings, including the Chargers, Falcons and Panthers. But those teams hired someone else, leaving Vrabel to wait for January 2025 for the next round of NFL head coaching openings.

“There’s 32 flavors in this league, and everybody does it a little differently,” Vrabel said. “So, it’s been fun to be a part of (the Browns) and try to help where I can and most especially learn.”

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Vrabel is assisting with coaching tight ends during training camp but won’t have a gameday role during the regular season. Vrabel, from Akron, was hired by Cleveland as a consultant working with the coaching and personnel staffs, returning to his home state.

Vrabel and Browns backup quarterback Jameis Winston have undertaken a routine during training camp, a sprint race between the two after a set of reps.

2018: 9-7 record, finished 3rd in AFC South

2019: 9-7 record, finished 2nd in AFC South and earned wild card berth; won at Patriots in AFC Wild Card round, won at Ravens in AFC Divisional round, lost at Chiefs in AFC Championship Game

2020: 11-5 record, won AFC South; lost to Ravens in AFC Wild Card round

2021: 12-5 record, won AFC South and No. 1 seed in AFC; lost to Bengals in AFC Divisional round

2022: 7-10 record, finished 2nd in AFC South

2023: 6-11 record, finished 4th in AFC South

The Tennessee Titans put on pads for the first time in training camp on Tuesday and it resulted in a fight or two between the offense and defense, mainly between star defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons and rookie offensive tackle JC Latham.

Coach Brian Callahan addressed the fighting after practice and what he wants to do about it moving forward.

“It was the first day of pads, guys are cranked up,” Callahan said via AtoZ Sports. “They understand what it is. We reined it back in and we had no problems after that. I don’t anticipate it being an issue. Fighting is not something we want to accept, it’s not part of the rules of the game. I’ve explained that before and I’ll explain it again. It’s training camp, the first day of pads, [Jeffery Simmons] is trying to set a tone. Those things don’t bother me so much as long as we know we’ve got to play within the rules and we’ve got to protect our teammates, and I think we’ve got it figured out after that.

“It is what it is, it’s football. I don’t mind guys setting the tone with the intensity ramped-up and we’ve just got to understand that we can play to the edge and we can still play within the rules. And fighting is a penalty, it’s usually an ejection, it hurts our team, we can’t have that.”

Callahan believes that the Titans will be able to move past the fighting from Tuesday’s practices. However, this is undoubtedly a setback for Tennessee, who appeared to have a strong start to training camp over the past week. The intensity has leveled up, but the two units have to come together and remind themselves that they are all Titans at the end of the day.

Perhaps some disciplinary action will take place, but for now, it seems like the Titans will try to move past this issue swiftly.

The Titans will have the chance to be more physical against another team in next Saturday’s preseason opener at home against the defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT.

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Darrion Smith, a 2025 defensive lineman, commits to Tennessee Volunteers.

The Tennessee Volunteers have been scorching hot on the recruiting trail and they aren’t stopping. They added another member to the 2025 recruiting class Darrion Smith announced his commitment to the Tennessee Volunteers. He chose the Volunteers over Ohio State and Maryland.

Smith is rated as a three-star prospect, the 650th-best player in the nation, the 69th-best defensive lineman and the 18th-best player in the state of Maryland. He took multiple visits to Tennessee this offseason before he officially announced his commitment.

The Volunteers are now up to 21 total commits as they also continue to climb up the recruiting ranks this summer. The program needed a massive recruiting class this cycle and Josh Heupel and his staff are certainly delivering that. Smith now becomes the third defensive lineman to join the class as the Volunteers are nearing the end to this recruiting cycle before the 2024 college football season even begins. And that’s with more big names still left on the board like offensive lineman David Sanders.

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