Chad Brinker's exit sets GM Mike Borgonzi up to be tested in ways he never has before in Tennessee Titans' new era

Here’s what I will say today, though: Mike Borgonzi no longer has a shield for his reputation to hide behind. To be clear, he hasn’t been cowering behind Brinker. Borgonzi hasn’t had much of a say in this at all. This part of his optics has been out of his control. He’s just been a beneficiary of Brinker’s existence.

Chad Brinker carried the stink and skepticism that the years before Borgonzi’s arrival had bred in this fanbase. Borgonzi was hired by Brinker, and has thus far remained pure as the driven snow in the eyes of the public. He’s earned a good chunk of the praise he’s received, of course. He has (so far, seemingly) drafted well. He’s been process-oriented to a fault. He’s been well-spoken at the podium, and he’s added quality veterans with generally responsible roster and cap management. Early in his GM tenure, so far so good!

But there’s no doubt that Brinker has been the one handling the dirtiest jobs with the public. He’s been the one set up to answer for every organizational decision. He’s been the one ceremonially trotted out to handle the tough press conferences. We all joked about how useless Borgonzi was made to seem in some of these dual press conferences, where Brinker fielded tough questions and the GM sat in for… moral support? Fans have been happy to lay anything that has gone wrong in the past couple years at the feet of Chad and Amy. Fair or not, he has been a catch-all scapegoat.

Now, Brinker’s not around to be that anymore. Borgonzi is the only man in charge. He’s the one who has to answer for everything, good and bad. And as competent as the Borgonzi tenure has been so far from a roster standpoint, there is no question of if something is going to go wrong. In the NFL, it’s just a matter of when. I’ll tell you this much: everything seems rosy right now thanks to an exciting new coaching, free agent, and draft class coming it. This is a season for hope. But once the Fall rolls around, here’s a sobering fact: this franchise cannot go into another trade deadline already out of the playoff race. That won’t fly. Borgonzi and his staff know this.

As for Borgonzi’s actual job changing, I think he’s going to have do handle a lot more administrative duties and forward-facing “commander of the troops” responsibilities than before. When people say Borgo is the type to lock himself in the film room and grind tape all day, that’s not an exaggeration. He was hired to be a “super scout” type, and that he is. But now not only does he have to oversee all of the football administrative things that Brinker had a hand in (facilites, security, analytics, medical, etc.), but he also probably has to be a more active presence around the office.

Do I think he’s incapable of that? No, I have no reason to. But I don’t think it’s been how he’s operated to this point. So it’s going to be an adjustment, and some of it may involve Borgonzi having to step out of his comfort zone. How will he handle that? And how will his sterling reputation handle 100% of the slings and arrows for this franchise now that Brinker is gone? Only time will tell. I pray Amy Adams Strunk gives him plenty of it.