NASHVILLE, Tenn. — After the Tennessee Titans finished practice Friday, general manager Ran Carthon was at his desk reviewing data on his laptop while finishing his lunch.
There was a pile of leftover candy from a Halloween event. Carthon’s assistant general manager, Anthony Robinson, came in from an adjacent room.
The two executives, who are tasked with rebuilding the Titans along with coach Mike Vrabel, started with the Falcons in 2008 after they were hired by then-general manager Thomas Dimitroff.
“We literally walked through the doors at 4400 Falcons Parkway together on the first day,” Carthon told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an exclusive interview Friday.
The Falcons (4-3) are set to play the Titans (2-4) at 1 p.m. Sunday at Nissan Stadium.
Robinson was fresh off an internship with Baltimore, while Carthon had retired after his NFL playing career was over.
“It was my first experience in scouting,” Carthon said. “My first experience outside of the field.”
Carthon was hired as a pro scout and Robinson as a scouting assistant. Both were low-level jobs filled with long hours, workouts, filing reports and making the brutal drive from Flowery Branch to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to pick up players.
“We came in to Falcons at the same time,” Carthon said. “I think they had won (four) games a year before. We came in after the draft. So, that was Michael Turner in free agency. That was the draft of Matt Ryan, Harry Douglas, Sam Baker, Curtis Lofton. All of those guys. Thomas DeCoud, dudes that became culture changers, you know what I mean? Building blocks for that organization. That was when the stability was first created.
“I think prior to Thomas’s and Smitty’s (coach Mike Smith) tenure, there had never been back-to-back winning seasons.”
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
Carthon and Robinson executed their jobs and were paying attention to the football men they were working with.
“I’d say from my perspective, I learned a lot watching Thomas, Lionel (Vital), and Dave (Caldwell), Les (Snead) and Rich McKay. Smith and the coaching staff. (Offensive coordinator) Mike Mularkey and all the people who came through there.
“I learned a hell of a lot about the game of football and how to put a team together.”
Robinson, who remained with the Falcons until last offseason, climbed the ladder to become the director of college scouting.
“You come in and you’re starting at the entry level, ground level,” Robinson said. “You have a lot on your plate. You’re dealing with the pro side, the college side, you’re doing workouts, you’re doing airport runs and you’re working with the coaches.
“So, you kind of get a little bogged down, and maybe sometimes you don’t see kind of what’s going on until you go to the games. Until you go to practice and you see what’s out there.”
The Falcons’ first season after the Michael Vick and Bobby Petrino fiasco of 2007, was magical. The second season marked the first time the Falcons had back-to-back winning seasons.
“You’ve got a quarterback in Matt Ryan,” Robinson said. “You see Michael Turner, a big back who was hard to tackle. At that time, the offensive line was real gritty. Didn’t have the greatest athletes, but it was really gritty.”
Harvey Dahl and Tyson Clabo came through, and Todd “Mud Duck” McClure orchestrated things up front.
“You go through that first season, and you come out and you’re in the playoffs,” Robinson said. “OK, so it’s going to be like this always. You can get spoiled, too.”
As low-level members, there was a major upside to making the playoffs.
“We’re going to be in contention for the NFC South every year,” Carthon said. “We’re going to have a chance to go to the playoffs and you know, if I’m being real, we were hyped to get the playoff checks. Any extra bonus that we could get. It was crucial at that time.”
The second season the Falcons added future Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez.
“Now, you’ve just added another piece,” Carthon said. “For me, I enjoyed it, but you kind of don’t see it because you’re just so entrenched in your position and your role and trying to learn as much as you can on that personnel side. It was great.”
Snead was hired as the Rams general manager in 2012 and took Carthon with him. Carthon was their director of player personnel. In 2017, he went to the 49ers, and the Titans hired him Jan. 18, 2023.
“Good, very good,” Vrabel said when asked about how things were going. “I didn’t know Anthony. I knew Ran and Ran’s father (Maurice). They are very similar people. But it’s been great, and we have Anthony here. It’s working really well.”
The Titans have slipped in the AFC South. They went to the playoffs in 2019, 2020 and 2021, but dipped to 7-10 last season.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” Vrabel said. “We’ve got some work to do, but I like the people. I like working with them. We are working together and trying to do things that help us win.”
Robinson and Carthon were a part of the Falcons turnaround under Dimitroff and Smith.
“We were two young guys fresh in the game,” Carthon said.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Carthon’s father played and coached in the league under Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick. He played in the USFL from 1983-85 and in the NFL from 1985-92 and coached from 1994-2012.
The younger Carthon played at Florida and in the NFL with the Colts (2004-06) and Lions (2006).
“When you come from an organization where Tony Dungy is the leader, you kind of understand what it is and what it’s going to take,” Carthon said. “I thought when I got to Atlanta, I saw a lot of similarities in the guys we had in the locker room.”
Carthon felt the players in the locker room provided great leadership and motivation. The Falcons were able to create that same atmosphere.
“I thought in Atlanta, the locker room policed itself,” Carthon said. “Like A-Rob said, over time you add a Tony Gonzalez, you add a Mike Peterson. You add these vets that know the way and how it’s supposed to be done while you’re grooming young leaders in Matt, Roddy (White) and Harry (Douglas) and all those guys. You get a young Julio (Jones), who was a special talent.”
The Falcons traded a bushel of draft picks to Cleveland so they could draft Jones sixth overall in 2011.
“I don’t think Julio gets the credit for how he lifted the work ethic of the group, of the guys around him,” Carthon said. “He was coming from Alabama. He only knew one way. And so he made guys like Roddy have to work harder.”
Robinson said, “He didn’t want the young boy to show him up.”
Carthon and Robinson helped to build championship-level teams in Atlanta in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Each team lost to the eventual NFC Super Bowl representative in the Packers, Giants and 49ers. Robinson was still here for the 2016 Super Bowl team. Carthon made it to the Super Bowl with the 49ers.
“I had to transition to St. Louis that 2012 season when they came up short,” Carthon said. “But I was there for that (in 2010). We were the No. 1 seed and lost that game to the Packers. In my opinion, that’s just playoff football.
“Once that tournament starts, records go out the window. Everybody says at any given Sunday, you know, but I thought we had a good-enough team to win.”
The Titans are set to get a new $2.1 billion stadium, Robinson and Carthon are hoping to bring the Lombardi Trophy to the Music City.
“We want that to end with us playing in the final game in February,” Carthon said. “Because no matter how you put it, we could go 15-1 and not win the Super Bowl, and it’s not a good year.
“There’s only one winner at the end of the year, and everybody else doesn’t get a ring. In my mind, I’m competing against my father. He’s been to four and won two. I don’t have any.”
The 49ers lost to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV in 2020.
“We came up short,” Carthon said. “And so that’s, you know, that’s my ultimate goal in life.”
