The Tennessee Titans are planning to interview Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley and Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy this coming week after Kevin Stefanski decided to accept the Atlanta Falcons head coach job, according to NFL insider Jordan Schultz.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Hafley will interview with the Titans on Tuesday, after he interviews with the Miami Dolphins on Monday.
Schultz reported the Titans are zeroing in on their preferred candidates, though the list could expand in the coming days.
Hafley is a popular candidate whom Schultz reported is also a “likely finalist” with the Browns, Miami Dolphins, Las Vegas Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals.
The Packers had a top-10 defense in both yards and points allowed in 2024, and the unit may have maintained that level this year if it had the benefit of Micah Parsons for a full offseason and regular season.
However, hiring an offensive-minded coach to pair with young quarterback Cam Ward would make perfect sense.
Nagy is the outlier in that it’s difficult to make a compelling case for him as a head coach in Tennessee, or anywhere else for that matter.
Few in the Windy City look back on his four-year run with the Chicago Bears all that fondly. A 12-4 record and playoff trip in 2018 wasn’t enough to outweigh all of the middling offensive play and an inability to make progress with Mitchell Trubisky or Justin Fields at quarterback.
Nagy hasn’t done much in the interim to silence his skeptics, either. The Chiefs offense has steadily gone backward over the last few years.
The Titans fanbase is already frustrated by back-to-back 3-14 seasons, and firing Mike Vrabel only looks worse in retrospect.
If Tennessee’s coaching search culminates in the hiring of Nagy, then the general atmosphere outside of the organization might get worse.