Titans hire Mike Borgonzi as next general manager

On By Littum

The Tennessee Titans‘ front office looks like it’s officially headed in its new direction.

The Titans are working through a contract to hire Kansas City Chiefs assistant GM Mike Borgonzi as their next general manager on Friday, sources told The Tennessean, after two weeks of interviews led by Titans president of football operations Chad Brinker. Borgonzi replaces Ran Carthon, whom the Titans waived on Jan. 7 after two seasons at the helm and a 9-25 record. Borgonzi inherits a Titans front office at a crossroads, holding the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft after the team finished the 2024 season with a 3-14 record.

No official contract has yet been offered. source, but the agreement is being worked out. ESPN and NFL Network first reported the news.

Once complete, Borgonzi will be the sixth full-time general manager in Titans history, and the third in four years following Carthon and Jon Robinson, who were fired midway through the 2022 season.

Chiefs GM Brett Veach reportedly told Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer via text about his right-hand man Borgonzi landing the Titans GM job: “Long time coming – one of the hardest working guys in the business. Tennessee made the right choice.”

Meet Mike Borgonzi, the new GM of the Tennessee Titans

Borgonzi has spent nearly two decades in the Chiefs organization, rising from the lowest levels of the scouting department all the way to his current role as assistant GM, a post he has held since 2021. Borgonzi has worked on the operations side and player personnel side of the Chiefs front office, bouncing back and forth and surviving several regime changes before the Chiefs’ modern dynasty began.

A college running back at Brown University, Borgonzi broke into the Chiefs in 2009. After several years in the scouting department, Borgonzi was promoted to director of player personnel in 2015 and director of football operations in 2018. During those two promotions, the Chiefs developed into one of ​the league’s most consistent contenders and soon the most dominant powerhouse in the league behind coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

The Chiefs drafted Mahomes and star defensive tackle Chris Jones while Borgonzi was the team’s director of player personnel. Since Borgonzi was elevated to assistant GM, the Chiefs have found and developed stars through the draft such as Trent McDuffie, Nick Bolton, Creed Humphrey and Isiah Pacheco.

Borgonzi has not directly overlapped with the Titans’ highest-ranking staff. But the Kansas City model shares roots with the Green Bay system from which Titans president of football operations Chad Brinker hails. Former Chiefs general manager John Dorsey, who ran Kansas City’s front office from 2013-17, spent more than a decade in Green Bay before moving to the Chiefs and instilled many of the similar principles Brinker preaches.

Chad Brinker Effect: How the Titans’ GM position will work

After firing Carthon, the Titans announced that Brinker, not the team’s new GM, will have the final say on roster and personnel matters and will serve as a tiebreaker when disagreements arise in the front office and coaching staff.

Brinker told The Tennessean in the hours after Carthon’s firing that the new GM’s role will still involve setting the team’s agenda in free agency and in the NFL draft. The Titans still consider the GM to be the team’s top personnel official, and the NFL clearly agreed, allowing executives ranking below the general manager to interview for the Titans’ vacancy without issue.

Tennessee Titans GM Search

Brinker and the Titans conducted 10 initial interviews for the position between 10-13. January. Within a day of completing the initial round of interviews, the Titans moved on to in-person second-round interviews beginning Jan. 14, where they spoke to six candidates: Borgonzi, Indianapolis Colts assistant GM Ed Dodds, Buffalo Bills director of player personnel Terrance Gray , Chicago Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham, Tampa Bay Buccaneers assistant GM John Spytek and Green Bay Packers vice president of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan.

The Titans had one of three general manager vacancies this offseason, along with the New York Jets and Las Vegas Raiders.

Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at [email protected]. Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @nicksuss.