Houston Texans fans confused at Titans’ optimism about hiring Tim Kelly

Fans of the Houston Texans couldn’t wait for Tim Kelly to get out of dodge.

In a year where his playcalling defied all logic, Tim Kelly was up there on the “most disliked Houston Texans employees” chart. So when the Tennessee Titans hired Kelly this week to be some sort of offensive assistant (his position hasn’t been announced yet), some Texans fans really questioned the move.

Kelly is not replacing Titans’ offensive coordinator Todd Downing. That would make sense, as Downing led the team to AFC’s top overall seed and managed to do so without star running back Derrick Henry for the majority of the year.

It sure did confuse some Texans fans, as he called the Texans offense that ranked dead last in the league in rushing and only 28th in passing. But what about 2020 when he had Deshaun Watson lead the league in passing yards?

That’s more of a statistical outlier than the norm. Once Davis Mills took over, the passing production predictably dropped.

The Houston Texans win this war of attrition over Tennessee Titans

Tennessee has never been able to disguise what they want to do. Just like this Twitter user points out, Tannehill was never supposed to take over for former Titans’ first-round pick Marcus Mariota. The sarcasm in that Tweet is evident, as that’s precisely what happened.

If there were a role for Kelly to take, it would have to be in the passing game, as that seems to be his bright spot. However, Tennessee shouldn’t let him get close to the running game, as Henry is too valuable of a resource to not use properly.

Another source of discombobulating faith that the Titans are going to land Aaron Rodgers can almost be laughed at. The cap situation is the main obstacle that would have to be traversed. According to Spotrac, Tennessee currently sits $6M over the cap. It would require a handful of the Titans’ best players taking a pay cut, being released, or being traded for that to happen.

In the rare event that Rodgers does go to Tennessee, it may just make Kelly look good. That’s what Watson did. But, until that happens, it’s still a puzzling hire as the Titans are becoming “Texans North.”