Chad Brinker stepped down Tuesday evening as the Tennessee Titans’ president of football operations, saying he was leaving to pursue other opportunities. His departure comes less than a week after the 2026 NFL Draft and adds another turn to a franchise that has spent the past several years reshaping its football leadership.
Brinker said it had been an honor to serve as president of football operations for the Titans, and said he felt a renewed conviction that it was time to return to what he loved and move toward his next chapter. He thanked owner Amy Adams Strunk for understanding his decision and said he was proud of the work the team had done over the past three years under challenging circumstances, saying the Titans had laid the foundation to restore the club to its rightful place as a sustainable, winning program.
Brinker joined Tennessee in 2023 as assistant general manager, the same year the franchise created the official president of football operations role for him. He became president in 2024 and, during his first year in that post, reported directly to Adams Strunk. After general manager Ran Carthon was fired in 2024, Brinker effectively became the de facto general manager, and he oversaw the hiring of current general manager Mike Borgonzi. Borgonzi initially reported to Brinker after being hired.
The change arrives at a point of unusual instability for a team that hired Brian Callahan as head coach in January 2024 with Brinker as assistant general manager and Carthon as general manager. Callahan went 3-14 in his first season and was fired amid the team’s three-win 2025 season. In January, reports said another front-office restructuring was coming, and Borgonzi and Brinker were moved to report directly to Adams Strunk.
That latest shuffle left Borgonzi in charge of the hiring of Robert Saleh, who will begin the 2026 season as the Titans’ third full-time head coach in four seasons. Borgonzi is also the team’s fifth general manager since 2015, counting interim GM Ryan Cowden in 2022 after Jon Robinson was fired. Brinker’s exit now leaves Tennessee to sort out one more layer of its leadership structure, with Adams Strunk once again at the center of the next round of decisions.
Brinker said the Titans had exceptional people and long-term stability at the general manager position and throughout the scouting department, and that there was still work to be done. His departure closes a short but consequential run in Tennessee Titans football, one that spanned the creation of the president role, a coaching change, a general manager search and another reorganization before the team has even played a snap of the 2026 season.
