NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans already had the No. 1 pick in this year’s NFL draft. Now they have Mike Borgonzi to help them figure out what to do with that selection on April 24 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The Titans announced Friday they have hired Borgonzi, the assistant general manager for the Kansas City Chiefs since 2021, as the 15th general manager in franchise history.
Tennessee moved quickly after starting virtual interviews last Friday and speaking with 10 candidates over four days. The second round switched to in-person interviews as the Titans talked to two candidates each day from Tuesday to Thursday in the team’s effort to replace Ran Carthon, whose firing was announced Jan. 7 after Tennessee went 9-25 in his two seasons as general manager.
Borgonzi becomes the Titans’ third GM since January 2016. His addition was announced two years to the date that Tennessee hired Carthon for a franchise now desperate to end a skid of three straight losing seasons since winning back-to-back AFC South Division championships.
Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk said Borgonzi’s experience speaks for itself, pointing to the Chiefs’ accomplishments just over the past five seasons: four Super Bowl appearances with three title victories and no playoff runs shorter than the AFC’s title round. Kansas City has the No. 1 seed in the conference again this year and will open its postseason Saturday as the Houston Texans visit in the divisional round.
“It’s the type of standard I want to build here in Tennessee,” Strunk said in a release announcing Borgonzi’s hire. “I know we have a lot of work ahead of us and I’m excited for Mike to get started.”
Strunk was part of the group that met with Borgonzi in person. Others included Chad Brinker, Tennessee’s president of football operations who headed up the GM search; Burke Nihill, the Titans president and CEO; and Brian Callahan, who just finished his first season as head coach in Nashville.
Brinker said he has admired Borgonzi’s work for years and liked the detailed plan he had for the Titans.
“Mike should have been a general manager two years ago,” Brinker said. “He is ready for this job. … And this was the place that he wanted to be. When he came in the building, he said it just felt like a family here, and it reminded him a little bit of Kansas City and what they have been able to build there.”
Borgonzi, who also interviewed with the New York Jets for their GM opening, interviewed virtually with the Titans on Sunday and had his second interview with the team on Wednesday. He will be introduced at a news conference next week.
A native of Everett, Massachusetts — just outside of Boston — he joins the Titans after 16 seasons with the Chiefs, who are seeking an unprecedented third straight Super Bowl championship.
Borgonzi had been in his last role with Kansas City under Brett Veach since 2021, supervising and directing the Chiefs’ college and professional scouting operations while also helping build the roster. A four-year starter at fullback for Brown University — he graduated in 2002 from the Ivy League school in Providence, Rhode Island — Borgonzi has served in several roles since joining the Chiefs in 2009. He was their director of football operations for three years before being promoted to assistant GM.
Borgonzi, whose brother Dave coaches linebackers for the Chicago Bears, was assistant recruiting coordinator at Boston College in 2007 and 2008, with the team winning the Atlantic Coast Conference both seasons. Before that, Borgonzi worked in business and spent some time as a coach, working with tight ends at Amherst College in his home state in 2002.
The Titans already decided to stick with Callahan, the offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals for five years before being hired by Tennessee, after a 3-14 record in his first season.
Borgonzi’s hiring comes a week before the East-West Shrine Bowl on Jan. 25, followed by the Senior Bowl on Feb. 1, allowing the Titans to be at full strength while scouting draft-eligible talent at those events.
Titans offensive assistant Payton McCollum, who helped wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert during the 2024 season, will coach quarterbacks on the Shrine Bowl’s West team, which has a roster that includes Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders — a contender for the top pick in the upcoming draft at Lambeau Field, the home of the Green Bay Packers.
Will Levis, selected 33rd overall by the Titans in the 2023 draft, is Tennessee’s only quarterback under contract for the 2025 season. The second-year pro was benched for multiple games due to too many turnovers before splitting snaps with backup Mason Rudolph in the season finale earlier this month.
Spotrac.com ranks Tennessee 11th in the NFL with approximately $55 million in projected salary cap space. That combined with the top pick among eight current draft selections gives the Titans plenty of flexibility to work on a team that matched the 2014 season for the most losses since this franchise, previously the Houston Oilers, left Texas for Tennessee in 1997.
The Titans strung together six straight winning seasons from 2016 to 2021 with a 68-38 record and a .608 winning percentage that tied for eighth best in the NFL. During that span, they won two AFC South titles, went to the conference title game — losing to the Chiefs in January 2020 — and were the AFC’s No. 1 seed the following season but lost their playoff opener to the Bengals in the divisional round.
The Titans are 16-35 since, tied with the Arizona Cardinals for the NFL’s third-worst winning percentage in that span at .314.