NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans have hired San Francisco 49ers director of player personnel Ran Carthon as their general manager.
The Titans announced the hiring Wednesday, wrapping up a search that formally started Jan. 12. Carthon, who will be the franchise's first minority GM, is tentatively scheduled to be introduced at a news conference Friday.
Team owner Amy Adams Strunk, who ran the search committee that interviewed seven candidates, said in a release that the Titans are excited to add Carthon with his variety of experience as a player, scout and personnel executive.
"I was impressed with his natural leadership qualities and his ability to connect with people," Strunk said. "With talent evaluation being critical to this role, the roster they have built in San Francisco stands out. He played an important role there constructing one of our league's best teams."
Carthon will be the sixth minority among the past eight GMs hired in the NFL, which has held two programs since late May to promote more minority candidates for front office jobs. Carthon, who will be 42 on Feb. 10, attended that first session last May.
Carthon joined the 49ers in 2017 along with head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch. The 49ers since then have made three playoff appearances, winning two division titles and the 2019 NFC championship. The 49ers had seven Pro Bowl picks in 2021 and six this season.
The 49ers went 13-4 during the recently completed regular season to finish first in the NFC West standings and earn the conference's No. 2 seed for the postseason. They beat the Seattle Seahawks 41-23 in a wild-card game last weekend and will host the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday night in the divisional round.
Carthon started as San Francisco's director of pro personnel before being promoted to his latest role in 2021. In that position, he evaluated top college prospects while also assessing pending free agents for the team's target list.
Carthon, who interviewed last year for general manager jobs with the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants, worked as director of pro personnel from 2012 to 2016 for the Rams, who moved from St. Louis back to Los Angeles after the 2015 season. He started as a pro scout with the Atlanta Falcons from 2008 through 2011.
He interviewed with the Titans last Friday. Strunk headed up the search committee to replace Jon Robinson, who was fired Dec. 6 in his seventh season and in the midst of the Titans' seven-game skid en route to a 7-10 finish. They missed a chance to win their third straight AFC South title with a loss in the regular-season finale to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and with a wild card out of reach, they also missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2016 season.
Carthon played running back at Florida and was part of the Gators' 2000 Southeastern Conference championship team. He spent three years in the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Indianapolis Colts from 2004 to 2006.
Born in Osceola, Arkansas, Carthon earned his bachelor's degree in sociology at Florida, finishing up after his playing career ended. He took part in the NFL Career Development Symposium at the Wharton School of Business in 2013 while with the Rams and again in 2018 with the 49ers.
His father, Maurice, played in the NFL and coached with seven teams.