When news broke that the Atlanta Falcons were reportedly set to hire Dean Pees as their defensive coordinator, joining the staff of head coach Arthur Smith, we asked the question: why didn’t the Tennessee Titans, a team looking for a defensive coordinator, try to bring him back?
Well, according to John Glennon of Broadway Sports, apparently that did happen. Glennon is reporting that Titans head coach Mike Vrabel indeed reached out to Pees about a potential return to his old job as the Titans’ defensive coordinator.
However, it appears Pees, who retired after the 2019 campaign and two seasons under Vrabel, opted for the job with the Falcons instead.
My understanding is that #Titans' Vrabel did reach out to Pees to see if he wanted to come out of retirement and return to the team.
-Pees made the choice to go to Atlanta. May well be bringing his son Matt, a former Titans quality control assistant, with him.— John Glennon (@glennonsports) January 21, 2021
Why Pees decided to go to Atlanta instead of Tennessee is unclear. Glennon does speculate that perhaps the veteran defensive coordinator wanted a fresh start elsewhere.
Hard to say for sure … Maybe Pees found a fresh start appealing, as opposed to stepping back in where a former co-worker had been calling plays for a year. Just speculating.
— John Glennon (@glennonsports) January 21, 2021
Before this news came to light, Vrabel and the Titans were heading for a situation in which they would have been criticized for letting Pees go to Atlanta when they are in the market for a defensive coordinator themselves.
But now it appears Pees made the decision to join Smith in Atlanta even with the opportunity to get his old job in Nashville back.
