When the Tennessee Titans take the field in preseason Week 1 against the Chicago Bears, it won’t be head coach Mike Vrabel leading the team. Instead, defensive line and assistant head coach Terrell Williams will take the reins.
Vrabel announced earlier this week that Williams will serve as the acting head coach for the game, giving the long-time assistant coach a great opportunity to get some experience in that role.
Earlier this offseason, Williams was promoted to assistant head coach, adding to his role as defensive line coach, a position he’s held in Tennessee since 2018.
“I definitely don’t have butterflies, trust me,” Williams said, per Jim Wyatt. “I am excited for the football team. … If I have any butterflies, it is not for me, it is because I want to see how some of these guys who haven’t played in a pro football game, I’ll be more concerned about them. I’ll be fine.”
Vrabel has rightly be lauded for the move, which is well-deserved for a coach like Williams, who has been at this since 1998 when he was a defensive line coach at Fort Scott Community College.
Since then, Williams has worked his way up to Division I college programs, and eventually the NFL, where he’s held the same role with the Raiders and Miami Dolphins.
“I think Mike Vrabel deserves a lot of credit,” Williams said. “He deserves a lot of credit, not just for doing this for me, but around the league hopefully more coaches will give assistant coaches opportunities to do this.
“There’s nothing better than getting the experience.”
Williams has done a sensational job in Tennessee. Not only has he aided in the development of key players like defensive linemen Jeffery Simmons and Teair Tart, he’s also been someone players on both sides of the ball can turn to, which is an important quality for a head coach.
“I watch the players, whether it’s an offensive player, defensive player outside of his position, they have a tendency to find “Big T” or he has a tendency to find them,” Vrabel said back in February. “He’s a valuable member to our staff and we’re lucky to have him.”
Williams spoke about how he and Vrabel are very much on the same page when it comes to the game of football in general, and as is the case with his players, Williams says Vrabel truly cares about his coaches and their families.
“The thing you guys don’t know, you see him and he comes up here and I know how Vrabes can be, trust me, I know how he can be,” Williams said, per Terry McCormick of Titan Insider. “But what you don’t see is what he’s able to do for us as coaches and for our families. A lot of guys have been promoted. A lot of guys have gotten jobs from here.
“I’ll do anything for Mike Vrabel — before assistant head coach and before being put in this position — because there’s really one reason and I know that this guy cares about my family. And trust me, for a guy like me, that means a whole hell of a lot.”
“We see football exactly the same.” — Terrell Williams on Mike Vrabel. pic.twitter.com/87HE9nTJZh
— Paul Kuharsky (@PaulKuharskyNFL) August 10, 2023
As if there was any doubt, Williams says he very much wants to be a head coach one day.
“Absolutely,” he said. “If I didn’t, then when he asked me to do this I would have said, ‘Heck no.’ I’d love to be a head coach.”
