Titans expected to hire Brian Callahan as next head coach to replace Mike Vrabel

[TuscanyTile2]

The Jets once hired Bruce Coslet.  The Titans are now hiring their Bruce Coslet.

 

https://nypost.com/2024/01/22/sports/titans-expected-to-hire-brian-callahan-as-next-head-coach/

The Titans turned to one of the AFC’s top offenses from recent seasons for their Mike Vrabel replacement.

They’re expected to hire Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan as their next head coach, according to multiple reports, as Tennessee ends a search — which featured two interviews with Callahan, including a second one Monday — that started with a surprise firing.

Callahan, on NFL staffs since 2010 and with the Bengals in his current role since 2019, helped the Bengals reach Super Bowl LVI, where they lost to the Rams, and contributed to Joe Burrow’s development into one of the league’s top quarterbacks.

He also had interviews scheduled with the Panthers and Falcons for their head-coaching vacancies, according to NFL Network. 

The Bengals averaged the seventh-most points per game in 2022 and tied for the seventh-most in 2021, which marked Joe Burrow’s first full NFL season when he led all quarterbacks in completion percentage.

Callahan’s father, Bill, served as the Raiders’ coach for two seasons in 2002 and 2003, while also becoming Washington’s interim head coach after Jay Gruden was fired in 2019.

When Callahan started coaching, his first job came with the Broncos as a coaching assistant in 2010.

He worked as an offensive quality control coach in Denver for two more seasons and then an offensive assistant until 2015, but then he took quarterbacks jobs with the Lions and Raiders.

His first coordinator title followed in 2019, when Zac Taylor hired him for his new staff with the Bengals.

Callahan has never been a head coach before, but he’ll be tasked with helping Will Levis, who the Titans drafted in 2023, develop into their next franchise signal-caller.

In nine starts as a rookie, the second-round pick — who plummeted down draft boards and was selected far from his projections — completed 58.4 percent of his passes for eight touchdowns and four interceptions.

This year, though, the Titans relied on four-time Pro Bowl running back Derrick Henry as their focal point.

He compiled another 1,000-yard season and scored 12 touchdowns, though he’ll become a free agent and could sign with another team.

If that happens, Callahan will have his first pressing challenge.

He’s the second consecutive first-time head coach the Titans have hired, with Vrabel also getting his first shot with the Titans following the 2017 season.

Vrabel turned the opportunity into three postseason appearances, with a run to the AFC Championship game in 2019 followed by consecutive double-digit win seasons — and consecutive early postseason exits in the wild-card and divisional rounds — and then back-to-back missed berths.

The Titans might have their quarterback who could execute a return to the playoffs.

It’ll now fall on Callahan to piece everything together.

[chirorob]

He's a very good offensive coordinator.

Be a little tougher without Burrow, Chase, and Higgins.

[Barry McCockinner]

Fire a good proven HC and hire a coordinator and hope he can cut it as a HC. 

I'm not saying it won't work out but I think this is ridiculously stupid and I'd be enraged if I was a Titans fan. 

[jamesr]

But why didn't they hire a proven winner who has been a successful HC before? 😜

I guess at least they hired an OC rather than a DC.  

[bonkertons]

I wonder if this makes them major players for Higgins on the UFA market.  They need another big weapon, especially a long-term one, and it's pretty clear they intend on using their 7th overall on an OT.  

[Barry McCockinner]

25 minutes ago, bonkertons said:

I wonder if this makes them major players for Higgins on the UFA market.  They need another big weapon, especially a long-term one, and it's pretty clear they intend on using their 7th overall on an OT.  

Maybe. I think the Bengals will try to keep him though. 

[jetspenguin]

lol for a second I thought they hired Bill....I was like dang man, you are still coaching?

[JetPotato]

2 hours ago, Adoni Beast said:

Good hire....was kind of hoping no one would hire him this cycle and he'd be available next year when we most likely fire Xerxes.

We need a proven coach, not a newb, no matter how promising.

I know... cue the "no one wants to work for us" drivel. So dumb.

[Hex]

Not that I don't like Callahan, but firing Vrabel will probably be looked back as the move that pushed the Titans into a decade of irrelevance.

[Beerfish]

Vrabel is pretty good but is being overrated here to some extent.  Tennessee has clued in that you need a top notch offense to truly contend and are making that move as a result.

 

[bitonti]

1 hour ago, jetspenguin said:

lol for a second I thought they hired Bill....I was like dang man, you are still coaching?

Bill still coaches... the line at Cleveland and the assumption is he will follow his son to Tennessee 

It's kind of a package deal, one would think 

[Integrity28]

I still can’t believe Vrabel and Belichik are looking for jobs and were serving up BOBBY SALAD. Get it? Bobby. Salad.

[rangerous]

1 hour ago, Hex said:

Not that I don't like Callahan, but firing Vrabel will probably be looked back as the move that pushed the Titans into a decade of irrelevance.

Hard to say. Vrabel got a team that had some talent and made the most of it.  The titans are now declining so Callahan will have his work rebuilding.

[varjet]

Standard operating procedure for NFL 2020+:  Hire successful OC as HC and see how it goes.  Pair with experienced DC who possibly had HC experience.  

It works often.  Not always, but often.  

[derp]

On 1/23/2024 at 10:40 AM, bonkertons said:

I wonder if this makes them major players for Higgins on the UFA market.  They need another big weapon, especially a long-term one, and it's pretty clear they intend on using their 7th overall on an OT.  

Wonder if this impacts how they might use the seventh pick, depending on who’s available. Bengals did okay choosing Chase over Sewell.

[TuscanyTile2]

On 1/23/2024 at 10:11 AM, Barry McCockinner said:

Fire a good proven HC and hire a coordinator and hope he can cut it as a HC. 

I'm not saying it won't work out but I think this is ridiculously stupid and I'd be enraged if I was a Titans fan. 

Same here.  If the next guy is as good as Vrabel it'll be a home run of a hire.  But they already had Vrabel and he's still young.  I'm just happy that the Pats didn't hire him.  

[PFSIKH]

On 1/23/2024 at 11:19 AM, Beerfish said:

Vrabel is pretty good but is being overrated here to some extent.  Tennessee has clued in that you need a top notch offense to truly contend and are making that move as a result.

 

I would not say he is overrated.  The old GM mismanaged a few things.  Traded AJ Brown and did not come close to replacing him.  Drafted Malik Willis as the heir apparent at QB.  Reportedly, it was a power struggle with the new GM Ran Carthon.  If Will Levis is going to be the guy, he probably needs an offensive leaning HC.

[Smashmouth]

On 1/23/2024 at 11:27 AM, bitonti said:

Bill still coaches... the line at Cleveland and the assumption is he will follow his son to Tennessee 

It's kind of a package deal, one would think 

Would be a very smart move by Brian to hire his dad in some capacity the guy can flat out coach and has turned around OL's for years including ours back some years ago . I would have loved Bill to coach our OL but we have the Great Keith Carter 

[bitonti]

11 hours ago, Smashmouth said:

Would be a very smart move by Brian to hire his dad in some capacity the guy can flat out coach and has turned around OL's for years including ours back some years ago . I would have loved Bill to coach our OL but we have the Great Keith Carter 

Well you get what you pay for in this world

Bill Callahan gets over a million maybe 1.5 to be a position coach that's not how the Jets operate 

[Sperm Edwards]

2 minutes ago, bitonti said:

Well you get what you pay for in this world

Bill Callahan gets over a million maybe 1.5 to be a position coach that's not how the Jets operate 

Except the Jets inquired to hiring Callahan literally last year to be their OL position coach while he was in between Cleveland contracts.

Before reaching out to him it was no secret he wasn't a low-level $ position coach. He was employed here before, and not for a cut rate. He came here when the on-paper personnel looked good, and left just when they started to decline.

He turned them down in early 2023 to stay in Cleveland with - before their own OL injuries - a far more talented line, rather than Becton who hadn't played in two years, Brown who's almost Callahan's age, no center under contract at that time, Tomlinson coming off a career-worst season, and AVT after just missing most of the season. 

It wasn't about being unwilling to pay him. Far more likely he just didn't want to risk his pristine OLC reputation on that group.

[bitonti]

1 hour ago, Sperm Edwards said:

It wasn't about being unwilling to pay him. Far more likely he just didn't want to risk his pristine OLC reputation on that group.

It's hearsay and speculation either way 

Here's a question though when's the last time this franchise paid more than minimum amount for a coach 

Was it westhoff? 

We have spent years talking about the Jets willingness to spend or not 

But it's these uncapped areas where they are a clown organization. Scouting, training staff, the field, analytics and yes coaching the Jets are underfunded across the board 

 

[Sperm Edwards]

14 minutes ago, bitonti said:

It's hearsay and speculation either way 

Here's a question though when's the last time this franchise paid more than minimum amount for a coach 

Was it westhoff? 

We have spent years talking about the Jets willingness to spend or not 

But it's these uncapped areas where they are a clown organization. Scouting, training staff, the field, analytics and yes coaching the Jets are underfunded across the board 

 

Well technically 100% of all 32 teams' leaks/rumors are hearsay.

Pretty far-fetched that they'd admit the embarrassment of Callahan outright turning down an interview with them, just to fake-prove to Jets fans that they were seeking out the best OLC option available so a few doubting fans like yourself would temporarily think slightly better of them.

[bitonti]

10 minutes ago, Sperm Edwards said:

Well technically 100% of all 32 teams' leaks/rumors are hearsay.

Pretty far-fetched that they'd admit the embarrassment of Callahan outright turning down an interview with them, just to fake-prove to Jets fans that they were seeking out the best OLC option available so a few doubting fans like yourself would temporarily think slightly better of them.

rather than speculate on their failed Callahan pursuit (which we'll never know either way) what do you think of that earlier question

what is the last Jets coach to be making more than bare bones? is it Boyer? is it Westhoff? We don't know why they didn't close the deal with Bill Callahan (or if they were ever really serious about him) but we can look at all the staffs over the years and see if there's any quality there 

the Jets analytics dept is rumored to be non-existent 

[T0mShane]

Didn’t Bill Callahan walk away from the Rec Jets in disgust? I seem to remember him not being thrilled with the way the org was trending. 

[Sperm Edwards]

17 minutes ago, bitonti said:

rather than speculate on their failed Callahan pursuit (which we'll never know either way) what do you think of that earlier question

what is the last Jets coach to be making more than bare bones? is it Boyer? is it Westhoff? We don't know why they didn't close the deal with Bill Callahan (or if they were ever really serious about him) but we can look at all the staffs over the years and see if there's any quality there 

the Jets analytics dept is rumored to be non-existent 

"We'll never know either way," lmao.

They can't pull the wool over your eyes, those devious Jets, making themselves look ridiculous by admitting a coach refused to even interview with them. They go a long way to save $500K-1MM, those Jets. But at least you're not fooled.

Related, I heard from someone who read on the internet that Woody Johnson doesn't have a mustache because he doesn't want people like you to catch him twirling it while doing his evil laugh. 

Also the analytics dept being "rumored" to be non-existent would make that just hearsay, no?  

[SomebodytoAnybody47]

8 minutes ago, T0mShane said:

Didn’t Bill Callahan walk away from the Rec Jets in disgust? I seem to remember him not being thrilled with the way the org was trending. 

Just doing a little research...he left the Jets in 2012 and that was, as we all know, the start of real embarrassment with this team. Shotty left then too.

Jets offered Callahan an extension multiple times but he declined. Jets also blocked him from interviewing for an OC job, which he wanted. So yeah...he don't like us anymore lol He's def saying "F that team" any chance he gets.

[#27TheDominator]

11 minutes ago, T0mShane said:

Didn’t Bill Callahan walk away from the Rec Jets in disgust? I seem to remember him not being thrilled with the way the org was trending. 

I don't think that is necessarily fair, but he did leave as things began to unravel.  In fact, him leaving might have contributed to the downfall and the ability to ground while being uanble to pound.  He left for the 2012 season as the Jets dropped Schottenheimer for Tony Sparano.  Sparano had been an offensive line coach himself, so it would seem like a bad mix and Callahan probably deserved a shot at the OC position himself.  

More importantly, you rage typed Rec instead of Rex.  That is like me misspelling Parcells, that fat ******* carpetbagger.

[JoeNamathsFurCoat]

32 minutes ago, T0mShane said:

Didn’t Bill Callahan walk away from the Rec Jets in disgust? I seem to remember him not being thrilled with the way the org was trending. 

Smart man

Get out before the collapse 😂

[JoeNamathsFurCoat]

33 minutes ago, T0mShane said:

Didn’t Bill Callahan walk away from the Rec Jets in disgust? I seem to remember him not being thrilled with the way the org was trending. 

That whole Rex Idzik thing has got to be one of the most awkward marriages / arrangements in league history.

[bitonti]

1 hour ago, Sperm Edwards said:

"We'll never know either way," lmao.

They can't pull the wool over your eyes, those devious Jets, making themselves look ridiculous by admitting a coach refused to even interview with them. They go a long way to save $500K-1MM, those Jets. But at least you're not fooled.

Related, I heard from someone who read on the internet that Woody Johnson doesn't have a mustache because he doesn't want people like you to catch him twirling it while doing his evil laugh. 

Also the analytics dept being "rumored" to be non-existent would make that just hearsay, no?  

So you can't remember any besides westhoff? 

Me neither