Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Cam Ward CRUSHES Brian Callahan in Podcast Interview & ELITE D-Line Has DEPTH Too

Starting point is 00:00:00 Cam Ward absolutely crushed Brian Callahan in a recent podcast interview. But I think it should have you even more excited for Brian Dable. I'll explain on today's edition of Locked on Titans. You are Locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rowland Titans, fans.

Starting point is 00:00:35 Today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast is brought to you by Game Time. Download the GameTime app, create an account, use the code locked on for $20 off your first purchase on today's show. We are going to continue the 2026 Locked on Titans training camp preview series talking about the interior defensive line and the special teams group. But we got to start with a recent podcast interview that Cam Ward did over the weekend where he absolutely crushed Brian Callahan. and I don't think that he meant to necessarily,

Starting point is 00:01:07 but there is no way that you can hear, read, see what Cam Ward had to say about Brian Daible as his new offensive coordinator and not immediately compare that to what he was dealing with with Brian Callahan. And quite honestly, more than focusing on the negatives with Callahan,

Starting point is 00:01:27 I think it should have Titans fans even more excited about Brian Daibble. So Cam Ward went on the Debo and Joe podcast. I don't know, every NFL player has a podcast now. So it's hard for me to remember everything. But I think it's Debo James Harrison.

Starting point is 00:01:45 That's his nickname from Friday, Debo. James Harrison from the Pittsburgh Steelers, Hall of Famer, and Joe cornerback. I keep wanting to say Joe Biden. I don't know why. Hayden, Joe Hayden, the cornerback from the Browns who ended up playing for Pittsburgh

Starting point is 00:02:01 for a little while. but Cam Ward went on there and they asked him about Brian Dable and I thought again some of the things that Cam Ward had to say are compliments to Brian Dable but it's hard not to look at it the other side and taking his criticisms of Brian Callahan so he was asked you know how it's been with Brian Dable and Cam Ward said I've learned so much from him over the past five to six months so like you could see the way Camas saying it like whoa it was it blew my mind how much I've learned from him in the past five to six months. And I'm sorry, but the only logical way to look at that on the other side is,

Starting point is 00:02:42 Cam felt like, wow, Brian Dable knows way more than Brian Callahan. If his learning has skyrocketed in the last five to six months with Brian Dable, what does that tell you? Also, they asked what's the best part. His immediate answer was he takes input from his quarterback. Now, on first blush, I don't like that as a criticism of Brian Callahan because Brian Callahan was known as an adjustment guy. He is going to adjust his offense to what the play. But as we argued with Will Levis and with Cam Ward last year, I don't know that Brian Callahan actually did that very successfully.

Starting point is 00:03:29 I think Brian Callahan might have been too rigid, too stubborn, too committed to his system, which if you look at what he's worked with does not fit Will Levis and Cammore. He's worked with Peyton Manning, Matt Stafford, Joe Burrow. Those guys are not the playmaking move around big play hunters that even Willis is more athletic than he's given credit for. I think his ability to run as a quarterback was never truly tapped into. He was a wildcat quarterback at times in college

Starting point is 00:04:04 and in high school, and stuff like Will can run. I think he would have been better off being a tight end or a linebacker in terms of his NFL career, if I'm honest with you. But the point is, Will Levis and Cam Ward were never a perfect hand-and-glove fit for Brian Callahan's system. And based on what Cam Ward is saying here,

Starting point is 00:04:24 if the number one thing that sticks out to him from Brian Dable is he takes the quarterback's input, then is it fair to say that maybe Cam doesn't feel like Callahan listened to him enough? And I think what Cam said after that, what Cam said after that, really, really drives home the point of, oh, it's not just listening to your quarterback.

Starting point is 00:04:48 Cam said, listening to the quarterback's input is not just week to week what plays I like. He says, it's the whole playbook. He said, when he met with Brian Dable for the first time after he got hired, and he said he had a pre-draft relationship with him, which we know from the giant scouting Cam Ward when Daibble was the coach there. But he said the number one thing that Brian Daible said to him

Starting point is 00:05:13 wasn't, here's what I did with Josh Allen, here's what I did with Jackson Dart. He said that Brian Davel asked him what he likes. What does Cam want to run? Not just week to week, hey, I like this play, I like this play, I like this play from the plays that you've given me. One thing I like to do with my girl

Starting point is 00:05:33 When we go to pick dinner, all right? Either she picks three to five restaurants That she is interested in And I'll pick the one I like the most And that's what we go to or the opposite. I'll give her three to five options That I'm interested in And I'll let her pick one.

Starting point is 00:05:47 I think that's the safest way to do it. Okay? But that is not the same as Hey, where do you want to go to eat? That is, hey, make your pick out of these limited options. Not carte blanche, open canvas, where do you want to go with this thing?

Starting point is 00:06:10 There is a difference between those two levels of quarterback input. And I think Cam is looking at Brian Callahan's initial install and saying, that didn't fit me, you installed it anyway, and by the time you took my input and started doing stuff that I like to do, it was too late. that could be his position if we got him on true serum. Cam Ward will never admit this stuff publicly, or at least he shouldn't, because he shouldn't do Brian Callahan like that.

Starting point is 00:06:39 This is the closest that he should get to something like that. It's talking about Daible and letting us compare to Brian Callahan. Cam should never publicly go out of his way to criticize Brian Callahan. That's not a good guy thing to do. I would be a little sad if Cam did that. It doesn't seem like a move that he would make. But nonetheless, I found that. very interesting.

Starting point is 00:07:01 Because Callahan was billed as that adjustment God. But it brings me back to the Netflix series. I finished it up. Man, I got a lot of thoughts which I might go into on Friday's mailbag episode. But there's a scene where Callahan

Starting point is 00:07:19 is showing Cam Ward the other quarterbacks that he's worked with. Like, here's how he handled that play. Here's what he did. He showed him Matthew Stafford, then he showed him Joe Burrow, and it was about getting through his progressions quickly, getting the ball out of his hands. All the things that rookie quarterbacks need to get better at.

Starting point is 00:07:38 The thing is, I don't think that Brian Callahan is wrong for saying, hey, look how Joe Burrow executed this play. And it was a half-field side read. Nothing was there, quickly turned to the other side of the field, hit your third in the progression. He's just, hey, Cam, you've got to go through it quicker. Look how Matthew Stafford saw, hey, it's not there immediately based from the movement of a single defender and was able to quickly turn over.

Starting point is 00:08:00 he showed Joe Burrow doing it to it. And it just all comes together to a, Callahan was like, hey, we need you to do it more like Joe Burrow. We need you to do it more like Matthew Stafford. You need to play more like them. Where Brian Daible is saying, how do you want to play? You don't need to be more like Joe Burrow,

Starting point is 00:08:26 more like Matt Stafford. You need to be like Cam Ward. And how does Cam Ward want to play? Now, I don't think that's completely fair. either, if I'm honest with you, because in my opinion, watching other quarterbacks execute and how they do it, it's not a bad way to learn.

Starting point is 00:08:41 It doesn't make Brian Callahan a bad coach because he showed Cam Ward clips of Stafford and Burrow and all that. Every coach should do that. I think every quarterback should do that as well. Like, I don't think that that's bad. But the conversations that are involved with that thought process, we never got to see. And Cam Ward is letting us into the thought

Starting point is 00:09:01 process of how those conversations are going with Brian Dable. So we are left to fill in the blanks, right? We're left to fill in the blanks of what could have happened, how it could have went, why, this, that, the third. You know what I mean? And I think it's fair to look at what Cam is presented,

Starting point is 00:09:21 look at what we've seen and know about the Brian Callahan experience and be able to reasonably say, yeah, Brian Dable may be more adjustable and maybe more, we're going to build this from the ground up for the quarterback we have than what Brian. Brian Callahan was. And that just adds to my excitement for Brian Daibble for Cam Ward's second season.

Starting point is 00:09:42 And this last part, this last part really stood out to me. Cam said that Brian Daibald told him, don't even worry about first and second down. Don't even worry about first and second down. Brian Daibble told Cam what he needs to worry about. third down, two minute, and red zone. That's when the quarterback plays.

Starting point is 00:10:12 That's when it's his downs to win for his team. Where the quarterback must be special to help his team out. Third down, two minute, red zone. Those are the situations. And that already has me excited because situational football is literally

Starting point is 00:10:34 what football is all about. That is Bill Belichick is the greatest head coach of all time. All right. While we're here, what is Tom Brady doing? Just sullying his legacy. If you weren't paying attention to what Tom Brady's doing right now, you'll have no idea and you have no idea. Don't pay attention because I wish I didn't see Tom Brady bringing himself down to the level of these low-level internet influences.

Starting point is 00:10:59 You're the greatest quarterback of all time, Tom Brady. What are you doing, man? You don't need the money. You don't need the pub. Stop. Stop. But anyway, that's a sidetrack. But the point is, the Patriots were elite at situational football. Always.

Starting point is 00:11:16 The most prepared team for situations. Which is what football is just a big timeline of different situational events, right? And for Brian Dable to say, because he and Brian Cowell, let's do this. I have a lot of thoughts on this topic, a lot of thoughts. we got to talk more about why I think this is a huge separator between Daible and Callahan and it's very beneficial for Titans and Cam Ward as well. Do you want to let you know that today's episode is brought to you by Odu. Running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were never designed to work together.

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Starting point is 00:13:57 W-A-R-B-Y Parker.com slash Locked-on NFL. Fans, let's continue today's edition of the Locked-on Titan. podcast. Again, we're talking about Cam Ward's comments on a recent podcast. There's so much to dive into here, so much to discuss. We're moving it to two segments total. But I talked about some of the early comments, the 5 to 6 months, the Alowin QB input, didn't talk about, you know, the previous quarterbacks and everything like that. But now I want to talk about the situational advice. Because again, I think that not only is this massive for Cam Ward's development, but I

Starting point is 00:14:52 think it again shines a light on the difference between Dable and Brian Callahan. And I'll get into more of my thoughts on Callahan and the Netflix special. But Brian Callahan, in my opinion, did not coach like he agrees with Brian Dable. What do I mean by that? So Brian Dable said, according to Cam Ward in this interview, again, Debo and Joe is the podcast. But according to this interview,

Starting point is 00:15:24 only like 10 minutes, like 10 minutes long. According to this interview, though, Brian Dable told Cam Ward to only work on third down, two minute, in Red Zone. Those are the only things that he truly needs to worry about. And when I think about Brian Callahan's offense and what they wanted to do,

Starting point is 00:15:46 there's no way that Brian Callahan was preaching that message to Cam Ward because Brian Callahan's system uses the short, quick, West Coast-style pass game as a function of the run game. So in Brian Callahan's mind, he would rather throw a three-yard out on first down

Starting point is 00:16:07 than run a three-yard run play. You know what I mean? So to Brian Callahan, the quick-timing West Coast-style passing game is a massive part of early-down offense, early down offense, first and second down. So there's no way that the way that Brian Callahan

Starting point is 00:16:35 ran his offense and system and what philosophically he wanted to do, there's no way that that matches how Brian Daible sees things if that's what Brian Daible was telling Camor. Now, this is going to get misconstrued. This does not mean

Starting point is 00:16:51 that Cam Ward's not going to throw on first and second down. It, like, but the point is you don't need to focus on those you know, that doesn't need to be a focus.

Starting point is 00:17:07 It's like my nephew just got his permit okay, and you know, you got to get ready for your driver's test, neighborhood driving, highway driving, city driving, all very important. Those are things you're going to do a lot.

Starting point is 00:17:24 Let's just call it what it is. Do you really need to know how to parallel park. If you had to divvy up your time on parallel parking, highway, city, suburb driving, what's really the most important thing? You parallel park, I have parallel park,

Starting point is 00:17:44 had to, I'm not from the city. So if you're from a big city, certainly you feel differently about what I'm saying. But for me personally, and my nephew, who lives here by me, why do you need to parallel park? You go to school with 100 people, people, you live out in the sticks,

Starting point is 00:17:59 you don't need to worry about parallel parking as much. Does it mean that it's irrelevant? Does it mean that you're never going to have to do it? No, you're going to have to parallel park eventually. You'll be in a big city, it'll happen. Heck, by the time my nephew is doing stuff like that, all the cars will probably park themselves. They'll drive themselves and everything, right?

Starting point is 00:18:17 I truly do believe like 20 years from now, every car will drive themselves and humans won't drive at all. That just hot take life prediction for me, the Jetsons baby. but the point of that is to say I'm not telling you that first and second down is just irrelevant for Cam Ward doesn't matter, he shouldn't worry about it, I'll never throw a pass I'm just saying it's not so difficult

Starting point is 00:18:40 and it's not so important that that should be his focus over third down red zone two minutes times where it will be way more difficult on him to get the job done. You know what I mean? Those are the tough times. We don't practice for, you know, T-ball.

Starting point is 00:19:02 I'm going to practice against, you know, I don't go to the batting cages and hit off the T. I go to the batting cages and hit off the 70s, hit off the 90s. I sucked at baseball. So don't let that make you think I was good at baseball. I was trash at baseball. I'm garbage at baseball. Softball.

Starting point is 00:19:20 Terrible. Absolutely terrible. So let's just keep that real for a second. so I don't, you guys don't think I'm trying to over a plate the kind of athlete. I can't hit a 90 mile per hour ball to save my life. I suck the baseball. So bad. All I could do was steel bases. I was fast.

Starting point is 00:19:34 That's all I had in the tank. Anyway, moving right along. But the point is, this is perfect for Cam Ward. Because if Brian Callahan was too focused on early down passing, well, no wonder the Titans are so bad on third down. And if we want to keep piling on Caliard, while we're here.

Starting point is 00:19:55 The Titans early down offense was a disgrace last year. So anything that Brian Callahan did with the early down offense on first and second down, Cam should want to do the opposite anyway. Right? But anyways, that comment right there stood out to me in a major way. We know how Dable was treating Cam differently. We know his approach to building the offense and supporting Cam and trying to get the best out of him.

Starting point is 00:20:28 We know what he has Cam focusing on, situationally speaking. Very, very juicy stuff from Cam Ward there. And again, I know he didn't mean to, but this is crushing to Brian Callahan, in my opinion. But with that being said, 2026, locked on Titans training camp preview series rolls on. Time to talk about the defensive tackles.

Starting point is 00:20:50 And we spent so much time on Cam Ward, I'll probably push special teams to later in the week. Is that fair? Can we shake on that? All right, fair enough. Good stuff. Let's talk defensive tackles. Do you want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by game time.

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Starting point is 00:21:58 for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account, redeem the code, L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N for $20 off. Download the GameTime app today. Let's cap off today's edition of the Locked-on Titans podcast. Again, we talked about Cam Ward's comments on Brian Callahan. Well, I know that it crushes Callahan, but it should have you extra excited about Brian Dable.

Starting point is 00:22:37 Now I want to talk about the defensive tackle position because, my Lord, do the Titans have a great defensive tackle position? And the point is, it's not just the high-end talent, it's the depth that the Titans have at defensive tackle. That's so incredibly impressive. Before I tell you why, I do want to thank you for making Locked-on Titans. You're at first listen each and every day. For your second listen, check out Locked on NFL scouting.

Starting point is 00:23:02 As training camp gets closer, moves are being made. Host Kyle Craves and Joe Marino will make you the most informed NFL fan this all season, find Locked on NFL scouting on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. but top end talent, absolutely ridiculous at defensive tackle. Jeffrey Simmons, I expect another first team all pro level season from Jeffrey Simmons, John Franklin Myers. I expect again a 7 to 8 sacks season.

Starting point is 00:23:30 Incredible play. I mean, he should be maybe the best player on the defense besides Jeffrey Simmons. I mean, I don't think it would be shocking to see double-digit sacks out of both of them. But it's interior defensive line. It's very hard to rack up those kind of numbers. I want to see Jeff get 11 or 12. I'd like to see John Franklin Myers was 7 to 9. And I think if that happens,

Starting point is 00:23:53 oh boy, did they live up to what they needed from those two guys and what they're paying them as well. Outside of that, Jordan Elliott, going to be run-stuffing early-down player. Remember, Robert Sala said, ideally, if there are 60 snaps in a game and Jeffrey Simmons plays 40. All 40 are passing down stamps. So if you are hoping that Jeffrey Simmons,

Starting point is 00:24:24 and I would assume a guy like John Franklin Myers, who's an excellent pass rusher, if you want those guys to be out there mostly on passing downs, then that means your other defensive tackles better be good against the run. Jordan Elliott, run stuffer. Solomon Thomas, kind of a hybrid, can do a little bit of both, athletic enough to pass rush, but at this age, more of a run stopper.

Starting point is 00:24:48 Jackie Marshall, explosive run stopper. That is literally what his scouting report is. He is not a pass rusher, not someone who's polished enough as a pass rusher right now. As a former edge rusher had to move inside, he's not going to be out there on many third downs. But Jackie Marshall could be an explosive backfield penetrator on rundowns.

Starting point is 00:25:16 and I think him, Jordan Elliott, and Solomon Thomas together are more than capable of stopping the run on early down so that Simmons and John Franklin Myers can get out there and rush the passer. Now, you also got to look at two younger guys. Cam Horsley, Timmy Horn, there and there as well, but I've got to be honest with you. Jackie Marshall was brought in

Starting point is 00:25:41 because the Titans maybe don't know how they feel about those guys. and Timmy Horn is more of a nose tackle. Cam Horsley, more of a bigger guy. So I think they're more of run stuffing, one tech, zero tech guys who are backups to Jordan Elliott where Jackie Marshall might be more of a direct backup to Solomon Thomas.

Starting point is 00:26:01 And remember, Keldrick Fulk is going to be an interior Russia. Now, he may be an edge for our conversation purposes, but Keldrick Falk is going to play on the interior quite a bit. So if you have Simmons, John Franklin Myers, the best defensive tackle group in the entire NFL.

Starting point is 00:26:23 Funny, my dad was just stopping by before I recorded, and he was like, oh, I just saw somebody talking about the Titans' defensive tackles. Boy, they're good. Yes, they are. They're the best in the NFL. So if you have that top-tier talent, and then you have good depth with Thomas, Marshall, and Elliot,

Starting point is 00:26:41 and then some young guys who could reasonably stay on is the sixth interior defensive lineman and Cam Horsley and Timmy Horn, one of those guys, I think can reasonably make it. I think that is just an excellent defensive tackle group. It has everything the Titans need.

Starting point is 00:26:55 It has explosive youth. It has veteran talent. It has depth. It has some young guys who are developing. I mean, it's got everything you want. And you can expect that the defensive tackle group most likely going to be the backbone of this roster for years and years to come.

Starting point is 00:27:13 That's just how Robbins. Robert Sala wants to build it. So tomorrow, I think we're going to do edge rusher and linebacker. We'll do secondary the day after that with a little bit of special team sprinkled in. And then I'm going to do a mailbag before training camp next week. Training camp is next week. I cannot wait. But with that being said, that's going to do it for me today.

Starting point is 00:27:35 Folks, as always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland. And this was Locked on Titans.

Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Cam Ward CRUSHES Brian Callahan in Podcast Interview & ELITE D-Line Has DEPTH Too

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