Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Tennessee Titans Coaching Staff Report Card: Brian Callahan Gets an A, Top-Tier Assistants & Vrabel Holdovers

Episode Date: February 11, 2024

The Tennessee Titans are close to having a complete coaching staff which makes it a great time to fill out the report card!! Brian Callahan was an excellent hire, but the move is not getting the respect it deserves. Next, some of the top names that Callahan has hired get great marks, but not all of them get an A. Finally, we got more news on hires over the weekend including some outside names and some holdovers from Mike Vrabel's 2023 coaching staff!Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitansFollow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPodSubscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/LockedOnTitans/videosSubscribe to the TicTacTitans Film Channel:https://www.youtube.com/@TicTacTitansSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.NissanOur friends at Nissan have a lineup of SUV’s with the capabilities to take your adventure to the next level. Take the Nissan Rogue, Nissan Pathfinder, or Nissan Armada and go find your next big adventure. Shop NissanUSA.com.BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month.PrizePicksGo to PrizePicks.com/lockedonnfl and use code lockedonnfl for a first deposit match up to $100!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelGet buckets with your first bet on FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your bet wins! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Tennessee Titans hire of Brian Callahan gets an A, but his assistants have an excellent report card as well. I'm giving out grades for the coaching staff on today's edition of the Locked On Titans podcast. Let's get it. 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. Today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast is brought to you by PrizePix, the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Go to prizepix.com slash locked on NFL. Use the code locked on NFL for a first deposit match up to $100. I am grading Brian Callahan's hire and his coaching staff on today's show. Excited to get into, of course, Callahan, the top assistant, and we got some holdovers from last year that I think are good hires as well. Before we get into all of that, thank you for making the Locked on Titans podcast your

first listen each and every day. Remember, Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round, always for free. Make sure you get subscribed, stay subscribed. It's your team every day here on the Locked on Titans podcast. Guys, I want to tell you, my new film channel, Tic Tac Titans, is going live at 8 a.m. on Monday morning. My first film breakdown, it's going to be on Will Levis.

It's going to be up, and I hope that all of you that tune into this podcast will go over to Tic Tac Titans for some film breakdowns. With that being said, to me, the Brian Callahan hire gets an A. And really what I want to talk about here is how poorly the Brian Callahan hire is being received nationally. I'm seeing grades given out to coaching staffs. I'm seeing rankings of the coaches that were hired in the NFL this cycle. And I'm seeing Brian Callahan near the bottom.

I'm seeing people giving Brian Callahan a C for the Titans. And I just think it's absurd. And it continues. It continues this constant trend where people give no respect to the Tennessee Titans. And I talked about on my last episode on Friday why I think that is what I think the media view of the Titans is based on and why it is the way it is. But it's just absolutely absurd.

Everything that we know about success in the NFL right now, offensive coaches are majority of the playoff teams, majority of recent Super Bowls. You see offensive play callers being the guys who are the better head coaches in the NFL. There hasn't been an offensive coordinator that stayed in their job since like 2021. Everybody's offensive coordinator has changed since 2021. That is insane.

So the turnover rate at offensive coordinator makes it obvious that having an offensive head coach and someone that can build your offense and call the plays is such an incredible advantage to create cohesion and continuity for your offense. So it's absurd to me for people to have Brian Callahan ranked near the bottom of the head coaches that were hired. You want to ask me? I'll give you my ranking here.

I've said it. Jim Harbaugh is at the top for me, all right? And he's not necessarily an offensive coach. He's more of a CEO leader type. But, of course, a former quarterback obviously knows his stuff on the offensive side of the ball. But he's going to have an offensive play caller under him as his OC. I believe they're going with Greg Roman, his old guy from San Francisco,

who was with the Ravens for a while as well. But Jim Harbaugh was just perfect for what the Chargers needed. And Jim Harbaugh was not a good fit for the Tennessee Titans because he wanted total roster control. He wanted to be in charge of everything. And that's just not what the Titans are doing. But for the Chargers, where they're at, were the investments. So I do have Jim Harbaugh as the best hire of the cycle. But after that, I have Brian Callahan. Top tier. Again, it gets an A for me on the report card, the hire of

Brian Callahan. I mean, I just don't understand how people cannot see how great of a fit Callahan is for the Titans. So I got Harbaugh number one for sure. I'll be honest about that. But I got Brian Callahan as the second best hire of the entire coaching cycle. Like, I don't understand how Callahan could be ranked so low with some of the other options.

To me, right under Brian Callahan, I have Raheem Morris. Look, I'm not a big fan of defensive coaches, but Raheem Morris has experience on the offensive side of the ball as well. He used to be a coach in Atlanta. I think with where they're at and where their roster is, I just think that Raheem Morris fits very well with the Atlanta Falcons. And right after that, basically 3B, I have Mike McDonald. Mike McDonald was a guy, he was the only

defensive coach that I would have been happy with the Titans hiring if they did it. I'm glad that they didn't, and they went with the offensive guru. That's what I wanted to see more importantly. But Mike McDonald, I think makes a lot of sense for Seattle. Young, innovative. I think that's a great hire. And

get him out of the AFC. Get him away from Baltimore. I like that even better. Okay? But get him out of the AFC. Get him away from Baltimore. I like that even better. Okay? But after that, I mean, Dave Canales. I'm not ranking the Dave Canales hire over Brian Callahan. Are we joking here? Like, what are we doing?

And with the Panthers situation? Like, no way. And then after that, Gerard Mayo. I don't know about that one, man. The Patriots needed to go a whole different direction, needed a new, fresh approach, and they basically just tried to get a Bill Belichick understudy. I don't think that's the move. Antonio Pierce, I've been vocal.

I don't think that hiring Antonio Pierce was the right move. Yes, he captured the locker room, yes, but I just don't think it's going to work out. And then finally, Dan Quinn. I do locked on NFL on Thursdays. I keep calling it the disaster in D.C. To go from expecting to get Ben Johnson to him telling you, no, I ain't coming,

and then going and getting a retread defensive coach and Dan Quinn, what an absolute disaster. So let me know your guys' ranking down below. How would you rank those head coaching hires that have happened? But again, it just is another example of the clear bias against the Tennessee Titans. The lack of understanding with the Tennessee Titans. We saw it with the reaction when it initially happened,

when Mike Vrabel was fired and Brian Callahan was hired. And we're seeing it now that all the spots are filled. It's just absurd. All right. It's just absurd. and Brian Callahan was hired, and we're seeing it now that all the spots are filled. It's just absurd, all right? It's just absurd. Brian Callahan gets an A for me on the report card. But again, again, I'm giving out grades for the entire coaching staff. There's only, I think, three spots right now on the coaching staff that haven't been filled.

So I'm going to go over some of the top hires at the big positions for the Titans and then get into some of the new assistants. We got a couple pieces of news on more hirings on the offensive side of the ball and some holdovers from Mike Vrabel's staff that are going to stay with the Titans that I really like that we talked about last week. So we're going to dive into all of that before we do, though. about last week. So we're going to dive into all that before we do though. Do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by PrizePix. PrizePix is daily fantasy sports made easy. It is the most fun and most easy way to play daily fantasy sports. Here's

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Pick more, pick less. It's that easy. All right, Titans fans, let's continue. Today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast, I am giving out grades for the Brian Callahan coaching staff. I told you, I'm giving Callahan an A for his hire alone. But now we're going to dive into the top assistants. There are some holdovers. There's only three open spots left on the Titans coaching staff.

So it's all coming together. And man, it looks absolutely excellent. Before we get into more grades, I do want to thank you guys again for making the Locked on Titans podcast your first listen each and every day. But again, I'm letting you guys know, Tic Tac Titans, the YouTube channel for all my film stuff,

is live as of 8 a.m. on Monday morning. Make sure that you guys go over there, check out that video, subscribe. I talk about the film stuff on here and all of you guys are in the comments all the time asking me, where are the clips?

Why can't we actually see them? Well, I'm doing it now. Tic, Titans. Find it on YouTube. Get subscribed. Appreciate you guys all so much for the support. But getting back into my grades, for Brian Callahan's coaching staff,

we got to start with the coordinators, the two top spots. And as I've said, Denard Wilson was an absolute home run as the defensive coordinator. We have talked about Brian Callahan being an A, but I'm going with an A-plus for Denard Wilson. That might be my second favorite hire of all of the hires on the coaching staff. I mean, absolutely fantastic to get Denard Wilson. I've explained, and we got it confirmed by Rancard Thawne

in his interview with the OTP, that Denard Wilson was the hottest defensive coordinator candidate on the market. He had four interviews with four different teams. He had the potential to stay with the Ravens as a fifth team, and he chose, he chose to come to the Tennessee

Titans. 41 years old, was a passing game coordinator and defensive back coach for the Eagles, number one pass defense in the NFL. Goes to be defensive back coach for the Baltimore Ravens, number one pass defense in the NFL. Of course you need talent, but obviously Denard Wilson has an understanding of what it takes to be a great pass defense in the NFL, and that's what matters. Done are the days of, we got to establish the run. We got to stop the run. No, you need to throw the ball and stop the

pass, and Denard Wilson is uniquely qualified to do that for the Titans. Again, incredibly saw after Rand Carthon said that multiple head coaches that they interviewed, multiple interviews for head coaches, people brought up Denard Wilson as a guy they wanted for their defensive coordinator. So that is an A+, an A+, for Denard Wilson. Let me know your guys' grades down below for all of these hires as well. I want you guys to play along in the comments. Next, you have offensive coordinator Nick Holes. And I'm giving this one a B-.

Alright? I like Eric Studisville. I like potentially Thomas Brown as an option as well. Look, I understand why some people are not as happy about the Nick Holes hire as others. I get it. And look, I'm not going to give it a C anywhere in there. It's a B- for the reasons that I explained. Nichols may not be as exciting as other names, but the offensive coordinator position for the Titans

now has a different role and responsibility than it has under Mike Vrabel for the last seven years. All right? Six years, whatever it happens to be. Math, not my strong suit, as you'll see in my film breakdown video on Will Levis where I totally mess up the math in real time. But,

Nick Holtz is going to be a teacher. He's going to be someone to convey the message that Brian Callahan is trying to get through. He doesn't have to call the plays. He doesn't have to build the offense. So people are grading Nick Holtz on a scale that they would for Tim Kelly or Todd Downing or Arthur Smith. That's not going to be his job here. Brian Callahan is building the offense.

Brian Callahan is calling the plays. It is Nick Holtz's job to deliver that message, to teach that message. So while I'm not over the moon about the hire, I'm not going to give it an A and all of that. I still think it is a good hire and I'm going to give it a B minus for Nick Holtz. So moving forward though, the biggest hire that Brian Callahan made was clearly his father, Bill Callahan. I mean, that is an absolute fantastic home run hire. A plus plus. I feel like the teacher in the dream sequence of a Christmas story. Plus, plus, plus. Like there's not enough pluses in the world for the A plus that is Bill Callahan. With what this team needs. With what this team

desperately needs the most, which is better offensive line play. I mean, breaking down the film of Will Levis that I went through over the last week, it just blew my mind how terrible the offensive line was. When I'm in the middle of the season and I'm in the thick of it, you know,

yes, it's bad. But going back and watching it all over again, it's just absolutely despicable offensive line play. So when you're going to have a bad offensive line to start with, you're going to be adding new pieces. The guys that are going to be left over are all young guys on rookie contracts. It is so, so important. So important to have someone like Bill Callahan who can teach those young guys and get the best out of them.

You bring in a free agent, he can acclimate them as best as possible and create, and here's the one thing that we don't talk about. Bill Callahan is a great offensive line coach, but he also is a great run game mind. It's not just the offensive line. It's the run game in totality. Bill Callahan used to be a head coach. He went to the Super Bowl himself.

It's not like he forgot all of that, and now he's just, oh, I'm coaching the O-line, and that's it. He is going to be a valuable resource for the Titans run game, making sure that everything flows together seamlessly on top of the work that he's going to do individually with the players. Peter Skowronski, getting the most out of him. Whoever they decide to keep out of the young guys, Jalen Duncan, Nicholas Petit-Ferrer, Dylan Radins. Then, of course, they're going to go draft somebody the Titans will

be drafting a young offensive tackle so getting the best out of him absolutely key and the Titans bring over people in free agency whether it be a center whether it be an offensive tackle to have Bill Callahan on this staff again a plus plus plus plus could not possibly give it any more pluses.

I mean, just absolutely critical to the Titans. We've also heard, and I've talked about before, Tyke Tolbert. Tyke Tolbert is the wide receiver coach for the Titans. 20 years of NFL experience. He's worked with a laundry list of excellent wide receivers that he's had a direct hand in making who they are. To me, that's not the only A I'm giving out.

I'm giving an A- to Tyke Tolbert. I mean, fantastic hire there. So you get Bill Callahan with the offensive line. You get Tyke Tolbert with the wide receivers. You get Denard Wilson with the defensive backs. Just absolutely critical. Absolutely critical. All right.

So we're going to move on to the rest of the coaching staff. There are some holdovers. There was a new hire this weekend. All that. As a reminder, this is day one of off-season roadmap week. All right. We're covering the coaching hires today.

Tomorrow, we're going to go over in-house free agents. Who are the free agents the Titans have who they should bring back? Who are the free agents the Titans have who they should let go? Next day, we're going to go over guys who should be cut and do a cap space, cap management episode and talk about how much cap space the Titans realistically will have when they go to the free agent market. Then on Thursday, we are going to do a mock free agency where I go over the big names,

the mid names, the lower names, the guys who I want to see brought in for a perfect off season for the Titans based on the cap space that they have that we talk about on Wednesday. And then Friday, we will do a full seven-round mock draft. I'm doing a whole mock offseason this week. It's offseason roadmap week. Make sure that you tune in every single day. But with that being said, we got to dive into the rest of the grades for the rest of the coaching staff right now. Before we do though,

do want to let you guys know that today's episode is brought to you by DoorDash. Hey, what a football game that was. But as usual, the commercials stole the show. DoorDash went all out for game day and DoorDash stuffed from all the ads to one lucky winner, cars, snacks, even tax software. And somehow, they pulled it off.

Look, I'm a little bummed that I didn't win, but gotta hand it to them. It was one heck of a delivery. DoorDash is the all-in-one app for your everyday needs from restaurants to groceries to flowers to gifts. Next time you're running low on dinner ideas,

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the school year, let's face it, winter. I can think of a million reasons daily to order DoorDash. Hop on the app and make your day a little easier. DoorDash, your door to more. Head to DoorDash app and get everything you need delivered. Titans fans, let's cap off. Day one of off-season roadmap week. We are grading the Brian Callahan coaching staff.

I gave Callahan an A. I gave Denard Wilson an A+. I gave Nick Holtz a B-. Bill Callahan an A+++++. Tyke Tolbert an A-, but there are a lot more coaches to give grades to. And we got new hires. So I'm going to go over those right now.

Bo Hardegree was the interim offensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders. He has been hired as the quarterback coach for the Tennessee Titans. And I really do like this hire. I'm giving it a B+. I really like this hire. He got five wins with Aiden O'Connell at center. The Raiders were a much better offense once Bo Hardigree took over as the offensive coordinator. They went from like 15 points per game to 22, 23 points per game.

They committed zero turnovers in six of the nine games that Hardigree was the OC. They dropped 60 freaking points on the Los Angeles Chargers. I mean, having that guy who was an interim offensive coordinator now be your quarterback coach, that's a great move. I mean, as I'm explaining it right now, I want to give the Bo Hardegree a bump to an A-. I mean, I really, really like that move. The Titans have guys who are overqualified for their roles. I love that. I love that. So, having Hardegree as a guy

who can teach to Will Levis, get the best out of Will Levis, that's absolutely critical. We also got news that Randy Jordan, Randy Jordan, will be the running back coach for the Tennessee Titans. He was with Washington for 11 seasons as an assistant. Another incredibly experienced guy. A guy who was a former player. guy. A guy who was a former player. So I think that's critical.

Surrounding Brian Callahan, a young coach with a ton of experienced former NFL players who can command respect in the locker room, who have been through what players have been through, who can give him wisdom and experience, not only from a coach perspective, but from a player perspective. Again, Tyke Tobert, 20 years in the NFL. Bill Callahan, even longer. Frank Bush, Steve Jackson, former NFL players. Randy Jordan, like, this is exactly what I was talking about when I talked about building out a diverse coaching staff

for Brian Callahan that has young, talented guys on it, like Denard Wilson, like Brian Callahan, like Nick Holtz, like Bo Hardegree, but also having guys with wisdom and experience who they can lean on. Absolutely critical. Jordan also has ties

to Bill Callahan, played under him for five years in Oakland, coached with him for four years at Nebraska, coached with him for three years with the Washington Commanders. I mean, it all makes sense that Bill Callahan, who is a run game focused guy, gets a running back coach that understands exactly what he wants to do

in the run game. So now the offensive line is critical, but you can also get the running backs on the same page. And that is key. So for me, the Randy Jordan hire gets a B plus like to pair him with Bill Callahan, who he's got experience with another former player. Like, I just absolutely love that. That's a B-plus for me. So, from here, we have quarterback coach with Bo Hardegrete. We have offensive line coach with Bill Callahan.

We have Randy Jordan as a running back coach. We have Tyke Tolbert, who I gave an A-2, wide receiver coach. Tight end coach is the only position that was left on offense, and it has been filled by a Mike Vrabel holdover and Justin Otten. Look, I know I say Mike Vrabel holdover, but the reality is Otten was brought in last year when Mike Vrabel made a ton of changes to his coaching staff and brought in outside guys. So it's not like Justin Otten is a Mike Vrabel guy.

He's not a Mike Vrabel loyalist like a ton of the other coaches the Titans let go. And we talked about this last week. My everydayers will remember. I thought keeping Otten on the coaching staff would be excellent. When he was calling plays for the Broncos, they did way better at the end of 2022 than they did prior to that. So you give Otten credit for that. And he was a running back coach,

run game coordinator type guy, but now he's moving to tight ends, and I think that is for his career path, because Otten is a guy who needs to be involved in the run game, getting him experience, dealing with the passing game as well. The tight end coach is intimately involved in the game plan,

because tight ends are involved in the run game and the pass game very intimately. So I love the idea of keeping Justin Otten on this coaching staff. Speaking of another holdover, Chris Harris. Chris Harris was getting defensive coordinator interviews when the Titans brought him over as passing game coordinator last year.

And look, I get that it wasn't great all the time in pass defense, but the Titans had some injuries, a ton of injuries. The Titans also got good seasons out of Sean Murphy Bunting. Roger McCreary had a really good year and their safeties, they were using Terrell Edmonds and Elijah Molden and Kayvon Wallace. And Kayvon Wallace had a pretty good end of the year for the Titans. So there were bright spots on the Titans, in the Titans secondary last year. And I think Chris Harris deserves some credit for that.

So I like keeping Chris Harris around. He's going to be the cornerback coach and the passing game coordinator on the defensive side of the ball. That's an A for me. Same thing with Otten. That's an A. I like those holdovers. And again, they're not Mike Vrabel loyalists. You know, they're guys that Mike Vrabel just brought over last year because he had to have some outside hires because they were

tired of having a bad coaching staff. And the organization was like, hey, man, we need to bring in some new guys here. So I love that holdover. But also on the defense, like I mentioned earlier, year. So I love that hold over, but also on the defense, like I mentioned earlier, Steve Jackson, B plus, Frank Bush at linebacker, B plus. So Steve Jackson, safeties, Chris Harris, cornerbacks, Frank Bush inside linebackers, love those hires. The only things that have not been filled so far, defensive line coach, outside linebacker coach, and special teams coordinator. Again, for special teams coordinator, I like Chris Tabor.

I like giving Anthony Levine a shot in the big chair. Those are all options that I would consider for the Titans. But again, overall, I mean, I didn't give out a C because this coaching staff looks absolutely excellent, man. What an incredible report card for Brian Callahan and Rand Carthon to put this team together. But that's going to do it for today's show. Let me know your grades for these hires or just one grade overall for the entire coaching staff down below.

Again, guys, I know I've talked about it a lot on today's show, but two things. Number one, all-season roadmap week. Make sure that you tune in all week long. It's going to be excellent. Alright. Number two, go check out the Tic Tac Titans new YouTube channel.

Tic Tac Titans. 8am Monday morning. Will Levis film breakdown. 30 minutes. I can't wait. I can't wait for you guys to see it. So excited. I'm going to put the link to that channel down in the description. Click it. Get subscribed. Get ready. Appreciate your guys' support so much.

But day one of off-season roadmap week is in the books. Grading the Titans coaching staff. That is going to do it for me today, folks. As always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.