If all goes well, the Tennessee Titans will be starting a brand-new quarterback this year in rookie Cam Ward (if he doesn’t win the job that would mean Will Levis probably will and that’s not good). The first-year signal caller isn’t coming into a great situation, but it’s extremely rare that any No. 1-overall pick would be. Teams usually have the top pick in the NFL Draft for a reason.
Ward will get his chance to start at some point, that’s not even up for debate. The bigger question is whether or not head coach Brian Callahan is the right guy to get the most out of him. The former Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator (Oakland Raiders‘ and Detroit Lions‘ quarterbacks coach before that) got off to a disastrous start to his head-coaching career in 2024 when he led the Titans to a three-win season.
It’s the main reason Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports ranked him as the worst coach in the NFL.
“We shouldn’t fault Callahan too much for inheriting an overhauled roster, but after he was unable to corral quarterback Will Levis’ riskiest tendencies, there’s a lot riding on Cam Ward essentially controlling himself as Tennessee’s new face of the franchise,” Benjamin writes.
It’s true, it’s only been one year and he didn’t remotely get competent quarterback play. It’s easy to rag on Levis and his 2-12 record, but Mason Rudolph went 1-3 with 1,530 passing yards, only nine touchdown passes and nine interceptions.
Titans rank dead last in offseason power rankings
Last month, Frank Schwab of Yahoo! Sports compiled his offseason NFL power rankings. It should come as a shock to no one that the Titans are ranked dead last at No. 32, and that would start with Callahan.
“The Titans’ official line after a bad season was that Callahan was a new head coach and new play-caller, and that it was going to take more than a year for him to grow into his job,” Schwab writes.
That’s probably fair due to the dearth of talent on the offense. The Titans ranked No. 27 in points scored last season with 18.3 ppg and that can’t all be on the head coach. For what it’s worth, Titans president of football operations Chad Brinker said they believe in Callahan.
“Brian was one of the hottest candidates last year on the market, and we believe in Brian, and we want to give him the opportunity to grow into the head coach that we think he can be,” he said. “He knows, and we’ve talked about it, that it wasn’t good enough this year.”
Schwab thinks optimism is great, but he’s not sold on Callahan
Callahan certainly has an uphill climb in Nashville. Only time will tell how long Titans’ management will be patient with him as he handles their new prized possession in Ward.
“It’s fine to be patient, but there weren’t many tangible reasons to be optimistic that Callahan will be a great coach,” Schwab concludes. “The Titans didn’t get better. His outbursts at Will Levis’ mistakes were a bit startling. Callahan didn’t have a lot on his résumé other than being an offensive coordinator with the Bengals who didn’t call plays. He had a positive reputation around the league and that’s why he was hired, but the Titans would have been justified to move on after one horrific season. They’re sticking with their evaluation of Callahan, but the results better improve this season.”
There certainly isn’t any sugar in that coating. It’s fair to wonder if Callahan could be a mid-season firing if he doesn’t get off to a promising start.
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