Front office is changing as Titans hire Callahan
NASHVILLE — In hiring Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan as their head coach, the Tennessee Titans have tasked him with trying to turn them back into winners and working to groom Will Levis into their franchise quarterback.
On Wednesday morning, the Titans announced they had hired Callahan, the first of 10 candidates they interviewed over the past two weeks.
They moved quickly Monday when the NFL window opened for second in-person interviews of coaches currently employed by league teams after the divisional round of the playoffs, making the 39-year-old Callahan the first coach hired from outside a team’s organization this month.
“Brian has a track record of success and a range of experience that has prepared him for this opportunity,” Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk said in the release announcing Callahan’s addition. “His football knowledge and his enthusiasm for the game really stand out, and beyond that, we think his ability to lead will make him the ideal fit for our franchise.”
The Associated Press first reported Callahan’s hiring Monday. He will be introduced at a news conference Thursday.
After interviewing Callahan for the second time, the Titans quickly worked to finalize a contract before he could leave town for interviews with other teams. He replaces Mike Vrabel, fired on Jan. 9 after six seasons with losses in 18 of his final 24 games.
Callahan will be the franchise’s sixth coach since the Houston Oilers left Texas for Tennessee in 1997, becoming the Titans two years later as they began playing at their current stadium in Nashville. He also was the third NFL head coach hired since the regular season ended Jan. 7.
The New England Patriots announced on Jan. 12 that they had promoted defensive assistant Jerod Mayo to replace Bill Belichick, and the Las Vegas Raiders elevated their interim coach, Antonio Pierce, to the full-time role last Friday. Wednesday evening, the Los Angeles Chargers hired University of Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh as their head coach, bringing the former San Francisco 49ers coach back to the league after he spent the past nine seasons as his alma mater, the University of Michigan, and led the Wolverines to the national championship with a 15-0 record in his final go-around.
That left the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders still looking for head coaches as of late Wednesday evening.
Strunk also made some organizational changes for the Titans, promoting general manager Ran Carthon, hired last January, to executive vice president. Meanwhile, assistant GM Chad Brinker is now the president of football operations.
Carthon will have control of issues ranging from the roster to personnel decisions for the draft and free agency, oversight of Callahan and his coaching staff, scouting and sports medicine. Brinker will oversee departments that manage the salary cap, analytics, communications and team operations including security. He also will continue to help with college and NFL scouting.
“This is not my father’s NFL,” said Strunk, whose late father Bud Adams founded the franchise that debuted in the AFL in 1960. “As our league continues to evolve in areas like analytics, sports science and technology, football organizations have become more complex and multifaceted.”
Strunk said that’s why she’s splitting duties between Carthon and Brinker, who spent 13 seasons with the Green Bay Packers before being hired by Tennessee in February 2023. Brinker is responsible for keeping football operations innovative as Carthon focuses on the team.
She credited Carthon with impressing her with how he builds a roster, fulfilling his reputation as a talent evaluator and culture builder that led her to make him the franchise’s first Black GM. She said Carthon, hired away from the San Francisco 49ers in 2023, makes Nashville a destination for the NFL’s top talent, so expanding his role with the Titans only made sense.
“Our organization will now benefit more completely from Ran’s unique ability to build and lead a championshipcaliber football team,” Strunk said.
That will allow Callahan, with his 14 years of NFL experience, to focus on the field as a first-time head coach.
Strunk noted Callahan was with the Denver Broncos won they won the Super Bowl to cap the 2015 season and was offensive coordinator for the Bengals when they reached the Super Bowl for the 2021 season. Along the way, the Bengals stunned the top-seeded Titans in Nashville to reach the AFC title game.
Callahan is credited with aiding the development of quarterback Joe Burrow in Cincinnati. He will get the chance now to work with Levis, selected by the Titans at No. 33 in the NFL draft last year. Levis went 3-6 as a rookie after taking over as the starter in October.
The Titans also have the seventh overall pick this April and have the third-most salary cap space in the NFL.
The son of former Raiders coach Bill Callahan has been a popular target in head coaching searches. Brian Callahan interviewed with several teams last year before opting to stay in Cincinnati, and he also interviewed recently with the Chargers.
This season, Callahan helped former practice squad quarterback Jake Browning go 4-3 as a starter after a seasonending injury to Burrow, keeping the Bengals in the playoff mix until the end of the regular season. Callahan will get to face his old boss, Zac Taylor, when Cincinnati visits Tennessee this season.
Callahan played quarterback at UCLA and began his NFL career as an assistant for the Broncos in 2010 before being promoted to offensive quality control coach in 2011, and then offensive assistant in 2013.
He was quarterbacks coach for the Detroit Lions in 2016-17, working with Matthew Stafford with that team and then with Derek Carr while working for the Raiders in 2018 before joining the Bengals.
Falcons talk to Vrabel
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Former Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel had an in-person interview with the Atlanta Falcons on Wednesday to discuss their head coaching vacancy.
Vrabel becomes the 14th candidate to interview with the Falcons, who announced the meeting. Vrabel has scheduled an interview with the Carolina Panthers on Thursday, a person with knowledge of the situation told AP on condition of anonymity because the interview has not been made public.
Vrabel went 54-45 in six seasons in Nashville and won two division titles with the Titans but was fired after back-toback losing seasons, including a 6-11 record this past season.
Earlier in the day, the Falcons met again with Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, who joined Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris and former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick in receiving second interviews.
The in-person interviews with the 47-year-old Morris, a former Atlanta assistant, and the 43-year-old Evero mean the Falcons have met the NFL’s Rooney Rule requirement of having face-to-face interviews with at least two minority candidates outside the organization. The goal of the rule is to increase the number of minorities hired in top positions, including head coach.
Before joining Carolina’s staff, Evero served as defensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos in 2022 and was an assistant with the Rams for five seasons and with the Green Bay Packers for one season.
Morris was 4-7 as interim head coach for Atlanta’s final 11 games of the 2020 season after the firing of Dan Quinn. Morris was 17-31 as coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 2009-11.
The Falcons are looking to replace Arthur Smith, who was fired after three seasons in Atlanta, each of them with a 7-10 record. Smith was Vrabel’s offensive coordinator with the Titans before being hired by Atlanta.
The Falcons are still planning on more follow-up interviews, but meetings with coaches involved in the NFL conference championship games cannot be held before next week.
The Falcons have interviewed Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn and Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald and could not hold second interviews with them before next week.
The Falcons hoped to hold a second interview with former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, three people familiar with the situation told AP, but he agreed Wednesday to become head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers.