Bill Callahan talks Latham, fixing Titans’ offensive line
In the past five months, the Tennessee Titans have hired a new head coach, a new offensive coordinator and a new defensive coordinator. They’ve signed the best free agents available at two positions, traded for the best cornerback available, signed veteran starters at five other positions and used a top-10 NFL draft pick on a franchise player at a major position of need.
And amid all that, the consensus agreement is the most important move the Titans made this offseason was hiring an offensive line coach.
Well, an offensive line coach is probably an undersell. The Titans hired Bill Callahan, the respected O-line guru who has 25 years of NFL experience, which includes stints molding the likes of Lincoln Kennedy, Trent Williams and Tyron Smith.
His connection to the Titans is obvious; he’s coach Brian Callahan’s father. At 67 years old, he didn’t expect to follow his son on this journey. Bill says he had no plans to sign on with Brian when the younger Callahan was interviewing for jobs in 2023. But something about this opportunity felt different, and now one of the best offensive line coaches in modern NFL history will be tasked with turning around a unit that’s ranked among the league’s worst two years in a row.
“I can be doing anything in the world right now,” Bill Callahan said. “I could be out on the golf course retired, but I want to be here. I want to be here to help the Titans win championships.”
Bill Callahan, JC Latham and fixing the left tackle spot
Forty-two NFL quarterbacks were pressured at least 50 times last season. Titans passers Ryan Tannehill and Will Levis ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in highest pressure rate allowed by their left tackles. The gap between Levis at No. 2 and Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow at No. 3 was as wide as the gap between Burrow and Green Bay’s Jordan Love at No. 16.
Fixing the hole at left tackle isn’t the only thing needed to solve the Titans’ offensive line woes. But it’s a hugely significant place to start. That’s why the team invested the No. 7 pick in April’s draft in JC Latham, with the hopes Latham can anchor Levis’ blindside for years to come.
Bill Callahan says he has no concern about Latham transitioning from right tackle — the position he played at Alabama — to the left side. He helped Smith make the same transition in Dallas, developing Smith into a future Hall of Famer. He also coached Jedrick Wills through the transition in Cleveland.
“I think, number one, his athleticism. All the measurable traits that he has. And then you add in the size and power, strength. It adds up to making that move,” Callahan says of Latham. “. . . I think if you have the athleticism, you have the strength and you have the muscle memory to be able to change some skill sets, I think it’s doable.”
Fixing the rest of the Tennessee Titans O-line
Callahan listed a few obvious factors when asked what goes into successful line play: physicality, technique, hand placement, scheme fit. But he also talked about the practical skills that go into teaching at a high level, arguably the most important trait he has brought with him to Nashville.
“As a coach when you’re dealing with multiple factors, it’s important that you build systems,” Callahan said. “Just like if you were building a computer, you’ve got the system, the windows, where you’re going to put your folders. I believe that you have to have organizational systems that you can explain and give to the players so they can package concepts and ideas and compartmentalize stuff so it’s very unique to them, so it can trigger them when they need it during games.”
Without pads on and months away from full-contact practices, it can be a little difficult to gauge offensive line growth. But Callahan knows what his players should be focused on now, and what he should be doing.
“It’s just a matter of tweaking techniques, giving them different tools in terms of schemes, hands, things of that nature,” he said. “Build them a different toolbox.”
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean.