Titans' bold simplicity could unlock Cam Ward's rookie greatness

The Tennessee Titans had an inexperienced coaching staff in 2024. Head coach Brian Callahan, offensive coordinator Nick Holz, and defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson found themselves in those elevated roles for the first time in their professional careers.

While the defense was up-and-down, they were better than the offense, which struggled to find its identity. Aside from the obvious lack of talent on that side of the ball, mandatory minicamp exposed another potential reason for their 2024 struggles.

Holz revealed some interesting changes to the offensive playbook this offseason.

"Now you look at how we install the offense, how we script practice, how we even game plan certain plays, we all know what we are looking for...I think we have taken a lot of stuff out of the offense," Holz said. "There are plays from Cincinnati and plays that I brought and everyone else brought, and we are like ok, well that didn't fit. We repped them a bunch last year and now we have taken them out and that has helped streamline everybody."

Titans make changes to offensive playbook

It sounds like the Titans' offensive playbook last year was a mishmash of different concepts Callahan liked in Cincinnati, Holz liked in Jacksonville, etc. That ultimately didn't work out for the team when the bullets were flying, and all parties involved learned valuable lessons on how to condense a playbook.

After a year of trial and error, the Titans seem to have a better idea of what will flow better in their offense and the plays they seem to have the best feel for.

That's terrific news for No. 1 overall quarterback Cam Ward.

Now, that doesn't mean the playbook is static or that Callahan and Holz aren't adjusting for their personnel. Callahan and Ward have both discussed how the team is going to make sure Ward's favorite play (Switch Verts) is in the playbook, for example.

This coaching staff now has a natural feel for their new-look playbook. Blending run plays into play-action passes, first-down plays with high efficiency rates after conversions, managing down and distance, and exploiting aggressive defenses on third downs are some examples of lessons learned through a difficult 2024.

The Titans have a better understanding of their identity and what will work best for the team this year based on the experiences they learned during 2024. That is good news, and it should lead to a calmer and more effective supporting cast around Ward in his crucial rookie season.