Titans brass reaffirm their belief in Brian Callahan as coach after tumultuous first season

Winning more than three games in 2025 is obviously a must for the former Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator.

"I mean you can see it in the spring," Borgonzi said. "The way "Callahan" interacts with the players, the way that he communicates with them, and you could see them develop over the spring. I think he's got really good control of the team. I've been impressed with that. So like I said, it's going to be an evaluation process here as we go through training camp, as we get into the season and how he develops these players and how the coaching staff does. And so far, they've done a tremendous job."

What is most important for Callahan in Year 2 is clear and obvious development of this year's No. 1 overall pick, quarterback Cam Ward. The Titans 3-14 finish in last season was due, in large part to the catastrophic performance of 2023 second-round draft choice Will Levis, who tied the league-lead for the most turnovers by an individual player (18). 

Callahan has acknowledged several times over, himself, that he and his staff need to make major, collective strides to make sure nothing like 2024 happens under their watch again. 

A re-vamped offseason program with a focus on developing team chemistry was the first step Callahan took to improve this season. Learning how to be the CEO of the team as opposed to a head coach hyper focused on one side of the ball is something that Callahan has emphasized additionally after it came up as a problem in players' 2024 exit interviews. Tennessee ranked 31st in offensive DVOA (-23.4%), tied for first in team giveaways (34) and Levis had the fifth-worst EPA per dropback (-0.155) among 40 qualified NFL quarterbacks last year.

Those areas and many others must improve on Callahan's side of the ball this season. 

"I know personally I've seen (Callahan) grow from year one to year two like anybody would, whether it's a new GM or a new head coach or any position in your organization," Brinker added. "He just—there's a confidence there that I've been impressed with, and the way he's communicated with the players, with his staff, with everybody in the building. I've seen tremendous growth in Brian. We believe in Brian, I think he's done a really good job heading into this offseason. But obviously, as we head into the season, we've got to get these players—development's a big part of our program. 

"We've been preaching draft and develop, and that's not going away. We need to have coaches who are just the best teachers that we can possibly find that can help these players reach their potential so by year three of a rookie deal, we know what we're dealing with. Is this a guy that we can really build a future around or do we have to replace it with another younger player or somebody else? So the development piece of this is essential. And I've been really impressed with Brian from the coaching development and just the whole understanding the big picture of how to run a football team."

Tennessee's first day of camp is Wednesday July 23.