The NFL hiring cycle has been slow to this point, but the Titans struck with the league’s first outside hire of a head coach in the 2024 offseason.
The Titans have reportedly chosen Brian Callahan as their next head coach. The Bengals offensive coordinator spent Monday with the team before agreeing to become the team’s next coach, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
Callahan is the latest in a line of young, offensive-minded coaches hired across the NFL. The Titans hope he can help develop Will Levis and spark an offense that ranked in the bottom six in both points and yards per game last season.
Here’s what you need to know about Callahan as he joins the ranks of the NFL’s youngest head coaches.
Who is Brian Callahan?
Callahan is the 39-year-old Bengals offensive coordinator whom the Titans plan to hire as their next head coach. He has been in the NFL since 2010 and has spent the last five seasons as Cincinnati’s offensive coordinator.
Callahan enjoyed success in his role with the Bengals. He helped Joe Burrow acclimate to the NFL and turned Cincinnati’s offense from a bottom-five scoring unit in his first two seasons to a seventh-ranked unit in each of the next two seasons.
During the 2023 season, Callahan had to address injuries to Burrow, but had success with backup Jake Browning. The former undrafted free agent completed a league-high 70.4 percent of his passes for 1,936 yards, 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions while leading the Bengals to a 4-3 record in seven starts after Burrow suffered a wrist injury that ended his season.
Browning’s success helped further solidify Callahan as a quality coaching candidate, as the Bengals had a chance to make the postseason despite Burrow’s injury. Overall, they faltered with a 9-8 record, but even so, their performance without Burrow did a lot to help Callahan’s stock.
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Brian Callahan Coaching Story
Callahan has spent the last five seasons as the Bengals’ offensive coordinator and has largely been successful when Burrow has been healthy.
Callahan began his career in 2010 as an assistant coach with the Broncos. He was first hired to be part of Josh McDaniels’ staff, but was retained after the second-year coach’s dismissal.
From there, Callahan moved up the ladder as part of John Fox’s staff. He served as an offensive quality control coach for two seasons before being promoted to offensive assistant during his final three seasons with the Broncos. He won Super Bowl 50 as part of Gary Kubiak’s staff and that helped him land a job with the Lions as quarterbacks coach.
Callahan spent two seasons with Jim Caldwell working with Matthew Stafford. The quarterback averaged a 65.5 percent completion rate while throwing for 8,773 yards, 53 touchdowns and 20 interceptions and posted a 96.2 passer rating in those two seasons. The Lions went 9-7 in each campaign, further showing Callahan’s potential.
Callahan spent one more season as a quarterbacks coach before becoming the Bengals’ offensive coordinator. That came in 2018 with the Raiders, a season during which Derek Carr completed 68.9 percent of his passes after completing just 61.3 percent in his first four seasons.
That was enough for Callahan to get the Bengals’ coaching job. Now, he’s parlayed that into a head coaching job with the Titans after five solid seasons in Cincinnati.
Is Brian Callahan related to Bill Callahan?
Yes, it’s worth noting that Brian Callahan is Bill Callahan’s son. Father Callahan succeeded Jon Gruden as Raiders coach from 2002 to 2003 and then spent four seasons at Nebraska (2004 to 2007).
Since 2008, the elder Callahan has remained in the NFL and is considered one of the best offensive line coaches in the league. He has been part of Kevin Stefanski’s staff with the Browns since 2020 and has also spent time with the Jets, Cowboys and Commanders, of whom he was interim coach in 2019 following the firing of Jay Gruden.
Maybe the younger Callahan can convince his father to come to the Titans to help fix Tennessee’s porous blocking unit.
