By MIKE HERNDON, columnist

New Titans head coach Brian Callahan hasn’t been shy about making it known how much he values the wide receiver position in comments both before and after his hiring in Tennessee. Last week he discussed the famous Ja’Marr Chase-Penei Sewell debate from his time in Cincinnati during an appearance on 102.5’s Stillman & Company.

"I landed on the Jamar Chase side because I saw what he could do for our offense.... I tend to lean to the guys that can score touchdowns." New #Titans HC Brian Callahan w/ @JaredStillman on Cincinnati's draft decision of Chase.https://t.co/bWxCfufyz1https://t.co/o4PFhCNe34

— 102.5 & 106.3 The Game (@1025TheGame) January 26, 2024

His answer was both insightful and revealing about his opinion on the value of wide receiver and offensive tackle as positions in the modern NFL. Callahan came down on the Chase side of the Bengals' internal discussions in the lead-up to the 2021 NFL Draft.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Plenty of fans are writing contracts for Derrick Henry that would keep him with the Titans for at least a ninth year and perhaps a 10th.

He’s set to become an unrestricted free agent for the first time when contracts expire and the new league year starts on March 13.

Spotrac projects a one-year, $4.39 million contract, which is the most reasonable thing I’ve seen.

AtoZ recently sketched out a two-year, $20 million deal with $12 million guaranteed and a 2024 $5 million cap hit, which is way too much.

A Henry contract with the Titans isn’t so plain and simple. There is a hitch.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Shortly after the Titans hired Brian Callahan, I wrote about how Titans fans should be shouting “Oh, Happy Day” just off of one thing he said in the summer of 2023:

“The teams that win the most games are generally the teams that pass the ball the best.”

That’s obviously a major departure from the Titans' overriding philosophy since 1999.

Then at his introductory press conference, he said something else that qualifies as a big deal after we’ve seen an often-stubborn offensive approach too often get stymied without alternative.

“The offense is always going to have enough plays,” he said. “There's always going to be enough scheme.”

Travel back with me, if you will, to Dec. 17, 2023, Week 15.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Brian Callahan has begun to pave the way for his new staff by making expected moves and parting ways with members of Mike Vrabel's staff who still had a year left on their contracts.

Tim Kelly was told by Callahan last night that he's out.

John Streicher, Vrabel's director of football administration, is gone too. 

I’ve also confirmed the report from Jonathan Jones of CBS that Charles London is now free.

Others have been told the same but have not yet come to light.

Tony Dews who was with Vrabel for his entire term, for five years coaching running backs and one on tight ends, is taking over running backs with the Jets, reports say. 

He'll be reunited there with two other former Titans coaches, Todd Downing and Keith Carter.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In 2008, Brian Callahan was charged with teaching football plays to freshmen at Junipero Serra High School in San Mateo, Calif.

The work was the most basic, fundamental teaching imaginable.

“The freshman process was hard because a lot of the kids hadn’t ever buckled a chin strap or put on cleats and didn’t even know how to be in a stance,” Callahan told us during an interview on Robby and Rexrode on 102.5 The Game. “So you really had to teach and instruct.

“I couldn’t say, ‘Hey run a slant route’ because the kid would look at me like, ‘I don’t even know what that means, like what is a slant route? How do I stand? What are my steps? What’s the angle to come out?’ So in the best way possible, you’re really trying to break down exactly what you expect from them in those moments. And it really helped me refine how I teach. You can’t assume they know anything and you have to teach all of it.”

That was 2008, when Callahan was the offensive coordinator of the freshman team, the only position his friend, the varsity head coach Patrick Walsh, had available.

Said Walsh of that story: “Zero embellishment. One hundred percent accurate.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Coaches typically make a good first impression at introductory press conferences. (Adam Gase is a major exception to this.) Brian Callahan was great.

I think he showed a Mike Vrabel-type confidence but we know he's going to be more flexible and less of a my-way-or-the-highway type of coach.

You likely heard some of his press conference or saw some clips and I thought we'd get the gang together Thursday evening to discuss the things he said and what we thought of them.

The fan base is super excited and with good cause. An organizational reset like this and the dramatic change in persona that comes with it creates the kind of energy Callahan said he wants his players to feel when they arrive at work every day.

So please rewatch the conversation at the private Facebook page or below on YouTube. We went a full hour because it was so good.

If you'd like a text alert when chats like this will occur, there is also a sign-up below.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Brian Callahan worked with Zac Taylor from the start of his Bengals regime in 2019.

That first version of the team started 0-11 and finished 2-14. The following year with a rookie Joe Burrow was a still bad 4-11-1. The third year they went to the Super Bowl.

The Titans certainly hope they bounce back from their roster issue more quickly than that, but Callahan said at his introductory press conference that he learned a great deal from enduring the down times.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Titans hired Brian Callahan in large part because he's worked with a "variety of dynamic offenses" and "has shown the flexibility and intelligence to make an impact," Amy Adams Strunk said in her Wednesday statement.

As expected, he will be showing off that experience as the team's offensive play-caller.

While the process of an offensive staff crafting a game plan and getting to game day will be very collaborative, it will be the new coach who will be talking to Will Levis during games.

His former boss, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, told me he expects Callahan to be excellent at calling plays.