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.
"He will do a great job," Taylor said. "He was in my ear every second of the games. Oftentimes I asked him what plays he’s got for me, 'Give me the next two passes to start a drive… when I hit the red zone let me know what you want Cally… I’m clicking over to defense when I come back, tell me how we should start this 2-minute drill.'"
"We were very collaborative with our approach, so in a lot of ways he’s done it already. Called a bunch of preseason games, which is an impossible way to measure success but it is reps of getting into the rhythm of the game and issues that come up for play caller."
That's super reassuring. So is Mike McDaniel's story.
McDaniel had not called plays before landing his first head coaching job in Miami and did just fine.
Miami was 11th in points (23.8) and second in yards (393.7) in McDaniel's debut season, 2022.
Titans play-callers under Mike Vrabel were Matt LaFleur, Arthur Smith, Todd Downing and Tim Kelly. LaFleur was a first-time play-caller and got the head job in Green Bay after one season. Smith was a first-time play-caller and got the top post in Atlanta after two seasons.