With Brian Callahan as the new head coach, things are going to be very different for the Tennessee Titans in 2024 than they were under Mike Vrabel.
Callahan is a coach with an offensive background that is sure to prioritize scoring points and passing the ball more than Vrabel did. His approach to the NFL preseason is also going to be vastly different.
According to Callahan’s interview with Jim Wyatt of TennesseeTitans.com from the NFL Owners Meetings in Orlando, he wants his starters to play during the preseason. That’s a philosophy that Vrabel was always against.
Starters playing in preseason games just did not happen under Vrabel’s tenure as head coach - especially if that player was a veteran. In 2023, Ryan Tannehill played all of one series during the preseason. He handed the ball off three times, Ryan Stonehouse punted it away, and Tannehill was done for the evening.
For Vrabel, it was always a health thing. It was a way of preemptively preventing injuries from happening before the regular season had even begun. Given the Titans injury history over the last few seasons, I can’t really say I blame him for taking that approach.
That being said, I’d argue that it’s essential for players to get a feeling for one another at game speed before playing in games that count.
Get your quarterback on the same page as his center and wide receivers. Get your defense communicating and operating as a unit. The facts are the facts: In the last four seasons, the Titans have not scored more than 20 points in the first game of the season.
I have long been a believer of playing starters in the preseason. It doesn’t have to be for an entire half. Maybe not even an entire quarter. But the Titans need to hit the ground running in Week 1 of 2024 and having everyone on the same page will help them do that. Brian Callahan seems to understand that.
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