There might not be a more heralded NFL hire this offseason than offensive line coach Bill Callahan joining the Tennessee Titans staff this. Callahan was released from his contract with the Cleveland Browns to join his son, Brian, in Tennessee.
A case could easily be made for the elder Callahan being the most exciting of the new hires.
It is no secret that the Titans have had one of the worst offensive line groups in the NFL for the last two seasons. Callahan's task is overhauling a unit that allowed Tennessee quarterbacks to be sacked a total of 64 times in 2023. Both starting quarterbacks Ryan Tannehill (32) and Will Levis (28) sustained injuries behind the Titans line last year.
Malik Willis was sacked an additional four times in relief of Tannehill in a 24-16 London loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
The senior Callahan was the Head Coach of the Oakland Raiders from 2002-2003, after having spent four previous seasons on Oakland's staff. Additionally, he spent four seasons (2004-07) as the Head Coach of the University of Nebraska. During his time in the NFL, Bill Callahan has spent 22 seasons coaching the offensive line and seven years as offensive coordinator.
He joined head coach Kevin Stefanski's Browns staff in 2020 to oversee the offensive line in Cleveland.
Tackle Leroy Watson was traded to the Tennessee from the Browns last Friday. The Titans traded a seventh-round pick, No. 227 overall, to the Cleveland in exchange for Watson's services. Watson joins center Lloyd Cushenberry and depth offensive lineman Saahdiq Charles as acquisitions general manager Ran Carthon has brought in to bolster Tennessee this offseason.
Carthon holds the No. 7 overall choice in the NFL Draft on April 25. Offensive line help there is also very much in play.
"He's (Bill Callahan) put in a tremendous amount of work; all of our coaches have in this process," said Brian Callahan of his father. "And we started out behind. So, we had to get an evaluation of our roster, we had to get evaluation of free agency, you had to get the evaluation of the draft prospects. Your reports have to be in, coaches read our reports the last two days. It's been a tremendous amount of work for our coaching staff. And it's one that I appreciate tremendously. The passion and effort that they put into evaluating these players on the coaching side has been fantastic. My dad's been no different. I think if you ever got to see one of his reports and how he writes and the detail he goes into, it's something to behold, I guess is the best way I can say it. Incredibly detailed. Has a great vision for what it looks like and how those offensive players fit at each position across the front. And he's seen a lot of it. He can draw on comparisons that not a lot of people can draw on when he's evaluating players.
"He might compare somebody to somebody he coached in 1998 and half the scouts are like, 'who's that?' You know like he's just got such a wealth of experience and players and evaluating players that he's a huge asset for us. He's a huge asset to me personally with that position because it's a hard position to evaluate sometimes and get right. I feel like he's got a pretty good track record of being, pretty spot on how he thinks guys fit and what they can do well. So, huge advantage for us to have him, and a huge advantage to our scouting staff to be able to ask him questions and lean on his expertise."
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