NFL teams are slowly starting to finalize their head coaching hires as the 2024 offseason rolls on.
The Las Vegas Raiders officially hired Antonio Pierce earlier, and now the Tennessee Titans hired Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan to be their next head coach.
The Callahan hire caught Fox Sports analyst Keyshawn Johnson off guard because of the confusion about whether Callahan or Bengals head coach Zac Taylor was the offensive play-caller in Cincinnati.
“This isn’t an exciting hire to me,” Johnson said. “… It’s a weird hire to me.”
.@Keyshawn calls the Titans hiring Bengals OC Brian Callahan as head coach a “weird move” pic.twitter.com/KrKy48l462
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) January 23, 2024
Johnson added that it’s odd to see someone with a resume like Callahan get a head coaching job before Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, who subjectively has more experience running offenses.
The difference between Callahan and Bieniemy, though, is that Callahan is joining a Titans organization in an obvious teardown and rebuild phase of their franchise – something he was a part of when he joined Taylor’s staff in Cincinnati in 2019.
Bieniemy, meanwhile, has mostly been a part of winning franchises with good offenses and might be looking to join an organization with a better future than the Titans have right now.
Callahan is a strange hire for sure considering the other head coaching candidates on the market, but the Titans’ decision to go out and snag him without even seeing where the other candidates land is perhaps an indication of their confidence in him as the leader of their team for the future.
We’ll see in 2024.
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