Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan gave up play-calling duties on Tuesday. He announced that quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree will call plays moving forward, starting with the Houston Texans in Week 4. Callahan had four realistic options on his staff to give play-calling responsibility to, but Hardegree was ultimately the right decision.
The most natural selection may have been offensive
coordinator Nick Holz, but that came with complications. They possess a long-running relationship. The process may have been questioned. Furthermore, Holz has never been an NFL play-caller before. He possesses one year of play-calling experience under his belt at the college level (UNLV, 2022).
Another option would have been his father, Bill Callahan. Tennessee’s offensive line coach was an NFL play-caller for seven campaigns with the then-Oakland Raiders (1998-2001), and again with the Dallas Cowboys (2012-14). There’s no way Callahan could have named his father as the new play-caller without allegations of favoritism. Furthermore, the elder Callahan’s offensive line is underperforming, and his coaching performance doesn’t warrant a promotion.
And finally there’s Mike McCoy, a senior offensive assistant on staff. McCoy has received some shouts as a potential interim head coach, should Callahan be fired. He’s been a head coach once, and an offensive coordinator on three separate occasions. Naming a “senior offensive assistant” as the new de-facto OC and play-caller would have meant bypassing all the assistants in higher roles, though.
As Jimmy Morris noted, Hardegree had some success as the Las Vegas Raiders‘ interim play caller in 2023. Most importantly, he’s worked closely with rookie quarterback Cam Ward as his position coach. Hardegree will undeniably have a good feel for how Ward wants the offense to operate.
Callahan has struggled to balance play-calling responsibility with in-game management. Hopefully elevating Hardegree will help Callahan make better on-the-fly decisions. There’s no doubt that this is a last-ditch effort with his coaching seat getting hotter.
