‘I hate it’ – The Titans broke one of Peyton Manning’s biggest rules by firing head coach Brian Callahan
The Tennessee Titans officially moved on from head coach Brian Callahan on Monday, and they broke one of Peyton Manning’s golden rules in the process
The Tennessee Titans officially parted ways with head coach Brian Callahan on Monday afternoon.
Callahan, who was in his second season with the Titans, went 4-19 in 23 games in Nashville.
The former Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator’s fate was likely sealed on Sunday, when Titans defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons told reporters that Tennessee had its worst week of practice following the team’s come-from-behind win over the Arizona Cardinals.
Simmons’ comments came after the Titans’ 20-10 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 6.
Titans broke one of Peyton Manning’s biggest rules with how the franchise handled Callahan and rookie quarterback Cam Ward
Firing Callahan is obviously not the outcome that anyone in Nashville was hoping for when the 2025 season started.
Callahan’s dismissal is especially unfortunate for the franchise because the Titans selected quarterback Cam Ward with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning has said numerous times in the past that NFL teams shouldn’t take a quarterback early in the draft if there’s any chance that the head coach or offensive coordinator will be fired in the quarterback’s rookie season.
“It bothers me that Bryce Young is already on his third playcaller and he’s only played two seasons,” said Manning earlier this year. “Caleb Williams is going to be on his third playcaller sometime next September. That to me is a miss. If we’re gonna draft this guy, OK: Who’s the head coach gonna be? The coordinator, this is the system we’re going to run. If the coordinator leaves and takes a head coaching job, I want the guy that’s replacing him shadowing him 24/7.”
Manning expounded on those thoughts in September in an interview with The Athletic.
“I hate it,” said Manning. “Teams draft these guys without a plan. They all say they have one, then the kid ends up playing for three coordinators in his first two seasons…It’s like a young couple thinking about bringing a baby into the world. If you’re not sure you’re ready, just don’t do it.”
“I just wish a team would admit, ‘OK, we need a quarterback this year, but we’re not 100 percent sure our coach is the right guy, so we’re not gonna bring him into this,’” added Manning. “Of course, they always draft the quarterback.”
Essentially, Manning thinks that a quarterback who sees his head coach get fired during his rookie season suffers a developmental setback.
It’s certainly not an ideal situation. But it’s the situation that Ward is now in with the Titans.
The franchise needs to have a better plan moving forward than it had when it drafted Ward in April. Because so far, the Titans haven’t helped Ward develop at all. If anything, the opposite is happening.
Tennessee Volunteers News
Thanks to Arch Manning, it now seems less likely that Peyton Manning’s son Marshall will play for the Tennessee Vols
Tennessee Vols legend Peyton Manning’s son Marshall is a still a couple of years away from being heavily recruited. Marshall is currently an eighth grader at The Baylor School in Chattanooga. The class of 2030 quarterback, however, will likely be one of the top recruits in the nation once he gets to the end of […]
