Titans’ offensive coordinator options are shrinking, raising stakes for Robert Saleh to land top candidate Brian Daboll

You can feel the clock ticking on Robert Saleh finding a “head coach” of his offense.

Easton Freeze — Tennessee Titans Beat Writer
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The Tennessee Titans already have a head coach. His name is Robert Saleh, and he’ll be formally introduced at a press conference this Wednesday. But in a sense, the Titans still need to identify the next “head coach” of their offense.

Saleh’s defensive prowess has his side of the ball in good hands, but QB Cam Ward is the future of this franchise. This team will go as he goes until they do a lot more heavy lifting to build up the rest of the roster.

So Saleh’s OC hire is critical. Not only will this coach call the plays on offense, but he will have an outsized influence over that side of the ball under a defensive head coach. This person will be entrusted with picking up the baton of Ward’s development and setting him up for maximum success.

Reports have trickled out in the days since Saleh’s agreement with Tennessee about who they’re interested in having take the OC job, but official interview news hasn’t come down yet. More importantly, the top names on the market are starting to dwindle, and the mounting pressure to snag a top option is palpable.

Are the Titans Brian Daboll-or-bust at OC?

As soon as the Saleh news came out late Monday night, all eyes turned to who his OC might be. Former Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel was the consensus first choice, but those hopes were dashed quickly when he made it clear he would be signing with the Chargers to be Justin Herbert’s next OC unless he suddenly gets a head coach offer out of the blue.

The next name the consensus latched onto was former Giants HC Brian Daboll, who was among the Titans’ interviewees during the head coach search. He fit squarely into the category of candidates whose interview was more of a coordinator fact-finding mission than a serious HC candidate, and he reportedly has a strong relationship with GM Mike Borgonzi stemming from their time together in Kansas City in 2012.

On Wednesday, Dianna Russini stated plainly that Daboll is expected to land in Tennessee if he does not get the Bills’ head coach job.

Then on Sunday, Mike Garafolo said on “The Insiders” that “The Tennessee Titans would like to hire (Daboll) ASAP.” So, based on the way things sound so far, it’s fair to be bullish on the Titans landing Daboll if he fails to land in Buffalo first.

But none of this is a done deal. And Daboll’s desires feel much less known right now than the Titans’ desires. This is a two-way street, after all. Daboll has been firmly in the mix in terms of smoke from national reporters, but he hasn’t been the only one. Tom Pelissero floated these five names on Thursday: Kliff Kingsbury, Arthur Smith, Daboll, Adam Stenavich, and Bobby Slowik.

We’ve seen some developments since then. It came out over the weekend that former Steelers OC (and Titans legend) Arthur Smith would be taking the Ohio State OC job in 2026.

Smith, whose success as the Titans’ play-caller during the greatest offensive stretch of Titans football since moving from Houston landed him a head coaching gig in Atlanta, was considered a serious candidate to return in 2026. Now, he’s off the board.

As is former Texans OC and Dolphins Pass Game Coordinator Bobby Slowik, who has received a promotion in Miami from his new boss, Jeff Hafley. He took the Dolphins OC job, removing his name from consideration in Tennessee, too.

His stock has shot up in recent weeks, while C.J. Stroud’s has plummeted. This good-old-fashioned blame game isn’t one I’m necessarily buying (I wasn’t impressed by what he did schematically in Houston, and think we’re losing sight of that), but clearly, he was a real option to get another shot somewhere.

It’s not truly Daboll-or-bust for the Titans, but it’s understandable that fans are beginning to feel that way. All eyes are on who the Bills hire as their next head coach, an interview process that is still young.

New OC names become success stories every year. Having good players to coordinate has a dramatic impact on that. Perhaps that’s where the underlying anxiety comes from in Tennessee: the knowledge that the stable of talent this next OC will have to work with isn’t exactly a murderer’s row yet.

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