NASHVILLE – Before establishing himself alongside some of the NFL's top quarterbacks, new Titans head coach Brian Callahan got his start with the Denver Broncos.
Callahan began his NFL career as a coaching assistant in Denver in 2010, before transitioning to offensive quality control coach in 2011. He worked his way up the ranks, becoming an offensive assistant, and then quarterbacks coach with the Broncos.
It was during that time Callahan began working with an NFL legend: Quarterback Peyton Manning.
The two had success together – Manning won NFL MVP honors (in 2013) during Callahan's time in Denver, and the Broncos won Super Bowl 50 in 2015, when Callahan served as the team's quarterbacks coach.
The former University of Tennessee star thinks the Titans made a "great hire" in Callahan.
"I'm very happy for Brian," Manning said. "Brian was extremely helpful to me during my four years playing for the Broncos, when he and I were together. Extremely hard working, extremely intelligent and just overall a great person. Not only did I benefit from his coaching and all the help that he gave me as a quarterback for the Broncos, but also just thoroughly enjoyed being around him and coming to work every day. The quarterback room is a small room, and you've got three quarterbacks and usually two coaches in there. So, Brian and I spent a lot of time in those quarterback meetings. So just enjoyed being around him. So very happy for him getting this opportunity. I think it's a great hire for the Tennessee Titans. I know he'll give the Titans everything he has."
After serving as quarterbacks coach in Denver, Callahan went on to become quarterbacks coach with the Lions (2016-17) before serving as quarterbacks coach with the Raiders (2018), where he worked with quarterbacks Matthew Stafford and Derek Carr, respectively.
Under Callahan's tutelage, Carr passed for a then-career-high 4,049 yards and led the AFC with a 68.9 completion percentage. While working with Stafford, Callahan helped the veteran finish third in passing yards (4,446) and fourth in passing touchdowns (29) in 2017, while posting a then-career-best 99.3 passer rating.
In 2019, Callahan became offensive coordinator with the Bengals, where he was instrumental in quarterback Joe Burrow's success, and the overall success of the offense.
"Brian and I have stayed in touch since I stopped playing for the Broncos and all the places he's been, Detroit, Oakland and Cincinnati," said Manning, a five-time league MVP. "I've talked to Joe Burrow about him a number of times. I know Joe's a big fan of Brian and Brian's helped Joe out a lot as well. I know he's going to do great things for Will Levis. But really obviously he's the head coach of the team and will do great things for the team as well."
