ORLANDO – The Titans will have a pair of new coordinators in 2024, as the team announced former Ravens assistant Dennard Wilson as defensive coordinator, and former Jaguars assistant Nick Holz as the team's offensive coordinator.
In time, Titans players – and the team's fans – will learn more about them.
In interviews conducted at the Pro Bowl, three Ravens coached by Wilson in Baltimore, and one coached by Holz in Jacksonville, provided some insight into what the Titans are getting on each side of the football.
"A great guy, hella smart," Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen said of Wilson. "He just knows everything that is going on on the field, run game, pass game. He's just an all-around guy, and he's going to make sure everything is down pat for the defense, so everybody knows what they are doing, and everybody is on the same page. He won't stop until he gets it done.
"From Day One with us, you could tell how he rolls, how he carries himself, how he gets everybody together. He always had everybody on the same page. It's no surprise he got the (DC) job (in Tennessee)."
Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton said Wilson, who joined the Ravens prior to last season, helped him – and the Baltimore defense – a great deal right out of the gate.
Hamilton earned All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors as he totaled 75 tackles, three sacks and four interceptions.
"D-Will is a super smart dude," Hamilton said. "He helped us out a lot this year. We wouldn't be where we're at without him. We didn't give up a lot of big plays, and that was due a lot to his scheme and his ideas. He was working very close with our DC.
"He jokes around a lot, but he knows when it's business time as well. … He's going to try and create smart guys, and let them be confident and go out there and make plays."
Wilson recently finished his 12th season as a coach in the NFL, and his ninth leading defensive backs at the professional level.
Prior to joining the Titans, the 41-year-old Wilson also drew interest from the Packers, Rams and Giants. In his lone season with the Ravens as Baltimore's secondary coach, his unit showed great improvement. Baltimore ranked in the bottom third of the league with over 232 passing yards allowed per game in 2022, but the Ravens, under Wilson's guidance in 2023, improved to sixth in the NFL, yielding 191.9 passing yards per game.
Wilson previously served as an assistant in Philadelphia, where he was the team's defensive backs coach in 2021 before adding defensive passing game coordinator duties to his role in 2022, when the Eagles advanced to Super Bowl LVII with the NFL's No. 1 pass defense (179.8 yards allowed per game).
"Just the amount of knowledge he has about the game, and the way he motivates his players day in and day out," Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith of Wilson. "He is always finding just the smallest tendencies. Human beings are creatures of habit, but he finds them and makes sure the players know. He lets players know what is important and what's not important.
"I think he's a versatile guy, will play multiple coverages. And when you just look at it over time, man, everywhere he's gone, in a sense you've seen the defense improve in the secondary. I am happy for him, and I am happy that he is able to showcase what he's able to do when he has control over the entire defense."
Smith said he wasn't surprised Wilson attracted so much attention since season's end.
"I think he's going to be great," Smith said of Wilson. "I'm jealous Tennessee got him. I wish I had more time with him. But I'm also very happy for him because I know he's going to do amazing things.
"I am surprised he is just now getting (a DC job). I figured he'd get it a little while ago, looking at his track record and how he goes about things."
Holz, meanwhile, just finished his first season as passing game coordinator with the Jaguars. He spent 2022 season as UNLV's offensive coordinator after serving nearly a decade in the Raiders organization.
Holz joined the Raiders in 2012 as an offensive assistant, and he worked as quality control coach and assistant receivers coach with the franchise over the years. Holz and Callahan worked together with the Raiders in 2018, when Holz was an offensive quality control coach and Callahan was the team's quarterbacks coach.
The Jaguars ranked ninth in the NFL in passing (242.7 yards per game) and 13th in points scored (22.2 points per game). Wide receiver Calvin Ridley posted 1,016 receiving yards and eight touchdowns and tight end Evan Engram led all NFL tight ends with 114 receptions for 963 yards.
Engram, Jacksonville's Pro Bowl tight end, said he'll miss Holz.
"I'm a little upset about (him leaving us)," Engram said with a smile. "I love Nick, love working with him. He's just a great offensive mind, very creative, very innovative. I'm really happy for him to get this opportunity, and I know he's not going to take it lightly.
"He's great with the guys. He had a lot of meetings with us, a lot of gameplan stuff. He'd talk about what he sees; he takes charge of the room. And he knows what he's doing. He's a great offensive mind, and whatever his role is, he is definitely going to succeed at it. I know he's going to do a lot of great work in Tennessee."
