When the Tennessee Titans fired head coach Brian Callahan on Monday, the lists began to circulate on social media.
Cam Ward: quarterback, 2025 first overall pick.
Caleb Williams: quarterback, 2024 first overall pick.
Bryce Young: quarterback, 2023 first overall pick.
Trevor Lawrence: quarterback, 2021 first overall pick.
This wasnt simply a draft history retelling, nor did these players have in common only their position on the field and in the draft order.
Callahans firing brought the count to four straight quarterbacks who were drafted first overall only to lose the head coach who presumably played a meaningful role in the charge to draft them. (The first overall pick in 2022 was not a quarterback, but Jacksonville Jaguars pass rusher Travon Walker.)
That a team with the first overall pick would make a coaching change soon after bottoming out sufficiently to net that draft pick may not shock fans. But the speed in which these decisions continue to unfold is jarring even if the decisions trend toward what seems inevitable.
Patience is not a popular in-season message. Firing Callahan six games into the season?
This change was needed because we werent seeing the growth in this football team, Titans president of football operations Chad Brinker told reporters this week. We know where we are as a football program right now. And to this point in the season, we just werent seeing the growth we needed to see to get this program in the right direction.
So thats why the change was made.
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NFL teams appear stuck in a cycle of mismatch, trusting a coach enough to begin a first-round quarterbacks career only to then dismiss the coach and leave the quarterback navigating both a patchwork coaching staff through the remainder of their debut season and usually at least one system and playbook change within their first 12 months on the job.
Add to the fact that the quarterback is now playing for a coach who did not choose them and thus may not believe in them, and the cycle of dysfunction often continues long past the separation from the first coach.
The Titans will look to avoid further pitfalls, from their Sunday game against the New England Patriots and Callahans predecessor, Mike Vrabel, to the hiring cycle that will begin in earnest closer to December and be crucial to determining whether Ward will ever find his footing in Tennessee.
Ward said hes not frustrated at the position he faces.
Nobodys feeling sorry for themselves or what our record is because the only way is up for us, Ward told reporters. We put ourselves in a hole these first couple of games. We got to dig ourselves out of this hole. So we still got high energy.
We just got to continue to try to put games together and try to win.
Theres no shortage of active NFL coaches and executives who have spent time in the building of a team playing a first-round rookie quarterback under an interim head coach.
The Titans, Chicago Bears, Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars make up the fraternity of clubs extending the active streak.
But before the Cincinnati Bengals and Arizona Cardinals paired Joe Burrow and Kyler Murray with Zac Taylor and Kliff Kingsbury, respectively, the Cleveland Browns and Baker Mayfield encountered this mismatch in 2018.
The Los Angeles Rams, with then-rookie Jared Goff, fired Jeff Fisher in December of 2016.
The frequency of dismissals is increasing. But some coaches and executives who have experienced those organizational dynamics dont see this trend as pointing to a clear solution or formula that will save the next team from this outcome.
I think there is some causation/correlation issues, one NFC executive told Yahoo Sports. People whose teams struggle because they dont have a QB usually wind up with the first pick. Those coaches are already on the hot seat. And most rookie QBs cant save those coaches.
The reality is that its usually more than the QB holding the team back when they have the first pick, but teams wont admit that.
There are questions that follow logically from these premises: If a coach is already on the hot seat, why allow them such influence in picking a quarterback whose career theyre unlikely to see through? Alternatively: If their influence is valued enough to help shape that quarterback decision, why not give them at least one year and give the quarterback less tumult?
An assistant coach and an executive from different teams responding to those premises landed on similar conclusions: Firing a coach too early, as in before the draft overseeing the quarterback, can give a team a reputation of impatience that hurts their ability to recruit future coaches. And is it fair to fire a coach whos trying to win a game without an answer at the most important position?
Teams usually give rope to the coach because they didnt have a QB, the NFC executive said. Even if they know they may not have it right.
The timing of midseason firings tend to then stem from incidents or scenarios particular to each team. The Rams in 2016, for example, sought to avoid trotting Fisher out to coach with the risk that he broke the NFL record for most losses in league history. Last season, the Bears and Matt Eberflus took an ego hit first after the Washington Commanders won on a Hail Mary made possible by Chicagos poor-discipline defensive effort. Add in clock management outrage on Thanksgiving against Detroit, and team ownership had seen enough.
The Titans decision to fire Callahan just six games into the season marks the earliest firing of the decades six tied to first overall rookie quarterbacks. Preempting this weekends game against Vrabel does not seem coincidental to people around the league.
Owners are quick to pull the trigger when theyre embarrassed, the assistant coach said. They dont look at it as from the lens of whats best for QB development. They look at the coach individually. And if they think theyre not it, then they look for the next shiny coach to bring in and hope theyre it.
At 1-5, the Titans record is better than only that of the winless New York Jets. Their offense is the major problem.
No one has fewer yards than the Titans 232.3 per game and only the Browns (13.7) have scored fewer points per game than the Titans 13.8. The Titans have also been the leagues worst team on third down, converting just 28.1% of attempts.
Ward has completed 55% of his pass attempts for 1,101 yards, three touchdowns, four interceptions and a 67.3 passer rating. Among 34 qualified passers, no one has a worse passer rating or fewer touchdowns (the Browns Dillon Gabriel and New York Giants Russell Wilson have tied for three, though neither has started more than three games compared to Wards six).
Ward also fumbled four times and has taken a league-worst 25 sacks for a loss of 198 yards.
Id like to see our quarterback play be better, Brinker said. Id like to see the offense be more consistent moving the ball. I think I want to see improvement in the defense and the offense.
We all know what it looks like when we see it.
The stagnating offense isnt only on Ward, quarterback just one factor in a teams success as Joe Flaccos drastic improvement from the Browns to the Bengals showed.
But the Titans need to find offensive answers to spur improvement if they want to avoid their first overall pick finding his footing elsewhere, as Baker Mayfield has done with his MVP-caliber play in Tampa.
The Panthers saw glimmers from Young when his toughness shone through clearly unideal circumstances. Williams arm talent showed through some games last year even as his penchant for extending plays contributed to his league-high sack absorption.
For Cam, needs to show hes not afraid of the rush and panicking under pressure, the assistant coach said. Hang in there, make tough throws on third downs, which he has shown he can do, and make plays in the clutch.
Bryce showed some clutch plays and drives at the end of games that has carried over.
Ward has similar goals, his confidence and willingness to take responsibility both high. From operational fluidity in the huddle to accuracy and ball security, Ward identified the growth areas.
The biggest thing is just me being better every play, Ward said. I havent played my best ball.
I think just once Im playing to my standard that I put on myself, itll be able to take care of a lot of stuff on offense.