The Buccaneers announced on Friday that they have completed an interview for their offensive coordinator vacancy.
Former Titans head coach Brian Callahan met with the team about the opening on Todd Bowles’ staff. The interview was held remotely.
Callahan was hired by the Titans in 2024 and fired six games into the 2025 season. He was 4-19 during his time in Tennessee.
Prior to being hired by the Titans, Callahan was the offensive coordinator for the Bengals for five seasons. The Bengals enjoyed a lot more success during Callahan’s tenure than the Titans did and Callahan helped with the development of quarterback Joe Burrow in Cincinnati after he was selected first overall in 2020.
The Bucs won’t be breaking in a new quarterback, but the Callahan interview suggests they may be looking for a more experienced hand to work with Baker Mayfield after Josh Grizzard was dismissed following his first season as a coordinator.
This is the business we’ve chosen.
That reality is crystal clear for NFL head coaches in the early days of every New Year. The vast majority of hired coaches inevitably become fired coaches. Few leave on their own terms, without a pink slip, a push, or a nudge.
They understand it. And they’re compensated accordingly, often with millions still owed to them after they turn in their whistles.
Five days ago, there were two consensus vacancies looming for 2026, on top of the two that already existed. Starting on Sunday night, two became three (Falcons). On Monday, three became six (Raiders, Browns, Cardinals). On Tuesday, six became seven (Ravens). On Thursday, seven became eight (Dolphins).
And that may not be the end of it. Losses by the Packers or the Bills this weekend could (key word: could) spark even more changes. Also, Mike Tomlin could still decide to walk away from the Steelers whenever his latest playoff run ends.
It’s just the way it is. Owners feel compelled to do something to make things better, or at least to make it look like they’re trying. It’s a play to renew season tickets. To create hope, plausible or otherwise, for a more viable future that will keep fans engaged with their wallets, their time, their loyalty.
Adding to the willingness to fire a coach is the fact that, every year, one or more teams with new coaches immediately thrive. This weekend, two of the 12 wild-card coaches will be in their first seasons on the job. Five of the 12 are in their first two years on the job.
Quick fixes are possible. For plenty of teams, however, hiring a new coach won’t fix anything. The dysfunction flows from the top. The owner who hired the coach who was just fired will now have to hire another one. Who will eventually be fired.
Bad teams stay bad for a reason. And most of the jobs that are currently open are open because the organization can’t emerge from a cycle of dysfunction.
Except in Cleveland. Where the team is definitely not dysfunctional. Because the owner says so, despite a mountain of evidence otherwise.
The Titans are adding a pair of defensive coordinators to their list of head coaching candidates and they play their home games in the same stadium.
According to multiple reports, the Titans have requested interviews with Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula. Both coaches will be working this weekend and will be available for virtual interviews next week.
Minter was installed as the early betting favorite to be the next Ravens head coach, but this is the first official word of an interview request this cycle. Minter was an assistant in Baltimore from 2017-2020 and began working under Jim Harbaugh at Michigan in 2022.
Shula, who is the grandson of Don Shula, has been on the Rams’ staff since 2017 and is in his second year as their coordinator. He was also college teammates with Rams head coach Sean McVay.
Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith spent a long time coaching in Tennessee, but he said on Thursday that he’s not spending any time pondering the prospect of returning there in 2026.
The Titans have requested permission to interview Smith for their head coaching vacancy. Smith was a Titans assistant under multiple coaches from 2011-2020 and used a two-year run as the team’s offensive coordinator as a stepping stone to the head coaching job in Atlanta.
Smith insists that the prospect of a second chance to run a team during a return to Nashville is not something that he’s spending any time thinking about with the Steelers set to host the Texans on Monday night.
“That’s not something I’m going to focus on because the only thing that matters is my current job,” Smith said, via Teresa M. Walker of the Associated Press. “It’s like trying to tell people all the time, I’m living the present. If you have perspective, you have life experiences, you’re wasting time worrying about the future if you deal with that. . . . Anything’s like that’s a distraction.”
Smith won’t be able to speak to the Titans or anyone else until after Monday’s game. If the Steelers win, he’ll have to choose whether to shift his attention long enough to throw his hat in the ring.
Kliff Kingsbury was fired this week as offensive coordinator of the Commanders, but he could be due for a promotion elsewhere.
Both the Ravens and Titans want to interview Kingsbury for their head-coaching vacancies, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
Kingsbury runs a style of offense that would be an interesting fit for either Lamar Jackson in Baltimore or Cam Ward in Tennessee. His offenses have had mixed results in the NFL, but both teams might see him as a high-risk, high-reward option for their talented quarterbacks.
The 46-year-old Kingsbury went 28-37-1 in the regular season and 0-1 in the playoffs in four years as head coach of the Cardinals. He previously went 35-40 in six years as head coach at Texas Tech, where he is remembered for having talented quarterbacks like Baker Mayfield and Patrick Mahomes but not winning many games with them. He had a brief NFL playing career as a backup quarterback.
Now he’ll attempt to get his second NFL head-coaching job, and hopefully win more than he did in his first.
