It took six weeks for my dark-horse Super Bowl favorite Bucs to hit No. 1 in The Athletic’s Power Rankings, just as my actual Super Bowl favorite Ravens hit No. 25. It could be worse. From the New Yorker:
Inside: What’s next after the Titans fired their head coach, plus Week 7 fantasy targets and Jake Ciely explaining how to fix broken teams.
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Brian Callahan fired
He worked with Peyton Manning in Denver, Matthew Stafford in Detroit and Joe Burrow in Cincinnati.
So yes, the Titans hired Brian Callahan expecting his presence to help their quarterback situation. Instead, Will Levis became an internet meme, Cam Ward has had a brutal beginning (though let’s wait to judge until his team is no longer, as he’s put it, “ass”) and Callahan is now jobless after a 4-19 record in Tennessee.
Are we really surprised? Financial writer Nassim Taleb’s book, “Fooled by Randomness,” explains that false narratives often arise due to our desire to construct stories, which help us understand a world filled with happenstance.
Said differently: The Titans convinced themselves that Callahan’s proximity to Manning, Stafford and Burrow meant he could replicate that quarterback success elsewhere. But Callahan was never the primary play caller for any of those passers, and Burrow’s career-best season came after Callahan’s post-2023 departure as Cincinnati OC.
It’s a common hiring trap in the NFL: Attributing quarterback success to non-play calling coaches. Had the Titans known the spotty history of first-time head coaches with resumes consisting mainly of “worked with, but didn’t call plays for, a star quarterback,” they might have avoided this situation.
- 2022: Broncos hire Nathaniel Hackett after Aaron Rodgers’ success in Green Bay. Fired after a 4-11 start. 🚫
- 2021: Texans hire David Culley, who worked with Allen and Lamar Jackson. Fired after one 4-13 season (though he had little chance). 🚫
- 2016: Dolphins hire Adam Gase due to his work with Manning in Denver. Fired after three seasons (23-26). 🚫
- 2013: Bills hire Doug Marrone, who worked with Drew Brees in New Orleans. Departed after two seasons (15-17). 🚫
It’s not always a miss, especially if you’re the Eagles: They made Super Bowls after hiring three former non-play callers as head coaches: Andy Reid, Doug Pederson and Nick Sirianni. The Vikings’ hire of Kevin O’Connell, who won a Super Bowl as Stafford’s offensive coordinator, was also a hit; Minnesota is 37-21 since.
Still, it was always likely that Tennessee was hiring the next Hackett, rather than the next Reid, to replace Mike Vrabel.
Did Callahan have a chance?
The blame for Callahan’s 4-19 record falls equally onto Titans’ ownership, who seem intent on mismatching their head coach and general manager. Within the past 34 months, the Titans fired GM Jon Robinson, who hired Vrabel and oversaw six winning seasons in seven years, but was also the catalyst of the A.J. Brown trade. They replaced him with Ran Carthon, who helped hire Callahan before being dismissed himself.
As Michael Silver notes in his story on whether Ward’s young career can survive the dysfunction in Tennessee, 2025’s top pick “is caught in a blender powered by [owner Amy] Adams Strunk’s impetuousness and impatience.”
Don’t let Callahan off the hook, though. Vrabel has quickly transformed a Patriots roster that had a similarly poor offensive line, weak skill-position talent and a defense mostly devoid of stars (albeit with a much better quarterback so far, Drake Maye).
Callahan wasn’t up to the task, and even his father, Bill, an offensive line guru hired in 2024, did little to improve Tennessee’s blocking. Callahan clearly didn’t understand the rules for a catch, and his seat grew hotter after play-calling responsibilities ended up in the hands of quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree.
What was the final straw? I asked The Athletic’s Joe Rexrode, who has spent a lot of time around the Titans for us.
💬 “The overall inability to carry any momentum over from the previous week’s semi-miraculous win at Arizona was strong commentary on Callahan’s ineffectiveness. Jeffery Simmons’ postgame commentary on a bad week of practice couldn’t have helped.
“And the fact that the previously fired coach, Vrabel, will bring his team to town Sunday may be a factor. He at least won’t get the satisfaction of embarrassing the guy who replaced him.”
That’s right, the 1-5 Titans host Vrabel’s 4-2 (and newly AFC East-leading) Patriots in Week 7.
Which Mike is next for the Titans?
After announcing Callahan’s firing, Tennessee named senior offensive assistant (and former Chargers head coach) Mike McCoy as Callahan’s interim replacement. He’s the fourth Mike to coach the Titans since 2010, joining Munchak, Mularkey and Vrabel.
Could Tennessee hire yet another Mike in 2026? There’s a surprisingly good chance, per Joe:
💬 “Teams usually go with a different philosophy from the coach they just fired, which would seem to make someone like Buffalo OC Joe Brady less likely. Callahan was essentially the Brady of two cycles ago. So, go back to a ‘culture-builder’ coach, more like Vrabel? Brian Flores and Jesse Minter come to mind.
“If head-coaching experience is more of a priority, Mike McCarthy would make sense, and he worked in Green Bay with Titans president Chad Brinker.”
Any return to winning is unlikely to come soon for Tennessee, but that might not be the case for your fantasy team(s). Over to Jake Ciely, who knows a thing or two about turnarounds.
All In with Jake Ciely
If your team is trash, now is the time to take chances. I’m talking to the 0-6, 1-5 and even 2-4 teams. Things obviously went sideways, so you need lottery-ticket results to get out of the basement. Actual, winning tickets from a real lottery, not those giant, fake, nationwide ones.
Here’s the plan:
You might need to trade away your best player. If you have any top-10 to -20 values on your team, move them to improve your team. While you don’t want to trade away Christian McCaffrey, if he can net you a Quinshon Judkins-and-Rome Odunze type of haul, and your best wideout has been Zay Flowers, you need to do it.
Target the buy-lows. TreVeyon Henderson, RJ Harvey, Kenneth Walker, Jameson Williams, Ricky Pearsall (assuming he’s back this week), etc. are not guarantees to turn things around. However, we know their ceilings, and their costs are fractions of those ceilings. It’s how you maximize value and give yourself a shot.
Lastly, you need healthy players, as you can’t afford another loss. So be aggressive, buy low, take big swings and pray the fantasy overlords give you their blessings.
Here’s my guide to trading. Good luck.
Fantasy prep: Week 7 waivers and targets
The dominant question prior to Week 6: Which running back would the Chargers turn to after losing both Omarion Hampton (ankle) and Najee Harris (Achilles) to injured reserve? Would it matter?
Kimani Vidal was the answer, and yes, he matters. “He did everything in his power today to will us to a victory,” teammate Bradley Bozeman said in Daniel Popper’s postgame takeaways.
That sentiment was shared by fantasy managers brave enough to start Vidal, who ran for 124 yards on 18 carries in his first career start. He showed the tackle-breaking ability that’d once set Troy Trojans records, gaining 3.4 yards after contact on Sunday. He should continue to produce for a team that desperately needs a run game.
Harris is out for the season, and Hampton’s high-ankle sprain might cost him seven more weeks. With Vidal’s breakout making a trade unlikely, the 2024 sixth-round pick is your No. 1 fantasy priority this week, if available.
As for the top Week 7 adds, assuming Vidal is taken:
No. 1: Bears WR Luther Burden III. One of my guys this offseason, Burden is a must-start if DJ Moore misses any time (Moore left last night’s game in an ambulance, but it’s unclear what happened).
No. 2: Buccaneers TE Cade Otton. When Baker Mayfield’s top receivers were injured in 2024, Otton was the league’s second-highest scoring receiver; from Weeks 7 to 9, only CeeDee Lamb bested Otton’s 22.9 PPR points per game. Mayfield’s top receivers are again injured.
No. 3: Panthers WR Jalen Coker. Reminder: Coker’s 2024 yards per route run (1.73) ranked fourth among rookie receivers last year, behind only Brian Thomas, Ladd McConkey and Malik Nabers. He could be back from IR as soon as this week.
No. 4: Browns TE Harold Fannin Jr. Perhaps someone in your league dropped him. Maybe it was you. Regardless, the 21-year-old caught seven passes for 81 yards in Week 6 and has forced more missed tackles than any receiver or tight end this season, and now David Njoku might miss time with a knee injury. Short targets make Fannin more valuable in PPR leagues.
Deeper leagues:
- Packers WR Christian Watson should return to a receiver room marred by injury, with injuries to Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks opening opportunities for the 2022 second-rounder in a contract year.
- Rams WR Jordan Whittington. The offseason standout rarely got opportunities as a rookie, starting in three games Puka Nacua missed. He finished with 12.2, 15.9 and 12.8 fantasy points in those games, and now Nacua’s status is uncertain.
Don’t overpay for: Cardinals RB Bam Knight. If you have a hobby, family or anything else to occupy your Sunday mornings, you might’ve missed the rush to add Knight after Adam Schefter reported that he would start ahead of Michael Carter.
But that meant little, since Knight played just five more snaps than Carter while running for 34 yards on 11 carries. A touchdown saved an otherwise slow day for another member of a gross committee.
Be careful with: 49ers WR Kendrick Bourne. You don’t need me to tell you to consider a receiver averaging 142 yards per game, so I won’t. Bourne’s shared history with Jones proved beneficial, but Brock Purdy (and Pearsall) could return to spoil the party. The opportunity has probably passed here.
For more: Read Ciely’s Week 7 Waiver Wire column.
Extra Points
🚫 Suspended star. Lions safety Brian Branch was suspended for his role in Sunday night’s brawl in Kansas City. He’ll miss Week 7’s crucial game against the NFC-leading Buccaneers.
📺 Watch. Ted Nguyen’s Week 6 film review looks at how rookie Jaxson Dart impressed pre-snap in the Giants’ upset of the Eagles, plus the Kansas City offense’s rebirth and Bo Nix’s struggles.
🏃 Can’t run? The Seahawks field an offense seemingly predicated on their run game. Yet that’s their biggest struggle, and Michael-Shawn Dugar examines whether Sam Darnold’s success is sustainable if that continues.
🎙 Beyond repair? Mike Sando joined the “Scoop City” podcast to explain what the Jets need to do to save their season, and their future with Justin Fields. Watch on YouTube here.
▶️ Yesterday’s most-clicked: Mike’s popular Pick Six column, which covers Travis Kelce, the record-setting Panthers (?!) and those winless Jets, among others.
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