The OTP | GM Mike Borgonzi and Coach Callahan Embracing the Process at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine
February 25, 2025 • 37 mins
Amie Wells, Rhett Bryan, Ramon Foster, and Dave McGinnis visit with Titans head coach Brian Callahan and general manager Mike Borgonzi on the OTP, presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans.
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
This is the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans.
Farm Bureau is for those who make plans for everything
except themselves. We make it easy and affordable for Tennesseeans
who don't have a group or employer plan. Visit FBHP
dot com to learn more. I'm Amy Wells. Thank you
for joining us for the OTP from Indianapolis. That's right,
(00:35):
the twenty twenty five NFL scouting Combine has begun and
we are so happy to be here. Rett Brian is here,
Coach Mac is here, Ramon Foster is here, and we've
got tons of coverage all week long. And to start
we have Titans head coach Brian Callahan. Coach Callahan, so
great to have you here on the OTP from sunny Indianapolis.
(00:57):
How are you doing this morning?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Fantastic? Thank you, Thank you for asking.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
We're glad to have you here. But we've got to
start out by asking about your process and how you're
approaching the combine, the evaluation process, all of that a
little bit differently a year or two from your rookie season.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah, there's just a little bit more clarity on how
it all works and how it's all going to fit together.
All the things that come up for a head coach
over the course of an off season, you've sort of
been through once already, so there's a there's a comfort
level in the and how it's going to how it operates,
and then there's an excitement for what's to come. You know,
I'm excited about about the process we're in right now
and chance to improve the football team.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator consistent this year Nick Holts,
Dinard Wilson still part of the team. How beneficial is
that consistency as you begin the evaluation process, knowing what
they like, what they don't like, that sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah, it's huge. Anytime that you can have continuity on
your staff and with the people you're working with, it
allows you to keep building on the things that you started.
And you know, we've got a lot of work to do,
and having the same people in the same processes in
two phases of the game are really helpful. And I'll
say this, one of the things that you learned first
year and going through it is you really get a
better feel for your football team. You know, this time
(02:08):
last year, I hadn't met hardly any of the players.
Your first experience with most of them is in the
off season program and then you kind of go through
it together through the course of the season. And at
this point right now, I feel so much better about
knowing what our team is and where we have to
go and the things that we need to get better.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
You had a lot of production from young players in
twenty twenty four. Is that coloring the way that you're
evaluating talent right now, either knowing that you have a
lot of young guys on your team who have a
lot of ceiling going forward, or that you need to
find more young guys because there's a real chance they're
going to be contributing in twenty five and beyond.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, I think it's both. You know, we had some
young players play pretty significant roles, and that's exciting. Anytime
you have young guys developing and playing well and getting
better over the course of the season, that's a good thing.
That's what you want, and we're going to have to
add more and that's the way that the league works.
And your young players are really your life blood, your
team team, and the more of those guys that develop
and play at a high level, the better off we're
(03:04):
going to be. And and again we're gonnadd another rookie
class and another class of free agency, and that's what
we're hoping for, is is the young players continue to
ascend and be able to play significant roles for us.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Brian and I want to go back to the coaching
staff in this You were able to bring in John
Fossil in that third phase. Got to be exciting, one
of the best in the business to do it, and
to take that third phase for the Titans in a
place that hadn't been in before.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, that's that was the exciting part about having Bones,
which is is he's affectionately known out there around around
the league is you know, he doesn't come available very often,
and it just so happened that the way that it
worked with the situation in Dallas and his availability, and
we try to take advantage of that opportunity and really
really excited about adding him to the staff and him
(03:49):
and and Renee Stewart, both of those guys they've worked
together for a while now, and really excited about that phase.
And his reputation precedes him. He's obviously very well regarded,
but I think what he brings is different than a
lot of coaches is his ability to affect the entire team,
you know, and his his energy and his presentation. Those
things are well known in league circles, and how he
(04:11):
teaches and coaches, so really really excited to have him.
And he's a huge help for me too.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
And this time of year ago you had just hired
your staff. You mentioned, you know, he hadn't met most
of the players. Now you've got your footing. You've been
around the block for one lap around the sun in
this You talked in your pressers at the end of
the year about the nervous system of players. I know
that started the Senior Bowl, But what does someone like yourself,
the head coach, get out of this week in discovering
(04:38):
that nervous system about those players.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
That's a huge part of this process right now is
we all have the tape. We've evaluated tape where we've
you know, that process has been ongoing. You know, our
our area scouts are evaluating the tape. You know, we've
our scouting staff has been in there for whatever it is,
almost three weeks watching tape, trying to get ready to
for the combine. That part is a huge part of
the process, right just evaluating the tape But then there's
(05:02):
another really significant part of it, which really starts now,
is finding out about the person. You know, what makes
them tick? Well, how do they view the game of football?
How do they fit for our team? Because sometimes there's
fits for our team that might not be a fit
for somebody else and vice versa. And that's what this
next stretch of weeks is between now and the draft
is all those in person touch points, the thirty visits,
(05:24):
the combine, the pro days, the private workouts, all those
things are now more focused on finding out more about
who they are as a person and what makes them tick.
In that part, I think is also a really significant
part of the evaluation process.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
So if speaking of that, that's why I was headed.
Is when you get those guys, specifically the quarterbacks in
the room two let's go top five guys, how do
you engage with them to figure out what works for
you and your system and also put the nard on
his side of.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
The ball too.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
Do you like to see a reaction on a question
that you know probably hasn't doesn't have an.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Answer sometimes, Yeah, that's all part of it. It's you're
trying to get a gauge for you know what, what
buttons can you push? What, what do they respond to?
How do they react under under pressure, whether it's UH
real pressure or not. You try to get some semblance
of that, and and not every interview is like that,
(06:18):
but you do you try to have you try to
have enough things where you can try to peel back
the layers a bit where you know, you we all
know you can walk into a twenty minute interview and
be pretty well prepared and not give too much one
way or the other. And so our job is to
try to see if we can't find a way around
one of those those UH trained questions, you know, and
to see what the reactions are and how they can operate.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Wait a minute in a meeting room doing these interviews,
Are you good cop or bad cop?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
I'm generally more of the observing and I and I
interject one necessary uh. I tell you our assistant coaches
even as way, we had a bunch of them last night.
And we do a lot of film work in these
in these meetings, because that's where you get the most
unscripted answers where you haven't talked about their tape and
good and bad plays, and there's always funny when you
(07:07):
throw up a bad play on there and you ask
you what are you doing here? And then they just
kind of put their head down, just like you.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
No, That's the reason I asked them because I'm trying
to explain to people the tape is the tape as
it pertains to what you cause. Know, the ability to
get a reaction and how to see how a player
reacts is more important. I feel like this and break
down what you did on this play because when I
got done, this is what I've been telling people, the
coaches told me. And when I was like, I'm done,
(07:34):
it's like no. It's when I was going to my
last contract, I had coach Tomlin tell me we knew
from the combine if we ever put something in front
of you that you would knock it out. And I
was like, how did you notice, Like when we the
questions we actually at the combine, you guys are yes, Amy,
they are sick inside of.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
It is that's all part of it. It's a part
of it, and I think that's I do. I give
a lot of credit to assistant coaches, and we still
have a lot of interviews to go, but they do
a great job of putting the tape together of you know,
finding finding things where you can dig you know what,
what why did you make this mistake? What is this?
What kind of effort is this here? And you just
you get a feel for how they answer those questions,
(08:12):
what their mindset is, and how they view their tape.
And then you get some good ones in there too.
You just talk and then you have them talk technique
and scheme, and it's just an easy way to really
just jump right into it because it's hard to it's
hard to bluff the tape, right. You can't lie about
what's happening on the tape. So you put guys in
some spot. You put them on the spot and see
how they respond. So oursistant coaches so far have done
(08:33):
a really a great job putting those tapes together and
driving that football part of it, and I'm looking forward
to the rest of them. They're fun.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
How is evaluating quarterbacks different from evaluating every other position
on the field.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Well, there's just because it's such an important position. You know,
there's so many more things that go into that position
other than just being able to throw football. You know
a lot of guys over the years look good throwing
a football when they're in shorts. You know, it's just
I thought I could throw football in short it's pretty
good too. Sometimes, you know, it's just there's just so
much more of the position and how you play it,
(09:08):
and it's really really hard to evaluate. You know, it's
hard to know those things. That's why you see the
varying degrees of success and drafting quarterbacks over the years
is that it's not an exact science, and it's it's
challenging to get all the things you need to know
prior to a selection, and then you find out even
more when they get to the NFL. There's just so
many things that you have to look at that's just
(09:29):
different than any other position. You know, there's certain things
in other positions you go, yep, I know this guy
can rush pastward. That's he's gonna be able to do
that at the same level he did in colleges. He's
in the NFL. There's just so much more to the
quarterback position. I think that you have to uncover in
the process, and that's what makes it really challenging because
of how much is on those guys plate and what
they have to do for your football team.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Brian, this is the fun part for you though, because
because you're an offensive coach, and the quarterbacks and people
that you've dealt with, this is your forte. This is
the fun one part, right.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I love, I love. I've always loved the evaluation process
with quarterbacks. It's it's a when I was a kid,
probably when I was in middle school, high school, I
would go with my dad at this time of year
and we'd go watch every quarterback. So I've been watching
draft classes of quarterbacks for a really long time, and
I just enjoyed it because I was just trying to
learn how to be a better quarterback myself. How do
(10:22):
these guys throw? What do they do? And so I've
watched a lot of quarterbacks over the years, and that
certainly doesn't make me any more qualify than anybody else
to look at it, because again it's not an exact science.
But I do very much enjoy this part. I do
enjoy watching quarterbacks. I'm a fan of quarterback play. I
like seeing what these guys bring to the table, both
in their skill set and their mentality. It's fun. I
(10:44):
enjoy the evaluation process.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
I'm gonna follow up and almost still a little bit
of ramone thunder because he's the offensive lineman here. But
you mentioned one of the first things you mentioned in
your closing press conference when the season was done is
you have to find a right tackle. Please tell me
there's some gentlemen here that can help the Titans and
you with that.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, there's there's some good there's some good players in
this draft. I think you're going to find that. It's
going to be a different draft in terms of like
the top end talent. It seems that there's a handful
of guys I think that'll that'll go in the offensive line,
but I think there's some meat in the middle, if
you will, there's some really chances to get some good
players in those middle rounds and guys that can play.
And you know there's also the free agency component as
(11:23):
well that that kind of works in conjunction with that.
You know, you're always aware of both where the strength
of both classes are and how do you best fill
those needs. So, yeah, we're we're we're hard at work
at trying to improve both fronts. You know, we we
still need work on both sides, and we need to
add good players on both sides of the front. You
can see from the Super Bowl that the front matters.
And then you have to you have to have good
(11:44):
players there, and uh, we're we're well well down that path.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
See, finally people will start listening to offensive line and
instead of sending us to the furthest part of the
field to practice when nobody can hear us get punished.
Now we matter in big games. Well, the big hit
with the guy that you have to the quarterback? What
called you the first one, the first overall pick. Yeah,
everybody has to talk to you. Everybody has to talk
(12:07):
to you that as a premier player in this draft.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
What does a quarterback look like?
Speaker 4 (12:13):
That plays in your system before your team? But what
do you want them to look like? Because you inherited
one and will you brought in another Mason? And now
is your opportunity if you choose to get your guy.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
So what does that look like? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
I think the one thing it's that I do want
to do a good job of sort of dispelling the
notion too that they have to fit a system. Okay,
you know, I do think that we got enough plays,
we got enough ways of using players. And it's our
job as a coaching staff, it's my job as the
as the head coach and the one calling the plays,
is that we have to do the best job possible
(12:45):
of fitting the system to whatever talent we have, and
sometimes you have to give and take based on where
your spots are on offense. But at the end of
the day, the system is the system is secondary. It's
always player first and find the best possible players and
we'll fit them to the system. There's enough football players
out there for everybody, but that's going to be our job.
And so when you're looking at quarterbacks, it's you just
(13:07):
want the best one, and all of them have different
skill sets that they one might be might throw with
more anticipation, one might throw with a little more quickness,
there might be more decisive. There's all those things you're measuring.
But at the end of the day, you want just
the best player period. You know, whichever one that is,
whatever player that is, it's our job to fit them
(13:28):
in to whatever we want to do from a schematic
standpoint and then build it around.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
That does that type of stuff right there matter if
a player that's in this top five, let's go to
top four, Travis Chador, Cam and Abdul as it pertains
one having more attributes than deficiencies, do you make a
pick based upon that too? Or do you say, okay,
we need a quarterback, well take a quarterback, or hey, no,
this rusher or this corner is better than both of
(13:54):
those guys. Like how do you get to the nuts
and bolts of this?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
I think there's always a weight to quarterbacks. Okay, there's
always something if you're if you're looking for a quarterback,
that usually because it's the most important position in sports,
it's hard to pass one up if you think they're
good enough. If you think one of those other players
is that much of a difference maker, then you have
to be open to doing that as well. Which at
this point, those are all fantastic players, all four of them,
(14:19):
you know, those are the guys that everyone's talking about
and rightfully so they've earned that right. They're all really
good players, and you have to just you have to
evaluate who they are as players and then make the
best decision. And if you think a player A is
better than player B, then then you make that. Then
you make that choice. But I do think that there's
a lot of work to be done still on those
on those spots. But I would always say that the
(14:42):
quarterbacks are always going to be waited a little bit
because of the nature of the position.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
With that also, I tell people most time to combine
and pre draft ain't about how much we can build
you up. It's about, okay, how many knocks can we
get on you? And one may be okay arm strength,
that's the pertain it's a quarterback one may I mean,
but in the same sense they may have accuracy. What
I want to add what matters more the fact that
a guy can go seventy yards through the air or
the fact that he can hit a ten yard out
(15:06):
on a dime. When it comes to what you're looking for.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
I would say the things that I've always looked for
is the decision making, the timing, the accuracy. Those that
to me, just when you really look at quarterback playing
the league, what do the really good ones do they
do those things consistently? And then you have the talents
when the true talent can take over, where when the
scheme breaks down and they can make plays outside of structure,
(15:31):
you know those are the how great are they at
that or what other strength do they have? Are they
great in their pocket? Are they great when they're on
the move? Can they do really wild things when they
have a chance to get outside of the structure. But
I think when you look at the core, when you
say what is it that quarterbacks have to do well?
And I always look at it this way. There's always
a point in every game where you have to drop
(15:55):
back and throw and you have to do it well,
and everyone knows you have to do it. The defense
knows you can do it, the stadium, every fan in
the stadium knows you're gonna do it. And when those
moments come, you to be able to execute and and
not everything can be off schedule. There's there is you
have to be able to play with some timing, there
has to be really strong decision making, and you gotta
be able to throw accurately. Those things are kind of
(16:15):
the core, and then there's offshoots of of what you're
looking for. What else do they bring besides those things?
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Yeah, Uh, it's nothing better than knowing that you have
to have it and having a guy that can go
get it. That is a luxury. And I don't think
as you talk about how hard it is to find
a quarterback a starter a franchise, God put them on
the front of the stadium. That process is deep. Because
you look at Patrick Mahomes, then you also look at
Rock Party. That is a big gap between athleticism and
(16:43):
also perception of what they were supposed to do too,
and all the side you have a Trey Lance or
Zach dak Wilson like, it's hard coach to find this guy.
So have you had many sleep like very rest of nights?
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, I have. But I think you have to do
a really good job of trust what you see. You
have to trust the people doing evaluations so you get
the right opinions from all sides. And then you have
to do your homework. You have to really this, You
have to work at it. And when you say there's
no stone unturned in the process, that's part of it
(17:15):
is that you have to do your due diligence on
all the players and all the positions and quarterback. If
there's just because there's one or two guys everyone talks about,
that doesn't mean that you just disregard the rest of them.
You have to do your work on all of those
players to see where they all stack and how they fit.
Because there is there is the Rock perties and that
Tom Brady's the guys that weren't picked in the first round.
(17:37):
Those so you do your homework on all of it,
and you make sure you do your diligence and you
treat all of them with the same sort of respect
that you would treat the guy that you think is
going to be the top player versus the guy that's
going to be the seventh round pick, because you just
don't know where that's going to end up landing, and
you have to make sure you feel good about the
entirety of the class.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
You mentioned having that type of gout though too. I've
always been told from college coaches all the way through,
whenever you're in a position of being a head coach
and you got a quarterback, everybody need to know who
that guy is. On college campuses, he walks into class,
the professor, Oh, there's a quarterback. Does personality matter to you?
As it pertains two, there are different variations of these
(18:14):
guys where you get his father okay, that travels with
him cam the exact same way, very bolsterous. Even the
Jackson Dart you mentioned the other guys, or Tyler Shuck
who said I'm throwing and I'm gonna show you what
I'm worth, yep. Does those personality traits matter to you
and how they are outward in the media and how
much you see of them.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, I think that's all part of the when you
talk about the nervous system, right, that's another component of
it is is the personality, how they relate. What I
care more about is what kind of teammate are they?
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Ok?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
You know, that's what you're really trying to find. There's
there's a there's ever all these quarterbacks have a bravado.
That's camera around them. That's just what that's just what
it is. That's what the position is, and there's always
eyes on you. So that part. I I appreciate confidence.
I like guys that do have confidence, but some of
that stuff is the it's the bravado part of it.
And and you try to break through that layer of like, well,
(19:05):
what kind of teammate are they? Where? Where do they?
Where do they really make their mark on the football team.
So yeah, there's a lot of quarterbacks that have that
outward bravado. But then you got to find out if
it's really how they are in general. I mean maybe
maybe it's not. And that's that's our job, is to
find out where the where the line is because I
think what's most important when it comes to that particular
part of it is the the quarterbacks confidence? Does it
(19:28):
show up on does it show up on the field
and on the tape as opposed to what they say.
I think that's an important part. But yeah, there's there's
a there's an element of the makeup that you're trying
to break through what is what is real and what isn't.
But one thing I always I've always maintained this is
that if that's who you are, be that all the time.
That's yeah, if that's if that's your personality, then be that.
(19:51):
And that to me means more. Is that is that,
is that that who you are on a day to
day basis, then then be that and and we can
we can all accept that. But it's the ones where
it's not they don't match up that you got.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
To that's the worst teammate. That's the worst teammate right there,
to be honest with you, is just like this guy
is outwarding and everybody perceives him to be the great leader,
and his teammates hate him. I've had guys like that.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
No, that's a real thing. It's at all positions. It's
not just a quarterback then.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
No, Yeah, and don't let it be the quarterback like
that's That's the reason I ask those questions because a
lot of with these guys, as you can particularly pick,
a lot comes with them and the city being able
to embrace that, but also you walk in if you
still stay and pick at the number one spot, that's
a lot of oz and being able to handle that,
I think is a huge important part of this job.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah, there's a quarterback that you know, that number one
pick is a whole different world. You know, there's a
whole set of expectation and pressure that comes with that.
That's not just the twelfth overall pick. You know, I
look at it this way. You look at Bonnicks, right,
Bonicks gets drafted where they get drafted twelve, So that's
way different than Kathy Williams at number one. And there's
(20:59):
just a different set of expectations and pressures. And that's
you know, a lot of guys think they can handle
that until they're in it, and so you have to
you have to try to determine the best you can.
It's hard to know that is how does that? How
do they handle that part of it too? So the
best thing I can the best way to answer is,
like consistency of personality is important and if be who
you are, but be that all the time, I think
(21:20):
that's the that's the best, the biggest takeaway I think
you can you can bring from that.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
But Brian, the football character is where that is in
case too, because that's got to be way up on
the list. How much do you love the game? How
much do you love your teammates and the organization, how
all that works.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
I would say it's really difficult to play quarterback at
a at a high level if that's not how you feel,
because there's just so much goes into it and it's
such a hard it's such an unforgiving position, and it's
such a hard position to prepare and play that if
you don't have you know, the league humbles you quickly.
You can get humbled very quickly, and and you have
to have that approach that that you're going to do
(21:58):
everything possible to be great at your job. Uh and
you have to love that process because it's hard enough
as it is, and then you add the pressure playing
quarterback on top of it and performing it's just a
it's just a different quarterbacks, just different it's a different
set of pressures that apply to those guys, and you
have to have to love playing football, otherwise it's too hard, man,
(22:19):
it's the hardest position. You have to have a real
love for what it takes to play the position.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
All I've heard is a lot of justification of why
the quarterback get paid so much.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
We didn't come here for that. Right.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
Tackles are important too, okay, love, guards are important to the.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Cat keeps going up, that money keeps going up. Yes, yes,
I mean did you ever think you're going to when
you finished playing? You see guards making twenty twenty plus minutes?
No guards? No, we were the guard position.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
We're just talking ball. Was just oh, you're just a
cover up for the tackle, or hey have you got
a really good center? You just a trinket to them.
And now with the emergence of a Jeff Simmons of
it to Vondrix, what a Aaron Donald the interior pass rush,
they've realized that that guy left guard, that guy right
guard matters man a lot, and uh, it's good to
see it. I will say that to us. I'm a
(23:08):
reunion guy too.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
So I love saying great. I love seeing guys get
paid the.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Florida million dollars real quick too. Since I got you,
I got to ask you about a guard in particularly
you have the ability to shop in free agency or
retain in the house. That's something that you guys have
said too. Uh. Borganzhia said that Chad has said that also.
You guys shared that same sentiment. What's the idea of
I'll just actually this because free agency is a part
of it. How do you feel the guy like Dylan
(23:32):
Raiding's has done over the year that you've seen him,
his role that he's had to play.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
You know, I thought he really had for for the
first time in his career, had an opportunity to sort
of sink his teeth into playing guard. And I thought
as the year went on, he played better and better.
I was really pleased with I thought he was probably
of the guys up front, he's probably the most improved player.
I mean, he's the one that played at a you know,
the level that you were hoping to see, and he
got better his year went along. So you know, that'll
(23:58):
be it'll be interesting to see what his more market.
I mean, he's certainly a free agent, and those are
things that will come up here in the next couple
of weeks. But as far as his performance and his improvement.
I thought he really improve over the course of the season.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
Definitely.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
We know that free agency is around the corner as well.
There's a lot of just conversation swirling around the Tennessee Titans.
Between the first pick and the draft, You're being connected
to every quarterback, both in the draft and in free
agency that's ever existed. There's just a lot of conversation
right now around this team. How do you navigate all
of that, all of the attention that's being put on
(24:32):
this club and what needs to happen in the next
weeks and months.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Yeah, we have. We got to work cut out for us.
You know, We've got a lot of work to do.
We got to nail it too, you know, we got
to keep hitting in these player acquisition cycles, in the
draft and free agency. It's an important part if we
want to keep getting our team better. And it's not
lost on me. I'm very aware of it all. You know.
I understand the magnitude of the position we're in and
(24:56):
why we're getting the attention we're getting. I'd prefer not
to to have that particular attention because you know, again
I said it before, I don't like being first in
the draft. That means that we didn't we weren't good
enough this year, and so we got to keep getting better,
both as coaches and players, and then we got to
keep adding the right pieces. So at the end of
the day, the attention is good for the general organization
and for our you know, you want people to see
(25:18):
what we're doing and then you hope that we knock
it out of the park and people are excited about
how we've won about the process. So that's the best
way I can say it is that it's it's just
it's it comes with the territory. Thankfully. I've been in
this position before and I've kind of seen how the
ups and downs of the off season when you're in
this spot, so I have a little bit of fel
how to navigate it. But yeah, there's a there's a
lot of eyes on us, and and you know, we
(25:40):
we have to do a good job with with the
position we've been been given. We earned this position, unfortunately,
but we have to do a great job with the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Well, Brian Callahan, we know you are the busiest man
in Indianapolis, so we're gonna let you go, but thank
you for taking some time with us.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Sure, absolutely. Thanks good sitting down. It's good way to
start today.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
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back to the OTP. Mike Bergonzi. We are so excited
to have you here on the OTP from sunny Indianapolis.
Thanks for taking the time with us.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
Thank you excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
You are the general manager of the Tennessee Titans. You
have the first pick in the NFL draft. Are you
the most popular man at the combine here?
Speaker 5 (26:53):
I think so for the way my phone's been bringing
the last couple of weeks. But it's an exciting time.
It's exciting time for the looganzation to have the first
pick right now. And you know, we've we've been working
now for the for the past month with the staff,
you know, evaluating the college and free agency right now.
So it's certainly an exciting time and getting to know
(27:14):
the staff here over the last month it has been great.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
This is the place where a lot of those seeds
are planted, so a lot of conversations are happening, not
only about trades or player evaluations or things like that,
but also about some free agency thing. How many of
the seeds that are planted right now are going to
turn into moves that we see in draft weekend and
in free agency.
Speaker 5 (27:37):
So we've gone through the process of evaluating these free
agents for the past month here with the staff, and really,
you know, they give us that negotiation window here and
in a couple of weeks and we'll have a chance
to sit down and talk with some of the agents
there at that point. But certainly there's a lot of
buzz around here. You know, it's you've worked in the
league long enough, and you know, you know a lot
(27:59):
of the people that work in the league, so you
start to pick up information. You know, this is like
an information gathering session here for everything for the players
and information and free agency, so you get.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
It all here. Is it hard to navigate being in
charge of both friends, this is your first time doing this?
Speaker 5 (28:15):
Yeah, well, I'm lucky that I have a good staff
right now, you know, you know, with Chad who have
known for years, and we made some new hires with
Dave Ziggler and Regie McKenzie, which have been a huge
help to me. Both people have sat in that chair before,
so there really been a big help for me just
navigating these these this first month and a half. Here
some job.
Speaker 6 (28:35):
Mike, let's talk about let's go back a minute when
you were hired and Chad had put out there and
it resonated with me very very quickly. You're going to
dark February now, kind of feel us in let let
the ot people kind of. I've lived that in my
career twice, so I know what you were talking about.
Kind of give us an idea of what that was.
Speaker 5 (28:55):
Well, it's early mornings and late nights, so you really
don't say the daylight. So I mean we're we're we
were in there grinding from seven am to seven pm
on the college on the college on the draft, and
then you know after that we were meeting on free
agents probably till about midnight. So you know, you literally
don't have a minute during the day. And if I
did have a minute, I had to call my wife
(29:17):
at that point. But you have all these people calling
you and and you try to tell them, you know,
we're going dark right now. That's that's what we tell them.
It's that dark phase. So you know, we went through
it for a few weeks. But you have to go
through that process. I think it's the only way to
do it, to really dive, you know, in on the tape,
have conversations with the scouts about it and and that's
(29:38):
and that's where you feel like it's a collaborative process
when you're a room with everybody together and you're discussing
these players and you want to make the best decision
for the Titans. So I think that's the only that's
the only way I've done it, and I think it's it.
You have to do it.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
You have to go through that process.
Speaker 6 (29:53):
As I said, thank you for doing for explaining that,
because I've lived that, you know, twice in my career,
and it is it's so time in intensive. It's very
time sensitive also, so you've got to plan out and
you know, people hear this and say, you know, well
we're there from seven in the morning until midnight. Yeah, sure,
that's the truth. I mean you had food brought in too, right.
Speaker 5 (30:14):
We did. Yeah, see he didn't food We didn't know.
And the cafeteria did a great job of providing us
food throughout the meetings as well, and of course we're
snacking all day, so I.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Got some workouts to catch up on. Well, thank you
for that.
Speaker 6 (30:29):
I mean that enlightens the people a little bit about
what really goes on when you get a hold of
one of these things and you're brand new and trying
to bring everybody together.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
Mike, and now that you're back into the light of
this out of dark February, I want I want you
to speak to us here on the excitement level that
you have as first time general manager and your confidence
in the level of preparedness that you are in this
next phase this week at the combine here in Indianapolis.
Speaker 5 (30:55):
Yeah, I'm I'm tremendously excited about being in this position
here and aft that I'm working with. So you go
through the process, you know, that's going through their dark
process where you're watching the film the whole time, and
now we're kind of out in the light here. So
now we get to meet these players now here this
next process, get to sit down and interview them. For
a lot of us, a lot of the juniors you
(31:15):
know that we had they weren't an All Star games,
So you get to sit down with them and interview
them and answer any questions that you might have about them.
And then it's an opportunity to get the coaches involved
now with the two So during those interviews, the coaches
are sitting in on them and going through tape with them.
They'll make a cut up tape and they'll ask them questions.
So now we're trying to drill down on the football
intelligence piece of it as well. So this is this
(31:38):
is a you know, one of the touch points here
throughout the offseason, but it's a it's a big one
because this is the first opportunity we really get to
sit down and talk with these guys, talk football with them,
talk about their background and any questions that we might
have they came up in their background as well. And
then we'll have this next month here of pro Day's
thirty day visits, potential private workouts. So really this is
(32:01):
the start of it.
Speaker 6 (32:01):
Though, talk to us a little bit about when you're
in these face to face meetings here, which is huge,
I mean it's huge for everybody. Do you use point
of attack tapes? Do your coaches put these together? Your
scouting group put these together? How does that work? How
much tape do you employ? In that eighteen minute segment,
we got them, So we wanted to get the coaches
to put the tape together so they could ask the
(32:24):
questions when they really drill down on it.
Speaker 5 (32:25):
So there'll be some good plays and there'll be some
bad plays that maybe we have questions on. And so
we gave them a list of players a few weeks
ago when we first got here. They made a caught
up tape, so were in those interviews. It's eighteen minutes.
So if we don't have any background information, any questions
that we need answered, we hand it right over to
the coaches to really drill down on some of the
(32:47):
some of the football intelligence and questions that they might
have when they're watching the tape. It's a great opportunity,
even though it's eighteen minutes you can get you can
get good information out of those eighteen minutes to really
see if a player really has a foundation of the
football knowledge that they really need to at the next level.
Speaker 6 (33:03):
It makes me excited just listen to you talk about it.
I'm already starting to miss doing that kind I miss
that I can go sit in Lucas Oil all watch.
But that stuff is what's important.
Speaker 5 (33:14):
It gets the juices going on.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Well, and Mack, I think that that's kind of what
we're learning over time here is that, Yes, the measurements
and the physical evaluation is incredibly important, the medical is
incredibly important. But the human interaction and getting to understand
who these guys are, what makes them tick, and what
they're seeing when they look at a play or a
board or something like that, that's really the meat of
(33:38):
what this week is able to provide.
Speaker 5 (33:40):
Right, Yes, I mean the testing and the measurements and
all that stuff, it's great. It really just validates what
you try to see on film really to a standpoint,
and then it could create some red flags. You may
have to go back and watch a person if they
didn't run a certain way or or or performer drill
a certain way. Kind of gives you that kind of
red flag system. But really, to sit down, the hardest
part about this process to me is the hardest thing
(34:04):
is to try to predict human behavior. Right, That's the
hardest part about this process, any hiring cycle for any organization.
So that's that's the important part here is we're really
trying to get to know the player on a personal
level and also how much football knowledge they have as well.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Mike, when you're talking about it being a people business,
dealing with people, there's no exact science. You've just pointed
that out, But are there moments where it could be
body language could be something a prospect says, But how
do you how do you know when a guy has
that football character you're looking for a titan that that
that they absolutely love the game, there'll be a good teammate.
(34:40):
How does that? How does that work?
Speaker 5 (34:42):
So that goes back years now with our area of
scouts are going in talking to their sources in the
school and building a profile on this player personal character,
football character. And then once they get that profile together,
you know, we start to drill down on a little
bit more. We might make phone calls to coach at
the school. At that point, if I have a relationship
(35:03):
with someone at a school, I'll call them. So it's
really a team effort when we're trying to really figure
out the player. But that process really starts years in
advance when you're trying to build that profile of the player,
and then you have these different touch points. This is
the first one thirty day visit. You know, we might
go out to a pro day, we might go out
(35:24):
to a private workout. So all these different touch points
is where we want to drill down this person really
love football? Are they a good person? And do they
love the game of football. That's what we're trying to
figure out.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
When coach Callahan brought in his coaching staff in twenty
twenty four, one of the very first things that they
did was they established blueprints by position of what a
titan looks like, measurables, they had performance characteristics, they had
all of these different things. Is that something that you've
worked with him to refine a little bit to say
(35:57):
at each position, this is what a Tennessee Titan looks like.
Speaker 5 (36:00):
So that's a good question. We actually during our lunch break,
we didn't have much time during these meetings, I would
sit down with the staff and every day was a
different position and we would go we go down the
whole list and talk about the players that are currently
on the team, but then also what they look for
in each position, Like you just said, measurables, and we
have a profile that we use in our scouting and
(36:22):
the most important thing is to make sure we're on
the same page of these players fitting the system and
we bring it in the right type of people that
fit their system on offense, defense, special teams. So for
the past three weeks we've been meeting with coaches going
over all that.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Yeah, Mike Bergonzi, we know that you're a busy man.
You're the prettiest girl in the room right now, so
we're gonna let you go and just we know you
have a lot of work ahead of you. So thank
you so much for taking some time.
Speaker 5 (36:49):
With Thanks for having me on great Thank you.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
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official grocer of the Tennessee Titans. Tighten up the OTP
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(37:15):
draw up a winning play for you. They've been covering
Tennesseeans for nearly eighty years now. Back to the OTP
for Mike Bergonzi, head coach, Brian Callahan, Rhetbrian Coach, mac
Ramon Foster, and me Amy Wells. Thank you so much
for joining us for this edition of the OTP
This is the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans.
Farm Bureau is for those who make plans for everything
except themselves. We make it easy and affordable for Tennesseeans
who don't have a group or employer plan. Visit FBHP
dot com to learn more. I'm Amy Wells. Thank you
for joining us for the OTP from Indianapolis. That's right,
(00:35):
the twenty twenty five NFL scouting Combine has begun and
we are so happy to be here. Rett Brian is here,
Coach Mac is here, Ramon Foster is here, and we've
got tons of coverage all week long. And to start
we have Titans head coach Brian Callahan. Coach Callahan, so
great to have you here on the OTP from sunny Indianapolis.
(00:57):
How are you doing this morning?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Fantastic? Thank you, Thank you for asking.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
We're glad to have you here. But we've got to
start out by asking about your process and how you're
approaching the combine, the evaluation process, all of that a
little bit differently a year or two from your rookie season.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah, there's just a little bit more clarity on how
it all works and how it's all going to fit together.
All the things that come up for a head coach
over the course of an off season, you've sort of
been through once already, so there's a there's a comfort
level in the and how it's going to how it operates,
and then there's an excitement for what's to come. You know,
I'm excited about about the process we're in right now
and chance to improve the football team.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator consistent this year Nick Holts,
Dinard Wilson still part of the team. How beneficial is
that consistency as you begin the evaluation process, knowing what
they like, what they don't like, that sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah, it's huge. Anytime that you can have continuity on
your staff and with the people you're working with, it
allows you to keep building on the things that you started.
And you know, we've got a lot of work to do,
and having the same people in the same processes in
two phases of the game are really helpful. And I'll
say this, one of the things that you learned first
year and going through it is you really get a
better feel for your football team. You know, this time
(02:08):
last year, I hadn't met hardly any of the players.
Your first experience with most of them is in the
off season program and then you kind of go through
it together through the course of the season. And at
this point right now, I feel so much better about
knowing what our team is and where we have to
go and the things that we need to get better.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
You had a lot of production from young players in
twenty twenty four. Is that coloring the way that you're
evaluating talent right now, either knowing that you have a
lot of young guys on your team who have a
lot of ceiling going forward, or that you need to
find more young guys because there's a real chance they're
going to be contributing in twenty five and beyond.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, I think it's both. You know, we had some
young players play pretty significant roles, and that's exciting. Anytime
you have young guys developing and playing well and getting
better over the course of the season, that's a good thing.
That's what you want, and we're going to have to
add more and that's the way that the league works.
And your young players are really your life blood, your
team team, and the more of those guys that develop
and play at a high level, the better off we're
(03:04):
going to be. And and again we're gonnadd another rookie
class and another class of free agency, and that's what
we're hoping for, is is the young players continue to
ascend and be able to play significant roles for us.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Brian and I want to go back to the coaching
staff in this You were able to bring in John
Fossil in that third phase. Got to be exciting, one
of the best in the business to do it, and
to take that third phase for the Titans in a
place that hadn't been in before.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah, that's that was the exciting part about having Bones,
which is is he's affectionately known out there around around
the league is you know, he doesn't come available very often,
and it just so happened that the way that it
worked with the situation in Dallas and his availability, and
we try to take advantage of that opportunity and really
really excited about adding him to the staff and him
(03:49):
and and Renee Stewart, both of those guys they've worked
together for a while now, and really excited about that phase.
And his reputation precedes him. He's obviously very well regarded,
but I think what he brings is different than a
lot of coaches is his ability to affect the entire team,
you know, and his his energy and his presentation. Those
things are well known in league circles, and how he
(04:11):
teaches and coaches, so really really excited to have him.
And he's a huge help for me too.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
And this time of year ago you had just hired
your staff. You mentioned, you know, he hadn't met most
of the players. Now you've got your footing. You've been
around the block for one lap around the sun in
this You talked in your pressers at the end of
the year about the nervous system of players. I know
that started the Senior Bowl, But what does someone like yourself,
the head coach, get out of this week in discovering
(04:38):
that nervous system about those players.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
That's a huge part of this process right now is
we all have the tape. We've evaluated tape where we've
you know, that process has been ongoing. You know, our
our area scouts are evaluating the tape. You know, we've
our scouting staff has been in there for whatever it is,
almost three weeks watching tape, trying to get ready to
for the combine. That part is a huge part of
the process, right just evaluating the tape But then there's
(05:02):
another really significant part of it, which really starts now,
is finding out about the person. You know, what makes
them tick? Well, how do they view the game of football?
How do they fit for our team? Because sometimes there's
fits for our team that might not be a fit
for somebody else and vice versa. And that's what this
next stretch of weeks is between now and the draft
is all those in person touch points, the thirty visits,
(05:24):
the combine, the pro days, the private workouts, all those
things are now more focused on finding out more about
who they are as a person and what makes them tick.
In that part, I think is also a really significant
part of the evaluation process.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
So if speaking of that, that's why I was headed.
Is when you get those guys, specifically the quarterbacks in
the room two let's go top five guys, how do
you engage with them to figure out what works for
you and your system and also put the nard on
his side of.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
The ball too.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
Do you like to see a reaction on a question
that you know probably hasn't doesn't have an.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Answer sometimes, Yeah, that's all part of it. It's you're
trying to get a gauge for you know what, what
buttons can you push? What, what do they respond to?
How do they react under under pressure, whether it's UH
real pressure or not. You try to get some semblance
of that, and and not every interview is like that,
(06:18):
but you do you try to have you try to
have enough things where you can try to peel back
the layers a bit where you know, you we all
know you can walk into a twenty minute interview and
be pretty well prepared and not give too much one
way or the other. And so our job is to
try to see if we can't find a way around
one of those those UH trained questions, you know, and
to see what the reactions are and how they can operate.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Wait a minute in a meeting room doing these interviews,
Are you good cop or bad cop?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
I'm generally more of the observing and I and I
interject one necessary uh. I tell you our assistant coaches
even as way, we had a bunch of them last night.
And we do a lot of film work in these
in these meetings, because that's where you get the most
unscripted answers where you haven't talked about their tape and
good and bad plays, and there's always funny when you
(07:07):
throw up a bad play on there and you ask
you what are you doing here? And then they just
kind of put their head down, just like you.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
No, That's the reason I asked them because I'm trying
to explain to people the tape is the tape as
it pertains to what you cause. Know, the ability to
get a reaction and how to see how a player
reacts is more important. I feel like this and break
down what you did on this play because when I
got done, this is what I've been telling people, the
coaches told me. And when I was like, I'm done,
(07:34):
it's like no. It's when I was going to my
last contract, I had coach Tomlin tell me we knew
from the combine if we ever put something in front
of you that you would knock it out. And I
was like, how did you notice, Like when we the
questions we actually at the combine, you guys are yes, Amy,
they are sick inside of.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
It is that's all part of it. It's a part
of it, and I think that's I do. I give
a lot of credit to assistant coaches, and we still
have a lot of interviews to go, but they do
a great job of putting the tape together of you know,
finding finding things where you can dig you know what,
what why did you make this mistake? What is this?
What kind of effort is this here? And you just
you get a feel for how they answer those questions,
(08:12):
what their mindset is, and how they view their tape.
And then you get some good ones in there too.
You just talk and then you have them talk technique
and scheme, and it's just an easy way to really
just jump right into it because it's hard to it's
hard to bluff the tape, right. You can't lie about
what's happening on the tape. So you put guys in
some spot. You put them on the spot and see
how they respond. So oursistant coaches so far have done
(08:33):
a really a great job putting those tapes together and
driving that football part of it, and I'm looking forward
to the rest of them. They're fun.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
How is evaluating quarterbacks different from evaluating every other position
on the field.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Well, there's just because it's such an important position. You know,
there's so many more things that go into that position
other than just being able to throw football. You know
a lot of guys over the years look good throwing
a football when they're in shorts. You know, it's just
I thought I could throw football in short it's pretty
good too. Sometimes, you know, it's just there's just so
much more of the position and how you play it,
(09:08):
and it's really really hard to evaluate. You know, it's
hard to know those things. That's why you see the
varying degrees of success and drafting quarterbacks over the years
is that it's not an exact science, and it's it's
challenging to get all the things you need to know
prior to a selection, and then you find out even
more when they get to the NFL. There's just so
many things that you have to look at that's just
(09:29):
different than any other position. You know, there's certain things
in other positions you go, yep, I know this guy
can rush pastward. That's he's gonna be able to do
that at the same level he did in colleges. He's
in the NFL. There's just so much more to the
quarterback position. I think that you have to uncover in
the process, and that's what makes it really challenging because
of how much is on those guys plate and what
they have to do for your football team.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Brian, this is the fun part for you though, because
because you're an offensive coach, and the quarterbacks and people
that you've dealt with, this is your forte. This is
the fun one part, right.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I love, I love. I've always loved the evaluation process
with quarterbacks. It's it's a when I was a kid,
probably when I was in middle school, high school, I
would go with my dad at this time of year
and we'd go watch every quarterback. So I've been watching
draft classes of quarterbacks for a really long time, and
I just enjoyed it because I was just trying to
learn how to be a better quarterback myself. How do
(10:22):
these guys throw? What do they do? And so I've
watched a lot of quarterbacks over the years, and that
certainly doesn't make me any more qualify than anybody else
to look at it, because again it's not an exact science.
But I do very much enjoy this part. I do
enjoy watching quarterbacks. I'm a fan of quarterback play. I
like seeing what these guys bring to the table, both
in their skill set and their mentality. It's fun. I
(10:44):
enjoy the evaluation process.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
I'm gonna follow up and almost still a little bit
of ramone thunder because he's the offensive lineman here. But
you mentioned one of the first things you mentioned in
your closing press conference when the season was done is
you have to find a right tackle. Please tell me
there's some gentlemen here that can help the Titans and
you with that.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, there's there's some good there's some good players in
this draft. I think you're going to find that. It's
going to be a different draft in terms of like
the top end talent. It seems that there's a handful
of guys I think that'll that'll go in the offensive line,
but I think there's some meat in the middle, if
you will, there's some really chances to get some good
players in those middle rounds and guys that can play.
And you know there's also the free agency component as
(11:23):
well that that kind of works in conjunction with that.
You know, you're always aware of both where the strength
of both classes are and how do you best fill
those needs. So, yeah, we're we're we're hard at work
at trying to improve both fronts. You know, we we
still need work on both sides, and we need to
add good players on both sides of the front. You
can see from the Super Bowl that the front matters.
And then you have to you have to have good
(11:44):
players there, and uh, we're we're well well down that path.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
See, finally people will start listening to offensive line and
instead of sending us to the furthest part of the
field to practice when nobody can hear us get punished.
Now we matter in big games. Well, the big hit
with the guy that you have to the quarterback? What
called you the first one, the first overall pick. Yeah,
everybody has to talk to you. Everybody has to talk
(12:07):
to you that as a premier player in this draft.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
What does a quarterback look like?
Speaker 4 (12:13):
That plays in your system before your team? But what
do you want them to look like? Because you inherited
one and will you brought in another Mason? And now
is your opportunity if you choose to get your guy.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
So what does that look like? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (12:24):
I think the one thing it's that I do want
to do a good job of sort of dispelling the
notion too that they have to fit a system. Okay,
you know, I do think that we got enough plays,
we got enough ways of using players. And it's our
job as a coaching staff, it's my job as the
as the head coach and the one calling the plays,
is that we have to do the best job possible
(12:45):
of fitting the system to whatever talent we have, and
sometimes you have to give and take based on where
your spots are on offense. But at the end of
the day, the system is the system is secondary. It's
always player first and find the best possible players and
we'll fit them to the system. There's enough football players
out there for everybody, but that's going to be our job.
And so when you're looking at quarterbacks, it's you just
(13:07):
want the best one, and all of them have different
skill sets that they one might be might throw with
more anticipation, one might throw with a little more quickness,
there might be more decisive. There's all those things you're measuring.
But at the end of the day, you want just
the best player period. You know, whichever one that is,
whatever player that is, it's our job to fit them
(13:28):
in to whatever we want to do from a schematic
standpoint and then build it around.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
That does that type of stuff right there matter if
a player that's in this top five, let's go to
top four, Travis Chador, Cam and Abdul as it pertains
one having more attributes than deficiencies, do you make a
pick based upon that too? Or do you say, okay,
we need a quarterback, well take a quarterback, or hey, no,
this rusher or this corner is better than both of
(13:54):
those guys. Like how do you get to the nuts
and bolts of this?
Speaker 2 (13:57):
I think there's always a weight to quarterbacks. Okay, there's
always something if you're if you're looking for a quarterback,
that usually because it's the most important position in sports,
it's hard to pass one up if you think they're
good enough. If you think one of those other players
is that much of a difference maker, then you have
to be open to doing that as well. Which at
this point, those are all fantastic players, all four of them,
(14:19):
you know, those are the guys that everyone's talking about
and rightfully so they've earned that right. They're all really
good players, and you have to just you have to
evaluate who they are as players and then make the
best decision. And if you think a player A is
better than player B, then then you make that. Then
you make that choice. But I do think that there's
a lot of work to be done still on those
on those spots. But I would always say that the
(14:42):
quarterbacks are always going to be waited a little bit
because of the nature of the position.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
With that also, I tell people most time to combine
and pre draft ain't about how much we can build
you up. It's about, okay, how many knocks can we
get on you? And one may be okay arm strength,
that's the pertain it's a quarterback one may I mean,
but in the same sense they may have accuracy. What
I want to add what matters more the fact that
a guy can go seventy yards through the air or
the fact that he can hit a ten yard out
(15:06):
on a dime. When it comes to what you're looking for.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
I would say the things that I've always looked for
is the decision making, the timing, the accuracy. Those that
to me, just when you really look at quarterback playing
the league, what do the really good ones do they
do those things consistently? And then you have the talents
when the true talent can take over, where when the
scheme breaks down and they can make plays outside of structure,
(15:31):
you know those are the how great are they at
that or what other strength do they have? Are they
great in their pocket? Are they great when they're on
the move? Can they do really wild things when they
have a chance to get outside of the structure. But
I think when you look at the core, when you
say what is it that quarterbacks have to do well?
And I always look at it this way. There's always
a point in every game where you have to drop
(15:55):
back and throw and you have to do it well,
and everyone knows you have to do it. The defense
knows you can do it, the stadium, every fan in
the stadium knows you're gonna do it. And when those
moments come, you to be able to execute and and
not everything can be off schedule. There's there is you
have to be able to play with some timing, there
has to be really strong decision making, and you gotta
be able to throw accurately. Those things are kind of
(16:15):
the core, and then there's offshoots of of what you're
looking for. What else do they bring besides those things?
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Yeah, Uh, it's nothing better than knowing that you have
to have it and having a guy that can go
get it. That is a luxury. And I don't think
as you talk about how hard it is to find
a quarterback a starter a franchise, God put them on
the front of the stadium. That process is deep. Because
you look at Patrick Mahomes, then you also look at
Rock Party. That is a big gap between athleticism and
(16:43):
also perception of what they were supposed to do too,
and all the side you have a Trey Lance or
Zach dak Wilson like, it's hard coach to find this guy.
So have you had many sleep like very rest of nights?
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Yeah, I have. But I think you have to do
a really good job of trust what you see. You
have to trust the people doing evaluations so you get
the right opinions from all sides. And then you have
to do your homework. You have to really this, You
have to work at it. And when you say there's
no stone unturned in the process, that's part of it
(17:15):
is that you have to do your due diligence on
all the players and all the positions and quarterback. If
there's just because there's one or two guys everyone talks about,
that doesn't mean that you just disregard the rest of them.
You have to do your work on all of those
players to see where they all stack and how they fit.
Because there is there is the Rock perties and that
Tom Brady's the guys that weren't picked in the first round.
(17:37):
Those so you do your homework on all of it,
and you make sure you do your diligence and you
treat all of them with the same sort of respect
that you would treat the guy that you think is
going to be the top player versus the guy that's
going to be the seventh round pick, because you just
don't know where that's going to end up landing, and
you have to make sure you feel good about the
entirety of the class.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
You mentioned having that type of gout though too. I've
always been told from college coaches all the way through,
whenever you're in a position of being a head coach
and you got a quarterback, everybody need to know who
that guy is. On college campuses, he walks into class,
the professor, Oh, there's a quarterback. Does personality matter to you?
As it pertains two, there are different variations of these
(18:14):
guys where you get his father okay, that travels with
him cam the exact same way, very bolsterous. Even the
Jackson Dart you mentioned the other guys, or Tyler Shuck
who said I'm throwing and I'm gonna show you what
I'm worth, yep. Does those personality traits matter to you
and how they are outward in the media and how
much you see of them.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, I think that's all part of the when you
talk about the nervous system, right, that's another component of
it is is the personality, how they relate. What I
care more about is what kind of teammate are they?
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Ok?
Speaker 2 (18:43):
You know, that's what you're really trying to find. There's
there's a there's ever all these quarterbacks have a bravado.
That's camera around them. That's just what that's just what
it is. That's what the position is, and there's always
eyes on you. So that part. I I appreciate confidence.
I like guys that do have confidence, but some of
that stuff is the it's the bravado part of it.
And and you try to break through that layer of like, well,
(19:05):
what kind of teammate are they? Where? Where do they?
Where do they really make their mark on the football team.
So yeah, there's a lot of quarterbacks that have that
outward bravado. But then you got to find out if
it's really how they are in general. I mean maybe
maybe it's not. And that's that's our job, is to
find out where the where the line is because I
think what's most important when it comes to that particular
part of it is the the quarterbacks confidence? Does it
(19:28):
show up on does it show up on the field
and on the tape as opposed to what they say.
I think that's an important part. But yeah, there's there's
a there's an element of the makeup that you're trying
to break through what is what is real and what isn't.
But one thing I always I've always maintained this is
that if that's who you are, be that all the time.
That's yeah, if that's if that's your personality, then be that.
(19:51):
And that to me means more. Is that is that,
is that that who you are on a day to
day basis, then then be that and and we can
we can all accept that. But it's the ones where
it's not they don't match up that you got.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
To that's the worst teammate. That's the worst teammate right there,
to be honest with you, is just like this guy
is outwarding and everybody perceives him to be the great leader,
and his teammates hate him. I've had guys like that.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
No, that's a real thing. It's at all positions. It's
not just a quarterback then.
Speaker 4 (20:17):
No, Yeah, and don't let it be the quarterback like
that's That's the reason I ask those questions because a
lot of with these guys, as you can particularly pick,
a lot comes with them and the city being able
to embrace that, but also you walk in if you
still stay and pick at the number one spot, that's
a lot of oz and being able to handle that,
I think is a huge important part of this job.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah, there's a quarterback that you know, that number one
pick is a whole different world. You know, there's a
whole set of expectation and pressure that comes with that.
That's not just the twelfth overall pick. You know, I
look at it this way. You look at Bonnicks, right,
Bonicks gets drafted where they get drafted twelve, So that's
way different than Kathy Williams at number one. And there's
(20:59):
just a different set of expectations and pressures. And that's
you know, a lot of guys think they can handle
that until they're in it, and so you have to
you have to try to determine the best you can.
It's hard to know that is how does that? How
do they handle that part of it too? So the
best thing I can the best way to answer is,
like consistency of personality is important and if be who
you are, but be that all the time, I think
(21:20):
that's the that's the best, the biggest takeaway I think
you can you can bring from that.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
But Brian, the football character is where that is in
case too, because that's got to be way up on
the list. How much do you love the game? How
much do you love your teammates and the organization, how
all that works.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
I would say it's really difficult to play quarterback at
a at a high level if that's not how you feel,
because there's just so much goes into it and it's
such a hard it's such an unforgiving position, and it's
such a hard position to prepare and play that if
you don't have you know, the league humbles you quickly.
You can get humbled very quickly, and and you have
to have that approach that that you're going to do
(21:58):
everything possible to be great at your job. Uh and
you have to love that process because it's hard enough
as it is, and then you add the pressure playing
quarterback on top of it and performing it's just a
it's just a different quarterbacks, just different it's a different
set of pressures that apply to those guys, and you
have to have to love playing football, otherwise it's too hard, man,
(22:19):
it's the hardest position. You have to have a real
love for what it takes to play the position.
Speaker 4 (22:25):
All I've heard is a lot of justification of why
the quarterback get paid so much.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
We didn't come here for that. Right.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
Tackles are important too, okay, love, guards are important to the.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Cat keeps going up, that money keeps going up. Yes, yes,
I mean did you ever think you're going to when
you finished playing? You see guards making twenty twenty plus minutes?
No guards? No, we were the guard position.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
We're just talking ball. Was just oh, you're just a
cover up for the tackle, or hey have you got
a really good center? You just a trinket to them.
And now with the emergence of a Jeff Simmons of
it to Vondrix, what a Aaron Donald the interior pass rush,
they've realized that that guy left guard, that guy right
guard matters man a lot, and uh, it's good to
see it. I will say that to us. I'm a
(23:08):
reunion guy too.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
So I love saying great. I love seeing guys get
paid the.
Speaker 4 (23:11):
Florida million dollars real quick too. Since I got you,
I got to ask you about a guard in particularly
you have the ability to shop in free agency or
retain in the house. That's something that you guys have
said too. Uh. Borganzhia said that Chad has said that also.
You guys shared that same sentiment. What's the idea of
I'll just actually this because free agency is a part
of it. How do you feel the guy like Dylan
(23:32):
Raiding's has done over the year that you've seen him,
his role that he's had to play.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
You know, I thought he really had for for the
first time in his career, had an opportunity to sort
of sink his teeth into playing guard. And I thought
as the year went on, he played better and better.
I was really pleased with I thought he was probably
of the guys up front, he's probably the most improved player.
I mean, he's the one that played at a you know,
the level that you were hoping to see, and he
got better his year went along. So you know, that'll
(23:58):
be it'll be interesting to see what his more market.
I mean, he's certainly a free agent, and those are
things that will come up here in the next couple
of weeks. But as far as his performance and his improvement.
I thought he really improve over the course of the season.
Speaker 4 (24:09):
Definitely.
Speaker 1 (24:10):
We know that free agency is around the corner as well.
There's a lot of just conversation swirling around the Tennessee Titans.
Between the first pick and the draft, You're being connected
to every quarterback, both in the draft and in free
agency that's ever existed. There's just a lot of conversation
right now around this team. How do you navigate all
of that, all of the attention that's being put on
(24:32):
this club and what needs to happen in the next
weeks and months.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Yeah, we have. We got to work cut out for us.
You know, We've got a lot of work to do.
We got to nail it too, you know, we got
to keep hitting in these player acquisition cycles, in the
draft and free agency. It's an important part if we
want to keep getting our team better. And it's not
lost on me. I'm very aware of it all. You know.
I understand the magnitude of the position we're in and
(24:56):
why we're getting the attention we're getting. I'd prefer not
to to have that particular attention because you know, again
I said it before, I don't like being first in
the draft. That means that we didn't we weren't good
enough this year, and so we got to keep getting better,
both as coaches and players, and then we got to
keep adding the right pieces. So at the end of
the day, the attention is good for the general organization
and for our you know, you want people to see
(25:18):
what we're doing and then you hope that we knock
it out of the park and people are excited about
how we've won about the process. So that's the best
way I can say it is that it's it's just
it's it comes with the territory. Thankfully. I've been in
this position before and I've kind of seen how the
ups and downs of the off season when you're in
this spot, so I have a little bit of fel
how to navigate it. But yeah, there's a there's a
lot of eyes on us, and and you know, we
(25:40):
we have to do a good job with with the
position we've been been given. We earned this position, unfortunately,
but we have to do a great job with the opportunity.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Well, Brian Callahan, we know you are the busiest man
in Indianapolis, so we're gonna let you go, but thank
you for taking some time with us.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Sure, absolutely. Thanks good sitting down. It's good way to
start today.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
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(26:20):
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and get your favorites delivered today. Delivery fees apply. Now
back to the OTP. Mike Bergonzi. We are so excited
to have you here on the OTP from sunny Indianapolis.
Thanks for taking the time with us.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
Thank you excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
You are the general manager of the Tennessee Titans. You
have the first pick in the NFL draft. Are you
the most popular man at the combine here?
Speaker 5 (26:53):
I think so for the way my phone's been bringing
the last couple of weeks. But it's an exciting time.
It's exciting time for the looganzation to have the first
pick right now. And you know, we've we've been working
now for the for the past month with the staff,
you know, evaluating the college and free agency right now.
So it's certainly an exciting time and getting to know
(27:14):
the staff here over the last month it has been great.
Speaker 1 (27:18):
This is the place where a lot of those seeds
are planted, so a lot of conversations are happening, not
only about trades or player evaluations or things like that,
but also about some free agency thing. How many of
the seeds that are planted right now are going to
turn into moves that we see in draft weekend and
in free agency.
Speaker 5 (27:37):
So we've gone through the process of evaluating these free
agents for the past month here with the staff, and really,
you know, they give us that negotiation window here and
in a couple of weeks and we'll have a chance
to sit down and talk with some of the agents
there at that point. But certainly there's a lot of
buzz around here. You know, it's you've worked in the
league long enough, and you know, you know a lot
(27:59):
of the people that work in the league, so you
start to pick up information. You know, this is like
an information gathering session here for everything for the players
and information and free agency, so you get.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
It all here. Is it hard to navigate being in
charge of both friends, this is your first time doing this?
Speaker 5 (28:15):
Yeah, well, I'm lucky that I have a good staff
right now, you know, you know, with Chad who have
known for years, and we made some new hires with
Dave Ziggler and Regie McKenzie, which have been a huge
help to me. Both people have sat in that chair before,
so there really been a big help for me just
navigating these these this first month and a half. Here
some job.
Speaker 6 (28:35):
Mike, let's talk about let's go back a minute when
you were hired and Chad had put out there and
it resonated with me very very quickly. You're going to
dark February now, kind of feel us in let let
the ot people kind of. I've lived that in my
career twice, so I know what you were talking about.
Kind of give us an idea of what that was.
Speaker 5 (28:55):
Well, it's early mornings and late nights, so you really
don't say the daylight. So I mean we're we're we
were in there grinding from seven am to seven pm
on the college on the college on the draft, and
then you know after that we were meeting on free
agents probably till about midnight. So you know, you literally
don't have a minute during the day. And if I
did have a minute, I had to call my wife
(29:17):
at that point. But you have all these people calling
you and and you try to tell them, you know,
we're going dark right now. That's that's what we tell them.
It's that dark phase. So you know, we went through
it for a few weeks. But you have to go
through that process. I think it's the only way to
do it, to really dive, you know, in on the tape,
have conversations with the scouts about it and and that's
(29:38):
and that's where you feel like it's a collaborative process
when you're a room with everybody together and you're discussing
these players and you want to make the best decision
for the Titans. So I think that's the only that's
the only way I've done it, and I think it's it.
You have to do it.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
You have to go through that process.
Speaker 6 (29:53):
As I said, thank you for doing for explaining that,
because I've lived that, you know, twice in my career,
and it is it's so time in intensive. It's very
time sensitive also, so you've got to plan out and
you know, people hear this and say, you know, well
we're there from seven in the morning until midnight. Yeah, sure,
that's the truth. I mean you had food brought in too, right.
Speaker 5 (30:14):
We did. Yeah, see he didn't food We didn't know.
And the cafeteria did a great job of providing us
food throughout the meetings as well, and of course we're
snacking all day, so I.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Got some workouts to catch up on. Well, thank you
for that.
Speaker 6 (30:29):
I mean that enlightens the people a little bit about
what really goes on when you get a hold of
one of these things and you're brand new and trying
to bring everybody together.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
Mike, and now that you're back into the light of
this out of dark February, I want I want you
to speak to us here on the excitement level that
you have as first time general manager and your confidence
in the level of preparedness that you are in this
next phase this week at the combine here in Indianapolis.
Speaker 5 (30:55):
Yeah, I'm I'm tremendously excited about being in this position
here and aft that I'm working with. So you go
through the process, you know, that's going through their dark
process where you're watching the film the whole time, and
now we're kind of out in the light here. So
now we get to meet these players now here this
next process, get to sit down and interview them. For
a lot of us, a lot of the juniors you
(31:15):
know that we had they weren't an All Star games,
So you get to sit down with them and interview
them and answer any questions that you might have about them.
And then it's an opportunity to get the coaches involved
now with the two So during those interviews, the coaches
are sitting in on them and going through tape with them.
They'll make a cut up tape and they'll ask them questions.
So now we're trying to drill down on the football
intelligence piece of it as well. So this is this
(31:38):
is a you know, one of the touch points here
throughout the offseason, but it's a it's a big one
because this is the first opportunity we really get to
sit down and talk with these guys, talk football with them,
talk about their background and any questions that we might
have they came up in their background as well. And
then we'll have this next month here of pro Day's
thirty day visits, potential private workouts. So really this is
(32:01):
the start of it.
Speaker 6 (32:01):
Though, talk to us a little bit about when you're
in these face to face meetings here, which is huge,
I mean it's huge for everybody. Do you use point
of attack tapes? Do your coaches put these together? Your
scouting group put these together? How does that work? How
much tape do you employ? In that eighteen minute segment,
we got them, So we wanted to get the coaches
to put the tape together so they could ask the
(32:24):
questions when they really drill down on it.
Speaker 5 (32:25):
So there'll be some good plays and there'll be some
bad plays that maybe we have questions on. And so
we gave them a list of players a few weeks
ago when we first got here. They made a caught
up tape, so were in those interviews. It's eighteen minutes.
So if we don't have any background information, any questions
that we need answered, we hand it right over to
the coaches to really drill down on some of the
(32:47):
some of the football intelligence and questions that they might
have when they're watching the tape. It's a great opportunity,
even though it's eighteen minutes you can get you can
get good information out of those eighteen minutes to really
see if a player really has a foundation of the
football knowledge that they really need to at the next level.
Speaker 6 (33:03):
It makes me excited just listen to you talk about it.
I'm already starting to miss doing that kind I miss
that I can go sit in Lucas Oil all watch.
But that stuff is what's important.
Speaker 5 (33:14):
It gets the juices going on.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Well, and Mack, I think that that's kind of what
we're learning over time here is that, Yes, the measurements
and the physical evaluation is incredibly important, the medical is
incredibly important. But the human interaction and getting to understand
who these guys are, what makes them tick, and what
they're seeing when they look at a play or a
board or something like that, that's really the meat of
(33:38):
what this week is able to provide.
Speaker 5 (33:40):
Right, Yes, I mean the testing and the measurements and
all that stuff, it's great. It really just validates what
you try to see on film really to a standpoint,
and then it could create some red flags. You may
have to go back and watch a person if they
didn't run a certain way or or or performer drill
a certain way. Kind of gives you that kind of
red flag system. But really, to sit down, the hardest
part about this process to me is the hardest thing
(34:04):
is to try to predict human behavior. Right, That's the
hardest part about this process, any hiring cycle for any organization.
So that's that's the important part here is we're really
trying to get to know the player on a personal
level and also how much football knowledge they have as well.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
Mike, when you're talking about it being a people business,
dealing with people, there's no exact science. You've just pointed
that out, But are there moments where it could be
body language could be something a prospect says, But how
do you how do you know when a guy has
that football character you're looking for a titan that that
that they absolutely love the game, there'll be a good teammate.
(34:40):
How does that? How does that work?
Speaker 5 (34:42):
So that goes back years now with our area of
scouts are going in talking to their sources in the
school and building a profile on this player personal character,
football character. And then once they get that profile together,
you know, we start to drill down on a little
bit more. We might make phone calls to coach at
the school. At that point, if I have a relationship
(35:03):
with someone at a school, I'll call them. So it's
really a team effort when we're trying to really figure
out the player. But that process really starts years in
advance when you're trying to build that profile of the player,
and then you have these different touch points. This is
the first one thirty day visit. You know, we might
go out to a pro day, we might go out
(35:24):
to a private workout. So all these different touch points
is where we want to drill down this person really
love football? Are they a good person? And do they
love the game of football. That's what we're trying to
figure out.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
When coach Callahan brought in his coaching staff in twenty
twenty four, one of the very first things that they
did was they established blueprints by position of what a
titan looks like, measurables, they had performance characteristics, they had
all of these different things. Is that something that you've
worked with him to refine a little bit to say
(35:57):
at each position, this is what a Tennessee Titan looks like.
Speaker 5 (36:00):
So that's a good question. We actually during our lunch break,
we didn't have much time during these meetings, I would
sit down with the staff and every day was a
different position and we would go we go down the
whole list and talk about the players that are currently
on the team, but then also what they look for
in each position, Like you just said, measurables, and we
have a profile that we use in our scouting and
(36:22):
the most important thing is to make sure we're on
the same page of these players fitting the system and
we bring it in the right type of people that
fit their system on offense, defense, special teams. So for
the past three weeks we've been meeting with coaches going
over all that.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Yeah, Mike Bergonzi, we know that you're a busy man.
You're the prettiest girl in the room right now, so
we're gonna let you go and just we know you
have a lot of work ahead of you. So thank
you so much for taking some time.
Speaker 5 (36:49):
With Thanks for having me on great Thank you.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
Hey Titans fans, With a Kroger Boost membership, you'll score
big with double fuel points, free delivery and line. Go
to Kroger dot com slash boost for details. Kroger, the
official grocer of the Tennessee Titans. Tighten up the OTP
presented by Farm Bureau Health plans. When it's game day
for your health coverage, Trust Farm Bureau Health Plans to
(37:15):
draw up a winning play for you. They've been covering
Tennesseeans for nearly eighty years now. Back to the OTP
for Mike Bergonzi, head coach, Brian Callahan, Rhetbrian Coach, mac
Ramon Foster, and me Amy Wells. Thank you so much
for joining us for this edition of the OTP
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