Examining Bill Callahan's checklist for fixing Tennessee Titans O-line, and if it's enough

Leave the traditional jock stereotypes behind when talking about Tennessee Titans offensive line coach Bill Callahan and his hefty task of fixing his team's most glaring weakness.

"If you were sitting in a room going through a day-to-day installation, it’s like being in algebra," Callahan told reporters Monday. "Every day everything keeps adding and adding and adding. The formulas get a little more different. You get more protection schemes, more run schemes, more adjustments, more fronts that you’ve got to block. For the fan out there, you’re not going to think about the process mentally. It’s always going to be challenging."

So, sure. Playing offensive line is tough . Coaching offensive line is tough. Sculpting a cohesive five-man unit out of a 90-man roster is tough. That's all fair.

But the task figures to be particularly tough for the Titans this year , even for a coach of Callahan's caliber. His 26 years of NFL coaching experience don't erase the fact that the Titans allowed the NFL's highest pressure rate last year, are going to be starting a rookie at left tackle and a second-year player in a new scheme at left guard, have a new center who needs to develop rhythm with his quarterback and fellow linemen and have eight players realistically competing for two spots on the right side of the line.

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It doesn't take a math whiz to notice how complicated this correction process can be.

Relying on his experience, Callahan has a tightly-outlined set of criteria defining what he's looking for in his linemen. He wants to see consistency first, physical progression next and a mastery of technique after that, prioritizing pass protection over run blocking. The goal, he says, is maintaining a clean pocket in the pass game so quarterback Will Levis can progress through his second and third reads before feeling pressure. "Solidness" and "firmness" are the qualities he wants from his pockets. Stunts need to be picked up. Pressures need to be reduced. All in service of making his son Brian Callahan's offense operate as smoothly as possible.

Chemistry matters, but the elder Callahan says he's always focused on getting his five best players on the field when possible. Beyond that, he says he thinks of his primary backups as starters as well. He likes getting his swing tackle — the stalwart who usually backs up the left and right tackle both — involved in jumbo packages a couple times per game to keep him game ready. He likes players who can diversify their skills as backups and handle the workload that comes with playing multiple positions.

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It was hard to see these techniques developing in practice through the first week of training camp. Pads weren't on, and there wasn't much rotation in any of the first-team spots in team drills. John Ojukwu's handled the right tackle job with free agent add Saahdiq Charles playing right guard. That figures to change when Nicholas Petit-Frere gets comes off the PUP list, and Callahan said second-year tackle Jaelyn Duncan rotated reps with Ojukwu during Monday's walk-through session while media were not present.

Even JC Latham, the prize rookie left tackle who the Titans picked No. 7 overall in April's NFL draft, is tough to get a read on. He's not surrendering nearly as many training camp pressures as the Titans' left tackles did a year ago. He seems to be handling the transition from playing right tackle in college to being on the left side as a pro confidently.

But, as Callahan puts it, it's too early to make judgments about how any rookie's doing when the hard stuff hasn't come yet.

No, the algebra's not the hard stuff.

"So far so good," Callahan said about Latham. "We haven’t done the trigonometry yet, but we’re getting there."

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Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The Tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com . Follow Nick on X, the platform formerly called Twitter, @nicksuss.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Examining Bill Callahan's checklist for fixing Tennessee Titans O-line, and if it's enough