 Good to have everybody in the process was thorough ran and I spent quite a bit of time together interviewing making sure we brought guys in to speak to them wanted to see guys in person wanted everybody to feel the presence in the room and so it was a little bit drawn out it's still going obviously there's still hires to make but part of that process was intentional we were trying to make sure that we got the best people we could get for our staff and for the fit on the personality side as well so that part of it's been really fun it's been good to get to know other people around the league guys that I haven't had some familiarity with obviously leaned heavily on Rand's relationships obviously if you all know ran he's about a big of people person as there is and he's got a ton of contacts around the league people that he knew that I didn't that we had conversations about ran was involved in all the interviews as well really good sounding board for me really good advocate of people that he knew which was really helpful to be able to sit and talk with him about the interview processes so again really excited about it it's been a thorough process I'm proud of what we put together so far I'm excited about that the people would bring it into the building and it's something that that I you know it's nice to have some life of myself for about three weeks but me ran and Tom Jones I've really been living together here in the building so good to get some more energy and life in it as well so with that I'd like to bring up our new defensive coordinator then our Wilson come on oh man first of all just thank you for being here thank you for the opportunity it's great to be a Titan great to be around this organization being around ran being around Brian I can't wait to get started you know we on the early phases right now but this is a great opportunity and I'm excited to be here questions right now we're just going through the process you know we just got here two days ago really the staffs coming together so we evaluate the players evaluate the talent that's here you know about football it's not about scheme it's about the players right so we have to figure out what they do well and then we'll put the scheme around them all right to allow their talents to flourish I could tell you this about the scheme all right and I learned this a long time ago General George Patton said this nobody ever defended anything successful you're gonna tack and attack some more we're gonna be attacking defense we're gonna be violent in our approach all right we're gonna be smart we're gonna be intelligent we're never gonna compromise for competing and that's the style of brand of football that we're gonna play around here well just like anything you you learn from the people that you've been around and obviously I've been around a lot of great coordinators so a lot of things that they do is entrenched in my being a lot of the philosophies they've had you know I believe in so we're gonna blitz but we're gonna blitz and when we blitz it's gonna be smart it's gonna be educated it's gonna be at the right times it's not gonna be reckless we're gonna play coverage we're gonna play man-to-man we're gonna be multiple in everything we do all right in terms of our fronts any of those things so we'll be versatile all right we'll be you know we'll present problems to offenses all right on how we approach it and you know we'll go from there it's been a lot of guys like you know you mentioned Greg Williams he gave me my first opportunity him and Jeff Fisher with the Rams you know I hold them I hold them at a high high regard I still communicate with both of them Todd Bowles was outstanding to be around just been around coach Harbaugh this past year hell of a head coach I think he's a Hall of Fame type type coach and those guys have been big influences on me also we have some guys on the staff that we have here that has also you know been in influences on me Frank Bush is a hell of a coach that we have as the linebacker coach Tracy Rocker I was with him in Philadelphia he's a hell of a coach Steve Jackson I worked together with the Jets he also Steve Jackson with my coach as an undrafted free agent all right and in Washington Chris Harris been around here he brings so much energy respect Ben Bloom and what he did at Cleveland and the way he had those guys play and then it was a lot of people that was already on staff like like Clint McMillan and Lori who's who's here's those people you know they're great people to be around they're going to be a great influence on me helping me through this process you did with the Ravens most recently their philosophy always seem to have a knack for finding the football creating turnovers what's your philosophy regarding trying to get the football it's not going to change you know we understand as the ball travels further and faster than it does the ground so we have to play outstanding past defense we got to keep the ball in front of us but within doing that we have to attack the ball with violence either way you get takeaways in this game is population and technique I and in the manner in which you play so the same philosophies they have in terms of the Ravens defense it's going to be the same philosophy I carry it's been the same philosophy of all the guys that you mentioned before that I worked with well the guys are here they play hard and play physical that's the number one thing all right they're tough guys all right they play with discipline all right they're physical they're violent at the point of attack and when you see that in the effort that they have and you mix you mix the coaching and the new nuances that will bring you know we'll allow them to flourish a bit what were you looking for in this position and why was one's tonight a good fit everything you guys see so far guys had great knowledge of scheme and what defenses have to be nowadays in the NFL there has to be a willingness to be multiple to play different coverages to play multiple fronts to be able to mix the coverage scheme with the talent that you have to be able to blitz when it's required to blitz be able to play max covers we need to play max covers there's just an element of playing defense now in the NFL with the way that the passing game is and the way that these offenses are that if you lock yourself into one thing you tend to get found out pretty quickly and so just one of the things I always respected about the places denarred's been and the defenses he's been a part of is that ability to be flexible and adaptable to what the scheme on offense is presenting you meanwhile still keeping a core fundamental approach to what is important on the defense and as denarred has talked about it but that's to me was the most important part schematically the other part of it was the person you know as you guys get to know denard as I've got to know denard is is great energy really positive good to be around he's a guy that I like sitting next to and I've hired a lot of the people on the staff with that in mind is that they're guys that I want to go to work with every day and and and I hope today as a staff want to work together themselves and I think that your team feels that as well so when your staff is connected and you want to be around them hopefully that the locker room feels that as they come into the building with us but at the end of the day they're guys that I like being around and present a lot of positive traits both in the schematic portion and the relationship portion which to me are equally as important when you're building a staff five places trying to denarge denarge yeah why was this and Brian the right fit for you well it's the same thing first of all you know I've always admired the Titans organization followed followed this organization when they were in Houston had a lot of people that I've worked with they come from the organization and when I got here I was already excited about that right and then when I met Brian and I met his you know I met the way he the way he is the way he presents himself the way he wants this this team to be connected right the core values in terms of what he believes in as a person in terms of having good people around them having friendships and also grinding and working together you know you know I admired that about him I had a relationship with ran already you know when we were young coming up ran Carton and I he was a he was a pro scout and I was a young coach and we had numerous conversations just you know during those days of a when we get to this point this is how we would want to do it and we've always been in contact and always admired each other on the way we would weigh each other work and so it was a natural fit and I'm happy to be here you know I'm learning about the organization being here and I'm excited to go to work your career from the back end as a defensive back coach how much of you learned from from that perspective about what needs to happen up front and how do you now kind of plug into the whole right when you work from the back to the front it's like a puzzle at the end of the day all the pieces fit a certain way so you you know from a grand scheme standpoint you can understand you can look at the game from a big picture because you're looking from the outside in and from the back to the trenches you know I like I say you know I've been around great D line coaches throughout the course of my career great linebacker coach like I mentioned again Frank Bush is a hell of a linebacker coach and as a young coach I learned a lot from from those type guys to learn how to put it together and over the years I just got better at understanding how the puzzle fits first of all you know the first thing I'm gonna look at is is this guy talented and he's I mean in terms of given effort and is he willing to compete if he's willing to compete and he gives effort I has outstanding ball skills can run physical at the point of attack violent at the point of attack and when I say that is when the ball is in the air you look at his attributes in terms of his foot speed quickness his change of direction right a lot of things about DB play isn't just about their athletic ability it's about position and leverage in the eyes and if I do they are they willing to look at the right things on a consistent basis so just just looking at those pieces and putting it together for me if I see a talented player you know I feel I can get the best out of them and you know the more talented players we have the more talented players we welcome rather offenses are now right so many three receiver etc. nickel is almost based what's your approach to how you look at DV's like do you want them to be able to inside and outside or do you plan to have that specialized when it goes back it goes back to this the more you can do right when you draft players you know you you don't want to peg a player in one one position the more you can do to help the team become versatile like you have a corner that you know he brings a different aspect and he can line up at nickel he's a good blitzer he can line up in the slot right this is a match-up game as well you know it's so many great receivers in this game and the game is spread wide open you want to have people that's versatile all right to play numerous positions to line up to be able to adjust and adapt to what you're getting from the offense they've struggled to develop the DV position you look at guys who work with you know Jamal Adams Hamilton Bradbury and what has been the key for you to be able to get the max out of this time well I live by these three principal as a coach as a coach you must be able to teach motivate and inspire and any player that I've ever been around the first thing I'm do I pride myself on being a hell of a teacher I'm gonna motivate them to be better than what they think they should be or reach the potential they supposed to and I'm inspired them to go get it and the coaches that we have on the staff they have the same mantra they believe in the same thing so when we get a player whether we in free agency or in the draft those are our guys and we're gonna do everything we can and our power to teach motivate and inspire them to maximize their potential and God didn't have success that might be part of the answer which are getting ready to give me but from day one when you meet your guys what are the things you're gonna preach that you want to see non negotiables you know day in and day out well we're gonna talk about effort and the way we play right we're gonna talk about having obnoxious communication we're gonna talk about brotherhood plan is one right a team that fails to connect is a team that fails to win all right so the connection and the way we play the way we communicate the way we jail that's going to allow the defense to come to life because when they believe in one another and they trust in one another to execute their assignment and play at a high level that's when you get outstanding violent defenses he's one of the biggest leaders on this team obviously how excited are you to have a guy like that and what are the qualities that you see in him on the field and obviously in that law well obviously I had a community talk to on the other day man he has a great personality outstanding young man but when you watch him play he's a big guy he's versatile he could play the three technique he could play outside he's explosive he has great hands he can affect the play he can affect the game by himself and you know to have players like that and put them in positions to have success it's a wonderful thing coming in here when you have a guy that plays at that level well you know it's still early in the process but you know we have OTAs we have training camp as we go through that cycle you know you get better and better you learn by doing right so you get better on your job iron sharpens iron so we'll have call it periods and all that stuff so you know you'll get better on the job but also it goes back to what I just said earlier the people that trained me to get here and then I can't mention enough the defensive staff that we put together they're going to all be a part of it when we get in the game planning they're going to have their own sections they're going to be the head coach of of their sections whether it's third down two minute first and second down drop back the run game so I'm a lean on those guys and then when we get in the game plan into the game the game plan is already done right so now it's about calling it how you saw it in terms of how the teams attack their personnel their Tennessee is on situational football okay and then as we start to play we have to adjust to the schemes that they have because they're going to have new wrinkles and with the guys we have and the wealth of knowledge that we have in that defensive room we'll be able to adjust quickly all right play by play quarter by quarter all right half by half so we'll we'll be fine in that direction talked about how you want to do things one day in positions like these what are some of those shared traits and how you both operate well both of us take pride in what we do right we we spend a lot of time on on the smaller details all right not missing any steps being able to connect with with people with players with people in the building bringing energy all right being humble in the same time you know just respecting the process all right brand and I had a long obedience in the same direction we started off you know when in smaller jobs and we've been able to build our careers step by step without missing steps so when we're in this position you're prepared for it Brian given your role obviously it's the game and your head coach and calling plays on offense were you looking to find essentially kind of the head coach of the defense and did you find that into yeah I would you know that's a interesting way to put it I know it's how people talk about it these days but I sought to sought out to find the best defensive coach I could find period head coach of the defense however you want to label it I just one of the most dynamic talented young football coach I could find on the defensive side and I think I found it then I was gonna have autonomy to run the defense the way he sees fit as a head coach I'm always my job is always to oversee that process help him where he could need help for him to lean on me when he has questions about what an offense is doing but at the end of the day the expectation is that you know denar's got control of the defense and I'll be there as a as a resource and an asset when he needs it but yeah I wanted a guy that could that could command the defense command the room for sure and I think I found that you guys kind of mentioned earlier there's a lot of connected tissue on the staff as far as guys working with each other you have a former high school teammate on the staff all those same things what does that mean to come into a new place with all you guys having so much connectivity yeah I think that we're always the product of our of our environments and our upbringings and so there's guys you come across over your time in the league and I think we're fortunate in fact that we have a lot of really experienced coaches on our staff even though obviously when my first time head coach and denar's a first time defensive coordinator but it's certainly not our first time coaching and it's not our first time with a lot of the guys that have been in these in the rooms that we're in now the important part to me is that you're open to that experience so guys that have been around and done things that I'm gonna lean on the people that I've hired to help me and I think denar will say the same thing and so when you have relationships with people and it's not about just knowing somebody these are guys that we've been been a battle with been in the trenches with we've been in up and down seasons and goods and bads and so I know how to talk to these guys I know how they're gonna respond when I when I react a certain way and that's important because you need that it's hard enough as it is to win football games and to have guys that you have relationships with that you've built over time a lot of these guys for both denar and myself have built relationships with these guys over time and believe in their abilities and their ability to communicate with us and so there is an element to that that is important to have some people that you know there's also guys that I've not worked with on this staff and I'm speaking as the head coach you know I didn't know J.O. I didn't know Justin out and I I've heard of him I had talked to him and I the minute I sat down them I thought this guy can really help us and so I was open to all all roads of to building the staff and there's some guys that I've got relationships with that I've worked with prior there's some guys that I that I didn't know at all that I came away really impressed with obviously denar being one of them so I think it's a really good mix I think we had a great mix of experience I think we have a great mix of youth and I think we have a great mix of personalities and because you guys get to know him you'll see it but I think there is an element of relationship that's important when you're building a staff that you do have some of that with the coaches you bring in obviously denar's got great relationships with a few of the guys in defense as well and that was an important part of the building the staff process you know the same things that Brian just talked about you know I feel the same and then when you're around guys that that you've worked with it's about how those guys handle success and then how do those guys handle adversity I've seen and I've seen most of these guys go through that and I know you know when things get tough you know they're gonna buckle down they're not gonna waver they're gonna get better because you know the time when you need to get better they're gonna be there right there and they're gonna be knocking at the door so you know I'm comfortable with the guys we have on the staff the things you were looking for and putting the staff together is another theme you're looking at just developing how these guys develop players at positions because it seems like when you go do the research on any of these position players like that's one of the biggest things a lot of them have done and had success at doing yeah that's a that's that was a intentional part of the process along with the personalities I was I was trying to find making sure they all fit together another huge part of that is guys that have shown and proven that they can develop and coach players over time because that's the name of the game in the NFL we're gonna draft players they're gonna be young they're gonna make young player mistakes our our goal is always to get those players from from that point as rookies to hopefully second contracts third contracts pro bowls all pros that's the that's the goal and I wanted to be equipped with a lot of guys that have proven their ability to do that I've seen in the past coaches have had like you go grab trick plays you grab third and forever you grab red zone how is that for me or do not both yeah I think it's gonna be the same way you know and when we get to talk about when Nick comes up here in a minute but at the end of the day we're we hire people because they're good at their job and we want our guys to feel empowered to go do their job and part of that's gonna be whatever each person is assigned to do we're gonna have experts in those areas so third down red zone just like denard described on defense these guys everyone's gonna have an area that they're responsible for and their input and part of the game plan and I'm gonna lean heavily on those guys and their expertise just like denard said he would as well that's generally how things are set up these days it's a collaborative approach it's a collaborative process to make sure you're getting the best from everybody that's on your staff and you're getting the most information you can have from each spot and you know I think that's how it's what I'm accustomed to it's how we worked in Cincinnati it's really how I've worked almost everywhere I've been but particularly when I was in Cincinnati that approach served us really well and you get a lot of good ideas you get a lot of good perspectives like I said in my opening press conference there's something to the diversity of thought you know you want guys that have had different experiences in different places have different answers because ultimately we're trying to do the best we can on Sundays to put the guys in the best spot so we can go win games and and that might be it might be information from from Kyle and Butler as a quality control coach he may have a tendency for me that he brings up on a Thursday evening in the red zone and we might use that to help us win the game and I think that there is nobody that's too small in the process and there's gonna be a lot of guys that have a lot of voice in the process but ultimately we need as much input from as many places as we can so we can build the best game plan every week. What's your dynamic? Mine's for a coach. I've got one more for you to know. Okay. Just you obviously work hard to get to this point I guess what's the feeling as a coach as a man to now have a defense you can call your own and maybe prove and prove and Brian are the right guy. Well like I said you know you go through this this phase you go through life you go through the job process and you put in all the work you know you you start from the bottom and you work your way through and you know you get to the point where you you know you're thoroughly prepared this is a hell of a feeling all right to be named the defensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans is a hell of a feeling I couldn't I couldn't be more happier proud to be in an organization like this and you know we got to put it together and we got to put a product out there that that represents this organization the right way. Thank you. Thank you. Yep. So offensive coordinator Nick Holtz Nick and I obviously it's pretty well documented have a pretty strong relationship I've known Nick for a long time. We've only worked together for one season of all the years that we both been in the NFL. Nick's had had a pretty interesting journey in his coaching career just like Danar one of those guys that started at the bottom he started about as low as you can get and he's worked his way to this point really excited about the about the addition of Nick both for me as a head coach and what he can bring in the offensive coordinator role which is is a little different than than what maybe you're used to around here having an offensive head coach with it with a that's calling the plays with an offensive coordinator by title that doesn't call the plays it's a set up I was trying to emulate from how we were set up in Cincinnati with myself and Zach Taylor it's a system that I know is important and I know that it works and so Nick's job he'll get more into the details of it but most of it is to to make sure that the offensive staff and offensive players and the offensive scheme keeps running and all the moments that I'm not available to be there particularly during the course of the week there's a preparation part of it that's critically important to me and so very important hire there's nobody more deserving for it and I'm incredibly excited to have him on this staff I see he's been around a lot of head coaches a lot of different schemes a lot of different ways of thinking and doing business on an offensive coaching staff and it's going to provide us a lot of a lot of advantages as we move forward in the game planning issues that start to come up when you get going so without that I'll open it up for Nick Nick Holtz offense coordinator Tansy Titans for you guys what did you see in each other during that one year that you spent together that was so formative you think you know I think it's always interesting when you your friends with somebody you have a long term you know relationship or whatever and then both got put in roles and you know you always think oh I like I want to work with my friends or whatever and then you get to see them work and you get to see kind of the their process and you know how they're detailed and all those little things that you really don't know when you don't actually get in the fire with somebody so you know he really from the day he got to Oakland you know I was a holdover from Jack Del Rio staff to John Grudens and Brian came in right away and you know John's a big presence and there was a lot of veteran stuff in there and you could see right away how detailed and professional and all the ideas and development he's had in his career is it a little weird to say like Brian how did you do this for Zach as I try to kind of be you for him a little bit I think that could be but I'm also you know I think if you need to be yourself first so you know I'm not going to try to be Brian you know we're different people in that regard but kind of I think really just as each day goes seeing a couple more things that I can take off his plate or hey have you thought about this and it's really kind of an open dialogue the whole time from how we're trying to figure things out and structure it this way hey do we want this guy to be in charge of third downs let's talk about it okay and that we go from there you know I think you know like Danard was talking about you know effort you know toughness we're gonna stand for all those things but we really want to see guys playing with great speed detail and execution right and those are the three things that kind of go right off the bat right there and you can see those guys taking what we learned from the classroom taking out to the fields and really growing in that regard you know I think there's more probably a question for him as the play caller but I think we see it systematically of we want to just put we want to run good plays into good looks right we just don't we kind of want to have the chalk last where we're not going oh you know they made us hot here we did do this so that's kind of you know but I guess I kind of defer to him too of how he wants to see it and build the offense that way yeah there's a there's a time and a place where you try to dictate pace tempo there's a there's another time where maybe you are taking what the defense gives you where maybe you've called a play action shot you're trying to take one down the field they do a good job covering it you take the check down for ten yards that's a little bit of taking what they give you we are certainly gonna try to dictate the terms on offense that is that is always gonna be our goal but within being able to dictate terms you want to be able to have the mindset particularly the quarterback position really affects more than anybody else is is knowing when to take the easy throw when to dictate the completion versus when to be aggressive and so that's probably the best way I can say it is that we'll do everything we can to dictate terms tempo style of play but ultimately we'll we'll be smart about when and where we attack and when we don't have those options what do we do next what's our answer and that's that's a quarterback issue more than anybody but we'll ultimately want to be efficient when we don't have the ability to dictate to a defense you know I think everybody's kind of got their own management style you know I'm not a I don't think you'll see me as like a Yeller and a screamer or anything like that but I think if you build relationships with people and you kind of empower them to do their jobs you know I feel like the people I've worked for really they would empower you you know they empowered me and then they would say all right go and you keep getting more and more and more and that's kind of how as a leadership style of same thing with the players hey we're gonna give you this you keep going that way and we kind of build the connection in our in that regard diversity of experience diversity of opinion just how similar are your thoughts on how to build the offense have you encountered any differences there is kind of one minded I think they've been pretty pretty one minded for the most part you know we've had a few discussions about hey we've done this we've done this you know and that's you know both walk back to our offices go back to a set separate way and then come back and revisit it but there's a lot of similarities you know I think I've been in a lot of systems and I've worked for a lot of coaches even though I was in one place for a long time so I the one reason you get to kind of stay in one place the whole time is that you are adaptable and so I'd say that's probably been a strength of mind over my career and really kind of hoping to build on that and then take the things that he wants to do and the whole staff wants to do it's not just you know Brian and Nick doing all this stuff you know we got such a great staff that we're gonna build in everybody's ideas first-time OC you being a first-time head coach you also cross paths with his dad I believe at Nebraska how great is that to kind of have a guy like this as a veteran and experienced guy on the offense to you know pick his brain sometimes I'll say there's I mean as far as experience goes there's not really anybody that has more in all the different facets of an organization he's been a head coach in college in the NFL he's called plays in the NFL he's been arguably in my opinion the best offensive line coach in football for a long time his experience in his wealth of knowledge he probably knows he's probably forgotten more football than I know and so it's a huge asset to us to have him and again not just because you know that's my father but because of his experience as a football coach and again there's not many better out there and for you know Nick Nick worked for him a long time ago I would you'd argue that they're probably both very different people this point yeah my dad in particular but just the just the ability to have that that that knowledge experience wisdom perspective on all the things that that go on and from top to bottom and in the football process not just the coaching and so to have that available to us is huge and trust me he'll he'll have quite a bit of input and ability to help us along the process sorry I asked you last week when you were here he's thought about interviewing that now that you got that to the interview what was that process like what was it like which have been hired mm-hmm that there's probably not it was a there's it was a complicated process because it wasn't something that I had anticipated him in the moment if that's what he wanted to do I wasn't sure he would be contractually allowed to and it was a process that we had to work through with with the Browns organization and thankfully they really you know the kind is the wrong word this isn't a kind of business but they were they were aware enough to know the uniqueness of the situation and allow it to continue to go down that road so appreciative of that perspective from them and allow it to happen but you know it wasn't something that initially we thought was going to be the case and it turned out that we were going to be able to make it work and you know probably one of the coolest moments for me is being able to to have that happen it's been really fun to drive the work with them every day and and do those things that's something I ever thought would work truthfully so to be here with him is a really really awesome moment for me both as a son and as a professional because I know how much he can help us with his knowledge there really wasn't an interview process it was more he made the decision he wanted to come come here to Tennessee and we went about trying to make it work what's the what's the head coach assistant coach son father dynamic like it's been really normal you know it's been he's he's very understanding and of what it means to sit in the chair that I sit in every day having done it himself he knows when advice is welcome he knows when he probably should leave me alone I know when I should leave him alone on the flip side but it's just been really fun for us to be able to you know I said he's got this he's got this 16 inch clincher you know those softballs the 16 inch softballs and he played growing up and it's he has one of them in his office and you know he came in the office every day it's probably about nine o'clock and we were kind of finishing some stuff up and I'm sitting there throwing a throwing a softball back and forth as we're talking about some different ideas for something and so just to have that experience has been really cool and you know he just wants to be able to hear to help me and to help this organization win and that part's been really fun it's been it's been a really cool experience for me so far he's got his own place I don't want him no he's got his own place I'll have I have my own place where he we there's what the amount of time we spend together in the building there's certainly time for space yeah that's kind of that I think we're all like that at some at some level but yeah we're sitting there talking about plays and everything's plays off of other plays that make it look like this and double moves and everything else so it's kind of been you know to be you know the Brian said so nicely the lowest of the low quality control guy when I got in the league and where's you know you always say oh this is what I wanted to do when I get my shot or you know get in these rooms and you know the last couple years of kind of moving up the ladder it's kind of been doing those things so yeah it's it's kind of a you always kind of want to turn your brain off a little bit but it's tough so you know starting with well last year in Jacksonville you know we weren't really in the first round quarterback market so I hadn't really watched very much of them and then starting to watch them you know when I was with the Jags as you know opponent crossover film you know the first thing that kind of jumped off is obviously you know the arm talent and then the second thing I would say that really jumps off is the toughness right I think that you know we talked about for quarterbacks you know the really the three things we're looking for is decision-making accuracy and toughness and you saw all that you know and I'm sure you know he would say he probably wants to improve in some of those areas and things like that but you could see that baseline there for him of that those skills are there and so it was you know I think it's a reason what made this job probably so attractive to Brian and probably the rest of us in terms of this often mostly it's a young group of guys by lettuce it's also a veteran or two Deandre Hopkins how do you go about I guess kind of selling yourself as a new guy to a veteran who's accomplished so much like that you know I think when you get into the you know when I was coming in as a college guy into the NFL you know there's always kind of this intimidating like oh yeah you know I don't know if I've no enough and I think players always respond to if they feel you're genuine and they know you can help them right so if you come there with good information you're giving them the details or you know you're explaining something to them and they can tell you know what you're talking about they're always gonna listen because you know players just want to be successful and so I think that's how really how you earn your stripes in that regard it really doesn't have to do with age or experiences as much as showing them that your first press conference you mentioned that you wanted Tennessee to feel like a family like a place people enjoy coming to work similar to how you felt in Cincinnati how much of that starts with your coaching staff and how much are the pre-existing relationships the coaching staff has going to help establish that goal? It's a huge part of it because if we don't enjoy coming to work together how are we gonna expect anybody else to enjoy working together and so one of the goals when building the staff one of the traits I was looking for is is good people guys that can that know how to get along that know how to build relationships that are positive forces and I think you're gonna feel those guys as you get to know them but there's a aspect of building the staff that was important to me because it's hard to ask a team to be connected it's hard to ask position groups to be connected if they don't feel the same thing from the people that are in charge of the other part of the process and so you know it was great just as an example yesterday you know we had a whole the first day in for really all the coaches officially that had been hired was yesterday had a big staff meeting in the team room of all the football operations people and just a chance for Ran and I and Chad to introduce kind of our staffs to each other for some of the staffs you know you're talking about the the training room and the operations and the equipment room all these people that have an effect on our players every day they're a part of that process and we wanted to make sure that everyone also felt the same thing because again if the operation around the players is the way you want it and people are connected the way you want them connected in those roles the team feels it and then there's really that there is no other way this is how we're going to operate and part of that building of the staff and the relationships was people that had had experiences with each other and so they knew bits and pieces of the guys coming in helps that process go a little faster I think that's probably the best way to answer it. Nick will you have any specific responsibilities like red zone or two-minute or is that going to be something that is you know I'll be over you know I'm just like a regular offensive coordinator except I just don't call the place so I'll be involved in every part of the game plan you know we've kind of talked about you know even when during the interview of how we want to structure the week and things like that and you know it's very collaborative but I'll be in every part of that. How much of the hay is in the barn before the game starts about what plays are actually going to be called which is a good question quite a bit is the answer because of the way that the week operates and the way you build a game plan with the input from the staff and the input from the quarterback which is sort of the the cherry on top of the preparation process as you get to Saturday quarterbacks going to have a lot of input as to what he likes and where his favorites are he'll rank the plays as we get ready to go to a game so for example you know we might have our top two plays in third and two to three and third and four to six they're going to come off the sheet just like that especially early in the game until we have to adjust in between series or at the quarter at the half however that works but we have a starting point plan just like you have you're kind of we call them open or some people call them first 15 but you have a handful of plays in there that you're trying to probe the defense you're trying to give your guys a chance to get a rhythm going the quarterback's going to have an input into that portion of the game plan so the early part of the game when you put the calling of the plays is really sort of already done before the game starts where good play callers I think make their money and where good staffs separate themselves in this league is how quickly you can pivot in the process of a game again whether that's usually in between series or even trying to think about what's coming next and so the anticipatory part of that process is really I think what separates play callers in a league but as far as the game plan and the early part of the game it's going to be relatively well set before the game even before it even hits Sunday and so that's that's how you hope it to be that's how you want it to be and then again what where we make our money on Sundays is how quickly we can adjust and pivot and adapt to whatever we're seeing that might be different than we anticipated you're very busy I guess obviously put your staff together what's the process like and also try to get the speed with with just the draft combine coming up free agency right around the corner how have you managed to jump all that it's a lot all at one time but it's not been something that's been overwhelming I've felt very good about the how the days have gone the process has been good I feel good about that I've been sitting in the draft meetings this week obviously our scouts are in town the draft meetings are started I've been involved in those I'll leave when I got to go handle interviews or make sure something else has got to get done but ultimately leaning on all the people that that we've hired to get their opinions and thoughts in on the free agency class and in our roster and it allows me to be able to kind of freely move through each each element that comes up every day I'm I'm not in my desk chair very often I find myself sort of all over the place over the course of the day but I feel really good about where we're headed and the amount of work is still a lot but the good thing is there's a lot of hours in the day and we keep the lights on late here right now because there's not a now we're nowhere for me to go my family's not in town so it's kind of all football all day long what's left on the staff how many spots would you say you still have open maybe worse maybe a couple of spots yeah obviously haven't hired our special teams coordinator yet that that is hopefully coming soon we've interviewed quite a few people for it there might be a secondary there's a assistant offensive line coach job that is still open that we're in the process of interviewing and then obviously with with Frank going to New York there's a strength coach job that is open as well so couple of things outstanding still but but ultimately I'd say we're probably about 90 95 done I mean there's only a couple more left to go so getting really close to being final final with a new strength and conditioning coach will he get the opportunity to make a determination on the people that you retained or are they going to work yeah that's always going to be part of the the conversation but but those the people that we've we've retained just similar to the coaches we've retained in the process you know our our are with us to start and and when you get new people in you make you have conversations and they have opportunities to interview themselves and that's sort of how that works just in general coaches and strength staff be very similar so you know anytime you're hiring a new person there's always an influx of potential new people so that's the nature of our business and I think we're all on the same page with it did you guys imagine anything close to this when you were running scout team offensive for Sal back today both no not even close this is like a this is it's a you know he would ask me two weeks ago I wouldn't have imagined it so and I think the one thing you know for us we just kind of always we just kind of always just kind of kept working and you know he was in Denver and I was at the Raiders so we didn't talk a lot of football then because you know I I think he wasn't telling me anything that Broncos were doing I wasn't telling me anything Raiders were doing so uh no absolutely not but it's been it's been a lot of fun so far I would imagine I would imagine I haven't talked to lad I talked to some other people there but I have not talked to lad I'm looking forward to hopefully having a game here at some point you know because obviously I don't know if you guys know this either but Kyle and Butler also went to deal Sal so there's three of us obviously we're a little bit older than him but there's three of us now that that were from our high school and it's a proud moment for for me just as for a lot of the guys that I've that I went to high school with that we know that have had a lot of success in our respective careers it's just we've just happened to to find our way into the same building and something I'm proud of I'm proud of what Nick's done just as a friend professionally he's up to the task I can't wait to start working when we actually get to the real football part is going to be the fun part but just as a as a as a fellow teammate and an alumni I'm really it's I'm proud to sit up here with somebody that I've known for that long what were the conversations like were you envisioning this sort of stuff or were you just kind of friendship talks just more friends and then uh yeah I don't know and then we would just I think you know coach has always kind of try to get something from somebody else and then you're and then you know always talk about hey you see what's going on around the league and those kind of things or hey do you guys play the uh do you guys play the buccaneers this week hey do you guys see the coverage this way or something like that so some of those kind of things we would always talk about but Brian uh I guess the last time we talked to you maybe you were meeting Will for the first time uh I know he's since said you kind of kept him up to date what's going on with the staff and been in communication with him what what's that first maybe a couple weeks been like with them and while it's important to kind of keep come up to speed with everything yeah it's been great I just I know that as the as the quarterback you you you're certainly not um you're not owed those explanations uh or or input but I think the best relationships with with head coaches and quarterbacks are ones where they they are given those opportunities to share information like that and I thought it was important to keep Will abreast of what was happening uh both you know hiring wise where we were at organizationally just you know this is he's he plays a huge role in this in this whole thing too and so he needs to feel like he's got some at least has my ear and can come to me with anything he thinks and then I'm able to tell him what's happening for us and I think that's it's important for him to feel like he's got some involvement some ownership some input to what's happening um and again it's not necessarily that he's owed that it's just that I think that's the working relationship that I want to have with him and I think for me starting that precedent was was the right thing to do and I think he's appreciated it and it's been really fun to start to get to know him obviously he was out in Vegas I called him the other day just to check in he was getting ready to go play with Phil Mickelson um you know as as I'm learning about Will he was as I asked him when he came back he was back here uh yesterday and I asked him hey how was it you know what did you think and he goes I was just I was just mad that none of my drives hit the fairway and I was like well what's the last time you played and he goes the bye week I was like well I was like I don't know man I don't know I tell you if I went out and swam a club right now I don't think I'd hit many fairways either but just speaks to the competitiveness and he wanted to play well and show well so I just thought that was that was fun that he got a chance to go out there and be around those people but my relationship with him um his relationship with me and Nick and Bo is going to be really a critical factor in our success and I wanted to make sure that he feels like he has input and ownership into that process and we can kind of build it from there and hope that he gives me the same kind of feedback I need from him particularly when you're talking about plays and what you like and how you like it I thought like I think I said in my press coverage one of the things that made Jake Browning so unique and so helpful was that we had a good a great relationship and rapport where he could tell me and he could tell Zach hey I don't like I don't like this play don't don't call this without any kind of fear of a retribution or no you're gonna run what I tell you and that's not how it's gonna work we're gonna have an input from him and I think it's important that he feels that willingness for me um so we can we can build a successful scheme around his skill set that he feels comfortable with Brian did Mark just ask earlier about looking back at last year what he saw what have you seen looking back at last year what have you liked what have you not liked from you yeah I mean you see you see plenty of things that like every team I mean if I were to turn on our Cincinnati tape from last year we have plenty of things we want to get better at things you do differently things that every every year you look back and try to find where you can improve and I think we're always going to start with what are we going to do first because we're all new and the scheme is new so I won't spend a ton of time on what happened last year but I do watch it I do have awareness because there is things to coach off of and even if the schemes aren't the same um techniques um how things have happened over the course of a game reactions uh things especially at the quarterback spot as well like you can learn from all those things and so we'll do our best to learn from it um obviously I won't put too much stock in and what was good or bad ultimately because it's going to be different for us this year but um there's definitely things to learn from and coach from from what's happened before Brian just when you sit here in Nashville and throw on the Titan's Bengals take from the first time what was uh what goes through your mind then we gotta be pretty good um that was a that was a tough game Joe had Joe had was was fighting through the calf injury um wasn't his best day I think he didn't he didn't feel great that day and then and then we didn't play very well ultimately I mean we didn't we started out decent um but then we didn't play well I think I need us out of the ball and you know give a lot of credit to the the guys that are here in in Tennessee it was a good good day for them they played really hard they made life hard on us offensively and and on the flip side they the offensively they had a handful of explosive plays I think if I remember it correctly that that generated some points for them so tough day for the Bengals uh in Nashville and again hopefully we're on on the same side of that as a Titan this year when we play so but yeah it was that was that was a hard game for us when you look at I guess the person that I'll go back and review this team from last year was such a philosophy change in terms of how you want to do the offense how do you go about assessing guys to say this guy can fit into what we do this guy doesn't fit into what we do I think that's our job as coaches uh as a coaching staff is to be able to say what does the player do well how can we use them um because good players fit in every system and it's just a matter of how you choose to use that player uh what positions you put them in to be successful um so it's it's more about what what are the qualities that are good and how do we use them best to help us win and um yeah again that there's there's a place for players that that you have everywhere across the board um that can help you and so our job is to find out what that is and how to use them especially guys that that are under contract that are here it's our job to find a way to use them best and that's always our challenge is to put those guys in great spots