Speaker 1: This is the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans.
Speaker 1: Plan on paying less for the coverage you need with
Speaker 1: Farm Bureau Health Plans. Get a quote today at FBHP
Speaker 1: dot com with Amy Wells. I'm Mike Keith and this
Speaker 1: is head coach Brian Callahan. Welcome back to the OTP. Good.
Speaker 2: We wanted to you know before we let you go.
Speaker 2: You've experienced a lot of questions, maybe once or twice,
Speaker 2: or three or four, seven or eight times, and so Mike,
Speaker 2: you have the list of the.
Speaker 1: List of the questions that you have gotten most often.
Speaker 1: Let me just run them down here.
Speaker 2: I probably you can probably play this game too.
Speaker 1: Eric, what's it like to work with your dad? By far?
Speaker 1: Number one? How is will Levis doing a variety of
Speaker 1: offensive line questions? A lot of questions about Traylon Burke's,
Speaker 1: A lot of questions since he got here. A lot
Speaker 1: of questions about Tyler boyd Yes players not participating in
Speaker 1: voluntary workouts and your opinion on that. Wanting to know
Speaker 1: where Tavandre a sweat is and is he okay? A
Speaker 1: lot of questions about how you're going to handle play calling. Yeah,
Speaker 1: seems like every reporter who comes into town wants to
Speaker 1: ask the play calling question, yes, and then the what's
Speaker 1: your message, what's your message leading into the draft, what's
Speaker 1: your message going into OTAs, what's your message in mini camp,
Speaker 1: what's your message into the off season, what's your message
Speaker 1: into training camp. I mean, these are all legitimate questions.
Speaker 1: I mean it's very much part of the job. And
Speaker 1: I guess that's the thing you were getting to is
Speaker 1: this is the job.
Speaker 2: This is the job, and just maybe something you didn't
Speaker 2: think about as much when you're taking that job is
Speaker 2: that you're going to get the same question hundreds of times.
Speaker 3: That's been the one that's definitely been one that you
Speaker 3: just don't think about. You think about media, and you
Speaker 3: have to do all these it's all part of the job.
Speaker 3: But the repetitiveness of I feel like I've answered the
Speaker 3: same question a lot, and then you also feel like
Speaker 3: and this is no you know, don't disrespect. It's just
Speaker 3: different when you talk to the national people versus the
Speaker 3: local people. And so the national people all ask very
Speaker 3: very very similar questions, and the local guys and women
Speaker 3: that cover the team are much more aware of some
Speaker 3: things and so they don't ask the same ones like
Speaker 3: they kind of know what questions have been asked them,
Speaker 3: but you get the same national persons a lot, and
Speaker 3: so it's I never thought about that, but I've noted
Speaker 3: as my media availability went along the spring, I was like,
Speaker 3: I wonder what question I have to answer about trailing today?
Speaker 3: I wonder how many times I've talked about my dad?
Speaker 3: It happened a lot. It happened a lot. Did I
Speaker 3: leave any out?
Speaker 1: All those are the ones we actually Beryl and I
Speaker 1: went through them this morning and we tried to come
Speaker 1: up with all of it. But that's that's the That's
Speaker 1: the part of this is even though you're the most
Speaker 1: prepared first time head coach I've ever been around in
Speaker 1: any sport. Well, I've I've just never seen anybody with
Speaker 1: the background you have and what you were allowed to
Speaker 1: do coming up and obviously your dad having been a
Speaker 1: head coach. But there's still stuff you don't know, and
Speaker 1: that just like your your first year when you just
Speaker 1: go off to college, there's stuff people just can't tell
Speaker 1: you that you have to experience.
Speaker 3: That's great, that is correct. I felt like I've done
Speaker 3: this long enough, and I've been around football long enough.
Speaker 3: And as I've said before about just the access I
Speaker 3: was allowed in Cincinnati with Zach and how much he
Speaker 3: allowed me to see behind the curtain a little bit,
Speaker 3: where not a lot of you know, head coaches allow
Speaker 3: that sort of access to the day to day and
Speaker 3: so I felt like I was probably more prepared than
Speaker 3: most people would be for the for the job, and
Speaker 3: it's it's certainly paid off. I feel that, you know,
Speaker 3: especially early on, early on, I felt it where there
Speaker 3: was some things that had I not been exposed to
Speaker 3: that stuff would have probably thrown me a little bit off,
Speaker 3: just because you don't know sure. And then there's still
Speaker 3: things even even to this day that come up that
Speaker 3: you're like, well, I didn't think about that, that one,
Speaker 3: that one's new. I wasn't really I wasn't quite ready
Speaker 3: for that particular situation. But it's been fun though. That
Speaker 3: the the part of it it's been cool is that
Speaker 3: I haven't felt it's never felt overwhelming. I've never felt
Speaker 3: like I was unprepared. If that makes sense, It totally sense,
Speaker 3: and it just I've I feel like one of the
Speaker 3: strengths of my personality is I can generally take things
Speaker 3: in stride, and I think you have to be able
Speaker 3: to do that as a head coach, because there's so
Speaker 3: many things that you don't anticipate that can come up
Speaker 3: in the course of a day that you woke up
Speaker 3: in the morning. You never thought that would be something
Speaker 3: you'd be dealing with that day. So yeah, it's a
Speaker 3: it's a it's a wild job, it really is. It
Speaker 3: is fun though.
Speaker 2: When you're thinking about being a head coach one day,
Speaker 2: one of the things I'm sure that crosses your mind
Speaker 2: is putting together your staff and who I would have
Speaker 2: as this coach or that coach and this thing. After
Speaker 2: you have those thoughts, I would assume because the way
Speaker 2: I would do it, that's my only frame of reference,
Speaker 2: is that it would almost exist in a vacuum, like
Speaker 2: I want my wide receivers coach to be this person.
Speaker 2: I want my coordinator to be this person. Are you
Speaker 2: then surprised when you get them all together and it's like, oh,
Speaker 2: these are this is working. These guys all get along
Speaker 2: really well. It is that maybe a line that you
Speaker 2: don't always draw when you're just imagining what you will
Speaker 2: be like as.
Speaker 1: A head coach.
Speaker 3: This is actually a fun conversation. I was just having
Speaker 3: this conversation with Dinard the other day is he's you know,
Speaker 3: you hit this time of year and your coordinator around
Speaker 3: the league, this is kind of the time of year
Speaker 3: you prep for potential interviews, whether it's at the end
Speaker 3: of the season or two years from now, you just
Speaker 3: this is the time of year where you can take
Speaker 3: a minute and step away from your job and actually
Speaker 3: focus on maybe what could be coming your way and
Speaker 3: have a long conversation about the staffing process. And it's
Speaker 3: I think the one that makes or breaks a lot
Speaker 3: of guys in the interview process. And I think if
Speaker 3: you ask Grant about how I presented my vision for it,
Speaker 3: I think it was probably one that resonated and it
Speaker 3: felt prepared. But the thing about the staff I'll say
Speaker 3: this is that I spent a ton of time thinking
Speaker 3: about the people and I never got locked into one person,
Speaker 3: which I think some people do you get this is
Speaker 3: I want this guy and this guy only. I had
Speaker 3: four or five guys in each spot that I felt
Speaker 3: comfortable with. But I spent also a ton of time
Speaker 3: thinking about how they fit with their personalities. With the
Speaker 3: guys that how it would all work. I spent a
Speaker 3: lot of time thinking about that, and I think it
Speaker 3: paid off. Because I think if you you around our
Speaker 3: staff and as you guys have gotten to know them
Speaker 3: and you see us interact on the field, it's a
Speaker 3: it's a really fun group of guys to be around,
Speaker 3: and they're really good at their job. But I just
Speaker 3: think that that so that I was very intentional with
Speaker 3: hiring in the staff and the type of people I wanted.
Speaker 3: I focused more on personality traits than I did specific people,
Speaker 3: and I think that helped. I think that helped helped
Speaker 3: me build a really a staff that I'm real proud of,
Speaker 3: and as we've gotten together, I'm even more excited about
Speaker 3: now than I think I was when I hired them.
Speaker 3: After I watched them all work for an off season,
Speaker 3: it's a fantastic coaching staff.
Speaker 2: Well what made me think about that is we've had
Speaker 2: the opportunity to get to know a lot of the
Speaker 2: assistant coaches and coordinators within the staff, and every single
Speaker 2: one of them has mentioned that they genuinely enjoy the
Speaker 2: other people that they are coaching with. They actually are
Speaker 2: friends with and like working with the people they're working with,
Speaker 2: and you don't always get that within a coaching staff,
Speaker 2: especially people offering it up like that. So easily. How
Speaker 2: important is it to have that chemistry within the coaching staff,
Speaker 2: because I would guess that it is just as important,
Speaker 2: if not more important, then having the chemistry within the
Speaker 2: football team.
Speaker 3: I think they go together. I think when you hire
Speaker 3: a staff that that's cohesive and connected and is all
Speaker 3: pull in the same direction and and wants to be
Speaker 3: a part of it, and guys that are unselfish in
Speaker 3: the same sense that you're looking forward from your players.
Speaker 3: My first goal when I hired the staff was I
Speaker 3: wanted our staff to embody what I wanted our team
Speaker 3: to look like, how we interacted, how we communicated, what
Speaker 3: type of personality, guys have, the mixes of personalities. And
Speaker 3: I felt like if I hired the right people, and
Speaker 3: I hired good people, that the team would feel that
Speaker 3: and they would also when they walked in the building
Speaker 3: interacted with the staff, they would feel that we were
Speaker 3: operating under the same really tenants that I wanted our
Speaker 3: team to operate under. And so all this comes together
Speaker 3: and all the players come in the building, and it
Speaker 3: really worked exactly like I hoped it would work. For
Speaker 3: the players to see and feel our interaction, and just
Speaker 3: like you with kids, you try to model behavior, and
Speaker 3: so the hope and the goal was that our coach
Speaker 3: yourself would model the same behavior we want our team
Speaker 3: to have. And you know, to the first this offseason,
Speaker 3: it's it really worked about as good as I could
Speaker 3: have hoped for. And I think that it was it
Speaker 3: was intentional, though I wanted to. I spent a lot
Speaker 3: of time trying to get the right people and the
Speaker 3: right mix of personalities so that our players would feel
Speaker 3: the same thing.
Speaker 2: Well, they like you and they like each other. So
Speaker 2: I think it's work.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so far, so good, So far, so good. Amy
Speaker 1: made a great point about the staff cohesion and the
Speaker 1: fact that we've had a chance to meet them, and
Speaker 1: every head coach doesn't do that. I mean, you've certainly
Speaker 1: known some that the assistant coaches basically don't talk. They're
Speaker 1: in the background. The head coach is totally in the foreground,
Speaker 1: and that's it. So you obviously made the decision that
Speaker 1: it would be different because we've gotten a chance to
Speaker 1: talk to all of these people, men and women, up
Speaker 1: and down the football staff throughout the last five months.
Speaker 1: And then the other thing too is Dinard Wilson is
Speaker 1: a rising star in the business and it seems like
Speaker 1: correct me if I'm wrong, But you are very comfortable
Speaker 1: with his star being shown in a way maybe like
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor was with you in Cincinnati. Oh.
Speaker 3: I think that's probably a good comparison. I think that
Speaker 3: I think Zach and I have very similar personalities, and
Speaker 3: I think that's why we work so well together. But
Speaker 3: Zach's Zach does not have. Zach is like the most
Speaker 3: egolest person I've ever been around, and I think that
Speaker 3: takes a tremendous amount of self confidence, and I've always
Speaker 3: admired that about him, and I think that at the
Speaker 3: end of the day, you want to be around a
Speaker 3: bunch of people that don't really care about getting the credit.
Speaker 3: I don't care who gets the credit. I just want
Speaker 3: to have a good football team that puts a good
Speaker 3: product out there and we win games and people are
Speaker 3: excited about it. Whoever gets the credit, whoever gets the shine,
Speaker 3: it doesn't matter to me. I really don't care about that.
Speaker 3: And I encourage guys to be put out there. I
Speaker 3: want people to see what kind of coaches we have,
Speaker 3: and and I hope that Dinard gets to be a
Speaker 3: head coach in this league sooner than later, because I
Speaker 3: think he'll be a fantastic one. But to me, it's
Speaker 3: it's always I think good leadership and as always about
Speaker 3: trying to help prop other people up. And I think
Speaker 3: that I learned that from Zach. He was great to
Speaker 3: me and it allowed me the same access for that
Speaker 3: and hopefully you guys feel the same way here. But
Speaker 3: the credit to me doesn't really matter. I just want
Speaker 3: to have a good football team and a good coaching staff.
Speaker 3: And as guys get credit and we play well, then
Speaker 3: I hope they get all the glory, don't I don't
Speaker 3: need it.
Speaker 1: Why is Dinnard Wilson such a rising star in the
Speaker 1: coaching business, Well, I think first and foremost he's got
Speaker 1: great technical knowledge of defensive football, both in the in
Speaker 1: the front, in the run game. And then his expertise
Speaker 1: obviously is the secondary. Been a part of really good
Speaker 1: productive secondaries, and that's what wins in the NFL these
Speaker 1: days is you better be pretty good against the past,
Speaker 1: and everywhere he's been, they have been. So that's the
Speaker 1: first kind of the baseline is he's an excellent football
Speaker 1: coach on the technical side of the schematic side. And
Speaker 1: then he's got a presence about him as you see,
Speaker 1: he's uh, he's really great in front of a room.
Speaker 1: He's got a he's got a command, and he's got
Speaker 1: a very unique way of being direct and honest and
Speaker 1: truthful in a way that doesn't offend people. If that
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's the best way to put it.
Speaker 1: But he can get up in front of those guys
Speaker 1: and he can coach him hard, and he can be
Speaker 1: critical and they walk out of the room loving him
Speaker 1: more than they did when they walked in.
Speaker 3: And it's just it's just part of his personality.
Speaker 1: And he's but that's what a great teacher does. I
Speaker 1: would agree with that. Yeah, I would agree with that.
Speaker 1: You think about your teachers in school and the people
Speaker 1: who could say, I want to see you do better
Speaker 1: here because you're capable in this way. You know, you
Speaker 1: would walk out and go, Okay, I don't want to
Speaker 1: disappoint mister or missus so and so when.
Speaker 3: This that's probably a good comparison for him. But he's
Speaker 3: and he's and then on top of that, he's hyper competitive.
Speaker 3: I love competing against him. In practice. It doesn't take
Speaker 3: much to get him riled up. All you got to
Speaker 3: do is to have Tyke run over there and start
Speaker 3: yelling at him about the uh some pass completion, and
Speaker 3: then oar gets mad, and then it's just it's competitive,
Speaker 3: and he's he's a he's a he's a top level competitor,
Speaker 3: and that that part the players feel as well.
Speaker 1: And so.
Speaker 3: Everything about how he how he goes about his business,
Speaker 3: how he leads the coach, his coaching staff on defense,
Speaker 3: how he leads the players, how he teaches, all those
Speaker 3: things are going to lead. I mean, he's he'll be
Speaker 3: a head coach in this league sooner than later. If
Speaker 3: if we have any of the success that I think
Speaker 3: we're capable of having, that's something that's probably coming for
Speaker 3: him pretty quickly. So I hope it does. He's he'll
Speaker 3: he'll he'll have earned it and be deserving of it.
Speaker 2: All of those traits, though, that you were just describing,
Speaker 2: when you're talking about modeling, lack of ego, competitiveness, being
Speaker 2: held accountable, held to a high standard, those are all
Speaker 2: things that are existing within this coaching staff, and with
Speaker 2: a roster that has some guys with some established reputations
Speaker 2: already on it, seeing those traits has to be helpful
Speaker 2: on the field.
Speaker 3: So far, it has. I felt that from our team.
Speaker 3: I've seen that in their actions, the way they work,
Speaker 3: the way that they come into the building every day
Speaker 3: are all things that echo all the things that I
Speaker 3: feel about our coaching staff. I've seen in our players,
Speaker 3: and I think they appreciate it. I think they appreciate
Speaker 3: the style, they appreciate the messaging, and I think they
Speaker 3: believe in what we represent both as teachers and as people.
Speaker 3: And I think they see the potential in the roster
Speaker 3: in their teammates. And then you have the scheme parts
Speaker 3: of it in all three phases, and I think you
Speaker 3: got a bunch of guys that believe in what we're doing.
Speaker 1: As you have come into this, Who is a player
Speaker 1: or players that you didn't really know who has been
Speaker 1: a pleasant surprise from the leadership standpoint, on the field,
Speaker 1: in the weight room, whatever. Give me a guy or
Speaker 1: guys bit jump out in that way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll give you two that that really have jumped
Speaker 3: out to me. I think that arden Key has been fantastic.
Speaker 3: I love everything about how he practices and works, and
Speaker 3: his personality is infectious. He's got some, you know, real
Speaker 3: leadership traits on top of it, and he's just been
Speaker 3: really fun to be around and and I think he
Speaker 3: provides a lot of energy to the team and I
Speaker 3: think they enjoy he I mean he never stops. You
Speaker 3: hear arden all day long, and I enjoy that.
Speaker 1: I like it.
Speaker 3: I think it's a great thing. And then Jack Gibbons,
Speaker 3: I think has really stood out to me is you know,
Speaker 3: he's he's a hyper competitive and he's really taken on
Speaker 3: a leadership role on the defense and just I didn't
Speaker 3: know anything really about him until I knew who he was,
Speaker 3: but I didn't know much about him, and this over
Speaker 3: this process of the spring has been eye opening to me.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think he's really you know, he's kind
Speaker 3: of one of the first ones that starts talking. I mean,
Speaker 3: he's he's got some he's got something to him, he's
Speaker 3: got an edge to him. And I think that he's
Speaker 3: been one that I've been really enjoyed seeing him kind
Speaker 3: of bloom a little bit in a leadership role.
Speaker 1: He keeps getting better, he has since the day he's
Speaker 1: been here, and people kind of underestimate him. They underestimate
Speaker 1: his athleticism overall, and then you just you watch You're
Speaker 1: like that guy's pretty good.
Speaker 3: That's how he's come across to me, is I just
Speaker 3: I know you got I watched him play a little
Speaker 3: bit obviously last year when he got thrust in there
Speaker 3: and played pretty well, and you just you know, his
Speaker 3: his track where undrafted, free agent, all these things that
Speaker 3: he's kind of come overcome to get to the spot,
Speaker 3: and you go, man, that's been pretty impressive. And then
Speaker 3: every day it's like, oh, it's pretty good, and you know,
Speaker 3: he makes play on the ball, and then he's he's
Speaker 3: in worries, he's where he's supposed to be, and there's
Speaker 3: just there's a consistency that he's starting to develop. And
Speaker 3: I think that that goes a long way too, where
Speaker 3: he's sort of the same He's got the same energy,
Speaker 3: the same guy every day, and then he still continues
Speaker 3: to execute what's asked of him schematically. And I think
Speaker 3: that that's how guys play a long time in this league.
Speaker 1: We left one out who's going to wear the green dot?
Speaker 1: We left one that's a great one. Yeah, we left
Speaker 1: that out. Could Jack Gibbons be the guy who wears
Speaker 1: the green dot? Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think I think all those guys. I think him
Speaker 3: and him and Kenneth, I think both are fully capable
Speaker 3: of of doing that job and being uh in that
Speaker 3: communicator role. And I think I've said before too that
Speaker 3: it's it is uh, it's defensive. Communication is still an
Speaker 3: eleven person job. They don't all just come from one person.
Speaker 3: They all talk at different points and they talked to
Speaker 3: safeties and corners talks. So there's there's a lot more
Speaker 3: communication that goes on than just the guy that gives
Speaker 3: the call, you know, before the snap, which is which
Speaker 3: is great. You got to have that guy too, But
Speaker 3: there's a lot more to it than that. But yeah,
Speaker 3: there's a lot of that was a that's a heavy
Speaker 3: topic of conversation around here in Green Bay.
Speaker 2: Disappointed in us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'd left one off.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's it.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. I apologize.
Speaker 2: O TP, That's okay, you found it eventually.
Speaker 1: We hit it four minutes in.
Speaker 2: Who are you or maybe a couple of people? Are
Speaker 2: you most excited to see finally put pads on?
Speaker 3: Ah, that's a good one. I am very excited to
Speaker 3: see Devandre Sweat put pads on. That was always a
Speaker 3: good one. Will he be available? I was looking here,
Speaker 3: that's that's number six? Yeah him. I think seeing JC
Speaker 3: and pads is going to be fun. He's had a
Speaker 3: really nice, really nice offseason, and just to see a
Speaker 3: guy of his size and strength actually be able to,
Speaker 3: you know, come off the ball and hit and do
Speaker 3: things in linemen do will be fun. I'm really looking
Speaker 3: forward to seeing those guys I think are really gonna
Speaker 3: be fun players to watch play in training, camping in
Speaker 3: the preseason. As we get started, those guys, I'm I'm
Speaker 3: excited to see. And you know, I think there's there's
Speaker 3: gonna be some fun battles on the offensive line on
Speaker 3: the right side, which will be you know, pads will
Speaker 3: come on and that'll be very telling and revealing of
Speaker 3: of what that will look like of the course of camp.
Speaker 3: So the first day of pads is always kind of
Speaker 3: my favorite day of the football calendars. It's like, okay, football,
Speaker 3: It's we're back. We're playing football again. So but those guys,
Speaker 3: I think for sure are the ones that that i'd
Speaker 3: be I'm looking forward to seeing.
Speaker 1: Before I went down the Green Dot rabbit hole, I
Speaker 1: was going to follow with you. You mentioned Jack Gibbons
Speaker 1: as a player that you've had a chance to watch,
Speaker 1: and arden key that these guys who have really done
Speaker 1: a good job I wondered if you would say John
Speaker 1: a Juku.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good one. He that's he's been really impressive.
Speaker 3: I think, given an opportunity because of some injuries to
Speaker 3: show what he's all about. And and he's about everything
Speaker 3: you want your offensive lineman to be about. And he's
Speaker 3: he's engaged in the meeting room. It matters, it's important
Speaker 3: to him. And the best way I can explain this
Speaker 3: is when he's playing what he's been playing with the
Speaker 3: one group for you know, last handful of practices, and
Speaker 3: you don't notice that he's out there. And I mean
Speaker 3: that in a very complimentary way, is that he doesn't
Speaker 3: look out of place, he doesn't make any mistakes. He
Speaker 3: does things right enough to where you feel like he
Speaker 3: belongs there, if that makes sense. Sure, And so that's
Speaker 3: you know, and again we haven't played any football yet,
Speaker 3: but what he's done with the opportunity has been he
Speaker 3: has been given has been very impressive. You know, for
Speaker 3: a guy that nobody even probably really knew his name
Speaker 3: before the off season program started, and and he's he's
Speaker 3: slowly but surely made sure people know who he is.
Speaker 3: And you know, sometimes a door opens and if you
Speaker 3: you sprint through it. There you go. Sometimes that's how
Speaker 3: it works. And so I'm very excited to see what
Speaker 3: he looks like as well. And you know, again he's
Speaker 3: hasn't played a ton and and he's gonna have some
Speaker 3: opportunities to play, and you know, I hope he takes
Speaker 3: advantage of it because he's the kind of guy you
Speaker 3: root for. Guys like him, you know that that things
Speaker 3: right and approach their job the right way, and you
Speaker 3: hope that they can capitalize on it.
Speaker 1: Seat Geek is now the official ticketing partner of the
Speaker 1: Tennessee Titans. Whether you're buying or selling tickets to Titans
Speaker 1: games or any live event in Nashville, seat Geek is
Speaker 1: the place to do it. Seat Geek the new official
Speaker 1: ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 2: So Titans fans fan.
Speaker 1: Brian Callahan, thanks so much for joining us on the OTP.
Speaker 3: It's always a pleasure.
Speaker 1: It's kind of fun to come here at the end
Speaker 1: of the off season program. Here we go, well, you know.
Speaker 2: We're here to put a bow on things and then
Speaker 2: shoot you forward. That's what we do.
Speaker 1: Here for Amy Wells and coach Brian Callahan. I'm Mike Keith,
Speaker 1: thanking you the OT people for joining us for the
Speaker 1: o TP. Welcome to the Big show where the Lenson's
Speaker 1: going ever boughten nose. It's a