Tennessee Titans
Nick Saban’s Alabama tenure came to an end last offseason when the seven-time National Champion head coach elected to retire.
But one of Saban’s former assistants thinks the 73-year-old Saban will make his way back to a sideline at some point.
Speaking to reporters at SEC Media Days on Monday, current Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin was asked if he would hire Saban if his former boss wanted back in the game.
“He’s not going to need me to hire him,” Kiffin said, via Sam Hutchens of the Mississippi Clarion Ledger. “I don’t think he’s done. I think he’ll be back. Whether that’s college or NFL, I think he’ll be back.”
Kiffin worked under Saban at Alabama from 2014-2016 as the program’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. The two won a National Championship together to cap the 2015 season.
Saban was famously the Dolphins head coach from 2005-2006 before taking the Alabama job. His other NFL experience came as the Houston Oilers defensive backs coach from 1988-1989 and the Browns’ defensive coordinator under Bill Belichick from 1991-1994.
Kiffin was the Raiders coach from 2007-2008, lasting just four games into his second season before he was fired.
Sixteen years ago today, a quiet Fourth of July afternoon was interrupted with the stunning news that former NFL quarterback Steve McNair had been shot and killed.
McNair was only 36 at the time.
The official explanation never made complete sense. Quickly solved as a murder-suicide, with McNair shot by his 20-year-old girlfriend, Sahel Kazemi, who then supposedly shot herself.
The rush to close the case seemed odd. Police concluded that Kazemi shot McNair execution style, twice in the chest and twice in the head.
A subsequent effort to re-open the case ultimately failed. The issue was pressed by Vincent Hill, a former Nashville police officer who aggressively pursued the theory that it was not a murder-suicide.
In 2018, SI.com took a closer look at the unanswered questions in Fall of a Titan, a podcast series.
“I could make a case that things don’t add up,” former Titans coach Jeff Fisher said in a 2024 Netflix documentary on the McNair murder. “I don’t want to speculate. Just let it go.”
Even now, it’s hard to let it go. It’s hard not to wonder whether someone got away with double murder. And while that won’t change the fact that McNair was killed on this day in 2009, there’s a nagging sense that justice may not have been done.
McNair was the NFL’s co-MVP in 2003, and he led the team to the Super Bowl in 1999.
The third overall pick in 1995 out of Alcorn State, McNair spent 13 seasons in the NFL — 11 with the Oilers/Titans and two with the Ravens. The Titans retired his number (9) in 2019.
Cam Ward was the first overall pick of the draft, but the Titans haven’t named him their starting quarterback yet and one of Ward’s teammates says the rookie isn’t carrying himself as if he’s entitled to be in the lineup in Week 1.
Right tackle JC Latham discussed how things played out over spring practices while on SiriusXM NFL Radio recently and he said that neither Ward nor incumbent starter Will Levis have resigned themselves to a particular pecking order once the team gets back on the field this summer. Latham said that the competition has brought out the best in both players and that he thinks it is helping them grow ahead of the 2025 season.
“Will’s just not going to sit over here and say ‘Oh, we drafted him, go ahead take it,’” Latham said. “Cam’s not gonna expect it to be just given to him. Throughout the spring, I think that’s the one thing all the coaches and players on the team have seen. Both of them taking the challenge of trying to really earn the spot and really fight for the spot. It’s made them better.”
The odds are obviously heavily slanted in Ward’s favor and he’s likely to be the starter come September, but having to compete for the job rather than be handed it should only help his standing with the team once he is on the field this year.
Veteran free agent wide receiver Tyler Boyd said recently that he’d “absolutely” be interested in playing for the Steelers this season and the Pittsburgh native has reportedly had a chance to share his views with the team.
Longtime Steelers reporter Mark Kaboly said on 93.7 The Fan that the Steelers and Boyd have talked this offseason.
Kaboly went on to say that he was not sure if a formal offer was made during those conversations. He added that the money that Boyd has been offered around the league this offseason from any team has not been in the neighborhood he’s looking for and that he’s continuing to wait to see if a better offer can come his way.
DK Metcalf, Calvin Austin, Roman Wilson, Robert Woods, Scotty Miller, and Ben Skowronek are the current wideouts for the Steelers. Boyd spent eight seasons with the Bengals before moving to the Titans last season. He had 39 catches for 390 yards in Tennessee.
Last year, the Titans traded second- and third-round picks to the Chiefs for cornerback L’Jarius Sneed, then signed Sneed to a four-year, $76 million contract. His first season in Tennessee came to an early and disappointing end, as Sneed suffered a quadriceps injury in the fifth game and missed the rest of the year.
But now Sneed says he’s good to go for 2025. Sneed told NBC 6 that he’s healthy and motivated to show what kind of player he is.
“I’m healthy, I’m healthy as I’ve been,” Sneed said. “Last year, my first year, didn’t go as planned but it’s time to come out and show the world what God’s been instilling in me this entire year. I’m ready to get back on the field, that’s my life, that’s what I do for a living. I missed the whole year and I have to remind everybody who L’Jarius Sneed is.”
The Titans made a big investment in Sneed with last year’s trade and contract, and Sneed still believes that investment is going to pay off. Even after his first year didn’t go as planned.
I was talking to my son last night about the recent PFT list of the five hottest coaching seats.
Said my son, “Is Brian Callahan on it?”
Said I, “Shit!”
If Panthers coach Dave Canales is there as he enters his second season as a head coach, the Titans head coach should be, too. Although the precise reasons are different, the common thread is an unpredictability tracing to top-down dysfunction.
In Tennessee, Chad Brinker became after 2024 the latest winner of the in-house power struggle. He’s running the show, with Mike Borgonzi now the G.M. The latest iteration of mismatched front office/coach could result in Speck/Borgonzi wanting their own head coach after the coming season.
Callahan went 3-14 last year. Good (bad) enough to secure the first overall pick, and the rights to quarterback Cam Ward.
It would be much better for Ward if Callahan sticks around. The young quarterback doesn’t need a revolving door. He needs consistency and continuity.
But dysfunctional teams do dysfunctional things, and the recent run of dysfunction in Tennessee is reason enough to wonder whether Callahan will be feeling the heat, unless he at least doubles his first-year win total in his second NFL campaign.
Tyler Boyd is a Pittsburgh native. He played college football at Pitt. After nine NFL seasons, he’d like to continue his pro career with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“Absolutely,” Boyd told Pittsburgh Sports Now on Saturday, via Bryan DeArdo of CBSSports.com. “You know, all my family is here. I’d be able to have the majority of them be able to support me.”
He expressed interest in signing with the Steelers a year ago, after eight seasons with the Bengals. He landed with the Titans instead.
Boyd is once again making it known he’d like to come home.
“I’m real cool with [coach Mike] Tomlin,” Boyd said. “He’s always been a good person. . . . When I was at Pitt, we had a good relationship. After practice, I’d walk over there, talk to [Antonio Brown] and those guys, talk to Tomlin, and he’d just pick at different things, where I could get better and get some guidance. I think we had a great friendship.”
The Steelers could use another veteran receiver. They haven’t added one since trading George Pickens to the Cowboys in May.
Boyd had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2018-19. In 16 games last year with the Titans, he had only 39 catches for 390 yards.
Newcomers for 2025 are DK Metcalf and Robert Woods. Calvin Austin III will be expected to step up. And the Steelers are hoping to get something/anything from 2024 third-rounder Roman Wilson in his second season.
The Titans have announced their training camp schedule, which includes seven opportunities for fans to see this year’s No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward practice this summer.
Tennessee will hold six of its seven open practices at team headquarters, Ascension Saint Thomas Sports Park. The first session there will take place on Wednesday, July 23.
There will also be a practice at Nissan Stadium on Saturday, July 26.
While all practices are free to attend, fans must register for a ticket on the Titans’ website.
Tennessee will announce times for all practices in the coming weeks.
For Tyjae Spears, the best thing about this season is it’s not last season.
Spears had ankle and hamstring injuries in 2024, along with two concussions, limiting him to 12 games and 114 touches for 536 yards and five touchdowns.
“I learned that I can fight adversity really well,” Spears said, via Jim Wyatt of the team website. “I learned a lot over the course of last year, and in life. I’ve done a lot of reflecting in the last year.”
The Titans made Spears a third-round pick in 2023, and he backed up Derrick Henry as a rookie, gaining 838 total yards and scoring three touchdowns on152 touches. He still was the team’s second-leading rusher to Tony Pollard last season despite his stats decreasing.
Coach Brian Callahan said the Titans plan to have more of an equal distribution of carries among the running backs. Julius Chestnut and Kalel Mullings are behind Pollard and Spears.
“Just trying to make the most of my opportunities,” Spears said. “Definitely hungry for more, but I can’t do anything about last year. Confidence is building but definitely hungry for more.
“I’m just taking it one day at a time, and being the best I can be. I know that statement gets thrown around, but really stamping and solidifying it. I just want to show my best self whenever I can.”
Titans wide receiver Treylon Burks says he’s feeling good as he recovers from the torn ACL that ended his 2024 season in October.
“I feel amazing, just blessed,” Burks said, via TennesseeTitans.com. “I’ve just been leaning on God, leaning on the people that believe in me, care. And I feel really good, and happy to be in the situation I’m in.”
Even before the injury, Burks had been a disappointment as the 18th overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft. Through three NFL seasons he has just 49 catches for 665 yards and one touchdown. Burks knows he’s no lock to make the Titans’ roster but says he’s not worried about competing with the other players in the Tennessee wide receivers room.
“I am not going out to prove nobody wrong, I am going out to prove myself right,” he said. “I tore my ACL [on October 18] and I am running. I am running routes, doing everything within those seven months, and it’s like, ‘Wow.’ And it’s nobody but God who made it happen. That’s who I play for and that’s who I lean on. I am not worried about whoever is in the room or whoever we’ve got. We’re a team and we’re going to go out and play ball.”
Burks hasn’t played as much ball as the Titans were hoping he would in his first three seasons, but he’s preparing for a training camp in which he hopes he can prove that he belongs.