MOBILE, Ala. — Roughly eight members of the Tennessee Titans brass sat dialed in as 22-year-old Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders smiled whereas answering questions throughout a gathering final week on the East-West Shrine Bowl in Frisco, Texas.
It was the primary of many conversations about Sanders doubtlessly turning into the longer term face of the franchise.
Titans coach Brian Callahan and common supervisor Mike Borgonzi have been available, along with president of soccer operations Chad Brinker. Borgonzi, who was employed as Tennessee’s sixteenth common supervisor two weeks in the past, rolled up his sleeves and dove into the Titans’ quarterback search with Callahan for the primary time in an interview setting.
“[Callahan]’s very good and detailed,” Borgonzi instructed ESPN. “He is been round, some fairly good ones — Peyton Manning, Joe Burrow and Matthew Stafford. I believe that helps being round gamers like that — figuring out what to search for by way of simply footwork, dropping the eyes downfield, etcetera.”
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The Borgonzi and Callahan pairing is intriguing due to how profitable every was at their earlier cease. Callahan and the Cincinnati Bengals hit the jackpot earlier than their second season collectively by making Burrow the primary decide in 2020. Borgonzi was the director of participant personnel for the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs in 2017 when the franchise despatched their No. 27 total decide, a third-round decide, and their 2018 first-round choice to the Buffalo Payments to maneuver as much as No. 10 to pick out Patrick Mahomes.
Callahan and Borgonzi hope to recreate the magic they discovered as a part of earlier searches in the event that they resolve to take a quarterback with the No. 1 decide on April 24. The issue is there is not a clear-cut high prospect. Each Sanders and former Miami quarterback Cam Ward have discovered themselves atop the totally different mock drafts.
Callahan has seen this film earlier than. His enter helped the Bengals land on Burrow regardless of having the ability to decide from the complete inventory of prospects. Again then, Burrow hadn’t pulled away from the group. Fellow quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa and Justin Herbert drew consideration, however Burrow’s potential to supply within the clutch gained Callahan and the employees over.
Heading into Senior Bowl week, Sanders was simply exterior the highest 10 in ESPN’s consensus draft rankings, whereas Ward was tied at No. 10 with Texas sort out Kelvin Banks Jr. Ward ranks as the highest QB prospect for ESPN draft analysts Matt Miller, Jordan Reid and Subject Yates. (Mel Kiper Jr. has him as QB2 behind Sanders.)
Callahan referred to what he discovered from longtime quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator Greg Knapp, whom he labored for as an offensive assistant with the Denver Broncos from 2013 to 2015.
“[Knapp] all the time stated these three issues: decision-making, timing, and accuracy,” Callahan instructed ESPN. “These three issues are all the time going to be the primary stuff you search for. Should you search for these issues, you are going to see a whole lot of what good quarterbacking seems like.”
Callahan additionally talked about arm energy at a baseline degree, however he pointed to how arm energy could be offset by anticipatory throws.
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“Folks had questions on Burrow’s arm energy typically popping out,” Callahan stated. “One of many issues that makes Joe so distinctive, and I believe you possibly can most likely put Shedeur in the identical dialog. … They anticipate after they throw it, they’ve the timing and accuracy on high of it. That makes up for the arm energy.
“These issues are the way you make up for perhaps not having the largest arm. Should you’re throwing on time and placing a ball when and the place you are purported to go, you are not going to have too many issues.”
Borgonzi agrees with Callahan’s listing of core traits. He additionally locations an enormous emphasis on management as a result of he believes choosing a quarterback is a very powerful choice in sports activities. Throughout the analysis course of, Borgonzi asks himself some easy questions like:
Is he going to guide the franchise?
Is he a pacesetter on the sphere?
Can he course of the data?
Soccer intelligence, character and management are additionally main elements within the analysis.
The large factor that hit for Borgonzi and the Chiefs after they honed in on Mahomes have been his particular skills. They knew there have been issues to work on with Mahomes, however having a long-tenured coach like Andy Reid helped offset worries about areas for enchancment.
“[Andy Reid] was nice after we used to observe tape with him,” Brogonzi stated. “Little technical issues like having an actual extensive base throwing the soccer would come up whereas watching movie and he would say, ‘I can repair that.'”
Kansas Metropolis had a veteran quarterback in Alex Smith, who helped get Mahomes able to play figuring out that was his eventual alternative.
Borgonzi did not rule out the Titans bringing in a veteran quarterback as a bridge in the event that they draft a younger quarterback and nurture him till he is able to take the sphere. If the Titans resolve to not purchase a veteran, third-year quarterback, Will Levis is an possibility.
However Levis did not safe his future with the Titans when he completed with a 2-10 file final season as a starter. Callahan stated Levis plans to work in California with former NFL quarterback turned place coach Jordan Palmer in the course of the offseason.
Levis is presently the one quarterback beneath contract with Tennessee. With two extra years on his deal, Levis has time to showcase himself in hopes of touchdown one other alternative to persuade a crew he generally is a franchise quarterback.
However that would additionally include encouragement to assist put together the younger quarterback who may very well be subsequent in line to take over beneath heart.
Callahan and Borgonzi know they’ve a tall job on their fingers to show issues round.
Added Borgonzi, “We will flip over each rock to ensure we get the correct man there.”
