NASHVILLE — Brian Daboll is excited about getting the chance to work with quarterback Cam Ward.
It just took a year longer than Daboll might have wanted.
He was officially introduced Wednesday as the offensive coordinator for Tennessee Titans first-year head coach Robert Saleh, and developing Ward — the No. 1 overall pick of last year’s NFL draft — will be a big part of his role in Nashville.
Daboll came to Music City after three-plus seasons as head coach of the New York Giants, getting fired in early November this past fall after the team’s 2-8 start. Ahead of last year’s draft, media reports indicated the Giants would have been willing to trade multiple picks to the Titans to move up two spots to the top and select Ward, who was coming off a standout season as a Heisman Trophy finalist in his lone year at the University of Miami.
Tennessee stood pat, though, and picked the 6-foot-2, 219-pound quarterback it hopes will lead the franchise for years to come. So it’s up to Daboll — among others — to try to help Ward reach those lofty expectations.
“Cam was a big factor,” Daboll said of what enticed him to join the Titans. “I have a lot of confidence in this young man. I had a lot of touch points with him (in the pre-draft process last year), meetings, 30 visits, going down to Miami, dinner with him and his family. So there was a good relationship built up with him leading up to the draft, so I look forward to working with him.”
As for his plans for developing the quarterback who turns 24 in late May, Daboll didn’t reveal much because he’s still in the process of evaluating everything about his new role — as well as Ward, whose collegiate career began with two seasons at Football Championship Subdivision member Incarnate Word in his home state of Texas before two seasons at Football Bowl Subdivision member Washington State and a final year with the Hurricanes.
“That’s something we are going through right now,” Daboll said. “We’re not there yet, schematic-wise. I’ve evaluated all his Washington State tape, all his Miami tape, and all the games he played last year. That’s going to be a work in progress. We have some time here.
“I think he can do a lot of things. He’s going to have to put the work in, which I know he will, and we’ll do stuff that he feels comfortable with. I think that’s important for any quarterback, but especially a young quarterback.”
Daboll, who went 20-40-1 overall with one playoff appearance as coach of the Giants, worked with rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart last year before being fired. Before his time with the Giants, Daboll was best known for helping turn Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen into an NFL star.
“I think every situation is unique,” Daboll said. “We’ve had some young quarterbacks previously with Josh and Jaxson in New York. Everybody is different, and I don’t want to put him into a particular box. The important thing is to first develop the relationship with the young man and get a feel for how he’s seeing the game. That’s hard to do right now when you’re not able to sit down and talk a lot of football. I always like to see the game through the quarterback’s eyes.
“There’s going to be mistakes that I think he’s made that he might have a completely different answer. Communication is very important. I learned that dealing with Josh, dealing with Jaxson.”
Ward started all 17 games for Tennessee during his rookie season, and he took every snap for the offense until exiting the Jan. 4 finale against the Jacksonville Jaguars with an injury to the shoulder on his throwing arm. The Titans lost 41-7 that day, wrapping up their second straight 3-14 season, third straight finish at the bottom of the AFC South standings, and fourth straight year without a playoff appearance since winning back-to-back division titles.
He is currently rehabbing his shoulder, but the Titans can’t begin offseason workouts until early April, so there is time for Ward to be ready for that portion of preparation for his second NFL campaign and first with Daboll.
AP file photo by George Walker IV / Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward, the overall No. 1 pick of the 2025 NFL draft, started all 17 of the team’s games during his rookie season.
Saleh, the defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers this past season after working as head coach of the New York Jets for three-plus seasons from 2021-24, replaced Brian Callahan, who lasted just 23 games in Nashville as the successor to Mike Vrabel, who had a six-year run.
The Titans also introduced defensive coordinator Gus Bradley on Wednesday. Bradley, a former head coach with the Jaguars for three-plus seasons from 2013-16, followed Saleh to Nashville from San Francisco.
Bradley was the assistant head coach on Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers staff this past season and has been a defensive coordinator for multiple NFL teams.
“We’ve known each other for many years,” said Bradley, who had Saleh on his Jaguars staff as Jacksonville’s linebackers coach from 2014-16. “I had a chance to work with him last year, and it was a great experience. I think we have a lot of the same philosophies, even though we’re different. And I think that mixture has that proper tension.
“We had a chance to kind of tear apart the defense, look at what we didn’t want to do and what we did want to do, based on our experiences at different places, and then were able to incorporate it there.”
Last week, the Titans released an official list of Saleh’s first Tennessee staff, and in addition to Bradley and Daboll, it includes special teams coordinator John Fassell, who will hold that role for the second season in a row while adding the title of assistant head coach.
Other holdovers from Tennessee’s 2025 staff are senior defensive assistant Ben Bloom, offensive assistant Trevor Browder, running backs coach Randy Jordan, passing game coordinator and cornerbacks coach Tony Oden, senior defensive assistant and pass rush specialist Travis Smith, assistant special teams coach Rayna Stewart and tight ends coach Luke Stocker.
The rest of the staff: offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo, wide receivers coach Greg Lewis, quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney, defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton, safeties coach Marquand Manuel, nickelbacks coach Dalton Hilliard, offensive assistant Trevor Browder, offensive assistant and game management specialist Cade Knox, offensive assistant John Rudnicki, defensive assistant Ahmed Saleh (he and the head coach are cousins), senior defensive assistant and pass rush specialist Travis Smith, assistant offensive line coach Isaac Williams and chief of staff Rob Dadona.