The Tennessee Titans made a significant coaching staff hire on the offensive side of the ball on Friday, with the addition of new offensive coordinator Nick Holz.
Holz comes over from the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he served as the passing-game coordinator for an offense that finished No. 9 in passing.
Prior to his one-year stint in Duval, Holz was the offensive coordinator at UNLV, and before that he spent several years on the coaching staff of the Raiders.
There is understandably some trepidation about this hire from Titans fans, as his resume is a bit light for the job, and he’s a former Jag.
However, the fact that he won’t be calling the plays erases most, if not all of that concern.
We’ll talk about Holz’s expected role and more as we take a look at six things to know about the Titans’ new offensive coordinator.
Brian Callahan connection
Holz and Callahan first crossed paths in high school, where they were teammates. Holz was a wide receiver and Callahan was the quarterback. Former NFL running back Maurice Jones-Drew was also on the team.
They again worked together while with the Raiders in 2018, when Holz was an offensive quality control coach and Callahan was quarterbacks coach.
Bill Callahan connection
Holz also has a connection with Brian Callahan’s dad, Bill, who is the new offensive line coach. Holz got his first coaching gig as an offensive quality control coach and video intern at Nebraska in 2007 when Bill was the head coach.
Highly-regarded and a "hot" name
It’s worth noting that Holz survived four different coaching changes during his 10 seasons with the Raiders, which is a sign that he’s a good coach.
According to NFL Network’s Peter Schrager, Holz was “beloved” by former Raiders coaches Jon Gruden and Jack Del Rio, and he’s been a “hot name” in coaching circles for years.
“Holz was beloved in Oakland and in Las Vegas, where he worked on Jack Del Rio and Gruden’s staffs,” Schrager wrote. “He spent last year in Jacksonville. Holz has been a hot name for years.”
Experience with different systems
At least part of the reason Holz was hired by the Jags was to bring fresh ideas and perspectives to the offense.
As Jags offensive coordinator Press Taylor pointed out in 2023, Holz has experience in different systems that makes him a great sounding board.
“I think the biggest thing with Nick is taking us in year one to year two, in Nick’s experience with different systems during his time with the Raiders,” Taylor said, per Demetrius Harvey of Jacksonville.com. “He’s been with a lot of different guys whether it be Coach Gruden [former Raiders Head Coach Jon Gruden], Coach Olson [former Raiders Offensive Coordinator Greg Olson], a bunch of different people that we think bring different ideas and experiences to us.
“Whether it be spread systems, west coast systems, no-huddle stuff. His experience and then the way he meshes with our coaching staff having known a couple of guys throughout, I think it will just continue to elevate us from year one to year two like we’ve been talking about.”
In the same article, Holz touched on the process of how things worked with the Jags.
“We’ll get together and kind of talk about pass plays and then Phil [Rauscher] will kind of come in and [Jaguars quarterbacks coach] Mike [McCoy] with protections and what the quarterback likes and then [Jaguars receivers coach] Chad [Hall] will have his stuff as well,” Holz said.
“Really, being a conduit to Press in that way, kind of just helping him organize. There’s so much information on a week-to-week basis and kind of helping him put it into that box. Then, he takes it and he and Doug [Pederson] take it from there.”
Jags' passing numbers under Holz
We already stated that Holz oversaw the No. 9 passing attack in the NFL, but here’s a look at some more numbers from quarterback Trevor Lawrence and Jacksonville as a whole from 2023, per Zach Lyons of Stacking The Inbox:
Jaguars offense
- 14th in EPA/dropback
- 7th in dropback Success Rate
- 6th in Passing Attempts
- 9th in Passing Yards
- 21st in Passing TDs
- 15th in NY/A
Trevor Lawrence
- 14th in EPA/play
- 8th in Success Rate
- 15th in CPOE
- 8th in Air Yards
What's Holz's role with Titans?
Even if you’re extremely hesitant to like this hire, just remember that Holz will not be calling the plays in Tennessee. Callahan has already stated that will be his responsibility.
Instead, Holz will help with the implementation of the offense, the game-planning, and he may have some input on a play-by-play basis, much like Callahan had as the offensive coordinator in Cincinnati.
And, perhaps most importantly, he’ll have a hand in the development of quarterback Will Levis, who will hopefully be the long-term solution.
