Tyler Lockett Makes Difference With Titans as Clear as Day With Strong Brian Callahan Verdict

When the Tennessee Titans made former University of Miami quarterback Cam Ward the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, their job was far from done. No surprises there when the majority of the offseason was set aside, trying to upgrade Ward’s supporting cast. And just like that, veteran WR Tyler Lockett signed a one-year deal to join the pass-catching corps. Despite 2024 being his least productive season since 2017, having caught 49 passes for 600 yards and two touchdowns, HC Brian Callahan wasn’t too worried about it. By his own admission, Lockett is a part of the puzzle, “an opportunity to have some perspective from a veteran player.”

Now, Tyler Lockett came to the NFL way back in 2015 and spent nearly a decade thriving under Pete Carroll’s “come as you are” regime in Seattle. Then came a shift with Mike Macdonald taking the reins, bringing a more disciplined, structured approach. Now in Tennessee, Lockett is learning Brian Callahan’s playbook. And with it comes a realization of working under three very different coaching styles that have shaped his career.

For Carroll, it was all fun and games—as long as you could deliver. “With Pete, it was come as you are. Like, ‘I’m not going to tell you what you can and can’t do as long as it doesn’t become a detriment to the team.” Lockett said in an interview on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast. “There was a lot of like you had to be self-aware and you had to be self-motivated because we did things that was in a competitive level like shooting hoops and doing all these things and people could have so much fun.”

But if you didn’t meet Carroll’s standards, you weren’t a part of the team. “He found ways to have fun but also compete, and the people who couldn’t do both of those were the ones that wouldn’t make it…” Lockett added. For nearly a decade, Lockett flourished in that world, racking up 8,594 receiving yards and 61 touchdowns under Carroll, ranking second in Seahawks history. And then came the shift.

Mike Macdonald, the defensive savant from Baltimore, took over in Seattle, ushering in a different atmosphere. “Mike’s more of like a military style coach… a lot of his stuff and how he goes about it is a lot different and it’s a lot more like time consuming and a lot more work oriented.” Gone were the pick-up basketball games and playful competitions of Carroll’s era, replaced by structure, discipline, and precision. That approach sparked immediate results: Seattle went 10-7 in Macdonald’s first season, their first 10-win campaign since 2020, and closed strong by winning six of its final eight games. The defense, in particular, evolved into one of the league’s best over the second half of the year, fueling that surge. Still, the Seahawks fell just short of the playoffs on a tiebreaker. And for a veteran like Lockett, it meant adapting to a new world where every drill and meeting had a standard.
He had lived in both extremes, and then walked into a new locker room in Nashville, where the balance starts somewhere in between.

 As Lockett put it, “coming out here with Cali, it’s like I think it’s kind of the best of both worlds because he’s come from a lot of different places where, you know, he’s been within the Peyton Manning systems. He’s been with Cincy. And so kind of like understanding the new age of how to be able to tailor things to get the most out of your players. That’s kind of like what Cali is starting to do here.” Brian Callahan may be a first-time head coach, but he brings a valuable pedigree: early years coaching alongside Peyton Manning in Denver, including Super Bowl 50, and a stint as quarterback coach for Matthew Stafford and Derek Carr, before rising to offensive coordinator with the Cincinnati Bengals, where he helped engineer a Super Bowl run. Peyton Manning praised him as “extremely hard working, extremely intelligent,” calling him a “great hire” for Tennessee.

That versatility is especially promising for Tennessee, which, after Mike Vrabel’s gritty, defense-heavy era, is searching for an identity. Lockett’s observation that Callahan is merging Carroll’s relaxed trust with Macdonald’s structured toughness is a telling sign that culture reset may be picking up steam. Few find the middle ground so well, but Lockett’s lived experience offers him a unique lens on Callahan’s potential to shape a winning environment.