Brian Callahan, head coach of the Titans, has identified a coordinator for his defense.
Dennard Wilson, the defensive backs coach for the Ravens, is anticipated to join Tennessee as the team’s new defensive coordinator, according to sources cited by NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero on Wednesday.
In his thirteenth season as an NFL coach, Wilson, who had a Saturday interview with the Titans, will be tasked with improving a team that finished the 2023 season just below mediocre. Tennessee recently finished the season with a 16th-ranked scoring defense and an 18th-ranked yardage total, but their passing defense, which is ranked 29th, was their weakest point. This is where Wilson’s experience lies.
This past season, Wilson, 41, was a member of the coaching staff in Baltimore that managed the league’s top team top scoring defense ranking. The Ravens finished sixth in passing yardage allowed the second fewest passing touchdowns in the league, indicating that the secondary played a significant role in that ranking
defense that scores points.
Additionally, Wilson was employed by the Eagles in 2021 and 2022. In his second season, when Philadelphia led the league in passing yards allowed, he oversaw the passing game and was the defensive backs coach. He was a coach with the Jets and the Rams prior to that.
On the same day that the Ravens lost Mike Macdonald, their defensive coordinator, to pursue a job in the NFL, word of his anticipated hiring to accept a position as head coach of the Seattle Seahawks.
Building bricks exist in Tennessee, including linebacker Harold Landry and defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons, who have combined for 22.5 sacks over the course of two seasons due to an ACL tear sustained in the preseason of 2022.
However, there is a lengthy list of pending free agents that includes Sean Murphy-Bunting, Azeez Al-Shaair, and Denico Autry.
According to Over the Cap, the Titans have the second-most cap space in the NFL going into the summer with an anticipated $68.1 million. They could definitely utilize that to hold onto pieces that the previous administration had brought in, or they could use some of that money to assist build Wilson’s defense.
Regardless of the strategy, he will be vital to Tennessee’s efforts to return to the postseason with back-to-back failures.