The Athletic highlights 40 NFL people under 40

[Mr. Scot]

NFL 40 under 40: Coaches, execs, agents and other rising stars around the league

No Panther coaches or executives listed (a lot of front office and team leadership guys are over 40) but a former player, a couple of adjacent folks and an upcoming coordinator that I've pondered as a possible future head coach.

Starting with...

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Greg Olsen, Fox Sports lead analyst | Age: 37

Olsen in May was named the color analyst in Fox’s No. 1 broadcast booth, alongside Kevin Burkhardt, just two years after his 14-season career as an NFL tight end concluded. Olsen replaces Troy Aikman, who went to ESPN along with Joe Buck.

The assignment means Olsen is on track to call the Super Bowl in February.

Olsen started preparing for his broadcasting career while he was still playing. He joined a Fox broadcast crew as a color analyst for the first time during his bye week in 2017, and did the same in 2019.

Now he has the lead gig for at least a season — or until Tom Brady retires and begins the broadcast deal he committed to with Fox earlier this year.

“Even if I get one year at it, I’m going to try to kill it,” Olsen said on “The Dan Patrick Show” podcast this spring. “I’m going to try to make it a fun season, (hope) people tune in, really enjoy our broadcast, and hopefully Tom plays for a few more years.”

Olsen, 49ers tight end Greg Kittle and the Chiefs’ Travis Kelce also last year founded “Tight End University,” a summer gathering for the league’s top players at the position to share tips of the trade. The second annual session was held last week at Vanderbilt University.

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If that whole "promising the world to Brady" thing comes back and bites Fox on the ass, I won't be surprised...but I will be amused.

Next, under the heading of "Panthers adjacent"...

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Emily Leitner, NFL Films producer | Age: 32

If you’ve watched recent seasons of “Hard Knocks,” you’ve seen Leitner’s work. Producer is a broad title, she said, that covers a lot of tasks: directing, editing and writing, all on quick deadlines to produce documentary-quality episodes in a span of days. “Hard Knocks In Season” with the Colts was a particularly difficult yet rewarding challenge, shooting on location in Indianapolis for nine straight weeks. That production began almost immediately after wrapping the training camp season in Dallas.

In 2019, Leitner was part of the production team that won an Emmy Award for its work on the Amazon series “All or Nothing,” featuring the Carolina Panthers.

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Also in the "semi Panthers related" area, you'll find Bears GM Ryan Poles and Chiefs VP of Football Operations Brandt Tilis, both of whom interviewed for the Panthers GM job that eventually went to Scott Fitterer.

And lastly...

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Brian Callahan, Bengals offensive coordinator | Age: 38

Callahan was a 27-year-old entry-level offensive assistant coach with the Broncos when Peyton Manning became Denver’s new quarterback. The subsequent four years they spent together was the equivalent to earning “beyond a Ph.D. in football,” Callahan said.

Now that Callahan is working with Burrow, he finds himself frequently leaning on what he learned with Manning.

“(Manning) forced you to be so thorough. It taught me how to teach quarterbacks and how to give them the right information,” Callahan told The Athletic recently. “My job as a coach in that quarterback room, if you have a quarterback of Joe’s caliber, you want to empower him to have command over the whole thing. Seeing the way Peyton had control over the whole offense, that was valuable to me, and I can impart that to Joe.”

Callahan, whose father is longtime NFL offensive coach Bill Callahan, said he has head-coach aspirations. For now, though, he is fulfilled being one of three offensive coaches in Burrow’s ear, along with Taylor and 35-year-old quarterbacks coach Dan Pitcher. The trio has been together since Taylor’s arrival in Cincinnati in 2019.

“We all grew up together in a sense. We took our lumps, had a lot of failures and learned a lot professionally and personally. That really galvanized our staff. Everybody’s on the same page on how we want to do things,” Callahan said. “There’s an excitement here, and moments where we’re young enough, we don’t know better, we just do the things we feel are right. Hopefully we’ll look back on this staff in 10 years and say, ‘That’s a really dynamic staff, everyone’s gone on to do great things.’”

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I don't normally go this young when I'm looking at potential head coaching options, but there's a lot to like about Callahan.

Didn't include their profiles here but other potential head coach candidates found in the article include Eagles DC Jonathan Gannon, Jets OC Mike LaFleur, 49ers DC DeMeco Ryans and Colts ST Coach Bubba Ventrone.

Edited June 28, 2022 by Mr. Scot

[Panthera onca]

He would be a good option to look at once Rhule gets the Ziggy. Callahan could hire his dad as a senior advisor, that would be a wealth of experience and knowledge to have at your disposal.

[Mr. Scot]

2 hours ago, Panthera onca said:

Callahan could hire his dad as a senior advisor, that would be a wealth of experience and knowledge to have at your disposal.

That thought has crossed my mind.

Dad's one of the best OL coaches in the league too, though I'd prefer to keep Campen in that role and have dad be what you said.

[Sean Payton's Vicodin]

Callahan is the truth. Needs to be interviewed in October after Rhule gets canned