Former Tennessee Titans outside linebackers coach Ryan Crow was not retained by the team following the firing of Mike Vrabel, which led to Tennessee hiring Ben Bloom to take his place.
Bloom started his coaching career back in 2005 when he became a graduate assistant at Tufts University, his alma mater.
After three years there as a graduate assistant and defensive line coach, Bloom moved on to Harvard to work as an assistant offensive line coach before he made his first foray into NFL coaching in 2009.
We’ll talk about that and more as we take a look at three things to know about the Titans’ new outside linebackers coach.
Bill Callahan connection
Bloom got his first NFL job in 2009 with the Cleveland Browns, where he served as a team operations assistant and quality control coach. After two seasons, Bloom moved on to work for the Dallas Cowboys, holding such roles as defensive ends coach and linebackers coach — among others — during his nine-year stint.
Along the way in Dallas, Bloom crossed paths with Titans offensive line coach Bill Callahan, who served as the offensive coordinator and O-line coach from 2012-2014.
The two then reunited in Cleveland in 2020, when Callahan was hired as the offensive line coach and Bloom as a defensive assistant. Bloom worked his way up to defensive run-game coordinator in 2021, and then defensive line coach in 2023.
Here’s a few accomplishments from Bloom’s tenure in Cleveland, per the Browns’ official website:
Worked closely with the defensive front seven in 2020, preparing the weekly run game game plan. Helped the Browns finish ninth in the league in run defense after finishing 30th in 2019. DE Myles Garrett earned first team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors.
Helped the Browns finish the 2021 season fifth in the NFL in total defense, marking just the third time since 1970 the team finished in the top-five and the club’s highest finish since 1987. The Browns were one of just three NFL teams (Green Bay and San Francisco) to finish 2021 in the top-12 in total defense, run defense and pass defense. Garrett earned first team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors after setting the franchise single-season sack record with 16.
Experience in different systems, roles
Bloom credits Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus, who he worked under with the Browns and Cowboys, for his development as a coach.
“A lot of my knowledge of the position comes from watching (Eberflus) coach and lead that room,” he said back in 2018, per Jon Machota of The Dallas Morning News. “I’m extremely fortunate to have been in that position under him and around him to learn from him. We all know he’s a great coach and what he’s gone to do. I’m fortunate for that.”
Bloom has experience in different systems. He worked under Rob Ryan twice, once in Dallas and once in Cleveland, and has also served under Monte Kiffin and Rod Marinelli with Dallas, and Joe Woods and Jim Schwartz in Cleveland.
On top of working in different systems, Bloom has also taken on many roles in his coaching career, including linebackers coach, defensive line and ends coach, and defensive run-game coordinator.
In 2016 with the Cowboys, he served as assistant coach/special projects, a job that saw him advise former Dallas head coach Jason Garrett on “game plan matchups and schemes, personnel group strategies, statistical analysis and game management and situational football strategy,” per the team’s official website. He also did some work with special teams.
This is Bloom’s first time working as an outside linebackers coach.
A great nickname
According to an interview Bloom did with The Tufts Daily during his days in college, where he played center, the new Titans coach revealed that one of his nicknames was “Bleu Cheese Bodybag” and he listed his favorite athletes as former New England Patriots linebacker Teddy Bruschi and former MLB pitcher Oil Can Boyd.
If you want a good chuckle, I’d suggest checking out the entire interview. Bloom showed no shortage of personality in it.
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