AFC Notes: Mike Borgonzi, Brian Callahan, Titans, Colts & Jaguars Combine Meetings

Colts

• Alabama S Malachi Moore had a formal Combine meeting with the Colts. (Dave Heilman) 
• LSU TE Mason Taylor had a formal Combine meeting with the Colts. (MLFootball)
• Alabama G Tyler Booker had a formal Combine meeting with the Colts. (Destin Adams)

Jaguars

• Penn State OLB Abdul Carter said he planned to meet with the Jaguars at the Combine. (John Shipley)
• Virginia Tech DB Dorian Strong had formal Combine interviews with four teams, including the Jaguars. (Devin Jackson)
• Texas S Andrew Mukuba had a formal Combine interview with the Jaguars. (CJ Vogel)
• South Carolina S Nick Emmanwori met with the Jaguars at the Combine. (Destin Adams)
• Michigan DT Mason Graham has met with the Jaguars at the combine, per Travis May.
• Jacksonville met formally with Oregon RB Jordan James at the combine. (Ryan Fowler)
• The Jaguars have met with Arizona WR Tetairoa McMillan at the combine. (Bo Brack)
• Louisville CB Quincy Riley met formally with the Jaguars at the Combine. (Ryan Fowler)

Titans

Titans GM Mike Borgonzi and HC Brian Callahan have both been on teams that had the first overall pick before, with Borgonzi being part of the Chiefs when they chose OT Eric Fisher and Callahan a member of a Bengals organization that selected QB Joe Burrow.

“When you’re taking a guy that high, they have to have rare physical traits,” Borgonzi told Albert Breer of SI.com. “For every player that you’re looking at, and I don’t want to go too far into the quarterbacks, but obviously with Abdul, it’s the get-off, the bend, and with Travis, it’s the rare instincts and ball skills—there’s a rare quality about each one of these players.”

“This pick, when we’re picking this high, this guy should drive the culture,” Borgonzi continued. “It’s like, this is the type of guy we’re looking for. When you make a pick this high, you don’t want to just get enamored by the talent you see on film—that’s part of the process. The other part is making sure that that person fits the culture, and he’s going to drive the culture too. That’s an important part of it.”

Borgonzi admitted that the team has already received calls about the first overall pick, yet they are not ready to make a decision at this point in their evaluation process.

“I want to get through the entire process before we make a decision on that,” Borgonzi commented. “I think that’s why we’ve set up all these 30 visits and pro days that we’re going to, private workouts, because it’s such a monumental decision, we want to go through an entire process before we make a decision in terms of, are we gonna stay there? Or are we gonna move back?” I want to make sure we go through X, Y, and Z, go through an entire process, and hit every possible touchpoint we can with this. And a lot of the time, you’re digging, you have all the information from the scouts, you start to call around, not only to coaches, but to support staff [with the college programs].”

Callahan was asked about the possibility of the team drafting a quarterback with the first pick.

“It’s trying to figure out if they can learn, how well they can process information. And it’s simulated, you’re never gonna give them a full install. But a Day 1 install, it’s a healthy amount of information,” Callahan says. “And you want to see how quickly they can learn it, because that’s the name of the game at quarterback—especially with young players, how fast can you get this off the ground, and can we get you ready to go, knowing where your gaps are. Because they’re not eight-year vets. You want to see what the real makeup of this player is. You wanna do that with every pick, but certainly with this pick. You want to make sure you’re bringing the right person into the building.”