Dave Birkett

Detroit Free Press

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The last time the Denver Broncos reached the Super Bowl, one of their young offensive assistants, Jim Bob Cooter, was hired to be Detroit Lions quarterbacks coach a few days after the game.

With Cooter now offensive coordinator and his old quarterbacks job the lone vacancy on the Lions' staff, speculation has turned to one of his former officemates, Broncos offensive assistant Brian Callahan, as his potential replacement.

Asked about his candidacy at Super Bowl 50 this week, Callahan said, “I couldn’t tell you, at this point, to be honest with you."

"I know Jim Bob well," Callahan said. "We worked together for a year. But as of right now, we’re just worrying about this game. If anything comes to it after that, then we’ll go from there. But really, technically, I’m just worried about playing in the Super Bowl, to be honest with you."

Callahan has similar job responsibilities to what Cooter had when he was hired in 2014. He works closely with Peyton Manning, studying tendencies and breaking down film, and has earned the Broncos quarterback's trust.

"Brian Callahan is going to be a top-flight quarterbacks coach, offensive coordinator, maybe head coach like his dad (Bill) at some point in the near future," Manning said.

Peyton Manning a fan of Cooter, including his name

Callahan said he's aware that Cooter took a similar path to the Lions two years ago, but he said he's not concerned about his future for now.

"He’s a hell of a football coach," Callahan said of Cooter. "Obviously, you guys probably found that out a little bit the last couple weeks of the season. He’s got a really good idea of what he wants to do and how he wants to do it."

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

Download our free Lions Xtra app on your Apple and Android devices.