The ones who kept their jobs
Recent results show that head coaches keeping their jobs after their teams drafted quarterbacks first overall is rare, but the two who have done it are most comparable to Brian Callahan and his current situation. They are Kliff Kingsbury in 2019 and Zac Taylor in 2020.
Kingsbury's profile was eerily similar to Callahan in that he was a new and young offensive minded coach getting to work with a signal caller handpicked for him. Kingsbury did not work out long term in Arizona, but was good enough in his first year to lead Kyler Murray to an Offensive Rookie of the Year award.
There is no telling how Callahan and Cam Ward will evolve long term, but pairing a fresh offensive mind with a rookie quarterback is the ideal way to develop your young quarterback. Kingsbury helped Murray take steps forward in the beginning.
Taylor in Cincinnati (2020) has a lot of similarities to Kingsbury in 2019 and of course, Callahan was Taylor's offensive coordinator. There is not a lot more that needs to be said on the similarity front.
Of course, the quarterback in 2020 was Joe Burrow, who is one of the best in the NFL today and may have won Rookie of the Year if not for an injury. Ward is certainly not hyped up to be what Burrow was even five years ago, but it does showcase Callahan's good work with young quarterbacks, and is encouraging, especially considering he will use many of the same strategies to develop Ward.
While Callahan is up against a trend that generally has not gone in his favor recently, the good news is he has a lot more common with the guys who ultimately succeeded with No. 1 overall QBs. Callahan has an opportunity to prove that those numbers do in fact somewhat lie, and that his 2024 season truly was a one-off.