Just a shade over the halfway point of his rookie season, it’s time to make an early evaluation on Cam Ward.
The Titans took Ward first overall in the April draft and are, of course, banking on him to be the one to lead the franchise out of the wilderness and back into respectability.
Given the current state of the Titans, that would be a big ask of Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen, much less a rookie quarterback who doesn’t have much in the way of weapons at his disposal.
Despite the line issues and the lack of weapons, there is a glaring truth that needs to be pointed out regarding the first half of Ward’s first season. It hasn’t been good, by any stretch of the imagination.
Oh sure, there are a couple of wow throws here and there every week, but down in and down out, the Titans under Ward’s guidance are even beneath the low bar turned in by Will Levis and the 2024 version of the Titans.
Whether it’s fair or not, players drafted first overall – especially quarterbacks – are anointed as franchise savior. More often than not, that player doesn’t meet those lofty expectations because they’re usually going to organizations that have lots of holes and do lots of losing.
Occasionally, a quarterback prospect seen to be screwup proof, like Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck or Joe Burrow, goes No. 1 overall and lifts a dysfunctional franchise out of the doldrums and makes it a contender.
But even in the case of Luck and Burrow, said dysfunctional franchises were not smart enough to draft quality offensive lineman to protect the screwup proof quarterback, thus screwing things up anyway.
While it’s way too early to start using the “b-word” around Ward, there is no denying he is much more on a Bryce Young trajectory than a Manning or Burrow pace.
That’s not to say he can’t turn it around, because Manning led the league in interceptions during his rookie season. Other No. 1 picks like Baker Mayfield and Jared Goff became franchise quarterbacks, albeit for teams other than the ones that drafted them.
But through nine games, Ward’s play is at least cause for concern. Honestly, when Titans coaches talk about Ward needing to refine his footwork to cut down on inaccurate throws, it tells me that he might be a bit more raw than a normal No. 1 overall quarterback should be coming into the league.
That’s not to say that he can’t reach his potential, but, his coaches say, he also is having to learn some hard lessons about not always hunting the big play and being willing to accept what the defense is giving him.
The numbers reflect Ward’s struggles in a number of areas. He is completing only 57.6% of his passes, hitting on 170 of 295 throws for 1,760 yards. He is averaging 6 yards per attempt, which ranks 29th among all quarterbacks who have at least 1,000 yards passing this season. He ranks only ahead of the aforementioned Young, who is averaging 5.7 yards per toss.
Ward’s numbers pale in comparison to what Levis put up in his nine games as a rookie starter in 2023, though, in fairness, he had Derrick Henry in the backfield and DeAndre Hopkins to throw to, despite operating behind a worse offensive line.
It gets worse. Ward has been sacked a league-high 38 times this season. Yes, the offensive line has struggled, many of the sacks are from holding the ball too long, also a major criticism of Levis.
Turnovers, though there weren’t any in Sunday’s loss to the Chargers before the bye, have been an issue, as well. Ward’s six interceptions are not too alarming, but his five lost fumbles are.
But perhaps the biggest struggle – and it is an indictment of the offense as a whole as much as it is of Ward – is that he has only five touchdown passes in nine games. That projects out to nine for the season. Fellow rookie Jaxson Dart of the woeful New York Giants has 10 touchdown passes, and he didn’t start until the fourth week.
Even Dillon Gabriel, who has been bad enough in Cleveland that fans there are calling for Shedeur Sanders to get a shot, has the same number of touchdowns passes as Ward.
But as stated above, the Titans offense as a whole is scoring challenged. It couldn’t produce a touchdown in the loss to the Chargers, despite two rushes from the 1-yard line.
In nine games, the Titans have scored just 11 total touchdowns. Of those 11, the two scored Sunday came from the defense and special teams. One of the scores in their only win – at Arizona – came when an interception was fumbled into the end zone and recovered by the since-released Tyler Lockett.
While the numbers and the issues paint a bleak picture of Ward’s future, this is not to say that he can’t turn things around, even in the second half of this lost season.
Ward has two traits going for him:
• He appears to be unflappable and largely unfazed by the mounting losses and the team’s lack of competitiveness.
• He’s a hard worker with the desire to perform at a high level.
Ward will have a new coach next year. He also will have a new offensive system and different players to work with in the next phase of the Titans’ ongoing rebuild. It remains to be seen how that will ultimately affect his growth and development as a quarterback.
Terry McCormick also covers the Titans for TitanInsider.com