Cam Ward hoping to inspire Titans teammates with his mental approach

Tennessee Titans players, coaches and fans have been traumatized by three consecutive losing seasons. Last year's 3-14 finish saw the franchise bottom out en route to this year's No. 1 overall pick, quarterback Cam Ward.

One of Ward's biggest challenges will be to break Tennessee holdovers of their losing mentality.

Cam Ward is the Titans tone-setter

Leadership comes naturally to Ward, no matter what level of football it is.

"I just think it has an effect on knowing that we're able to win every game," said Ward of his mindset. "And that's just how I think as a quarterback. I think every time I step on the field, I can be a difference maker. And so, they surround me with a lot of talent, especially up front. Those five guys up there who are always the standpoint of our offense, the O-line. And then just the running backs and the receiver core. I think those are going to be the guys who help make me do my job, make my job easier, and they also got to make their job easier."

No touchdown passes in seven preseason drives for Ward and the Titans starters who participated.

The Heisman Trophy-finalist led two touchdown drives in two of the three exhibitions showcasing plenty of reasons why Ward was worthy of his draft pedigree. A heavier lift for Ward will be elevating the talent-bereft around him. New general manager Mike Borgonzi addressed critical needs on the offensive line in free agency and looks to have raised the talent floor in Tennessee, low bar though it may be.

Early returns, however, show plenty of glaring issues that Ward will have to both mask and support.

"There's certainly more growth to be had," said coach Brian Callahan of Ward. "I think I've said before, he's not a finished product. He's going to learn a lot coming up. There's going to be things he hasn't seen yet. It's preseason, so you're looking at relatively vanilla things. Although he did get a little bit of 0 tonight, which was good to see. Pretty vanilla. Pretty standard looks. For him, he did what we asked him to do. There's going to be a lot of learning coming up over the next 17 weeks."

Titans GM Explains Selecting Cam Ward First Overall

After a very disappointing 2024 season where the Tennessee Titans went 3-14, they held the first overall pick in the NFL Draft for the first time since 1978, when they selected Hall of Famer Earl Campbell.

It was obvious the Titans needed a quarterback. They had Will Levis and Mason Rudolph on the roster, but second-year Head Coach Brian Callahan was ready to handpick his guy. And luckily for him, it was quite an easy decision.

Since the end of the 2024 college football season, there was a pretty clear top quarterback: Cam Ward out of Miami. The former Hurricane threw for 4,313 yards and 39 touchdowns behind a 67.2% completion percentage while leading Miami to the No. 1 scoring offense (42.9 PPG).

It didn't take long for the Titans brass to zero in on Ward. They'd been paying close attention to all of the top college quarterbacks, knowing they'd likely be picking towards the top of the draft, and once they got the first overall pick, they knew Ward was their guy.

Titans' General Manager Mike Borgonzi sat down with former NFL defensive lineman Chris Long, and he explained what stood out to him about Ward on tape.

"The arm talent, he certainly had that. The arm angles. He had this great spatial awareness, too, and he was able to throw guys open," Borgonzi explained. "Some of the physical abilities, the arm strength, the spatial awareness stuff, really jumped out to me when I started to watch him."

Tape is just a part of the story when you're trying to figure out if a quarterback will translate to the NFL. Another part of it is his mental makeup and leadership abilities. Borgonzi said their first opportunity to meet with Ward was at the combine, and they could immediately tell he was a smart, confident kid.

"Our first opportunity was at the combine to meet him. You could tell he was a confident kid, and he was smart. He's had a lot of reps in college."

Once they made Ward the first overall pick in the draft, he got right to work. He knew as a quarterback, he'd be expected to be the leader of the team, but he also knew he needed to earn the team's respect first. He put his head down, worked hard every day, and once the players took notice, he became one of the leaders of this team.

"The thing about Cam is he's got pretty good awareness," Borgonzi explained. "He knew he had to come in and prove himself first, and he proved himself with his work ethic. He was there every day in the offseason from 5:00 or 5:30 in the morning with these guys. Once he got in the huddle, these guys could tell that he's been putting in the work. He could line guys up, he knew the play calls. As we got through camp, I think he started to lead at that point."

Throughout the preseason, Ward proved to his teammates and coaches why they made the right choice selecting him first overall. He played much better than the stat sheets indicate, and seems very comfortable in Callahan's offense.

In two weeks, Ward will take the field against one of the best defenses in the league, the Denver Broncos, for his first regular season game. That will be his hardest test to date, but so far, he's passed everything with flying colors.