Titans Coach Compares Cam Ward to Elite QBs

Tennessee Titans' Head Coach Brian Callahan has been coaching in the NFL since 2010, when he was an assistant for the Denver Broncos. During the last 15 years, he's coached a lot of great quarterbacks. He overlapped with Peyton Manning in Denver, Matthew Stafford in Detroit, Derek Carr in Oakland and Joe Burrow in Cincinnati. Needless to say, he knows what a good quarterback looks like.

In his first year with the Titans, Callahan was stuck with a bunch of quarterbacks he didn't pick. Will Levis played 12 games for the Titans, throwing for 2,091 yards, 12 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. When h e was out, Mason Rudolph took over and threw for 1,530 yards, nine touchdowns and nine interceptions. The Titans' QB situation was dire, but they were able to solve that problem in the draft.

With the first overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, Callahan went out and got his guy: Cam Ward out of the University of Miami. He's putting all of his eggs in Ward's basket, hoping that he can become his next Joe Burrow.

Before the start of their final preseason game, Titans Head Coach Brian Callahan sat down with former NFL defensive lineman Chris Long, and he compared his rookie quarterback to some of the greats he's worked with in the past.

"First and foremost, there's a drive. There's an internal drive to be gre at, which you can't teach or coach that," Callahan said. "He has that. That ability to translate that into your work, learning and performance is what I think really separates guys in this league. Everyone's got talent, but his drive to be good is intense."

Callahan also thinks Ward possesses elite spatial awareness. He knows where the holes in the defense are going to be, and he uses his eyes to move defenders to create open passing lanes.

"He's got this really unique ability to feel space in defenses, which is what really piqued my interest early on in the evaluation process. He just found open players and knew where they were on the field. You could see him even in college manipulating space underneath with his eyes. That's pretty advanced for a young player, and he's grown in that regard si nce he's been here."

Callahan sees a little bit of Joe Burrow in Ward. His ability to not be affected by the pass rush and always keep his eyes downfield is something he watched Burrow do for years with the Bengals, and he sees a bit of that in Ward.

"Cam is always looking for a big throw, and that's a really good quality to have. He's never worried about the [pass] rush; he doesn't worry about being able to escape...Cam's got that mindset where he's like, 'I can move and manipulate the pocket, so I'm not worried about that happening. I'm trying to dagger the ball downfield.'"

Callahan already almost lost his job after the Titans went 3-14 last year. Now, he has his guy under center, so if things don't go well, he has no more excuses.