Titans Need Cam Ward to Succeed Quickly

Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward has a lot of pressure on his shoulders early in his career.

As the No. 1 overall pick, Ward is tasked with being the player to lead the Titans out of their rebuild and back into the playoff picture.

NFL.com columnist Jeffri Chadiha named Ward as one of the rookies in need of succeeding the most.

"Ward’s success is important because the Titans selected him after giving up on Will Levis, a player they drafted in the second round in 2023," Chadiha wrote.

"Tennessee certainly doesn’t want to become one of those teams that is selecting a quarterback every two or three years, so hitting on Ward is critical to what it's trying to build in the second year under head coach Brian Callahan. It’s important to note here that Callahan was the offensive coordinator in Cincinnati when the Bengals made quarterback Joe Burrow the top pick in the 2020 draft. The head coach has experience with handling players in Ward’s situation, and it helps that Ward was a huge success at three different programs in college. That means he knows how to learn fast."

"He’ll also be helped by the presence of a couple veteran receivers — Tyler Lockett and Calvin Ridley — and an AFC South that could be the worst division in football. Ward doesn’t have to be the star that Houston’s C.J. Stroud and Washington’s Jayden Daniels blossomed into as rookies. All he needs to do is create some real optimism for the future in Tennessee."

It will be hard for the Titans to go from zero to hero right away, but Ward just needs to move things in the right direction. As long as that happens, the Titans will be in position towards building a winner sooner rather than later.