Titans OC Brian Daboll gets real on Cam Ward's worrisome preseason

Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Titans OC Brian Daboll gets real on Cam Ward's worrisome preseason

By Ernesto Cova | Last updated Aug 25, 2026 1:21 PM ET

Former No. 1 pick Cam Ward entered his second training camp with sky-high expectations.

The Tennessee Titans hired an offensive guru like Brian Daboll to fix the offense and spent big bucks and resources to give him a hand, adding Carnell Tate and Wan'Dale Robinson.

So far, however, he's shown little to no signs of improvement between seasons in two preseason contests.

When asked about the team's offensive struggles, Daboll had his quarterback's back. While he acknowledged that he must be better, he also called out the rest of the offense for not doing their jobs.

Brian Daboll defends Cam Ward amid struggles

“The intermediate chunk plays,” Daboll said. “Whether that’s layered throws, man-to-man throws. I mean, that’s encompassing everybody. It’s incumbent upon the receiver to take proper angles. It’s incumbent on the protection. And then ultimately, Cam hitting plays.”

#Titans Brian Daboll said the deep passing struggles isn't all on Cam Ward. It's a collective effort including the WRs as well. pic.twitter.com/UMWFmIUCpg
— TURRON DAVENPORT (@TDavenport_NFL) August 25, 2026

To be fair, the Titans have looked sluggish as a whole, though their prized quarterback is often the scapegoat.

Through two preseason games, Tate, the No. 4 pick, has yet to record a catch on five targets. That might be on the passer to a degree, but he's not doing his signal-caller any favors, either:

“(It’s) just not on Cam,” the coordinator continued. “Certainly not on Cam — all of it. It’s a combination of things. We’ve been working on it. We’ll continue to work on it. That’s part of the execution stuff we’re going to continue to grind away at. That’s an element of our offense we’ve got to improve.”

Robert Saleh's team was expected to be one of the most improved in the league this season, but that was contingent on Ward's development.

It's still early, and it's just the preseason, but the early returns suggest they might be in for another long season and a top-five pick in 2027.

Maybe, that will also come with more questions about their revolving door of young and failed quarterback prospects.

Ernesto Cova

Ernesto is a bilingual (English-Spanish) sports writer with over eight years of experience covering major leagues such as the NBA, NFL, and MLB. Ernesto’s work focuses on providing insightful, up-to-date coverage of sports, blending his expertise in sports psychology with a passion for analyzing player performance, team dynamics, and trade developments across various sports leagues

More must-reads: