NASHVILLE, Tenn. – PK.com All-22 member Sam Dean, aka Mr. First Down, recently asked me what I think of Cam Ward’s performance overall so far and if it’s OK for a Titans fan to be optimistic about it. (You may know Sam from his extensive boa and horrific hat collection.)
That led me here to share some thoughts about what I think would be a wise fan approach to Ward, a little less than a month before he’s on the field for his first training camp.
Overall, I think Ward showed himself to be on a good course. There is no way not to like the work ethic, the determination, the confidence and the magnetism he has with his teammates.
Physically, his quick release is impressive, though I’m compelled to note that Will Levis’ was too (and still is). Elic Ayomanor said after some early work with Ward’s that the QB is not going to be late, and if a receiver is late, he’s going to have a problem. Ward has general command of the middle of the field, where the Titans feel they missed a lot of plays last year, and where he found many challenging tight windows and put targets in nice position for yards after the catch.
The other side of that was that the team was shy about working the perimeter with him. We can view that as coaches working to his strengths early, or see it as a limitation of the game of the No. 1 pick in the draft, who you’d love to have more full-field capacity, even early.
Managing blitzes is a learning experience, as when the Titans defense won a lot the final two days of the three-day minicamp, he had some trouble in that department. That’s to be expected.
Ward rolled out and threw back across his body a handful of times, resulting in one really horrible red-zone interception with no targets in the vicinity of the throw, and made a similar throw that was easily defended again in short order – but he was dismissive of that interception because it came in seven-on-seven which he doesn’t count as real football.
The Titans and all teams spend a lot of time on seven-on-seven. It all counts. As well as he handled all that was thrown at him, that response was not his best moment. And throwing back across your body doesn’t qualify as testing stuff out when a pick isn’t going to kill you, because it’s a cardinal sin.
The whole package was solid, fine.
But he was not other worldly, coming in and having some superior rookie offseason or creating moments we’ll be talking about or remembering at a starting point if he turns into what the Titans hope.
He’s not the first rookie quarterback to arrive at the building super early to work. In my estimation, the hype for that and his response to Jeffery Simmons’ trash talk was outsized. That he took a play call from Brian Callahan while finishing an exchange with Simmons may foretell an ability for important multitasking. In this instance, it showed him lingering on the unimportant.
Overall, there is plenty of cause to be encouraged. The pool of receivers is deeper, though the Titans will again not be sufficiently top-heavy. The offensive line simply has to be better, given
another round of investment.
Many observers want to set sky-high expectations – like Ward is the franchise-savior and will take the Titans to never-before-seen heights -- then take every positive development as him meeting them, while minimizing any errors as inconvenient to the storyline.
Perhaps Ward will be that for Tennessee. But if I were a fan of the team, I’d be rooting for development and patiently watching it unfold instead of setting what are more likely to be unrealistic hopes.
Set a pace.
My suggestion: Ask for him to be better than Marcus Mariota as a rookie, with fewer sacks and better health, before counting on him to be mentioned with Patrick Mahomes.
