The first month of Cam Ward’s second season has gone about as badly as Tennessee could have imagined.
Instead of making the kind of leap the Titans wanted from their young quarterback in 2026, Ward has stumbled out of the gate. Through five weeks, the Miami product has completed 63.2% of his passes for 896 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions, and Tennessee’s offense has not found anything close to steady production with him running it.
The rough edges have not all been on Ward. He has dealt with uneven help from his coaches and teammates at times. But the biggest share of the blame still falls on him, and that reality showed up in the latest quarterback power rankings from Sports Illustrated’s Matt Verderame.
Ward, who opened the preseason at No. 25 in Verderame’s rankings, slid all the way to the bottom after his slow start.
"The stats don’t do justice to how much Ward has struggled in Tennessee. Last week, he threw for only 70 yards over the first three quarters in a 26-3 loss to the Texans.
He has yet to throw for 250 yards in a game. It’s been a disaster, and one that must have the Titans thinking about drafting his replacement in April," Verderame wrote.
That’s the harsh reality now hanging over a player who was selected No. 1 overall in 2025. Ward remains a young quarterback with time to grow into the job, and he could still become Tennessee’s long-term answer at the sport’s most important position. But nothing about this season has matched that draft status so far.
The Titans are 0-5, and they head to Indianapolis to face the Colts on Sunday. The coming stretch looms large for Ward, who needs to show real progress and at least keep Tennessee competitive if he wants to strengthen his case as the quarterback who should be leading this franchise in 2027.
If the turnovers keep coming and Ward keeps dragging down the offense, Robert Saleh may eventually look at Mitch Trubisky as a possible change of pace. And if that happens, the questions around Ward’s future in Tennessee will get a lot louder, a year and a half after the Titans made him the first overall pick.
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For a front office already in the middle of a broader restructuring under team president Burke Nihill, the addition signals another notable shift in how the organization is being run behind the scenes. It also comes with an unresolved layer, since Walls is named in a discrimination lawsuit involving the Cardinals that has been sent to arbitration, leaving Tennessees latest personnel move with both practical intrigue and a little extra scrutiny. [Read more 🡒]
Titans Need Brian Daboll To Change What Is Failing Cam Ward
The Titans 0-5 start has already put their offense in an uncomfortable place, and the numbers only sharpen the concern. Tennessee is averaging 11.5 points per game, a franchise low and one of the worst openings since the merger, with the running game doing little to keep defenses honest or keep the offense out of obvious passing situations.
For Cam Ward, that has meant too many snaps where the defense knows what is coming. Brian Daboll is now at the center of the conversation about how to change that, with the idea of leaning harder into the pass and even speeding things up with more no-huddle looks if it can help the Titans create easier scoring chances and finally get the offense moving. [Read more 🡒]
Jeffery Simmons Suddenly Sits At The Center Of A Titans Debate
The Titans have spent recent trade deadlines acting like sellers, and their place near the bottom of the standings has only sharpened the conversation about how long this rebuild will take. With the No. 1 overall pick in the 2027 NFL Draft already in their pocket, Tennessee has enough long-term draft capital to keep thinking big-picture, but the presence of Jeffery Simmons has complicated the picture. The veteran defensive tackle is coming off a significant contract extension, which usually signals stability, not uncertainty.
Still, in a league where top-tier veterans can bring back major returns, Simmons has become the kind of player who forces hard questions about timeline and value. Moving him would be a drastic step, and one that would carry obvious football and locker-room risks, but it could also fit a front office trying to accelerate a reset. For now, there is no trade or formal decision, only the kind of debate that tends to follow a team when the future arrives faster than expected. [Read more 🡒]