Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward will have plenty of milestones in his first season with the team.
The first came on draft night when he was named the No. 1 overall pick of the draft, and the second comes with the start of the team's rookie minicamp.
Ward already got acclimated with his teammates during the draft, reaching out to various players as they were selected by the team, but now he gets a chance to be on the same practice field with them.
It won't be a full throttle practice at any point this weekend for Ward and the Titans, but this is his opportunity to prove to the team that he deserves to be the Week 1 starter.
The Titans have stated that there will be a competition between Ward and incumbent starter Will Levis to determine who will be under center for the team's Week 1 matchup, and even though it appears to be going in one direction, nothing is set in stone.
It's a good precedent to set for Ward that nothing is given in the NFL, and he has to earn the starting job like he earned the ability to be the No. 1 overall pick.
Ward has all the tools to be a franchise quarterback, and he will eventually get his chance to be that for the Titans someday, but he has to prove himself further now that he is in the NFL.
The slate is blank for everyone regardless of where they were drafted, and that's what makes rookie minicamp an exciting time for Ward and all of his fellow draft picks, along with the 16 undrafted free agents, who will all have a chance to make their mark with the Titans this weekend.
Titans GM shares surprising update about Cam Ward, Will Levis
Shortly after the Tennessee Titans selected Miami quarterback Cam Ward with the first pick of the 2025 NFL Draft, Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi hinted that he wanted Ward to earn the Week 1 starting job in a competition with 2023 second-round pick Will Levis.
During a Thursday appearance on "The Rich Eisen Show," Borgonzi expanded on wanting to "create competition" between Ward and Levis heading into training camp.
"I think the expectation is, you take a quarterback No. 1 overall, that he's going to uplift your franchise and be that guy," Borgonzi explained, Bleacher Report's Julia Stumbaugh shared. "But part of our job here is to manage expectations as we go through the process here. Eventually, that's what we want it to become. But we want to take the proper steps to make sure he's ready to go out there and play, whether it be Week 1, or Week 2 or Week 3. If he hits the ground running here in training camp, he'll be out there Week 1."
Titans head coach Brian Callahan benched Levis for poor play this past December, which suggests Callahan will be at least slightly disappointed if Ward doesn't emerge as the club's starter by the time Tennessee's final preseason game wraps up. Per Pro Football Reference, Levis ended the 2024 regular season ranked last among qualified players with a 27.8 adjusted QBR. Additionally, he was 35th out of 36 signal-callers with a 36.5% passing success rate.
Recent history shows that quarterbacks drafted first overall become Week 1 starters as rookies — Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals, Trevor Lawrence of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Bryce Young of the Carolina Panthers and Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears are all examples. That said, Borgonzi hopes that Ward's presence will "bring out the best in" Levis over the next several months.
"Will's a young quarterback that's still developing, but any time you take a quarterback with the No. 1 pick, your anticipation is that he's going to one day lead the franchise and be a franchise quarterback," Borgonzi added.
In short, Levis likely will spend the preseason auditioning for other teams as his current employer prepares to hand Ward the keys to its offense.
