Cam Ward hasn’t yet done anything to demonstrate he can be rattled. I went to practice every day of OTA’s looking for something that knocked him off his spot. I couldn’t find one. On the practice field, speaking to the media afterwards, even probing his coaches and teammates: nothing. He seems to play football with a resting heart rate of 65 BPM no matter the situation, and I’m starting to think he just lives his life that way too.
That authentic looseness, and confidence is a big part of his “It” factor that the Titans are so in love with. It’s really, really easy to understand the appeal of this guy if you pay attention. And by all accounts, he’s ahead in learning the offense and establishing himself as a leader on the team. His aura is infectious, and it’s bleeding over into his teammates and coaches in the best way.
So what’s wrong with the guy? Is he already perfect? Certainly not. And after watching him in five different spring practices, there’s one area in which he regularly worries me.
Dangerous Decision-Making Trend
In high schools and QB camps across America, teach-tape is shown every year to developing passers that outlines the things they are never, ever, under any circumstances permitted to try. And, well, Cam Ward sure does love to try those things.
Specifically, he loves to throw back across his body. It’s something you see a good deal on his college tape, and it’s something you can hear OC Nick Holz poking fun at him for after his Pro Day a couple months ago.
Cam’s a creator, and he’s a self-proclaimed gunslinger. So he’s prone to rolling out of the pocket, escaping to buy time, and throwing against the grain of traffic if he sees an open man. And what makes this a tricky subject is that, well, he’s not one of those high school QBs trying to develop into a consistent passer. He’s not a limited pro who has to play within their physical and mental bounds, either. He’s not even a pro like Will Levis, who has a nasty streak of bad and dangerous decisions in his ledger.
He’s the 1st overall pick whose calling card is—at least in part—his creation ability. So trying to determine whether these kinds of attempts are bad decisions, or simply not going to give you the juice worth the squeeze, is a grey area. It’s an ability that can be a blessing and a curse, and it tends to live on a razor-thin margin between the two.
In the practices I’ve seen so far, he’s not afraid to try these passes with regularity. He’s just such a loose passer that you can tell it’s in his DNA to try tight windows and tricky angles. And it’s not hard to project that if he has turnover problems this year, it’s very likely to come from these kinds of tries. The difficult charge is on his new coaching staff to toe the line between encouragement and reigning-in his willingness to do dangerous things.
