Two weeks from today, Cam Ward will officially be a member of the Tennessee Titans after being selected with the first overall pick. In anticipation of that, the NFL world has been running wild with player comparisons for Ward. Everyone seems to have a different idea about what career trajectory is in his future.
Over the last few weeks, Buck Reising of 104.5 The Zone has conducted interviews with a number of draft analysts that have been quick to hop on the comparison train.
Todd McShay (The Ringer) sees a lot of Patrick Mahomes in Ward's game. "I think the thing that goes unnoticed is he has an unworldly sense of when pressure is coming and the poise combined with that to wait for it. He knows it a tick before he’s going to react to it. He knows if it's coming from the front side, the backside, the interior. I heard you guys talk about Mahomes...it is kind of a similar trait," said McShay. "Neither is a beautiful athlete. Neither is gonna run a great 40 time if you clock them right now, but there’s this instinctive aspect to their games."
"I don’t hear a lot of people talking about that aspect of [Ward's] game. The second part, and he’s not unique to it, but he’s in a small group of people that can throw as accurately as he does from different arm angles."
Nate Tice (Yahoo Sports) was also on with Reising and doubled down on his take that Ward reminds him of Titans legend Steve McNair. That's one way to get Titans fans emotionally invested in their future starting quarterback.
"Tennessee had another quarterback who I do compare Cam Ward to...Steve McNair!," said Tice. "There were a couple runaround plays where Ward is bouncing off tackles or running out of arm tackles in the pocket and would do a little half spin. I was like 'I've seen this before.' Then when I looked at the height and weight and good old YouTube...I remember McNair. They have the exact same build."
"I would say McNair though had a stronger arm and was a little bit faster," Tice continued. "But play style, that sense of calmness, that toughness as runner. They win more with contact balance and strength as opposed to outright speed. Throwing creativity. I thought McNair was one of the best players I've ever seen throwing on the move and I think ward is very accomplished in that area as well. It just so happened that that Titans might be taking Ward with the number one overall pick."
The danger of player comps
Does Ward, like Mahomes, excel at throwing from different arm angles and creating offense out of structure? For sure. Does Ward have a pocket presence and the composure of McNair? I can definitely see it.
But if you're looking at the prospect report card for Ward and comparing it to QBs from the last five draft classes, there are also some striking similarities to Zach Wilson.
Just like Ward, Wilson's draft profile praised him for being an "athletic play extender with big-play mindset outside the pocket." NFL.com wrote that he "throws with some accuracy working off-platform" and has a "twitchy operation time to get it out and easily alters arm slot if needed."
Wilson was also criticized for occasional accuracy problems with the same analysts believing the "hero ball needs to be dialed back a bit." Sound familiar? That exact same report could be referring to Cam Ward coming out of Miami...But alas, this is BYU Zach Wilson
That right there is the danger of player comparisons.
So many quarterbacks that come into the NFL nowadays share similar traits. The league's best QBs are ones that can improvise and play out of structure. They're all athletic enough to extend plays and have worked tirelessly at throwing from different arm angles. As a result, we see more and more college quarterbacks doing these things well.
If you squint and look close enough, you can probably draw a comparison from Ward to a dozen different quarterbacks in the NFL today. He's no closer to Patrick Mahomes or Steve McNair than he is Zach Wilson. His career could end up going either direction.
Sometimes a quarterback just doesn't have it between the ears. Sometimes a quarterback is set up to fail by a poorly run organization or an under-qualified coaching staff. There are a number of things that play a factor in a quarterback's success and nurture is just as important as nature. If Patrick Mahomes was nurtured differently and doesn't get coached by Andy Reid, he probably has a much different career.
The NFL world is comparing Ward to Mahomes and McNair because that's what we all want the outcome to be. This guy is going to be the number one overall pick. Tennessee needs a quarterback and a new superstar to get behind. With everyone wanting Ward to prosper, he is viewed through a more positive lens while the more negative (but legitimate) comparisons to a player like Zach Wilson are ignored.
It's putting Ward down a slippery slope to start his NFL career. It's setting the expectation for what he is going to be at an all-time high.
He's being comped to (arguably) the greatest quarterback of all time and the greatest Tennessee Titans quarterback of all time who won an MVP and played in a Super Bowl with the franchise. That all but guarantees Ward is going to fall short of the standard and be "underwhelming" to fans who are counting on him to be their savior.
This is why McShay admits in his interview with Reising that he "hates comparisons for quarterbacks." None of them are fair or totally accurate. Every quarterback is unique. And these comparisons usually do more harm than good in a young player's NFL journey.
Cam Ward needs to be Cam Ward. And what that looks like at the NFL level is still up in the air.
