Saying that the national media disrespects the Tennessee Titans can feel like beating a dead horse. However, it is odd that even sports books seem to undervalue what rookie quarterback Cam Ward can do for this franchise in Year One.
PFF recently broke down some of the most interesting prop bets for the 2025 NFL Draft class, and it is shocking to see national expectations for Ward's passing touchdowns total.
Since Ward will be the team's day one starter, surely the number has to be in the low 20s, right? Last year, there were three quarterbacks tied for 15th in the NFL with 20 passing touchdowns, so if Ward is an average quarterback, he should put up numbers close to that.
Wrong. Vegas has set the over/under for Ward at 18.5 touchdown passes, slightly more than one per game if he plays a full season.
Cam Ward should exceed expectations
You might think that Ward is getting knocked down because rookies don't put up great statistical seasons, but over the last 10 years, 14 quarterbacks have had rookie years with 19+ passing touchdowns, including Gardner Minshew, Daniel Jones, Mac Jones, and a hobled Deshaun Watson (who only played 7 games that season).
Maybe they are knocking him because the Titans haven't historically had many quarterbacks who stockpile passing touchdowns. Sticking to that same 10-year time frame, only half of the team's seasons have had a quarterback with 19+ passing touchdowns.
The cherry on top of this disrespect is that 10 years ago, Marcus Mariota had 19 passing touchdowns as a rookie in a season where he only played 12 games. So, Vegas believes that Ward's rookie season will be worse than Mariota's rookie season, where he missed 25% of his games, only won three games, and where his leading wide receivers were Dorial Green-Beckham, Harry Douglas, and Kendall Wright.
Cliche or not, that is flat-out disrespectful to Ward. Every player and coach in that building should take that as a slap in the face to their ability to do their job to help a quarterback who just led the University of Miami to a season where they were the most productive offense in college football despite lacking elite talent at most of the skill positions.
