NASHVILLE — The NFL announced its six nominees for the 2025 NFL Rookie of the Year award on Tuesday. Two quarterbacks made the cut but neither of them was No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward of the Tennessee Titans.

Consider it a snub.

Cam Ward’s strong finish deserved serious consideration

No one is going to go out of their way to watch Tennessee’s games after consecutive 3-14 regular season finishes by the club.

It is, however, ridiculous to nominate six rookies for this year’s honor and not include Ward. The Titans played the NFL’s most difficult strength of schedule in 2025 with Ward starting all 17 games. 15 touchdown passes with two more rushing against 7 interceptions and 11 total fumbles will not impress on paper, but context is important.

Ten of those 17 total touchdowns came in the final five weeks of the regular season where Ward would go on to set the franchise’s rookie single season passing record (3,169).

Tennessee took offensive play-calling from then-head coach Brian Callahan in late September as they were breaking in the new quarterback. The Titans then fired Callahan three weeks later, forcing another huge shake up in Ward’s professional life. The changes would ultimately be to the young passer’s benefit, but brought no shortage of hardships.

“When I think of [Ward’s] first season, I think he went through a ton of adversity,” said general manager Mike Borgonzi. And I think he battled through it and he got better. So, the coach we’re looking for on that side of the ball, whether it be the head coach, if an offensive coach, or just the offensive coordinator, is to help him develop more and really to find a coach that can really accentuate some of the strengths of the players. You’re always looking for that. Really good coaches know their personnel, know their players. What do they do well and how do you put them in the best position to win? We’re looking for someone that can really look at Cam (Ward) and, ‘This is what he does well and this is what our receivers do well. This is what our running backs do well.’ So that’s what we’re looking for.”

Jaxson Dart, TreVeyon Henderson, Ashton Jeanty, Tet McMillan, Carson Schwesinger and Tyler Shough all had impressive rookie accolades of their own.

None, however, dealt with as traumatic a rookie campaign as Ward. Outside of a few blunt moments with the media and a little bit of attitude after the team’s win against the Cleveland Browns, Tennessee’s top pick handled it all in great stride.

Ward will become accustomed to these kind of the slights for as long as he’s the quarterback of the oft ignored Titans.

Featured Image: USA TODAY Sports.