Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward’s second NFL season is highly anticipated, as no one truly has an idea what we’re going to see in 2026 after the overhaul the franchise has undergone. Mike Clay’s season stat projections for ESPN’s Fantasy Football brand shares that sentiment.

Ward’s rookie season is not the simplest to summarize. The 2025 first overall draft pick started all 17 games of his rookie season, but got hurt on the first series of the final game when rushing for a touchdown. His box score stats helped represent the struggle the entire Titans team battled throughout the season.

Ward threw for 3,169 yards (a Titans rookie season record), with three quarters left on the field in Jacksonville. Cam’s 15 passing touchdowns were heavily weighted after the Titans’ early November bye week. His seven interceptions thrown was the opposite. In total, Ward was sacked 55 times (way too many) with plenty of blame to go around between the offensive line, tight ends, running backs, coaching staff turnover, and himself.

With Brian Callahan’s coaching staff out and Robert Saleh’s staff in, headlined by offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, there’s a lot of optimism surrounding Ward’s second season. His film continued to show more than the stats. He and his team’s consistency will prove how big of a jump he takes in 2026.

Clay’s projections for Ward in 2026 are all over the place. A to Z Sports’ Titans reporter Easton Freeze and I dive into what we think about the numbers for Ward’s passing yards, passing touchdowns, interceptions thrown, and sacks taken. We’ll predict whether Ward will go OVER, UNDER or if Clay is ‘just right’ with his model.

Cam Ward Passing Yards Projection from Mike Clay: 3,754 yards

Austin Stanley (me)

If Cam Ward hits this number he would have been Top 10 in the NFL in passing yards a season ago. 4,000 yard seasons are more rare than just a few years ago, and 5,000 yard seasons are even more non-existent in today’s league trend of two-high safeties limiting explosive pass plays.

Clay’s projection would mean an average of 220 pass yards per game over 17 games, which would be over a 25 yard per game increase from Ward’s rookie performance. That seems small, but fair.

Projection take: ‘just right’

Freeze

3,754 passing yards would’ve been 9th-most in the league last season. It would make Ward give Ward the 2nd-most in a single season since the team moved to Tennessee. It’s a significant leap from Ward’s rookie total of 3,169, and it would be the most for any Daboll coordinated offense outside of his two seasons with supernova Josh Allen.

I wrote about how I think the Titans’ longtime identity as a running team could finally be coming to an end with Ward and Daboll around. The Titans will be a much better passing team this year, but this number is probably too high.

Projection take: UNDER

Cam Ward Touchdown Passes Projection from Mike Clay: 16

Stanley

SIXTEEN touchdown passes in year two feels flat out disrespectful. I don’t know how Clay has Ward increasing his total pass yards by 600 yards but only increasing by one touchdown from 2025 (15). Cam threw 10 TDs in the last eight games as a rookie. He won’t keep that pace up for a whole year, but this offense is supposed to be much better.

Projection take: HAMMER THE OVER

Freeze

24 quarterbacks got to at least 17 touchdowns last season. Ward himself reached 15 in a disaster year for the Titans. I’m shocked the projection is so conservative here.

Projection take: OVER, comfortably!

Cam Ward Interceptions Thrown Projection from Mike Clay: 10

Stanley

Ward was lucky to only throw seven picks in 2025, if we’re being honest, but every QB in the league gets away with a few interceptions dropped every year. I think turnover luck is as volatile as the NFL gets from year to year. I don’t think Cam will be a turnover machine in 2026, but I think he doesn’t catch the breaks he did a year ago when he had the third lowest INT to pass attempt ratio (1.3%) in the NFL.

Projection take: OVER

Freeze

Ward threw 7 interceptions as a rookie, and I think a slight uptick in Year 2 will be a natural consequence of more passing and more time spent on the field (because they’ll actually be sustaining drives). Half the league threw double digit interceptions last year, and it wasn’t just the bad half! It’s all about how much good you’re creating to cancel out the bad.

Projection take: ‘just right’

Cam Ward Sacks Taken Projection from Mike Clay: 41

Stanley

55 sacks to 41 sacks taken would be such a massive improvement from a year ago. We’re talking about nearly one per game less. There are a lot of hidden yards gained by giving up one less sack per game. Does that one sack turn into a first down conversion that creates another set of downs? Huge difference. Probably too big. The Titans have averaged 53 sacks allowed per season from 2021-2025.

Projection take: OVER (a little)

Freeze

Ward set the franchise record for sacks taken last season by a margin of 8! He was taken down an eye-watering 55 times. So 41 would be a great step in the direction of average. I want so badly to take the under on this number, but I cannot. This projection is just right, and if you forced me to get off the fence, I would have no choice but to take the over. That has a ton to do with how uncertain the Titans’ interior offensive line situation is right now.

Projection take: ‘just right’