The Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward drew skepticism from fans and (some) media during OTA and minicamp practices in May and June after several objectively poor sessions at Vanderbilt Health Football Center. 

Ward missed throws, looked out of sync with receivers, and struggled with accuracy in his first offseason under new coach Robert Saleh and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. The reaction was predictable. But Aaron Rodgers, on a the Keep Hammering Collective podcast, explained exactly why those bad reps were the point.

Rodgers broke down the quarterback development process in a way that maps almost perfectly onto what Ward went through this spring. The quotes, recirculated on social media by Josh Chambers, are worth reading in full, but the overall theme: QBs should throw more incompletions in practice. 

“That’s where you grow,” Rodgers said. “You have to put yourself in the most adverse situation. 

“When coaches and or players are more concerned about what it looks like than how it feels, it’s really hard to grow. You’re just hoping for perfect passes and practices. Instead, it should be, ‘Oh, you missed that one? Perfect. That’s exactly what you want. Now you have a feeling.’”

Why Ward’s ugly reps were the whole point

Ward is entering year two after being the No. 1 overall pick and starting from game one under former coach Brian Callahan, who was fired six games into last season. 

Tennessee hired Saleh and Daboll to install a new system around a quarterback who has a chance to become a $60 million a year player within the next 24 months. That transition was always going to produce messy practices.

The context of what Ward was doing matters more than a binary “good day or bad day” evaluation. 

He was working through a new offense, building chemistry with a new coaching staff, and experimenting with the tiny mechanical adjustments Rodgers described. 

“Oh shoot, I was a little too far onto my front foot. My hitch was a little too much. I need more weight on my back foot. I need to put more air on this ball when it’s 25 yards outside the numbers,” Rodgers explained. 

“Working with young quarterbacks, I tell them, that’s the best rep possible. Remember that one, so when it comes up next time, you can make the right throw.”

Nobody watches a basketball player shoot a poor percentage on 20 straight step-back jumpers from 17 feet with a defender in their face and panics about shooting percentage. They understand the player is working on a specific skill for a specific situation. 

The same logic applies to a quarterback throwing five consecutive third-and-long reps against a blitzing defense in a structured practice period. That is real practice, but it is not real football.

Saleh’s own evaluation backed this up

When the Titans moved into scrimmage-style periods (the move-the-ball segments that simulate actual game flow) Ward looked good. He moved the offense. He operated with rhythm. Saleh said as much during that stretch.

The difference between a structured drill period designed to stress a quarterback and a move-the-ball period designed to replicate a game is enormous. Evaluating Ward’s accuracy off the drill work alone, without factoring in the objective of that period, misses the forest for the trees.

I said this on our morning shows and in other videos throughout that month. Ward deserves the space to experiment with his mechanics and feel out this offense without every incompletion becoming a determination about his future. Rodgers confirmed it. The incompletions are where you learn. A good feel reinforces the right mechanics. A bad feel teaches you what to fix. There is no failed experiment unless you refuse to find the answer.

What this means heading into training camp

Ward walked out of that OTA and minicamp stretch with something more valuable than a pristine completion percentage. He walked out with reps. Reps that told him what works mechanically, what does not, and what this new Daboll system demands from him on every snap. That is the foundation for training camp and the 2026 season.

The Titans need Ward to take a significant leap this year. The franchise’s entire rebuild is built around him and the pieces the front office and Saleh have assembled. Rodgers just told us why the ‘inaccurate spring’ was the best possible version of what it could (and should) look like for a young quarterback figuring it all out. I agree with him.