Let’s talk about quarterback bodies.

The Tennessee Titans opened OTA’s to the media for the first time this past week. This was our first glimpse of Cam Ward on the field since he left with a shoulder injury in the season finale against Jacksonville.

There were two things that stood out about the Titans’ starting quarterback ahead of year two: his arm looks good, and it seems his diet‘s been pretty good too. Here’s what that may mean for the 2026 season.

Cam Ward‘s AC joint seems A-OK

Before players hit the practice field on Thursday, we spoke with head coach Robert Saleh at the podium. And at the very beginning of that press conference, he did not shy away from declaring Cam Ward all the way back.

“Yeah, his arm’s perfectly healthy,” Saleh declared. “He’s slinging the ball. I mean, he’s got some good velocity on it. And just like everyone else, learning the system. But so far, so good.”

Now whether Saleh is speaking from a technical medical standpoint here or just expressing his confidence in how things are going for Cam’s return to play, I’m not sure. But I’m not sure it matters. Because what I saw from Cam on the practice field afterwards looked like a guy whose shoulder isn’t bothering him even a little bit.

When Ward hit the deck on a rushing touchdown to cap off an impressive drive against the Jaguars in January, everybody’s mind immediately jumped to the worst case scenario. There were initial reports from inside that visitor locker room that Ward’s AC joint sprain was grade 3 and could need surgery. Titans fans have dealt with more than their fair share of AC joint discussion lately, after Will Levis hurt his shoulder on a scramble against the dolphins back in 2024. His return to play in-season was a situation that got a little bit messy, with Levis coming back a bit too early and it showing on the game field.

That recovery was touch-and-go throughout the rest of the season and into the off-season, and once Cam Ward was drafted to take over at quarterback, Levis chose surprisingly late in the summer to get surgery and shut himself down for the year.

Because of our experience with that strange timeline, another AC joint injury to the starting quarterback of this team was a scary proposition. And since I’m not Cam Ward‘s doctor, it’s important for me to note: I have no idea if we’re out of the woods on this. But everyone I’ve spoken to seems more than comfortable with where he is at heading into summer training.

Cardio Cam Ward cuts a few pounds

The other notable thing about Cam was how much he’s slimmed up. He told us he’s lost around 10 pounds this off-season by just trying to emphasize more cardio and a healthier diet.

I remember cutting up with former Titans safety Quandre Diggs in the locker room early last season. He and I, the Tennessean’s Nick Suss, and a couple of other players in surrounding lockers were talking about Quandre’s experience with young Cam. Quandre is Cam’s older cousin, so they grew up together. They also love to rip each other, and that’s exactly what Quandre was doing in telling some old stories.

He told us about what young Cam looked like as the middle school quarterback, and then the high school quarterback, and the once he went off to college. And at every step of the way, Diggs made sure to (over) emphasize the Cam was always a chubby kid! He said all of this with a smile on his face, looking across the locker room at Cam who was minding his own business. But this is something that more than one person pointed out last year: Cam Ward isn’t exactly shredded.

Now, I personally don’t think that necessarily matters. Quarterbacks compose their bodies in different ways for different reasons. Something that Patrick Mahomes has always gotten poked fun at for is his dad bod.

Don’t get it twisted: if Patrick Mahomes wanted to be shredded, he would be. Quarterbacks don’t have to lay a ton of hits, but they do have to take them. A 17-game season of getting ragdoll in the pocket puts a toll on your body. And that’s a reason why some QBs intentionally maintain a sort of built-in flack jacket of baby fat in the torso.

Josh Allen, one of the nastiest runners and greatest Iron Men in the game right now, is somebody everybody knows is incredibly strong. But take a look at him with his shirt off sometime: he’s not a shredded, six-pack abs guy either.

All of that is to say, it was funny to poke fun at fat Cam Ward last season, but I think quarterbacks having a little fluff can actually be a very useful thing. So why do they sometimes cut that fluff? Because of the game-breaking ability a quarterback can have with his feet.

There’s a middle ground to be found here. You don’t want a body fat percentage that prohibits you from being fleet of foot. And it seems Cam Ward may have felt he was a little bit too far on that side of the spectrum. With offense coordinator Brian Daboll coming in to run this new offense, his reputation precedes him. At every step of Daboll’s career, he has coached his quarterback to maximize his legs. From Josh Allen, to Daniel Jones, to Jaxson Dart; Daboll’s QBs run.

But Cam Ward does not run! Just because Daboll is here does not mean I think we’re going to see a bunch of designed runs for this quarterback. That’s just not his skill set nor is it what he wants to do on the football field. You can tell Cam is the kind of guy who’s wired to keep his eyes down field and find an open man by buying time with his feet instead of taking off to run. So I don’t think we should expect a bunch of quarterback draw plays this fall.

But what I do think we’ll see from a slimmed-down Cam Ward in a Daboll offense is a healthy uptick in scramble rate. In the modern NFL, one of the most efficient things any quarterback can do is pick up free yards with their feet when a past play doesn’t materialize.

Cam‘s pocket navigation is something he came out of college already ahead of the curve on, and he uses that to buy time to find open receivers downfield. But if they can get through to him to takeoff a little bit more often, I think that that would serve the Titans offense well. and cutting 10 pounds to be just a little bit more fleet of foot is a great way to start building that habit.