NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans gave every NFL team a blueprint on how to handle a rookie quarterback situation last season. How the team handled things around 2025 No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward serves as a cautionary tale.

Ward looks set up for more success in Year 2.

The path to competency was brutal 

The Las Vegas Raiders are taking a different approach with this year’s No. 1 overall pick, Fernando Mendoza. 

The Titans’ 3-14 disaster with Cam Ward exposed a series of regrettable decisions that started before the season and compounded as the weeks wore on. Now, with general manager Mike Borgonzi reshaping the roster and a new coaching staff in place, Tennessee is trying to undo the damage of a rookie season that never should have gone the way it did.

Do I regret how the Titans handled Ward’s rookie year? Absolutely.

The Titans kept the wrong coach and paid for it

It starts with the decision not to fire Brian Callahan after his first season. 

The 3-14 record with Will Levis and Mason Rudolph was bad enough. Tennessee was non-competitive. Callahan projected like the fictional television character, Ted Lasso, without the success. 

There were competing factions inside the building about whether Callahan should stay or go. Controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk decided to give Callahan more leash, which meant Ward walked into a situation with an embattled coach desperate to save his job. You do not want desperation hovering over anything to do with your No. 1 overall pick at quarterback.

The predictable sequence followed. 

Callahan had play-calling duties stripped from him within the first month. Offensive coordinator Bo Hardigree took over. Two weeks later, Callahan was fired entirely. Right decision, wrong time. 

Each of those moves forced Ward to undergo significant upheaval during the most critical stretch of his development. That kind of organizational chaos would wear on any human being.

Tennessee’s hires of Robert Saleh, Brian Daboll and Gus Bradley were vital this offseason.

Surrounded by experienced coaches and significant roster turnover, Ward has a fighting chance in Year 2. We will see how much further Ward can take a team in its fledgling stages. Titans fans feel optimistic that the organization has learned from its failures.

Time will tell.