Titans QB Cam Ward clears the air on his “rivalry relationship” with Browns signal caller Shedeur Sanders ahead of 2025 NFL season
Titans QB Cam Ward speaks on rivalry with Shedeur Sanders
Before the 2025 NFL Draft, there were a ton of clips of interactions between Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward and Cleveland Browns signal caller Shedeur Sanders. Both talented passers trained together down in Texas for the predraft process, and appeared to have a heated rivalry as natural competitors. It was an entertaining storyline with it appearing that they were each competing to be the top quarterback selected.
As everyone knows, the battle to be QB1 didn’t work out quite like many predicted. Ward would be selected with the No. 1 overall selection by the Titans, while Sanders suffered a staggering fall down the boards and eventually heard his name called in the fifth round by the Browns. It appeared that at least early on, Ward was getting the best of that rivalry relationship.
Both players, whether it is right, wrong, or indifferent, are going to be compared even with their predraft expectations not quite matching up to the other. That assumed rivalry will be discussed constantly whenever one of them does something spectacular, or either struggles. Ward, in a recent interview on Bussin with the Boys, pushed back on the “rivalry” between the two.
From the sounds of it, it’s nothing more than a strong friendship.
“I don’t have a rivalry with him,” Ward said. “That’s my boy. At the end of the day, this whole process, we thought we were going to be one and two the whole time, whether he’s one and I’m two, or whether I’m one and he’s two. That’s always been our mindset. It didn’t go that way but coming out of college and into the draft, I thought he was one of the better quarterbacks in the draft as well, even throughout college.”
While both players have similar backgrounds starting on the FCS level, the roads traveled are not actually similar when you add context.
For Ward, he is the definition of an overlooked high school recruit that turned into a legitimate NFL player. Everyone knows his story, beginning as a zero-star Wing-T high school quarterback with barely any college opportunities. Ward was able to take full advantage of his chances at Incarnate Word, Washington State, and Miami to get to where he wanted to go.
For Sanders, he wasn’t a lower-rated recruit. Considered a four-star player coming out of Cedar Hill (Texas) Trinity Christian School, Sanders had offers to the likes of Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, LSU, Tennessee, Florida, and Florida State among many others. He chose to follow his father, Deion Sanders, to both Jackson State, and then to Colorado. It was the road less chosen.
Despite those major differences in their backgrounds, Ward and Sanders have developed a strong friendship. The Titans signal caller has high hopes for what Sanders can accomplish, and a high opinion of his game.
“He’s been productive where he’s been every time,” explained Ward. “We both started at the FCS. He was at Jackson State. I was at Incarnate Word. That’s where we really met for the first time with our quarterback coach when we first got to college. He’s always been a great person to be around. There’s a lot of stuff out there on him that ain’t really true just because they spin it different ways, spin stuff about me different ways.
“I’ve always thought he was a productive quarterback,” he continued. “A lot of people have their own opinion. I have mine as well. When he gets his chance to become a starter, he is going to make the most of it. I’m ready to get back to work with him after the season, talk some more stuff to him, say some crazy stuff. We are just going to keep pushing each other.”
The game of football is better with rivalries, and even if Ward and Sanders don’t consider themselves one, others will. Ward is set to be thrown to the fire early in Tennessee, while Sanders may have to wait his turn behind veteran Joe Flacco. Those paths are different, but they will be criticized just the same, fair or not.
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