Titans 2025 Season Predictions: Cam Ward’s performance, Defensive MVP, rookies emerge, and the Take Purge

The 2025 NFL season is finally upon us. God bless the fall, and God bless football. The Tennessee Titans have a lot to prove in what should be an entertaining season at the very least. Here are five big-picture predictions for the beginning of the Cam Ward Era:

Cam Ward’s Rookie Stat Line

I’m projecting Ward to finish the year having thrown for yds, 22 passing TDs, 2 rushing TDs, and 17 turnovers.

This is going to be a season of many ups and downs for the young rookie, but his ability to bounce back from the setbacks he faces is what will matter most. We saw Ward single-handedly bit his team into a hole in college at times, but he was who clawed them back out as well. He a self-described gunslinger, and I think he’ll do a lot of gunslinging all season. That means productivity, in the form of touchdowns and turnovers.

Perhaps 17 turns out to be far too high a number, in which case, great! But by my standards, if a rookie QB is going to have the training wheels taken off in a high-volume passing system, one turnover a game is a reasonable expectation.

Ridley’s Running Mate

Calvin Ridley will be game-planned for by opposing defenses each and every week. He’s the only high-end proven commodity in the Titans passing game. The world is his oyster this season, he only has to get on the same page with Ward and stay healthy. But what about the rest of the skill players? Who’s going to step up as the best beside Calvin?

You could argue it ends up being Tyler Lockett, the next most “proven” player on the list. He seems to be over the hill, though, and I think his role will be phased out as the younger players beneath him on the depth chart rise. How about Chig Okonkwo? He’s been the 2nd leading receiver on this team for two years running, which is frankly a reflection of the competition on this roster lately. He could have a career-high contract year.

The player I’m ultimately choosing is rookie Elic Ayomanor. If you’ve followed my Titans coverage at literally any point this calendar year, you know I’m practically contractually obligated to make this argument. Ayomanor is my guy, and that’s because I think he’s a dude. I thought he was a complete steal when the Titans drafted him, I predicted he’d become a Week 1 starter months before it came true, and I think he’ll end up being a widely-known receiver in the league by the end of the season.

Nobody else on this roster has his combination of size and speed, and his college tape shows a butt-kicker who can win in a variety of ways downfield. I really think he has the goods, and will be Cam Ward’s second-most successful target in 2025.

Tennessee’s Sack Leader

This was the most depressing assignment on this list. The Titans only have three edge rushers with any semblance of pass rush upside: Arden Key, Dre’Mont Jones, and Femi Oladejo. This goup is so questionable that, frankly, I thought long and hard about taking a wildcard flyer on Jeffery Simmons or even LB Cedric Gray as the sack leader this year.

But I’m going to stick with Arden Key as this team’s sack leader in 2025. He was the best pass rusher on this team in 2024, tallyinga career-high 42 tackles and tied a career-high 6.5 sacks. He’s at his best when allowed to be a rotational, designated pass rusher. In this room , he won’t get that luxury. But he’s still the most reliable bet in my opinion.

Defensive MVP

How about a Jeffery Simmons bouceback season? The oft-debated leader of the Titans defensive front is the best player on this team right now. He’s widely-regarded as one of the best defensive tackles in the league, and yet fans of the Titans have been left wanting more production the past couple years. He broke out in 2021 and 2022 with 16 sacks and 108 tackles. The two years since, his production has waned as the Titans have fallen apart as a team. I think this is the year he returns to his full form, and asserts himself as a top three defensive tackle in the NFL.

2025 Take Purge

Let’s have fun with this last one. Are you familiar with the movie The Purge? It was a huge horror movie hit at the box office years ago, and the basic premise of the movie was this: crime in America is down tremendously under new governmental order, because for one night a year, all crime is legal. Emergency services are down, and nobody can be held responsible for anything they do. It’s an annual chance to “purge your souls”. Well, how about a take purge. Here’s something I don’t necessarily believe, but I sure am thinking it. Just don’t try to hold me accountable for it (unless I’m right):

The Titans defense is just going to be good.

We’ve made so much fuss this summer over the razor-thin margins this unit has to live on in 2025. They have no depth. There are serious questions about elements of the cornerback room. They have no semblance of a competitive EDGE group on paper. And linebacker is a position that has trended in the right direction throughout camp, but still has a lot to prove. It feels like this unit has blow-up potential, and defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson is going to have to draw blood from a stone all year.

But guess what? That’s what he did in 2024 until he lost too many key pieces via trade and injury to keep the ship afloat. We went into last September thinking a lot of these same things: where is the pass rush coming from? How will the spine of this defense survive? And Wilson got his unit to play at a pretty high level for two months with scotch tape and bubble gum. Perhaps the same will happen in 2025. Maybe these starters stay healthy, guys develop in key spots unexpectedly, and Wilson is able to generate enough pressure with manufactured looks. I’m not saying it will happen… I just remember having similar doubts last year, and being pretty surprised in the first half of the season.