Why the Titans picked Cam Ward, and what he needs to fix

It is official.

After months of breathless speculation, films of films, exploration profiles, professional days, private training and more, Cam Ward goes to the South AFC. The Tesnesee Titans confirmed all the buzz prior to the Draft and made the Miami’s Marshal the first selection in the NFL 2025 draft.

What are the Titans obtaining? Are the Field Marshal of the franchise that they need desperately?

We are going to immerse ourselves in what Ward does well, how he will win in the NFL and what he will need to improve as he adapts to life as a professional field marshal.

A problem solving, only before the pressure

There are two aspects of Ward’s force in the pocket. The first is about its ability to handle pressure, and the second comes in terms of how it solves problems inside and around the pocket.

The two work together to paint an image of the modern NFL pocket pin.

Let’s start with pressure. The pressure is a fact of life in the NFL for quartbacks.

There are two different pressure children that you will face. First is the pressure that comes with being the first general selection. Ward is still getting used to the new Titans hat in his head, but you can be sure that there are calls to start Tennessee’s first game next season before we also know who his opponent will be.

How will Ward deal with that pressure?

We cannot answer that question here tonight, only Ward himself can answer that in the coming weeks and months. That is part of the riddle that Tennessee tried to solve the duration of the draft process, but it is one of the reasons why exploring is such a difficult art. We may not know the answer to that question until Ward is in Tennessee and took his first life as a professional life.

But then there is the other son of pressure seafood. The pressure of a defender in the face, or a player like Abdul Carter who falls on the blind side. How do you deal with that?

Here is perhaps Ward’s greatest strength as a perspective.

While it has many strengths as a field marshal, Ward has a variety of ways in which it can succeed before the pressure, white through the foot game, the strength of the game or, sometimes, pure.

That will certainly serve you well in Tennessee.

Take this first example, a third play against Iowa State at Pop-Tarts Bowl. Ward faces a unlocked interior passes corridor almost immediately after the click, since there is a collapse in protection. The cyclones send a couple of runners through the gaps A, as well as a nasal Tackle that the center faces. The corridor takes a step forward to take one of the bombings, but the second is released.

Ward shrugs with that defender, showing the type of game force that matters in the field marshal position. But it is what does what is highlighted. Instead of immediately fixing the pocket, as sometimes looks like quartbacks when they face early pressure on the Down, he rises in his pocket.

While doing so, keep your eyes on the field and see an open receiver on a crossing route. Ward falls into a perfect launch, and hurricanes move the chains:

(Note, for readers in Apple news You must click on the previous link to see the included reproduction).

A few photos later against the state of Iowa, Ward finds a different way to overcome pressure. This time sees a free corridor at the beginning of the leave and immediately slides and rises. Once again, he keeps his eyes in the field, which allows him to detect a crossing at the end of the work to obtain a great gain:

In this work against Florida State, Ward sees a look of Presnap Cover 0 of the seminols. Here he does not overcome the pressure with his athletics, or his hardness, but his mind:

Ward knows before the click that if the defense takes the seven defenders along the line, Miami cannot block everyone. So you will have to “catch and release” this snack of shotguns if you have any opportunity to survive. The unlocked defender of the edge arrives, and Ward immediately takes the click and replaces that bombing with the ball, breaking a shot in a quick inclination that punishes the bombing.

This is a critical lesson for a young field marshal. Yes, it is good to be back in a clean pocket that looks at Spot Drop Cover 3, when it feels like a Thursday game at night of 7 against 7. But you should be bombarded, you should be in bombing because they can follow the big plays.

Whenever you read it correctly.

Let’s look at problems such as a quarterback, with two good examples to begin with. First is this rapid launch against Virginia Tech:

Hurricanes have a lot of four to the left and show a smoke screen to one of the receptors, hoping that they can make secondary bite so that Ward can reach one of the deep vertical routes.

But with the Hokies falling into a quarterly fourth coverage, the two vertical routes are away. Then Ward removes a quick and anticipated launch between two under the defenders. A quick reading, a problem solved and a great gain for Miami with a great percentage shot.

Here is another example of the resolution of a problem against Florida:

Miami wants to reach the combination of punctual wheels to the right, with the outer receiver running the punctual route while the closed wing executes the wheel route. But with both covered routes, Ward is forced to its plan C, which is a later route in the middle of the field.

With his pocket collapseing around him, Ward stays there and makes a strong launch for a great gain.

Let’s put everything together with this final example:

Again, Ward faces pressure after working through a complete field reading. But he moves away from the pressure, keeps his eyes low in the field and solves the best problems that face a great launch, while surrounding his left, for a touchdown against the gators.

The Titans have written a pocket pin that can solve problems and overcome pressure, inside and out of pocket. All prequality sites for position.

Marking aggression backward

Ward’s ability to evade pressure, extend the plays and solve problems is a double -edged sword. A blessing and a curse, so to speak.

For many young field marshals, one of the first things they need to learn by adapting to life in NFL is what can go out with their own and what they can’t. This will be a critical lesson for the development of Ward.

Some of his greatest mistakes at the University arrived when he was simply trying to do too much, and ended up doing the problem he was trying to solve much bigger for his team.

Take this play against Wake Forest, which reaches the end of the second quarter of a three -point game. Miami has leadership and ball, on the outskirts of the red zone, facing a second and 15 situation.

Miami increases a central screen, with Ward pumping a false to the corridor before looking for the closed wing Elijah Arroyo. But Wake Forest, specifically the defensive wing Jasin Davis, diagnoses this perfectly, getting right on the launch lane:

Remember, this is a situation of 2nd and 15 in the 29 -yard line of Wake Forest. The right game at this time? Probably to pose this and live for the third Down.

Instead, this happens:

This is a quarterback that strives too much to make some snacks.

Miami against Duke, almost in the minutes he goes back in the last quarter, and Miami leads the Blue Devils for eight. Ward and hurricanes face a third and 5 situation in the 41 -yard line of Duke.

Miami begins with a Smash Flat-7 concept on the left, but with Duke falling into the coverage of the area, both the fast route and the corner route. Ward has a window to go to the rear excavation in the middle of the field, but with his pocket starting to collapse instead of staying and hitting that, roll to his right. While trying to buy the time, he retires to his own 40 -yard line, before discouragement a late latest launch, in his body, in the middle.

Thus breaking one of the cardinal sins of the field marshal game:

Cue the “vape pope” meme Conclave:

These are the son of the mistakes that Ward will need to learn to avoid in the NFL.

Another example of the Miami game against California, with hurricanes following at 11 at the beginning of the third quarter. This comes in a first and 10 situation in the territory of Miami.

Ward opens to a combination of going/exit on the right side of the formation, but with that covered, he begins to roll to his right in an attempt to create.

What he believes is another late release on the medium, in coverage, which goes for a brutal pick-six:

Miami survived with a victory of one point, but this is another example of what not to do as a field marshal.

If there is a silver lining to this double -edged sword, it is this: it is more important to learn as a field marshal to mark the aggression again than to learn to mark it. Trying to be an aggressive QB is a much more difficult lesson to learn, particularly in the NFL, than to leave the ball away, handle the risk and, sometimes, live to fight for another.

The Titans focused on the room at the beginning of this process, and they hope that it can become their face in the franchise.

Given their strengths, there are many reasons to believe that Ward can become that player. But if his aggression is still a problem, he could end with a field marshal of a very high variety for Tennessee.