DENVER — The Cam Ward era gets started Sunday, and the Tennessee Titans hope their rookie quarterback can help them to the type of turnaround season their opening opponent, the Denver Broncos, put together last year with Bo Nix taking the snaps.
Nix, the No. 12 pick of the 2024 NFL draft, threw for 29 touchdowns as a rookie to help the Broncos reach the playoffs for the first time since the 2015 season.
The Titans are coming off a three-win season that netted them the top pick in the draft, which is how they got Ward after he starred last year in his lone season with the Miami Hurricanes but the fifth of a collegiate career in which he got better every step of the way.
Ward is used to adapting to new teams quickly. After two seasons at Incarnate Word, a Football Championship Subdivision program in his native Texas, he spent his first two seasons of Football Bowl Subdivision competition at Washington State, then wound up fourth in the 2024 Heisman Trophy voting after helping the Hurricanes contend until late in the regular season for spots in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game and the College Football Playoff.
He set a Division I record by throwing for 158 touchdowns in his career, including 39 for the Hurricanes, but he also faces long odds of leaving Denver with a win in his NFL debut.