For any rookie quarterback, their first training camp is always going to come with bumps and bruises. For Tennessee Titans rookie Cam Ward, there has been no exception to this rule.
In Ward's latest training camp practice, he wound up throwing three interceptions. Not only that, though, but Ward struggled with his deep ball.
Yet, that's not the entire story.
Cam Ward's poor training camp practice wasn't all his fault
First of all, let's address the deep balls. Ward has been much more accustomed to throwing between the numbers and not necessarily sharp when it comes to sideline work. That needs to change if he's going to be an effective pro, therefore he has been working on it.
Will it be an overnight fix? Absolutely not. But, he is trying to address that specific weakness.
The interceptions can mostly be taken off the shoulders of Ward, too. Simply reading a social media post referring to three picks in this practice would be incredibly misleading. From those who were in attendance for this practice, here is the full story.
On one of the interceptions, Ward was simply trying to avoid a sack. So, he decided to lob it up and say a prayer, essentially. Would he have taken the sack in a game? Would he have tried to throw it away? Maybe so. But, in this instance, it was practice. It's camp. So, he went for it.
Another one of his picks was off of a tipped ball, which Ward can only control so much. That can't be placed squarely on the rookie.
And lastly, the third interception came when tight end Chig Okonkwo ran the wrong route. Once again, Ward can't help when his receivers run the wrong route. That's not on him.
When practice wrapped up, sure, you could say Ward had a tough practice. The reality is, he certainly did. Interceptions and bad ball placement were the main themes in this one, however, Ward cannot shoulder the entire load of blame.
As they say, it's better for these mistakes to happen in training camp than the regular season. Hopefully, the no. 1 overall pick gets many of these hiccups out of the way now and is able to take steps forward when it really matters.