Whenever a team gets the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft and uses that selection on a possible new franchise quarterback, the rest of the league fawns over that new pairing. Look no further than how the Chicago Bears were treated in 2024. However, Cam Ward and the Tennessee Titans don't seem to be getting that level of hype.
Not only was Ward the runaway no. 1 overall pick when it became clear the quarterback-needy Titans were going to select him, but he is fresh off an extremely productive season at Miami that saw him fall just short of winning the Heisman Trophy.
While there are plenty of hot-button rookies who deserve attention, like fellow top-two pick Travis Hunter, the fact that Ward and the Titans continue to be downplayed as a complete afterthought can be seen as the league choosing to neglect one of the budding young stars in this game.
Anyone on the Titans now has another bit of motivation as they try to chase a playoff birth in Ward's debut season. Even if they have to do it under a relative cover of darkness due to the lack of publicity from the NFL, Ward's arm might be good enough to give Tennessee some retroactive praise.
Titans' weirdest storyline in 2025 is the lack of respect for Cam Ward
Tennessee is one of just three teams (New Orleans, Cleveland) who does not have a primetime game on the schedule, while only the Titans and Saints have zero games in standalone windows due to the Browns' London trip. The Bears, for comparison's sake, had five standalone games last year.
Ward and the Titans aren't projected to dominate the AFC South, but they have the potential to rise up the ranks and quickly become a team worth watching. The Colts are two seconds away from firing everyone and starting over, the Jaguars are still being weighed down by Trent Baalke's mess, and the Texans lost many of their best 2024 contributors.
While Ward toils in anonymity, Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders remains one of the biggest topics of discussion across the league, leading multiple days of all the big debate shows as a third-string quarterback.
All Titans fans are asking for is one-tenth of that level of attention.