Cam Ward defended his play after the Tennessee Titans opened the 2026 season with a disappointing loss. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft called himself a “very good quarterback” but also acknowledged that he still has areas to improve.
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Reporter Jared Stillman pushed back on that assessment. After Ward explained why he believes he can be a good NFL quarterback, Stillman asked, “Doesn’t a very good NFL quarterback have better results than you have?”
“Cam is 3-15 as a starter. He was dead last in QBR in 2025. He is 26th in QBR this year, “Jared’s X post read on September 16. “He was dead last in PFF passing grade in 2025, 107 of 108 in the 2026 preseason, and 26th after Week 1.
Ward did not take the bait. Instead, he pointed to the circumstances surrounding each game while admitting that Tennessee has not done enough in the win column.
“I think it comes with the game. It comes with the defense you’re playing. It comes with what the DC’s philosophy is,” Ward said. “Every game is not going to be a shootout. Every game is going to be a, it could be a bad passer rating, it could be a bad completion ratio, but it’s all about the win and loss, and we haven’t done that.”
That last part is difficult to argue with. The Titans finished 3-14 in Ward’s rookie season, and they opened this year with another loss, falling 23-10 to the New York Jets on Sunday.
Ward completed 19 of 32 passes for 140 yards and a touchdown against New York. He avoided an interception, but Tennessee’s passing attack never really got going. The Titans did not have a completion longer than 14 yards, and Ward was under pressure throughout the afternoon.
The performance added to the questions surrounding the second-year quarterback. Ward finished 2025 with 3,309 passing yards, 16 touchdowns and seven interceptions while completing 59.8% of his passes. He was also sacked 55 times, the most in the NFL.
Ward acknowledged some of those shortcomings himself when discussing his confidence.
“I think I’m a very good quarterback. I think I do a lot of things differently that a lot of quarterbacks can’t do,” Ward said in the presser. “It’s also stuff that I have to get better at, as some things that I lack. That’s a process that you take on each and every day. I have great coaches around me to continue to push me to that level that I want to play at. And when the tide turns, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a different story.”
But the criticism is coming at a time when Ward’s standing as Tennessee’s long-term quarterback has become a major talking point. Head coach Robert Saleh has previously called Ward a “really, really, really good QB,” but the quarterback’s record remains 3-15 as an NFL starter.
Ward now gets another opportunity to change the conversation. The Titans host the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2, giving the young quarterback a difficult test after a performance that left plenty of questions unanswered.