During the offseason, the Tennessee Titans identified footwork as an area they wanted second-year quarterback Cam Ward to improve. Head coach Robert Saleh acknowledged that the mechanical adjustments for Ward would focus on his footwork rather than changing his throwing motion. But three weeks into the 2026 season, Ward’s performance is telling a different story.

While the offensive line has managed to protect the quarterback, Ward’s overall 2026 numbers show improvement in protection but not yet in production. When Coach Saleh was asked about Ward’s footwork, he admitted the difficulties Ward must be facing after taking so many sacks during his rookie year, despite the offensive line performing well.

“What you see early in games, at least, and it’s getting later and later in games too, you see him comfortable in the pocket, you see him trusting the offensive line, and then later in the game you kind of see him revert back to some old habits,” said Saleh on Wednesday. “But I do think he’s getting better in that regard. I think he’s starting to really appreciate the offensive line because I think they are doing a really good job protecting him, and I think he’s building that trust.

“You’ve got to remember the young man was sacked however many times last year, so I’m sure there’s some PTSD there, but he’s getting better; he’s trusting it. His footwork is lasting him longer into games, if that makes sense, but from an accuracy standpoint, decision-making standpoint, everything starts with your feet at the quarterback position.”

In his rookie year, Cam Ward started all 17 games for Tennessee and was sacked 55 times, losing 410 yards on those sacks. The 55 sacks were tied for the most in the league that season. Now, three games into the season, the quarterback has taken five more sacks.

The issue, however, is that the five sacks came despite a good performance from the offensive line. After three games, a PFF-based analysis had Tennessee’s pass protection ranked third in the NFL, with a 71.9 pass-blocking grade and only five sacks allowed.

At the same time, Saleh’s comments about Ward getting better and trusting his O-line can be backed up by the first three weeks. Against the New York Jets in the season opener, Ward completed 19-of-32 passes for 140 yards, 1 touchdown, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 80.2. However, he was sacked 3 times for 13 yards.

Against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2, Ward completed 13-of-20 for 183 yards, no touchdowns, and no interceptions. But his rating improved to 94.4 while his yards per attempt jumped from 4.4 vs. the Jets to 9.2 vs. the Eagles. Though he still took two sacks.

Against the New York Giants in Week 3, meanwhile, Cam Ward had a decent outing. He completed 23-of-36 for 181 yards, one touchdown, and 1 interception, with a passer rating of 74.0. But he didn’t take any sacks. The Titans nevertheless lost the third game of the season.

This is why it’s safe to say that while the protection is there, his production hasn’t materialized. For broader context, Ward completed 54.5% of his passes for 506 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception in the first three games of his rookie season. In year 2, he has completed 62.5% of his passes for 504 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception.

However, Ward has also acknowledged that he needs to improve after the Titans fell to 0-3 following their Week 3 loss.

“I just don’t think I played my best in critical situations,” said Ward. “You look at over the course of the game, it was good to win. But when I needed to play my best, I didn’t. And that’s something I have to get better at. It’s something I have to attack this week going into the next game. But it is something you get to learn from…and you make sure it doesn’t happen again in the future.”

For now, though, Ward has yet to make the most of an offensive line that has given him a much better platform to operate from. The protection has improved, but the production has not followed at the same pace. The question now is whether Ward can turn that cleaner pocket into more consistent production in the weeks ahead.