Cam Ward hasn’t even officially been a member of the Tennessee Titans for a full month, as he was drafted with the No. 1 overall pick in last month’s 2025 NFL Draft. But he seemingly already has a sizable influence in determining the team’s roster moves, and that’s an indictment of the prospect that Ward is and the belief the organization has in him.
The Titans signed a former University of Miami teammate of Ward’s in wide receiver Xavier Restrepo, and Ward allegedly had major influence over that decision.
“I mean, we watched a lot of tape on Cam, and you see all the plays that Xavier made over his career, particularly this past year,” Titans head coach Brian Callahan said. “All the players on that offense, we had a little bit more familiarity with just because of the nature of how much film you watch when you’re evaluating a quarterback. And then you got a chance to be exposed to him at the pro day, and (Xavier) was there for the private as well.”
Ward spoke on Tennessee’s decision to add the wide receiver to the fold and said that he was “real excited” to hear the news.
“I was real excited when (the Titans) signed X,” Ward said. “He’s somebody who was deserving of it. He’s worked hard every day. He is one of the most underrated players that was in the draft this year. I think every time he steps on the field, he remembers everything, and he is going to continue to prove it.
“He was one of the best route runners in college football last year, he is first team All-conference, he is All-American, he never lost in man coverage. He is a back-to-back 1,000-yard receiver, so why wouldn’t you push for him?”
Restrepo and Ward formed one of the more productive offensive duos in all of college football in the 2024-25 campaign. The former led his conference with a whopping 1,127 receiving yards and 11 receiving touchdowns. He averaged an impressive 93.9 receiving yards per contest in his fifth and final season of college football.
As for Ward, he racked up more passing touchdowns than any player in all of college football as a senior with 39 and threw for well over 4,000 yards.
Hopefully, Ward and Restrepo will continue to make life difficult for opposing defenses at the highest level, but they may not share the field all that often from the jump. After all, Restrepo got signed by the Titans as an undrafted free agent.
But the Titans’ future is ostensibly trending in the right direction with prospects such as Ward and Restrepo part of the team’s offensive unit, and Tennessee is trying to get back to being a competitive team following a disastrous 2024 season.
The Titans were one of the worst teams in the league a season ago, as they lost all but three of their 17 regular-season contests. Tennessee has been struggling to stay afloat in the AFC South division for longer than just one season, though, as its last playoff appearance was in the 2021 campaign. The 2024 season marked the third season in a row that saw the Titans miss the playoffs.
