NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Titans coaching staff is making things familiar for the first overall draft pick. After identifying quarterback Cam Ward as the guy to try to help turn the franchise around, Tennessee had to find a way to maximize his potential.
Titans coach Brian Callahan has already started marrying some of the passing concepts Ward executed at Miami to their offense to make the quarterback comfortable early in the process. Callahan said he and the offensive staff have watched a lot of tape to get a firm grasp of what worked for Ward at Miami.
"We have it all broken down and put it all in our terminology," Callahan said before rookie minicamp last week. "We try to teach our system the way we run it, and then we take input from Cam, and all the quarterbacks for that matter, on different things they've done, how they've called it, how they read it."
The Titans hope to replicate the early success of recent rookie quarterbacks Jayden Daniels and C.J. Stroud. Tennessee is looking to follow the paths that the Houston Texans took with Stroud as a rookie in 2023 and the Washington Commanders did with Daniels last season. Both resulted in being named Offensive Rookie of the Year while leading their teams to the playoffs.
"I remember watching [Daniels] the first few weeks and they were running the football," Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi told ESPN at the Senior Bowl in January. "I don't know if he threw the ball downfield the whole time. There's a lot of perimeter throws, get his confidence up. They did a great job just in terms of bringing him along throughout the year."
Ward looked comfortable during last week's rookie minicamp that, according to Callahan, was more of an "orientation program" than a competition camp. Ward's unique release was on full display as he threw to the group of rookie wideouts.
Having a full understanding of what a quarterback is supposed to do, and why he's supposed to do it, helps breed confidence. Ward had no problem telling fellow rookie Elic Ayomanor to redo a rep after he didn't like how the first one went. He offered instruction to other wideouts in between reps as well.
"It's been the same route concepts," Ward said after rookie minicamp. "A little bit different footwork, but that all comes with time and preparation. I got two good coaches who continue to motivate me every day in coach Callahan and [quarterbacks] coach Bo [Hardegree], so I think I got a good group of guys around me to help."
This won't be the first time Ward had to hit the ground running.
Ward swiftly made the transition from a run-dominant Wing-T offense at Columbia High School in West Columbia, Texas, to the Air Raid passing offense at Incarnate Word when he made the jump as a freshman at the collegiate ranks. The pace Callahan is taking is similar to what Ward got at Incarnate Word under coach Eric Morris.
Morris started Ward off by running reps without a defense for the first couple of weeks, and that's exactly what Callahan had Ward do for three practices during rookie minicamp.
Morris said this process allowed Ward to mentally adjust to the game and call his readouts and to "really see it in a slowed down fashion." That planted the seed for Ward's success to surface as the practice structure intensified.
"We went into 7-on-7 mode where he could get just the shell of the defense," Morris told ESPN. "Then they started allowing us to play 11-on-11. We were shocked just when he started the 11-on-11 of how well he was immersed."
Ward's fast start allowed him to unseat incumbent starter Jon Copeland, who had just set a single-season program passing record with 3,341 yards in 2019 at the Division 1 FCS level. Ward started for two seasons before following Morris when he went on to become the offensive coordinator at Washington State in 2022. After two more successful seasons at Washington State, Ward flirted with entering the NFL draft before ultimately transferring to Miami, where he was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.
Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson incorporated a lot of the "four vertical" concepts that Morris used because of how much Ward likes to throw seam routes. It wasn't something that was widely used at Miami before Ward got there. But Dawson incorporated it into the offense to feature one of Ward's strengths, pushing the ball up the field. Ward went on to set single-season records in passing yards (4,313), completion percentage (67.2) and passing touchdowns (39).
Callahan said the onboarding process for Ward has gone well so far. They started from "square one" teaching the offense to Ward along with how to get in the huddle, the cadence and all the basics from start to finish. Callahan said he plans to lean on his experience bringing Joe Burrow along from a No. 1 pick by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2020 to a legitimate franchise quarterback.
The NFL was under COVID-19 protocols when Burrow was selected, which caused most of the meetings to be virtual. Callahan went back and watched a lot of the meetings to gain perspective on Burrow's development process and reflect on how the team's approach to scheme implementation/game planning contributed to his success.
"One of the things that we did really well in Cincinnati for Joe when he first got there is we were really intentional about making his first year in the NFL feel like Year 3 at LSU," Callahan told ESPN in January. "Let's make him feel as comfortable as possible in his first year as an NFL player."
Callahan plans to do the same with Ward. It started with having Ward take them through what he saw on various concepts and why it yielded successful results. If it was a new concept, Callahan incorporated that into the offense. Then they'll add on from there.
"Start small," Callahan said. "Every day you're trying to get a little bit better than you were the day before and you put the work in and try to get there and you correct mistakes as they come up. The key is once you make one, you correct it and ideally don't make it again."