Titans rookie quarterback Cam Ward’s first two padded practices in the NFL didn’t go as he would have hoped.
The team’s website had rookie quarterback Cam Ward at 11-of-23 with an interception in Wednesday’s practice and he was picked off three times while going 11-of-26 in Tuesday’s session, so it’s no surprise that he was focused on the need for improvement when he spoke to reporters at a Wednesday press conference. Ward said it’s “not really about bouncing back” from shaky performances because the focus needs to be on getting better every day.
Ward added that the need to do that extends beyond the quarterback position.
“I just think we’re very mid right now,” Ward said. “From my position to up front to the receivers position. At the end of the day, it all starts with me. I just don’t think we’re at where we need to be, but we’ve got a little bit of time. Every day we get better as a whole. We’re a young team, but that’s no excuse.”
The 2024 Titans offense wasn’t very good and rookie quarterbacks always need time to get acclimated to the NFL, so there’s nothing surprising about the unit’s early struggles. Should signs of growth fail to appear in the coming weeks, there will be more reason to worry about the long-term fate of the unit.
Cam Ward was the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft and is set to be the Titans’ starter from Day 1.
But he doesn’t seem like a player who has lost the chip on his shoulder from being a zero-star recruit.
“I don’t care about the hype,” Ward said in a recent interview with Jeff Howe of TheAthletic.com. “I don’t care about social media. All I care about is this 100-yard field. … At the end of the day, football takes care of everything.
“I don’t think I’m being welcomed in [the league] with open arms,” Ward added. “I was the first pick. I’m blessed to be that. But at the end of the day, there’s a target on my back. There’s a target on everyone’s back in the league, but I’m trying to prove myself to my teammates.”
Ward has apparently done that, with Howe reporting the quarterback has been at the Titans’ facility at 5:30 every morning during training camp for a workout. Teammates have joined him, illustrating Ward’s leadership.
“Good things only come to people who work,” Ward said. “Growing up, I saw my dad wake up at 4:30 a.m. doing a job he didn’t like. If I can’t wake up early to do a job I do like, I just think I shouldn’t be here.”
We’ll see how it pays off starting when the Titans take on the Broncos to begin the season on Sept. 7.
Caden Davis and Harrison Mevis have been less than perfect in their kicking competition at Jets’ camp. The Jets, thus, appear to have interest in an old friend.
Brian Costello of the New York Post reports that the Jets worked out Nick Folk, who kicked for the team from 2010-16.
Folk, 40, has played for four other teams in his 17 seasons.
He spent the past two years in Tennessee, where he was 21-of-22 on field goals in 2024 and 29-of-30 in 2023. He missed only two extra points in his two seasons with the Titans.
Folk, who made his only Pro Bowl in 2007 as a rookie with the Cowboys, has made 84.3 percent of his field goals in his career.
Mevis played in the UFL, and Davis is a rookie out of Ole Miss.
Wide receiver Treylon Burks won’t be playing for the Titans this season.
The Titans announced that they have waived Burks on Monday. Burks was waived with an injury designation as the result of a fractured collarbone he suffered in practice this weekend. He will revert to injured reserve if he clears waivers and will likely be released with an injury settlement at some point.
Burks joined the Titans with the 18th pick of the 2022 draft. The Titans acquired that selection by trading wide receiver A.J. Brown to the Eagles and the decision to trade Brown rather than sign him to a long-term deal has not worked out for Tennessee.
Burks was limited to 22 games in his first two seasons and he tore his ACL in the fifth game of the 2024 campaign. He had 53 catches for 699 yards and a touchdown when he was healthy enough to play, so neither his availability nor his production has come close to matching what Brown has done in Philadelphia.
The Titans signed wide receiver Ramel Keyton to take Burks’s roster spot.
The Titans’ wide receivers room took a hit to its depth Saturday when former first-round pick Treylon Burks fractured his collarbone.
The team solved that by agreeing to terms with free agent Ramel Keyton, according to multiple reports.
Keyton, 24, was among a handful of players who worked out for the Titans on Friday.
He entered the NFL in 2024, signing with the Raiders as an undrafted free agent. Keyton spent time on Las Vegas’ practice squad and active roster.
Keyton saw action on 44 offensive snaps and 64 on special teams in eight games last season as a rookie. He caught one pass for 7 yards and made one tackle on special teams.
The Raiders waived him April 25.
