Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward, naturally, has had a rocky introduction to the NFL. The 2025 No. 1 overall pick has done his best to pilot his 2-12 franchise while developing at the professional level, despite the fact that he hasn't been surrounded by a ton of talent and lost his head coach midway through his rookie year.
He is the team's QB of the future (for now) and will have a new head coach to continue his development starting in 2026. The Titans fired Brian Callahan halfway through the season and will need to hit a home run with the next guy. That being said, Ward's most recent comments on Tennessee's head coaching search are a bit presumptuous.
"I want to meet all of them," Ward said of prospective candidates, via ESPN. "Every coach who gets the opportunity to come here, I want to have conversations throughout the process with them. I'm going to be here for that whole time."
Take a step back there, Cam. You're still a rookie and no matter how high you were selected, you don't have that kind of pull in the organization.
Cam Ward is the latest example of NFL player empowerment dictating front office moves
Ward's demand, effectively, sounds like something we might hear from a Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers ... after they won a Super Bowl. Ward hasn't even completed year one and is expecting a seat at the table to interview coaching candidates.
We've started to see more and more input from star players on the football operations side of teams' front offices. Bengals QB Joe Burrow, for instance, indicated earlier this year he was in constant contact with team ownership over personnel strategy.
Someone of Burrow's stature isn't necessarily entitled to those kinds of updates, but he's certainly earned them considering we've all seen what kind of state the team goes into when he's not on the field. Honestly, that could even serve as a counterpoint to why player-coaching tandems are too risky: If the star is unavailable and the coach can't deliver without him, who's the real driving force (see: the Brady-Belichick saga from a few years ago)?
On the other hand, Ward's desire to meet with candidates to evaluate their style and goals is perfectly normal, especially when we've seen how some talents get wasted when the wrong guy gets brought in (e.g., Daniel Jones and Brian Daboll, Tua Tagovailoa and Brian Flores, and on and on). He should want to know whether his new "boss" will have his — and the team's — best interests at heart.
That being said, Ward hasn't reached Burrow status yet to make that kind ask publicly. And even with Burrow, his best intentions haven't always been what's best for Cincy: The Bengals are now locked into Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins at prohibitive deals. If Ward had done so behind closed doors, that's a more professional move. But he'll learn, he's still a rookie. Although, having his name this close to the hiring process will only backfire if he ends up playing worse throughout the next coach's tenure.