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Last year, Tennessee Titans rookie QB Cam Ward had a rough rookie season.
That is one of the reasons Titans coach Brian Callahan was fired after a 1-5 start.
The QB didn’t play well, especially at the beginning of the season, contributing to the rough beginning to the Titans’ season.
But you know what, Callahan has nothing to be ashamed of. The same owner who fired him also fired coach Mike Vrabel, who led New England to a Super Bowl appearance in his first season as Patriots coach last year. So he’s in good company.
The Titans’ owner hired Robert Saleh to be the team’s new head coach in January.
Saleh is a big believer in Ward, and here is what he said about the QB last week:
“I try to observe people from afar, and Cam is there every day,” Saleh said. “Obviously we can’t talk ball with him (because of NFL rules), but I can watch him interact with the people in the building. I think it is very impressive for a young man to walk through the building and know everybody by name from the janitors to the chefs to the trainers, and he addresses them by name. He is a really, really good man. I just think his head is on the right way, he has the right work ethic. I just don’t see him failing.”
I know Jets fans are wondering why I’m focusing on Saleh, Ward, and the Titans today. Saleh is obviously the former Jets’ coach.
But that quote from Saleh is something I want to break down a little because it doesn’t just relate to the Titans, but the Jets, and any other team talking positively in the press about their QB.
While the power of positive thinking is an important thing as Dr Norman Vincent Peale taught us, positive thoughts and comments about your QB generally are not going to make him play the position better than he is capable of.
Being nice to people in the building is important, like janitors, chefs, and trainers. That is the right thing to do. You should treat all people with respect.
But that has nothing to do with pocket presence, reading defenses, throwing with anticipation, and going through progressions.
You could have the greatest work ethic in the world, be the first one in the building, and the last one to leave, but at the QB position on the NFL level, that kind of tireless approach to the position won’t help see the field better once the ball is snapped. That is often not a work ethic issue.
I’m not sure enough people realize how hard it is to play QB in the NFL. It’s so hard that so many guys, who are gym rats and won’t be outworked, still fail at it.
I have seen many QBs pass through the Jets facility who worked their tails off, but when the bright lines shone on Sunday, and opposing defensive coordinators threw complex, disguised defenses at them, they looked across the line, and it was like looking into a fog.
Former NFL QB Chase Daniel, who is now doing work in the media, said an NFL OC said to him recently – “When I’m trying to find THE guy… I ask two questions — was he born to be a QB, or was he made to be one?” Everyone’s chasing the guy who was born to do it.”
So Saleh can feel that he can’t see Ward “failing,” or Aaron Glenn can say, Geno Smith, a journeyman QB, is going to lead his team “to the promised land,” but unforunately a strong belief in a player at that position, and powerful words supporting them in the media, will not help them succeed.
That doesn’t help you manipulate safeties with your eyes or make the proper checks at the line.
A lot of that stuff is innate.
I’m not saying the Jets can’t win with Smith. In fact, they probably have a better chance of being successful this year with Smith than the Titans do with Ward. The Titans’ QB hasn’t displayed enough yet to prove he can be a successful NFL QB. Smith showed from 2022-24 in Seattle that he can lead you to a winning record, something he did all three of those years with the Seahawks.
But powerful words supporting a QB in the media isn’t necessarily going to buttress his play on Sunday.
April 6, 2026
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