18 games into a career, it was an unfathomable quarterback disaster.
The offense was a disjointed mess. Sacks were coming in bunches. The playbook was trimmed down. Simple completions were being missed and complex throws were ending in interceptions. Barely into a second season, a hopeful franchise quarterback — taken with the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft — had the look of a franchise-wrecking mistake.
This was Bryce Young in 2024. And he was precisely where Cam Ward is right now: At the bottom of the league’s quarterback pile, with nowhere left to go but up.
That’s worth remembering this week, with Ward reaching an 18-game mark that has produced a strikingly similar comparison to the start of Young’s career. How the numbers stacked up for each in the first 18 games:
There are two meaningful distinctions tied to those numbers. First, Ward’s touchdown-to-interception ratio has been solidly better than Young’s over the beginning of their careers. And second, while Ward has frustratingly not appeared to have taken a step forward through the first game of the season, Young clearly was trending downward — to the point of getting benched after his 18th game. Yes, the results have been bad for Ward. And no, it doesn’t look like it’s going to change quickly. But everything isn’t lost.
That’s not meant to sugarcoat the season-opening 23-10 loss to the New York Jets. Despite a revamped coaching staff, talent additions and an offseason of work, the Titans produced 195 yards of offense and one touchdown that came late in a game that was already over. A performance that not only gave credence to preseason concerns about Ward, but also extinguished any remaining fan optimism that head coach Robert Saleh and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll were going to turn the Titans and Ward around in one season.
It’s bleak. But again, the Panthers had even less to hold onto through Young’s first 18 games.
Not only was Young benched by head coach Dave Canales in favor of Andy Dalton, but there were also some conflicting opinions inside the franchise about his future. Some believed that Young needed to be traded in favor of another reset. Others thought he simply required a mental reset before being reinserted as the starter. But the underlying message was clear: Something had gone sideways with Young to the point that he couldn’t keep the starting job after only 18 games.
That’s not a crossroads the Titans have arrived at yet with Ward. Keeping him from getting there is now the most important job in the building.
Consider what happened with Young in 2024 when he returned to the starting lineup in Week 8. Over his final 10 starts, he threw 15 touchdowns against six interceptions. In 2025, he continued to slowly trend upward and the Panthers won the NFC South. And in Week 1 of this season, Young and the Panthers offense were the lone bright spot in a 59-37 loss to the Chicago Bears — with Young throwing for 361 yards and three touchdowns, against one interception and only two sacks.
The quarterback who began his career looking like a mistake — and lost his starting job only two games into his second season — has become a player the Panthers are now building around with confidence. Of course, it came with help. The Panthers signed guards Robert Hunt and Damien Lewis, improved pass protection and built a running game around Chuba Hubbard. And after the benching, Canales and Young worked through the schematic failures together.
The Titans can build toward the same outcome. That’s what I think Saleh is talking about when he preaches consistency and continuity around Ward.
As Saleh said of Ward earlier this week: “We’re trying to build a foundation for him, and we’re trying to give him some stability.”
I believe that. Even in the face of a bad first result.
When I went through Titans camp and spent time with people in the building, they weren’t selling an instant turnaround when it came to Ward. Instead, they talked about getting him to trust and identify small gains. They talked about consistent instruction with Ward’s footwork and getting to the point that the routine throw becomes routine. And more than anything, they talked about patience.
That’s not going to be easy — especially when the Titans are absorbing frustrating losses. And there’s also the reality that Ward can’t escape scrutiny against the 2025 quarterback class, which has seen Jaxson Dart quickly pay off for the New York Giants, while Tyler Shough has made steady gains with the New Orleans Saints. Ward’s performances are going to be consistently measured against both of those players, much in the same manner Young has been measured against the performance of C.J. Stroud from the 2023 class.
Once a blowout in Stroud’s favor, the distance between those two quarterbacks has gotten considerably tighter in their fourth seasons. A year or two from now, we could be saying the same thing about Ward, Dart and Shough.
To get there, the Titans and Daboll are going to have to find a collection of plays that Ward can execute decisively and then expand moving forward. Play-action opportunities. Moving the pocket to either help the protection or provide a clearer read for Ward. Whatever the combination, Tennessee has to find the tweaks that let Ward find a rhythm before he’s eventually expected to carry a Sunday.
Of course, Ward has to meet all of that with better execution. He owns the missed throws. He has to learn which plays are worth extending and which ones need to end with the ball in the seats. The coaches can create opportunities for progress. They can’t complete the passes. But this staff and Ward have one regular-season game in the books. There’s still room for this partnership to grow, and plenty of season left to establish whether the lessons are sticking.
Young’s turnaround in Carolina gives Tennessee a reason to believe that work and roster-tuning can pay off. Now the Titans have to make the conditions for Ward’s improvement more than an offseason promise.
Eighteen games is too early to give up on that. But it’s also long enough for Tennessee to understand that getting Ward right is going to require more than waiting.
Aww, Bryce