Remember when everyone was worried about the Tennessee Titans’ offensive line prior to the 2026 season starting? Fast forward past Week 3 and the tape has revealed an even more concerning revelation. Sophomore quarterback Cam Ward is actually wasting a pretty good offensive line.
Pro Football Focus has the Titans’ pass-protection unit ranked as No. 3 in the entire NFL, with a grade of 71.9. Through three weeks, Titans left tackle Dan Moore Jr. is the team’s only offensive lineman who has been assigned
primary blame for a sack. Ward has been sacked on just five occasions through three games.
Collectively, the Titans’ starting five has allowed 16 pressures. Some of these numbers may be slightly too favorable, but the point gets across. The Titans have done an excellent job protecting Ward in the passing game.
ESPN Analytics has the Titans as a middling unit in pass protection. Whichever metric you believe, the takeaway is similar. The Titans have fielded a pretty good offensive line in protection. Ward is wasting that effort away.
Ward has bailed some clean pockets. Inaccurate misses have been a weekly occurrence. The situation reached a boiling point on Sunday when Ward left 14 points on the board through two glaring red-zone errors in Week 3.
As a rookie, many of the offense’s shortcomings were blamed on Ward’s supporting cast. That’s no longer the case. The offensive line has been upgraded. The wide receiver corps looks way better with Wan’Dale Robinson and Carnell Tate.
The unfortunate truth is that Ward is the biggest preventative factor from the offense showing improvement right now. He’s a young QB who is struggling mightily in a new system, but many of his struggles are issues that date back to his rookie season (bad footwork, inaccurate passes).
Ward needs to start playing better before the Titans consider doing something rash in 2027.
