After a tumultuous rebuild, Tennessee surrounds Cam Ward with fresh weapons and protection. Mike Clay’s latest projections reveal whether this revamped roster will trigger a second-year breakout.
The Tennessee Titans are looking for consistency with head coach Robert Saleh and General Manager Mike Borgonzi.
After consecutive 3-14 seasons, the front office knew that changes needed to be made.
Tennessee now has a more established power structure after the Titans' President of Football Operations, Chad Brinker, stepped down. Brinker was in charge of finding the next GM after Ran Carthon was fired and had the final say over the team's roster as well.
His questionable contracts marked Carthon's time in Nashville. He signed Lloyd Cushenberry, Calvin Ridley, L'Jarius Sneed and Tony Pollard to massive deals.
Just Ridley and Pollard are still with the franchise after Cushenbery and Sneed were released earlier this offseason. Pollard has been the only one to really live up to expectations, as he and Derrick Henry are the only players to have 1,000 rushing yards or more in the last four seasons.
The Titans the offense, defense and special teams this offseason.
On offense, Wan'Dale Robinson was the biggest signing the team made. John Franklin-Myers, Alontae Taylor and Cor'Dale Flott were the major acquisitions on defense.
There are new faces on special teams as well, with the Titans adding former Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans punter Tommy Townsend. Townsend was a Pro Bowler with the Chiefs in 2022.
Giving quarterback Cam Ward more weapons was definitely a focus point this offseason. He now has Robinson and a promising rookie out of Ohio State, Carnell Tate, in the receiver room.
The Titans also drafted two offensive linemen in the 2026 NFL Draft, taking Indiana center Pat Coogan and Arkansas guard Fernando Carmona.
Ahead of the 2026 season, ESPN Fantasy Football analyst Mike Clay projected Ward's stats. He predicted that Ward would throw for 3,754 passing yards, 16 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Compared to Ward's rookie numbers, this is 585 more passing yards. However, he had Ward throw just one more touchdown and three more interceptions.
Ward finished his rookie campaign with 3,169 passing yards, 15 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Ward had his fair share of struggles as a rookie before head coach Brian Callahan was fired after that Week 6 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. However, he really flourished once Mike McCoy was named interim head coach.
From Weeks 1-9, he threw for 1,505 passing yards, five touchdowns and six interceptions.
Once McCoy was in charge, Ward led the NFL in touchdown-to-interception ratio (10) from Weeks 10-18. Ward had 1,409 passing yards, 10 touchdowns and one interception in that span.
To the outside eye, Ward still needs to prove he can put up better numbers, but this projection still feels a little low.
Ward showed he can prove people wrong as a rookie; he'll have to do it again in 2026.
