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Cam Ward's preseason struggles continue with 'missed opportunities' vs. Seahawks

Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward had a solid preseason performance against the Seattle Seahawks, but still needs improvement in his passing game.

First seen Aug 24, 2026 · 11:33 AM UTC · last updated Aug 24 1:05 PM

Scoring Zone's Take

Cam Ward's preseason outing against Seattle gives you a modest data point as you finalize draft boards, but it's not a needle-mover. A "solid" showing that still flags passing-game improvement is exactly what you'd expect from a rookie signal-caller working through camp — encouraging that he's competent, but no signal that he's ready to be a top-tier fantasy QB or that his weapons around him (Tony Pollard, Gunnar Helm) are locked into expanded roles yet. Treat Ward as a late-round or streaming QB consideration in devy/dynasty-lean formats, not someone to reach for in redraft startup drafts.

For Pollard and Helm, this report tells you nothing concrete about usage or health, so don't let it move their draft rankings; keep evaluating them off training-camp beat reports and depth-chart chatter rather than this preseason box score. Robert Saleh and Brian Daboll are named in the cluster but the source gives no coaching-decision details tied to their staffs, so there's no actionable roster impact to extract there — don't overreact to their presence in this headline.

Bottom line heading into draft season: file Ward as a "watch, don't reach" rookie QB, keep Pollard and Helm's ADP grounded in other reporting, and treat this specific news as low-confidence noise (impact -1.0) rather than a reason to shift your board. If beat writers start detailing target shares or backfield split specifics in camp, that's when you adjust — this note alone isn't it.

Cam Ward's preseason struggles continue with 'missed opportunities' vs. Seahawks

It wasn’t as ugly as the preseason opener, but Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward still needs time on task in the new offense.

Ward went 8-of-12 passing for 69 yards over three drives that netted three points in Sunday’s 19-16 win over the Seattle Seahawks, who rested their starters.

The second-year quarterback wasn’t as off-the-mark as the first outing, but still sailed a few throws and lived mostly as a checkdown merchant, with all eight of his completions coming inside 10 yards. All four of Ward’s downfield throws (10-plus air yards) went incomplete, including a couple grimace-inducing airmails.

“I think just missed opportunities on some plays, particularly our passing game,” Ward said after the tilt, via the team’s official transcript. “I think it was improvement from last week, but just got to be better down the field as a whole.”

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A week after nearly turning the ball over twice and misfiring on a host of passes, Ward’s accuracy was better. Still, much of his production came on dump-offs to open targets, including a 33-yard swing pass to a wide open Tony Pollard that represented the bulk of the passing production for the first-team unit. The QB also nearly turned it over, getting the ball knocked out on a scramble, but luckily it rolled out of bounds. On the ensuing play, Ward made a nice move to avoid pressure again, and found Gunnar Helm on the sideline, but the TE couldn’t get his feet in bounds.

“Thought Cam, again, was good with the ball, good decision-making. We just couldn't connect on a couple of deep throws,” coach Robert Saleh said. “But overall, it's got to be better, guys; I'm not trying to sugarcoat it. It does got to be better, but at the same time, there's always going to be things that we can take from.”

Ward didn’t seem as sped up as last week, but we also didn’t see him connect on any difficult throws. The ho-hum performance -- against backups -- came after reports indicated he played well during joint practices.

With just one preseason game left, there are still significant strides to be made by Ward in Brian Daboll’s offense. For the QB’s part, he said Sunday night that he feels on the right trajectory.

“Everything slowed down,” he said of the new offense. “We're finally at the point where we're not going to be installing too much stuff. One thing about coach (Daboll) is he can go to walkthrough, he can make up a play in his head, and we'll run it right there and we will execute it right there. So it's going to be nice to really show what we really are about when the time comes.

"But, I mean, it's exciting because you get to get reps on plays that you don't get in OTAs. So, you're really getting a feel of -- he's getting a feel of what I really like and what I don't like, and then when the time comes we're going to do a lot of stuff that the players feel comfortable with.”

Coverage from Nfl Dot Com News · by Kevin Patra · Aug 24, 2026 · read original