Saleh on QB Cam Ward: ‘This kid’s not going to fail…I put my job on that one’
The Tennessee Titans are heading into the 2026 season with Robert Saleh as the franchise’s new head coach.
Saleh takes over a struggling Tennessee team as the Titans come off a 3-14 season. One of the lone bright spots for the franchise is second-year quarterback Cam Ward, whom the franchise drafted with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Tennessee’s new head coach has spoken about what he sees in the situation and his confidence in Ward.
“This kid’s not going to fail. Obviously, I put my job on that one, but he’s not going to fail.
He’s special.”
Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2026 NFL season
Saleh was hired to a five-year deal, but we have seen that contract length doesn’t mean much in the NFL for coaches who struggle. He knows that he has to show improvement with the franchise, and has put his faith in Ward to be the player who can help the team on its path.
The second-year quarterback started all 17 games for the Titans last year. He finished the season with 3,169 yards, 15 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions. Ward added 159 more yards and two touchdowns on 39 carries.
Saleh landed with Tennessee after spending last season back as a defensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers. It’s the role he had from 2017 to 2020 that helped him earn the head coaching gig with the New York Jets.
During his tenure in New York, Saleh did his best to manage the quarterback room despite several injuries. New York went 4-13, 7-10, and 7-10 in the three full seasons under Saleh, and he was fired after starting the 2024 season 2-3.
In 2021, Saleh had then-rookie Zach Wilson under center for 13 games and then nine more in 2022. He was supposed to have Aaron Rodgers in 2023, but he tore his Achilles in the first game, leading to Wilson starting 12 games again.
Rodgers was healthy in 2024, playing in all 17 games, but Saleh wasn’t able to craft a game plan that let him succeed. Even after he was fired, New York went 3-9 the rest of the season to finish 5-12 for the year.
Saleh has worked with young quarterbacks before, but wasn’t able to develop Wilson over the three years he was the starter.
Something about Ward has given Saleh confidence. It could be an improved supporting cast, with offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney, who has experience not only working with Daboll but also with quarterbacks Josh Allen, Daniel Jones, and, most recently, Jaxson Dart at his previous stops.
Daboll has spoken about the progress Ward has made so far despite being in the league for only a season.
“I have a lot of confidence in this young man. I have confidence in how he played [in college] at Miami and Washington State, and he had a whole year under his belt in the National Football League and getting accustomed to the speed of the game and the timing. That’s not an easy thing for quarterbacks.”
This coaching staff combination could be just what Ward needs. Daboll isn’t changing much about Ward’s motion, but is installing a game plan that reportedly focuses on shorter passes, something he did with Allen in the early years of his career in Buffalo.
It remains to be seen what the impact of the changes on Ward will be, but the quarterback is at least saying the right things and is hopeful about the season.
“Everything slowed down. 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.”
The Titans haven’t posted a winning record since 2021. Tennessee has also logged back-to-back three-win seasons. Seeing improvement in Ward this year and winning five or more games would be a good step toward Saleh showing he can develop a QB and helping him keep the job he has staked on Ward.
