Quarterback Cam Ward didn’t live up to the first overall pick hype during his rookie season. Heading into the 2026 season, the Tennessee Titans hired Robert Saleh as the head coach and Brian Daboll as the new offensive coordinator to make things right. But now that preseason is over, it won’t be wrong to say that Ward has failed to impress in his first couple of appearances as well. That led Nashville-based reporter Jared Stillman to ask Ward how he would assess his performance.

However, when Ward turned the question back to Stillman, the reporter gave a blunt response: “Not well.” While Ward brushed off the criticism, noting that he made a “huge jump” from Week 1 to Week 2 of the preseason, the quarterback’s response has sparked a debate over his awkward exchange with Stillman. Shannon Sharpe believes that Ward didn’t actually play well this offseason.

“They got to realize the reporters aren’t fans. They have a job to do. And sometimes, somehow, they’ve gotten confused when reporters do their jobs. His job is to critique and analyze. He’s like, okay, from his analysis, he hadn’t played well,” said Sharpe on the Nightcap podcast before adding, “…He hasn’t played well. He hasn’t.”

Ward started against the San Francisco 49ers in the preseason opener and then against the Seattle Seahawks in the second preseason matchup. He completed 5-of-122 for 57 yards, no touchdowns, and no picks against the Niners, followed by 8-of-12 for 69 yards, no touchdowns, and no interceptions against the Seahawks.

Sharpe’s assessment of Ward, however, didn’t sit well with Chad Johnson. During the Nightcap podcast, Johnson explained the meaning of preseason, while pointing out the number of plays a quarterback gets in a preseason.

“The small amount of plays you do get as a starting quarterback in the preseason where everything is really vanilla, there’s nothing scripted, there’s nothing schemed, I would take that with a grain of salt in general,” said Johnson.

Of course, it’s the preseason, and it doesn’t define a player’s regular season performance. Ward, meanwhile, has had a disappointing preseason campaign, and Stillman pointed out his struggles. He reported that Ward is currently 102nd of 104 QBs who have played in the preseason with a passer grade of 29.6, per PFF.

At the same time, he had 25 dropbacks this preseason and zero completions longer than 7 air yards. He currently has one of the bottom 3 offensive grades among the QBs this preseason with 29.1. This is exactly why, after Ward’s disappointing performance gained traction, Shannon Sharpe demanded an apology from Chad Johnson.

“Are you apologizing to Joe and I? Sharpe asked Johnson. “Are you apologizing to Joe and I? Because you were quite hostile last night, and I was afraid. You were hostile.”

Johnson explained that he got a little emotional while discussing Cam Ward’s preseason performance. However, it’s worth noting that after a struggling rookie season, Cam Ward had another poor start to his second season.

The quarterback finished his rookie year ranked 31st in passer rating and 32nd in QBR among 33 qualified passers. With Ward leading the offense, the Titans finished the season 3-14.

Now, Tennessee has undergone a major leadership change while also drafting wide receiver Carnell Tate and adding free-agent Wan’Dale Robinson to the roster. It remains to be seen whether Cam Ward can make the leap this year.