Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Cam Ward BUST CONVERSATION is NONSENSE & Tennessee Titans BIGGEST RISERS as OTAs Continue

Episode Date: June 10, 2026

Cam Ward has caught some flack as of late for his less-than-stellar performances in Tennessee Titans OTAs, but people calling him a bust are simply doing so in bad faith. It lacks nuance and perspective and a simple look at some other recent examples shows Cam Ward is doing exactly what he should be. Looking at other players in OTAs, the wide receiver battle is as hotly contested as ever and this is relatively new territory for Titans fans as the receiver group is as deep as ever, but it isn't just receivers. Tight ends and a rookie running back have also stepped up. On defense, the Titans youngest players have been most impressive, but some veterans have also used these summer sessions to make an early impression.   LOCKED ON TITANS EVERYDAY CLUB: https://lockedontitans.supercast.com/   Subscribe to the TicTacTitans Film Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/@TicTacTitans   TicTacTitans Merchandise: https://dixons-dream.square.site/shop...   Follow Tyler on Twitter @TicTacTitans   Follow the show on Facebook @LockedOnTitansPod   Subscribe to the Locked On Titans YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@LockedOnTitans   Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. From the opening whistle to the final kick, Let There Be Goals on FanDuel.Visithttps://FANDUEL.COMto get started now. Square If you’re starting a business, or running one that deserves better tools, Square helps you sell, manage, and grow without slowing down. Right now, you can get up to $200 off Square hardware at https://square.com/go/LockedOnNFL. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Calling Cam Ward a bust right now is absolute nonsense. And it shows a total lack of understanding of what this time of year is all about in the NFL. I'll explain on today's edition of Locked on Titans. You are Locked on Titans, your daily Tennessee Titans podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast network, your team every day. Welcome to the Locked on Titans podcast. I am your host, Tyler Rollin Titans fans. On today's show, we're going to talk about whose stock is rising right now at OTAs.

We'll talk about the young guys on defense who have been standing out. We'll dive into the wide receiver battle because that is all the rage at this time. But we got to start with the nonsensical conversation surrounding Cam Ward and the B word. That's right, bust. And I just got to say, this is peak off season nonsense, in my opinion. Bad faith actors who don't want to evaluate this team honestly, just looking for the big thing that can push back against what everybody wants to hear,

trying to drum up interest in the middle of June. I get it. It's a dead time in the NFL, excitement, attachment, all those kinds of things from the fan base right now is basically at its lowest here in the next couple of weeks, this summertime. It makes sense. So now would be a great,

time to get some eyeballs, get some ears, throw out the hottest hot take that you got. And look, I'm not going to sit here and act holier than now in the hot take game. I have strong opinions. I have big takes that I say on this show all the time. So I'm not against the take game. I know that's where it's at. But to call Cam Ward a bust right now is so disingenuous. It is disingenuous at best, obtucity, at best, or downright idiotic.

at worse. Like, it's either obviously trolling or true idiocracy. It's one of those two things. And to me, I think it's quite frankly, it's troll.

As I said, it's bad faith actors trying to re-engineer the facts to make themselves look like they have... Nobody knows what Cam Ward's future is. I feel confident, and I've said on this show, I feel very confident that Cam Ward is going to be a good quarterback in the NFL, potentially even a great quarterback in the NFL.

Good would be fine if Cam was Baker Mayfield, Jordan Love, Dak Prescott, Jared Gough, if he was that level of player, I'm not saying he plays like those guys, his game is like those guys. He plays his own game. We know what Cam Ward's game looks like at this point. But I think he can be that level of quarterback. And in my opinion, you can win a Super Bowl with that level of quarterback if you build a good enough roster around him.

And that's what every team is trying to do. And that's just if he's good. Cam Ward could potentially be great still. That's still on the table. He could be great. So right now, to declaratively say, after one season with the worst weapons and the worst coaching in the entire NFL

and then three weeks of off-season practices in a new system with new coaching and new weapons to take all of that context and boil it down to

Kim Ward's a bust already I know it. Again it's obtusity, it's troll it's cringe, quite honestly. It is a hot take engineered simply to get people to pay attention in the middle of June. Because some people can't talk about the wide receiver battle, can't talk about the scheme on offense, can't talk about the isolated matchups.

Cornell Tate can be in and how Brian Dable can, you know, change the scheme around and change the alignments around and mess with the defense to gain those isolated situations. And what are we going to do in the secondary? and talk about how Robert Salas scheme fit certain guys or doesn't fit certain guys or individual technique where Keldrick Falk and Femi need to progress.

All of those things are real football conversations. But why have those when you can scream at the mountain top? Cam Ward's a bust! Cam Ward's a bust! Think about it. So, again, do I know, can I sit here and tell you with absolute certainty?

Cam Ward will not be a bust. will be great. Cam Ward, no, nobody can know that. Nobody can know that. But considering where we've been to where we are now in the entire process of Cam Ward's career, there's absolutely 0% chance that you could call him a bust right now. And just look at the difference in the first half of the year

to the second half of the year for Cam Ward. First half of the year, first nine games. 170, a 2.95, 1,700 yards, five touchdown, six interceptions, lost five fumbles, took 38 sacks. That's bad. You're right, that's bad. That's not good.

Context, be damned. That's not good. And I've watched the tape a thousand. I have gone over every snap of Cam Ward's rookie season four or five times at this point, every single one. It wasn't great. But the second half of the year, once Bozo Clownahan got out of here,

J.C. Latham got better. Things settled. Cam even had worse receiving groups with Calvin Ridley being gone. Some of the injuries. 153 for 245. Market improvement. 1,400 yards.

10 touchdowns, 1 interception. A 10-to-1 touchdown interception ratio in the second half of the season. 17 sacks during that time, which is more or less than half. and only two fumbles. Cam Ward got significantly better. So not only do we know the context of Cam Ward's situation

with the coaching, the weapons, the line, how bad the team was in general, and how much pressure that puts on the offense and a rookie quarterback, the schedule that the Titans played, the type of defenses that the Titans played throughout the season, all of that context, Added into the stats that we just went over,

how in the world could you possibly, in good faith, reasonably look at your audience and tell them, Cam Ward's a bust, and I know it already. In the middle of June, because a couple of OTA practices. Let me remind you, and look, I'm not the first person to bring this up. I saw, you know, a Chicago Bears guy say something to Titans fans. I saw a Patriots reporter. Say something about Drake May.

Last year, Drake May had a four-interception practice in the middle of OTAs. Caleb Williams was getting crushed this time last year. He looks bad in practice. Ben Johnson's ripping him a new one. He doesn't fit the scheme. He can't get out of his own way. He can't. Drake May, Caleb Williams.

People freaking out. And what happened? They both had excellent seasons. And I think Caleb Williams year is more to what we can hope for from Cam. I think their games are a little bit more similar, but nonetheless. And also, you know, one of the people out there screaming Cam Ward's a bust with somebody who said Josh Allen was a bust, which we all have our misses, nobody's perfect, 100% accurate on their takes, their opinions.

So I'm not trying to, again, be holier than thou. But I'm just saying, like, just consider the factors before you wait into the conversation and get angry and get upset and feel you need to defend Cam. with your life and all these different things, just consider why this conversation may be happening right now and that will lead you to the nonsensical nature of the conversation. And again, this time of year, again, part of this is not just

look at what Cam Ward situation has been, look at the data available, look at the stats, look at the second half of the year, but the other part of it is understanding this time of the year in the end. NFL. It's not even training camp, folks. We're talking about voluntary, off-season practices. And I'm not saying that to follow it up with, they don't matter. Don't worry about Cam Ward struggles right now. It doesn't matter. They do matter. These practices matter. But the point of this time, and this is why I'm so upset about Femiola Dejo missing so much time. Again, if you really think about it, all of my

thoughts are very consistent here. This is the time to fail. And this is the time to figure out the depth of the routes, the timing of the plays. When you got to get the ball out based on the drop and where the coverage is going to be. Getting on the same page with your wide receivers. Understanding what you like, what you don't like? What if a bunch of these throwaways or a bunch of these misses or whatever that everybody's talking about? What if a lot of these are playing? that don't work. And Brian Dable is going to throw them out. And then also let me remind you

that the Titans have been repping hard situations in OTAs. They're not just lining up and playing a scrimmage like it's a regular game. They're doing third and long. They're doing strike zone plays. Well, you've got to throw it into the end zone from 25 plus yards out.

They're doing third and hard where it's third and long, third and medium, third and 15. And you got to, they're doing one minute, 12 seconds left. you're on the 45-yard line, you've got to get a touchdown to win the game. They're doing situational drills that put Cam Ward in the hardest situations. And that's good.

That's a good thing. You want to struggle right now. Again, I gave you the baking the cake analogy. If your mom said she's baking you a birthday cake and you grab the cake out of the oven halfway through it being done, took a big bite and said, bomb, this cake sucks. Well, yeah, it's halfway done.

The Titans are baking the cake right now, so don't take it out of the oven, take a bite and say, oh, that Cam Ward's a bust. I just took a bite of half-cooked cake. This can't be good. It's like saying that, oh, this ice won't cool my drink without letting the ice freeze first. It's still just water, bro.

It's not going to cool down your drink yet. So I'm not here to tell you that Cam Ward is going to be a great quarterback and that I know it for sure. That's what you want to hear. And I'm sorry, but there's no way to know that. But what I am here to tell you with absolute certainty is calling him a bust right now is acting out of bad faith. And not only does it show a lack of understanding of the context of

KM Ward's careers so far, but it shows a lack of understanding of what this time of year in the NFL is supposed to be about. And it's supposed to be about failing and learning so that when you get to the real games, you're ready to go. no one ever became a bust in the middle of June. That's not how this works. But with that being said, now that that's out of the way,

let's talk about football because the fight at wide receiver is getting wild. Do want to let you know that today's episode is brought to you by indeed. Workplace chaos, deadline stacking up, your inbox is overflowing, and the one position that you have to fill

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You can't say with certainty one way or another right now, but you certainly can't make a declaration of what we've seen so far. But with that being said, what we've seen so far from the wide receiver group has been impressive. Before I dive into, I want to thank you again for making Locked on Titans. You were first listened each and every day. Remember Monday through Friday, Tennessee Titans content all year round. Always for free. Make sure that you get subscribe. Stay subscribed. It's your team every day.

of every day. Shout out to my everydayers out there. Tune in Monday through Friday. Couldn't do it without you guys. If you aren't an everydayer, you need to be one. Again, the Titans are going to be back out on the practice field on Thursday. I'm going to be here on the show after practice to break it all down with you guys. So much to discuss mandatory mini-camp next week. Going to be tracking attendance, all that different stuff. Cannot wait to dive into it with you guys.

Again, stay locked in to the number one Tennessee Titans podcast in the world. Locked on Titans. But the wide receiver battle, man, it is just stacked, absolutely stacked out right now. We know that Cornell Tate's number one. We know, we know that Calvin Ridley, Wondell Robinson, Chim Dekay and Elyoh Manor will be the next group. We know that.

But who will be six? Who will be seven? Will there be a seven? That's the question right now because KJ Osborne has been making plays. And remember when Calvin Ridley was out over the last couple of weeks, KJ Osborne was in there.

And he was making plays. And we heard a lot in every report, in every account of practices so far, talked about KJ Osborne. I talked about KJ Osborne when he got hired. And I was like, yeah, veteran, they're going to make, you know, the younger guys beat him out.

A Bryce Oliver, a Xavier Restrepo. Can't really call Mesa Kinsey a young guy at this time. A Hank Bedia, a Tyron Montgomery. That's what, it's very similar to Brandon James or Sam Mustifer or Ali Udo from last year. These guys were brought in because they have experience. They're not bona fide starters. They're not great players.

They aren't certified NFL roster guys. But they're veterans with experience. who have played and have a real chance to make a roster. And if you're going to be on the roster as a young guy, you're going to have to beat out one of those guys. That's what KJ Osborne is for this wide receiver group. He is the veteran benchmark. But here's the thing.

Whereas Brandon Jamies, Sam Mustifer, they didn't make it through. Ali Udo did though. Ali Udo was the Titan swing tackle all year last year. And you know what? Ali Udo didn't play too bad when he had to come in for J.C. Latham during injury. Oli Udo was a fine swing tackle that I think a lot of Titans fans wanted back. I think he ended up getting a pretty good contract to be a backup tackle somewhere.

I forget exactly where that is, to be honest with you. Arizona maybe? I don't know. But anyway, not a Titan anymore. I guess I've got to get over it. But K.J. Osborne could be the Ali Udo of the wide receiver group. He could be that veteran who it's like, hey, we need the young guys to beat him out, but they don't. And KJ Osborne could probably play a little bit of Z. Definitely could play in the slot.

So a veteran guy with production, with experience that can play multiple positions, he's right now taking punt return duties. Like there's a group of guys who are doing punt return. It's obviously Chim Dike, Hank Beattie, the guy out of Illinois who will talk about in a second. he's in there. KJ. Osborne was in there. Xavier Restrepo was not. Mason Kinsey was in there. Xavier Ostrepo was not in there, though. So I found that interesting.

They're not, I don't know, maybe his name got left out, but it doesn't sound like they're giving him a lot of opportunities to do punt return. But either way, KJ. Osborne versus Xavier Restrepo is the battle. And right now I would say that KJ. Osborne has the lead based on everything I just said. But I will say this. I have heard, read multiple beat reporters

over the last couple of days talk about Xavier Restrepo making plays. Whether it was to Ron Davenport's observations we talked about yesterday, Jim Wyatt, who said that Xavier Restrepo has led all Titans with catches. In OTA, so far with 14. Some other conversations I've had that have heard Restrepo has been showing out. And the one that TD said that was most,

is his shiftiness and his quickness is very interesting in Brian Daible's offense. Because Daible has that designated slot player. Thank Wondale Robinson. And again, I compared it yesterday to old school Patriots. West Welker. Adam Archelette. That's a safety from the Rams.

Danny Amandola is the name that I'm thinking of. Julian Edelman. That type of guy. There is a designated slot role in this offense. It has a lot of option routes, gives the wide receiver a lot of route running freedom to read the defense, have chemistry, and who has better chemistry and better,

I'm making this word up, same pageness, than Cam Ward and Xavier Restrepa. If you had to have a wide receiver and the quarterback. Be on the same page. For your life, your life is on the line. And the wide receiver and the quarterback

got to be on the same page. What wide receiver would you be picking on this team other than Xavier Restrepa? He isn't the best receiver, but if the entire position is we need Cam Ward and this wide receiver to be on the same page consistently throughout,

Xavier Estrepa has as good a chance as anybody to make the roster based on that. And when they made him go out there in that undrafted free agent rookie minicamp, and they made him, you know, fight with those guys. I did not have a good feeling about Restrepo's future, but I feel much better about it now.

I certainly do. Some other stuff I want to mention on offense. Weapons. Nick Singleton, more and more work as of late, showing out more and more, getting more involved. I think he's going to have a real impact in this running back room. And again, one of my bold predictions is Nick Singleton will be the Titan starting running back.

by the end of the year. So let's continue to watch that and see how he does in practice. Daniel Bellinger, I forget who, whether it was, you know, I want to give credit where credit is due on the observations. I think it might have been the New Sports Illustrated guy. I forget his name, but he was saying they were moving Daniel Bellinger around the formation a ton. So if Gunner Helm is the traditional Y and they start using Bellinger and the move

tight end roll, that could be very interesting. And Jaron Kanek, the rookie free agent, or the rookie draft pick, last draft pick from the Titans draft class, continues to make plays, continues to look explosive, continues to get the ball in his hands and get up field and show that speed. Again, he said that he watches Kyle Use Check. The Titans could have a versatile weapon in the offense on a lower level, but nonetheless an important guy.

Remember how we used to go hard for Torrey Carter? What a throwback name. That was so much fun. Jaron Kanek, let's bring back the fullback, baby. I'm all about it. But we do got to talk about some guys on the defensive side of the ball as well, who have been showing out with the lack of numbers that are on the defensive side in terms of attendance. Titans fans, let's cap off.

Today's edition of the Locked on Titans podcast. Again, we talked about the Cam Ward conversation right now. I think it's absolute nonsense. We talked about the major fight at wide receiver and why it could make sense for Xavier Ostrepo to get back into the race. But now I want to move to the defensive side of the ball where again, there have been a lot of absences from some of the. starters and it allowed some other guys to step up in the meantime.

Before we dive into that, though, do want to thank you again for making Locked on Titans. Your first listen each and every day. Speaking of every day, you guys got to join the Locked on Titans every day or club. You're going to get commercial free versions of the podcast. You're going to get added to the Locked on Titans every day or group chat with me and all the other everydayers. A ton of fun, always chopping up everything, NFL, Titans, anything going on. Send your mailbag questions in there.

absolutely a blast. Make sure that you join the Locked on Titans every day or club today. Hit the link down below in the description to join again. Year round, free Tennessee Titans content for you guys. A little bit of help in return. Wouldn't be too bad. It's not too much to ask. I don't think. With that being said, I've talked

about it a ton. I'm going to keep talking about it and I'm so excited about Keldrick Falk and Anthony Hill. As a reminder, if you didn't hear yesterday's show recap a Tuesday's practice, Caldric Falk got another sack. And now look, no Dan Moore, no J.C. Latham.

So he's going up against Brandon Crenshaw Diction, Austin Deccalus, you know, the undrafted free agent guys, Emil Wagner and Isaiah Miller. And, you know, I get it. I get it. I get it. But, but with where Falk is right now, any progress against anybody is good to hear. He's playing a brand new position. It's a brand new scheme. new responsibilities that aren't similar to what his responsibilities were in college.

He's a guy who his step, he's got all the physical tools. Explosion, size, length, strength, he's got all that. It's technique stuff. And right now, when you can't just bowl over somebody because you don't have the pads on and things like that, you're basically just working technique stuff. So the two sacks that he's had in the last couple of weeks, he's had two sacks in the open OTA practices that we've seen, which is up to four now total over the last three, four weeks. He's had two sacks. And to me, that's a great sign. The fact that he's making plays in the backfield, creating pressure in the backfield, just based solely off technique wins in a new system that he should be learning and getting

accustomed to, it may be a hand-in-glove fit. Like, it may be Cinderella slipper for Keldrick Falk, where this system was just tailor-made for him. It's a better use of his skill set. He can unleash all the physical talent that he had. display at Auburn that didn't really maximize itself, he could take a quantum leap with the circumstances. It would not be crazy to think. And then Anthony Hill, Anthony Hill, continuing to make plays. He's out there calling the defense.

He's mentally have had a schedule. He's getting PVUs, interceptions, stops in the backfield, shooting gaps. Like, it's early on and again, these trench players, the O line, the D line, the linebackers, they're all going to be judged much more and can be judged much more by padded practices than these offense-driven,

glorified seven-on-seven, which is what Robert Sala called them. But to already see progress, to already see successes, to already see flashes, to already see mental capacity. Again, that's what impresses me most about the news about Keldrick Falk and Anthony Hill, is that Anthony Hill is already

calling the defense, which is a mental thing, and that Keldrick Falk is already winning with technique, which is a mental thing right now, for them to be ahead of the curve mentally. That's what's important right now. And again, it goes back to the Cam Ward conversation that we had at the beginning of the show of this is not the time to make sweeping judgments on players. This is the time where they are mentally trying to take steps forward and trying to make sure that their body follows them there and going through mistakes and failures and successes

and flashes and back and forth until they can calibrate exactly where they need to be. It's easier to see that at quarterback because you can see them throw the football, good pass, bad pass, complete, incomplete interception. But it's happening for linebackers and defensive linemen and offensive linemen and tight ends and running backs and all that as well.

It's the same philosophy. So, again, positive news is positive news. And that's what I like hearing from Anthony Hill, Keldrick Falk. I want to throw in the name Truman Jones. Truman Jones may be one of the bottom three least discussed players on this roster by me, but I've been seeing his name pop up.

I've been hearing his name in the, you know, the miced up sessions and all that. A lot of, a good job, true, good job, Truman. This and that nonstop, especially Aaron White Cotton's defensive line one, he was giving Truman Jones a lot of credit. Now, do I think Truman Jones is going to make this roster and everything? I don't know. But I think there was a sixth edge spot that could be open.

And I think it's possible that Truman Jones could take it, right? The last couple of names I want to mention are on the D line as well, Solomon Thomas. When no John Franklin Myers, no Jeffrey Simmons, Solomon Thomas has stepped up and has basically been a starter. A man, he looks good. His physique. And listen, I'm not in practice, but Brad Hopkins, my guy Bhop,

on the Squacho said, Solomon Thomas looks absolutely ridiculous right now. And if the Titans are going to rotate on the D line as often as they say, the backup defense line better be great. Jordan Elliott, Solomon Thomas. And I've heard quite a bit about Jackie Marshall. and I admit, Jackie Marshall, my least favorite pick of the Titans draft,

least amount of excitement for the Titans draft with Jackie Marshall. But if he's firing out and doing all the things that they wanted him to do as a former defensive end, again, it's going to be a heavy rotation. They'll probably keep six interior defensive linemen. Jackie Marshall can get real snaps this year. In the secondary, Josh Williams and Marcus Harris. So we have been hearing a ton about Michael Robinson, right?

Michael Robinson versus Cardnell Tate. Michael Robinson versus Cornell Tate all the time. Not hearing much about Josh Williams. And if Cordell Flott and Alante Taylor aren't at practice, then that means Josh Williams has been out there as a starter. And I've heard nothing about him other than Josh Williams had a PBU one time in one of the practices. Well, he may not be making flash plays out there,

but he isn't getting burnt like Michael Robinson is. So I guess that's a good sign. And Marcus Harris, Marcus Harris continues to impress. continues to show why the coaches have not gotten him any competition whatsoever at Slot. So got to keep our eye on that. But with that being said, again, I'll be back with you guys tomorrow to break down everything that happens at Thursday's practice. That's going to do it for me today.

Folks, as always, I am your host, Tyler Rowland, and this was Locked on Titans.