There’s a new level of optimism in Nashville with the arrival of Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward.

After Tennessee used the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft to grab the Miami product, there’s an expectation that the team is still going through the rebuilding process. How quickly Ward can develop will ultimately be the deciding factor in Tennessee’s success for the upcoming campaign. History suggests another losing season may be in the cards, but rookie quarterbacks have had strong impacts across the league in recent seasons.

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Having a solidified No. 1 option in the passing game can help further the development of a rookie quarterback, and the Titans have Calvin Ridley entering the second of a four-year, $92 million deal.

When it comes to where they rank among the new quarterback-wide receiver duos across the NFL, Ward and Ridley came in at No. 11, per Tyler Sullivan of CBS Sports.

Tennessee deployed the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft on Miami signal-caller Cam Ward. He heads to Nashville after leading FBS with 39 touchdown passes last season. That passing touchdown total, along with his 4,313 passing yards, also set a Miami single-season record. So, Ward certainly has skills. That question is how quickly he will be able to develop at the NFL level to turn that talent into wins for the Titans. To help him, the franchise does have wideout Calvin Ridley, whom they signed to a four-year, $92 million deal last offseason. Even as Tennessee struggled at quarterback last season, Ridley put together another 1,000-yard season. Ward should give the offense some more stability, thus giving this pairing with Ridley loads of upside. We just need to see it first before vaulting them any higher.

There will certainly be a learning curve for Ward as he enters the NFL, but it should help to have a dynamic talent like Ridley returning to lead the wide receiver room. The former first-round pick has recorded at least 1,000 yards in three of his last four seasons.

The 30-year-old wideout was streaky during his first season in Nashville, but he found a level of consistency during the second half of the campaign. During the first six games of the season, Ridley averaged just 30.5 receiving yards per game and had three separate games with fewer than 10 receiving yards.

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From Week 8 on, however, he averaged 75.8 yards per game — a pace of 1,288 receiving yards in a 17-game season. That’s an impressive feat considering what the Titans had at quarterback during that stretch.

The Titans will go as far as Ward can take them as he acclimates to life in the NFL, and it should help to have a solidified No. 1 like Ridley leading the pass-catching corps.

This article originally appeared on Titans Wire: Where Titans’ Cam Ward, Calvin Ridley rank among new NFL QB-WR duos