NASHVILLE \u2013 The crash course to Cam Ward’s NFL career began over the weekend during rookie minicamp.<\/p>\n
On Monday, the Titans quarterback will join the rest of the veterans in the offseason program.<\/p>\n
Ward is learning everything from a new playbook \u2013 which he received right after the draft \u2013 to technique adjustments to names.<\/p>\n
“From learning the custodian’s name, (people on the cafeteria),” Ward said. “We have a great building, the front office. I am excited to get the journey going with the team we have, the group we have. I am ready to get the wheels rolling.”<\/p>\n
Ward, who was on the field two days during the rookie minicamp, was happy with the start.<\/p>\n
He looked poised and comfortable on his first weekend, decked out in a red No.1 jersey, and red cleats.<\/p>\n
“It felt great,” Ward said. “It felt good to throw the ball and get the timing down with the receivers.<\/p>\n
“I still have a lot of stuff to get better on. I don’t know the whole playbook yet, but I know the majority of it to go play a game. But I know I have a lot more work to do, and I am willing to do it.”<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Ward threw the ball to draft picks Chimere Dike, Elic Ayomanor and Gunnar Helm, among others.<\/p>\n
Receiver Xavier Restrepo, his teammate at Miami, was in the mix as well.<\/p>\n
“(Elic), he is an explosive router runner, Chim is an explosive route runner as well,” Ward said. “I think (the team) added speed, even though we already had it, and I think me adjusting to those guys, what they have been showing me already, what I have to continue to show them, it has been good.”<\/p>\n
Now, Ward and the rookies will compete alongside the veterans at Ascension Saint Thomas Sports Park.<\/p>\n
Ward said the veterans he’s seen already have wished him well, and told him to “get ready to work.”<\/p>\n
He wants to make a good impression on and off the field.<\/p>\n
“I (want people to know) I am all about business,” Ward said. “I really want to be a pro. I want to be one of the great ones, and I want to be a good teammate at the end of the day. I want to win a lot of football games in my career, and I am excited to be around good vets like (Calvin) Ridley, good guys up front like Lloyd (Cushenberry) and JC (Latham) and those guys. I am excited, and ready to get to work.”<\/p>\n
Ward, selected first overall in the NFL Draft, will have to earn a starting spot this fall.<\/p>\n
He’ll need to impress in offseason work, including OTAs and minicamp, and then continue into training camp and the preseason.<\/p>\n
Ward said he’s ready to compete.<\/p>\n
He’s also ready to lead the way.<\/p>\n
“I want to be a leader,” he said. “I want to be there for my teammates. When everything goes down, I want to be the person to lift everybody back up. I am surrounded by a great group of guys. But at the end of the day, I am only one job. I have one job to do and that is play quarterback. Everybody else has a lot of other jobs.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASHVILLE \u2013 The crash course to Cam Ward’s NFL career began over the weekend during rookie minicamp. On…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2061],"tags":[127,7,786,6,1018,526,394,2411,527],"class_list":{"0":"post-44512","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennessee-titans","8":"tag-cam-ward","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-homepage-centerpiece","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-team-football-news","13":"tag-tennessee","14":"tag-tennessee-titans","15":"tag-tennesseetitans","16":"tag-titans"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114495703424713873","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}