Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan was serving as offensive coordinator with the Cincinnati Bengals when the Bengals made quarterback Joe Burrow the primary total decide of the 2020 NFL Draft.
Callahan as soon as once more finds himself teaching a rookie signal-caller after the Titans grabbed Cam Ward with the best choice of this 12 months’s player-selection course of. Throughout a current chat with Albert Breer of Sports activities Illustrated, Callahan steered that Ward might observe in Burrow’s footsteps en path to turning into an elite participant on the sport’s most essential place.
“It was fascinating having the expertise with Joe, as a result of Joe, whereas he was definitely a prodigy, there have been nonetheless issues he was studying,” Callahan mentioned about Burrow’s rookie marketing campaign. “However he was related in that it didn’t take him lengthy to study it, and he might apply and course of it actually quick. And Cam is identical method. Folks ask on a regular basis, the comparability — the place they’re most related is their means to take the knowledge, perceive it, course of it after which apply it with out having to undergo the ringer. They will simply do it.”
Burrow largely has been pretty much as good as marketed, because the 28-year-old has one Tremendous Bowl look on his profession resume. Pro Football Reference exhibits that he ended the 2024 common season main the NFL with 4,918 passing yards, a mean of 289.3 passing yards per recreation, 43 touchdowns by the air, 460 completions and 652 cross makes an attempt. He in the end finished fourth in MVP voting for the marketing campaign.
As for Ward, previous stories famous how he started holding early morning conferences with rookie skill-position gamers following the membership’s summer time break. Ward indicated these classes are serving to him study a brand new offense “sooner” as he prepares to begin Tennessee’s regular-season opener on the Denver Broncos on Sept. 7.
“It helps me with every thing,” Ward informed Breer about placing in further work to construct up chemistry together with his teammates. “Like, simply me figuring out the place I need the receivers. As a result of I’ll by no means coach a receiver on how they run a route — so long as they get open, I don’t care. However it’s about being in a sure spot after I want you to be there, only for timing functions. …It builds relationships, as nicely. My place and the receiver place, it’s gotta be probably the most chemistry-driven relationships within the facility.”
As of Monday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook continued to record Las Vegas Raiders operating again Ashton Jeanty because the betting favourite at +275 odds to assert the Offensive Rookie of the Yr Award over Ward (+350 odds). It will likely be fascinating to see how these odds shift after Ward faces what’s, on paper, an intimidating Denver protection.
Whereas Burrow suffered a torn ACL and MCL in his left knee in November of his rookie season, he’s now a two-time NFL Comeback Participant of the Yr Award winner.
