Turron Davenport
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — When the Tennessee Titans officially introduced Brian Daboll to the media Wednesday, their new offensive coordinator said a big factor in his decision to come to Tennessee was to work with quarterback Cam Ward.
As the head coach of the New York Giants in 2025, Daboll got to spend time with Ward during the draft process before the Titans selected him No. 1 overall last April.
“He’s a young, athletic quarterback with accuracy,” Daboll said. “He can make plays on the move, do a great job if the play doesn’t look great, then all of a sudden it looks great because of his ability. He’s smart. He’s got some moxie to him, and he’s tough.”
Daboll’s fondness for Ward isn’t just lip service now that he has landed in Tennessee. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Giants aggressively tried to trade up to the No. 1 pick to select Ward last April.
Tennessee was convinced Ward was its guy and declined to move off the top spot. New York selected linebacker Abdul Carter with the No. 2 pick, then sent a second-round pick (No. 34), a third-round pick (No. 99) and a 2026 third-round selection to the Houston Texans for the No. 25 pick, which it used to select Jaxson Dart.
Ward finished the season having passed for 3,169 yards and 15 touchdowns. He was intercepted seven times, and the Titans finished with a 3-14 record. Obviously the new coaching staff knows there’s work to be done to take a step forward, but they are up for the challenge.
The Titans tabbed Robert Saleh as their next coach as they try to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2021 season. While Saleh will handle the defense, he chose Daboll to be his offensive coordinator because his scheme is unique and he has had a successful history with quarterbacks.
“[Daboll] is the perfect man to match up with Cam and to maximize who he is,” Saleh said. “Dabs has had a history of developing young quarterbacks in this league and college and the different stops that he’s had, and he’s touched many from experience to youth. He has a tremendous amount of experience with tremendous quarterbacks all over. There’s a lot of benefits to what he does.”
The offensive coaching staff has been in place for about three weeks, so it’s still early in the process, but Daboll said he has watched all of Ward’s tape from last season, in addition to the film study he did on Ward leading up to last year’s draft. Daboll said he likes the way Ward has gotten accustomed to the speed of the game and the timing, which he feels isn’t an easy thing for a quarterback, and is excited to get to work on rolling out the game plan.
“April can’t come soon enough so we can get going on the offensive installation part of it,” Daboll said. “I have a lot of confidence in how he played both at Miami, Washington State, and then he had a whole year under his belt playing in the National Football League.”
In his first stint as a head coach, things didn’t quite work out for Daboll, who was fired by the Giants after a 2-8 start in Year 4, but he plans to rely on his previous experience to develop a plan with Ward. He most notably worked as the offensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills through quarterback Josh Allen’s early years before moving over to the Giants.
Daboll joined the Bills for Allen’s rookie season in 2018, and in Year 3, Allen took a huge jump — passing for a career-high 4,544 yards. Allen credits Daboll for being an integral part in his development.
Although Daboll and Ward haven’t met extensively, Daboll has already started laying the groundwork to replicate the early part of the process he went through with Allen.
“The most important thing is to develop the relationship and get a feel for how he sees the game,” Daboll said. “I like to see the game through the quarterback’s eyes. There will be mistakes out there that I think he’s made, and he might have a completely different answer. That communication is really important. I’ve learned that dealing with Josh.
“It’s a hard position to play and easy to sit back there and say, ‘What the hell did you do that for’ until I can go through the plays with him and iron out the details.”
The previous coaching staff worked tirelessly to tweak Ward’s mechanics. Ward said he intended to work on his footwork mechanics during the offseason with his personal quarterbacks coach, Darrell Colbert Jr.
How that process plays out with the new staff remains to be seen. Saleh said during his introductory news conference that he and Daboll will be in touch with Colbert at some point. Daboll acknowledged everyone has a different throwing motion, but he said Monday that he’s comfortable with Ward’s ability to throw the ball and is ready to get to work with the second-year quarterback.
