No. 1 Pick Cam Ward Is the Face of Football’s Transfer Portal Era

Cam Ward is headed to the Music City. 

The Titans selected Ward No. 1 overall in Thursday’s NFL Draft. 

The Titans will be Ward’s fifth team since 2020, following a winding college career for the 22-year-old. 

Ward is the first No. 1 overall pick to see the transfer portal transform his career. He started his college career at Incarnate Word in 2020, where he played for two seasons before transferring to Washington State. He played two seasons for the Cougars and initially declared for the 2024 draft, where he was projected as a third- or fourth-round selection. He changed his mind, however, and benefited from name, image, and likeness rules while spending his final college campaign at Miami.

At Miami, Ward led the Hurricanes to a 10–3 record, and the team’s season ended with a loss to Iowa State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl. Ward finished fourth in voting for the Heisman Trophy and was a consensus All-American. 

Ward was the first quarterback taken in what is considered a weak class for the position. He will sign a four-year deal worth $43 million with an average of $7.82 million per season, based on estimates from the NFL collective bargaining agreement. 

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on the network’s draft telecast that the Giants offered Tennessee the No. 3 pick, their 2026 first-rounder, and “other picks” to move up for Ward, but were rejected.

The Titans’ decision to draft Ward makes Will Levis, the team’s current starting quarterback, expendable. Levis was a second-round pick out of Kentucky in the 2023 draft and has gone just 5–16 as a starter in two years. Levis still has two years and roughly $5 million remaining on his rookie contract, which was originally a four-year deal worth $9.5 million.