During his pre-draft evaluation process, many scouts and pundits likened Miami’s quarterback prospect, Cam Ward, to Patrick Mahomes. While there’s a disparity between the two in regards to accolades and stripes earned at the professional level, many believe that Ward already possesses the inherent traits necessary to compete with the best signal callers in the game today.
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However, Kay Adams doesn’t believe that those lofty comparisons are fair to the 23-year-old. She maintained that Ward had every right to be the de facto first overall choice in the 2025 NFL Draft. However, Adams also suggested that people should pump the brakes a bit when it comes to setting expectations for Ward in year one.
According to Adams, the Tennessee Titans do not have the same means in terms of roster quality for Ward that the Kansas City Chiefs had for Mahomes.
“He does not have a Travis Kelce, Andy Reid, or Tyreek Hill. And he didn’t sit behind Alex Smith,” she said on the Up & Adams Show
Meanwhile, Adams’ guest analyst for the day, ESPN’s Kevin Clark, was adamant that the ACC product is about as close as one can get to a replica version of Mahomes.
“He has Mahomes’ ability to see the field, every place. And all of his flaws and mistakes were him trying to do too much, which is exactly what Mahomes was doing,” said Clark.
“I could do an hour on Cam Ward, but I’ll just say this, very simply, I think he can do the extraordinary, the Superman. I think he can do the very easy, the Clark Kent… I’m buying all of the stock, all of the stock,” he added.
Clark even predicted that Ward will walk away from the 2025 regular season with the Offensive Rookie of the Year award. He seemed to suggest that the only thing standing between the incoming rookie and immediate success is the rest of the Titans’ lackluster roster.
However, Adams is right in pointing out the media’s habit of singing the first overall draft pick’s praises a bit too soon.
Following his selection in the 2024 NFL Draft, Caleb Williams received similar comparisons to Mahomes. Before his professional debut, several of ESPN’s pundits were claiming that Williams was inheriting the best position of any rookie quarterback in NFL history.
Many of them predicted the Chicago Bears to surge their way right into the playoffs. The narrative was quite an antithesis. Chicago had a 5-12 regular season record with Williams struggling right through. The Bears’ 10-game losing streak proved to be enough to warrant the firing of their head coach midseason for the first time in franchise history.
Should the Titans hope to have a smoother developmental period with their first overall quarterback, then they would be wise to avoid the hubris that plagued both Chicago and the media. Simply put, don’t count your chickens until they hatch.
