NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Brian Daboll has watched every play of Cam Ward’s work at Washington State, Miami and his rookie year with the Titans.
But the team’s new offensive coordinator doesn’t have his offense for Ward entirely sketched out. He’s deliberately avoiding hard scheme talk. That’s either smart restraint or a sign they’re still figuring Ward out, and either way makes sense right now. It’s only February, and the development focus should take precedence over the system and its installation. The Xs and Os will have to take the lead for a while son, because he won't get full-time with Ward until April.
The two had many touchpoints in advance of the 2025 draft, when Daboll coached the Giants, who coveted Ward. They visited at the combine, shared a dinner, met in Miami and spent time together on a 30 visit to team headquarters.
Daboll’s top priority is to develop a relationship with Ward and to learn to see the game through his eyes.
“It’s easy to say, ‘What the hell did you do that for,’” he said.
Daboll spoke for the first time in Titans apparel while Ward was at team headquarters rehabbing his throwing shoulder. Robert Saleh got to know Daboll some while they each coached a New York team. Mike Borgonzi knew him from some overlap in Kansas City. And landing him to work with Ward and mold an offense is widely regarded as a win.
Saleh showed a big smile and a winning personality, while slowing down the pace on sharing anything close to specifics about a plan for his new QB. He said they’re not there yet scheme wise.
“He’s a young athletic quarterback who has accuracy, can make plays on the move, he can do a great job – the play doesn’t look great, then all of a sudden, it looks great because of his ability,” Daboll said. “He’s smart. I look forward to communicating with him and building this thing together along with the other pieces that we have in play and the pieces that we’ll go get.”
I don’t remember nervousness from Nick Holz at his introduction two years ago, but he was coming into a job as an offensive coordinator who would not call plays. Daboll has an array of playcalling experience and was head coach of the Giants for nearly four seasons.
He spoke with confidence and comfort, repeating reporters’ names, earning a couple laughs and showing how he can be a teacher and settling force for players.
Ward’s mechanics and base were a big topic in his rookie season. While I’m sure adjustments will be made, Daboll expressed no big concerns in that department.
“Everybody is a little bit different with their drops, everybody is a little bit different with their throwing motion,” he said. “I’m excited to work with this young man.”
When Saleh spoke of Daboll, he said his Erhardt-Perkins system would be a change-up for opponents who regularly prepare for versions of the Shanahan offense.
Daboll downplayed that somewhat.
“Everybody’s got a lot of the same plays in the National Football League,” he said. “It’s how you window dress them, it’s the tempo that you want to play with. We’re not there quite yet. …We want to play fast, we want to play physical, we want to play with a certain edge to ourselves, we want to not lose the game by doing dumb things.
“But those are the foundational pieces. Relative to scheme or motion or no-huddle, we have all those things. I think it’s dependent on how the players can handle those things too. It’s not good putting in a bunch of stuff if your players can’t handle it.”
And the first player who needs to be able to handle it is the quarterback.
Speaking more broadly about the Titans’ offensive identity, Daboll hit on themes we’ve heard before.
We’ve heard these identity buzzwords before. The difference will come down to whether this staff actually teaches and executes them better, and what level of talent they are given.
“Identity for us is playing smart, is playing tough,” Daboll said. “I know Robert used ‘fast and violent.’ That’s an identity that you use regardless of if it's a run, if it’s a pass, is it an RPO. We have to be disciplined in our approach, we have to minimize the penalties that we’ve had.
“We’ve got to have the right attitude, which to me is a team-first, positive attitude; we’ve got to put the right work in. We’ve got to have enough grit, dealing with tough times on the field, and tough times off the field and we have to play smart.”
