Cam Ward going No. 1 overall to the Tennessee Titans would make FCS history, shatter Miami’s drought, and add rare ACC representation

The 2025 NFL Draft is expected to open with Cam Ward going first overall to the Tennessee Titans. The quarterback out of the University of Miami has been the projected top pick for weeks, and with odds at -20000 on FanDuel, anything else would be a collapse of everything we know about draft prep. Cam Ward is the quarterback Tennessee has been chasing. The Titans’ front office has been present at every major step of his pre-draft journey. Head coach Brian Callahan has shown nothing but public praise. And Cam Ward? He’s been responding. “One of the best head coaches out there,” he said about Callahan on a livestream. He also called Titans wide receivers Treylon Burks and Calvin Ridley and running backs Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears some of the best at their positions in the league. This isn’t subtle. This is happening.If Cam Ward is taken first overall by the Tennessee Titans, it won’t just be a big win for Tennessee. It will mark several major historical milestones. First, he’ll become the first player who started his college career at the FCS level to ever go No. 1 in the NFL Draft. Yes, he’s known now for his season at the University of Miami, and before that Washington State. But this started at Incarnate Word. That was the only school to offer him a scholarship out of high school. At Incarnate Word, Cam Ward passed for 6,908 yards and 71 touchdowns in just 19 games. He led them to their first 10-win season. Their first FCS playoff victory. All of this happened before the hype. The only player from the FCS to come close to this was Carson Wentz, who went No. 2 overall in 2016. If Ward goes No. 1, he becomes the first. Now, zoom out. This isn’t just an FCS storyline. Cam Ward would also be just the third Miami Hurricanes player in history to be selected first overall. The last time that happened was 1991 with Russell Maryland. Before that, it was quarterback Vinny Testaverde in 1987. For a program that dominated the early 2000s, Miami has had a dry spell at the top of the draft board. Cam Ward breaks that. He’ll be the first Miami Hurricanes player drafted in the first round since 2021. He’ll be the first Miami Hurricanes offensive player to go in the first round since 2017. And on top of that? He’ll become only the third player from the Atlantic Coast Conference to be selected with the No. 1 overall pick. That’s it. Just three. The other two are Jameis Winston in 2015 and Trevor Lawrence in 2021. That’s the entire list. Cam Ward joins that group if the Titans make this official. The Cleveland Browns own the second pick. And this is where the real decisions begin. Deshaun Watson hasn’t worked out. Team owner Jimmy Haslam literally called the move “a big swing and miss.” They need to fix it. They have the chance to. Shedeur Sanders is right there. He finished his college career as the NCAA’s all-time leader in completion percentage at 71.8%. For context, the Cleveland Browns finished second-worst in the NFL last season at 59.8%. That gap matters. So does the confidence Sanders brings. Jimmy Haslam has historically liked quarterbacks with personality. He drafted Johnny Manziel. He drafted Baker Mayfield. But Shedeur Sanders is not them. He actually has tape that backs the confidence. If the Cleveland Browns want to turn the page, this is the chance. Cam Ward will be gone. But Shedeur Sanders is a real franchise option, and he’s available at No. 2.