Cam Ward was the consensus number one prospect in the 2025 NFL Draft class, and was selected first overall by the Tennessee Titans back in April. But Ward won’t be able to play under the bright lights at any point during his rookie season, as the Titans were granted zero prime time games for the upcoming season.
No Prime Time Games For Tennessee Titans & Their No.1 Overall Pick
The time slots for marquee games are typically saved for the league’s top teams. Franchises like the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, and Baltimore Ravens are mainstays on Sunday and Monday night broadcasts, with the former typically resonating as the “Game of the Week”.
But many of the lesser teams can find their way into a prime time slot. Thursday night games have featured matchups of losing teams many times in recent years, and it used to be that nearly every NFL team made at least one appearance in a night game every season.
Awful: Titans rookie QB Cam Ward and Browns rookie QB Shedeur Sanders will NOT have any primetime games this season.
A bizarre move by the NFL…😔🧐 pic.twitter.com/ES8oj16tMX
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) May 15, 2025
There were three teams left out when the NFL schedule was released last week. Joining the Cleveland Browns and New Orleans Saints in that group are the Titans, meaning that fans will have to tune in on Sunday afternoons in order to see how the top pick in the draft performs.
It will mark the first time since 2017 that the top overall pick won’t appear in any prime time games. That year, the Cleveland Browns selected Myles Garrett with the top pick, but were relegated to Sunday afternoons as a result of finishing 1-15 the season prior. It ended up being a wise choice by the league, as Cleveland went 0-16 in Garrett’s rookie campaign.
Ward and the Titans are set to play one of the softer schedules in the NFL in 2025. According to Sharp Football Analysis, Tennessee has the 8th-easiest path for the upcoming season, which is a measurement based on their opponent’s combined record from 2024. They’ll start out the year with a couple of tough games against the Broncos and Rams, before playing their first divisional opponent in the Colts during Week 3.
