Titans rookie QB Cam Ward talks nonstop, but never misses anything his coach says

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Cam Ward talks so much that Tennessee coach Brian Callahan asked the rookie if he needed to wait until the Titans quarterback stopped before calling a play during practice.

The answer?

Nope. Ward listens even while talking. The rookie then proves how closely he pays attention by never missing a beat running the next play.

“He enters right into the huddle, and he calls the play and doesn’t screw up the play call, and I thought that was actually kind of remarkable," Callahan said. "I know I couldn’t do that.”

Ward said Thursday that it's pretty simple for him. The No. 1 overall pick in April's draft out of Miami is always locked in. The talking comes naturally.

“What’s the point of playing something that you love if you can’t have fun with it?” Ward said. "So that’s where it comes from. But I mean, I love the game. And so any chance I get, you know, to let somebody know that they can’t (mess) with me it really doesn’t matter.”

Ward wrapped up his first offseason Thursday as the Titans completed their three-day mandatory minicamp in front of family and a batch of food trucks. Rookies work until June 20, then there's a break until July 22 for training camp when the quarterback competition that really isn’t resumes.

Callahan has done his best to limit the pressure on the rookie by rotating the start of drills among all four quarterbacks on the roster even as Ward got more work during this minicamp for a simple reason: As a rookie the Titans need to give him as much experience as possible.

Ward has been doing his part, showing up early working with fellow rookies and staying late. They have watched the Titans' 2024 games, practice tape, review the plays being run in practice later that day. All designed to grow together and be on the same page.

It's been noticeable enough that Callahan has talked with the rookie about having grinding months ahead.

“I’m not telling him what to do, I’m just making the point that there’s a lot ahead of him that he’s not aware of yet when it comes to this, the length and the week-to-week-to-week grind that comes up for these guys,” Callahan said. “It is a marathon.”

Tyler Lockett is a veteran receiver going into his 11th NFL season and has watched Ward since he played at Washington State. Lockett has been impressed with how Ward understands defenses, gets the ball out and understands timing this early.

“I think everybody's able to see exactly what they saw on the film,” Lockett said.

Ward has had rookie moments. He was picked off twice Thursday, once by linebacker Cody Barton. He rebounded by throwing a nice pass into tight coverage to Bryce Oliver later in a red zone drill for a touchdown.

Quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree said Ward has worked hard on his footwork and timing and improved on mechanics such as breaking the huddle and recognizing defenses. Ward's hard work is noticeable in other ways too in how he takes coaching points or corrections.

“If he makes a mistake, never make the same mistake twice," Hardegree said. "And that’s important to him.”

Once the rookies start their break, Ward knows he'll be busy studying the playbook and throwing lots of footballs.

The quarterback who worked his way from Incarnate Word to Washington State and Miami before becoming the NFL's top draft pick in April knows he'll likely be thinking about football even while showering during the break.

Even with his first NFL game still months away, Ward knows his biggest goal for his career: Wins.

“The quarterback position will always be judged off wins,” Ward said. “So you know I’m just trying to win a lot of games in the NFL in my career. Try to ... help my team win a lot of games.”

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Tennessee Titans players huddle during practice at NFL football minicamp, Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward (1) looks to throw a pass during practice at NFL football minicamp, Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons (98) and quarterback Cam Ward, right, talk with each other during practice at NFL football minicamp, Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward (1) talks to a coach during practice at NFL football minicamp, Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has once again drawn his go-to diplomatic weapon — tariffs, this time to coerce the Iranian government to end its bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.

Trump said in a social media post on Monday he would impose a 25% tax on imports to the United States from countries that do business with Iran. The sanctions could hurt the Islamic Republic by reducing its access to foreign goods and driving up prices, which would likely inflame tensions in a country where inflation is running above 40%.

But the tariffs could create blowback for the United States, too, potentially raising the prices Americans pay for imports from Iranian trade partners such as Turkish textiles and Indian gemstones and threatening an uneasy trade truce Trump reached last year with China.

The death toll from the latest protests in Iran surpassed 2,500 as of Wednesday, activists said, as the hard-line Islamist government attempts to tamp down dissent against economic hardship and political repression.

The Trump administration has offered scant details since announcing the new tariffs targeting Iran. For instance, the White House has not said whether the taxes would be stacked on top of double-digit levies Trump imposed last year on almost every country on Earth. Or whether he would exempt some energy imports as he has in the past.

It's also unclear what legal authority the president is relying on to impose the import taxes. He invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to justify his most sweeping tariffs last year. But businesses and several states have gone to court arguing that Trump overstepped his authority in doing so. The Supreme Court is hearing the case and could throw out Trump's tariffs and force him to send refunds to the U.S. importers that paid them.

Years of sanctions aimed at stopping Iran's nuclear program have left the country isolated. But it still did nearly $125 billion in international trade in 2024, including $32 billion with China, $28 billion with the United Arab Emirates and $17 billion with Turkey, according to the World Trade Organization.

Iran bought more than $6 billion worth of imports from the European Union that year. Russia and India also do considerable business with Iran. Energy dominates Iran's exports. Its top imports include gold, grain and smartphones.

Trump's attempt to pressure Iran is likely to cause collateral damage. Most prominently, his tariffs could upend his attempts to maintain a trade peace with China.

Last spring, the United States and China hammered each other with triple-digit tariffs, threatening to end trade between the world's two biggest economies and briefly panicking global financial markets. The two countries spent the rest of year trying to deescalate their trade conflict, reaching a truce in October that reined in tariffs, ended China's boycott of American soybeans and eased its restrictions on exports of rare-earth minerals and technologies critical for fighter jets, robots and other products.

The new tariffs, aimed at punishing Iran, would hit China because of its trade ties with Tehran. “President Trump’s threat to increase tariffs by 25% against China and other trading partners due to developments in Iran underscores just how fragile the U.S.-China trade truce is,” said former U.S. trade negotiator Wendy Cutler, now senior vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute. "Even if he does not actually implement the tariff hike, damage has already been done. This threat erodes trust between the U.S. and China which is already at a low level.''

Adnan Mazarei, a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, doubts that the tariffs would persuade the Iranian government to ease its crackdown on protesters.

“I do not think this is going to be very successful,'' said Mazarei, a former deputy director of the International Monetary Fund with crisis-fighting experience in the Middle East. ”They will not for this alone change their views or their practices. It is a repressive regime, and it is willing to pay a high cost in terms of people’s blood to stay in power.''

FILE - President Donald Trump, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, look at each other after their summit meeting at Gimhae International Airport Jinping in Busan, South Korea, Oct. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

FILE - President Donald Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

Shops are closed during protests in Tehran's centuries-old main bazaar, Iran, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)