The forthcoming NFL draft in April has put one player in particular under the limelight – Miami football quarterback, Cam Ward. Within a single season in Miami, Ward propelled the Hurricanes to acclaim with 10 victories in 2024. Adding to his impressive track record, Ward was honored with the Davey O’Brien Award for being the best quarterback in college football on Monday.
Prior to the award ceremony, Ward had an interaction with the press where he issued a powerful message directed towards any NFL team considering passing on him. This statement came in the backdrop of him opting to not participate in the second half of the Hurricane’s Pop-Tarts Bowl loss against Iowa State.
“My future is your choice. You can either choose to draft me or not,” Ward stated. “In case you don’t draft me, the mistake is yours. After all, remember, you’re the team that’ll have to face me throughout my career, and I won’t forget.”
Undoubtedly, Ward isn’t the first NFL draft prospect or player to have underlined mistakes made by teams in ignoring their skills. As a case in point, Josh Rosen, former UCLA quarterback, remarked, “The nine selections ahead of me were all incorrect,” when the Arizona Cardinals picked him tenth overall in the 2018 NFL draft.
However, after just one season with the Cardinals, Rosen wasn’t retained and was replaced by Kyler Murray, who was the No. 1 pick in the subsequent draft. In 2019, Rosen found himself traded to the Miami Dolphins and experienced a few years bouncing between teams until 2022.
Ward’s performance in the first half of the Pop-Tarts Bowl was nothing short of record-breaking. Before the midpoint, he smashed the NCAA Division I record for career touchdown passes. With his new record in the bag, Ward, in a pre-decided agreement with his coaches, sat out the second half.
“We believed that we achieved what we set out to do. The team got a clear understanding of the areas it needs to improve for the upcoming season,” Ward commented. “Everyone was aware of what was at stake for me.”
“We were confident that our decision was in the best interest of both the program as well as myself. It was certainly a difficult choice to make, especially when there were teammates whom I believed should have played. Just as I did, they too were considering their future,” he added.
Despite receiving some negative feedback, it is very probable that Ward will be one of the first quarterbacks selected in the draft. Securing top-notch talent for this position is notoriously challenging, and Ward is projected to be among the top ten, or even top five picks.
When asked if he regrets how he handled the situation, Ward was adamantly firm in his response. He expressed that given the same circumstances, his actions would remain unchanged. “If I had to do it all over again, I would still make the same decisions,” Ward asserted.
He later mused that the story presented to the public might have developed differently if the outcome of the game had swayed in their favor. “I truly wish we had won that game. Had we emerged victorious, the talk would have been very different,” Ward pondered.
His concluding statement highlighted resilience as a crucial characteristic in face of criticism. “As it often goes, you simply have to absorb the blow and keep moving forward,” Ward said.