Cam Ward, the frontrunner to be the No. 1 pick by the Tennessee Titans in the 2025 NFL draft on April 24, attended three schools over the course of his five-year college career. In another era – one without college athletes maintaining the ability to earn money based on their name, image and likeness and the transfer portal – the quarterback’s journey from Incarnate Word to Washington State and, ultimately, Miami (Florida) would have been highly unlikely, if not impossible.
Instead, the new rules are the biggest driver of why Ward will likely hear his name called first by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell next week.