Will Levis still is motivated by what happened in April, 2023. He can’t forget the slip through the first round of the NFL Draft before the Titans snatched him up with the first pick of the second.
Levis, the former Kentucky star, thought he would be an elite draft pick. So did just about every draft analyst. Instead, he was selected at No. 32, with the Titans landing the fourth quarterback off the board. All four of the quarterbacks started as rookies. But it took Levis until about the halfway point of his rookie season in Tennessee to earn QB1 distinction ahead of veteran Ryan Tannehill.
“It definitely leaves a little bit of a chip on my shoulder,” Levis told Sports Illustrated in regards to the 2023 Draft. “And (it) makes me want to go out there and work and keep showing people that teams might have made a mistake by not taking me.
“Hopefully, I’m that guy that they talk about that did slip. And I can be that example for other kids that are in that same position in the green room like me. . . . I’m trying to prove this organization right.”
The Titans are a different team this year, although Levis can be the constant on offense. Mike Vrabel is gone. Brian Callahan, the offensive coordinator with the Bengals, now is the head coach. He’s bringing a different flavor of offense to the Titans. Vrabel liked to run the ball and have his quarterbacks use lots of play action and throw to the tight ends. He could do that when running back Derrick Henry was at his most powerful best. Henry left the Titans and signed with the Ravens earlier this off season.
Callahan has told Tennessee the offense will be passing more. And he’s building a more dynamic team around Levis. Why not? One of his first duties as head coach was to study every morsel of information available on Levis. During the interview process, he told SI he studied four full games and then cutups of all of Levis’ 255 pass attempts.
“Every time I watched him, I was like, ’This guy’s a pretty good player,’ ” Callahan told SI. “And I think everybody was a little shocked that he slipped the way he did [in 2023].”
He added: “you see he’s athletic, he’s strong, he’s tough. He’ll stand in the pocket and he’s got a great release. It’s quick. And he’s got a really legitimate arm. And he will play a little bit in that kind of swashbuckling style. He was trying to earn guys’ respect. He was trying to show people he could play. That’s part of earning your way as a young quarterback. He did some things that I think that his teammates rallied around, which was fun to watch.”
The Titans signed Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd in free agency to give Levis’ more options than just DeAndre Hopkins. Tennessee also added former Cowboys running back Tony Pollard. Then they drafted Alabama offensive tackle JC Latham with the seventh pick of the draft. The Titans did not consider any quarterbacks for the seventh selection.
Meanwhile, Levis said he feels “at ease” with Callahan.
“He instilled a lot of confidence in me as a player,” Levis said. ‘And (he) did his best to explain to me what he saw on tape with me and that he was excited to coach me and that he knew that I could be a great player in this league. To hear that from a dude who’s going to be walking in, leading the charge for hopefully a long time from here on out, was cool.”
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