The cameras loved Will Levis on draft night. Panning to him time and time again as he was left unpicked further into the evening, Levis never left the green room, falling to the second round after being projected as one of the top quarterbacks to go. The Tennessee Titans finally claimed him, just one year after using a third round pick to draft Malik Willis.
Levis has been riding the bench behind Ryan Tannehill all season while his contemporaries like CJ Stroud, Bryce Young, and Anthony Richardson earned starting jobs. But with Tannehill injured this week, Levis saw his chance and took it. He finished the day with 238 passing yards and four passing touchdowns in his NFL debut. Will he be in contention to start going forward?
Titans head coach Mike Vrabel won’t give anything away — when asked about the game, he told the press, “not a bad debut,” and said that Levis got help from his receivers. However, Tannehill’s current stat line this season involves two passing touchdowns and six interceptions. After just one game, Levis has surpassed his touchdown performance over six weeks.
While the Titans may be selling at the deadline and calling this season a wash, they should certainly be happy with their draft pick. Whether or not they put Tannehill back in this season, we should expect Levis to start no later than next season. It’s easy to overreact to one game against a mediocre-to-bad team, but the numbers don’t lie. Titans fans will be calling for Vrabel to give Levis his shot. He clearly connected well with DeAndre Hopkins, and the give-the-ball-to-Derrick-Henry strategy can only go so far in Nashville.
Tannehill is dealing with an ankle injury, and his timeline for return is unclear.