Will Levis finds home with the Tennessee Titans, now has a chance to prove doubters wrong
Will Levis’ NFL Draft slide has ended.
The betting favorite to be selected with the No. 2 pick less than a week ago, Levis was not selected in the first round of the NFL Draft on Thursday. Ranked as the best available prospect entering day two of the draft, Levis was finally picked at No. 33 overall by the Tennessee Titans on Friday.
Tennessee was one of eight teams that reportedly hosted Levis for a top-30 visit before the draft, but elected to draft offensive tackle Peter Skoronski with the No. 11 pick in the first round Thursday rather than take Levis then. The Titans traded for the Arizona Cardinals’ pick Friday, the second in the second round, to ensure a second chance at Levis, though.
“Last night was tough, but I stayed positive and I knew what was meant to be was going to happen,” Levis told reporters in Nashville after being picked. “When I saw they traded up for me that alone was telling me they wanted me, they wanted this to happen. Really, really excited and thankful for the opportunity.”
Levis is the first Kentucky football quarterback drafted since Andre Woodson in the sixth round in 2008. He is the highest Wildcat drafted since the Cleveland Browns took Tim Couch with the No. 1 pick in 1999. No Kentucky quarterback has started an NFL game at the position since Couch retired in 2003.
The Connecticut native and former Penn State transfer was considered one of the consensus top four quarterbacks in the draft class and widely projected as a possible top-five pick. When the Carolina Panthers (Bryce Young), Houston Texans (C.J. Stroud) and Indianapolis Colts (Anthony Richardson) all took quarterbacks in the top four picks, it left Levis without an obvious landing spot in the first round.
The five other franchises that Levis conducted top-30 visits with (Las Vegas, Tennessee, Tampa Bay, Atlanta and New England) did not select a quarterback in the first round.
ESPN cameras repeatedly showed Levis and his family waiting in the green room for a selection that never came in the first round. He did not return to the NFL Draft set in Kansas City on Friday for the second round.
Levis received the call from the Titans he was being drafted just after walking into his Connecticut home after the flying back from Kansas City.
“I was very proud of my family, and how we composed ourselves last night, and you know the cameras beaming down on us the whole time,” Levis said. “I feel like we did a great job of just taking it in stride and trust in that, regardless of what happens that it was going to happen for a reason, and it was all going work out.”
Now, Levis will play his home games at the stadium where Kentucky played its 2022 bowl game without him after he opted out of the Music City Bowl to begin the process of healing from turf toe that plagued him for most of the 2022 season.
That injury was reportedly a concern for some NFL teams, even though Levis said in the predraft process he was close to 100% again. Levis did not run the 40-yard dash or participate in any non-throwing drills at the NFL combine or Kentucky’s pro day.
Levis shined in his first season at Kentucky in 2021, playing in an offense brought from the Los Angeles Rams to Lexington by coordinator Liam Coen, but he and Kentucky failed to live up to preseason hype in 2022. By then, Coen had returned to Los Angeles as the Super Bowl champions’ new offensive coordinator. Kentucky also had to replace its top three receivers and three starting offensive linemen. The Wildcats’ rebuilt offensive line struggled throughout the 2022 season, ranking 126th of 131 teams in the country in sacks allowed.
The physical toll of those hits mounted for Levis. On the same hit at Ole Miss on Oct. 1, Levis dislocated the middle finger on his non-throwing hand and suffered turf toe on his left foot. He missed just one game due to the turf toe but had to play through pain for the rest of the season.
“He’s 10 out of 10 in toughness,” offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello said after what ended up being Levis’ final game as a Wildcat. “He’s a 10. I don’t think people realize how injured he was this year. He played for five or six weeks where literally he would sprint out in practice and fall down. Like, his toe would give out on him. Bad habits can come from that with not transitioning your weight and your shoulder.”
When healthy, Levis showed the ability to make plays with his legs and a strong arm, but Scangarello limited the designed quarterback runs called for Levis in his second year at Kentucky. The turf toe essentially eliminated any remaining threat of a run, and he went from 391 rushing yards and nine touchdowns in 2021 to minus-107 yards and two touchdowns in 2022.
For the second time in his career Levis has now been handed an opportunity to prove doubters wrong.
He elected to leave Penn State following the 2020 season when he felt the coaches there had typecast him as a run-first backup. In Coen and Mark Stoops, he found coaches who believed in his ability to also make plays with his arm then put in the work to turn himself into an early-round draft prospect.
Now he will have the chance to prove the teams that passed on him in the first round made the wrong choice as well. He will play in the same division as Stroud and Richardson, setting up the debate over which quarterback was best in the 2023 class to continue for years to come.
With quarterback Ryan Tannehill in Tennessee, Levis should have time to learn on the job and not be forced into the starting job immediately. Playing in Nashville, he also will likely bring plenty of Kentucky fans with him to Tennessee.
“He earned his teammates’ respect well before he earned and needed anybody else’s,” Coen said before the draft of Levis’ move to Kentucky. “That’s something I think can carry over. That story carries over into going into this next phase of his life.”
Like Kentucky coaches did with him when he arrived in Lexington, Titans Coach Mike Vrabel confirmed Friday Levis will start his NFL career third on the Titans’ depth chart behind Tannehill and 2022 third-round pick Malik Willis.
Rather than focus on the perceived slight of falling in the draft, Levis told reporters he was grateful for the opportunity to put in the work needed to justify his predraft hype.
“I’m just going wait to earn the opportunity and just put my head down and work,” he said. “I mean, I know I’m going in there as last on the depth chart, and I got to earn every rep that I can get.”
This story was originally published April 28, 2023 at 8:50 PM.