Are the Tennessee Titans a good fit for former Kentucky quarterback Will Levis?
Sometimes, it all works out in the end.
After a rough night waiting in the green room without hearing his name called in the first round of the NFL Draft, Kentucky quarterback Will Levis got that glorious phone call early on Friday.
The Tennessee Titans traded up to the second pick of the second round, No. 33 overall, to draft Levis, who had been touted as a potential top five pick in the entire draft.
The Titans are a good fit for Levis, for several reasons.
After a 7-3 start last season, Tennessee collapsed, losing its final seven games to finish 7-10. Along the way, general manager Jon Robinson was fired, in part for trading star wide receiver A.J. Brown to the Philadelphia Eagles during last year’s draft.
Ran Carthon was hired in January as the Titans new general manager. Formerly in the San Francisco 49ers’ front office, Carthon will work with head coach Mike Vrabel to rebuild a team that was the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs in 2021, only to lose to in the divisional round to the visiting Cincinnati Bengals. Vrabel is widely considered one of the best in the business, a coach who gets the most out of his team’s talent.
Job No. 1 is to find the Titans quarterback of the future. Current starter Ryan Tannehill will be 35 years old for the 2023 season opener. He’s in the final year of his contract and eligible to be an unrestricted free agent in 2024. Tannehill threw for just 13 touchdowns with six interceptions last season. In 2021, he passed for 21 touchdowns with 14 interceptions.
Last season, the Titans drafted quarterback Malik Willis out of Liberty in the third round. But Willis struggled mightily in his eight games, including three starts. He failed to throw a TD or an interception. He was 31 of 61 through the air for 50.8 percent. Tennessee went 1-2 in his starts.
NBC Sports Peter King reported that the Titans have lost faith in Willis. Levis and Willis will both be 24 years old when the 2023 season begins.
Enter Levis, who reportedly was under serious consideration by Indianapolis for the No. 4 pick overall before the Colts instead took Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson.
The Titans could have selected Levis with the No. 11 pick in Thursday night’s first round. Instead, Carthon opted for Northwestern offensive tackle Peter Skoronski, who may project as a guard in the NFL.
One reason the Titans were interested in Levis: All roads lead back to 49ers Coach Kyle Shanahan.
The Titans fired offensive coordinator Todd Downing at season’s end and promoted passing game coordinator Tim Kelly to play-caller. Before coming to Tennessee, Kelly coached Deshaun Watson and Davis Mills with the Houston Texans.
The Titans new quarterbacks coach is Charles London, who had previously coached with Kelly from 2014-18 in Houston under Bill O’Brien. In fact, both men were on O’Brien’s staff at Penn State — Levis’ former school before transferring at UK — before following the PSU coach to the Texans.
The last two seasons, London coached quarterbacks under former Titans OC Arthur Smith with the Atlanta Falcons. Smith coached with Matt LaFleur, who was the Titans OC in 2018 before becoming head coach of the Green Bay Packers in 2019.
Before coming to Tennessee, LaFleur was on Sean McVay’s staff with the Los Angeles Rams. And as we now, UK offensive coordinator Liam Coen also coached under McVay with the Rams before coming to Kentucky in 2021, Levis’ first and best year as Kentucky’s quarterback.
McVay worked with Kyle Shanahan under Kyle’s dad, Mike, with the then-Washington Redskins from 2010 through 2016 before becoming the Rams head coach.
How will Levis do in the NFL? He has the size and arm strength pro scouts love. He needs to improve his his pocket presence and accuracy.
With Tennessee, Levis can learn behind Tannehill for a year while attacking his weaknesses.
This story was originally published April 28, 2023 at 9:21 PM.
