Entering Thursday night’s NFL draft, conventional wisdom was that all four of the top quarterback prospects—Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, Florida’s Anthony Richardson and Kentucky’s Will Levis—would be selected relatively early. That was true for three of the four, with Young, Stroud and Richardson going as three of the top four picks to the Panthers, Texans and Colts, respectively.
Unfortunately for Levis, as it turned out there were only three teams that were clearly in the quarterback market at the top of the draft. As has been the case with quarterbacks like Aaron Rodgers in years past, that can cause a major slide for a prospect. On Thursday, the Kentucky star was left out of the first round completely.
To make matters worse, he spent the entire night at the draft in Kansas City waiting for his name to be called, with the camera cutting to he and his family over and over. A month ago at Kentucky’s pro day, Levis described this exact situation as something he’d rather avoid.
“If I get invited and I know I’ll be a pretty high pick, I’ll definitely go,” Levis said of attending the draft in person. “I don’t want to go if I could be a second-round pick, you know. You don’t want to have the camera just on you all day.”
Will Levis during his presser before Kentucky’s Pro Day 😳
— NFL Rookie Watch (@NFLRookieWatxh) April 28, 2023
Levis was shown on TV in the green room 37 times throughout the first round.
That was 29 times more than anyone else.
You have to feel for the Kentucky QB. pic.twitter.com/UL6QsESZbs
The big-armed quarterback, who began his college career at Penn State, was hampered by injury throughout the 2022 college football season. During Thursday’s first round, Chris Mortensen reported that some teams had concern about the toe injury that he dealt with last fall.
“Will Levis’ left toe that caused him to miss two games last year was ‘problematic’ for one team that considered him,” he tweeted. “Levis says the ‘toe has healed’ and is good to go. Another team believes Levis could manage it but thought surgery would need discussion after the season. Levis disagrees.”
Once the second round begins on Friday, he may not need to wait too long. The Lions (No. 34), Rams (No. 36), Seahawks (No. 37) and Raiders (No. 38) could all invest in a quarterback with high upside within the first few picks of the round.
