Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis had an impressive rookie season. There were no doubt some negatives, but fans were left with enough positives to at least believe he could be the guy.
And that’s even how the Titans and new head coach Brian Callahan, who watched from afar, came away viewing Levis’ rookie campaign. In fact, Callahan admitted the team’s belief in Levis helped spur on the spending Tennessee did this offseason, which beefed up the group around him.
Despite the positive outlook for Levis, he’s getting no semblance of respect from Pro Football Focus’ Trevor Sikkema, who placed the Kentucky product at No. 28 among starting quarterbacks. Here’s Sikkema’s write-up before we get irrationally mad:
Levis didn’t get his first NFL start until Week 8 in 2023, but from then on he was an entertaining gunslinger. He finished the season with 16 big-time throws and 14 turnover-worthy plays with only two games where he earned a passing grade above 70.0.
His mission in 2024 is simple: make more good throws than bad ones. He has the arm talent to be a good starter in this league. He just needs to know when to rip it and, perhaps more importantly, when not to.
I have a very simple philosophy: you cannot rank rookie quarterbacks ahead of those who have actually played a snap in the NFL. Granted, Levis’ sample size is small, but at least we have one.
Now, there are instances where a starting quarterback can be so damn bad that you have to give the rookie the edge, but Levis is certainly not in that boat.
Sikemma has guys like Jayden Daniels and Caleb Williams ahead of Levis. Both may very well end up being better than Levis, but we cannot say that right now. Besides, no shortage of talented quarterbacks have entered the league with a ton of promise and hype before crashing and burning.
Even putting Bryce Young over Levis is suspect, considering Young had a brutal first season that had far less positives than Levis’. However, Young suffered the same issue Levis did: a brutal supporting cast.
Levis could potentially jump another spot up ahead of the combination of Drake Maye and Jacoby Brissett, but the latter has at least proven he’s a serviceable quarterback in the NFL, albeit a serviceable backup.
That said, Brissett isn’t even guaranteed to start in 2024 and Levis is, so I can definitely make the case for the latter to be higher.
Nobody is saying Levis is going to be the next coming or anything like that. He’s certainly still got to prove himself, but at least we have something to go on with him, which is more than we can say for the aforementioned rookies.
