Tennessee Titans rookie quarterback and second-round pick Will Levis is a rather polarizing player for a multitude of reasons.
With that said, regardless of how you feel about him, it’s impossible to deny that the Titans walked away with tremendous value when they traded up to select the Kentucky product with the No. 33 overall pick.
The consensus opinion surrounding the young signal caller was that he was a top-15 prospect in the draft regardless of position. In fact, Colts owner Jim Irsay already admitted that Levis would have likely gone as high as No. 4 overall had someone jumped ahead of them to take Anthony Richardson.
There was a lot of connecting Will Levis to the Colts in the pre-draft process and Jim Irsay affirms the merit behind it ⬇️ https://t.co/re8KkSl3BL
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) April 29, 2023
Unfortunately for Levis, once he made it passed the Titans’ initial pick (No. 11 overall), he entered the no man’s land point of the board where very few teams would realistically consider taking a quarterback in Round 1.
His unforeseen slide subsequently caused the Titans to get aggressive, as they reportedly “desperately” attempted to find a trade partner to move back into the first round before ultimately settling on a trade with the Arizona Cardinals in Round 2 instead.
In an article naming the best value picks for all 32 teams, ESPN’s Todd McShay listed the trade up and selection of Levis as his choice for Tennessee, even saying the pick was “tremendous” value.
Here is what McShay had to say about the Titans’ decision to bet on Levis, while also briefly touching on a few of their other picks as well:
The Titans jumped at the chance to get Levis, their second Day 2 quarterback pick in as many years. He needs to cut down on the turnovers (23 interceptions over the past two years) and work on his touch, but the value here — he’s my No. 11 overall prospect — was tremendous. Ryan Tannehill, who is entering the final year of his contract and has zero guaranteed money remaining, is turning 35 years old, and his play declined last season. Malik Willis, a third-rounder last year, didn’t show enough to prove he’s the answer, and there’s a scenario in which Levis takes over this offense as soon as this season.
Levis has a magnificent arm, with the ability to just flick his wrist and drive the ball with velocity. And he’s a powerful runner at 229 pounds when he tucks the ball and tries to pick up yards. If you go back to 2021, he scored nine times on the ground. The physical traits are there; he just needs some refining. It helps that Levis spent time in pro-style systems in college, and he’ll have first-rounder Peter Skoronski (Northwestern) blocking for him, too. If Tennessee sticks with Tannehill this season, it’s a good spot for Levis to learn and develop before taking over.
I really like how the Titans navigated the board and landed a top-four quarterback almost 30 picks after the other three were gone. If Levis cleans up his game, this could be a steal. Outside of Levis, I really like Tulane running back Tyjae Spears, and I think he could find success in this offense. He can be a solid complementary back to Derrick Henry.
Levis has all the natural talent in the world to eventually become one of the best quarterbacks in the league if everything goes according to plan.
Say what you want about Will Levis, but it’s throws like these that make everyone intrigued despite his obvious flaws at the moment https://t.co/SREw8fjkIn pic.twitter.com/ago9zLIhn8
— Shaun Calderon (@ShaunMichaels31) March 24, 2023
Sadly, there is just hardly a guarantee that he’ll ever reacj anything close to that type of ceiling. But if he does, the Titans’ trade and selection of him will undoubtedly be looked at as one of the biggest bargain in team history.
