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USA Today Sports Media Group

Sport

Shaun Calderon

Where Titans QB Will Levis ranks in key advanced metrics

Will Levis Titans EPA USA TODAY Sports Charles LeClaire

Tennessee Titans rookie quarterback Will Levis has shown a ton of promise since taking over as the team’s starting quarterback back in Week 8.

The arm talent he possesses is undeniable, but the pieces around him have largely been inconsistent, at best — and that’s putting it mildly.

However, he’s also had his fair share of rookie growing pains, which is to be expected for any young quarterback thrown into a less-than-ideal situation.

Levis’ numbers look pretty strong on paper. The Kentucky product has completed 58.9 percent of his passes (73-of-124) for 857 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions for a passer rating of 89.3.

Advanced metrics aren’t nearly as kind, though, with the rookie quarterback ranking in the bottom half of the league in nearly every category since Week 8.

Using the advanced metric data collected at RBSDM, I compiled a list of Levis’ current rankings and percentages amongst all quarterbacks who have played at least 100 snaps over that span. There were a total of 27 quarterbacks who qualified, including six rookies.

Now that all of that has been covered, let’s go ahead and find out where the Titans’ young signal-caller comes in after his first four starts in the NFL.

EPA + CPOE Composite

Ranking: 18th
Rookie ranking: 2nd
Percentage: 0.043
Expected Points Added (EPA): “EPA measures how well a team performs compared to their expectation on a play-by-play basis. EPA and EPA per Play, along with other stats using EPA, can help us evaluate team and player performance. EPA serves as a better tool of measurement for team/player performance because it takes into account that not all yards, touchdowns, and turnovers are equal.”
Completion Percentage Over Expectation (CPOE): “Not all completion percentages are built the same way, as throwing shorter passes to more open receivers generally leads to a higher completion percentage. CPOE adjusts for that, using pass depth and receiver separation to determine the likelihood of an average quarterback making any given throw.”

Adjusted EPA per play

Ranking: 19th
Rookie ranking: 2nd
Percentage: -0.022

EPA per play

Ranking: 19th
Rookie ranking: 2nd
Percentage: -0.032

Success Rate

Ranking: 24th
Rookie ranking: 4th
Percentage: 40.3
Success Rate (SR): SR is an efficiency metric that determines the success of a play. A play is successful when it gains at least 40 percent of yards-to-go on first down, 60 percent of yards-to-go on second down and 100 percent of yards-to-go on third or fourth down.