After being snubbed the first night of the draft, Will Levis goes to Titans at No. 33 overall
Every draft, there seems to be that one player who slips down the board.
This year, it was Kentucky quarterback Will Levis who didn’t get selected at all during the first round Thursday night. After waiting 24 hours, Levis didn’t have to wait long to hear his name called during the second night of the draft.
The Arizona Cardinals traded the No. 33 and No. 81 overall picks to the Tennessee Titans for the No. 41 and No. 72 picks and a 2024 third-round pick. After moving up, the Titans selected Levis at 33rd overall.
Entering the 2023 draft, there were mixed opinions about Levis and his potential at the NFL level. He was once the betting favorite to be selected second overall to the Houston Texans.
After completing 65.4% of his passes and throwing for 2,406 yards, 19 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions, Levis was not an elite prospect despite what some of the talking heads on networks said. Simply put, what Levis put on film during the 2022 season never matched the hyped he had during this year’s draft cycle.
Levis began his college career at Penn State but was beaten out by Sean Clifford, who will likely not be drafted. That’s when he transferred to Kentucky in 2021, where he helped lead the Wildcats to back-to-back bowl appearances.
During the 2021 season, Levis passed for 2,826 yards, 24 touchdowns and 13 interceptions while completing 66% of his passes. He decided to return to school to increase his draft stock, but instead, scouts were left with more questions than answers.
A nagging toe injury plagued Levis’ final season at Kentucky as he was an inconsistent passer and failed to display some of the same skills that had scouts believing he was a future starter in the league. That injury kept Levis out two games, but he said it was healed during the pre-draft process. However, according to ESPN, that wasn’t the consensus among teams around the league.
Now Levis will go to Tennessee as he hopes to supplant Ryan Tannehill as the team’s starter. Tannehill is in the final year of his contract with the Titans, which is scheduled to pay him $36.6 million.
The good news for Levis is waiting in the green room for hours on Night 1 isn’t necessarily a death sentence for him. Newly acquired Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers had to hear 23 other names called before the Packers selected him in 2005. Of course, he went on to be one of the best quarterbacks of all time, as Rodgers has won four NFL MVPs and a Super Bowl title.
However, the Titans selected Malik Willis out of Liberty at 86th overall in the 2022 draft after some thought he could be the first quarterback taken. After Tannehill suffered an injury last year, Willis started three games for the Titans as he passed for 276 yards, zero touchdowns and three interceptions. Willis’ play had the Titans looking for quarterback help again, so they selected Levis.
