Analysis
11/9/23
8 min read
Rookie QB Will Levis Gives Tennessee Titans Hope for the Future
When I examined Will Levis’ 2022 college tape in March, I compared his high-variance play to riding a roller coaster. He was all over the spectrum, from drop back and throwing fundamentals to decision-making and accuracy.
Nine months later and two starts into the rookie’s career, Levis has shown flashes of promise but the No. 33 overall pick still has work to do before he’s ready to be considered as the Tennessee Titans' franchise quarterback. Coach Mike Vrabel named him the starter for this week’s game at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, so Levis will get another opportunity to continue his interview process against Todd Bowles’ defense. This defense was exploited by fellow rookie C.J. Stroud last Sunday.
We'll explore Levis' past — and his present — to get a better feel for how his future might pan out.
Who Was Levis at Kentucky?
In 2022, Levis played in an NFL-style offense in college behind a shaky offensive line on a Kentucky team that finished 7-6.
When watching his college tape, a few excellent traits stuck out immediately, including his tall, muscular stature, high-end arm talent and quick release. But there were also inconsistencies in his mechanics that resulted in erratic play.
Levis’ accuracy on a play-to-play basis in college was only average due mainly to undisciplined footwork and throwing mechanics, a significant factor that led to him sliding into the second round. Most quarterbacks use their feet as a solid base to engage the ground, which sets the stage for their power and accuracy. On too many occasions, Levis relied solely on his arm talent to deliver the ball. In other instances, he unnecessarily altered his arm angles, adversely affecting his ball placement. Levis overcame these issues at times due to his arm talent, but his mechanical issues from his base to his release resulted in significant inconsistency.
In college, his athleticism and strong frame gave him sufficient ability to execute designed quarterback runs. Still, I did not see evidence to validate his ability to create out of structure with his legs. While he constantly showed his toughness and courage in the face of pressure, his inability to sense and escape from pass rushers caused him to take unnecessary hits and sacks.
Mentally, there was evidence at Kentucky that Levis could eventually lead an offense at the NFL level. He showed a good command of the offense pre-snap and was decisive in the quick game.
Touchdown @will_levis ➡️ @DaneKey6
📺 - @SECNetwork 📲 - https://t.co/lyvsjAKxsn pic.twitter.com/e4NIIDZNN0
— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) November 26, 2022
However, the tape could not hide the poor decisions and occasional struggles to process and finish his progressions.
Who is Levis Now?
After watching every pass Levis has made through his first two NFL starts, it is clear that he has grown in some ways, but in other areas, progress is slow with significant room to develop.
The high-level flashes of arm talent show up more often than on his 2022 college tape, and his connection with DeAndre Hopkins appears remarkable. On multiple occasions, he’s made impressive ‘wow-factor’ throws that top-tier quarterbacks make because of his excellent arm strength and quick release.
WILL LEVIS! 4 TD PASSES!
📺: #JAXvsPIT on CBS
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/Quwvdzpx7G pic.twitter.com/18G0sx962C— NFL (@NFL) October 29, 2023
However, Levis remains inconsistent with ball placement on a play-to-play basis because his fundamentals have yet to improve.
How Levis Can Grow
His footwork and base simply remain undisciplined and detached from his upper body. There are occasions where everything lines up from his feet to the release of the ball with excellent results, but at other times, there is no weight transfer from the back to the front foot in his lower half, and he is throwing the ball with feet in the air or from awkward positions.
This inconsistency of throwing fundamentals in his lower-half mechanics will continue to lead to a lack of accuracy and timing with his receivers relative to their route depths. Even when he completed passes in the last two games, his lack of ideal ball placement left too many yards on the table by failing to lead his receivers to maximize their run after catch.
His footwork appears more consistent when taking snaps under center and operating out of play-action, but he needs more time and coaching to improve in this area.
While Levis has improved his staging of the ball, keeping it higher and tighter to his body before the throw, he must clean up other parts of his throwing motion. Once he begins his motion, it is hard to anticipate if the ball will come out over the top, from a three-quarter release, or with a sidearm delivery. His ability to vary his arm slot and make throws from different angles is a good thing for this next generation of quarterbacks, but not if he’s choosing to change his arm angles for no apparent reason.
Inside the Mind of a Rookie QB
From a mental perspective, the rookie has a calm demeanor in the pocket, though his feet and eyes sometimes have you questioning where he wants to go with the ball. Compared to his final season at Kentucky, Levis is taking care of the football and not putting it in harm’s way as often through his first two games, which creates trust with his coaches and might have led to Vrabel’s decision to give him another start ahead of Ryan Tannehill. On the other hand, there were two critically poor decisions on the final drive against the Pittsburgh Steelers this past Sunday — one a dropped interception and another a pick in the end zone that ended a 20-16 game.
Within the confines of the pocket, Levis appears as courageous as ever, showing his ability to hang in the pocket and deliver while feeling pressure collapse. His ability to make plays with oncoming rushers in his face is impressive and will allow him to stay on the field and continue to earn the respect of his coaches and teammates.
However, he struggles with sensing and avoiding pressure, limiting his opportunity to extend plays in or outside the pocket.
Mobility Makes or Breaks
In the NFL, quarterbacks must be able to extend plays with their arm and/or legs on each play, especially on third down. I did not see Levis successfully escape from the pocket and create explosive plays or first downs with either his arm or legs. On the few occasions he was forced out of the pocket, he showed an improved ability to complete passes while on the move. But like all quarterbacks, one would like to see him utilize his legs more often to generate plays out of structure.
Despite the areas where Levis needs significant growth, he’s still performed sufficiently from a statistical standpoint while leading the Titans to a 1-1 record as a starter.
Overall, the 24-year-old has completed an underwhelming 60.1 percent of his passes for 500 yards, four touchdowns and one interception while averaging a 10.5-yard average depth of target. He has struggled most from a statistical standpoint against man coverage, where he’s only completed 5-of-17 passes for 63 yards. A quarterback’s ability to deliver meticulously and accurately beat man coverage is essential. Levis must double his 29.4 percent completion percentage against man-to-man to eclipse the league average of 58.5 percent.
Levis as a Starter Moving Forward
There are enough high-level plays on tape that validate Levis’ upside as a starter in the NFL. Based on where he is now from a fundamentals perspective, let’s hope to see the gradual development that can lead him to a solidified starting role with the Titans.
The fact that Levis will start for the rest of the season should speed up his mental development and ability to process the game and read NFL defenses as he works through his growing pains. At the very least, one would hope for an incremental improvement between now and the end of the season.
Tennessee sits at the bottom of the AFC South, but at 3-5, it is only two games out of the playoff picture with more than half of the season left on the schedule.
Levis is entrenched as the starter going forward, so the Titans could have a bumpy roller-coaster ride ahead. But his courage, toughness and jaw-dropping flashes as a passer will be enough to excite fans and give the Titans hope for the future.
Marc Trestman is a former NFL, CFL and college coach. After more than a decade as an offensive coordinator and a quarterback coach in the NFL, he coached in four Grey Cups in the CFL, winning three over seven years with Montreal and Toronto before becoming head coach of the Chicago Bears. Follow him on Twitter at @CoachTrestman.
