Joel Klatt explains not being shocked by Will Levis' draft slide

Fox Sports’ college football analyst Joel Klatt was not surprised by Will Levis’ slide in the 2023 NFL Draft.

The former Kentucky quarterback fell out of the first round and was the No. 33 overall pick by the Tennessee Titans. Some pundits and mock drafts had Levis within the top five and even No. 1 overall throughout the year.

Klatt chalked Levis’ slide up to being a victim of draft hype and wayward projections.

“Will Levis became the story of the draft in particular on night one and then into night two sitting there and doing the draft and watching the draft unfold,” Klatt said on his podcast. I had a pit in my stomach for Will Levis and that pit in my stomach wasn’t like oh my gosh, he’s slipping, I can’t believe that they’re allowing this because it was totally avoidable. It was totally avoidable. Will Levis is a really good player but there’s a reason why I had him not in my top 10 players available but in my top what, 35 players available? I got a lot of blowback on social media … I don’t hate Will Levis. 

“He was a quarterback that I thought was in my top 35 overall players in the entire draft, which is by the way about right where he got selected. But I will tell you that I’m not part of the draft machine. I’m part of college football, and so I feel like I had a much more realistic view of what Will Levis was and is then some of these draft people.”

While Levis certainly had his moments and put up good numbers at Kentucky, he was a bit more turnover prone than top prospects Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud.

“The moment I saw Will Levis’ name pop up, and you know exactly where we all saw a pop up on lists last summer talking about the best quarterback prospects of the season, I was like, whoa, that’s a little high,” Klatt said. “And then I started hearing things like well don’t watch 2022, watch 2021. What are you talking about? They were basically the same tape. He threw 13 interceptions in 2021 only 10 and 2022. He turned the ball over too much. He was inaccurate at times. There was tremendous and there is tremendous upside with him but those of us that are in college football kind of saw this coming.

“Will Levis was a victim of the draft machine … Maybe if the Colts just view it a little bit differently, he is selected there at number four. And then it’s Anthony Richardson that starts to fall. And does Richardson fall into the second round? If he’s not selected at fourth? Probably not. Why? Because the upside is too high. But as soon as Levis wasn’t selected by the Colts, I turned to Charles Davis and Daniel Jeremiah and we all looked at each other and we’re like, this could be a long night for him because there was nowhere to put him.” 

Klatt is still high on Levis’ development and upside, but the hype around him as an instant superstar just wasn’t there.

“Listen, I wish Will Levis all the success in the world and I felt sick to my stomach for him and his family in the entire scene,” Klatt said. “Will was a victim of the draft machine. If you were in college football like we are and if you’re a fan of this show, I say we because we are a part of college football. If you’ve been a part of college football and really taking in over the last few years, you were surprised with this quote unquote draft evaluation and like I was like, I said love the kid. 

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“High upside great arm great kid good leader good with his teammates all of those things are tremendous assets. The problem is he was my number 33rd ranked prospect.”