Will Levis officially named Tennessee Titans starting quarterback

Will Levis injected a lot of life into the Tennessee Titans in a pair of starts over the span of five days. Now, he has officially taken over based on the latest out of Nashville.

Earlier on Tuesday, an unofficial depth chart signaled that Ryan Tannehill would be taking back the duties as the team’s starter. However, once Mike Vrabel took the podium in the afternoon, he made it known that Levis, the rookie out of Kentucky, would be the Titan’s starting quarterback moving forward.

#Titans HC Mike Vrabel names rookie Will Levis the team’s starting quarterback.

— Jim Wyatt (@jwyattsports) November 7, 2023

Levis took a long route to get to this point in The Music City. After falling into the second round of the NFL Draft, he split reps with Malik Willis as a backup behind Tannehill. Missing time in the preseason didn’t help his case either as he was mostly inactive over the first few weeks of Tennessee’s season.

Then, once Tannehill suffered a high ankle sprain, Levis took full advantage of the opportunity.

It started with a special debut for Levis in a 28-23 win over the Atlanta Falcons inside Nissan Stadium. He went 19-29 (65.5%) for 238 yards and four touchdowns. Then, on a short week, he impressed again in a tough spot on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday Night Football. In that contest, he put up another 262 yards with a 56.4% completion rate and pick in a close, four-point loss.

Some thought that Levis’ moment would be a flash in the pan of the Titan’s season with Tannehill on his way back. That’s no longer the case, though, as Levis will make start number three at Tampa Bay this weekend and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future in Tennessee.

Levis after first loss career: ‘Losing sucks’

Will Levis, who was on top of the football world last weekend, now knows despair in the NFL. He and the Titans lost to the Steelers with his final pass intercepted in the end zone by Kwon Alexander.

After throwing four touchdowns to help beat the Falcons a few days earlier, he was on the losing end to the Steelers. Afterward, the 20-16 finish on the scoreboard pained the rookie’s soul.

“Losing sucks, especially at this level,” Levis told reporters postgame. “It’s hard to win games. And when you get an opportunity like that to win at the end and it doesn’t happen? Makes you feel a whole lot worse.

“Credit to them — they made the plays when they needed to. And we didn’t.”