The Titans fell to 0-3 on Sunday, and quarterback Will Levis‘ struggles continued. Head coach Brian Callahan confirmed after the game that no change will be made on the depth chart, though. 
“Oh yeah,” the first-year coach confirmed when asked if Levis would still operate as Tennessee’s starter (via ESPN’s Turron Davenport). “We’ve also got to play better around him. I’m not going to overreact to an interception. Those things happen, guys throw picks, we just can’t give it to their team. It’s a killer. But we’ve not played a complete game in any phase at any point yet.”
Levis threw a pair of interceptions and lost a fumble during today’s loss to the Packers. That gives the 2023 second-rounder eight turnovers on the year, one in which he was expected to develop into the team’s long-term starter under Callahan. Giveaways at critical times have been a constant during the early portion of the campaign, and Levis’ ability to eliminate them will be key for his own acclimation to the NFL and to the Titans’ 2024 success.
Of course, Week 3 featured a matchup between Tennessee and former quarterback Malik Willis. The Titans tapped veteran Mason Rudolph as their backup signal-caller during the offseason, trading Willis to Green Bay shortly before the campaign. With the Packers showing disappointment in Sean Clifford (who was retained after roster cutdowns) and Michael Pratt (who was not), Willis found himself second on the depth chart at the start of the year. Jordan Love‘s MCL injury left Willis in place to start over each of the past two games, both victories.
If a change were to be made by Callahan and Co., Rudolph would take over. The 29-year-old has 13 starts to his name, each of which came during his lengthy Steelers tenure. Rudolph served as Pittsburgh’s QB1 to close out the 2023 campaign even after Kenny Pickett returned to full health, although the team cleaned house under center during the offseason. That left Rudolph in need of a new team, and he inked a one-year deal featuring $2.7MM guaranteed.
Callahan’s comments confirm Levis will remain in place for the time being, but questions about his status will no doubt continue if his turnover issues carry over into future games. The Kentucky product has totaled 579 passing yards and four touchdowns to date in 2024, adding sparse production on the ground and taking 15 sacks. More passing efficiency and overall stability from the QB spot will be the target moving forward. If that does not come to bear, however, it will be interesting to see how the team proceeds.
Levis threw another pick-6 today — his second in only 3 games — thus it’s only fair to doubt whether he’d be Tennessee’s QB1 for the long term.
Send us a swap of firsts, and a 4th rounder and you can have Malik Willis start for you
– Gute the fleece
Levis has plenty of big play ability, and for portions of the game, he strings together very polished looking, effective drives that make him look like a QB of the future….and then he’ll force some cockamamie ridiculous bizzarity that will result in a turnover. It’s odd, because he appears like a mature for his age guy who should know better, but clearly, he does not. At least, he doesn’t yet.
I imagine that Callahan will attempt to tutor him this entire year-it is the first in his system, with completely new players-before deciding to bail if there’s no improvement. Levis just needs to show some good consistency to be worth the look for a second season, and he has the physical tools and occasional continuity to make it seem possible, even if it’s sandwiched between gut wrenching mistakes.
I think a lot of young QBs try to play beyond their limits (especially if they start trying to atone for previous mistakes). Callahan needs to steer him away from that trap. Of course the Titans didn’t do Levis any great favor by trading away the run support Henry would have provided. He deserves a fair chance to right himself.
Levis better shape up man he could lose his job if he doesn’t get it together.
Sorry for my poor@ss predictions, I got hosed today in fantasy. There’s always next week I guess…
No worries man this stuff is hard to predict. I only won a dollar and 65 cents yesterday I was so downtrodden but another week is upon us. How was I supposed to know Juan Jennings would score 3 TDs and post over 170 receiving yards? Lmao
Brian Callaghan: ” I’m sure we could play better if we could find some Volunteers”.
What would a QB change accomplish? This team seems to need a lot of improvement on their offensive line – as no QB would have the time to effectively scan the field behind the current group. Asking Levis to drop back 40+ times is just asking for trouble. Tennessee’s OC should be looking at mimicking Green Bay’s approach with Willis, i.e., limit the number of bad things that can happen through better play calls.
That could be a better approach, and a bit in line with whatKentucky tried to do with Levi’s. Tennessee’s problem right now is that it doesn’t yet have a reliable enough ground attack to be the primary feature. They spent a lot on a productive WR corps, and that should be the more talented side of the offense because of that. Levis would benefit from what Brian suggested below, but the run either isn’t good enough or well established enough to make the play action a big enough threat or to take more pressure off Levis in the future.
The line has pass protection problems but Levis doesnt have good pocket awareness. He stands in one spot too much and cant feel the rush. With his arm, it wouldnt hurt to take deeper drops but these young coaches are religious about seven yard drops. Rollouts might help him more as well until the protection improves.
Ewers
It doesn’t matter. Levis will never be a franchise QB. Waste of time. The O-line will never know where he is or where to set up in pass pro even if they were good at it.