How Will Levis' draft slide could jettison him to Titans stardom
Will Levis has a big mouth.
That’s not a figure of speech.
When it comes to food, the Tennessee Titans’ second-round pick and potential quarterback of the future is less Julia Child and more a child dipping his hot dog in chocolate milk to test his mom's patience.
Culinary experiments made Levis famous on social media. Long before he was the lightning-rod prospect NFL draft pundits compared to everyone from Josh Allen to Blake Bortles, he was the Kentucky passer who went viral for stirring mayonnaise into his coffee and eating bananas without peeling them.
He doesn’t do these things because he likes the taste. He does them because he can. It’s audacious. And people react to his audacity.
Like when Levis was at Xavier High School in Middletown, Connecticut. He and some teammates were eating McDonald’s. Levis told his friends he could down a Big Mac in five seconds. No one dared him. He just wanted to do it.
So he did.
“A lot of people wouldn’t do that because it’s weird,” said Kyle MacGillis, Levis’ high school receiver and close friend. “But he’s funny like that. He doesn’t really care what a lot of people actually do think about him. He’s genuine. I think he’s just like ‘I bet I can do this.’ And then he goes and does it. It’s not like he’s trying to prove anyone wrong or something.”
Now Levis actually does have people to prove wrong. Twenty-six NFL teams passed on Levis before the Titans traded up to pick him 33rd in the 2023 NFL Draft. Levis languished backstage for 31 picks across the four-hour first round, drawing sympathy from some and mockery from others.
Levis has never much cared about being laughed at, though. He’s the mayonnaise-in-his-coffee guy. He’s the don’t-peel-your-bananas guy. He’s the guy who doesn’t mind swallowing two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onion and three sesame seed buns whole.
A few draft-night memes won’t hurt him.
“Regardless of where I got picked I feel like it’s not going to change my work ethic,” Levis said. “Regardless of if I went first overall or 33rd. You can’t let the circumstances dictate your preparation and the level of intensity you bring every day.”
Meet Will Levis
The first impression of Levis often elicits the same reaction: That guy looks like a quarterback.
He’s 6-foot-4 and 229 pounds with biceps that look like they belong in a 1980s action movie. Every time he throws, he flashes the tattoo on his billboard of a right arm. It reads “2nd Chronicles 15:7” a verse seemingly written for a quarterback: Be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.
Levis’ work wasn’t instantly rewarded. Because of injuries, he didn’t emerge as a star high school talent until his junior year. He went to Penn State and backed up Trace McSorley and Sean Clifford for three years before transferring to Kentucky. He led the Wildcats to a 10-3 season his first year as a starter but regressed as a senior.
Still, Levis arrived at the NFL Scouting Combine in February a projected top-10 pick. Along with quarterbacks Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson, Levis was in the conversation to go first overall.
Former Titans quarterback Matt Hasselbeck was one of Levis’ league-assigned mentors at the combine and was instantly impressed.
“They said, 'What does Will Levis look like,' and I said ‘He looks like a create-a-player on Madden,’” Hasselbeck said. “He’s got everything you’d be looking for physically.”
But Levis’ self-described cannon arm wasn’t what stuck with Hasselbeck. The subtle and not-so-subtle quirks of Levis’ personality impressed the retired 18-year NFL veteran. Like the way Levis was always the guy who broke down the huddle before and after drills. And how Levis was vocally and emphatically cheering on receivers he’d just met doing their bench presses as if he was, as Hasselbeck puts it, “a tag-team partner at WWE WrestleMania.”
The morning of the quarterback and receiver workouts, the NFL tweaked what brand of shoes players were allowed to wear because of a partnership with apparel brand NOBULL. Hours before the biggest workouts of their lives, players were told they couldn't wear the cleats they'd brought.
“Guys freaked out,” Hasselbeck remembered. “A lot of guys really freaked out. Will, he didn’t even blink. He was like ‘Alright, no problem.’ He was kind of like ‘Can I just put tape on it? Let’s find solutions. Let’s not gripe.’ That was probably the first time I noticed him other than his physical stature.”
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The joker becomes the butt of the joke
Food-based material isn’t the only way Levis knows how to provoke a laugh.
“He does a great Borat imitation. He’ll probably kill me for saying that,” said Andy Guyon, Levis’ coach at Xavier. “That would always make us laugh.”
“Me and him actually quote a lot of different comedy movies together,” MacGillis added. “Like 'Step Brothers' all the time. Borat I think is honestly his favorite. But he knows a lot of funny movies.”
Levis was 7 when Borat hit theaters. He wasn’t exactly doing timely material in high school.
But it's obvious something Levis did in high school resonated with his peers, because he wasn’t the only one who weathered four hours of NFL draft coverage on what was supposed to be a celebratory night.
MacGillis and some of Levis’ teammates watched at a nearby house. Guyon hosted a draft party at Xavier that began with around 150 people in the building. Instead of showcasing celebrations, a local news station ran footage of Guyon sitting by himself, dejectedly watching the draft on his phone.
“If you looked at NFL Memes on Twitter and stuff they were getting him pretty good,” Guyon said. “It hurt a little bit. I definitely felt for the family. But they’re strong people. They’re good people. That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”
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Why Will Levis?
The Titans were cagey on draft night about why they drafted Levis. Coach Mike Vrabel and general manager Ran Carthon labeled Levis the Titans’ third-string quarterback behind Ryan Tannehill and Malik Willis. When asked who Levis reminds him of, Carthon said the only player he wants to compare Levis to is Levis.
Discussions about Levis’ talent and projectability divide football experts. Some point to Levis’ impressive stature, bountiful physical tools and experience in pro-style offenses as a reason why he should’ve been a top-five pick. Others saw Levis as a Day 2 prospect because his Kentucky tape leaves much to be desired. He’s been erratic, inconsistent and turnover-prone, and his play was significantly worse against Power Five competition than it was against softer opponents.
One of the common criticisms hurled Levis’ way is he played a lot worse in 2022 than in 2021. The numbers don’t exactly bear that out (he averaged more yards per attempt and had a better passer efficiency rating as a senior while his completion percentage, touchdown percentage and interception percentage all essentially stayed the same), but something was different.
His Pro Football Focus grade dipped from 90.6 to 68.6. His passer rating on throws targeted 20 yards downfield or longer fell by nearly 12 points. Adjusting for sacks, he went from averaging 5.98 yards per carry with nine rushing touchdowns to averaging 4.24 yards per carry with two rushing touchdowns while battling a toe injury.
Everyone from Levis to Vrabel to Hasselbeck tells the same story on why Levis regressed. A new offensive coordinator changed the playbook to an offense less suited for Levis’ strengths, particularly one that de-emphasized play-action passes, and two of the Wildcats’ starting offensive lineman and Levis’ favorite receiver turned pro.
“It’s kind of tough for all 11 guys to be on that same page,” former Kentucky cornerback Keidron Smith said. “Not everybody’s maturity level is at the same point and not everybody’s able to comprehend the playbook at the same time. It’s difficulties when it comes to playing offense, having a new offense and having the expectations of doing well and the season that we had. It was a lot of built-up things that people had on their shoulders.”
Smith said Levis wore the pressure well. Levis battled through injuries when he could’ve packed up and prepared for the draft. He describes Levis as the kind of person who leads without needing a push.
"For him, it comes easy," Smith said. "Him being comfortable up there and speaking in front of a whole bunch of guys and reaching them, that’s one thing. And he knows how to speak to people. He’s not going to cuss anybody out or anything. He finds a way to reach his players and his teammates and the coaches really like that about him."
Levis and the Titans: A perfect match?
The Titans called Levis to tell him they were picking him as he was walking through the door into his family home in Connecticut. He left Kansas City after his long wait on Day 1, but travel holdups meant the family barely made it home to hear his name called.
Levis couldn’t control his tears when Carthon, Vrabel and Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk called with the news.
The next night, Levis’ loved ones gathered for a proper party. Friends, family, coaches and teammates celebrated Levis, and he responded with a speech thanking everyone for standing by him.
“His underlying message was his journey wasn’t easy,” MacGillis said. “A lot of weird stuff happened. So obviously why would the draft be any easier? But he ended up exactly where he knew he needed to be.”
Being an NFL quarterback means weaponizing adversity into triumph. Hasselbeck was a sixth-round pick who worked his way up from a practice squad to starting in a Super Bowl. Tom Brady, Levis’ childhood hero, also was a sixth-round pick. NFL MVPs Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson had to withstand similar long waits backstage at the draft before hearing their names called.
Hasselbeck brings up another example of a quarterback he feels is analogous to Levis: Donovan McNabb, the Philadelphia Eagles’ all-time leader in passing yards, touchdowns and wins, who was booed relentlessly by Eagles fans on draft night.
“The reaction Eagles fans had when he got drafted, they didn’t trust Andy Reid,” Hasselbeck said. “Sorry, I think they were wrong. In this case, if anyone’s not trusting Ran Carthon and Mike Vrabel, you probably know how I feel.”
Nick Suss is the Titans beat writer for The tennessean. Contact Nick at nsuss@gannett.com. Follow Nick on Twitter @nicksuss.