NASHVILLE — Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins is being traded from the Tennessee Titans (1-5) to the Kansas City Chiefs (6-0), sources confirm to A to Z Sports. Adam Schefter of ESPN first reported the news on Wednesday morning.

Tennessee waving the white flag eight weeks into the 2024 season should also mean the end of their Will Levis experiment at quarterback.

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Will Levis Does Not Give The Titans Locker Room The Best Chance To Win Games

Trading Hopkins means you are no longer giving Levis the best possible chance to succeed. 

"Everything about what we were hoping to get out of the season was a really solid and concrete evaluation of Will (Levis) as a starting quarterback," said coach Brian Callahan on Monday. "The injury process, we haven't played well enough anywhere around him. He certainly hasn't played up to what I think he's capable of playing. And so, we're not in a great spot record-wise, and the injury doesn't help. 

"The minute he's back healthy, the intent is for him to continue to play, and hopefully that's sooner rather than later, because I'd like to continue to have him playing football, but I'm not going to let him go out there if he's not where he needs to be to go perform. And so, again, hopefully maybe this week, maybe next week, but sooner than later, he'll be back playing."

Levis missed the Titans Week 7 34-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills (5-2) due to a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder, but the second-year quarterback has been brutal to watch in the appearances he has made. 

Reiterating your commitment to going back to Levis instead of starting veteran back-up Mason Rudolph matters little if you're going to start selling parts out from under Levis anyway. The conservative nature of Tennessee's offensive game-planning when Levis does plays seems to tell you how little they trust him to execute what's called already. Rudolph's first half against Buffalo is the best quarterback play the Titans have gotten this season.

If you go back to Levis now after you've admitted to going nowhere as a team in 2024 with the Hopkins deal, you risk sending a message to 52 other players on the roster that you aren't giving them the best possible chance to succeed. If they lose games with Rudolph, so be it. Callahan and his staff must prove to the players that they are doing what is in their best interest and to the fans that they are capable of at least trying to win games. 

Fans are right to want to tank the season, but you cannot abide players, coaches or staffers who are willing to actively lose games.

Titans Should Try To Trade Will Levis This Offseason

If Levis does return to the starting line-up, it should only be to try and increase his potential trade value in the offseason. 

Levis clearly is not the answer to the almighty "franchise quarterback" question, and the team will need to reset the position either through the draft or free agency this coming spring. Moving Levis at year's end as the Pittsburgh Steelers did with Kenny Pickett, the Atlanta Falcons did with Desmond Ridder or the Commanders did with Sam Howell this past offseason is in the best interest of both player and franchise. Make no mistake, this is more of an organizational failure than a Levis-centric one.

Tennessee has already given its fan base reason enough to tune them out until 2025. What it cannot afford to do now is let failure beget further failure by half-assing a franchise rebuild. Nor should emotions stop them from trading more assets ahead of the upcoming deadline this season. The Hopkins trade at least gives a player who has given his all here since signing as a free agent in 2023 the opportunity to compete for a Super Bowl. 

The Titans now have seven picks in the upcoming draft (1, 2, 4, conditional 4/5, 5, 6, 7). Depending on how the Cleveland Browns (1-6), New England Patriots (1-6) and Carolina Panthers (1-6) finish, general manager Ran Carthon may still need more capital to trade up for the best possible pick. 

Fire sale should be the Titans approach moving forward.

Grading the Titans-Chiefs trade of DeAndre Hopkins compared to other NFL wide receiver deals

Grading the Titans-Chiefs trade of WR DeAndre Hopkins.

DeAndre Hopkins trade means Titans are officially waving the white flag on the 2024 season

Tennessee gives the veteran wide receiver a chance to really compete.

Featured Image: USA TODAY Sports.