A Will Levis trade destination opens and closes after recent NFL QB news, and the Titans never had a chance
Tennessee Titans former starting quarterback Will Levis could be a target for an NFL team looking to find new QB but now the Detroit Lions are already off the board.
The Tennessee Titans and third string back up Will Levis might have just seen a window of opportunity present itself across the NFL with the Detroit Lions announcing backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater is “stepping away” from the team, a curious phrase that sounds a lot like retirement for the 33-year-old signal caller.
“I’ve known Teddy a long time, and man, the human being is unbelievable,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said at his press conference.
“Certainly, the player, everything that he’s about, the type of teammate he is, the way he prepares, always played the game up here and had a huge heart. He’s going to be missed. So I’ll never forget 2019 when Drew (Brees) got injured. We (the New Orleans Saints) had just gone out to the Rams, got beat out there, and and Drew, you know, got his thumb, and we lost him for five weeks, and Teddy stepped in. We won five in a row, man. And you know that was that was Teddy. And then just his time being with us meant a lot, and it meant a lot to our guys. So he’s going to be missed.”
The move left Detroit with only two quarterbacks on the roster: starter Jared Goff and rookie Luke Altmyer from Illinois.
However, this league moves… very fast, as the Lions bring in veteran journeyman quarterback Joshua Dobbs.
Levis is stuck in a no-man’s-land with the Titans. Cam Ward is the franchise quarterback of the future. Mitch Trubisky was signed as a high-priority free agent addition in early March to be the backup and is paid accordingly. Levis is heading into the final year of his rookie contract as the second-round pick from the 2023 NFL Draft, and he has lost his opportunity to be this team’s franchise guy. There is no path forward for him in Tennessee.
Levis’s training camp has not helped his trade value
To be honest, Levis has looked pretty bad this summer, especially at Sunday’s practice. He was uninspiring. It’s not like he’s been as meme-able as previous rough stretches, but Sunday was rough. That came on the heels of a rough showing during Friday night’s scrimmage at Nissan Stadium (which was meme-able).
Everybody knows Will Levis has all the tools. Even though this practice and the scrimmage are not exactly the best selling points, he does have moments that are completely wow-type quarterback moments. Then he has the exact opposite moments. His roller coaster quarterback play is tough to manage.
Why Detroit’s offense could have been the right fit
The Lions seem like they could be the right type of place for Levis to be his best because of the weapons surrounding Goff. The receiving corps is super talented with Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, and tight end Sam LaPorta. Then there’s newly paid running back Jahmyr Gibbs and the type of offense Detroit wants to run with play action, focusing on the running game and big plays down the field off of the play-action pass.
That is exactly where Will Levis needs to be to succeed. That’s where he was at his best when Mike Vrabel was the head coach in Tennessee with Derrick Henry during Levis’s rookie year. It hasn’t been good at all ever since. A play-action-heavy system with a dominant run game and elite pass catchers could unlock whatever potential Levis still has.
Other NFL QBs who could be moved before the season
Levis and the Titans aren’t alone, and now that the Lions have filed their spot, these teams and QBs will have to hurry up and wait.
The Minnesota Vikings have J.J. McCarthy, but the good thing about the timing for the Titans and Levis is that it’s too early in August for the Vikings to bail on McCarthy while the direct battle with Kyler Murray gets real in preseason games.
A to Z Sports’ own Mike Payton has an idea that a veteran like Gardner Minshew could have beeb a fit in Detroit, too. Minshew is stuck in between Arizona Cardinals temporary starter in Jacoby Brissett and rookie third round pick Carson Beck.
Another quarterback to watch is Anthony Richardson in the AFC South, but Richardson isn’t the same offensive system fit when compared to Levis. In New Orleans, Spencer Rattler could be on the move with Tyler Shough cemented as the franchise guy, but Rattler and Levis seem to be opposites in terms of style.
