The Titans future options at quarterback after Will Levis benched in loss to Bengals
The Titans need a new QB for 2025, and here are their options
Against the Bengals in Week 15, Will Levis added four turnovers to his league co-leading total of 17 this season before being benched in the 3rd quarter.
The Tennessee Titans QB had a horrible 2.5 quarters, stacked on top of a very bad 4 quarters against the worst defense in the league last week when they hosted Jacksonville. After returning from injury earlier this season, Levis had a November to remember stacking four decent-to-very good games in a row. It was the foundation upon which he was poised to finish the year strong, facing a gauntlet of bad defenses on his way to stacking 9 consecutive promising games in a row. That kind of consistency would have been enough to earn him a look again in 2025.
But he blew it. It's harsh, but true. There's no other way to look at how he performed against the Bengals and Jaguars. He's put himself too far behind the eight ball this season to make up enough ground in his final three games. Barring a world-shattering, record-breaking three game stretch that's certainly not coming, nobody is going to buy what he's selling the rest of the year. It's over.
In fact, it may literally be over already. Titans Head Coach Brian Callahan didn't make any definitive statements about who would be his starting QB going forward, but no statement is as good as any statement he could have made. Whether he plays again or not, they're done with him.
And so the Titans will be in the market for a new QB heading into 2025. Their options, in case you are new to this topic, are rather limited. Let's take a moment to get introduced to 6 potential QB solutions for the Titans next year.
Sam Darnold- Free Agent
Sam Darnold is locked in as the belle of the 2025 free agency ball at QB. The year he's had in Minnesota, his first with the team, has been legit. Through Week 15, he's 3rd in the league in passer rating. He's 6th in total yards, 7th in completion percentage, and 11th in EPA/dropback. He has a 28-10 TD/INT ratio. It's been a real delight to see him finally emerge as the seriously talented passer he is.
There is still no getting rid of the bozo in him, however. Darnold will forever and always be looking to make a questionably-aggressive decision on the football field, no matter how well he's playing. It's in his DNA. And this, paired with the fact that he's only done it in one year with a pretty good situation around him, has plenty of people dubious over signing him long-term. Especially if his new situation looks worse, like it would in Tennessee.
The ultimate verdict on Darnold will depend on the price. He's far and away the best option on the free agent market, but nobody want's to be the sucker who spends way too much on a long term contract for the one-season-wonder. Darnold is currently on a 1-year $10,000,000 contract with Minnesota, who is sure to be among the teams interested in signing him in the spring. How steep the bids are will dictate how smart an option he would be for the Titans.
Jameis Winston- Free Agent
Jameis Winston, believe it or not, is the 2nd-best QB option on the free agent market this year. The dropoff from Darnold is steep, as nobody really considers Winston anything more than a nice bridge QB.
Winston is going to produce for you, there's no doubt about that. The problem, of course, is that his production doesn't discriminate: he regularly produces for both teams in the game. In just 6 games started for the Browns, he currently has 13 touchdowns and 9 interceptions, averaging 329yds/gm. He's been a revelation for most of the Browns skill players statistically. But he's simply too frenetic and inconsistent a player to be more than a nice bridge.
But is it crazy to think a high-end bridge is the worst thing in the world for a team like Tennessee right now? You don't want a guy you'll fall all the way in love with (again, like Tannehill), but somebody who can get you and your young players through the storm to the opportunity to take your shot on a guy you truly believe in? Somebody your coaching staff can use to help build up team culture and identity, and someone the front office can use as a place-holder to continue building up the rest of the roster around a rookie one day in the future? There's a reason why bridge QBs make a lot of money in this league: they're useful players!
Winston is currently on a 1-year $4,000,000 contract in Cleveland. He'll hit the market and likely be attainable for a bit more than that in 2025 and possibly beyond.
Shedeur Sanders- Colorado
With the top 4 QBs in the 2025 NFL draft, we'll just get a brief introduction to them today. Deep-dives on their profiles will come in hot and heavy from me and others at A to Z in the coming weeks and months.
First up, the consensus big board's 1st overall pick Shedeur Sanders. Everybody, and I mean everybody, has a pre-determined opinion of Sanders. Most formed their takes in 2023, when the Coach Prime media whirlwind began in Colorado. He, and his HOF'er father, are very very polarizing figures.
From a pure football player standpoint, Sanders' greatest crime is not being elite at anything. He doesn't have the biggest arm you've ever seen, he's not the fastest or biggest, and he's not a well-oiled mental machine in the pocket that we've seen other college QBs enter the draft as. In our microwave, superlative culture, if somebody isn't a freak in some regard, we lose interest.
But Sanders might be a B+ across the board. In the same way he's not elite at anything, he's also not really bad at anything either. In three college seasons, he has a TD-INT ratio around 5-1 and his completion percentage hovers around 70%. He has a high floor in my opinion, the only question is what kind of ceiling he could have.
But could the Titans even be in range for him? It seems unlikely. If it's going to the take the 1st or 2nd overall pick to land him, the Titans have a real uphill climb.
But you never know, a couple surprise upsets from teams ahead of them in the order, or a blockbuster trade, could change the math on Sanders potentially landing in Nashville.
Cam Ward- Miami
The 3rd overall pick according to the consensus mock draft board is Miami's Cam Ward. Ward just participated in the Heisman festivities in New York as one of the 2024 finalists.
Ward scares me to death. His highlight reel is more than enough to sell you on him being a total superstar. He makes a couple plays each game that you just don't see others making on Saturdays. But if you view his lowlights tape… you're compelled to run screaming. If you sit long enough watching any given Miami game this year, he's sure to make a play that leaves you with a dozen questions. Why? How? Why?!
It's hard not to see the upside and downside similarities between Ward and Will Levis if you're a Titans fan. And I'd imagine Titans executives will feel that too. It's not a direct comparison, but the "I can get away with anything from anywhere because I am Superman" effect is very real for both on tape. Where he ends up being drafted is a big question mark, perhaps as high as 2nd overall or as low as the mid 1st round. Could the Titans make him their guy in 2025? Possibly! But right now, I would strongly advise against it.
Jalen Milroe- Alabama
We can keep this one short and sweet. Jalen Milroe is the 21st overall pick on the consensus mock draft board as of today, but if you watched the final couple games of Alabama's season, you probably feel like that's likely to change before April. And I'd say you're almost certainly right.
Milroe is an undeniably sexy athlete just in terms of the profile. At 6'1" 225lbs, he's reportedly going to run around a 4.3s 40-yard dash in the spring. God just isn't making many dudes like that.
That athleticism will attract NFL evaluators, even as they watch some truly horrendous stretches of actual quarterbacking from him in 2024. As a processor, he is a significant project. Frankly, I think he'd do really well to return to school purely from a development standpoint. But I doubt he would rather "compete" in the 2026 pool of quarterbacks than in this one, so we'll have to see which GM takes a swing on a guy you could be forgiven for seeing some Jalen Hurts in his game.
Drew Allar- Penn St.
The idea of Drew Allar, the 41st pick on the consensus big board, intrigues me deeply. As I watched him throughout the back-half of the 2024 Penn St. season, I grew more and more fond of the tools we're working with here. Allar is my pick for the QB who will rise up draft boards the furthest between now and April. Currently sitting as an early Day 2 pick, I would bet significant money he ends up inside the top-20 picks when it's all said and done. He's exactly the kind of guy people haven't paid a ton of attention to this year, and upon review in the heat of draft season, his stock catches fire.
His 21-7 TD/INT ratio, 70% completion percentage, and 109.5 passer rating are good, but don't jump off the page. When you get into some of his advanced metrics though, or just turn on the tape, you see an NFL quarterback. His pressure-to-sack rate of 10.6% is very healthy, and on film his big arm and ability to make every throw to every part of the field pops out at you.
You could see his stock rise in a hurry, as he's the only QB in this group playing in the College Football Playoff. Remember what C.J. Stroud's big playoff performance did for his narrative that draft cycle? Something similar could befall Allar with just one big game on the national stage. I wouldn't be shocked to see the Titans picking in the 5-7 range with people seriously discussing how in on Allar they are in April.
UPDATE: on Monday morning, Pete Thamel reported that Drew Allar has told Penn St. he intends on returning to school in 2025. His promising young backup, Beau Pribula, announced late Sunday that he would be entering the Transfer Portal and would not be waiting until after the College Football Playoff.
Now, there’s always a chance this changes with a big showing from Allar in the playoffs. If he’s suddenly poised to be a lock top-15 pick, that certainly changes the financial math at the very least. But if he does end up back at Penn State in 2025, it has massive draft ramifications for the next two cycles.
Selfishly, it really stinks for the 2025 class. He was one of the only truly intriguing QB options in an otherwise subpar class. It makes a thin group a whole lot thinner. Unselfishly, it’s likely to be a move that does Allar some good. If he’s suddenly poised takes the next step with another year of development in school (though Penn St. isn’t exactly known for their ability to develop QBs), he could solidify himself as a top-10 or even top-5 pick in 2026.
Will Levis does his part to put Titans-Bengals in the wrong NFL history book
You like turnovers? Because, boy, do we have turnovers!
