Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - BONUS CLIP: Tennessee Titans name Will Levis starting quarterback going forward

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Tennessee Titans name will Levis as their starting quarterback going forward. And here to break it all down is the one, the only Tyler Rowland of locked on Titans. You can find them on your favorite social media at Tic Tac Titans. Tyler, let's start off with the big question here. Is this the right choice by the Tennessee Titans? Yeah, absolutely was the right choice. And I think whether you're talking about the longterm, which is what everybody is thinking about, the Titans are 3-5.

Starting point is 00:00:25 The roster is not one of the better rosters in the NFL. The odds are they're not going to make any kind of deep, impactful playoff run. So at 3-5 after that loss to the Steelers, it would make sense that you would prioritize the future. But I think you could make the other argument as well that just Will Levis is the better player right now than Ryan Tannehill. So I think that makes it the easy decision. And, you know, obviously we see some weird coaching stuff every week.

Starting point is 00:00:49 You know, Arthur Smith down in the NFC South coming from the Vrabel tree and then Vrabel, we're going to rotate quarterbacks and all this nonsense. It's a refreshing thing for Mike Vrabel to just step out there and make the right, normal, easy decision that's best for the team. Not go kicking and screaming into doing it like he did with playing Will Levis just by himself. So I think that's great. But honestly, whether you want it to be long-term,

Starting point is 00:01:14 whether you want it to be short-term, I think this is the right answer because Will Levis is the future for the Titans, and I think he's a better player than Ryan Tannehill as well. So absolutely the correct decision, and more importantly than just the correct decision, glad that Mike Vrabel made it easy on everybody as well. There you go. A nice, a nice nod from Mike Vrabel there. A good changing of the course of it for him. What is it about Will Levis that makes him the better choice? Well, I think that with the Titans struggles as a team, the offensive line is just struggling mightily, especially at the offensive

Starting point is 00:01:45 tackle position. The Titans are a team that, you know, you have a guy like DeAndre Hopkins, who's played well, but even he has had his tremendous struggles against press coverage. Outside of that, Traylon Burks is always injured. Nick Westbrook and Keeney, good role player, but he's not beating man coverage consistently. So with the lack of separation that the receivers get here, the lack of time that you have with that offensive line, you need a quarterback with a little bit of mobility. You need a quarterback with a little bit of youth, a little bit of juice, a little bit of pop. One, he can make things happen with his arm that may not be there with Ryan Tannehill.

Starting point is 00:02:17 And Tannehill always had a pretty good arm in his own right. But Will Levis has potentially an elite all-time arm that he has there. And then also, Tannehill has always been a guy who struggled with mobility in the pocket. He wasn't the most fleet of foot or nimblest in the pocket, kind of clunky back there. Levis is much better at sliding over, buying time, keeping his feet in the right position so he can continue to make throws. So just everything about his youth and athleticism makes more sense for the struggles that this Tennessee Titans offense is going to have

Starting point is 00:02:48 that aren't correctable by the end of the year with separation and then the blocking on the offensive line. Yeah, and obviously with more reps, you'll see some of the growth areas for Will Levis kind of even out as well. But obviously that athleticism, hard to pass up on. You mentioned Ryan Tannehill there. What's the future for Ryan Tannehill?

Starting point is 00:03:04 Have we seen him barring injury or anything moving forward here? Have we seen him take his last snap as a Tennessee Titan? I think it's definitely a possibility. And if you're a Tennessee Titans fan, you're hoping that that is the case. Cause that would mean that Will Levis probably got injured along the way, which is a concern with the state of the offensive line that we just talked about and his kind of aggressive style of play. But I think it's possible if Levis stays healthy that Tannehill is done. Now, one thing that I would say here, people talk about getting a veteran backup quarterback

Starting point is 00:03:35 to go with Will Levis next year. You're going away from having the young developing backup like you had with Malik Willis and then had with Will Levis at the start of this season. If the Titans go with a veteran backup that maybe you could pay a little bit more for than you would a lower end backup because you have a rookie on a rookie contract at quarterback, why not Ryan Tannehill come back to Tennessee to be the backup? Someone who knows the system, who's comfortable

Starting point is 00:03:59 there, whose family's been there, who'll be appreciated as a person, even in a backup role. He's handled this whole thing very professionally on the sideline, encouraging Will Levis. So while I think that the odds are that this is Tannehill's last time in Tennessee, we won't see him take a snap as the starter again. I think that there's an argument to be made that depending on Ryan Tannehill's market and what opportunities he has, the best thing for his career going forward is to commit to being a veteran backup and a mentor role and where better for him to be than staying in Tennessee. So I would keep that on the table if I were a Titans fan or the organization. Yeah, it'd be a great setup for

Starting point is 00:04:33 Will Levis too, to have a guy that knows the system, like you mentioned. Now kind of lost in the sauce and all this too is Malik Willis. What does all this mean for him? Drafted just a year ago, sort of one of those guys that was expected to be one of the top talents at the position quarterback in that year's draft. What does this mean for him moving forward? Well, I think at the end of the day, Malik Willis was in a tough situation. He needs years of development. And I don't know if you're afforded years of development in the NFL, regardless of where

Starting point is 00:05:00 you're picked. But when you're picked in the third round and some people had first round height for Willis, people just expected more quicker, and maybe that's not fair. I think the truth is Malik Willis may not have enough time for any team to develop into an NFL-quality quarterback. And if you're the Titans and you're going with a young quarterback, and Levis, like I just said, makes much more sense to have a veteran backup

Starting point is 00:05:20 that you can count on rather than to continue to try to develop Malik Willis as the backup when you know that Levis is the guy. I think if the Titans could maybe find a team to take a conditional seventh rounder for Willis, if he makes the roster, it converts, something like that. But otherwise, if I'm the Titans, I just simply go ahead and let go of Malik Willis in the offseason, commit fully to Will Levis and his development. And that seems like what they're doing right now. So it only makes sense they would continue to do that

Starting point is 00:05:45 with their roster moves in the offseason. The Will Levis era is underway in Nashville. And I promise you this, you will not find better coverage of Will Levis and the Tennessee Titans than with Tyler Rowland here over at Locked on Titans every single Monday through Friday. Here as a part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Tyler, thanks so much for taking the time, buddy. Absolutely.

Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - BONUS CLIP: Tennessee Titans name Will Levis starting quarterback going forward

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