Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Why Will Levis was drafted by the Tennessee Titans | 2023 NFL Draft Reaction

Starting point is 00:00:00 With the 33rd pick in the NFL draft, the Tennessee Titans select Kentucky QB Will Levis. I am Tanisha Batiste and we have Locked On Titans host Tyler Rowland here with us. And this Locked On NFL draft coverage is presented by Ultimate Football GM. You think you can run an NFL franchise? Well, visit ultimate-gm.com to play the ultimate NFL GM simulation game. Start your dynasty today. And Ryan, as we know, or Tyler, rather, as we know, and I'll tell you why I said Ryan in a heartbeat, right? And I know that's why you're- Oh, yeah.

Starting point is 00:00:35 Right? Oh, yeah. So we've got Malik Willis. We've got Ryan Tannehill. What was your instant reaction, Tyler, when you heard the words Will Levis? Well, I think it's understandable why the Titans would want to make this move. Ryan Tannehill, 35 years old. I don't know if they believe that Malik Willis can develop into a starting quarterback in the NFL based on what they saw from him in year one.

Starting point is 00:01:00 So in the second round, you're like, hey, this is a first round prospect. Potentially he falls to the second round. Ryan Tannehill hey, this is a first-round prospect potentially. He falls to the second round. Ryan Tannehill, as we just mentioned, getting older, expensive. It would make sense for the Titans to find maybe a Ryan Tannehill type of player, but cheaper on a rookie contract. And Will Levis does have a little bit of that to him. So it was, I guess, it's not surprising to see the Titans make a move. We knew that they were interested in the quarterbacks during the pre-draft process.

Starting point is 00:01:28 But seeing it be Will Levis after his fall in the first round and just the polarizing nature of him as a prospect, it was a little jarring to see it actually happen. You have to admit, it was crazy to see. So with all the different moving pieces with the Titans quarterback room, I guess at the end of the day, it's not surprising, but it was still a little bit jarring to see it finally happen with the nature of Will Levis as a player.

Starting point is 00:01:51 A lot of fans of the Titans, a lot of my listeners on the Locked on Titans podcast don't really seem to be a big fan of Mr. Mayo in the coffee. So it'll be interesting to see the fan reaction now, not only to what this means for Tannehill, what this means for Malik, but just what it means for the reception of Will Levis on his own. And I think that's a very interesting point because you have three decidedly different skill sets, if you will. And that was an interesting thing. If you're watching that first round, right, Tyler, and you're seeing Will Levis just stay on the board, stay on the board, stay on the board. And you're wondering where he's going to land. I want to admit to you as well, that when you look at it from the perspective of need versus best player available, this seems like this might be more on the BPA side versus need, but what say you?

Starting point is 00:02:38 Yeah, I think, I think that's probably right. And I think regardless of what the public opinion is on Will Levis or what the fan base's opinion is on Will Levis, I would imagine that the Titans had him as the highest graded player on their board when he came up and it was possible to go up and get him at 33. They're looking at it like, hey, this is a guy who maybe we have ranked in the top 20 on our board. He's available at 33. We can make a cheap trade, which by the way, the trade that the Titans made up to 33, swapping third round picks, swapping second round picks, give them a third next year. Really not that bad of a price. Not really worried about the price that was paid to go up and do that. Nothing too punitive looking forward into the future. But I mean,

Starting point is 00:03:21 I think you're onto something at the end of the day. They're like, Hey, this guy's ranked so high on our board and he's still available. We have to go and get him. So regardless of what people outside the building think, it's obvious that they had a high opinion of Will Levis inside the building. And you know, that's all that really matters to the people making the decisions. Now, one thing you have to like is, and this is, it's interesting because like you said, it just kind of depends on which side of the fence that you're on. But ultimately speaking, it looks like the Titans are saying, hey, we want to shore up everything on the offensive side of the ball for ourselves in these early rounds.

Starting point is 00:03:54 Of course, with Peter Skowronski going in that first round. So when you kind of look and you project out for what's going to happen next, now you've got a little bit of work in the trenches. Now you've got some competition under center. Where do you see the Titans possibly going next? Well, I think the youth movement on offense needs to continue. And I think that you can make the argument that the Titans have the worst wide receiver group in the NFL right now. I mean, Traylon Burks has really high potential, showed some really good moments in year one, but outside of that, it's not a lot to point to. So I think the Titans need to look to add a receiver in round three. They're going to have pick 81 now. I think there are going to be a lot of good names available

Starting point is 00:04:33 like an A.T. Perry, maybe a Cedric Tillman, maybe a Marvin Mims or a Tyler Scott. Those are some names that I think would make sense for the Titans going forward because you look at that receiver room and they could add a tight end. They add more o-line they could add defense but I think that wide receiver room really needs some TLC so one of those receivers should be there for him in the third round now this has been a very rich draft right in terms of even on the defensive side everyone kind of focused on the QBs if you will and there was the run of QBs and then we saw the run of the wide receivers as well, and your thought is maybe, especially maybe in that third, maybe fourth round, the Titans

Starting point is 00:05:09 might go for wide receiver and just kind of shore things up furthermore on the offensive side of the ball. Let's switch to the defensive side of the ball as well. There are some jewels. This, to me, has been one of those kind of interesting drafts where, yes, you have kind of the Will Andersons or the Jalen Carters of the world that are kind of high on the board, if you will, and you kind of go to the middle of the pack and there's still a lot left in sort of a lot of juice left in the orange, if you will. On the defensive side of the ball, where do you think might be that next pick and maybe that diamond in the rough that somewhere in that maybe third, fourth round, if you will, the Titans can say, wow, we've got somebody that can really be a compliment to whom we already have on defense.

Starting point is 00:05:51 Well, I think, and Titans fans may roll their eyes when they hear this because the Titans have added some linebackers already in free agency. But I think that it's possible that the Titans aren't satisfied with the linebackers that the previous general manager brought in, and they want to totally revamp that. Plus, new general manager, Rand Carthon, had some success with the organization in San Francisco. Finding some linebackers in the mid to late rounds that really turned into be studs,

Starting point is 00:06:15 and somebody like Pete Warner and somebody like Dre Greenlaw. I think that they could look for a linebacker, and I think a guy who might be available in the third round is Dorian Williams, a pass coverage linebacker. I think he's got great athleticism and side to side ability. He could really be an option for the Titans out of Tulane. I think that would, that would make a lot of sense for him. And then going a little bit deeper in the later rounds, I think a guy like Nick Hampton, an edge rusher out of Appalachian state, got great athleticism, good bend, good twitch needs to add a little mass on his frame, but I think that could be a great late round edge project for the Titans to select.

Starting point is 00:06:49 Yeah, it's going to be interesting in the AFC South. You know, some of our conversation on the sidelines was about the AFC North, rather, and how intriguing and how interesting it is. Well, the Texans made it interesting in the AFC South on round one on Thursday. The Colts made some interesting moves as well. Now sort of time. It's almost like saying in the second round, it's where the Titans are really going to be able to respond and kind of in those later rounds as well to say, okay, what are we going

Starting point is 00:07:15 to get from Mike Brable to be able to really put the Titans or keep the Titans in position to be able to compete in what I believe Tyler is still going to be quite a competitive division. Yeah, I think so too. And I think just the intrigue of having four young quarterbacks, the three rookies that got drafted today, adding into Trevor Lawrence, I think that gives the division a little bit more buzz than it's had in previous years. Indeed, we will be watching. So for more on the Titans draft, you can follow Locked on Titans.

Starting point is 00:07:42 Follow my guy, Tyler Rowland, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks a lot, Tyler. Appreciate you.

Locked On Titans - Daily Podcast On The Tennessee Titans - Why Will Levis was drafted by the Tennessee Titans | 2023 NFL Draft Reaction

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