Todd McShay, Mel Kiper Jr have strong debate over Will Levis NFL readiness

ESPN draft analysts Todd McShay and Mel Kiper Jr had a strong disagreement while debating their draft predictions for Will Levis. McShay’s latest mock draft listed Levis going to the Panthers as the ninth-overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, the fourth quarterback selected in the top ten.

According to McShay, Levis would be fourth among quarterbacks behind Bryce Young, CJ Stroud and Anthony Richardson. After spelling out his criticisms, Kiper responded that he wasn’t grading properly when looking at Levis’s full career with the Wildcats.

McShay responded with another criticism and called Levis a “workout warrior” comparable to Tim Tebow.

Mel Kiper attacks Todd McShay criticisms of Will Levis

“Will Levis, the fourth of the four quarterbacks that are gonna’ go in the first round,” started McShay. “And listen, there’s so much to like about him, 6’4”, 229… cannon for an arm as he described during his interview at the combine. And he’s played in a pro-style system the past few years.

“The struggle I have with him… offensive line was terrible, running back was suspended the first four games, he was battling injuries. I love the fact that he played through the injuries, he’s a warrior. There isn’t a person in Kentucky, in the state of Kentucky that would say anything negative about this young man with his leadership and his toughness.

“But inside the pocket Mel, when things start to get muddy, eyes drop, he starts to panic. 23 interceptions the past two years and some late mistakes. Late interceptions, late fumbles in games, and I’m struggling with it because I want to love him. There’s so much to love but there is some things that are holding me back from making him one of the top two, three quarterbacks in this class.”

Although he provided several positives for Levis and listed him as a top-ten pick in this year’s draft, Kiper took issue with his critique of a quarterback he felt was almost equal to Young and Stroud.

“I have no problem with him being, in your mind, QB4. I kind of like it because Justin Fields was QB4, Josh Allen was QB3, Justin Herbert was QB3. I’m all good with that, quarterbacks that have fallen have turned out to be pretty doggone good,” responded Kiper.

“But to your point about Will Levis, it didn’t come easy for Will because he played at Kentucky. He didn’t have four and five-star recruits all over the place. You think about what he did this year, battling through multiple injuries with a bad offensive line in front of him, yet was still out there gutting it out. Two years ago with Liam Coen coordinating the offense and a good line and Wan’Dale Robinson catching the football — he was excellent.

“He did have some turnovers, he did force some things, there were some things you were left scratching your head. But he was trying to make plays for Kentucky. And he had a great career over the last two years at Kentucky for the Wildcats. Made them relevant, put them in a position where they can go toe-to-toe with some of the elite teams in college football.”

McShay responded by doubling down on his point that he liked Levis overall, but wasn’t convinced he was ready to start at the next level.

“A lot of the short passes, the easy passes — reminds me of Brady Quinn, Tim Tebow. He is a workout warrior, he loves the weight room. And everyone will say that they have to rip him out of the weight room. And you can see just the lack of touch underneath. This is not gonna turn into a ‘I hate Will Levis…’ that’s not the deal. I’m just saying there are some concerns when you look at the next level,” closed McShay.