Will Levis is the latest cautionary tale of a manufactured NFL Draft hype machine built on speculation, anonymous whispers and conjecture
The Will Levis rollercoaster draft process will end sometime Friday night. The former Kentucky quarterback will likely make a NFL franchise in Round 2 quite happy, with their fan base believing they got the “steal” of the 2023 draft.
Perhaps they did.
More likely though, they got a good, developmental prospect right around where he was supposed to get picked all along.
Instead, Will Levis will be dubbed an NFL Draft “loser” for the rest of his career. Levis was the latest casualty in a manufactured NFL Draft hype machine built on guesstimates and maybes — especially around quarterbacks.
Like Aaron Rodgers or Brady Quinn, he’ll forever be linked with those long greenroom stares. It worked out just fine for Rodgers. It didn’t for Quinn. We’ll see how it turns out for Levis.
“There’s so many good things about Will Levis,” ESPN draft expert Todd McShay said Thursday night on SportsCenter.
“He’s a flamethrower. He’s got mobility. He’s built sturdy. He’s tough as nails. He’s the ultimate competitor. But…”
… But he never played like a 1st Round pick in college. Not at Penn State, where he couldn’t beat out Sean Clifford. Not at Kentucky, where he flashed some interesting traits but showed real flaws with accuracy concerns (65.4% completion) and turnover issues (23 picks the last two seasons).
At 6-4, 230 pounds with a big arm and intriguing mobility, Levis might’ve looked like Josh Allen, but that’s where the comparisons should’ve ended full-stop.
But they didn’t.
Throughout the draft process, Levis’ rise up the mocks never matched what most college football fans saw with their own two eyes.
I’m no draft guru. Have never pretended to be one. But the Will Levis pre-draft propaganda push never made any sense.
Less than 24 hours before Thursday’s 1st Round, Levis’ odds spiked dramatically. Suddenly, not only was he projected as a surefire Day 1 pick, he was the betting favorite to go inside the Top 2 picks. There was also an anonymous Reddit post claiming inside information on him going No. 1 overall. Multiple insiders linked him to Indianapolis.
Only, he wasn’t the No. 2 overall pick.
He didn’t just slide outside the Top 5 or Top 10. He wasn’t drafted in the first round, period.
When the Colts selected Anthony Richardson at No. 4 overall, Levis’ night looked to be long. Then when the Titans, Patriots, Buccaneers and Vikings all passed on him, it seemed inevitable that he’d slip outside the 1st Round unless a team traded back into the mix. The NFL clearly did not view Levis’ draft prospects like all the reporting about Levis’ sky-high draft potential. We know this because 32 teams looked at the quarterback Thursday night and said, “Pass.”
None of this is Will Levis’ fault.
He’s simply the latest victim in a process that too often chews up prospects because of a lack of true information. It’s all speculation. Conjecture. Whispers and agendas.
The betting markets and mock drafts are what makes much of the NFL Draft conversations fun. But there’s also a cost. Not for us, the fans. But for the prospects themselves.
Whether it was Levis’ camp, agent, Kentucky, whoever, it ultimately doesn’t matter who was pushing the narrative that he was a top-flight quarterback prospect. He clearly never was, but they don’t have to wear the draft night failure. He does. He bears the brunt of everyone else’s “expectations.”
Let Will Levis’ slide serve as another cautionary NFL Draft tale, and one we all should remember a year from now when Spencer Rattler or Bo Nix is suddenly garnering “what are you talking about” Top 5 buzz.