Tennessee Titans officially name Will Levis as starting quarterback

The Will Levis era in Nashville is here.

On Tuesday afternoon, Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel officially named Levis as the franchise’s starting quarterback for the remainder of the season. Ryan Tannehill, who was the team’s starting quarterback to begin the season before suffering an ankle injury, has been tabbed as the backup whenever he returns to full strength. Vrabel shared the news with both signal-callers during a Tuesday morning meeting.

“Will is gonna be our quarterback. We’re gonna go with Will,” Vrabel told reporters. “We think that’s the best opportunity for our football team right now.”

#Titans Mike Vrabel makes it official:

Will Levis is the future of the Tennessee Titans pic.twitter.com/HF2guKSe8n

— Easton Freeze (@eastonfreeze) November 7, 2023

Levis has started the last two games for the Titans in place of the injured Tannehill. During his debut on Sunday, Oct. 29 against the Atlanta Falcons, the former Kentucky quarterback led Tennessee to a 28-23 win behind 238 yards and four passing touchdowns with zero interceptions. He posted a quarterback rating of 130.5 in the victory. Levis then took the starting reins again during a quick turnaround this past Thursday. Despite a solid individual performance that saw him go 22-39 for 262 yards, he did throw one late-game interception and did not record a touchdown in a 20-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Those two games were more than enough though in the eyes of Vrabel. Levis, who was selected with the 33rd overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, has already proved he’s worthy of the starting role moving forward. After Vrabel kept quiet on who would take over as QB1 in recent weeks following Tannehill’s injury, he decided it was time to officially make the switch to the rookie this week.

Levis and the Titans (3-5) will return to action this Sunday when they visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. EST on CBS. The Buccaneers rank 31st in the NFL in opponent passing yards per game this season at 279.4.