National Football League

Why the Titans need to ride with QB Will Levis — turnovers and all

Published Sep. 30, 2024 2:30 p.m. ET

When Will Levis threw a pick-six in the Titans' Week 3 loss to the Green Bay Packers, continuing his propensity for turnovers to start the season, Brian Callahan wasn't angry. Not like we saw during his outburst on the sideline after Levis' unbelievable lost fumble in scoring position against the New York Jets, when cameras caught the rookie head coach yelling, "What the f--- are you doing?" Or after Levis' reckless, nail-in-the-coffin pick-six in the season opener against the Chicago Bears.

In Week 3, Callahan looked at Jaire Alexander's 35-yard interception return as just a nice play made by an All-Pro-caliber cornerback. Alexander jumped the route perfectly after sitting on it, Callahan explained. He saw nothing wrong timing-wise between Levis and the intended receiver, DeAndre Hopkins.

"That wasn't a stupid mistake at all," Callahan said postgame.

"Will did some really good things in this game, I thought."

Callahan's perspective coming out of Week 3 should serve as a reminder of what should be the Titans' overarching goal for this season: figuring out if Levis is the guy or not. That means riding with him for the full season, bumps and all, continuing Monday night against the Miami Dolphins.

The giveaways are impossible to ignore, of course. The disastrous ones are seared into the brains of Titans fans. Levis leads the NFL with eight turnovers, including five interceptions (tied for second-most) and three lost fumbles (tied for the NFL-high). He's had multiple giveaways in each of Tennessee's games to this point, including three in both Weeks 1 and 3.

That's why, just three games into Levis' second season, some league observers are already questioning his viability to be the Titans' long-term quarterback.

"We gotta get it fixed," Callahan said of the turnovers. "Whatever that looks like. However that looks, it doesn't really matter. We can't lead the league in turnovers at the quarterback position and expect to win a lot of games, so that part has got to get better."

But you can't look at the negatives without considering the positives.

Levis has flashed promise amid the turnover struggles. Entering Week 4, he was 14th in completion rate (68.1%), tied for ninth in touchdown passes (4) and 11th in touchdown rate (4.3%) among the 31 qualified quarterbacks, according to Pro Football Reference.

That has come despite poor pass protection. The right tackle job has become an open competition after just three games. Levis has been sacked 15 times, which before Sunday's games trailed only the Cleveland Browns' Deshaun Watson, and had lost more yards to sacks than any other quarterback in the league (101) entering Week 4. Levis has faced a league-high 13.7% sack rate, per Pro Football Reference.

Keep in mind that Levis has started just 12 NFL games. His completion rate, touchdown rate and passing success rate are all pacing better than when he was a rookie.

Hopkins, his favorite target last season, was slowed to start the season due to a training-camp knee injury. After having just two receptions on three targets for 17 yards and no scores in the first two games combined, Hopkins in Week 3 had six catches on seven targets for 73 yards and a touchdown. That should be a connection Levis can lean on moving forward, as he continues to learn what it takes to be an NFL starting quarterback.

Though he showed frustration with the second-year quarterback the first couple games, Callahan remains confident in Levis as QB1.

"We have to play better around him," Callahan said.

The Titans would gain nothing from benching Levis. If the goal is to find out if he can be your franchise quarterback, you give him the full year as a showcase. If the turnover issue persists, he can play you into a top draft pick that can potentially be used to take a quarterback in 2025. As one of two teams without a win, the Titans are in the very early race for the No. 1 overall pick.

But that's not where Tennessee is at right now. It's still early in the season, October knocking on the door. With a first-year head coach and new coordinators implementing a new scheme on a roster that has undergone so much turnover, the Titans are still learning about themselves.

That process of discovering an identity takes precedence over any definitive assessment of Levis at this time.

"I'd say there's an urgency," Callahan said. "There's an urgency to get the things that need to be fixed and make improvements fast. And again, I think that's what makes teams good in this league is how quickly you can fix an issue and how urgent you are to get it done. You only got 17 weeks to get it all done."

Levis' teammates remain confident in him.

"He's under a lot of stress and things like that," wide receiver Tyler Boyd said last week. "We know that he's been through a lot with social media and … he's trying to block that out and at the same time, play good. But at the end of the day, we just have to have his back. Just like he has our back."

And Levis remains confident in himself.

"I think it's easy to kind of be in the 'Woe is me. What am I doing wrong? Am I not good enough?'" Levis said. "You can never let that exactly seep into your brain. You've got to come back and just remind yourself of what kind of player you are and what got you to this point."

Only time will tell if that's good enough to be the Titans' franchise quarterback.

Ben Arthur is an NFL reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.

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