The Ryan Tannehill era as the Tennessee Titans starting quarterback is officially over and the Will Levis era is here after the rookie quarterback led his team to a 28-23 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in Week 8.
This victory moved the Titans to 3-4 on the season and put them into a tie for second place in the AFC South with the Houston Texans, two games behind the Jacksonville Jaguars, and just a game out of a Wild Card spot.
If Levis plays like he did on Sunday, he will keep the starting job for sure. However, as a rookie QB, there will certainly be ups and downs along the way as the season continues. The temptation for head coach Mike Vrabel may be to put Tannehill back in if the Titans stay in the fight for a playoff spot as the campaign continues. That is not a good idea, though.
Why Will Levis must stay the Titans' starting quarterback over Ryan Tannehill
In the NFL — and pro sports that have drafts in general — there is nowhere worse to be than in the middle. Every team is trying to finish the season at or near the top, but for the two-thirds of the NFL who can’t do that, it’s better to be bad than just OK.
Bad gets you a better draft pick and the leeway with ownership and fans to make the tough decisions that need to be made to get a team to the top. The middle gets you more of the same year after year.
We all know exactly what Ryan Tannehill is, especially at 35 years old. He is the middle. He is a walking Wild Card berth and maybe a playoff win or two. Tannehill is not a Super Bowl-caliber quarterback, even with a good defense and a top running game.
To re-install the veteran as the Titans starting quarterback when he returns from injury will only bring Vrabel and his team more of the same, at best. At worst, it will get them just close enough to the playoffs to drop their draft pick to the middle without getting that nice playoff bump.
After what we all say in the Titans Week 8 matchup with the Falcons, it’s safe to say that Levis is not the middle.
The second-round rookie out of Kentucky went 19-of-29 for 238 yards four touchdowns, no interceptions, and two sacks. Levis also ran seven times for 11 yards.
Levis’ stat line looks great, and for the most part, his performance was. The young signal-caller showed off his rocket arm, showed poise in the pocket, and in a shockingly bold move, he threw it repeatedly to his All-Pro wide receiver, DeAndre Hopkins! In the end, Levis looked exactly like what many pundits (myself [pats self on back] included) thought he would look like coming out of college, which is the next Josh Allen.
Now, if Titans fans think Levis is going to look like (the good) Josh Allen every week, they are likely going to be sorely disappointed. The Titans' new QB is a rookie, and we all know that rookies often struggle in their first season. Heck, Allen struggled in his first three seasons before truly putting it together.
And if Levis does struggle, that’s OK. Getting him NFL reps is most important right now, and if the team doesn’t win another game, preparing Levis for the future will make this all worthwhile.
All that said, maybe Levis is as good as he looked against the Falcons, which means he could have top-10 or even top-five QB potential. There is a chance that is true and the QB can lead the Titans on a real postseason run this year. All we know for sure is that Tannehill no longer has that potential (and maybe never did).
The final reason Titans coach Mike Vrabel needs to start Will Levis for the rest of the year after his Week 8 performance is that the head coach has more job security than almost anyone in the NFL. Vrabel made Tannehill and Derrick Henry into a winning combination when most thought that was impossible. That bought the head coach Vrabel a ton of goodwill in Nashville and within Nissan Stadium. Outside of Andy Reid, Nick Sirianni, Pete Carroll, and maybe a few others, no one in the league has more job security than Vrabel right now.
With that job security, Vrabel should focus on building for the future, not just for this season, which is what keeping Levis as the starter for the rest of the season would do.
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