Kentucky quarterback Will Levis is one of the top quarterback prospects in the 2023 NFL Draft. He could go as high as No. 2 and shouldn’t fall below No. 4. No matter where he ends up on draft night, the team that gets him is getting a quarterback with a high ceiling but also a relatively low floor. So, let’s look at the Will Levis scouting report to determine the three current and former NFL stars who are the closest Will Levis player comparisons.

The Will Levis scouting report starts with his size. He looks like the prototypical modern NFL signal-caller at 6-foot-4, 229 pounds, and has a more ripped physique than your average QB prospect. He also has a rocket arm and can make all the throws.

On the flip side, Levis’ production — especially in his final year at Kentucky — didn’t match the talent. He makes some poor decisions at times, both throwing the ball and when running, which led to injuries hampering him during his last Wildcats campaign.

At best, Levis can be an All-Pro signal-caller and franchise QB who can make his new team a contender. At worst, his physical gifts will allow him to play at the pro level, but his deficiencies will ensure he’s not a winner. With that in mind, here are the three best Will Levis player comparisons.

3. Jared Goff

Let’s start in the middle of the pack. The median outcome for Will Levis is the career of Jared Goff. Levis may not be ready to be an NFL starter right away, and the best-case scenario is that the team that drafts him has a veteran in place to let him sit for a year.

If the team that takes Levis in the 2023 NFL Draft gives him time to develop and learn the NFL game, he has the chance to be a solid NFL starter, ala Goff.

Goff gets a bad rap as the No. 1 overall pick back in 2016. However, at just 28 years old, he is a three-time Pro Bowler, has played in a Super Bowl, and nearly led a young team to the playoffs last season.

When Goff gets the right coaching and has the right talent around him, his baseline talent wins out, and he can win games. The Will Levis scouting report leans the same way. Levis will always have talent, which means he’ll play, and in the right environment he’ll win games but occasionally make some head-scratching decisions like Goff still does.

If the Jared Goff-Will Levis player comparison bears out, the team that takes him in the NFL draft will, overall, be OK with that.

2. Jay Cutler

On the lower end of the Will Levis player comparisons is Jay Cutler. “Smokin’ Jay” had a long, lucrative career because any NFL talent evaluator that ever saw him spin the pigskin downfield said to themselves, “I can get the best out of that guy.”

The problem was, no one ever could.

The specific issue with Cutler seemed to be that he just didn’t care. The Will Levis scouting report says the opposite but ends up in the same place. Levis is maniacal about training, which is why he looks like a bodybuilder with his shirt off. However, that obsessive trait may mean he won’t be able to get out of his own head in the NFL, which will lead to mistakes on the field.

Levis should play in the NFL for a long time. But if he ends up like Cutler, who always made the soul-crushing mistake at the worst moments (unlike Goff, who only sometimes does that), he may never become a winning player.

1. Josh Allen

The last of the Will Levis player comparisons is the one you hear most often: Josh Allen.

Allen and Levis are similar in many ways. They are physically similar and have a lot of the same athletic traits and skills. They also had comparable college careers, where they were better in their penultimate seasons than their final campaigns because they lost a lot of the talent around them.

The two QBs’ development trajectories could be the same, too. Allen showed flashes in his first two seasons but didn’t truly put it together until Year 3. That’s about what the team who takes Levis in the 2023 NFL Draft should expect as well. Chances are he won’t be ready to carry a team to the playoffs until 2025.

The final reason the Josh Allen-Will Levis player comparison is apt is that neither will ever be flawless signal-callers. Allen makes some unconscionable throws at times because his arm talent is so incredible. And he runs like the big kid Pop Warner even though there are 300-pound men on the opposing defense.

Allen will likely never stop doing these things, and Levis probably won’t either. Still, at their best, they can be at the top of the NFL QB heap.