Will Levis doesn't mince words. He says what he means, which includes his and his teammates' desire to defy their doubters during the 2024 NFL season.
It's fair to say that the 24-year-old Levis is using the outside doubt as motivation as he enters his first full season as the Tennessee Titans' quarterback.
"We want to make a playoff run," Levis recently said in a one-on-one interview with CBS Sports. "That's the biggest goal for us. Obviously, every team's goal is going to win a Super Bowl ... but we're going to take it one game at a time.
"We know we've got a tough schedule, and all we want to do is is play within ourselves, learn from each other, love each other, and prove a lot of people wrong. We know that there's a lot of doubters out there that don't think that we're gonna be worth anything this year."
Levis is used to defying critics. Leading up to the 2023 NFL Draft, many analysts nitpicked his college tape, specifically harping on his turnovers (he had 23 interceptions during his two years at Kentucky). His impressive arm talent was often overlooked by his mistakes.
The Titans, though, felt that Levis' talent and potential was worth selecting him with the 33rd overall pick. In turn, Levis quickly rewarded Tennessee for its faith in him. In his first start, Levis joined Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton and former No. 1 overall pick Marcus Mariota as the only quarterbacks to throw four touchdowns in his first career game. Levis, it should be noted, did not a pick in Tennessee's 28-23 win over the Falcons.
Levis again turned doubters into believers six weeks later when the Titans visited the Miami Dolphins on prime time.
Trailing late in the game, an ill-advised pitch by Levis led to a fumble and subsequent Dolphins touchdown that put the Titans in a 27-13 hole with 4:34 left. Levis, though, more than made up for his gaffe in the game's closing minutes. He went 7-for-9 on the Titans' ensuing drive that included a nifty touchdown pass to DeAndre Hopkins that cut the deficit to 27-21 following his two-point pass to Nick Westbrook-Ikhine.
Staying alive! #ProBowlVote + @DeAndreHopkins#ProBowlVote + @will_levis
— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) December 12, 2023
📺: Watch #TENvsMIA on @ESPNNFL pic.twitter.com/IPzrIckpWC
After his defense forced a quick punt, Levis fired a 36-yard completion to Hopkins to start the Titans' next drive. Another Levis completion on the next play set up Derrick Henry's short touchdown run that gave Tennessee a shocking lead with 1:53 left. The Titans sealed the 28-27 win after forcing a turnover on downs on Miami's final drive.
"I didn't recognize how kind of historic it was until after the fact and realized what we did," Levis said of the win. "It's one of those situations where your coach is telling you we still have a chance. ... Was just really proud of how our guys responded after a really tough drive that I fumbled away and they were able to score to take that two-score lead.
"We could have, you know, rolled over and let the rest of the game just play out. ... It was just a great team win, and definitely the most fun I had, especially being on that stage on a 'Monday Night Football' game."
Levis' touchdown pass to Hopkins (which he called one of his favorite plays from last season) encapsulates the type of player Levis is. His style conjures up memories of Brett Favre, the Hall of Fame quarterback whose gunslinging style kept you on the edge of your seat.
Levis acknowledged that he has heard the comparisons to Favre, which he doesn't mind except for the interception comparisons (Favre has the NFL record for career picks). Like Favre, Levis considers himself a gunslinger.
"I think in my definition of it," he said. "But I think a lot of people, when they hear gunslinger, they think about recklessness. I definitely feel like I was a little too reckless in my college career and tried to make some throws that I would want to take back. I changed that mentality a bit in my play last year. Just realizing at the level that I was playing at where I had to be that much more careful with the ball. I was proud of how I was able to protect it a little more than I did in my college years."
Favre's gunslinger approach made him more than a Hall of Fame quarterback. It also made him one of the NFL's most popular and entertaining players. Levis, though, covets a different Favre legacy as a Super Bowl-winning quarterback. The other stuff simply doesn't matter to him.
"The most fun thing to do is win," he said, "and that's all I'm trying to do at the end of the day. I think how I'm trying to win might be different than others, and that's why it's entertaining, in certain situations at least. But I'm trying to win, and that's the way to have the most fun.
"I'm not trying to be an entertainer. I'm trying to be a franchise quarterback that stays here in Tennessee for my whole career."
The Levis-Favre comparisons don't end there, though. Nearly as popular as his play on the field was Favre's commercials as a pitchman for Wrangler jeans. Levis has recently joined forces with NOBULL, a footwear, apparel, and accessory brand for people who "train hard and don't believe in excuses."
"It's an up and coming brand that is ready to compete with some of the bigger ones in the market," Levis said. "To have the opportunity to really make my mark on that, I felt like it was just a more powerful opportunity than any other company was able to give me. And then, it comes down to the product too. I wouldn't be with them if I didn't really, truly believe in the product and and wear it on a daily basis and and love their line.
"It's been a pleasure working with them ever since we started. Going from a small college partnership, that's then, you know, blossomed into this has been a really cool, really cool journey."
