Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis led the NFL in throwing downfield in 2023, but he also had the lowest completion rate of any quarterback with 200 or more attempts. So it’s no surprise that the new coaching staff is anxious for him to opt for more shorter passes during his second season.

-- Photo By Mark Zaleski | Ap

The home run is all the rage these days in Major League Baseball. So much so that stars from the 1980s and ’90s like Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs probably wouldn’t even get much of a look in this day and age. They would lose out to an exit velo/launch angle prospect who could hit 35 homers while batting .205 with 170 strikeouts in the process.

But that’s baseball. How does that relate to the Titans?

Well, they happen to have a very strong arm in Will Levis, a quarterback who is more than capable of hitting the proverbial long ball with explosive plays in the passing game. Levis’ average of 10.3 yards per pass in the air was tops in the NFL among quarterbacks with at least 200 pass attempts.

In layman’s terms, that meant that Levis’ average pass traveled 10.3 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. It also was a big reason why Levis’ 58.4% completion rate was the lowest among qualifying quarterbacks with 200 attempts last year.

Enter Brian Callahan, who doesn’t want to temper Levis’ big arm and ability to throw down the field. He just wants him to be more judicious about it.

Going back to the baseball comparison, he doesn’t need Levis to swing for the fences on every pass play.

In Callahan’s way of thinking, the bad things that can happen – interceptions or incompletions that stop drives – are much more likely to occur with a risky throw down the field, when oftentimes the completion to move the chains for the first down is there for the taking.

Singles and doubles are OK. And home runs will come in time as long as Levis is making the right and best decisions with the football in his hands.

Fans saw a bit of that in the Titans’ preseason opener against the San Francisco 49ers when Levis elected several times to take the check down instead of making a riskier throw down the field.

There was one play in particular in which Levis had Calvin Ridley down the field on his first read. It was covered up, but Tony Pollard was open on the check down out of the backfield, and Levis got him the football for a six-yard gain.

A little later, he did find Ridley, and even that was a shorter throw. But the speedy receiver turned it into 22 yards and a first down that kick-started a touchdown drive.

“There’s going to be plenty of times where he’s going to take balls down the field, and we’re going to take shots and then there’s going to be a lot of times they don’t give those to you and you get a chance to check the ball down,” Callahan says. “And again, I think that’s the difference between, a 58% passer and a 68% passer is being smart and efficient with the ball.

“When you get a chance to go let your arm live and be live down the field, then great. But there’s plenty of opportunities where efficiency can take you a long ways.”

Converting belief into action

Consider Levis a believer in that philosophy, even if he might be a new convert. Practice time has been learning time for Levis throughout training camp. He points out a mistake that he learned from even before the preseason opener.

“It’s more reps and seeing the defense and how it plays out, knowing what certain situations push you to not push the ball down the field,” Levis says. “(In practice) we had a guy bust a route and we had a complementary route in behind it. And I tried to stick it in there. Not only is that route not there, that first one, but it’s not doing its job to open up the second route.

“That’s just one of the things I have to think about. If someone busts, that’s something I have to learn, not to make the hero play but just get it corrected and move on to make the next play.”

Accepting what is there is all part of the process, Callahan says.

“That’s part of his growth, part of his process,” he says. “I think you have to learn when to be aggressive. I certainly want to take that away from him, because that’s one of his strengths, to be able to fit a ball into small windows with a lot of velocity.

“And he’s got an aggressive mindset as it is, but we’ve to balance that with whatever the situation is. First-and-10, we call a play-action shot. He could be real aggressive there or he can throw a ball to a back in the flat for a 15-yard gain.

“It’s just as exciting for us, because we’re moving the ball. It’s just a teachable moment for us,” he continues. “The more you complete the ball, the better off we’re going to be, so it’s important to take those intermediate throws and check down throws.”

One of the things Levis is learning as he masters Callahan’s scheme is to learn from his mistakes. Callahan has said many times that Levis is extremely coachable and wants to learn and be a great player.

For Levis, translating those mistakes into success is all part of his training to be a successful NFL quarterback.

“You make those mistakes, and you try not to make them again and you learn from them,” Levis says. “It comes from reps and you have to train yourself through the reps, but also mentally outside the game so that when you get in you’re ready.”