Will Levis took over the team’s quarterbacking duties as a rookie in 2023 and passed for 1,808 yards, eight touchdowns and four interceptions in nine games behind a sub-par offensive line.

-- Photo By Tyler Kaufman | Ap

All the Titans’ moves this offseason to beef up the defense, improve the weapons on offense and repair the offensive line were all done with one thing in mind – give Will Levis his best opportunity to prove he can be this team’s franchise quarterback.

Perhaps the biggest thing to remember about Levis and the process he is going through this season is that Week 1 Levis – good or bad – probably won’t look exactly the same as he will in Week 6, Week 10, Week 13 and so on.

There will be mistakes and growing pains, similar to what has happened in camp and preseason. It might not always be pretty. And it might, on occasion, work perfectly.

But the most important aspect is that Levis continues to grow, not repeat the same mistakes and learn from those he does make.

Consider how Packers quarterback Jordan Love handled his first full season as a starter last year. He started with six touchdown passes in the first two games, then struggled, tossing eight interceptions over the next five games as Green Bay lost four of those contests.

But Love kept learning, and by season’s end he had the Packers in the playoffs, where they dispensed with the Dallas Cowboys and had nearly beat NFC champion San Francisco in the divisional round.

Levis will have total control of the offense while on the field with the power to audible into and out of plays if he feels the need.

It’s a responsibility he looks forward to.

“When you’re given those tools for the first time, you can second guess yourself pretty easily, because you don’t have the background of doing it yourself in the past,” Levis says. “But I think I have a good enough handle on it to know when things are possibly messed up and what can get us out of that situation.

“Cally (Callahan) did a great job of letting me know what my issues are on the play. And I think it’s going to be more like, ‘Hey, if we get this specific look here, it’s probably not going to work. So let’s think about getting into something else,’” Levis continues. “So having that kind of catalog based on pre-snap what’s out there on the field, I think I feel comfortable doing that I’m looking forward to getting to that point where it comes natural.”

The biggest thing Levis says he is learning about playing the quarterback position at the NFL level is that he does not have to be a gunslinger on every throw. Take what is available and even throw the ball away if not develops on the play.

“I feel really good about it, especially not passing up a read to get to what we’re really trying to dial up. I think I’ve done a better job of just taking something if it’s open in the first go-round, even though I might think based on how the play is developing that the bigger shot might be open as well,” he says.

And even that is a learning process of seeing how plays develop and windows for throws open and close.

“It’s good to have the conversation and watch the film for when that window does get closed and everything else is closed and the one option that you had at the beginning was really the only one you really had,” Levis says. “Understanding that and taking what they give me, but it’s definitely difficult at times to feel when’s the right time to get out of the pocket or try to stick one in there when the coverage might be a little tight.

“That’s why I’ve been playing with that throughout camp and feeling like what situations when they present themselves are appropriate for those things.”