At this time last year, Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis was just hoping to win the backup competition against Malik Willis, as Ryan Tannehill remained the team’s starter entering his final season in Nashville.
But now, all eyes are on Levis, who showed plenty of promise after taking the reins as the starter in Week 8. The hope is that his second season will serve as proof he is indeed the long-term solution.
There’s no question Levis is in a much better spot than he was last year, as his supporting cast has been vastly improved, from the offensive line to his wide receivers.
But Levis sees improvement in himself, also, starting with his maturity.
“I feel like I am in a more mature, developed position where I am able to just learn and take the teachings from a bad rep instead it letting it affect me on my next one,” Levis said, per Jim Wyatt. “Just taking advantage of all that time, like I feel like I have. And knowing all the meeting time and all the stuff we were able to do throughout workout and OTAs up to now has put me in a much better spot and has given me a lot more confidence.”
“It’s fun,” Levis added. “Small things showing up, improvement-wise, going back (from the start of on-field workout) until now.”
Part of his maturing process has been not worrying about what others think, which is good because there are no shortage of doubters out there, especially in the national media.
“I used to be someone who would kind of take that (scrutiny) and use it to fuel me,” he said. “But I feel like now, my only source of motivation is internal, and I am not going to let anyone else’s opinions define how I work. They can say what they want, and we’re going to go out here on Sunday and do our best to prove them wrong.”
With the Titans in the midst of their pre-camp break, Levis intends on staying hard at work and even has a “retreat” planned with the team’s skill position players that will involve studying, route-running and bonding.
When the break is all said and done, Levis expects to have a complete grasp on the new offense, which he says will help “get things rolling” immediately in training camp.
“By the time we come back for training camp, I am going to know it like the back of my hand and we’re going to be able to get things rolling,” he said. “It has been a lot of fun and I feel like we just have to keep handling this second year the right way and everything else will fall into place.”
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