Nick Holz: Titans are ‘ramping up’ Will Levis this week

Titans offensive coordinator Nick Holz says they are ramping up Will Levis in the hopes that he feels well enough to play on Sunday.

The Tennessee Titans quarterback situation has been a major struggle in 2024. Will Levis, the starting quarterback, is in just his second year in the league. He took over for Ryan Tannehill last season, but he hasn’t adapted well under the new coaching staff. Whether that’s a coaching thing or a player thing doesn’t really matter, it’s a problem.

On top of that, Levis injured his shoulder in Week 4 against the Miami Dolphins. That’s when Mason Rudolph took over and led the Titans to their first victory of the season. Then it was the bye week, then Levis returned only to tank against the Indianapolis Colts. It was revealed after the game that maybe he wasn’t 100%, and Brian Callahan decided to start Rudolph the last two weeks while Levis healed.

Today, Nick Holz addressed the media ahead of practice and discussed Levis’ potential return against the Los Angeles Chargers this week.

 

Asked about ramping up Levis, Holz replied, “Yep, ramped up yesterday, we were kind of in a slowed-down mode yesterday, but he ramped up yesterday and the plan is to ramp him up again today, and then kind of make our decision really tonight after practice of where he’s going to go.”

Holz went on to say that Levis’ reps will probably be 60/40 as they ramp him up, and they’ll see how he feels at full speed today.

Yes, it’s about how he feels, but that leaves the question: How do you reintegrate Levis back into the starting lineup with the progress that has been made?

“You know, I don’t think it’s all on Will, why the passing game has improved, or all on the quarterback position. I think our pass protection has been a lot better, the receivers’ drops are down, all our assignments, I feel like we’ve done all of those things well. So we kind of expect him to jump in with that progress where we’ve made the last couple weeks. You know I think there’s probably a bonus for him, kind of watching and learning, kind of taking a step back too and watching Mason play.”

It’s a definite bonus for Levis to watch Rudolph run the offense, but it’s probably premature to assume that Levis can step in without any backtracking. He is not Rudolph. There will be hiccups. If he gets in, we’ll see how much those hiccups impact the game.