Tennessee Titans Will Levis Not Expected to Play Against Patriots According to ESPN's Jeremy Fowler

Tennessee Titans rookie quarterback Will Levis has been dealing with an injury for more than a week and it will reportedly keep him out of Friday's preseason finale against the New England Patriots.

The Tennessee Titans saw their rookie quarterback leave last Thursday's practice early with a lower body injury that led to him not playing in the Titans' preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings and despite Will Levis returning to practice this week, it looks like he won't play against the New England Patriots on Friday.

ESPN's Jeremy Fowler is reporting that Levis is not expected to play and as Fowler points out in his report, this gives a great opportunity for Malik Willis to secure the backup job and beat out Levis for the spot.

#Titans QB Will Levis (thigh) is not expected to play tonight vs the Patriots, per source, strengthening Malik Willis’ chances to earn the No. 2 job to start the season if he continues to show improvement.

— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) August 25, 2023

The Titans won't be cutting Levis after trading up to select him in the second round of this year's NFL draft, so this news also makes it almost a certainty that the Titans will be keeping three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster. Something they have not done in the recent past.

Outside of the backup job, this injury has ramifications for Levis' development as a player. Levis will be QB3 now and, if things go well, will not see the field for the Titans this season. That means Levis won't have live game reps until the 2024 preseason.

Titans' starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill is playing on the last year of his contract and the prevailing thought is the Titans will move away from Tannehill after the season. Levis having his live reps limited in this way due to injury makes it hard to see Levis as a starting option in 2024.

With Levis out, expect to see some Tannehill snaps to start the game, something head coach Mike Vrabel said was possible earlier this week, but it should not be extensive time. Odds are we see two drives at maximum.

After that, it will be all Malik Willis. Willis will gain where Levis loses. Willis now has an incredible opportunity to play his best and not only secure the backup role in 2023, but put himself on a path to make himself the favorite to be the starter in 2024 as well.

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