Hated the take, but I must respect the game.
Because I'm giving FanDuel exactly what it sought: Free advertising.
That’s the only reason a betting company puts out an absurd post – brand account only, no individual names – like theirs ranking NFL quarterbacks. It’s also why the post ranked the Tennessee Titans’ Will Levis dead last at No. 32, behind draft prospects who aren’t even in the league yet.
OK, calm down.
No one really thinks that about Levis.
He was singled out for a reason, and that reason is why I’m writing this column. Because he's Will Levis. And when you write about Will Levis, people tend to read the hell out of it. When you talk about Levis on the radio, people listen. And when a high-profile company fishes for attention by so plainly dissing Levis on X (formerly Twitter), they’re sure to hook a lot of shares and links and discussion.
You’ll need to get used to this sort of thing.
The Titans have a celebrity quarterback now.
Lots of Titans players have been famous. But football fame and “celebrity” aren’t the same things.
Derrick Henry is famous for football.
Pat McAfee is a celebrity.
Travis Kelce is a heck of a football player. But everyone knows why he became a celebrity in the past year. You’ve probably heard her music. In addition to dating Taylor Swift, Kelce also happens to be in every other commercial, much like teammate Patrick Mahomes.
Levis isn’t on that A-list yet.
But give it time.
Less than two months into Levis' first NFL offseason, and it feels like he’s all over the place. He was on radio row at the Super Bowl. He played in a ping-pong tournament. He went against high-level pros in poker – and fared well.
Just this week, an episode of “RG3 and The Ones” dropped with Levis talking football – and other stuff – for nearly an hour with former NFL QB Robert Griffin III.
It's not that Levis says outlandish things in these interviews. He doesn't. He's too polished for that. He goes out of his way to try to ensure it won't upset teammates or coaches.
The most interesting thing Levis said to RG3 had to do with a new offense under Brian Callahan: "I'm looking forward to getting the ball in the air more. I'm looking forward to throwing it more on earlier downs. I'm looking forward to learning and taking more completions and really learning to master the pass game."
Lest anyone take that, however, as Levis exalting Callahan over Mike Vrabel and Tim Kelly, the quarterback prefaced the comment by saying the same might have happened with the Titans' previous coaching staff, since he felt like he may have "earned a little bit more trust."
Levis was thinking about how it sounded before he said it.
See what I mean? Polished.
Levis also told Griffin, upon being asked, that he believes in love and had a celebrity crush on actress Sofia Vergara from the show “Modern Family.”
Would it shock you if she heard about it and responded in some way?
That kind of thing would happen to Levis and not, say, Ryan Tannehill, who’s older and married and spends this time of year relaxing out on a boat in Florida or something like that. I don’t know what Tannehill does in the offseason. He never posted or talked much about it. No such wondering with Levis.
Since Levis stepped into the starting quarterback spot, the quickest way to know whether a national pundit takes the time to watch the Titans has been to gauge the opinions on him.
If it’s overly negative, he or she probably didn’t watch him play. As bad as the Titans were last season, Levis was pretty good. He wasn’t perfect, but he was far better than could be reasonably expected for a rookie on an offense with an atrocious offensive line. Teammates saw that it wasn’t too much for Levis. He stood up to the pressure and looked – and acted – like an NFL quarterback, comfortable in the spotlight.
And why wouldn’t he be comfortable?
Few Titans players have ever been as much of a celebrity as Levis was before he even got to Tennessee.
There’s not a quarterback in this 2024 draft class that’s anywhere near as interesting – or as polarizing – as Levis was this time last year coming out of Kentucky. It seemed like a remarkable amount of people were rooting against Levis entering that draft. The wrestling-heel vibes had grown thick, and it was never clear why.
Previously:Explaining why the haters love to hate Titans QB Will Levis so much | Estes
I don’t think it was by preference (Levis certainly could have done without that painful draft-night wait), but let’s concede that a person who wants to make everyone think he puts mayonnaise in his coffee probably understands how social media works a lot better than you or I.
Levis has long been that guy. He’s co*cky, and he's out there, just with something as little as how intensely he celebrates on the sideline.
I'm not sure he can't help it. He belongs in the spotlight. He means to be there.
He's good at getting attention.
Maybe not as good as FanDuel's social media folks, but it's close.
Reach Tennessean sports columnist Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @Gentry_Estes.
