The 2023 NFL Draft will go down in history for the Houston Texans. While they landed C.J. Stroud and Will Anderson Jr. with the second and third picks, the Tennessee Titans whiffed on another quarterback, taking a chance on Kentucky's Will Levis with the first pick in the second round.
On Tuesday, it was announced that the Titans were officially benching Levis and starting Mason Rudolph for their Week 16 match-up against the Indianapolis Colts. Levis was uninspiring during his 20 starts for the Titans, throwing an underwhelming 3,724 yards, 20 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions. This year in particular showed how bad Levis was at taking care of the football, as he threw 12 interceptions and always had pretty epic reactions to the big turnovers.
The Titans hired Brian Callahan in the offseason likely hoping that he could fix Levis but, as we know, the turnovers continued. Levis threw three picks in Tennessee's Week 15 loss to Cincinnati and that was all she wrote for the former Kentucky signal-caller. The Titans will be moving on from Levis and hitting the reset button at the quarterback position.
While the Titans rolled the dice on Levis in the 2023 draft, the Texans got Stroud with their first pick in the draft (second overall) and he's been everything the organization could have dreamed of. Stroud's sophomore season hasn't gone as smoothly as his rookie year did but he still led Houston to its second straight AFC South title and has the good guys in the playoffs.
Titans fans will enjoy the Titans having to reset at QB... again
The Texans faced Levis three times since he took over as Tennessee's quarterback and he got his first win against them this season. That Week 12 game between the division rivals ended in a 32-27 Titans win with Levis throwing for 278 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. Houston's defense made Levis look good but it wasn't enough to save his job long-term.
While Texans fans have gotten to enjoy having a solid quarterback like Stroud, they've also enjoyed watching the Titans struggle to find their franchise signal-caller. Hopefully that trend continues and the Texans can continue to dominate the division for years to come.
