By Matthew Davis
The Tennessee Titans are looking for a new quarterback this season since third-year quarterback Will Levis will have surgery on his right shoulder, which will cause him to miss the 2025 season.
“We support his decision to focus on his long-term health,” the Titans announced via a statement on Monday. “He approached the offseason with professionalism and showed clear growth as a leader. We remain confident in his full recovery.”
Levis sustained a shoulder injury in Week 4 of the 2024 season against the Miami Dolphins. He injured the shoulder on a dive and then missed three games, and he has experienced ongoing issues with the injury since.
A former second-round pick from Kentucky, Levis will have surgery on July 29. Levis, 26, has played 21 games over his first two seasons for the Titans, amid 3,899 yards passing for 21 touchdowns versus 16 interceptions.
In college, he threw for 5,876 yards and 46 touchdowns versus 24 interceptions in his time between Kentucky and Penn State. Levis has great size at 6-foot-4 and 229 pounds, but inconsistent play has marked his young career.
Last season, Levis started 12 games and threw for 2,091 yards and 13 touchdowns versus 12 picks for a 3–14 record. He also took 41 sacks in the process.
With Levis out, that clears the way for No. 1 pick and rookie quarterback Cam Ward to take over as the starter in year one. Tennessee selected the star quarterback with the top pick out of Miami in April’s draft.
Ward threw for 18,137 yards and 158 touchdowns versus 37 interceptions between his five seasons in college at Incarnate Word, Washington State, and Miami. An All-American, Ward won the Davey O’Brien Award and the Manning Award last year.
Tennessee doesn’t have a serious contender for the starting job after Ward. The Titans acquired former San Francisco 49ers backup quarterback Brandon Allen in the offseason, and veteran backup signal caller Tim Boyle is also on the roster.
Ward made waves during OTAs and minicamp and looks poised to do more in training camp and the preseason. The Titans open training camp on Tuesday, and preseason action kicks off on Aug. 9 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Tennessee could sign a veteran free agent quarterback, but the Titans don’t necessarily need a veteran bridge quarterback for Ward either. Notable available free agent quarterbacks include Carson Wentz, Teddy Bridgewater, C.J. Beathard, Tyler Huntley, and Jeff Driskel.
How the 2025 season plays out could impact Levis’s future with the Titans. Levis has one year left on his rookie deal of four years, $9.54 million in 2026, and his decline and Ward’s rookie performance will lead to questions about what the team will do next year.
The former general manager, Ran Carthon, who traded up in the 2023 draft to select Levis, has already been fired after two lackluster seasons. Levis fell through the first round in that quarterback-heavy draft, and the Titans moved up to the top of the second round to grab him.
Current Titans general manager Mike Borgonzi didn’t tip his hand after the draft about what would happen with the starting quarterback. However, Levis’s trajectory behooved the Titans to grab Ward.
As a rookie, Levis went 3–6, and he threw for 1,808 yards and eight touchdowns versus four picks. His lack of improvement as a 2–10 starter hindered the franchise from turning things around in Nashville.
Tennessee has three straight losing seasons, and the Titans haven’t made the playoffs since the 2021 season. In addition, the Titans haven’t won a playoff game since the 2019 season.
Quarterback instability has been a hallmark of this stretch. The Titans bounced around on starters in 2022 between former starter Ryan Tannehill and former backups Malik Willis and Josh Dobbs. Levis and Tannehill split starts in 2023, and then Mason Rudolph started the five games Levis didn’t start in 2024.
