Is Will Levis the next Josh Allen? Titans' second-year QB driven to join ranks of NFL's elite

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Some of the top things to do in the Tuscany region of Italy are to enjoy a wine tasting in a Tuscan castle or maybe visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Or even hit the beaches with their crystal-clear waters nestled on the rocks for a day of relaxation.

There probably isn't a spot on most people's itineraries where they make time for football-throwing sessions with dad, who is a former Division III tight end, or hopping the fence to get in some sprint work on a locked-up soccer field.

That was indeed part of the itinerary for Will Levis on his visit to Italy in early July, so much so that the second-year Tennessee Titans quarterback actually scouted out the soccer fields and a gym for his workouts before making the trip with his extended family.

"We were 45 minutes from Siena, which is kind of the big city, so I went to a gym there and I thought it was Gold's gym, but it turns out it was Gold Gym," Levis said. "First gym I ever saw that opened at 10 a.m. I had to wait until 10 a.m to go there every day. I was doing stuff in there that nobody in there has probably ever seen, just in terms of the football stuff we do. It was funny. There were a couple soccer fields I scouted out beforehand. One of those I had to jump the fence to go on. I had the cops called on me. I got out of there before anything crazy happened."

There was no arrest, although Levis said he had to use a translator app to help get him out of the situation since nobody really cared he was an NFL quarterback. He can laugh about it now, but the whole situation goes to show a lot about who he is as a quarterback and why he will be a special one.

We know the skill set is there by watching his throws as a rookie last year, the power arm and the quick release. But it's the drive and determination of scheduling workouts in paradise that will make him into a big-time NFL quarterback.

The great ones all have it. Peyton Manning was legendary for his workouts on the road and Levis is no different. It doesn't mean he will be in that class, but it sure doesn't hurt to work like him.

"This is important to him," Titans first-year coach Brian Callahan said. "Being a good quarterback matters to him. He wants to be great. He does everything in his power to do that. I respect that. It's not fake. It's real. He's willing to do whatever it takes. When your have that mindset, you can solve a lot of problems like that."

Callahan knows a lot about working with special quarterbacks. In his career, he's coached Manning, Matthew Stafford , Derek Carr and Joe Burrow the past four years when he was the offensive coordinator of the Cincinnati Bengals . Callahan is considered a quarterback guru of sorts and certainly knows what it takes to be a good one.

He sees that in Levis. In fact, Levis was a big reason why he was drawn to the Titans job.

"I was excited as hell to come down here and work with him," Callahan said.

Why wouldn't he be? Levis impressed as a rookie last season after taking over as the Titans starter eight games into his rookie season, showing off his big arm and his ability to stand in and make throws in the face of constant pressure. To say Levis was beat up is not doing it justice when it comes to how may hits he took.

Yet he never backed down. Not once. Even when he had games that might not be impressive on paper or on tape, the one thing that never wavered was his toughness and his ability to stare down the gun barrel.

"Playing quarterback, toughness is one of the most important parts," Callahan said. "You are going to get hit and teammates needs to know you can bounce up after a hit and make a throw the next time when everything is collapsing around you. The pocket it going to be muddied and you have to navigate it. That was the most impressive thing about him last year. For a quarterback who hadn't played much to do that, take hits, get back up and play hard, was impressive. He did so some dumb things like lowering his shoulder into people, stuff like that. But he was trying to earn the respect of this teammates so they would ride with that guy."

Levis said he felt those hits after the season. The shots took their toll.

"There are things I can learn from and not take as many hits," Levis said. "My body was pretty beat up. I have to be better in that area."

He paused for a second and chuckled.

"I have yet to slide in a game," he said. "I have to implement that."

Despite playing behind a bad offensive line, with not much help in terms of speed on the outside, the second-round pick did enough to show that he can be the Titans' long-term answer. He led the Titans to a 3-6 record in his nine starts with eight touchdowns and four interceptions. The numbers aren't gaudy, but when you see his throws on tape, especially in the comeback victory against the Miami Dolphins late in the season, it's easy to understand why the Titans feel they have a real franchise quarterback.

When Levis came into the draft last year, I had him ranked as my top quarterback. I saw a kid who played in a bad system as a senior at Kentucky with little around him, yet despite an injury he continued to play most of that season and took a beating.

His stock crashed some and his reputation also took a beating. He became the quarterback everybody loved to rip that year. It reminded me of another quarterback who seemed to have a lot of the same draft cult analysts ripping him to shreds during the draft process a few years back.

That quarterback is Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills . Like Allen, Levis didn't have big-time completion numbers and accuracy was something many scouts said would hold him back. Like Allen, I thought he would get past it.

Levis fell to the second round. He saw Bryce Young , C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson all go before him. Stroud had a special rookie season for the Texans last year, but Levis was as good as the other two, especially since Richardson was limited to four games because of injury.

I see a similar trajectory for Levis as Allen. Yes, that's high praise, but I believe that's where he is headed.

Levis also had to overcome doubts about him away from the field heading into the draft. Many NFL personnel people and draft analysts questioned his persona. Was he mature enough? That's because he had some social media stuff that made him seem different, such as eating a banana with the skin on. That made people question him.

"Rightfully so with some of that stuff," Levis said. "A lot of people might have been perturbed by how I handled myself on social media. They thought I was drawing too much attention to myself. It was just something I enjoyed doing, something I could make some extra money from since I wasn't making anything from NIL. When people get to know me and see the real person, that's what people on the internet don't get to see."

Callahan admits he heard some of those pre-draft critiques of Levis, even though the Bengals had Burrow and Callahan didn't do a deep dive on the 2023 quarterback class.

"All I knew about Will as a person is what I heard and I heard all the stories of him being kind of quirky and weird," Callahan said. "Everybody heard them. But Will has done a really good job of being himself. He is really comfortable with who he is. He has grown up since then. There was some growing up that had to happen. I don't see Will Levis, the college kid. I see Will Levis, the pro quarterback. His demeanor and the way he communicates and speaks is much different than a lot of the stuff that was out there."

Tightly wound was another knock on Levis by some scouts. They said he was too hard on himself, which would make it tough to get past the bad plays that all quarterbacks have, even the great ones. Levis admits now he's worked on that part of his game, sometimes even catching himself when he is too tough on his play.

That happened Tuesday. Levis walked off the field thinking he had a tough time. After watching the tape following practice, he saw it a lot differently.

"Looking at the tape, I had a pretty good day," he said. "Coming off the field, I didn't think it was close to that. I have to do a better job of that. You have to take the good with the bad and move one."

You can tell watching practice that the misses bother him. He missed a big-time throw down the field Wednesday, and after practice he said he could have thrown a better ball. Oh, well. The good news was he seemed to quickly move on from it and had a good practice.

That's because he's much more comfortable in his skin. It's his team now -- and he knows it. That's why he got a group together to go to Cabo this summer to work out when the team was away from the facility. It was part workout, with a lot of bonding.

"He's taken the next steps to be the face of the franchise and the responsibilities that come with that," Callahan said. "He's done a nice job building on that. Going to Cabo was part of that."

"It took me a little time to realize that," Levis said. "I still have to earn a lot of stuff. Being the starting quarterback gives me a lot of grace. As the starter, I feel a lot more confident and a lot less nervous than last training camp. I wasn't sleeping at night because I was worried about fumbling a snap or getting the play call wrong. I don't even think about those things anymore. I am a lot more confident."

Levis did work on his footwork this offseason, both at the facility and with his quarterback coach away from it. That has tightened up his ability to get the ball out -- with force. If you thought his arm was big last year, you should see it now.  The release is quick, the ball on the receiver in a hurry.

"We wanted him to get his base wider so he could play a little bit better from the ground to generate power with his legs," Callahan said. "He has natural arm strength, but it doesn't have to be that hard. It helps get the ball out quicker and he can be more efficient in his movements."

"I can see the results too," Levis said.

So could those watching practice thus far in camp. Levis has been sharp, the ball out quickly and accurately. The team didn't want him throwing deep passes early in camp, in large part to keep the receivers from running those deep routes as they get acclimated to being back on the field. But on one play Tuesday, the read was for a deep throw and Levis ripped it. He missed the throw, but there seemed to be some route issue against that four-deep coverage. Levis blamed himself, but did mention that he wasn't supposed to throw deep at all.

"That's the right read against that coverage," he said. "So I let it go."

That's the gunslinger in him. The big arm will show off a lot this season, but it's clear he's much more comfortable in this new Callahan offense. It's why you can expect big things from him and the rebuilt receiver room that includes Calvin Ridley and Tyler Boyd to go with DeAndre Hopkins .

The table is set and Callahan is excited to see where his second-year quarterback can go as a player. He has his ideas, so when I asked him what the ceiling could be for Levis, he didn't hesitate.

"I think he can be one of the top-five quarterbacks in football," Callahan said. "He has everything you need to get to that point. Now he has to prove it. The good thing is he's trying to prove to people who believed in him they were right rather than trying to prove people wrong. It's been a fun offseason coaching him. He's everything you want. He's readily coachable and he has a good sense of the things he can and can't do."

Levis echoed some of the same sentiments when asked about his belief in himself.

"I never doubted myself," he said. "I always felt I was the No. 1 guy coming off that draft and I still feel that way. I don't want to prove (the many doubters) wrong. I just want to prove myself right."

Stroud has a big head start in that race to be the best, but the way I see it Levis is Josh Allen 2.0. Allen started his career slowly and then took off and is now one of the top-two quarterbacks in the league. The draft cult was wrong about him and they will be wrong again.

Will Levis will be a star -- provided he doesn't get locked up trying to work out in some foreign country.