Booger McFarland on Will Levis: ‘We talk about his love for mayonaise more than his ability to play the quarterback position’

Booger McFarland took aim at Will Levis, invoking Tennessee Titans quarterback’s affinity for a certain sandwich condiment. The comments occured during a SportsCenter special Tuesday evening in which McFarland was part of a panel previewing the upcoming NFL Draft.

ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. has the Titans taking Cam Ward with the No. 1 overall pick in his latest mock draft as well as the No. 2 ranked player on his Big Board. This is all despite the fact that Tennessee selected Levis with the first pick in the second round of the draft just two years ago.

His time as a starter hasn’t panned out, however, leading many to believe the team will head in a new direction. That includes McFarland, who explained why he thinks Ward is a better fit to lead the team than Levis.

“(Ward’s) personality fits that of a franchise quarterback. If you look at what Tennessee’s got right now in Will Levis, nothing against him, but we talk about his love for mayonaise more than his ability to play the quarterback position,” McFarland said. “So I think you need to bring somebody in there. Their personality’s gonna have to be a force multiplier. Somebody that can galvanize the locker room.”

Levis has just a 5-16 record as the Titans starting quarterback. That includes 2-10 this past season as he only narrowly had more touchdowns (13) than interceptions (12).

The quarterback also has become famous for liking mayonaise after he went viral during his college days at Kentucky for putting the condiment in his coffee and drinking it. He also has a commercial with Hellman’s.

As fun as all that is, Levis still hasn’t quite proven that he is ready to be a starting quarterback for an NFL team, albeit in limited opportunity to actually do so. With the Titans recently hiring a new general manager in Mike Borgonzi, it makes sense that they would want to start fresh with a potential new franchise quarterback.

Ward, who threw for 4,313 yards and led the FBS with 39 touchdowns this past season while leading Miami to its first 10-win season in seven years, is that guy in McFarland’s estimation. It’s not just the stats, but the intangible qualities that make him think so.

“That position is a de facto leadership position whether you want to or not,” he said. “And when you talk to people in Miami, Cam Ward is that. He got there, everybody galvanized around him and he was the leader of that football team. They need a personality shift — they need a culture shift — in Tennessee and he’s just the guy to do that.”