The Tennessee Titans are in the market for a new quarterback in 2025. Everybody understands this. Whether they utilize their 1st overall draft pick to take one, or find a veteran via trade or free agency, there will be a new signal-caller in Nashville this fall.
But deciding to move on from Will Levis is the easy part. Figuring out what you want in the QB who will replace him? Now that's a trickier question.
A to Z Sports sat down with Callahan for an exclusive 90-minute interview to cover everything that's happened since the season ended, looking back on what went wrong in Year 1, what he wants in his next QB, and so much more. The full Callahan interview will be live Friday morning at 8:00am CST on the A to Z Sports YouTube channel.
Amongst the topics discussed was what went wrong with the Will Levis experiment, and more importantly, what's the biggest thing Callahan is looking for in his next QB.
Through a series of three questions and three answers (which you can listen to for yourself in the clip linked above), Callahan details why things with Levis began to break down, why it was an imperfect fit, and the most important trait he's seeking out to ensure a better fit with the next QB of the franchise.
The first question was about the preseason perception of Levis, the shiny new Day 1 starter for the Tennessee Titans. The coaching staff spoke very highly of him throughout the summer, but did they come to regret it? And were they surprised things went so wrong?
"Everything about Will (Levis) in the offseason portion was encouraging in the sense that he was getting a new system down, handling the verbiage, the play calls, the process, the huddle. All of that was good. You see Will's physical talent, you know, he's big and strong and tough. He can throw the ball. And I thought he had a pretty strong training camp. And I think when you watch how he started the Chicago game, that's what I saw."
So the optimism and encouragement was real. But Callahan goes on to explain that as things around Levis began to crack, he began to crack in turn.
"And then, you know, I think the offensive line play affected him. We weren't good enough up front. So he took a ton of hits, takes a ton of sacks. And then it sort of spirals from there. And ultimately, when you win three games, nothing was good enough. But certainly we weren't good enough at the quarterback spot over the course of the season to be in position to win more games than three. Yeah."
Levis was in an imperfect situation, without a doubt. But the bottom line is that he wasn't elevating. In fact, in critical situations, he too often became the opposite. In the dichotomy of "Tractor" and "Trailer" QBs, he was proving to be a textbook "Trailer".
And so the 2nd question was about how strong the fit was in the first place. Was Levis, his strengths and style as a passer, ever really an appropriate fit for the way Callahan wants to play offense? The way this team needed to play offense given their 2024 roster deficiencies? Was Will Levis a square peg they were trying to fit into a round hole?
To Callahan's credit, he began by accepting responsibility for not figuring out a way to make it work anyways. That's what he's paid to do, after all. But he went on to explain why the Levis experiment ended up being a poor match for the offense and their circumstances:
"At the end of the day, it's my job to find a way to fit that the right way. And we did things that... I tried to play to as many strengths as Will had, and some of that's the the deep play-action, three-level throws. But the problem with that is you have to hold the ball, and so that's where we were in a little bit of a juxtaposition, of trying to maintain some of those deep down the field throws and play-action where you have time to sort of see things develop, versus having to get the ball out and having to play a style of offense that relies on timing. Because you don't have a lot of time. And so how do we best get the ball out of our hands?
And that's probably not what Will's strengths are. Will is not a precision timing passer at this point, you know, and he's a young player. Those are the things you develop over time. But that's where we were in a bit of a pickle, that we're trying to protect the line and trying to make sure we get the ball out so we don't take negative plays. And you're mixing that with what Will does well, which is throw the ball down the field. And, you know, it takes time to get down the field. You have to protect to get down the field."
So the 3rd question was simple: When you miss on an evaluation like this, how does it impact how you evaluate that position moving forward?
The answer Brian Callahan gave was perhaps his most insightful of the entire interview. And whether it was an intentional departure from the actual question or not, what he said was extremely telling about the path Will Levis has sent this team down in their search for his successor:
"One of the biggest ones that I see right now, and on the teams that have good quarterbacks I've been around, is... and it's going to sound a little bit strange... but what is their nervous system like?"
It's impossible for this not to be an allusion to Levis's tendency to shrink in big moments. His proclivity to break down when things break down around him. His inability to clutch up when the team needs him to be a "Tractor" quarterback and pull them across the finish line.
Callahan elaborated:
"Like, what is it? What do they look like when when things break down? How do they operate when the pocket is muddy? How do they operate under under critical duress and critical pressure? Those are the things that I look at, how does their brain essentially respond? You know, how does their body respond to those stressors?
I think a really good example of what incredible, incredible poise and calmness looks like is just watch Jayden Daniels play. the moment's never too big for him. Pressure never rattles him. He's just efficient in his movement. He's efficient in his delivery. That's kind of what I mean by that... his poise is incredible and that's what you have to have. And then you watch the great players in our league, and I mean you look at Mahomes, and Burrow, and Allen, and Lamar. I mean you watch these guys play ball, Stafford too. There's something about how they operate and like I said, their nervous system is a huge part of that."
The Titans want somebody who thrives in chaos. Who can rise to the occasion. Who can be the reason they win games, and not a big part of why they lose them. And in one sense... of course they do: them and every other team in the league!
But this strikes at the heart of the QB trait they had practically none of in 2024: the ability to elevate and come up clutch. And those things come when a guy has a unique, as Callahan puts it, "nervous system" that can be identified in NFL quarterbacks.
"There's three things that I always look at, and it's decision-making, timing, and accuracy. That's quarterback play in the NFL.
And you have to be able to, when those moments come where you have to throw the football and everyone in the stadium knows you have to throw the football, can you do it? You know, can you make those throws in those big moments? And that's what separates I think all the quarterbacks in the league, the great ones from the guys that are just good.
And that's what you look for, how does their nervous system work under pressure, and can they make good decisions? Can they throw on time? And most importantly, are they accurate? And I think you see that in the quarterbacks that are all still playing (in the playoffs), but that's how I look at the position and I think those are the most important things you look for when you're looking at it."
So the Titans will spend the next three months combing over their QB options, trying to find the best nervous system of the bunch. And we're left to speculate, who does that sound more like to you? Shedeur Sanders? Cam Ward? An attainable veteran? We'll just have to keep this information in mind as we watch the offseason play out.
Stay tuned for the full 90-minute interview, which will be out on AtoZSports.com and the A to Z Sports Nashville YouTube channel Friday morning at 8:00am CST.
