The Tennessee Titans’ quarterback situation has been the talk of the town—and at times, the league—so far this offseason. It started with trying to figure out what they’ll do with the first overall pick. Now that the expectation is Cam Ward as the soon-to-be new face of the franchise, the backup QB situation is all that’s left to be ironed out.
The Plan With Will Levis
I think I was wrong about this. I’ve recently chanced my tune.
Since the end of the 2024 Will Levis experience, you may have heard me talk about the very real possibility that he remains on this roster in 2025 in some form or fashion. I had reason to believe they were earnestly interested in keeping him around to be in the offense for a second consecutive season, a luxury he hadn’t been afforded in years. And I felt that even if he was moved, it may not come until the very end of the preseason after they’d had an entire summer to juice his stock.
I don’t believe him sticking around is a real possibility any longer. If and when a rookie QB is installed, I think Levis will be on the trading block. And because they’re enamored by Cam Ward already as we head into the final month countdown, I think there’s a decent chance he’ll be actively shopped on or before draft day. And whether the move comes before, during, or after the draft, it’s going to come eventually.
Bad At Backup Can Be Good!
Now that we’ve gotten that correction out of the way, on to the main point at hand: the backup situation. Assuming Levis will be gone eventually, that leaves new signing Brandon Allen as the primary backup at the moment. His contract details reveal he’s due less than $1M in guarantees this season, making him a bare-minimum commitment by the team.
Amidst all the backup QB signings this offseason, the Titans choice may just be the least inspiring of the bunch. Brandon Allen seems to be Brian Callahan’s guy from past experience together, but nobody seriously see’s him as the highest quality backup option that was available on the market. Not even close. His contract reflects as much.
That’s left some folks, well, a tad displeased with their effort! Why aren’t they getting serious about their backup QB position, especially after the way last year went with Levis and Rudolph?
I think, whether it’s intentional or not, they’re making the correct decision to remain subpar at the backup position. I think backup quarterback is the most undervalued position on good teams, and the most overvalued position on bad ones.
We all know how devastating a bad backup can be to a good team who loses their star starter. But when you’re on a bad and/or rebuilding team, having a bad backup can be key to fast-tracking your rebuild.
If Cam Ward goes down (God forbid), it’s likely the Titans won’t be relying on a backup who can win in a couple spot-starts. Their situation is similar to the Bengals in their first year with Joe Burrow. Joe went down for the year, and they lost all the way to another top-5 pick where they landed Ja’Marr Chase. That team wasn’t yet in a position to need to keep trying to win. It was all about their rookie QBs success in the long run, and until he came back, development across the roster could continue without strong QB play or tallies in the win column.
I was recently talking to somebody who has worked in the league for a long time, and they shared with me their personal philosophy: “if you can’t win 10 or more games, you’re better off not winning more than 3.”
