Ryan Tannehill made sure his words couldn’t be misunderstood this time. A year after I got grilled after saying it’s not necessarily his job to guide Malik Willis, Tannehill offered a more polished but still transparent answer when asked about the newest quarterback the Tennessee Titans have drafted.
Tannehill, the Titans’ starting quarterback since the 2019 season, has seen his team field a quarterback each on Day 2 of the draft for the past two years. A year after drafting Willis in the third round, the Titans traded to select Levis with the 33rd overall pick.
“We’ve been down this road before, so it’s definitely a little bit of déjà vu,” said Tannehill. “But like I said… my job is to go out and try to win football games.”
Tannehill, who has been a regular with the Titans this season, said the team’s selection of Levis will not affect his approach to this season.
“As a player you could only control what you can control,” he said. “That’s doing your best to prepare yourself physically and mentally every day to win football games.”
Tannehill was diplomatic when asked about Levis, who was snatched by Tennessee at the start of the second round following his surprise first round fall. After beginning his college career at Penn State, Levis played the last two falls at Kentucky, throwing 43 touchdowns and 23 interceptions over that span.
“Hopefully he adds something to the room,” Tannehill said. ‘Apparently a talented boy. He has had a great college career. We’ll see when I can meet him here in a few weeks.’
Despite the addition of Levis, Titans coach Mike Vrabel said Tannehill is the team’s starting quarterback, with Willis and Levis following him in the pecking order. Tannehill, who said he feels good after ankle surgery last December, is ready to put last year’s tumultuous season behind him.
“Tough,” said Tannehill when asked to describe the 2022 season. “Just finishing like we did. Not being able to be out there, it sucks. At that point my focus was physically doing everything I could to prepare, put the work in to get the ankle right and feel good to be able to go around again and get ready for the next year.